Genre's of music and dance
Music dominated the streets of cities during this era and with the rise of immigration, the field of music became more diverse and turned to be more energetic and expressive. Genres of music such as jazz, blues, and ragtime dominated the music entertainment industry and would become very iconic genres when representing the times of Americans experiencing more individual freedom. "Joplin was an innovator whose deceptive, irregular rhythms and nuanced harmonic language helped define the trajectory of American music during a time of rapid change and flux."1 The celebration and expression of music was very contagious in the American culture and how people were able to represent their feelings during their free time. For instance, the genre of Jazz was created in New Orleans and the south, but it still had a huge impact on those that were living in New York City as people in the north were also celebrating with Jazz music. Music was very important for creating the American culture when it came to celebration but music also defined many regions of America strictly based on the music played in these regions. But overall, music helped show the diversity and the acceptance in American society. By accepting the implementations of foreign music, many Americans loved and appreciated these new styles of music and implemented it into their own daily lives including during ceremonies or just in their own free time.
Not only did these genres of Music prosper and evolve, but so did their dance counterparts which also began to become popular within celebrations and dance halls as well as the higher class emphasizing their expressions through these new dance genres. Such as how mass production of movies would lead to the creation of movie theaters, with new genres of dances and music on the rise of popularity, ballrooms became very popular and was used a lot more frequently during this time as well but not for the victorian dance traditions, but for the new modernistic dances such as the innovative and influential swing, tap dancing, and vaudeville dances. Dancing was a great way for people to feel happy and connect with others by dancing and the new genres of dancing such as the flapper, the charleston, and others changed the way of how Americans spent time with others and within other groups such as parties or with loved ones.
These new genres of music never would've been possible if it weren't for the rapid immigration and the free expression of other cultures within America. For instance most of the popular genres of music that dominated the music industry such as Jazz and Ragtime, all came from a descendant of African and African American influence and during the late 1800's dances like the waltz was also very popular which originated from some eastern European countries. "African-American musical traditions mixed with others and gradually jazz emerged from a blend of ragtime, marches, blues, and other kinds of music. At first jazz was mostly for dancing. (In later years, people would sit and listen to it.)"2 So by the turn of the 20th century, the diversity and amount of different genres of both music and dances really flourished and it gave lots of more diversity for the American culture during these times and it gave Americans more options to choose in terms of dancing on their own time or with others.
1 Downes, Lara. “Reconsidering Scott Joplin's 'The Entertainer'.” NPR. NPR, February 7, 2022. https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2022/02/07/1078314203/reconsidering-scott-joplins-the-entertainer.
2 Meusem, Smithsonian. “What Is Jazz?” National Museum of American History, March 10, 2020. https://americanhistory.si.edu/smithsonian-jazz/education/what-jazz#:~:text=African%2DAmerican%20musical%20traditions%20mixed,sit%20and%20listen%20to%20it.