Encountering New Music
As jazz moved out of New Orleans and into the American ma
Encountering New Music
As jazz moved out of New Orleans and into the American mainstream, it must have been rather jarring for some people. The fact that jazz kind of “burst” into the American mainstream at precisely the same time that radios became ubiquitous is not a coincidence. Prior to the wide availability of radios (and radio broadcasts), the only way to hear music was to either be physically present in some sort of place where music was being performed—like a concert—of perform the music yourself. Essentially, all music was live music. But, once we get to the 1920s and 30s, a time when radios were pretty widely available, we have a new way of encountering music. And, like I said a moment ago, this is exactly the same time that jazz becomes a “household name” across the country.
And, since just a generation earlier, the only way to hear music was to hear it performed live, there was essentially no way to hear jazz unless you were physically located in one of the places where it was happening (mostly in and around New Orleans). So, when the radio showed up so did access to some pretty wild music (when compared to the music most people had easy access to). This would have been exacerbated by the fact that so much of the US was living under some form of segregation; most people would have only had access to music from their own relatively narrow cultural experience.
Fast-forward to today. To us, jazz has always existed. We don’t really know what it was like to hear this wild, raucous music for the first time. I find this question very interesting. What would it have been like to hear New Orleans-style jazz when all you had ever heard up to this point was relatively somber-by-comparison-sounding European classical music? How would I have reacted?
Have you ever experienced something like this? I mean in the broadest sense. Have you ever experienced some form of “culture shock?” Maybe you’ve visited a foreign country or have seen a piece of foreign media or you have heard a new style of music (either from far away, geographically, or just very different from what you usually hear) and have been a little taken aback. Or, maybe you’ve tried to learn a foreign language and thought you were doing well with your learning until you heard a group of natives speaking and you suddenly couldn’t understand a word. Another example might be a new form of technology and realizing, “This is totally new. I had no idea this was possible. This changes everything.” Have you ever experienced any of these things (or things like them)? Can you describe how this happened, how you reacted and what it changed about your relationship to the world (maybe you found a new favorite style of media or maybe it was discouraging)? Can you picture yourself relating this to someone younger than you who has always had experience with that thing? How would you describe your discovery?
I know that this might feel a little disconnected from “the history of jazz,” and it is, somewhat. What I am trying to drive home, though, is just how foreign jazz probably felt to people who were nowhere near New Orleans. It’s a little difficult to put this into words or to put ourselves in the shoes of someone in the who has never heard jazz; in fact, it’s difficult to even experience “culture shock” the way that people used to given how easy it is for us to search for information and media. What I am looking for, here, is some thought on what it might be like to experience something totally, drastically new and different. Any thoughts?