American Roots Music

     Here's a new fun fact about my music culture. I love Swing Dancing! I started going to a local swing dance club here in Spartanburg back in the summer of 2019, and boy is it a thrill. I still do it to this day and it's still my favorite activity to get involved in. However, part of the reason swing dancing is so special to me is because of the music. The modern stuff is fun, but nothing beats the mood that is classic swing music. So let's talk about it!

    Before we really get into detail on where swing came from, let's discuss exactly what it is. I got a good description from Carnegie Hall. Basically, swing is one of the earliest forms of jazz. Consisting of big band brass and woodwind instruments, piano, drums, and walking bass lines, swing is the kind of music that just makes you want to get in the groove. The music is very upbeat and often times quite rhythmically complicated. In fact, swing actually got it's name from the fact that the beats felt off and it was swinging around. There's lot's of syncopation and heavy emphasis on the 2 and 4 beats of the music, but it creates an active atmosphere that you just have to dance to to fully experience. Before we continue, here's a little taste of one of my favorites to dance to, In The Mood!

    So how and where did Swing start out? Similar to a lot of the music we've discussed in class, swing technically originates from west African music. I did some digging and found a very informative article on New World Encyclopedia that covers everything about swing from where it started to how it died out. It's roots from African music comes in the form of it's complex drumming/rhythmic traditions. A lot of African music has a pulse feel to it, and swing music thrives on that kind of feel. Also the concept of the triplet, which is also a common use in swing, comes from Africa as well. From here, we all know how that kind of music made it to America. As African slaves were brought into America, we know that their musical styles mixed with that from European styles and we got the Blues. Of course, one of the many children of the Blues was in fact jazz, and from there came swing. The rhythmic complexity from the African culture is what separated swing from other forms of jazz. In the earlier 1920's, the idea of this complex but upbeat jazz started out in New Orleans, but slowly travelled up north as it grew in popularity to places like Chicago and even New York. The Swing era really started picking up around 1935 when a lot more big name musicians started picking up the style. As these musicians started working with this new style of music, they also started collaborating with people of different race since they were the ones who created it. The era between 1935 and 1946 was a great time to be alive with how much swing music was going around. Swing started having children of it's own too such as things like big band swing, which is more of what the above example, In The Mood is.

    Now, we couldn't discuss the origin of swing without crediting the artists that gave it it's popularity. As I said above, as swing travelled up from New Orleans into the north, it picked up several musicians on the way. One of these musicians was a man named Benny Goodman, who would later go on to be known as the King of Swing. According to Last.fm, Goodman was a one of the greatest jazz clarinetists of all time. On top up his insane talent on the woodwind, he was also a band leader and he played a huge role in uniting black and white musicians when in 1936 he hired Teddy Wilson, an African American jazz pianist. When he started leading his own band, a lot of his music consisted of arrangements of music by Fletcher Henderson(another musician from that time). The band really took off when they were first featured on an NBC radio show called Let's Dance. The music they played was an instant hit with teenagers and college students all around the country, so much so that they began developing dancing patterns and movements to go along with the music. This is the part where I personally get excited! All of this took place around 1934, and it served as one of the bigger kick offs for modern swing music and dancing. Below is a quick taste of what Benny Goodman's music was like. Another one of my personal favorites to dance to, Sing Sing Sing.

   

    I do want to make sure I at least take a few sentences to talk about the dancing itself though before I wrap things up. Since the swing era blew up in the 30's, the dancing has taken on many different styles over the years. There are styles like West Coast dancing, which is famous for all the lifts and spins. Charleston is another famous style as well. It's much more oriented in the foot motions to give it a lively appearance. However, the most common style you will see in this part of America is East Coast Swing. This style uses the classic rock step, which is a step to the left, then the right, then a rock step backwards. From there you can get into something called Lindy Hop. Lindy is a much faster paced version of East Coast with a few different step patterns that allow you to move around in a circular motion a lot easier. I could go on about it for forever, but I think it would be best to just show you and example (specifically Lindy Hop cause it's the most fun to watch).   

    As sad as it is though, all great things come to an end. Going back to New World Encyclopedia, the death of swing came around 1947. With WWII, many men had been drafted into the army so the dancing business was no longer active when the women had no partners. By the time men started returning from war, Rhythm and Blues had already started taking over and the swing era just came to an end. It's sad, but it's never been completely gone! As you can tell, the style regained popularity over time and it's now regular to a lot of people including myself. I truly believe something as good as swing music can just never be forgotten.

That's all I have for today though! That one was a lot, but it was a fun topic for me, and I hope it was a fun one for you too. Hopefully you feel inspired to give swing dancing a shot! Till next time! 

Works Cited:

"Swing era Music." last.fm, https://www.last.fm/tag/swing+era/artists

"Swing." New World Encyclopedia, 15 Jan. 2020, https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Swing

"What is Swing?" Carnegie Hall, https://www.carnegiehall.org/Education/Programs/Link-Up/National-

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