Editing Music of the United States (section)

==Classical music==
{{Main|American classical music}}
[[File:Aaron_Copland_1970.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Aaron Copland]] was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Composers"]]
[[Classical music]] was brought to the United States with some of the first colonists. European classical music is rooted in the traditions of European art, ecclesiastical and concert music. The central norms of this tradition developed between 1550 and 1825, centering on what is known as the [[common practice period]]. Many American classical composers attempted to work entirely within European models until late in the 19th century. When [[Antonín Dvořák]], a prominent Czech composer, visited the United States from 1892 to 1895, he iterated the idea that American classical music needed its own models instead of imitating European composers; he helped to inspire subsequent composers to make a distinctly American style of classical music.<ref>Struble, p. xiv–xv.</ref> By the beginning of the 20th century, many American composers were incorporating disparate elements into their work, ranging from jazz and blues to Native American music.

===Early classical music===
[[File:Amy Beach.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Amy Beach]] in 1908. First American woman to compose a symphony.]]
During the colonial era, there were two distinct fields of what is now considered classical music. One was associated with amateur composers and pedagogues, whose style was originally drawn from simple [[hymn]]s and gained sophistication over time. The other colonial tradition was that of the mid-Atlantic cities like Philadelphia and Baltimore, which produced a number of prominent composers who worked almost entirely within the European model; these composers were mostly English in origin, and worked specifically in the style of prominent English composers of the day.<ref>Struble, p. 4–5.</ref>

[[Classical music]] was brought to the United States during the colonial era. Many American composers of this period worked exclusively with European models, while others, such as [[Supply Belcher]] and [[Justin Morgan]], also known as the ''First New England School'', developed a style almost entirely independent of European models.<ref>Struble, p. 2.</ref> Among the country's earliest composers was [[William Billings]] who, born in Boston, composed patriotic hymns in the 1770s;<ref name="Eggart2007">{{cite book|first=Elise|last=Eggart|title=Let's Go USA 24th Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SMGOgKLHbz8C&pg=PA68|date=2007|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-0-312-37445-7|page=68}}</ref> he was also influential "as the founder of the American church choir, as the first musician to use a [[pitch pipe]], and as the first to introduce a [[Cello|violoncello]] into church service".<ref>Ewen, p. 7.</ref> Many of these composers were amateur singers who developed new forms of sacred music suitable for performance by amateurs, and often using harmonic methods which would have been considered bizarre by contemporary European standards.<ref>Crawford, p. 17.</ref> These composers' styles were untouched by "the influence of their sophisticated European contemporaries", using modal or pentatonic scales or melodies and eschewing the European rules of harmony.<ref>Ferris, p. 66.</ref>

[[File:Charles_Ives_grad_photo.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Charles Ives]]'s blend of distinctly American elements with avant-garde techniques made him a key figure in the history of American classical music.]]

In the early 19th century, America produced diverse composers such as [[Anthony Heinrich]], who composed in an idiosyncratic, intentionally American style and was the first American composer to write for a symphony orchestra. Many other composers, most famously [[William Henry Fry]] and [[George Frederick Bristow]], supported the idea of an American classical style, though their works were very European in orientation. It was [[John Knowles Paine]], however, who became the first American composer to be accepted in Europe. Paine's example inspired the composers of the ''Second New England School'', which included such figures as [[Amy Beach]], [[Edward MacDowell]], and [[Horatio Parker]].<ref>Struble, p. 28–39.</ref>

[[Louis Moreau Gottschalk]] is perhaps the best-remembered American composer of the 19th century, said by music historian Richard Crawford to be known for "bringing indigenous or folk, themes and rhythms into music for the concert hall". Gottschalk's music reflected the cultural mix of his home city, New Orleans, Louisiana, which was home to a variety of Latin, Caribbean, African American, Cajun, and Creole music. He was well acknowledged as a talented pianist in his lifetime, and was also a known composer who remains admired though little performed.<ref>Crawford, p. 331–350.</ref>

===20th century===
[[File:Philip Glass 003.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Philip Glass]] in Florence, 1993]]

The New York classical music scene included [[Charles Griffes]], originally from [[Elmira, New York]], who began publishing his most innovative material in 1914. His early collaborations were attempts to use non-Western musical themes. The best-known New York composer was [[George Gershwin]]. Gershwin was a songwriter with [[Tin Pan Alley]] and the [[Broadway theatre]]s, and his works were strongly influenced by [[jazz]], or rather the precursors to jazz that were extant during his time. Gershwin's work made American classical music more focused, and attracted an unheard of amount of international attention. Following Gershwin, the first major composer was [[Aaron Copland]] from Brooklyn, who used elements of American folk music, though it remained European in technique and form. Later, he turned to the ballet and then [[serial music]].<ref name="Struble">Struble, p. 122.</ref> [[Charles Ives]] was one of the earliest American classical composers of enduring international significance, producing music in a uniquely American style, though his music was mostly unknown until after his death in 1954.

Many of the later 20th-century composers, such as [[John Cage]], [[John Corigliano]], [[Terry Riley]], [[Steve Reich]], [[John Adams (composer)|John Adams]], and [[Miguel del Aguila]], used [[modernism|modernist]] and [[minimalism|minimalist]] techniques. Reich discovered a technique known as [[phasing]], in which two musical activities begin simultaneously and are repeated, gradually drifting out of sync, creating a natural sense of development. Reich was also very interested in non-Western music, incorporating [[music of Africa|African rhythmic]] techniques in his compositions.<ref name="autogenerated1">Struble, ''The History of American Classical Music''.</ref> Recent composers and performers are strongly influenced by the minimalist works of [[Philip Glass]], a Baltimore native based out of New York, [[Meredith Monk]], and others.<ref name="Unterberger">Unterberger, p. 1–65.</ref>