Music in the Southeast

Music in the Southeast

Music has a rich, varied history in the Southeast. Different kinds of music have combined and changed to form a number of styles. The different styles of music blended together songs and melodies from different cultures.

Blues, Gospel, and Jazz

African Americans had great influence on Southern music. Many who were enslaved on plantations used songs during this hard work. Songs also conveyed strong emotions of love and loss. The blending of work chants and sad songs became known as the blues.

Multiple Choice

The blending of work chants and sad songs became known as

• jazz

• the reds

• the blues

• hip-hop

Spirituals were heartfelt folk songs, such as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." They expressed the difficulties of life for many enslaved African Americans. Many African Americans embraced Christian music and later formed gospel choirs that performed spiritual hymns.

African Americans in St. Louis, Missouri, came up with a new form of fast-paced dance music called ragtime. Jazz music that developed in New Orleans, Louisiana, reflected the diversity of the city. Dixieland is a type of jazz music.

Multiple Choice

What did they call the fast-paced dance music?

• ragtime

• jazz

• dixieland

• hip-hop

Country Comes Along

Country music is a type of folk music that began in the rural Southeast. Nashville, Tennessee, is the home of country music. The Grand Ole Opry is a famous country music show in Nashville. Bluegrass a blend of gospel, country and jazz featuring banjos and fiddles, also developed in the Southeast.

Multiple Choice

Nashville, Tennessee, is the home of what kind of music.

• blues

• dixieland

• jazz

• country

Cajun and zydeco music started in southwest Louisiana. Descendants of French people who migrated from Canada in the late 1700s became known as Cajuns. The music, meant for dancing, uses accordions, fiddles, spoons, and triangles. Zydeco music is similar but comes from people of Creole descent.

Multiple Choice

These music types are similar, but come from people of different descent.

• Country and jazz

• Cajun and zydeco

• HIp-hop and rock and roll

• Bluegrass and hymns

Rock and Roll emerged in the 1950s as a merging of country and rhythm and blues. Rock and roll often uses fast tempos, guitar rhythms, and strong vocals. Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, and Little Richard helped make this form of music popular in the late 1950s. All three music giants came from the Southeast.

Multiple Choice

___________ emerged in the 1950s as a merging of country and rhythm and blues

• Country

• Hip-Hop

• Rock and Roll

• Bluegrass

The music of the South would not have developed without African American musicians. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s used music as a way of spreading the message of racial equality. Songs like "We Shall Overcome" inspired people in the movement to continue their work.