Duke Ellington

When thinking of a Classical music concert, the first thing that comes to mind is orchestra. That was not the case on the concert that I attended to. I was able to attend a small performance by a single musician from Juilliard 's school of performing arts. The musician performed works from notable composers such as: Robert Schumann, Leos Janacek and J.S Bach. The instrument of choice by the musician was a viola. The location was very discrete. I have been in school for over 6 months and I was…

After the post –Civil War Reconstruction period ended in 1876 and for much of the nineteenth century the black community was in constant migration. White supremacy was precedent across the South, intimidation, violence and lynching of black southerners were not uncommon practices. Segregationist policies known as Jim Crow became the law of the land. Southern blacks were forced to make their living working the land as part of the sharecropping system, which inevitably offered very little in the…

Technology through the years has changed the way that music is acquired and enjoyed. In history, music evolved over time and the introduction of instruments began humans’ love affair with music. Recorded music has changed significantly over the last few decades. People express themselves through music. Music can describe or explain who you are as person. Changes in sound have changed society. In history, in 325 C.E. Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire…

The twenties were a time when everyone and everything was changing. The twenties brought many different changes, like changes in fashion, music, laws, literature, technology, and overall lifestyles of people and how they lived. The twenties were also a time when the country was just becoming rich after WW1. With that, the use of cars skyrocketed. Everyone was starting to get a car, whether it was the inexpensive Model T, or a fancy, yellow Rolls Royce. After the eighteenth amendment was…

In New Orleans the origin of black population was diverse, being most of the time the western part of Africa or the Caribbean. It is in this diverse cultural context in which originated the appearance of musical styles as diverse as Jazz, Cajun music, Zydeco and blues. In many areas of the South of America the drumbeat was prohibited by law, in places like Georgia and it was forbidden the use of any musical instrument for part of the slaves. However in the early 19th century music festivals…

One of those ways are all of them have collaborated with other people. Martha has worked with Isamu Noguchi who stages sets. He helped Martha collaborate on her solo piece, Frontier. Alvin Ailey has collaborated with musician, Duke Ellington and choreographer, Talley Beatty in his piece, “My People: First Negro Centennial”. David Parsons worked with his long last friend, Milton Nascimento to create Nascimento Novo. “It 's true that many artists prefer to create alone, but sometimes…

("Harlem Renaissance Music", 2012) Jazz was a source of entertainment that wasn 't expensive to go to so everyone could enjoy it. Jazz was an improvised type of music, so two performances would never be the same. Most of the time Jazz musicians (Duke Ellington & Louis Armstrong) played in clubs like the Cotton Club. The Cotton clubs showcased the black musicians to the whites and for once the white Americans couldn’t look away from the talent black people had. Another source of entertainment was…

Jazz is a music genre that has characteristic qualities like swing, interaction by a group, slow beats and has its origins in New Orleans. Jazz came into existence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Jazz has a fusion of African, European and American beats and instruments hence making it a unique type of music. During that time, New Orleans was the only place in the “New world” that allowed black people to own drums. This greatly contributes to the rise of Jazz in that they were able to…

A terrible mistake started something big and strong. Racism has gone on for decades and it was something normal. Nobody said anything about it and even slaves themselves. They didn’t make it a big riot. They didn’t have the right. They were nothing for the “yankees.” So the slaves started something different. Something quiet but loud. They sang! They wrote songs about their slave life and racism that they had to see every day. Their songs had different codes that only, but only they could…

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that lasted between the 1920s and 1930s. In more depth, this movement consisted of artistic explosions, including music, writing, and many others that helped African Americans emerge into a virtually white nation. The Harlem Renaissance was the only place of the 20th century where “racial solidarity was equated with social progress, and where the idea of blackness became a commodity in its own right.” . It is questioned however, that if the impact…