Research Analytic Response

American music really didn't change much from the European music that they were rooted in for quite some time. Until the blues became more prominent in the 1900's, American popular music remained the same for an extended period of time. People used the same music over and over for worship and social gatherings. This might have been the cause of the music that came later, like blues and jazz. There had been so much repetition before that people really liked the idea of improvisation in music. Both blues and jazz have roots in African and American music, so without both of these cultures, this music would never have been formed. Without this music, there would not only be much less of the music we have today, but less cultural connection between whites and blacks. Contributions from musicians like Ma Rainy led to the rise of the blues in America. She was only one of the musicians who helped the blues gain popularity in the early 1900's, and her music, along with her contemporaries, led to early New Orleans jazz. This jazz evolved from playing blues in a swing style to playing more and more complicated big band arrangements and exploring the boundries of harmony, rhythm, and the different textures that a band can create in smaller combos. While big band leaders wrote music that is still often played today, much of the progress in jazz today is in the form of smaller combos, consisting of two or three musicians in a rhythm section and a few soloists, usually playing saxophones or trumpets. The development of bebop led not only to a more advanced, complex form of jazz, but it led to more cultual connection among African Americans that helped begin the civil rights movement. I believe that without this style of music, the civil rights movement would have been significantly less effective.