Music geography

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Music geography is a sub-field within both urban geography and cultural geography. Music geography is the study of music production and consumption as a reflection of the landscape and geographical spaces surrounding it. It became evident that individuals associate music with space. [1]

Historically, music was purely an oral tradition that was replaced by the introduction of radio broadcasting in the 1920's. [2] Folk music was the first genre of music to be researched and analyzed by scholars due to its nature of movement across regions in its style.

John Connell suggests links between:

music, tradition and authenticity, reinvented in the public space of the city; it demonstrates how technological changes (notably the digitization of music) have informed local music production, generated new home recording cultures and small scale entrepreneurialism. [3]

John Strait's studies of the migration of blues in the Mississippi Delta shows the association of and circulation of musical culture across the globe. [4]

Related Research Articles

Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American culture. The blues form is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, and is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, the blues scale, and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blue notes, usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch, are also an essential part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ballad</span> Verse set to music

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French chanson balladée or ballade, which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Europe, and later in Australia, North Africa, North America and South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human geography</span> Study of cultures, communities, and activities of peoples of the world

Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography that studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment, examples of which is studied in schools are urban sprawl, urban redevelopment etc. It analyzes spatial interdependencies between social interactions and the environment through qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms popular music and pop music are often used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular and includes many disparate styles. During the 1950s and 1960s, pop music encompassed rock and roll and the youth-oriented styles it influenced. Rock and pop music remained roughly synonymous until the late 1960s, after which pop became associated with music that was more commercial, ephemeral, and accessible.

Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States and United Kingdom. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the blues and rhythm and blues genres of African-American music and from country music. Rock also drew strongly from a number of other genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical, and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock has centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar, drums, and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a 4
4
time signature
using a verse–chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock was the most popular genre of music in the United States and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnomusicology</span> Study of the cultural aspects of music

Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dimensions or contexts of musical behavior, in addition to the sound component. Within musical ethnography it is the first-hand personal study of musicking as known as the act of taking part in a musical performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doo-wop</span> Style of rhythm and blues music

Doo-wop is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Detroit, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles. It features vocal group harmony that carries an engaging melodic line to a simple beat with little or no instrumentation. Lyrics are simple, usually about love, sung by a lead vocal over background vocals, and often featuring, in the bridge, a melodramatically heartfelt recitative addressed to the beloved. Harmonic singing of nonsense syllables is a common characteristic of these songs. Gaining popularity in the 1950s, doo-wop was "artistically and commercially viable" until the early 1960s, but continued to influence performers in other genres.

Given the vastness of the African continent, its music is diverse, with regions and nations having many distinct musical traditions. African music includes the genres amapiano, Jùjú, Fuji, Afrobeat, Highlife, Makossa, Kizomba, and others. African music also uses a large variety of instruments across the continent. The music and dance of the African diaspora, formed to varying degrees on African musical traditions, include American music like Dixieland jazz, blues, jazz, and many Caribbean genres, such as calypso and soca. Latin American music genres such as cumbia, salsa music, son cubano, rumba, conga, bomba, samba and zouk were founded on the music of enslaved Africans, and have in turn influenced African popular music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of the United States</span>

The music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. It is a mixture of music influenced by the music of Europe, Indigenous peoples, West Africa, Latin America, Middle East, North Africa, amongst many other places. The country's most internationally renowned genres are traditional pop, jazz, blues, country, bluegrass, rock, rock and roll, R&B, pop, hip-hop/rap, soul, funk, religious, disco, house, techno, ragtime, doo-wop, folk, americana, boogaloo, tejano, reggaeton, surf, and salsa, amongst many others. American music is heard around the world. Since the beginning of the 20th century, some forms of American popular music have gained a near global audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English folk music</span> Tradition-based music originating in England

The folk music of England is a tradition-based music which has existed since the later medieval period. It is often contrasted with courtly, classical and later commercial music. Folk music traditionally was preserved and passed on orally within communities, but print and subsequently audio recordings have since become the primary means of transmission. The term is used to refer both to English traditional music and music composed or delivered in a traditional style.

When speaking of the music of Syria, it is important to remember that there are certain musical traditions and practices that have been present in Syria longer than others. There have been musical influences introduced into Syria through multiple eras of conquest and influences from surrounding cultures in modern-day Syria. Lying near Egypt and Israel, and connected to southern Europe by the Mediterranean, Syria became host to many distinct cultural musics through trade and route. The music present in Syria is related greatly to poetry, influenced greatly by the Bedouin nomadic tribes, the maqam system in Arabic classical music, as well as influenced greatly by the geopolitical movement and conflict in the Middle East. Syrian music generally has a singer who is accompanied by three or four instruments. The texture is usually thin but can become denser depending on the use of each instrument. Music is tightly linked to poetry in Syria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early British popular music</span>

Early British popular music, in the sense of commercial music enjoyed by the people, can be seen to originate in the 16th and 17th centuries with the arrival of the broadside ballad as a result of the print revolution, which were sold cheaply and in great numbers until the 19th century. Further technological, economic and social changes led to new forms of music in the 19th century, including the brass band, which produced a popular and communal form of classical music. Similarly, the music hall sprang up to cater for the entertainment of new urban societies, adapting existing forms of music to produce popular songs and acts. In the 1930s, the influence of American Jazz led to the creation of British dance bands, who provided a social and popular music that began to dominate social occasions and the radio airwaves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Punjab</span> Overview of music traditions in Punjab

Music of Punjab reflects the traditions of the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, currently divided into two parts: East Punjab, in India, and West Punjab, the most populous province of Pakistan. The Punjab has diverse styles of music, ranging from folk and Sufi to classical, notably the Patiala gharana. Contemporary Punjabi music has tended to include more modern hip-hop and R&B sounds. While this style of music is obviously most popular in Punjab, it has seen popularity across the subcontinent and areas with large Punjabi diaspora populations, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Here Northumbria is defined as Northumberland, the northernmost county of England, and County Durham. According to 'World Music: The Rough Guide', "nowhere is the English living tradition more in evidence than the border lands of Northumbria, the one part of England to rival the counties of the west of Ireland for a rich unbroken tradition. The region is particularly noted for its tradition of border ballads, the Northumbrian smallpipes and also a strong fiddle tradition in the region that was already well established in the 1690s. Northumbrian music is characterised by considerable influence from other regions, particularly southern Scotland and other parts of the north of England, as well as Irish immigrants.

Celtic rock is a genre of folk rock, as well as a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context. It has been extremely prolific since the early 1970s and can be seen as a key foundation of the development of highly successful mainstream Celtic bands and popular musical performers, as well as creating important derivatives through further fusions. It has played a major role in the maintenance and definition of regional and national identities and in fostering a pan-Celtic culture. It has also helped to communicate those cultures to external audiences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Texas</span> Culture of a U.S. state

The culture of Texas is often considered one of the major cultures influencing the greater American culture. Texas is one of the most populous and populated American states in its urban centers and has seen tremendous waves of migration out of the American North and West in contrast to its eastern neighbors in the Deep South. But it retains the regionalisms and distinct cultural identities of German Texan, Tejanos, Cajuns, Irish, African American, and White Southern enclaves established before the republic era and admission to statehood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pé de Serra</span> City in Northeast, Brazil

Pé de Serra is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Bahia. It is located in Sisaleira region, Microregion of Serrinha. It was emancipated on March 20, 1985, and the population according to IBGE was 13,556 in 2020. The territorial area is 597 km2.

The British folk revival incorporates a number of movements for the collection, preservation and performance of folk music in the United Kingdom and related territories and countries, which had origins as early as the 18th century. It is particularly associated with two movements, usually referred to as the first and second revivals, respectively in the late 19th to early 20th centuries and the mid-20th century. The first included increased interest in and study of traditional folk music, the second was a part of the birth of contemporary folk music. These had a profound impact on the development of British classical music and in the creation of a "national" or "pastoral" school and led to the creation of a sub-culture of folk clubs and folk festivals as well as influential subgenres including progressive folk music and British folk rock.

Mobilities is a contemporary paradigm in the social sciences that explores the movement of people, ideas and things (transport), as well as the broader social implications of those movements. Mobility can also be thought as the movement of people through social classes, social mobility or income, income mobility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motown (music style)</span> Genre of music

Motown, or the Motown sound, is a style of rhythm and blues music named after the record company Motown in Detroit, where teams of songwriters and musicians produced material for girl groups, boy bands, and solo singers during the 1960s and early 1970s. The music of Motown helped a small record company become the largest black American-owned enterprise in the country and a national music industry competitor in the United States.

References

  1. Warf, Barney. "Encyclopedia of Geography: Music and Sound, Geography and." SAGE Knowledge (2010): 1-7. Print.
  2. White, Billy D., and Frederick A. Day. "Country Music Radio and American Culture Regions." Journal of Cultural Geography 16.2 (1997): 21-35. Print.
  3. Connell, John, and Chris Gibson.Soundtracks: Popular Music, Identity and Place. London: Routledge, 2003. Print.
  4. Strait, John. "Experiencing Blues at the Crossroads: A Place-Based Method for Teaching the Geography of Blues Culture." Journal of Geography ( Houston) 111.5 (2012): 194-209. Print.

Further reading

[1] [2] [3] [4]

  1. Adam Krims.Music and Urban Geography. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group:New York, 2007.
  2. Roger Martínez Sanmartí. Taste in music as a cultural production.Barcelona: Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 2007
  3. Conell, J. and Gibson, C.Sound tracks: popular music, identinty and place.Routledge Taylor & Francis Group:New York, 2001
  4. Simone Krüger & Ruxandra Trandafoiu.The Globalization of Musics in Transit: Music Migration and Tourism