26 July 2008

Dance Music and Brass Bands

American popular music has always been linked to dance

 

The “Elmira Cornet Band,” Thirty-third Regiment, of the New York State Volunteers, July 1861.

The “Elmira Cornet Band,” Thirty-third Regiment, of the New York State Volunteers, July 1861.

(The following is excerpted from the U.S. Department of State publication, American Popular Music.)

From the beginning, American popular music has been closely bound up with dance. The earliest examples of published dance music were modeled on styles popular in England. Until the early 20th century, social dancing among white Americans was dominated by offshoots of the country dance tradition and by dances such as the waltz, mazurka, schottische, and polka, performed by couples. The adoption of country dances by the urban elite was an aspect of a common romantic fascination with rural themes.

 

“March King” John Philip Sousa, center, leads the United States Marine Corps band.

“March King” John Philip Sousa, center, leads the United States Marine Corps band.

The typical setting for dancing among the upper classes was the ball, organized around pre-selected music played by an orchestra to accompany a specific sequence of dances, overseen by a dance master, who called out the movements. Ballroom dancing focused more on uniformity and restraint than improvisation or the expression of emotion. However, as the 19th century progressed, there was a shift away from formal dances toward an increased emphasis on couple dancing. By the end of the century, the waltz had become the ultimate symbol of sophistication and romance.

Throughout the 19th century there was a continual feedback between urban “high-class” and rural “low-class” dance styles. Urban professional musicians arranged folk dances for mass consumption, and some of the popular songs published by big New York City music companies were adopted into rural dance traditions. The diversity of American popular dance was reinforced by waves of immigrants from different parts of Europe. And the mass influence of African-American dance – which began in the 1830s with the cakewalk steps performed by white minstrels – intensified, becoming the dominant force in American popular dance during the first few decades of the 20th century. From the Civil War through the 1910s, brass band concerts were one of the most important musical aspects of American life. Although military bands had been around since the birth of the United States, they spread rapidly during and after the Civil War (1861-65). While a number of these regimental bands continued to flourish after the war, many decommissioned musicians formed bands in their home communities. By 1889 there were over 10,000 brass bands in the United States.

The brass-band movement drew energy from the interaction of patriotism and popular culture, and from the growing force of American nationalism. The lion’s share of a band’s repertoire consisted of patriotic marches. Brass bands are associated with national holidays, and their music holds a special significance for those who have served in the armed forces. Many bands also played arrangements of the popular sheet music hits of the day. This ability to move between patriotic music and the popular styles reinforced the brass band’s role as a community institution.

The most popular bandleader from the 1890s through World War I was John Philip Sousa (1854-1932). Sousa conducted the U.S. Marine Band and later formed a “commercial” concert band. This band made two dozen hit phonograph recordings between 1895 and 1918. Sousa toured constantly, and the appearance of his band created a sensation that could only be surpassed by a presidential “whistlestop” tour. (These were named for the campaign tours of presidents and other political candidates – made by rail, they often included the “whistlestops,” small stations the train normally would bypass unless signaled to stop.) Sousa was one of the first musicians to negotiate royalty payments with publishers, and an important advocate of copyright reform.

[This article is excerpted from American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3 by Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman, published by Oxford University Press, copyright (2003, 2007), and offered in an abridged edition by the Bureau of International Information Programs.]