How Has Technology Influenced Popular Music In The 19th Century?

Throughout the late nineteenth century to the present, the music industry has experienced groundbreaking changes due to technological advancements. From the introduction of sheet music in the nineteenth century to the modern age of iPod’s and digital downloads, each technological advancement has brought new styles of music with new forms of business, all while reaching a broader audience. While popular music was originally produced for specific geographical regions, technological advances have allowed distribution of popular songs to reach the masses on a national and international level. Developing technology has influenced popular music in the early twentieth century by changing musical style from simplistic tunes to complex layered compositions,

by broadening distribution from local to mass market, and by shifting America’s view of music from limited, selective availability to a common national household commodity (Week 1, Lecture 2)
From the start of American popular music until the mid nineteenth century, American popular music was derived from European roots.

The first known musical songs were passed down orally from generation to generation. Due to the need for memorization, songs were short and simplistic and composers put a prominence on percussion. The musical style of this era consisted of ballads and dance music. Ballads were popular during this time because they featured simplistic tunes that people could recognize and easily replicate on their own. Since no form of recording a song was available at this time, many songs never left the city or town they originated in and featured themes that were central to the hometown. With the invention of the printing press, the invention of sheet music became the first step in the timeline of musical technological advancements. Sheet music provided a way for people to not only distribute their songs to other cities but also provided a way for new styles of music to reach new populations. Fresh ways of combining cords created many different types of music, and the meter, melody and rhythm of songs grew more diverse. With sheet music, songs were able to become more complex and were seen for the first time as a valuable commodity. Popular themes included family, country and common daily

life.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, song popularization became centralized in New York City. Here, the Tin Pan Alley Era began which dominated the music industry for more than seventy years and featured the modern American music business that sought to offer the latest “hits” to the urban mass market. The sheet music industry boomed and for the first time in history, a single song could sell more than a million copies. Sheet music could be purchased from various locations including specialty stores and department stores.
The next phenomenal invention in the music industry was the cylinder phonograph in 1877. This landmark invention by Tomas Edison marked the first time the human voice was successfully recorded. Then in 1887 the flat gramophone disc was introduced, which proved to be cheaper and more durable than the phonograph. It was not until 1902 that the commercial possibilities were discovered when singer Enrico Caruso released a series of recorded opera arias. This started the era of discs. The popularity of these phonographs steadily increased with the introduction of the nickel jukebox, up to the years before World War I. These machines were eventually set up in public places and allowed the public to play the latest hits for a nickel.
Once the easy accessibility of music was realized, the phonograph and later the gramophone were sold in local stores. The phonograph in the home was a symbol of upward mobility. This gave people the choice to select their favorite singers and marked the first time artists were able to become popular, and “musical celebrities” arose. Musical style during this time consisted of Ragtime and Big Band. Songs could now be heard in the home, and the music industry quickly took off in middle American homes. Faster modes of transportation allowed musicians to travel and access new audiences. Amplification allowed for larger concert venues to sell inexpensive tickets to a wider and more diverse audience. Inexpensive Reproduction and new technological development from the cylinder to the record player to radio broadcast allowed musicians to invade the homes of their audience and become instant celebrities.
In the 1920s, the introduction of the radio and sound film brought huge changes to the music industry. The industry had already shifted from relying on sheet music to phonographs, but now the radio network added new competition. This was due to the creation of electric recordings using the microphone. The microphone allowed singers to produce new effects in song, including the feeling of intimacy between the singer and audience. This also introduced a new style of music. Songs could now be produced with mellow tones and emotions because the singer did not have to shout through the megaphone as the only amplification source.
A clear example of the influence technology has had on song development and performance is illustrated by the contrast between April Showers by Al Jolson and My Blue heaven by Gene Austin.

Despite these two songs being recorded only a few years apart and both featuring the same song structure, their distinct differences can be attributed to the singers’ adaptation to using the microphone. For the song April Showers recorded in 1921, Jolson was used to singing without a microphone, and therefore he was used to having his voice fill a large space with sound. When listening to the recording, his voice is clearly dominant over the instruments and his words are easily understandable and come across strongly while having little static in the

recording.
In contrast, My Blue Heaven, recorded in 1924, features the newly invented microphone. The microphone allowed Austin to create the feeling of intimacy with the listener by keeping his voice to a whisper. This created a new music style that soon became popular with the public because the songs were now able to feature more emotion than ever before. However, early microphone songs, much like My Blue Heaven, featured heavy static frequencies but this problem was soon diminished from recordings as technology continued to increase.
Due to the invention of the radio, the music industry became increasingly decentralized. Music was not restricted to big cities like New York and Chicago. People could enjoy the same music no matter where they lived because the radio could go anywhere. The radio also had an impact on the musical experience and social habits of Americans. The musical experience was now available to a greater number of people and allowed them to enjoy a wider range of programming. It linked small towns to big cities and provided a source of excitement for working people. It soon became the most important medium for promoting songs and artists and for using music to sell other products (Week 2, Lecture 3)
Technology clearly played a primitive role in developing popular music in the early twentieth century. With the invention of sheet music, cylinders, discs, microphone and the radio, the music industry continues to boom. This has laid the foundation for the dominant place that music will have in people’s daily life due to the increasing accessibility. While music was once restricted to a specific geographical location, technology advancements moved it from special events to the household and eventually from the household to the individual due to its increasing portability.