ABSTRACT
The essays in this collection reflect the range and depth of musical life in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century. Contributions consider the rise and triumph of popular forms such as jazz, swing, and blues, as well as the contributions to art music of composers such as Ives, Cage, and Copland, among others. American contributions to music technology and dissemination, and the role of these forms in extending the audience for music, is also a focus.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter Chapter 2|31 pages
Ticklers' Secrets
Ragtime Performance Practices, 1900–1920—A Bibliographic Essay
chapter Chapter 3|54 pages
Mapping the Blues Genes
Technological, Economic, and Social Strands—A Spectral Analysis
chapter Chapter 4|32 pages
Some American Firms and their Contributions to the Development of the Reproducing Piano
chapter Chapter 5|34 pages
Dances, Frolics, and Orchestra Wars
The Territory Bands and Ballrooms of Kansas City, Missouri, 1925–1935
chapter Chapter 6|21 pages
Thomas A. Dorsey and the Development and Diffusion of Traditional Black Gospel Piano
chapter Chapter 8|49 pages
The Art of Noise
John Cage, Lou Harrison, and the West Coast Percussion Ensemble
1
chapter Chapter 9|35 pages
Melville Smith
Organist, Educator, Early Music Pioneer, and American Composer
chapter Chapter 10|22 pages
Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra
High, Middle, and Low Culture, 1937–1954
chapter Chapter 11|26 pages
Cinema Music of Distinction
Virgil Thomson, Aaron Copland, and Gail Kubik
chapter Chapter 12|36 pages
The New Tin Pan Alley
1940s Hollywood Looks At American Popular Songwriters
