Author Archives: Maggie Shepphird

Breaking Down the Barriers in High-Level Industries

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In the Chicago Defender, there are many news articles. However, the one that stood out to me was about the achievements that black women made in America, published on December 27th, 1975. This article is filled with accomplished women who despite the odds, broke barriers in a plethora of different industries. Cecil Partee became president of the state senate was given the position of state attorney general by the Regular Democratic Organization. Joan F. Mosley became the first black woman to be given the role of senior attorney at the National Broadcasting Company. She also was an attorney for NBC starting in 1972. Anne E. Thompson, a court judge, became the prosecutor of the Mercer County in New Jersey. She was the first black woman to become a prosecutor in the US. Betty Lou Dotson was the director of the Office of Equal Opportunity for Action. Before this position, she was a civil rights executive with the US Department of Agriculture. Clarence Mitchell, who was the legislative chairman for NAACP, became one of the five US representatives in the United Nations. Joan Winn became the first black woman judge in Texas. US Representatives Cardiss Collins and Charles C. Diggs were invited to attend celebrations of independence for Mozambique, and were the only US representatives invited to do so. In Charleston, 6 of 12 city council seats were appointed to black people. Dorothy M. Pleasant was one of the first black women executives at the US Custom Services. Daniel James Jr. was the first black Commander in Chief of the North American Air Defense Command. Gloria M. Crawford joined the Board of Directors of the Bicentennial Committee for Educational Projects. All of these people are very inspiring. Despite the almost impossible odds set against them, they worked their way up to earn these high-level positions. It’s inspiring how much resilience and grit these women had, and I’m happy for them. However, it also speaks to a bigger issue, which is the lack of representation of black women in high-level positions. It should not be a big deal that a black woman is elected, it should instead be the norm. Diversity should exist in every high-level position, and hopefully as a society we can break down the barriers and discrimination of all kinds that exists.

Historical Music Documentation

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National Jukebox is a website that has on it thousands of recordings of music and spoken words. This website was created by both the Library of Congress and Sony Music Entertainment. There are many different genres of music on this website such as classical, opera, spoken word, blues, musical theater, jazz, country, whistling and yodeling. This website has music from all around the world. There are many recordings from Native American musicians, Irish musicians, and even some that highlight some of the issues and stereotyping in minstrelsy. The creators of the website are still working on adding recordings from before 1925 from record companies such as Columbia Records and Okeh Records. However, these recordings are kept under Sony records, which presently allows users to listen to these recordings. Although users are allowed to listen to the recordings, they are not allowed to download them. Sony has the rights to these recordings, and doesn’t let them out in the public domain possibly because of the historical value they hold.

The New York Philharmonic also planned on creating a an archive of the recordings that would be able to be streamed by the public. The New York Philharmonic was created in 1842. For the website, they started with materials from 1942-1970. During that time period, this orchestra became one of the biggest and most renowned orchestras in the entire world. Leonard Bernstein was the conductor for most of this time period. (1942-1969) The orchestra has more than 24,000 recordings, and 4,000 of them have to do with Bernstein. There are in total 3,235 scores, 1,380 images, and 16,342 business documents. In the future, the orchestra is planning to add audio and video documentation.

Performances today unfortunately cannot be kept and viewed again to preserve history, however there are other things that people can use from the past to show the importance of the history of music. The history of music continues to inform and create the popular music of the present. Every genre has a background to it, and has genres that came before it. Music is all inspired by one another.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44308748?seq=1

Troutman, J. W. “National Jukebox: Historical Recordings from the Library of Congress Lift Every Voice: Music in American Life.” The Journal of American History (Bloomington, Ind.) 100, no. 1 (2013): 323–25. https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jat188.

Sheet Music: A Commodity but not a Necessity

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Sheet music was one of the most dominant forms of culture in the nineteenth century. Thousands of songs, pieces and concertos were sold each year. Sheet music was one of the main ways for musicians to make money at the time. However, because of the musical education needed to be able to read and understand sheet music, it created some barriers for non-white people to make money off of their art.

There are many popular songs written and sung today that originate from black spirituals, which were written during the time of slavery. However, unfortunately all of the musicians who wrote these songs that became so popular were not given the credit or merit or royalties from this music and instead were pushed down by white people. Because of this dark history, many black musicians were not given the credit or merit that they deserve. Unfortunately, this still happens today.

Later, post-civil war, one of the most popular form of music created by black musicians was jazz. Jazz music is either fully improvised, or a mixture of sheet music and improvisation with musicians. A melody is either given in the form of sheet music, or passed down by ear, then musicians use this melody to improvise and be creative with their instrument. Jazz often uses lead sheets as well instead of typical sheet music. This form of music was very popular in the late nineteenth-twentieth centuries. Since this music sometimes but not always had sheet music, it was difficult for musicians to gain royalties off of sheet music for jazz. However, some musicians, such as Duke Ellington composed thousands of scores and was able to make money through sheet music. Many jazz musicians made money through either touring or local performances.

Additionally, many pop musicians today create music without any prior knowledge of reading sheet music or music theory.

Although sheet music was and still is an important commodity, it is not necessary for all musicians. It is helpful to know and understand the complexities of it, however there are still great musicians who do not read music and this does not take away from any of their accomplishments in their lifetimes.

https://www.proquest.com/docview/2344508709?pq-origsite=primo&parentSessionId=ZHMRXs%2BdlljsUzJ%2BDT1X9g59so9E4BQHl4xXqDRH8uI%3D&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals

https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvvnh25.13?searchText=&searchUri=&ab_segments=&searchKey=&refreqid=fastly-default%3Aa514c32489509c02c2a995379544e8e1&seq=1

Jackson, Maurice, and Blair A. Ruble, editors. DC Jazz : Stories of Jazz Music in Washington, DC. Georgetown University Press, 2018.

Anderson, Colin L. “Segregation, Popular Culture, and the Southern Pastoral: The Spatial and Racial Politics of American Sheet Music, 1870–1900.” The Journal of Southern History, vol. 85, no. 3, 2019, pp. 577–610, https://doi.org/10.1353/soh.2019.0163.

Bias in the Music Industry

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Black Americans have produced some of the most prolific and influential styles and genres as music, as well as some of the most influential songs. However, unfortunately for many years they were not able to receive any sort of credit or royalties from their music for many many years. The main reason they weren’t able to reach the level of fame that the white American musicians had at the time was mainly because of segregation present in the music industry, especially the recording industry. In the 1880s and beyond, musicians gained revenue from their works in two ways: through selling sheet music and through selling recordings. Black Americans were not able to access either of these things at the time.

In 1914, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers founded in hopes of preventing copyright. Black Americans unfortunately were very poorly represented in this committee despite being the population that suffered the most from stolen and copyrighted works. Within 170 members of the committee, only 6 were black. However, another issue in printed music was people had to have experience in reading music, most of them from the time they were little, to be able to be musically literate. However, these learning experiences were often times not offered to Black Americans growing up because of the schools being segregated and the lack of music education offered. Therefore, there were many Black Americans who had an extraordinary amount of talent but were not given the privilege of music education, so despite their works being very good, weren’t able to receive profit from the printed music industry. However, there were some exceptions. A white music publisher named John Stillwell Stark created a publishing deal with Scott Joplin who was a Black American composer, known for his ragtime compositions. This publishing deal was very successful which highlights the competency of Black American musicians, as well as how sad it is that so many talented musicians were not given these opportunities.

In the recording industry, very few Black American musicians were given the chance to record their songs because of bias from producers and talent agents. Although there were some exceptions, such as George Washington Johnson and Arthur Seals, many talented musicians were overlooked and not given the opportunity to gain success from their music. Instead, many white musicians stole songs written by black musicians and recorded them to gain profit. The style of blues, although created by Black Americans, was recorded on records most of the time by white musicians imitating, or appropriating the style. There were so many talented Black Americans who did not get any recognition, while many white people did. One example of this is Elvis Presley. Although Elvis Presley is extremely talented and good at what he does, a lot of his success he attained while getting ideas from talented black musicians, who didn’t receive even a quarter of the success that he did. Therefore many Black Americans were overlooked while Elvis Presley became one of the most famous rock musicians of all time.

This highlights the lack of rights Black Americans had and is very sad. It also highlights the work that still must be done to give Black Americans equal rights and an equal chance at success. As Americans, we must do better to create a safer and more equal future for those here and those to come.

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315472096-14/industrializing-african-american-popular-music-reebee-garofalo?context=ubx&refId=1f34259a-ab47-4287-8930-894d87ce57cb

Maultsby, Portia K., and Mellonee V. (Mellonee Victoria) Burnim, editors. Issues in African American Music : Power, Gender, Race, Representation. Routledge, 2017.

 

 

A Strong Connection Between Movies and Music

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Latin-American movies became very popular in the 1930’s and 1960’s, and there were many popular Mexican movies, as well as some blockbusters. One film that gained enormous popularity worldwide is Como agua para chocolate (1992). This movie is a story about a girl named Tita who was raised on a ranch by her strict mother, Dona Elena. The film takes place during the Mexican revolution, a time when everything about the characters’ lives are changing rapidly. Tita’s sister, Rosaura, marries a man named Pedro. Rosaura is Tita’s older sister, and there’s a law that states younger sisters must not marry and stay with the family to take care of her mother. However, Pedro is actually in love with Tita, but is not allowed to marry her because of this rule. He only marries her sister to be able to be close to Tita. Pedro buys Tita flowers, however Tita’s mother Dona Elena orders her to throw the flowers away, because she knows that Pedro is in love with her and not in love with her sister. However, Tita instead of throwing the flowers away makes them into a sauce that she serves when she makes her family dinner. Years go by and Dona Elena passes away. Pedro is still married to Rosaura despite his feelings for Tita. Pedro and Tita become closer, and at one point Tita thinks she may be pregnant with Pedro’s child, but that ends up not being the case. Years later, Rosaura passes away, and Pedro and Tita are able to be together at last. They move in together, but Pedro soon dies in Tita’s arms. Tita kills herself so she can be with Pedro forever in life and death.

The director of the film is Alfonso Arau who was a very famous director, actor, producer and writer of many films during the Golden Age of Mexican films.  Arau was also briefly married to Laura Esquivel, who is the author of the book that Como agua para chocolate is based on. The style of the movie is magical realism. Leo Brouwer composed the film score in Como agua para chocolate. Brouwer was raised in Havana, Cuba and was from a musical family. His great uncle, Ernesto Lecouna was a famous composer, and many of his other family members were established composers as well as musicians. Leo Brouwer learned the guitar at an early age and started composing music when he was a teenager. He furthered his education in the United States, then moved back to Cuba to start his career. He composed film music as well as guitar music.

In the movie, Como agua para chocolate, the musical theme comes back over and over again during every major plot point, especially involving the forbidden lovers Pedro and Tita. This theme comes back again and again to prove the strength of Tita and Pedro’s love, and how even in death their souls will stay bonded to each other because they are meant to be in love forever.

For the soundtrack, Brouwer uses many stringed instruments such as violins, violas, cellos, and string basses to produce a warmth produced by a string timbre. The melody comes back during specific plot points to emphasize the theme of the story. Often times in soundtracks the theme of the composition represents in many ways the theme of the story. During the love-death scene of the story, a different melody counterracts the regular melody representing the freedom Pedro felt when finally confessing his love to Tita.

This film is one of many Mexican films that have become famous throughout the world and reached blockbuster status during the Golden Age of films. Leo Brouwer composed an unforgettable soundtrack that will be remembered for years to come.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctv3znxn1.7?seq=1

Roberts, John Storm. The Latin Tinge : The Impact of Latin American Music on the United States. 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1999.

Is it American Sound or Stealing Ideas?

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Many American composers wished to create a distinctive American sound in their writing, one that would be different and distinct from European classical music. However, sometimes the way they went about finding this was not respectful or fair. American composers such as Dvorzak wanted to create something new and different than what Americans had heard before, however the way he went about doing this creates questions of the line that needs to be drawn between taking inspiration and stealing ideas. Many Native Americans had very beautiful music. However, many settlers came over and decided to steal the melodies of Native American folk tunes to commercialize them.

Dvorzak had a residency in the United States. Within this residency, “He believed the future of American music must be founded on the resources of the Native American, African American, and Creole American melodies and rhythms.” (1). Some may argue that this is a form of borrowing and appreciation of Native American music. Many pop artists today do collaborations with other artists, and receive help from many composers and producers to create their albums. However, the difference between those pop artists today and American composers in the past was that the collaborators on pop albums receive credit as well as a portion of the royalties from the music. On the other hand, the American composers in the past were stealing ideas from the Native American as well as African American population and not giving any sort of royalties or credit back to them. This is therefore instead of collaboration stealing ideas because the creation of this new music is rooted in colonization as well as exploitation of resources.

Many people were inspired by Dvorzak’s ideas and there was a movement created around this time called the “Indianist” movement, which involved stealing folk tunes from Native Americans and commercializing it to receive profit.

Amy Beach was another composer who was inspired by Dvorzak’s ideas and used Native American melodies and folk tunes for many of her compositions. However, after several compositions she realized that it would work better to use music that she was used to and grew up with instead of ideas from a culture she didn’t know. This is an interesting conclusion that she came to because it goes to show the lack of understanding Americans have towards Native American culture. Even when stealing ideas for the music, there is no way that others will be able to fully replicate the intricate details of the music, because it comes from the Native American culture. The only way to fully replicate these ideas would be to grow up as a Native American experiencing it. Therefore, despite the stealing and exploitation of ideas, no one will be able to take away the Native American culture and music away from them.

The issue of stealing ideas and exploitation of artists is still present today, as well as the lasting effects of colonization on marginalized groups. However, hopefully as a society we can move forward and create a better future for artists and marginalized groups to be able to live their life without being exploited or used.

Mercer, Stephanie. “An American Sound: Celebrating Native American Music through the ‘Indianist’ Movement and the American Piano Composer.” The American Music Teacher, vol. 71, no. 2, 2021, pp. 16-.