Dominic Vautier 1/7/2011
Early popular music really started up in 1892. It's only medium was sheet music. Some comments:
Market. The music market developed mainly in New York using many sources available there. The main sources were Minstrelsy, Vaudeville and Broadway.
Population increase. A baby boom had an immediate effect on early music because it created a giant consumer market. People moved to the cities in great numbers. There was need for entertainment along with work.
Immigrants. A good proportion of the immigrant population got involved in the music industry. They were musicians to begin with.
Pianos were the media for music. Piano peddlers from Kimball, Steinway, and many other companies avidly sold to the public, offering low terms, credit and happiness. The piano became the symbol of American cultural achievement.
Dancing was a fundamental extension of the musical experience. During this time the country was in the grip of dance fever, with the one step, the two step, the slow waltz and the fox trot. Slow waltzes dominated the scene.
Sex entered the scene by 1909 as a conspicuous element of popular music. Carefully camouflaged behind ambiguous words, metaphor and fuzzy meanings the sheet music industry was able to lead the way out of Victorian claustrophobia.
Women’s Rights and popular music became closely associated as also were women’s clothing styles, recreational habits, and conduct. The music of the day transmitted through sheet music encouraged independence and self-awareness among women. Bicycles and bloomers led the way.
Sheet Music became the life blood of music. There developed an elaborate distribution system as well as organized groups of promoters called pluggers, who acted as a successful form of advertisement.