British Music History

The man that has no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. . . Let no such man be trusted.

(William Shakespeare - The Merchant of Venice, 5. 1. 83-88)

Music - the British tradition

Music, of one kind or another, has been around for almost as long as people. In fact, the idea of music pre-dates written history and many tunes have had to be 'carried on' by what is known as 'oral tradition' or singing from memory songs which you have heard sung by another person. The first few pages outline the roots of the earliest known British music and begin to explain where the UK's musical traditions came from. Troubadors, travellers and even returning Crusaders all played their part in our rich and exciting cultural evolution. The composition of art song in England and English-speaking countries has a long history, beginning with lute song in the late 16th century and continuing today. Music from the United Kingdom has always enjoyed great popularity. In the 1960s, a wave of musicians helped to popularise rock and roll. Since then, the United Kingdom has produced numerous popular in far-ranging fields from heavy metal to folk rock and drum and bass, as well as undergoing a renaissance in the ancient forms of folk music indigenous to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom has had an influence on modern music worldwide which is disproportionate to its population.

2. Music in England
2.1Medieval music Early church music was monophonic. That is, the whole choir sang the same melody in the form known as plainchant, where the tune follows the rhythm of the words. It is also known as Gregorian chant. As its name implies, it was simple, unadorned melody, solemn and ritualistic. Its simplicity does not mean that it is lacking in interest; the smoothly modulating lines of melody at times achieve a remarkable beauty, and many of the more famous plainsong chants have been used by composers as material for more complex works.

 2.2 Elizabethan music: the madrigal From popular ballads to solemn church music and the sophisticated music of the court, Elizabethan music was varied and inventive, delightful and moving. By Shakespeare's time the music of the Church, the Court, and the stage had become sophisticated and varied, capable of communicating many moods. Virtually all plays, comedies and tragedies, used music to heighten the drama. The part song had reached a superb peak in the madrigal. A madrigal is a type of secular vocal music composition, written during the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Throughout most of its history it was polyphonic and unaccompanied by instruments, with the number of voices varying from two to eight, but most frequently three to six. If the medieval "Agincourt Carol" announced smugly that God was on the side of the English, the Elizabethan poets and musicians were more subtle. They merely suggested in allegory that Elizabeth was herself a goddess.

 2.3 Shakespeare and music Shakespeare would have heard in the Court and in the houses of the educated the sophisticated madrigals and instrumental music of Thomas Morley; in Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's he would have heard the masses of William Byrd, and around the streets of London he would have heard ageless folk music: the street cries, the ballads, the love songs. On the stage, music played an important role. There was a special musicians gallery above the stage; sometimes the music was played on the stage itself; and there were even occasions when it was played under the stage to achieve an eerie effect. The comedies are full of song and the gentle twanging of the lute, while the tragedies and histories echo with the ceremonial sound of trumpets and drums. Only a few of the original settings of songs Shakespeare wrote have survived; those that do illustrate the variety and melodic inventiveness of the music of the period.

 2.4 English church musicians The strong (and continuing) tradition of English church choral music produced masses, anthems, and motets from composers who continued to write, despite upheavals in the official religion of England. Many church composers also wrote music for the Court.

 2.6 Still dancing Street musicians, from the bass violist to the player of the tabor and pipe, frequented markets and busy areas, much as street buskers do today. There were many broadside ballads and songs published in the period, and there were of course traditional folk songs, drinking songs, and dances. The markets were alive with music of a different kind, the cries of all those who had wares to sell.

 2.7 Some of the instrumentsMartial and stirring, folksy and entertaining, or suave and courtly: there were instruments for every mood and occasion. As is the case today, string instruments were either plucked or bowed. The ancestor of the modern guitar was the cittern, or gittern, was favoured by street performers while the lute was more courtly. Bowed instruments were also subject to class distinctions. The viol was considered more refined than the precursor of the modern violin, the fiddle. Like lutes and guitar, the viol was fitted with frets (another word that gave rise to punning); "da gamba" in the viol picured in the graphi means that it was large enough to be held between the legs.

A Song and a Pint

3.1 The place where it all happened British taverns had provided musical entertainment since medieval times, and outdoor musical "pleasure gardens" flourished in the 1700s. The early 1800s brought "saloons" offering variety acts and booze, with some going so far as to add theatres to their original structures. When the Theatre Act of 1843 declared that such establishments would only be licensed if run as theatres, the first music halls appeared in suburban London. Although the stress was on entertainment, alcohol flowed, to the delight of customers and the ongoing profit of proprietors.

 3.2 Atmosphere While everyone went for the music and comedy, there is no question that the availability of liquor was part of the music hall's appeal. The temperance movement complained that the halls encouraged heavy drinking among both men and women, particularly among the lower classes. A few booze-free halls opened but soon faded. The British public went to the music halls to kick back and have a good, rowdy time, not a subdued experience. Instead of a proscenium stage, some of the earliest music halls looked like churches, with a fenced-in sanctuary for the performance area and pipe organs to accompany the singers. But the atmosphere was far from prayerful. Audiences were seated on benches surrounding huge plank tables, where they could eat, drink, read, and settle in for hours. Performers were often ignored as business deals, political debates, romantic assignations and a general hubbub filled the air. Every act had to deliver solid entertainment or else! The audience often joined in singing popular songs, and cheered-on favorite performers. Mediocre acts were booed off the stage, but these rejections were more spirited than vicious. Those who were not tough enough to take such treatment soon sought other forms of employment. With women and children in the audience, the material was never more than mildly risqu. Most music hall songs were sentimental and/or comic takes on everyday life, as well as spoofs of the rich and famous.

 3.4 Popular Stars Surviving recordings make it clear that few music hall stars had good voices. Like their vaudeville counterparts in the U.S., their primary qualifications were energy and personality. The best music hall performers had both in abundance. Marie Lloyd was one of the most beloved music hall stars. Her stage humor ranged from the wholesome to the risqu. One of her songs was "She Sits Among Her Cabbages and Peas" a title that sounds less innocent than it looks. Lloyd always adapted her act to the audience at hand, winning almost universal affection. Playwright and poet T. S. Eliot explained her appeal this way

 3.5 Curtain Music halls went into a gradual decline after the introduction of talking films, but the British never did let a good habit die easily. They continued in the interwar period, but no longer as the single dominant form of popular entertainment in Britain. The arrival of radio, and the cheapening of the gramophone damaged it enormously. It now had to compete with Jazz, Swing and Big Band dance music, as well as with cinema.Some halls were still in operation after World War II, and the best music hall songs are still sung in some London pubs. The music halls gave the British public a solid tradition of popular musical theatre. Stage stars Vesta Tilley, Lupino Lane and Gracie Fields as well as film legends Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin got their start in the music halls.

4. 18th Century English Music

Britain in the Eighteenth Century witnessed a period of unprecedented prosperity. This was chiefly the result of a comparatively stable democratic Government and a flourishing international trade with a growing number of colonies supported by trusted financial institutions. Consequently, many industrious and successful merchants, traders, craftsmen and professionals (the new 'middle' class) found they had the time and money to visit opera houses, music clubs or, in London, one of the pleasure-gardens such as Vauxhall or Ranelagh to hear the latest concertos and songs. Thus England become the vibrant musical centre of Europe to which, not surprisingly, a great wave of continental musicians emigrated to seek fame and fortune. Amongst these of course was the great George Frederick Handel.

 4.2 G.F. Hendel The leading figure in British music of the early 18th century was a naturalized Briton, George Frideric Handel.

Although he was born in Germany, he played a defining role in the music of the UK.
His orchestral music (such as the Water Music, and the Music for the Royal Fireworks) and his opera, sacred drama and choral music (above all, the Messiah) virtually set the British taste in music for the next 200 years.

5. Late 20th century Blues & RocknRoll

5.1 The aftermath of the World War 2 The roots of British popular music for the rest of the 20th century and into the next were set during the 1950s. In the aftermath of World War 2, the economy was still performing poorly. Many consumer goods were not available, and there was little high-wage labor. American media was popular, and the British youth grew infatuated with the apparent wealth of their American counterparts. The economy of the United States was booming, and the images on TV made it appear as though American teens were able to purchase much that the British could not. At the same time, a legion of American musical innovators, including Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry, were adapting African American rock and roll for mainstream audiences, and American folk bands like The Weavers were fomenting a roots revival of old time music. Indigenous styles of music production and performance dominated the United Kingdom until the late 1950s, when imported American rock and roll, pop-folk and rockabilly gained fans among British youth, while American roots music, especially the blues, found its own devoted fanbase.

 5.2The british invasion American rock and roll caught on among British youth, who soon made it their own. In contrast to American listeners, however, the British soon looked past the dance stars and R&B performers into the roots of rock, towards an American folk form called the blues. Lyrically and instrumentally simple, yet passionate, the blues seemed exotic, foreign and exciting. By the mid-1950s, American rock had spread across the globe. Few countries, however, were able to sustain their own rock traditions. The United Kingdom proved itself an exception, and British rock soon became more popular than American. British blues soon became a distinct genre, and rock and roll, rockabilly, rhythm and blues and other forms of popular music mixed in the UK. By the mid-1960s, British rock dominated charts over much of the world, leading to the term British Invasion. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Animals, and other British artists played pop and rock with grit and swagger. In the late 1960s, Led Zeppelin and contemporaries such as Black Sabbath (as well as American bands such as Blue Cheer), developed heavy metal music. By the end of the 1960s, British psychedelic rock was reaching its peak of influence, and glam rock arose with artists such as David Bowie, Mott the Hoople and Slade The British rock scene veered into more experimental directions, such as in the Canterbury Scene and the further evolution and popularization of progressive rock bands such as King Crimson, Procol Harum, Genesis and The Moody Blues. Surviving 60s musicians, and sixties music, can still be found today performed by re-formed, and in some cases reformed, bands.

5.3RocknRoll
5.3.1The Beatles
The Beatles were a rock and pop band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals). Although their initial musical style wasrooted in 1950s rock and roll and skiffle, the group worked with different musical genres, ranging from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. Their clothes, style and statements made the trend-setters, while their growing social awareness saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s. After the band broke up in 1970, all four members embarked upon successful solo careers.

 The Beatles were one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music, selling over one billion records internationally. In the United Kingdom, The Beatles released more than 40 different singles, albums, and EPs that reached number one, earning more number one albums than any other group in UK chart history. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked The Beatles number one in its list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. According to that same magazine, The Beatles' innovative music and cultural impact helped define the 1960s, and their influence on pop culture is still evident today. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of top-selling Hot 100 artists to celebrate the chart's fiftieth anniversary; The Beatles topped it.

 The Beatles' influence on rock music and popular culture wasand remainsimmense. They affected attitudes to fashion worldwide when in the 1960s there was widespread imitation of their haircuts and clothing. In the recording studio The Beatles took innovative approaches to the use of technology, treating the studio as an instrument in itself and working closely with recording engineers, urging experimentation and regularly demanding, "Just try it [] it might just sound good". At the same time they constantly sought ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, examples being accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle or a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards, and incorporated the resulting sounds into their music. They were also pioneers in the use of sampling, which along with their other experimentation created techniques which were widely adopted by others. The Beatles redefined the album as something more than just a small number of hits padded out with "filler" tracks, and they were the originators in the United Kingdom of the now common practice of releasing video clips to accompany singles. The Beatles became the first entertainment act to stage a large stadium concert when they opened their 1965 North American tour at Shea Stadium. A large number of artists have acknowledged The Beatles as a musical influence or have had chart successes with covers of Beatles songs. References to The Beatles, and parodies involving them, are commonplace as a feature of TV shows, films and video games.

 The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in 1962 in London when multi-instrumentalist Brian Jone and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards. Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early lineup. Stewart, deemed unsuitable as a teen idol, was removed from the official lineup in 1963 but continued to work with the band as road manager and keyboardist until his death in 1985.

 First popular in the UK and Europe, The Rolling Stones came to the US during the early 1960s "British Invasion". The Rolling Stones have released 22 studio albums in the UK (24 in the US), eight concert albums (nine in the US) and numerous compilations; and have sold more than 200 million albums worldwide. Sticky Fingers (1971) began a string of eight consecutive studio albums that charted at number one in the United States. Their latest album, A Bigger Bang, was released in 2005. In 1989 The Rolling Stones were inclucted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2004 they were ranked number 4 in Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Their image of unkempt and surly youth is one that many musicians still emulate. The Rolling Stones are notable in modern popular music for assimilating various musical genres into their recording and performance, ultimately making the styles their very own. The band's career is marked by a continual reference and reliance on musical styles like American blues, country, folk, reggae, dance; world music exemplified by the Master Musicians of Jajouka; as well as traditional English styles that use stringed instrumentation like harps. The band cut their musical teeth by covering early rock and roll and blues songs, and have never stopped playing live or recording cover songs.

Other Bands:
The Who Iron maiden Led Zeppelin Black Sabbath The Cure Judas Priest Deep Purple Pink Floyd The Sex Pistols