Not to be confused with Country Music

WESTERN STATES

WESTERN MUSIC IS…

a form of American folk music composed by and about the people who settled and worked throughout the Western United States and Western Canada.

WESTERN PEOPLE USED TO LIVE IN RACHES

AT THAT TIME…

Television and radio had not been invented.

Neither had movies or video games.

In the evening, there was only a fireplace or candle for light. So reading was difficult.

What could people do to entertain themselves?

PLAYING AN INSTRUMENT!

WHAT DID WESTERN MUSIC TALK ABOUT? Western music

celebrates the life of the cowboy on the open ranges and prairies of Western North America.

WHAT ARE THE MUSIC INFLUENCES IN WESTERN MUSIC?

It was directly influenced by the folk music traditions of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, and many cowboy songs, sung around campfires in the nineteenth century.

PLEASE NOTE!! Western music

shares similar roots with Appalachian music (also called hillbilly music), which developed in Appalachia separately from, but parallel to, the Western music genre.

The music industry of the mid-20th century grouped the two genres together under the banner of country and western music, later amalgamated into the modern name, country music.Western

Music

Appalachian music

Country Music

OLD-TIME COUNTRY INSTRUMENTS

What instrument is played by the musician on the left?

What instrument is played by the musician in the middle?

What instrument is played by the musician on the right?

Do you miss any instrument?

The harmonica!!

Which was invented in the early 19th century in central Europe, arrived in North America shortly before the American Civil War,

COWBOYS USED STRING INSTRUMENTS TO EXPRESS THEIR FREEDOM

BANJO

Originated in Arabia, came to West Africa with Islam.

Enslaved Africans adapted instrument design to North American materials.

FROM SPAIN VIA IRELAND

The modern guitar has its roots in Spain.

A smaller-bodied version was created to accompany Irish singers

When they immigrated to the United States, musicians from Ireland took the guitar along

PASSING TIME AT SEA

FIDDLE OR VIOLIN?

Scots-Irish immigrants brought the fiddle to the United States.

The fiddle is the same instrument as the violin

But fiddlers have a different way of playing.

They seldom use vibrato

Most set the fiddle up so they can play quickly.

DECLINE OF WESTERN MUSIC

By the 1960s, the popularity of Western music was in decline. 

Rock and roll dominated music sales and Hollywood recording studios dropped most of their Western artists.

LET’S LISTEN SOME HITS OF THAT TIME!o Percy Montrose- Oh my darling

Clementine! (1884) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arL3QzNBc6A

o Stephen Foster – Oh Susana (1826–1864) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=917Ept-tWdk

o John Lomax- Sons of the pioneershttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2chLxnO16w0

o Hank Williams- Honky Tonk Blue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pHlSX_zbwY

o Bonanza- Jay Evans and Jay Livingstone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW_U-05Sth0o Amos Lee- Buenas tardes Amigohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2chLxnO16w0

(The Good, The Bad and The Ugly soundtrack)

DO YOU LIKE WESTERN MOVIES?

Can you name any?

It’s difficult to talk about western music without mentioning western movies and Ennio Morricone music composer of many important films afterwards known as Spaguetti western like…

http://www.youtube.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjjDOdaFZg0

/watch?v=J4x7RchYCMc

(cementery scene) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nokhq8obq7e&list=plabfb5f94c45213b9

Principal theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQGGQ-FCe_w&list=PLABFB5F94C45213B9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL-X53ze5O0 (death scene)

DID YOU KNOW THAT…?

Many western movies were filmed in Tabernas

Almería!

FINAL TASK, ARE YOU READY TO BE A REAL COWBOY?

LEARN HOW TO LINE DANCE:http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=0pF9PN8UpqI

NOW TRY WITH ACHY BREAKY HEART SONG:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byQIPdHMpjc