Download African-Americans in Music History

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Many people do not realize just how influential African-Americans have been to the
growth of America and the culture of the United States. The United States is known as the
melting pot of America because of the blend of cultures. Not only do cultures blend, but one
culture influences the growth of another. As African-Americans moved more and more into the
country, via slavery and trying to find a new life, the lives of the people living in America
gradually changed. Through all kinds of mediums, such as music, the culture of AfricanAmericans began to show up more and more in the lives of average Americans. Over the
generations, the view of other cultures has changed. Composers like Scott Joplin and William
Grant Still emerged at a time where they were not considered equal. Jazz musicians like Louis
Armstrong and Duke Ellington were treated completely different than white musicians just
because of the color of their skin. Throughout this paper, the lives and times of influential
African-Americans will be brought into light. The discussion of composers and musicians
throughout this paper focuses on their music and how the environment around them and the time
influenced certain characteristics of their writing. The African-Americans discussed, Scott
Joplin, William Grant Still, and Florence Beatrice Price, all lived in a time much different from
the equality presented to Americans today.
Known as the “King of ragtime writers,” Scott Joplin is an African-American composer
who grew popularity through his famous ragtime pieces for piano. In his lifetime, Joplin never
felt like he received the recognition he deserved. Known to comment that he would not see
recognition till after his death, Joplin almost predicted his rise in popularity that would occur
nearly a quarter century after his death. His popularity grew to unprecedented acclaim between
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the 1940s and the 1970s as sort of a Joplin revival took hold. Joplin’s music flourished long after
his death. Though not known exactly, it is believed that Joplin was born within a year of the date
November 24, 1868 to Florence Givens and Giles Joplin in what would later be called Linden,
Texas. While his mother was born a free woman in Kentucky in 1841, Giles was born into
slavery in North Carolina around 1842. By 1880, Giles was working as a common laborer in
Texarkana with and six children, Scott Joplin being the second oldest (Berlin 3-6). All the
children were musical in some way due to Giles teaching them the violin and/or singing. Joplin’s
parents could be a large part of the reason for his musical talents due to his fathers violin skills.
Also, his mothers singing and banjo-playing could have contributed a large amount, later
influencing the specific style used in accompaniments in his works. (Gammond 28). In the mid80’s, Giles left the family to go live with another women, though still remaining in close contact
with the family, Some say that because of this, Joplin became more eager to travel and no longer
be stuck in one place (Berlin 7).
In the following years, Florence took on the new role as bread-winner, raising her
children and supporting the household doing domestic work. Joplin was an ambitious, serious
young man who constantly talked about his bright future. While doing work in some wealthy
homes of neighbors, Florence Joplin was able to arrange for Scott to play on the pianos, further
developing his love fir music. Around 1881, Florence had raised up enough money to purchase a
piano for the home. Joplin had the opportunity to study with several local music teachers,
including a German musician by the name of Julius Weiss. Weiss was so impressed with Joplin’s
potential that he gave him lessons for free, exposing him to European art and music. He saw
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Joplin as a grand performer and wanted to hone in on his talents and skills. Weiss is known as
being one of the most influential teachers for Joplin because he taught him to think of music not
just as entertainment, but as an art in and of itself (Berlin 7). Joplin was an all around musician
due to his experience working with various instruments, like the bugle in a local band, the banjo,
and the family guitar in his earlier years (Gammond 29). His musical career began as the leader
of a vocal quartet at age 16, which comprised of his brothers and other neighborhood boys. He
also played piano in local dance halls and taught the guitar and mandolin (Berlin 7). These first
years as a musician would turn out to influence the rest of his musical career.
Though it was believed that from here on, Joplin traveled around on his own, performing
in various venues throughout Texas and Louisiana as a pianist, it is not certain. It is certain
though that he witnessed many great musicians playing in a syncopated, “banjo-based style” that
he later formed into his own style of ragtime. While traveling around, it is believed that he would
spend hours playing at saloons and brothels, especially when no one cared about his age, and
even would play well into the night at small get-togethers long after the bars had closed for the
night. Around 1885, it is believed that he made his way to St. Louis, which had become a major
cultural melting pot since it’s earlier years as a trading post (Gammond 29-30). The time of his
arrival in St. Louis is often questioned, however, due to the uncertainty of his travels. It is know
that Joplin arrived in St. Louis and was impacted greatly by the environment around him. Music
in St. Louis was growing to be a thriving industry.
One of the only recorded events during his time as a traveling performer takes place in
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Texarkana. In the summer of 1891, he is listed a performer in the Texarkana Minstrels at their
premiere at Ghio’s Opera House. “Black-faced Minstrelsy” at the time was an invention of white
performers to make fun of African-American’s by painting their faces and acting out stereotypes
of the time in short skits. African-American’s began taking up the position as performers in order
to make money, which made the scenes all the more amusing to the white population of the time.
The event Joplin was involved in became a disgrace to African-American’s because the group
unknowingly performed for a benefit for a monument to be erected for Jefferson Davis, the
President of the Southern Confederacy (Berlin 9-11). This event is one of the only definite events
that show Joplin in one place. In 1885, however, there were reports of Joplin making
appearances at saloons and other venues, performing for small crowds as entertainment
(Gammond 30). It is often questioned that if in 1885 he arrived in St. Louis, why would he have
returned to Texarkana in 1891? At times, it is only guess work to try and record dates or places
of Joplin in his earlier years. It is, however, very clear that as he traveled, his music was
influenced by the musicians and people he came in contact with. By 1893, he had managed to
travel all around the south and even attended the World Fair in Chicago, performing as a pianist
and on the bugle in a small orchestra (Gammond 44). At the end of the fair, he found himself
landing right back in the south in Sedalia, Missouri (Berlin 12).
Sedalia became a springboard for the rest of Joplin’s career. Due to the environment of
the town, a place where music flourished and race did not matter as much in comparison to other
southern cities, Joplin was able to perform as musician in the local orchestra and as a solo
pianist. His compositional skills also began to grow in his short stint in Sedalia, which is often
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referred to as the home of Scott Joplin (Berlin 23). Joplin’s first publications, Please Say You
Will and A Picture of Her Face, which had music and lyrics by him, were not his best effort or
his best style. Polite, parlor-songs, these pieces were mature and professional, which gained him
respect and favor with the often disdainful and rude white population (Berlin 27). From then on,
Joplin composed music that would continuously gain him a strong reputation as a musician and
composer. Joplin often took it upon himself to guide many of the younger pianists in Sedalia,
having a strong dedication to education due to his study with Weiss in his younger years (Berlin
29-20). At the time, everyone was learning and composing rags, but due to his cultural
experiences and absorbed knowledge over the years, Joplin excelled above the rest. By 1897, he
had a clear idea in his mind of the music he wanted to create, blending together the musical
styles and primitive music he had heard in his travels. It was then that he composed his most
famous rag piece, Maple Leaf Rag (Gammond 60).
Knowing this piece would eventually earn him the label of “the King of ragtime,” he
sought to publish it as rags were growing in demand. Publishing his piece Original Rags before
Maple Leaf Rag, he slowly started to gain fame (Gammond 65). Upon his departure from Sedalia
in 1901, Joplin was already on his way to nationwide fame as the composer of the Maple Leaf
Rag. During this time, ragtime itself was spreading into the mainstream music of the youths of
the day, causing problems with the white musicians of the time, since black, ragtime musicians
were more in demand. But in a time where America was searching for a national music style,
there was no stopping the accelerated growth of popular music (Berlin 87-9). The wild activity
and syncopation created in rags may have scared conservatives, but the form was very familiar.
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Two larger sections divided into four subsections, the typical ragtime followed the
AABBA/CCDD form. Each “strain” featured the usual eight bar phrases grouped into a total of
16 measures per strain, repeated every time they occurred, which created a very symmetrical,
square shape to the music, typical of most piano pieces at the time (Nadeau 62).
Even in a time of opposition due to the wild style of ragtime, audiences craved the
entertainment. The typical performer today attempts to play a rag as fast as possible with the best
technique, but this is contrary to what Joplin believed rags should be about. Rags should be about
the rhythm and swing of the music. He believed they should be played at a moderate tempo,
similar to the tempo of a march, because they rhythms and the swing need to be felt and heard. In
common rags, there is major syncopation with the use of 8th notes, 16th notes, and dotted rhythms
in the right hand, with seldom appearances of triplets. Ragtime differs from other styles because
the syncopation is felt with extra accents on weaker parts of the beats. The mixture of these
syncopated patterns and the characteristically disconnected melody, as well as the use of a three
or more octave range, add to the ragtime style. Other characteristics, from the call and response
feel between the octaves and the left hand supporting and adding to the melody in various ways,
all make ragtime a unique style (Nadeau 57-60).
Scott Joplin not only wrote rags that followed these guidelines laid out by composers
before him, but he also laid down the foundation for future generations of composers by utilizing
his experiences in his life and knowledge he had gained. Joplin was a respected and sought after
composer because his style differed from those before him as he successfully fused together
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Afro-American elements with the European style of the time (Charters 178). One of the most
apparent elements that most likely is due to Joplin’s study with Weiss in his younger years is the
use of the “Scotch snap,” a sixteenth note followed by a dotted eighth note, which appeared in
Baroque music. This European musical element is seen throughout not only Joplin’s works, but
all rags of the time. The syncopated rhythms presented with the “Scotch snap” made the music
more upbeat and jaunty. The thing that makes this element most interesting is that it was
frequently used in Afro-American music as well. This supports the idea that ragtime is a
synthesis of the various styles presented by both cultures (Nadeau 59).
Another element seen in European music that appears in Joplin’s rags is the tonal
harmonies, predominately in a major key, that make up the music, as well as the lack of lots of
key changes. The non-chord tones and dissonances presented also are used as passing tones and
resolve to the typical pitches (Nadeau 61). These European elements blend seamlessly with the
use of the pentatonic scale and the mixture of major and minor scales in the melody. The
harmonies paired with the major use of tonic chords utilizes a lot of secondary-dominant-seventh
chords and diminished-sevenths that match up with the chromatics used in Negro folk songs. The
pentatonic emphasis is seen in Joplin’s first successful piece, Maple Leaf Rag, in the third strain
(Example 1). The 7th is buried in the texture. Not in the example, but in the music, is the left
hand using alternating major and minor thirds, another aspect of Negro folk music (Charters
176). Finally, the use of chromatic chords to set the tension and color between I-V-I resolutions
originated with string instruments, such as the ones Joplin learned early in his youth, the banjo
and mandolin (Charters 181). These subtle elements blended with the diatonic chords represent
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Joplin’s experience of fusing his European study of music with his experiences in the south and
younger years.
Example 1: Joplin, Maple Leaf Rag, mm. 51-54 (Charters 176).
To this day, Joplin remains a very influential composer. Though he did not reach the
recognition he deserved in his lifetime, he was still one of the most famous. But even back then,
musicians were not financially stable. Even at age forty-six, he was a still a grand musician,
offering lessons in Harlem to students willing to pay on the violin and piano. He became so
depressed and desperate for money at times that he attempted to sell his own music and originals.
Even in his time of desperation, he still managed to compose new works. These works, however,
were never fully published or performed. Joplin was even too poor for a studio of his own,
giving lessons at another musician’s home. He even dappled in making piano rolls of his own
pieces as a form of income. Though records are not very clear, it is believed that Joplin suffered
from a deteriorating disease known as dementia paralytica, which eventually led to Joplin having
major erratic behavior and destroying some of his own pieces (Berlin 234-8). After publishing
many piano pieces in his lifetime and even trying his hand in ragtime opera, Joplin died on April
1, 1917 in a mental ward in Manhattan (Berlin 240). Even his death seemed to attract little
attention in his lifetime, but today we think of him as one of the most influential piano
composers of all time. His compositions were just the mere beginnings of jazz, which laid the
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foundation for generations after him.
Scott Joplin was not the only African-American composer to work his way into an
already growing style or genre. Not necessarily known as the father of African-American
composition, William Grant Still is often referred to as “the Dean” of African-American
composers. Born on May 11, 1895, Still was the first born child of a well-respected family on a
country plantation named Piney Woods, partially owned by his father who shared the same
name. His parents were delighted to have such a beautiful baby boy within a year after their
marriage (Arvey 11). Still’s father was a strong man who grew up knowing controversy in the
small town of Woodville, but remained ambitious and respectful in everything he did. Having
graduated from Alcorn A&M College in Lorman, Mississippi, the elder Still was a fine musician
on the cornet and a solid mathematician. He went on to teach music and math at various schools
and even at his alma mater before becoming principal of a small school in Gloster, Mississippi.
Within a year of being married and giving birth to his son, the elder Still became
suddenly ill. Some believe it was not a natural cause, while others believe it to have been typhoid
fever or malaria. Either way, many believed it to be a curse placed upon him by a lower class
African-American because they disagreed with him acting as if he was better than the others. At
the age of merely twenty-four and having so much potential in life, William Grant Still, Sr. died,
leaving his newlywed wife and newborn son behind. According to the younger Still’s wife, he
always seemed to have an emptiness that plagued him, most likely due to the absence of his
father, whom everyone spoke so highly of (Arvey 10-2).
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Still’s mother, Carrie Fambro Still, was born onto a plantation before her mother was
freed from slavery. Even at the beginning of her life, Carrie did not know poverty. Being blood
related to the owners of the plantation, Carrie and her mother were able to live in the main house,
unlike the rest of the slaves. She did not know exactly what it was like to live in filthy
conditions, and even their life on the plantation was only brief before they were freed. Stories
told of her as a young child include her beating up other children for speaking rudely to her, as
well as her shouting that she would not “take anything from anybody.” As a very outspoken
child, she grew up into a very determined woman. She was ambitious and intelligent, putting her
above her classmates. Her scholastic records outshined all those around her, which led to her
attending Atlanta University. She showed musical talent as well by accompanying choral groups
on the organ and performing solos at various events. This eventually led to her taking up
teaching as a career, which is how she ended up meeting the elder Still (Arvey 8-10).
After the death of her husband, she decided it would be best to raise “Billy” elsewhere,
moving to Little Rock, Arkansas with her mother and sister (Arvey 13). Never being a servile
woman, Still’s mother moved up the ranks at her institutes of education, gaining respect of all
around her, including the white population. Due to her high reputation, Still’s youth was far from
the stereotyped youth of the colored boys at the time. He grew up as an American boy, as all
other white children would of his generation (Arvey 15-7). In the entire time that Still resided in
Little Rock, interracial association was common. Even after 1903, when blacks were no longer
allowed to sit with whites on the streetcar, racially mixed neighborhoods still were thought of as
fine places to live. Still’s rearing up to his graduation in 1911 seemed to coincide with the
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changes in Little Rock from a racially flexible town to a rigidly segregated one (Gatewood 23-4).
Growing up witnessing acts of cruelty towards his race, Still would be effected by his
childhood for the rest of his life. Though around a lot of actual Negro villages in the south at
times while his mother taught in the back country, Still learned most about African-American
folk songs through his grandmother, Annie Fambro. A strong-willed woman like her daughter.
Still’s grandma taught him all about the history of his culture and where he came from
(Gatewood 32). Like his grandma, his mother remained an influential figure in his life with her
strong feelings for racial uplifting and the hope of something better. Still led a very cultured
youth; living in a home full of literature, musical instruments, and never being allowed to act less
than pristine. He lived a very different life from his counterparts in the same town. But wealth
was not the factor that kept his family in a status above the rest. The black community in Little
Rock was much like the white community, with a built in upper, middle, and lower class. Still
and his family lived amongst the upper-class, even though they did not move into town with
money, nor did they gain a tremendous amount of wealth over the years. The high ranking black
society did not look upon mere money as a sign of prestige. Due to the way the Still’s carried
themselves and what they believed and achieved, they were invited into the upper-class
community with open arms (Gatewood 28).
In 1911, Still graduated from Mifflin W. Gibbs high school as the valedictorian. The
school being mainly a college prep school, with emphasis in literature, mathematics, and the arts,
encouraged Still to continue his education at a higher level. Coming from what was known as the
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best public school in the state, Still attended Wilberforce University in Ohio for a little while.
During this time, his stepfather, Charles Shepperson shared his love of opera, introducing Still to
a brand new genre and new style of music (Gatewood 27-31). Upon leaving Wilberforce after a
brief period of study, Still left and married his wife, Grace Bundy the same year. Moving to play
in a few bands in Memphis and working for W.C. Handy, writing a few arrangements for the
group, Still soon began study at Oberlin University. After joining the Navy for a year, and
returning to Oberlin briefly, Still was drawn to New York to work for W.C. Handy (Gatewood
28).
It was no mere coincidence that Still’s move to New York coincided with the beginnings
of the Harlem Renaissance (1914-1934). Drawn by the ideals of the various authors of the time,
Still moved to New York to perform on oboe, cello, and arrange popular music for various
groups (Murchison 47). Harlem at the time was perceived as a representation of black racial
growth and freedom. African-American’s were able to find expression in performing arts, even
though it was perceived mostly as a literary movement. The literature merely fueled the growth
of the other arts (Murchison 43-5). Still ended up being engrossed in the middle of the
renaissance in the art of music. While working for Pace Recording Company, Still got the
opportunity to play oboe in the Harlem orchestra, which was a large display of the growth of
black music. In 1924, he returned to orchestration and arranging (Murchison 47). Still was not
only geographically in the right place at the right time for the Harlem Renaissance, he also
associated himself with prominent authors of the time, like Langston Hughes, who he eventually
used as a librettist for his opera in 1930 called Troubled Island (Murchison 48).
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Still believed that the black performers could combat the “Negro” myths by playing
sophisticated music while at the same time utilizing black vernacular traditions. While studying
with Edgar Varese, Still gained an interest in “ultramodern” music, which focused on almost
atonal harmonies. After experimenting with combining atonal harmonies with traditional
African-American music, like the 8-bar blues, Still decided that the Negro idiom lost its identity
within the atonal harmonies. In his piece, Darker America, composed in 1924 for orchestra, he
utilizes the Negro spirituals while adding modern dissonance to the harmonies. Using the
pentatonic scale and the “blues scale,” used previously by Scott Joplin in an almost identical
manner with syncopation and the tonic, subdominant, and dominant harmonies, Still tried to
show the serious side of spirituals as a representation of African-American’s triumphing over
sorrow with prayer and hope (Murchison 55-7).
In 1925, Still decided to write some racial music, hoping to raise awareness of the growth
of the African-American artist and style. Composing the jazz piece Levee Land for chamber
orchestra and solo soprano, Still changed up his way of writing by making the vocal line do
something unconventional. Instead of having a smooth melodic line in the vocal part, Still used
the vocal line as almost another instrument, not in a narrative form. With repeated words to
mimic the constant tone of in instrument, the piece was his first attempt at writing a new racial
jazz piece (Murchison 58). Completely occupied with the ideals of educating people about
African-American music, Still composed the first African-American symphony, deciding he
wanted black music in the highest of musical art forms. Using the Blues idiom, Still composed
the Afro-American Symphony in 1930. The first theme itself features the lowered 3rd and 7th scale
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degrees. Example 2 shows the first trumpet part in the first movement, featuring the first theme.
The use of syncopation in the phrase as well as the flat 7th and 3rd are very apparent. The formal
structure of the piece fits a modified sonata form while using the twelve bar blues. The melodic
falling contour and the call and response characteristic used throughout the piece is
representative of the African-American music Still would have heard from his grandmother. In
1937, Still composed almost an identical piece, Symphony in G Minor, which he deemed a
continuation of the Afro-American Symphony. Immediately in the first theme presented, the piece
utilizes material presented in the previous symphony. Still wanted to further represent the
changes in African-American life and culture that had occurred since the first composition was
published (Murchison 60-1).
Example 2: Still, Afro-American Symphony, movement, theme 1
Due to his vast amount of compositions and arrangements during the Harlem
Renaissance, William Grant Still was considered an expert on African-American music, new and
old. Writing articles and speeches, Still sought to promote the music and educate those on the
facts about African-American music. He wanted to get rid of the stereotype that was slowly
fading about the nonintellectual black population. Though he highly valued spirituals as the
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origin of his music, people should not believe that to be the extent of African-American music.
African-American music was the music being composed around him and combined with the
traditional harmonies of European music. Even though he faced a lot of prejudice in his life, Still
never publicly addressed racism as an obstacle he had to face as a composer (Murchison 65-7).
Throughout all the racism, he remained optimistic that things would change and his
music would not be thought of as anything less than the best. He hoped to ease prejudice by
showing the positives and educating the white population about black culture (Murchison 69-70).
Living during a time of immense change, Still survived what many people would never dream of
even dealing with for a day. Decades of prejudice and racism followed by years of recognition
and awards, the years leading up to his death were anything but uneventful. Universities granted
him honorary diplomas and organizations wanted him as their president, but after three years of
spending life in a nursing home after a series of strokes and heart attacks, William Grant Still
died on December 3, 1978, at the ripe old age of 83 (Arvey 183-6). In his lifetime, Still
composed and performed in a way only true musicians could.
Around the same time of William Grant Still, women were gaining ground in music. At
end of the 19th century, even women composers in Europe were being ignored by historians. It
was believed that women lacked the intellect necessary to produce noteworthy piece of music.
Women began to take a place in music history though in America with the publishing of a
composition in the late 1890’s by Mrs. H.H.A. Beach. This composition may have been one of
the factors that led to many women beginning testing their skills in composition. As women were
becoming slowly more accepted into the workforce, books were even published about the
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accomplishments of many African-American women in order to encourage personal growth
(Walker-Hill 21-2). A composer who blended African-American style with European style, Scott
Joplin, premiered his opera Treemonisha in 1910. This opera about a black heroine was
important to African-American women of the time because it illustrated the significance of
women in the progress of the African-American race, inspiring women to step forward and
express themselves musically (Walker-Hill 25). One such woman was Florence Beatrice Price.
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1887, seven years before the birth of William Grant Still, Price
eventually became the first black woman composer to gain international recognition (Green 31).
Price’s father, John Henry Smith, was a free-born dentist who had a very large practice with
many wealthy black and whites as his patients. Not only was he a prominent dentist, he also was
a successful inventor, artist and novelist (Walker-Hill 25). Her mother was a soprano and concert
pianist from Indianapolis, Indiana, who became an elementary school music teacher (Green 31).
Like William Grant Still, Price led a cultured lifestyle full of literature, musical
instruments, and even oil paintings due to her father’s hobbies. Price exhibited musical talent on
the piano and in singing at an early age under the instruction of her mother. Throughout the rest
of her childhood, Price continued to study piano diligently. In 1903, she graduated as
valedictorian from Capitol High School, which would later be moved and renamed Mifflin W.
Gibbs, which is where Still would eventually attend. She was then sent to Boston’s New England
Conservatory of Music to double major in piano and organ, and then also study composition with
Benjamin Cutter and George Chadwick. Price graduated with high honors from the Conservatory
in 1907 and moved back to Little Rock to begin a career in teaching (Green 32).
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Eventually teaching at Shorter College and marrying an attorney, Thomas J. Price, she
entered several compositions into contests and won various awards and prizes for them, already
gaining fame amongst the musical community (Walker-Hill 26). In 1927, a brutal hanging on the
corner of a nice black neighborhood of a man believed of assaulting a white woman in Little
Rock forced the Price’s and other prominent black families to move to Chicago, away from the
cruel prejudice of the south. Taking advantage of the opportunities presented to her in Chicago,
Price continued performing, composing, and teaching. She began publishing her works in 1928,
beginning with four piano pieces. Continuing her teaching, she even taught the future composer
Margaret Bonds because of a friendship she had with Bonds’ mother (Green 32-3). Furthering
her education, Price went back to study at the Chicago Musical College, Chicago Teacher’s
College, the University of Chicago, Central YMCA College, and the American Conservatory of
Music (Walker-Hill 26).
In 1933, Price premiered her first symphony, Symphony in E minor, conducted by
Frederick Stock, marking her first success as the first African-American woman composer to
write a symphony. In 1940, she followed it with the premiere of Symphony No. 3 in C Minor.
From here on out, her reputation as a composer and an educator flourished. Price wrote in genres
ranging from symphonies and chamber groups to art songs (Green 34). Her style fit that of a
conservative writer, or comparative to the late-Romantic style. Price’s style differed from Still’s
and Joplin’s because it contained more subtle resemblances to folk songs. She did not use exact
melodies or fragments from folk songs in her compositions. Price relied on subtle black idioms,
such as melodic falling thirds and the cakewalk and juba rhythms to make her style unique. She
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believed that her music was not meant to reflect Negro music traditionally, as many other
composers did before and after her. In some ways, she went the opposite route. In her 3rd
symphony, the 3rd movement is called “Scherzo,” which translates to prank or joke. The
movement is sort of a virtuosic parody of the long-winded European music, which many critics
and musicians thought African-American’s were incapable of composing. This act of
composition shows her affection for the European style she studied and trained in, while at the
same time showing her humorous side (Walker-Hill 25-7).
In 1941, Price published and premiered her most famous art song, Songs to a Dark
Virgin. With the text of a poem by Langston Hughes, it was said that this song had the “greatest
immediate successes ever won by an American song.” The piece is written in a modified strophic
form. Strophic means that each stanza had the same music to accompany the text. Each stanza
has the same thematic material to begin with, but by the 2nd or 3rd strophe, Price varies the
rhythmic of melodic treatment of the material. Each strophe also varies in length, some being
eleven measures while another is nine. The melody stays simplistic in nature, as do the
harmonies. The piece takes on a typical A A‘ A“ form with providing enough contrast to create
variety without straying to far from the original material. The accompaniment sets the character
of the piece. The broken chord pattern in an ostinato-like pattern reflects the meaning of the text.
Example 3 shows a few measures of these broken chords. The consistency and repetition of the
accompaniment add to the emotion portrayed through the vocal line. At the beginning of each
stanza, the poet is reflective, comparing himself through different analogies. As the singer
crescendos and ascends in pitch, the accompaniment follows, creating the climax of each
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phrases. As the excitement fades, the accompaniment slows down as well as a resolution.
Sometimes with her more unconventional chord progressions, Price would get a rich harmonious
sound. Unlike others of the time, she uses these chords in a more subtle fashion to hint towards
the African-American idiom (Green 35-6). Price’s writing has a lot emotion and suspense,
similar to that of old spirituals.
Example 3: Price, Songs to the Dark Virgin, mm. 3-4, 7
Even after becoming a widow in 1942, Price still taught and composed. One of her
symphonies was even performed on television in February of 1953. In mid-summer of 1953,
after a brief illness, Florence Beatrice Price died, leaving behind two daughters. Even though
Price lived during the beginnings of a new era, while changes were occurring all around her, her
style still remained conservative. Due to beginning her study earlier in life in comparison to
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composers like Still, she was less influenced in her style by the changes happening around her.
Even without changing her style to fit the changing influences, her music was still popular and
impacted so many lives (Jackson 40-3). After death, and sometimes even more so than in life,
composers often get the recognition they deserve. Like Scot Joplin, Price gets more recognition
now for being the first African-American woman to compose a symphony and have it performed
than she did for being a talented performer or composer while she was alive. With a full life of
composition, there are a lot of aspects that could be researched and discussed. In many ways,
people may never know exactly who this talented women was.
Through all the controversy African-American’s faced in the late 19th century and the
early 20th century, I find it remarkable that these composers found such great success. Even
though they all grew up in a relatively culture household, they still would have found great
prejudice due to their race. What is even more remarkable is that they all came from the south,
and even from the Deep South, which was even more cruel to the black population. Interesting
enough, two for the composers, William Grant Still and Florence Beatrice Price, within the same
city of Little Rock, Arkansas. The city itself definitely seemed to be preparing the students for a
successful life. The town, as I understand through various readings, was a bit of a cultural
centerpiece for the south. It would only make sense to me that some great composers grew up
there. It is a bit humorous to me that Price and Still ended up attending the same high school,
though renamed and separated by a few year. I believe that even though they all published works
around the same time, they were influenced by each other. It is obvious that Joplin’s works,
published before the others, were influential to Price and Still because he seemed to lay the
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foundation for combining black idiom with classical style. Composers after him were able to
successfully build upon his foundation of combing the two idioms while creating their own style
and adding variety to African-American music.
All living during a time of change and new growth, the composers of the early 20th
century faced there own problems with different solutions. Scott Joplin grew from a small town
boy, following the same stereotype of every other African-American boy in his times, into a
prominent character in the formation of ragtime. William Grant Still lived through racism and
prejudice to become a key component in the musical aspect of he Harlem Renaissance. Florence
Beatrice Price started as a young, talented musician wanting to learn, and turned into the first
African-American women to compose a symphony. These composers lived through segregation
and brutality. They studied various styles and listened to the music of their ancestors. They
traveled the country and heard various styles of music. Each composer took their own feelings
towards music and what it should be about to create their own style. Overall, they each had there
own impact on the style of African-American music. Whether it was with subtle black music
idioms or blatant use of the pentatonic scale, each contributed to the growth of African-American
music. Composers decades after them are still studying their works to discover ways to create
their own styles. With every new style of music, there is an influence behind it. As the times
change, new music begins to arise. Music changes with the world.
Works Cited
Arvey, Verna. In One lifetime. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press, 1984.
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Berlin, Edward A. King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1994.
Charters, A.R. Danberg. “Negro Folk Elements in Classic Ragtime,” Ethnomusicology 5 (1961):
174-83.
Gammond, Peter. Scott Joplin and the Ragtime Era. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1975.
Gatewood, Williard B. “The Formative Years of William Grant Still,” in William Grant Still, A
Study in Contradictions, by Catherine P. Smith. (London: University of California Press, Ltd,
2000) 21-35.
Nadeau, Roland. “The Grace and Beauty of Classic Rags: Structural Elements in a Distinct
Musical Genre,” Music Educators Journal 59 (1973): 57-64.
Murchison, Gayle. “’Dean of Afro-American Composers’ or ‘Harlem Renaissance Man‘: ’The
New Negro’ and the Musical Poetics of William Grant Still,” The Arkansas Historical Quarterly
53 (1994): 42-74.
Walker-Hill, Helen. From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and
Their Music. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002.
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Jackson, Barbara Garvey. “Florence Price, Composer,” The Black Perspective in Music 5 (1977):
30-43.