AFRICAN-AMERICAN'S MUSIC:WORK SONGS GOSPEL, BLUES, RAGTIME AND JAZZ

Africa-American people need to espress themselves through the music. They are a culture very musical. From African roots they conserved a powerful rhytm, mean while they learned from Western culture the traditional harmony. In a music class we are studying different examples of African-American music.

 The work songs were the songs that the African-American slaves sang in their jobs. 

African-American people are also very religious. In their churches they sing spirituals or gospel songs. In these songs they express their joy of believe in God.

Blues is a word that means sadness, nostalgia or malancholy. In African-American music, a blues is a sad, nostalgoc and melancholic song. These songs are profanes, not religious, and they talk about life and problem of African-American people.

Ragtime is a music piece for piano solo. It is characterised by his particular rhytm ( a 'rag' rhytm). Ragtime music in cafes, bars, restaurants and also in cinemas, in the movies without sound.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY

In music class, we are sutdyng African-American music. We will listen work songs, spirituals, blues, ragtime and jazz. To understand them we have to know the terrible history of African-American people.
From 1500 to 1800 a lot of African people were kidnapped and forced to be slaves. African slaves were sold in American countties like Cuba, Jamaica, Brazil and United States.

Slaves were obligated to work in the worst jobs, mainly in the cotton and sugar fields. They were trated like animals, how if they were not human beings. African slaves had to forget their names, their religions and their culture.

During 19th Century, slavery was forbidden in American Countries. In United States, Abraham Lincoln was the president that freed thr slaves. Form then, African-American are free.

But they did not have the same rights, and suffered episodes of racism. It was necessary the fight of more perople, like Malcom X or Martin Luther King, to realise the civil equality.

CINEMA AND AVANT-GARDE ART

Avant-garde art wants to show and represent the life of the modern world (technology, speed, social movements, etc.) In music class, we have studied two different types of avant-garde art:

- Abstract art: the central trait of abstract art is that it does not portray realistic images.

Surrealistic art: the central trait of surrealistic art is that it wants to represent the dreams logic.

Cinema also was influenced by avant-garde art. We have abstract and surrealistic movies. In comparison with painting, cinema offers us the movement.

An example of abstract movie:

An example of a surrealistic movie:

GEORGE MÉLIÈS

George Méliès was a famous illusionist and magician that worked in Paris. When he discovered the cinematograph, he thought that it had many possibilities as a show.

Méliès used the cinematograph to make magic tricks:

Méliès also filmed fantastic stories, with sets, actors and actresses, scripts, make-up and wardrobe. He imagined fantastic plots, like a trip to the moon:

Finally, he configured a new show conception with the cinematograph. Films had to be watched in a movie theatre with live music. A pianist or an orchestra played accompaniment music with images. For all these reasons, George Méliès is one of the greatest filmmakers in history.
In the "invention of Hugo", we can see the life and works of Méliès.

THE CINEMATOGRAPH: CINEMA IS BORN

In 1895 the Lumière Brothers invented the cinematograph. this machine can film or record images in motion.

What did the Lumière Brothers film? Quotidian activities in Paris, in 1895. For instance:
- A little boy eating.
- Workers getting out of the factory.
- Builders destroying a wall.
- Men playing cards.

But the Lumière Brothers also filmed humorous gags. Like this:

Lumière Brothers' films are very short and limited (whithout colour and sound).

But they are very important because they were the permit us to know the past.

Cinema also works as a historic document.

The recorder music

In 1877 Thomas Alva Edison invented the pgonograph. This machine can record the sound and the music.

This fact was very important because with the recording, the music can be preserved.
There are different examples of early recorded music:

After that, it was invented the gramphone, the machine that can reproduce the recorded music. Ancient gramphones were very big and they only could reproduce a few minutes of music.

From then on, reproducer machines have developed a lot. Nowdays, music reproducers are smaller and they can reproduce hours of musics.

Who am i?

Hi, my name is Didac, I live in Ametlla de Mar. I like play footbal, play videogames and listening to music.

In this blog I am going to explain what I have learned in music class at High school about music and cinema.

But also I am going to share with you my favourite music and my favourite videoclips. For instance, nowdays I like rap music because i like listening battle rap and songs.

Also, I want to share the type of films whay I like. Nowdays, I like horror and comedy films.