Tin Pan Alley Research Paper

The beginning of the twentieth century beheld the rise of new art forms and styles in North America that reflected the transformation of society and the creation of new ideas. The growing cities of in the north east were places that possessed wonder and amazement, but also darkness and muck. Artists and writers were finding inspiration from the common and poverty stricken populations that survived in the hovels of major cities like New York and Philadelphia. The Ashcan School of Art was a prominent art movement that shared the same inspiration of urban life expressed in plays and music of the time and was also impacted by the values of the spiritual movement of Transcendentalism while it also documented the evolution of the city of New York into one of America’s leading capitals. The Ashcan School of Art was developed in the early twentieth century which painted harsh and gritty scenes of everyday life in New York City. The art movement rebelled against the common art works of the time

New York City during the twentieth century was the core for publishing and writing music. Tin Pan Alley in the 1900’s of New York City was the place where many artists came together to create and publish music. The street was filled with a cacophony of diverse instruments playing which sounded like tin pans banging together, hence the catchy name, Tin Pan Alley. Tin Pan Alley was made up of a collection of various musical concoctions. Many different styles of music encompassed the collection making it a way to escape everyday life and a popular form of entertainment. A decade later, jazz music would catch the attention of the publics hear with Louis Armstrong sounding his trumpet in jazz bands and W.C Handy tickling the ivory keys in “St. Louis Blues” (1914). These songs and musicians became popular sources of entertainment and made their way into salons, vaudeville shows, theatres, and many places of