Music, Sound, and Technology in America: A Documentary History of Early Phonograph, Cinema, and Radio
edited by Timothy D. Taylor, Mark Katz and Tony Grajeda
Duke University Press, 2012 eISBN: 978-0-8223-9391-7 | Paper: 978-0-8223-4946-4 | Cloth: 978-0-8223-4927-3 Library of Congress Classification ML3917.U6M89 2012 Dewey Decimal Classification 781.49
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
This unique anthology assembles primary documents chronicling the development of the phonograph, film sound, and the radio. These three sound technologies shaped Americans' relation to music from the late nineteenth century until the end of the Second World War, by which time the technologies were thoroughly integrated into everyday life. There are more than 120 selections between the collection's first piece, an article on the phonograph written by Thomas Edison in 1878, and its last, a column advising listeners "desirous of gaining more from music as presented by the radio." Among the selections are articles from popular and trade publications, advertisements, fan letters, corporate records, fiction, and sheet music. Taken together, the selections capture how the new sound technologies were shaped by developments such as urbanization, the increasing value placed on leisure time, and the rise of the advertising industry. Most importantly, they depict the ways that the new sound technologies were received by real people in particular places and moments in time.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Timothy D. Taylor is Professor of Ethnomusicology and Musicology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of The Sounds of Capitalism: Advertising, Music, and the Conquest of Culture and Beyond Exoticism: Western Music and the World, which is also published by Duke University Press.
Mark Katz is Associate Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author of Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music and Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip-Hop DJ.
Tony Grajeda is Associate Professor of Cultural Studies in the Department of English at the University of Central Florida. He is an editor of Lowering the Boom: Critical Studies in Film Sound.
REVIEWS
“Measuring the cultural importance and metaphysical weirdness of that change is part of the project of Music, Sound, and Technology in America, an anthology of fascinating artifacts whose prosaic title belies its insights into the early years of the recorded-sound era. . . . [T]he editors of Music, Sound, and Technology in America exhibit a canny ear for the electrifying echoes between then and now.” - Andy Battaglia, Wall Street Journal
“A fascinating new book on early media. . . . A delightful read.” - Steve Ramm, In the Groove
“The editors have selected and assembled their material with perspicuity and wit, and anybody interested in the infancy of sound recording, cinema, and radio is guaranteed to experience frequent ‘aha!’ moments that transport them with a simple turn of phrase to the mind-set of an earlier age.” - James M. Keller, Santa Fe New Mexican
Taylor, Katz, and Grajeda have culled print and visual materials from the popular press, trade journals, and company archives that neatly capture the excitement of the new enterprises of radio, sound recordings, and film and the quandaries surrounding these media. . . . Highly Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.” - N. Newman, Choice
“Part history of technology, part reception studies, this anthology gathers advertisements, sales agents’ scripts, personal accounts, editorials and letters from hobbyist journals of the early days of recorded sound... At its best, the selections convey an eyewitness sense of first reactions to new technologies, before users’ expectations ossified… What shines through the book is how new technologies have opened up cultural battlegrounds for creativity, access and control.” - Emily Bick, The Wire
“As a resource, the collection is very usable and particularly student-friendly. The introductions are insightful without being exhaustive, which encourages further inquiry and discussion by providing guidance and direction to sound studies, cultural studies, and technological studies. This approach creates a versatile collection that is not only useful for research and scholarship, but which is also strikingly teachable.” - Victoria Willis, Popular Music and Society
“This is a much needed anthology…. We owe the three editors a considerable debt for doing the necessary research and for organizing and explaining the value of what they have unearthed.” - European Journal of Communication
"Music, Sound, and Technology in America provides a useful overview of the impact of technologies on American music and musical culture. It is a valuable resource, an engaging, well-organized anthology that will raise provocative questions for students of American cultural history."—Michele Hilmes, author of Radio Voices: American Broadcasting, 1922–1952
“A fascinating new book on early media. . . . A delightful read.”
-- Steve Ramm In the Groove
“As a resource, the collection is very usable and particularly student-friendly. The introductions are insightful without being exhaustive, which encourages further inquiry and discussion by providing guidance and direction to sound studies, cultural studies, and technological studies. This approach creates a versatile collection that is not only useful for research and scholarship, but which is also strikingly teachable.”
-- Victoria Willis Popular Music and Society
“Measuring the cultural importance and metaphysical weirdness of that change is part of the project of Music, Sound, and Technology in America, an anthology of fascinating artifacts whose prosaic title belies its insights into the early years of the recorded-sound era. . . . [T]he editors of Music, Sound, and Technology in America exhibit a canny ear for the electrifying echoes between then and now.”
-- Andy Battaglia Wall Street Journal
“Part history of technology, part reception studies, this anthology gathers advertisements, sales agents’ scripts, personal accounts, editorials and letters from hobbyist journals of the early days of recorded sound... At its best, the selections convey an eyewitness sense of first reactions to new technologies, before users’ expectations ossified… What shines through the book is how new technologies have opened up cultural battlegrounds for creativity, access and control.”
-- Emily Bick The Wire
“The editors have selected and assembled their material with perspicuity and wit, and anybody interested in the infancy of sound recording, cinema, and radio is guaranteed to experience frequent ‘aha!’ moments that transport them with a simple turn of phrase to the mind-set of an earlier age.”
-- James M. Keller Santa Fe Santa Fe New Mexican
Taylor, Katz, and Grajeda have culled print and visual materials from the popular press, trade journals, and company archives that neatly capture the excitement of the new enterprises of radio, sound recordings, and film and the quandaries surrounding these media. . . . Highly Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.”
-- N. Newman Choice
“Although the book is aimed at scholars and students (the book would work admirably as a reader for any number of courses in music, media studies, or history), Music, Sound, and Technology in America will appeal to nearly anyone who has an interest in exploring further the fascinating early history of phonography, cinema, and radio from the perspective of its founders, critics, and consumers. Truly a landmark documentary in every way, this collection should go a long way in stimulating further historical work in the field.”
-- Rob Haskins ARSC Journal
TABLE OF CONTENTS
General Introduction: Music Technologies in Everyday Life / Timothy D. Taylor 1 Part 1. Sound Recording Introduction / Mark Katz 11 Sound Recording: Readings 29 Predictions 29 The Listener and the Phonograph 44 Learning to Listen 44 The Phonograph in Everyday Life 48 The Phonograph and Music Appreciation 65 Men, Women, and Phonographs 70 Music and the Great War 78 Performers and the Phonograph 84 In the Recording Studio 84 The Phonograph and Music Pedagogy 94 The Phonograph and the Composer 104 The Composer in the Machine Age 104 The Phonograph as a Compositional Tool 110 Phonograph Debates 113 Con 113 Pro 126 Part II. Cinema Introduction / Tony Grajeda 137 Cinema: Readings 145 Technologies of Sight and Sound 145 Sounds of the Cinema: Illustrated Song Slides; The Role of the Voice (lecturers, actors); Incidental Musics, Special Effects, Ballyhoo, and Noise of the Audience 153 Playing to the Pictures 173 Performative Accompaniment 173 The Organist of the Picture Palace 192 Conducting and Scoring to the Movies 200 Taste, Culture, and Educating the Public 212 Responding to the Talkies 226 Part III. Radio Introduction / Timothy D. Taylor 239 Radio: Readings 255 Radio as Dream, Radio as Technology 255 Early Broadcasts: Performer and Listener Impressions 266 Radio in Everyday Life 275 Healing 279 Economics of Radio Broadcasting 285 Advertising 288 Music on the Radio 301 Con 301 Pro 305 What Do Listeners Want? 311 Crooning 316 Radio Behind the Scenes 324 Getting on the Air 324 Talent 340 Production behind the Scenes 344 Composing for the Radio 354 How to Listen to Music on the Radio 361 Notes 367 References 387 Index 399
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
Music, Sound, and Technology in America: A Documentary History of Early Phonograph, Cinema, and Radio
edited by Timothy D. Taylor, Mark Katz and Tony Grajeda
Duke University Press, 2012 eISBN: 978-0-8223-9391-7 Paper: 978-0-8223-4946-4 Cloth: 978-0-8223-4927-3
This unique anthology assembles primary documents chronicling the development of the phonograph, film sound, and the radio. These three sound technologies shaped Americans' relation to music from the late nineteenth century until the end of the Second World War, by which time the technologies were thoroughly integrated into everyday life. There are more than 120 selections between the collection's first piece, an article on the phonograph written by Thomas Edison in 1878, and its last, a column advising listeners "desirous of gaining more from music as presented by the radio." Among the selections are articles from popular and trade publications, advertisements, fan letters, corporate records, fiction, and sheet music. Taken together, the selections capture how the new sound technologies were shaped by developments such as urbanization, the increasing value placed on leisure time, and the rise of the advertising industry. Most importantly, they depict the ways that the new sound technologies were received by real people in particular places and moments in time.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Timothy D. Taylor is Professor of Ethnomusicology and Musicology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of The Sounds of Capitalism: Advertising, Music, and the Conquest of Culture and Beyond Exoticism: Western Music and the World, which is also published by Duke University Press.
Mark Katz is Associate Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author of Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music and Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip-Hop DJ.
Tony Grajeda is Associate Professor of Cultural Studies in the Department of English at the University of Central Florida. He is an editor of Lowering the Boom: Critical Studies in Film Sound.
REVIEWS
“Measuring the cultural importance and metaphysical weirdness of that change is part of the project of Music, Sound, and Technology in America, an anthology of fascinating artifacts whose prosaic title belies its insights into the early years of the recorded-sound era. . . . [T]he editors of Music, Sound, and Technology in America exhibit a canny ear for the electrifying echoes between then and now.” - Andy Battaglia, Wall Street Journal
“A fascinating new book on early media. . . . A delightful read.” - Steve Ramm, In the Groove
“The editors have selected and assembled their material with perspicuity and wit, and anybody interested in the infancy of sound recording, cinema, and radio is guaranteed to experience frequent ‘aha!’ moments that transport them with a simple turn of phrase to the mind-set of an earlier age.” - James M. Keller, Santa Fe New Mexican
Taylor, Katz, and Grajeda have culled print and visual materials from the popular press, trade journals, and company archives that neatly capture the excitement of the new enterprises of radio, sound recordings, and film and the quandaries surrounding these media. . . . Highly Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.” - N. Newman, Choice
“Part history of technology, part reception studies, this anthology gathers advertisements, sales agents’ scripts, personal accounts, editorials and letters from hobbyist journals of the early days of recorded sound... At its best, the selections convey an eyewitness sense of first reactions to new technologies, before users’ expectations ossified… What shines through the book is how new technologies have opened up cultural battlegrounds for creativity, access and control.” - Emily Bick, The Wire
“As a resource, the collection is very usable and particularly student-friendly. The introductions are insightful without being exhaustive, which encourages further inquiry and discussion by providing guidance and direction to sound studies, cultural studies, and technological studies. This approach creates a versatile collection that is not only useful for research and scholarship, but which is also strikingly teachable.” - Victoria Willis, Popular Music and Society
“This is a much needed anthology…. We owe the three editors a considerable debt for doing the necessary research and for organizing and explaining the value of what they have unearthed.” - European Journal of Communication
"Music, Sound, and Technology in America provides a useful overview of the impact of technologies on American music and musical culture. It is a valuable resource, an engaging, well-organized anthology that will raise provocative questions for students of American cultural history."—Michele Hilmes, author of Radio Voices: American Broadcasting, 1922–1952
“A fascinating new book on early media. . . . A delightful read.”
-- Steve Ramm In the Groove
“As a resource, the collection is very usable and particularly student-friendly. The introductions are insightful without being exhaustive, which encourages further inquiry and discussion by providing guidance and direction to sound studies, cultural studies, and technological studies. This approach creates a versatile collection that is not only useful for research and scholarship, but which is also strikingly teachable.”
-- Victoria Willis Popular Music and Society
“Measuring the cultural importance and metaphysical weirdness of that change is part of the project of Music, Sound, and Technology in America, an anthology of fascinating artifacts whose prosaic title belies its insights into the early years of the recorded-sound era. . . . [T]he editors of Music, Sound, and Technology in America exhibit a canny ear for the electrifying echoes between then and now.”
-- Andy Battaglia Wall Street Journal
“Part history of technology, part reception studies, this anthology gathers advertisements, sales agents’ scripts, personal accounts, editorials and letters from hobbyist journals of the early days of recorded sound... At its best, the selections convey an eyewitness sense of first reactions to new technologies, before users’ expectations ossified… What shines through the book is how new technologies have opened up cultural battlegrounds for creativity, access and control.”
-- Emily Bick The Wire
“The editors have selected and assembled their material with perspicuity and wit, and anybody interested in the infancy of sound recording, cinema, and radio is guaranteed to experience frequent ‘aha!’ moments that transport them with a simple turn of phrase to the mind-set of an earlier age.”
-- James M. Keller Santa Fe Santa Fe New Mexican
Taylor, Katz, and Grajeda have culled print and visual materials from the popular press, trade journals, and company archives that neatly capture the excitement of the new enterprises of radio, sound recordings, and film and the quandaries surrounding these media. . . . Highly Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.”
-- N. Newman Choice
“Although the book is aimed at scholars and students (the book would work admirably as a reader for any number of courses in music, media studies, or history), Music, Sound, and Technology in America will appeal to nearly anyone who has an interest in exploring further the fascinating early history of phonography, cinema, and radio from the perspective of its founders, critics, and consumers. Truly a landmark documentary in every way, this collection should go a long way in stimulating further historical work in the field.”
-- Rob Haskins ARSC Journal
TABLE OF CONTENTS
General Introduction: Music Technologies in Everyday Life / Timothy D. Taylor 1 Part 1. Sound Recording Introduction / Mark Katz 11 Sound Recording: Readings 29 Predictions 29 The Listener and the Phonograph 44 Learning to Listen 44 The Phonograph in Everyday Life 48 The Phonograph and Music Appreciation 65 Men, Women, and Phonographs 70 Music and the Great War 78 Performers and the Phonograph 84 In the Recording Studio 84 The Phonograph and Music Pedagogy 94 The Phonograph and the Composer 104 The Composer in the Machine Age 104 The Phonograph as a Compositional Tool 110 Phonograph Debates 113 Con 113 Pro 126 Part II. Cinema Introduction / Tony Grajeda 137 Cinema: Readings 145 Technologies of Sight and Sound 145 Sounds of the Cinema: Illustrated Song Slides; The Role of the Voice (lecturers, actors); Incidental Musics, Special Effects, Ballyhoo, and Noise of the Audience 153 Playing to the Pictures 173 Performative Accompaniment 173 The Organist of the Picture Palace 192 Conducting and Scoring to the Movies 200 Taste, Culture, and Educating the Public 212 Responding to the Talkies 226 Part III. Radio Introduction / Timothy D. Taylor 239 Radio: Readings 255 Radio as Dream, Radio as Technology 255 Early Broadcasts: Performer and Listener Impressions 266 Radio in Everyday Life 275 Healing 279 Economics of Radio Broadcasting 285 Advertising 288 Music on the Radio 301 Con 301 Pro 305 What Do Listeners Want? 311 Crooning 316 Radio Behind the Scenes 324 Getting on the Air 324 Talent 340 Production behind the Scenes 344 Composing for the Radio 354 How to Listen to Music on the Radio 361 Notes 367 References 387 Index 399
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
