In Search of the Real America

Erin Dixon-Gonzalez
American Music in the 20th century, as a concept, defies a singular definition- mostly due
to its fluid nature. Looking back from now, we can identify some sense of what American Folk
sounds like by pointing to Appalachian Spring and similar works, but these came about after a
long developmental process. In the early 1900s, Jazz was beginning to become a more widely
accepted art form, though it still was labeled in racist fashion as savage and uncivilized. In
time, it did become a part of mainstream American music, but it took a long process. As it
became more developed, many composers began to investigate whether it had application in
symphonic music. However, this connection was rarely made from American to American- Jazz
musicians influenced the French composers, who then taught these influences to American
Orchestral Composers. The development of Appalachian sounds by composers came later, as
the American experience focused less on the explosive culture of the roaring twenties and
became heavily influenced by the Great Depression.
The connection that most surprised me from reading this text is that I now have a much
greater appreciation for the Kanye West + Jay Z song N****s in Paris. I assumed that namedropping a big city was just a way to demonstrate money and prestige (a technique common in
contemporary Rap and Hip-Hop), but there is significant historical context to it, particularly in
reference to Kanyes career. Taruskin uses the example of Josephine Baker [1] to discuss this
social and artistic movement of Americans in Paris. Many black performers in the United
States found themselves unable to gain proper recognition and support in face of racial
discrimination; many of these performers instead found success in the bustling Parisian artistic
culture. Josephine Baker moved to Paris in the 1920s [2] and became wealthy and successful due
to her provocative dance performances that werent acceptable from a black woman in the
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United States. While Kanye West had already gained recognition for his music by the time
N****s in Paris hit the charts, he had similarly been unable to break into the American Fashion
industry. In interviews with SHOWStudio and others, Kanye has remarked on the sense that
there is not room for the black guy in the fashion world [3] The context, then, of name dropping
Paris as his city to escape to is much more significant than just prestige- this is a way of calling
back to a long tradition of black artists finding the support they deserve outside of the racial
prejudices of the United States.
We have questioned in class several times, both in reference to the Ross text and other
sources, what point there is to studying music as historical context. Learning to read artistic
movements as reflections of social changes is incredibly useful to understanding how societies
have changed, and how they have failed to change. The United States has made meaningful
progress in racial equality since the days of segregation and Jim Crow, and yet we still see black
artists making the same journey to Paris to find the success denied to them here. By
understanding these artistic trends, we can see a reflection of a society that has not yet entirely let
go of its racially charged past.
The Ross text spends a lot of time discussing the folk music and Nationalist music of
different nations in relation to the Modernist movement: Stravinsky and Shostakovich in the
USSR, Strauss in Germany, Dvorak in the Czech Republic, and Copland and Gershwin in
America. In each of these cases, we can see a search for national identity in the face of a quickly
changing world, particularly with regards to Shostakovich. His conflicts with the RAPM and
Stalin compared with the changes in his musical style are incredible insight to the emotional state
of people living in the USSR. The Taruskin text gives a similarly detailed look into how
Gershwin and Copland reflected the culture of the United States in the 20th century. The use of
Jazz in symphonic form, the presence of Modernist ideas in commercial music, and the eventual

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development of the Prairie Sound are all cultural touchstones that help us understand American
History in the same way that Lady Macbeth, NeoClassicism, and Irony in composition can help
us understand the Soviet Union.
Aaron Copland was born in Brooklyn in 1900, and like many American composers, he
studied under Nadia Boulanger [4] He was part of what Taruskin refers to as the Boulangerie [5],
the French-influenced American School of music. Although he had some early success with his
orchestra pieces, he faced anti-Semitic discrimination even in the US. His use of jazz influences
in symphonic music was labeled as degrading to the form, savage even. This is important to
realize, since although many Jewish Germans fled to the US to escape persecution, AntiSemiticism was still present. Copland did find much greater success after abandoning jazz forms
post-WWII- instead he began to develop Anglo-folklorism by composing music to celebrate
Americana Icons like Billy the Kid and Abraham Lincoln. Where Soviet nationalist music might
celebrate a faceless everyman, American nationalist music now exalts a lone cowboy figure,
reliant on no one but himself. The influence of the great depression is clear here- US audiences
have no more stomach for glorifying industrialism or grand displays; all that is left to celebrate is
the lone man, surrounded by dust and bones, living off only his will and grit.
Gershwin found a different path to the mainstream- Broadway. Despite also being Jewish,
Gershwin did not face the same levels of discrimination that Copland did. He worked his way up
in the Tin Pan Alley music shops that had already wholly accepted Jewish artists, writing songs
and scores for stage productions from a young age [6]. He made splashes in orchestral music
with Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris by fusing jazz elements into symphonic music
more successfully than many of his contemporaries (including Copland). This appealed greatly to
composers like Ravel and Dvorak who also thought jazz had a place in sophisticated music.
Jazz music already had a high level of sophistication of course; the wealthy upper class simply

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meant they wanted jazz without having to listen to black musicians, and Gershwin was the best
option.
Gershwins and Coplands success of course comes with several questions, particularly
about the authenticity of folk music and national identity. In the Ross text we have discussed in
length Stravinksys Rite of Spring, and all of the Primitivist imagery it came with. Stravinksy
made an honest attempt at depicting themes that related to Russian Folklore- fascination with
nature and wildness, the loss of innocence in the woods- but it was all packaged in costumes and
tropes entirely based on stereotypes of Native North Americans. Can we really consider this
Folklore if the composer has used archetypal images to describe a culture they do not fully
understand? In a similar vein, Gershwins most famous opera Porgy and Bess is meant to
describe something that Gershwin had some familiarity with- life in poverty in post-war
America. However, he chose to tell it through the lens (and dialect!) of black characters. While
the plot itself is not overtly offensive, many people took issue with the portrayal of Black
Americans in the show. The use of Religion, Poverty, and most importantly accents came off as
exploitive and stereotypical. This faces us with a similar question to Rite of Spring- is this really
Folk Music? Gershwin is certainly remembered as a quintessentially American composer. Yet we
cannot ignore that this influential and successful work of art seems to be degrading to the people
it seeks to celebrate. Such is the central conflict of so many Nationalist works- we cannot
separate the music from the perceptions of the composer and the audience.
The unifying theme of the entire chapter seems to be one of identity through music. In
learning the historical context of these works, I am led to reflect on the music I experience and
find identity in. Do we have folk music anymore? Genre guidelines tell us that Folk music is
making a comeback in the sounds of Mumford and Sons, the Decemberists, Bon Iver but none
of these entirely fit the cultural description of Folk Music. I certainly find a sense of identity in

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some kinds of music, but not from a cultural standpoint- none of the music I love makes me feel
American or White or Irish. I wonder if there exists any music that a majority of American
citizens could say represents their culture accurately and honestly.

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