Chapter One
Music in Society
Early Music

People have created music to express
themselves since the beginning of human
societies.
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Oldest known instrument is a fragment of
a bone flute almost 43,000 years old.

Some scientists speculate that music
predated speech.
Diversity of Musical Styles

Music reflects the culture it is from

Music is passed down through an
apprenticeship system

Music is a reflection of social contexts
Diversity of Musical Styles

The diverse musical styles world wide are
shaped by
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Social conditions
Geographic conditions
Political conditions
Group philosophies
Language of Music

Music communicates that which cannot
be put into words

Music, like the other arts, allows us to
create works that reflect those feelings,
thoughts, ideas, and emotions that words
can’t capture
Musical Setting
Group or Individual?
Formal
Rock Concert
Symphony Concert
Religious Ceremony
Informal
Club or Bar
Street Corner
Living Room
Three Purposes of Music
•Ceremonial
Religious
Political
Social
•Utilitarian
Work Songs
Motivational Music
Background Music
•Art
Artistic Expression
Entertainment Music
Ceremonial Music

Weddings

Church/ synagogue/ temple/
mosque services

Inaugurations

Graduations

Funerals
Utilitarian Music
Sea Chanteys
Used to coordinate movement as sailors
raised and lowered the sails.
“Whiskey Is the Life of Man”
Even Rhythm
Simple Melody
Call and Response
Work Songs
Ghana Postal Workers
What sounds do you hear?
Art Music
•Music for “Its Own Sake”
•Music that “is”
NOT music that “does”
•Classical, jazz, fusion,
outsider, etc.
The Shakers

The Shakers began as a small band of dissenting
Protestants, led by Ann Lee. They became known
as the "Shaking Quakers" because when they bore
witness, their bodies shook and moved. In 1774,
Mother Ann and her followers left England and
emigrated to New York; from there, the movement
spread and flourished throughout the northeast and
as far west as Kentucky and Ohio. A community of
Believers still lives, committed to the Shaker life, at
Sabbathday Lake, Maine.
The Shakers

For the Shakers, good design
rested solely upon utility. "That
which in itself has the highest
use, possesses the greatest
beauty"- this Shaker adage sums
up their craftsmen's attitude
nearly a century before Chicago
architect Louis Sullivan voiced
the same concept-“form follows
function."
The Shakers

Shaker simplicity is nowhere more
evident than in chair design.
Outwardly straightforward, each
element of the design was carefully
considered for greatest efficiency in
use. Shaker chairs were famous for
being light in weight yet sturdy.
Because they were light they could
be hung on the walls while the
floors were being cleaned; their
sturdiness provided durability over
many years.
The Shakers

The trestle table had its
ancestry in early European
styles. Shakers transformed the
heavy, ornate style by narrowing
and lightening the trestle ends
to dimensions still sufficient for
rigidity and strength. The
variation they introduced
succeeds in combining beauty
and utility.
The Shakers

The Shakers understood that there was no
need to dress up a table with carved feet or
inlay. To do its job, the table only needed legs
and a top, intelligently designed and sturdily
constructed. Most designers and furniture
historians agree that the Shaker style was the
predecessor of the modern furniture
movement.
The Shakers
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Like their highly-prized crafts, their music was the
outward expression of their faith, celebrating their
ideals of simplicity and love. These are melodies
born directly of the Shakers’ spiritual life, yet deeply
rooted in the Anglo-American folk tradition.
Here is a folk instrument version of “Simple Gifts.”
The Shakers

The Quick Dance was introduced into Shaker
worship in 1811 and lasted into the 1870s. The
music was lively, and verses replaced the vocables.
Here is an instrumental version of a Quick Dance
(normally sung when performed by Shakers).
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
• Born in Brooklyn, New York
• First American Student of Nadia Boulanger,
Fontainebleau School, Paris
• Important Works from “American Period”
Rodeo
Billy the Kid
Old American Songs
12 Poems of Emily Dickinson
Fanfare for the Common Man
The Suite
• Renaissance Dance Pairs Early use of word meant a
group of dance pieces usually in pairs --Tanz and
Nachtanz
•The Baroque Suite 4 or 5 movements- Bach Cello
Suites
•Dramatic Suite An arrangement of excerpts from a
larger dramatic work--Nutcracker Suite; Appalachian
Spring
•Independent Suite A group of musically non-related
movements--The Planets; Grand Canyon Suite; Suite
Thursday
Appalachian Spring, Ballet for Martha
•Premiere
Library of Congress
October 30, 1944
13 Instruments
•New York Music Critics
Circle Award 1944-1945 Season
•Organized into a suite called
Appalachian Spring
Music That Has Changed Function
“Simple Gifts”
Ceremonial
Shaker Hymn
Utilitarian
Appalachian Spring: Ballet for Martha
Art
Suite from Appalachian Spring