Euro American Musics
Music transcends cultures and times. This collection showcases a vast variety of classical and popular sounds from Europe and America.
Large forms such as symphonies and chamber music did not sell as well in American editions as piano works, songs, and small-scale choral works did; this online collection contains works from many major nineteenth-century composers in these genres.
Musical Instruments
Human trade and migration patterns have historically brought musicians and their instruments across seas and continents, creating new forms of music instruments with different designs and playing techniques as a result of constant interaction among different populations. Some musical instruments became obsolete while others appeared in new environments.
Drums have long been part of daily military life, from cadences for marching and signals for battle to marking time for meals and sleep. Notably, the snare drum was an integral component of military bands.
AMIS was established in 1971 to “foster study of musical instruments from antiquity through to present day,” known as organology in musicology terms. Since its founding, AMIS has published three to six generously illustrated articles annually; held annual conferences; presented five awards; and featured membership consisting of collectors, curators, historians, conservators, restorers, teachers, scholars performers and instrument makers (collectors are welcome too!). Their journal can be found widely across libraries around four continents.
Military Drums
Corps of Drums can either be part of a marching band or function as an independent ensemble; often included within marching bands or playing independently as their own band, their instruments may include drumline and individual bugles and trumpets (and in military units and some civil bands even natural horns), typically under the leadership of a drum major.
Drummers have long been used in military music, especially to relay basic commands to troops. Additionally, drummers may be utilized for ceremonial duties like parades and drills.
Before the early 19th Century, only natural brass instruments without keys or valves were available to soldiers and civilians alike. But an Irishman invented the keyed bugle in 1810 – which allowed any brass instrument to play the full range of chromatic notes – which dramatically transformed military musical use. Drums later became staples of military bands during both centuries; today many military and civilian corps of drummers can even include majorettes or pom pom dancers amongst their ranks!
Music in Europe
Music plays an essential part in Europe’s cultural heritage and provides significant economic advantages, yet its potential contributions are underutilized in EU/national policymaking processes.
Western Europe boasts an abundance of traditional folk music from English work songs/sea chanties to French Troubadour ballads. Austrian composers, such as Mozart and Beethoven, provided musical inspiration that would ultimately influence many nations worldwide.
Abba was the first group to successfully make European-influenced, broad-appeal pop music with an American flavor and make an impactful impact in America during the rock era. Their photogenic images, packaged into elaborate lip-synched videos, perfectly complimented their musical product.
The EU funding guide on cultural and creative industries and sectors (CCSI) details various actions available to music-related industries and sectors; additional EU-wide funding opportunities are listed on Music Moves Europe website.
Music in the United States
As the United States became a melting pot, immigrants from Europe, Asia and Africa brought with them musical traditions from home. Together with Native American influences they have come to form what we now refer to as American music.
America has long been known for producing many diverse styles of music, from classical to country, rock and roll, blues, jazz and hip hop. American musical culture often uses syncopation and asymmetrical rhythms which reflect its vast geography as well as the freedom characteristic of American culture, which creates its distinctive style of American music.
European-influenced light music has always been popular in America, with Johann Strauss Jr and Emile Waldteufel being two well-known European composers of this style of music. Opera was another huge boon to American publishing: operetta shows were turned into overtures, potpourris, dances and quadrilles–even easy piano versions were often processed as part of these productions.