The first American music belonged to the Native Americans who lived on the continent long before Columbus set sail searching for a new route to India. Some composers (including MacDowell) tried to incorporate elements of American Indian music into their own compositions in an effort to achieve a sense of American nationalism. But the United States later became a melting pot of immigrants from all over the world, as each group brought their culture with them. As they assimilated, their food, art, language, and music were absorbed into the larger American landscape, creating a unique national identity.
By the middle of the 19th century, the majority of European immigrants to the U.S. had come from Western Europe, particularly the British Isles and, to a lesser extent, Germany and Scandinavia, bringing with them a desire to create a musical climate equivalent to that in Europe. Symphonies and choral societies were established in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. Nevertheless, until Leonard Bernstein took over the New York Philharmonic in the 1940’s, European born and trained conductors led all of the major symphony orchestras in the United States. During this period, American composers felt the need to hone their skills in Paris or Rome.
In New England, the bands of the era (see John Philip Sousa above) forged a strong sense of identity for American music. While this music was not too far removed from its predecessor, the “oom-pah” of German and English bands, its particularly character inspired the first truly American composer of the 20th century, Charles Ives.
The true American music forms were created away from the cities, in the Appalachians, the Western frontier, and the South. In the Appalachian mountains, immigrants, primarily from the British Isles, brought their music with them. Years of isolation in the hills and hollows led to a unique culture that inspired a style of music known as “bluegrass”.
Cattlemen, farmers, and fortune hunters settled on the Western frontier, bringing their music with them. The music often consisted of one lonely cowboy singing to his cattle to soothe them at night, or a father playing dances (often variations of Irish or Scandinavian dances) for his family late at night to dance around a candle-lit room. This music became the basis for what would become known as Western, or Country & Western music.
But it was the South that the made greatest contribution to the American musical landscape. Southern music was influenced primarily by the musical style of the African slaves who worked the plantations. As the slaves adopted the religion of their white owners, they developed their own worship services and music reflecting elements of the African culture. In particular, the call and response is found both in African music and in much of the music of the American South. In call and response, a leader sings a musical line that is answered by the rest of the participants. This feature is found in spirituals (the religious music of the slaves), in work songs (the songs that the slaves sang to make their work in the fields more bearable), and in blues (the music that gave voice to African-American frustration with life in post-Civil War America). Another facet of African music found in much music of the American South, particularly blues and jazz, is a rhythmic complexity (syncopation, polyrhythms) foreign to European music. By the turn of the 20th century, American music was ready to assume its place in world.