Precursors of Ragtime 4
Syncopated coon-themed music replaced the bland sentimentality of the nineteenth century. It also established the rhythmic structures for much of the twentieth (Forte 1995). Regrettably, it also implicated popular music in the institutionalizing of racist ideas in the United States and elsewhere. The titles of contemporaneous instrumental pieces suggest how important the coon idea was during this era.
The repertoire of the new social dances of the period, including the cakewalk, also impacted the development of ragtime. Samuel Floyd Jr. notes that "although ragtime is different in style from the social dance music of the period, the similarities between the two genres are significant [and that] the available evidence suggests that classic ragtime had its beginnings in a process by which Black musicians adapted Euro-American social dance music to their own needs" (Floyd Jr. 1980, 170).
Think About It: Minstrelsy
Think about the following questions below:
- In what way did minstrelsy shape White Americans' views of Blacks? How might this process have deepened anti-Black prejudices?
- Explore how Blacks were portrayed in literature and drama during this period. How did these portrayals reveal White attitudes about the Black character? How did they serve White interests?
- Take a moment to examine the racial stereotyping taking place on cover sheets to the coon songs in the images. What do you see? How might these images be problematic today? What role do covers and their imagery play in how we perceive and interpret music?
