Annette Davison
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199797615
- eISBN:
- 9780199979738
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199797615.003.0014
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, Western
This chapter explores the role of the trade union and the collecting agency in relation to music in cinemas though the “silent” period and on to the emergence of synchronized sound. A brief history ...
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This chapter explores the role of the trade union and the collecting agency in relation to music in cinemas though the “silent” period and on to the emergence of synchronized sound. A brief history of the Musician’s Union and its relationship with other unions is followed by an investigation of the union’s role in supporting cinema musicians, and its negotiations with the principal employers’ organization, the Cinematograph Exhibitors’ Association. This is followed by an introduction to the Performing Right Society (PRS), the institution established by publishers and composers in 1914 to collect revenue for the public performance of their music. Here the vital role that cinemas played in the establishment and survival of the PRS during its infancy is highlighted, alongside the periodically difficult relationship between the Musicians’ Union and the PRS, in part due to the society’s classification system for the licensing of music in cinemas.Less
This chapter explores the role of the trade union and the collecting agency in relation to music in cinemas though the “silent” period and on to the emergence of synchronized sound. A brief history of the Musician’s Union and its relationship with other unions is followed by an investigation of the union’s role in supporting cinema musicians, and its negotiations with the principal employers’ organization, the Cinematograph Exhibitors’ Association. This is followed by an introduction to the Performing Right Society (PRS), the institution established by publishers and composers in 1914 to collect revenue for the public performance of their music. Here the vital role that cinemas played in the establishment and survival of the PRS during its infancy is highlighted, alongside the periodically difficult relationship between the Musicians’ Union and the PRS, in part due to the society’s classification system for the licensing of music in cinemas.
Mark Solbin
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520227170
- eISBN:
- 9780520935655
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520227170.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter attempts to rescue an early American Jewish institution from historical oblivion—di rusishe progresiv muzikal yunyon no. 1 fun amerike (the Russian Progressive Musical Union No. 1 of ...
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This chapter attempts to rescue an early American Jewish institution from historical oblivion—di rusishe progresiv muzikal yunyon no. 1 fun amerike (the Russian Progressive Musical Union No. 1 of America)—the first Jewish musicians' union in the United States and the missing link in the history of the migration of klezmer music and musicians from eastern Europe to the United States. The origins of this union reveal a great deal about the early effects of social, cultural, and political currents of urban America on this genre of eastern European Jewish music, and about the overall transformation of traditional Yiddish culture in the New World.Less
This chapter attempts to rescue an early American Jewish institution from historical oblivion—di rusishe progresiv muzikal yunyon no. 1 fun amerike (the Russian Progressive Musical Union No. 1 of America)—the first Jewish musicians' union in the United States and the missing link in the history of the migration of klezmer music and musicians from eastern Europe to the United States. The origins of this union reveal a great deal about the early effects of social, cultural, and political currents of urban America on this genre of eastern European Jewish music, and about the overall transformation of traditional Yiddish culture in the New World.
John Williamson and Martin Cloonan
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781784991326
- eISBN:
- 9781526120786
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784991326.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter outlines the early history of the Amalgamated Musicians’ Union (AMU) and the work of its first General Secretary, Joseph Bevir (“Joe”) Williams. It illustrates the types of work ...
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This chapter outlines the early history of the Amalgamated Musicians’ Union (AMU) and the work of its first General Secretary, Joseph Bevir (“Joe”) Williams. It illustrates the types of work undertaken by musicians in the last nineteenth and early twentieth century. Debates about whether musicians’ collective interests are best served by a trade union or a professional association are outlined. The key issues facing the Union in its early days are discussed including competition from military bands and European immigrant musicians, recruitment, strikes, the Union’s penchant for litigation, its efforts to communicate with members and its political lobbying and campaigning. The effect of the First World War on the AMU and musical employment is also outlineds.Less
This chapter outlines the early history of the Amalgamated Musicians’ Union (AMU) and the work of its first General Secretary, Joseph Bevir (“Joe”) Williams. It illustrates the types of work undertaken by musicians in the last nineteenth and early twentieth century. Debates about whether musicians’ collective interests are best served by a trade union or a professional association are outlined. The key issues facing the Union in its early days are discussed including competition from military bands and European immigrant musicians, recruitment, strikes, the Union’s penchant for litigation, its efforts to communicate with members and its political lobbying and campaigning. The effect of the First World War on the AMU and musical employment is also outlineds.
John Williamson and Martin Cloonan
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781784991326
- eISBN:
- 9781526120786
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784991326.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter outlines the AMU’s history immediately post 1918 and its moves towards merger with the National Orchestral Union of Professional Musicians (NOUPM) to form the Musician’s Union (MU) in ...
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This chapter outlines the AMU’s history immediately post 1918 and its moves towards merger with the National Orchestral Union of Professional Musicians (NOUPM) to form the Musician’s Union (MU) in 1921. It examines the resignation of Joe Williams and the problems faced by his successor as General Secretary, E.S.Teale and his successor, Fred Dambman. Changes within the music profession as musical tastes change are outlined. The advent of broadcasting is discussed and the BBC’s developing role as a key employer of musicians is highlighted. The development of the recording industry is discussed and the crisis in musical employment caused by the advent of the “talkies” in the cinema outlined. Problems caused for the Union by “alien” musicians working in the UK are noted.Less
This chapter outlines the AMU’s history immediately post 1918 and its moves towards merger with the National Orchestral Union of Professional Musicians (NOUPM) to form the Musician’s Union (MU) in 1921. It examines the resignation of Joe Williams and the problems faced by his successor as General Secretary, E.S.Teale and his successor, Fred Dambman. Changes within the music profession as musical tastes change are outlined. The advent of broadcasting is discussed and the BBC’s developing role as a key employer of musicians is highlighted. The development of the recording industry is discussed and the crisis in musical employment caused by the advent of the “talkies” in the cinema outlined. Problems caused for the Union by “alien” musicians working in the UK are noted.
John Williamson and Martin Cloonan
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781784991326
- eISBN:
- 9781526120786
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784991326.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter outlines the history of musicians’ representative organisations before the formation of the Amalgamated Musicians’ Union in 1893. It traces developments from the fourteenth century to ...
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This chapter outlines the history of musicians’ representative organisations before the formation of the Amalgamated Musicians’ Union in 1893. It traces developments from the fourteenth century to the late nineteenth, examining the various fraternities, brotherhood guilds and societies which were formed. Issues of protectionism, benevolence and organisation are raised. The moves towards a re trade unionism are outlined in the context of the growth of new unionism. The formation of the Amalgamated Musicians’ Union (AMU) and thee rival London Orchestral Association (LOA) are outlined.Less
This chapter outlines the history of musicians’ representative organisations before the formation of the Amalgamated Musicians’ Union in 1893. It traces developments from the fourteenth century to the late nineteenth, examining the various fraternities, brotherhood guilds and societies which were formed. Issues of protectionism, benevolence and organisation are raised. The moves towards a re trade unionism are outlined in the context of the growth of new unionism. The formation of the Amalgamated Musicians’ Union (AMU) and thee rival London Orchestral Association (LOA) are outlined.
Leta E. Miller
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520268913
- eISBN:
- 9780520950092
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520268913.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Among San Francisco's noisy political battles during the first half of the twentieth century, those involving labor were perhaps the most vicious—and certainly the most public. Like other union ...
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Among San Francisco's noisy political battles during the first half of the twentieth century, those involving labor were perhaps the most vicious—and certainly the most public. Like other union workers, the city's musicians included some of the nation's most vocal exponents for respectable pay, reasonable hours, and decent working conditions. During the Hadley years, the symphony management was able to hire and fire the entire orchestra between each concert set. During Hertz's early years, contracts for the players and for the conductor himself were rarely settled before the late spring, and were issued for only a year or two at a time. Musicians in casual employment experienced far worse exploitation from fly-by-night theater managers, who would sometimes skip town without paying hired orchestras, and from restaurant and club owners, who found creative ways to stiff their employees. The “musicians' protective unions” that sprouted throughout the country by the turn of the century aimed at curbing such abuses. San Francisco musicians were among the first to affiliate with the American Federation of Musicians: Local 6 was chartered on February 2, 1897.Less
Among San Francisco's noisy political battles during the first half of the twentieth century, those involving labor were perhaps the most vicious—and certainly the most public. Like other union workers, the city's musicians included some of the nation's most vocal exponents for respectable pay, reasonable hours, and decent working conditions. During the Hadley years, the symphony management was able to hire and fire the entire orchestra between each concert set. During Hertz's early years, contracts for the players and for the conductor himself were rarely settled before the late spring, and were issued for only a year or two at a time. Musicians in casual employment experienced far worse exploitation from fly-by-night theater managers, who would sometimes skip town without paying hired orchestras, and from restaurant and club owners, who found creative ways to stiff their employees. The “musicians' protective unions” that sprouted throughout the country by the turn of the century aimed at curbing such abuses. San Francisco musicians were among the first to affiliate with the American Federation of Musicians: Local 6 was chartered on February 2, 1897.
John Williamson and Martin Cloonan
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781784991326
- eISBN:
- 9781526120786
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784991326.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
The book begins with reflections on the Musicians’ Union 2015 conference and the some of the perennial themes which such events have addressed. It then outlines the sources used for the book ...
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The book begins with reflections on the Musicians’ Union 2015 conference and the some of the perennial themes which such events have addressed. It then outlines the sources used for the book including previous literature, archives and interviews. The book’s theoretical paradigm – that musicians are best thought of as particular sorts of workers is then outlined. We then address a number of key themes which recur in the book including technology, the music industries, musical tastes, competition and gender.Less
The book begins with reflections on the Musicians’ Union 2015 conference and the some of the perennial themes which such events have addressed. It then outlines the sources used for the book including previous literature, archives and interviews. The book’s theoretical paradigm – that musicians are best thought of as particular sorts of workers is then outlined. We then address a number of key themes which recur in the book including technology, the music industries, musical tastes, competition and gender.
John Spitzer (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226769769
- eISBN:
- 9780226769776
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226769776.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Studies of concert life in nineteenth-century America have generally been limited to large orchestras and the programs we are familiar with today, but audiences of that era enjoyed far more diverse ...
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Studies of concert life in nineteenth-century America have generally been limited to large orchestras and the programs we are familiar with today, but audiences of that era enjoyed far more diverse musical experiences than this focus would suggest. To hear an orchestra, people were more likely to head to a beer garden, restaurant, or summer resort than to a concert hall, and what they heard were not just symphonic works—programs also included opera excerpts and arrangements, instrumental showpieces, comic numbers, and medleys of patriotic tunes. This book brings together musicologists and historians to investigate the many orchestras and programs that developed in nineteenth-century America. In addition to reflecting on the music that orchestras played and the socioeconomic aspects of building and maintaining orchestras, it considers a wide range of topics, including audiences, entrepreneurs, concert arrangements, tours, and musicians' unions. The authors also show that the period saw a massive influx of immigrant performers, the increasing ability of orchestras to travel across the nation, and the rising influence of women as listeners, patrons, and players.Less
Studies of concert life in nineteenth-century America have generally been limited to large orchestras and the programs we are familiar with today, but audiences of that era enjoyed far more diverse musical experiences than this focus would suggest. To hear an orchestra, people were more likely to head to a beer garden, restaurant, or summer resort than to a concert hall, and what they heard were not just symphonic works—programs also included opera excerpts and arrangements, instrumental showpieces, comic numbers, and medleys of patriotic tunes. This book brings together musicologists and historians to investigate the many orchestras and programs that developed in nineteenth-century America. In addition to reflecting on the music that orchestras played and the socioeconomic aspects of building and maintaining orchestras, it considers a wide range of topics, including audiences, entrepreneurs, concert arrangements, tours, and musicians' unions. The authors also show that the period saw a massive influx of immigrant performers, the increasing ability of orchestras to travel across the nation, and the rising influence of women as listeners, patrons, and players.
Martin Cloonan and John Williamson
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781784991326
- eISBN:
- 9781526120786
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784991326.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This book is a history of the British Musicians’ Union (MU) from its origins in 1893 to 2013. It uses the Union as a prism through which to examine changes in musicians’ working lives, the industries ...
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This book is a history of the British Musicians’ Union (MU) from its origins in 1893 to 2013. It uses the Union as a prism through which to examine changes in musicians’ working lives, the industries they work in and wider British society. It argues that musicians can best be considered as particular sorts of worker and that while the MU’s history has hitherto largely been ignored or marginalised, it has much to teach us about musicians, their working lives and the power dynamics of the music industries.Less
This book is a history of the British Musicians’ Union (MU) from its origins in 1893 to 2013. It uses the Union as a prism through which to examine changes in musicians’ working lives, the industries they work in and wider British society. It argues that musicians can best be considered as particular sorts of worker and that while the MU’s history has hitherto largely been ignored or marginalised, it has much to teach us about musicians, their working lives and the power dynamics of the music industries.
Mark Slobin (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520227170
- eISBN:
- 9780520935655
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520227170.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Klezmer, the Yiddish word for a folk instrumental musician, has come to mean a person, a style, and a scene. This musical subculture came to the United States with the late-nineteenth-century Jewish ...
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Klezmer, the Yiddish word for a folk instrumental musician, has come to mean a person, a style, and a scene. This musical subculture came to the United States with the late-nineteenth-century Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Although it had declined in popularity by the middle of the twentieth century, this lively music is now enjoying recognition among music fans of all stripes. Today, klezmer flourishes in the United States and abroad in world music and accompanies Jewish celebrations. The chapters this volume investigate American klezmer: its roots, its evolution, and its spirited revitalization. Contributors to the book include every kind of authority on the subject—from academics to leading musicians—and they offer a wide range of perspectives on the musical, social, and cultural history of klezmer in American life. The first half of this volume concentrates on the early history of klezmer, using folkloric sources, records of early musicians unions, and interviews with the last of the immigrant musicians. The second part of the book examines the klezmer “revival” that began in the 1970s. Several of these chapters were written by the leaders of this movement, or draw on interviews with them, and give firsthand accounts of how klezmer is transmitted and how its practitioners maintain a balance between preservation and innovation.Less
Klezmer, the Yiddish word for a folk instrumental musician, has come to mean a person, a style, and a scene. This musical subculture came to the United States with the late-nineteenth-century Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Although it had declined in popularity by the middle of the twentieth century, this lively music is now enjoying recognition among music fans of all stripes. Today, klezmer flourishes in the United States and abroad in world music and accompanies Jewish celebrations. The chapters this volume investigate American klezmer: its roots, its evolution, and its spirited revitalization. Contributors to the book include every kind of authority on the subject—from academics to leading musicians—and they offer a wide range of perspectives on the musical, social, and cultural history of klezmer in American life. The first half of this volume concentrates on the early history of klezmer, using folkloric sources, records of early musicians unions, and interviews with the last of the immigrant musicians. The second part of the book examines the klezmer “revival” that began in the 1970s. Several of these chapters were written by the leaders of this movement, or draw on interviews with them, and give firsthand accounts of how klezmer is transmitted and how its practitioners maintain a balance between preservation and innovation.
Catherine Parsons Smith
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520251397
- eISBN:
- 9780520933835
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520251397.003.0015
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter introduces the Los Angeles Federal Music Project (FMP), which partially solved the unemployment problem of musicians in Los Angeles during the Great Depression, first describing the ...
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This chapter introduces the Los Angeles Federal Music Project (FMP), which partially solved the unemployment problem of musicians in Los Angeles during the Great Depression, first describing the pre-FMP music programs in Los Angeles, which were strongly influenced by the musicians' union. It then studies the national leadership of the Federal Music and Theatre projects, in order to further understand their local implementation and the issues that these projects raised. Next, the chapter looks at the administration and organization of the FMP and the WPA Music Projects, describing the FMP's 1936 production of La Traviata, and finally introduces the “Society of Native American Composers.”Less
This chapter introduces the Los Angeles Federal Music Project (FMP), which partially solved the unemployment problem of musicians in Los Angeles during the Great Depression, first describing the pre-FMP music programs in Los Angeles, which were strongly influenced by the musicians' union. It then studies the national leadership of the Federal Music and Theatre projects, in order to further understand their local implementation and the issues that these projects raised. Next, the chapter looks at the administration and organization of the FMP and the WPA Music Projects, describing the FMP's 1936 production of La Traviata, and finally introduces the “Society of Native American Composers.”
Jason C. Bivins
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780190230913
- eISBN:
- 9780190230944
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190230913.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
The history of American religions is overrun with intentional communities and religious utopian experiments, many of which have a strongly pedagogical and/or social critical dimension. Jazz has ...
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The history of American religions is overrun with intentional communities and religious utopian experiments, many of which have a strongly pedagogical and/or social critical dimension. Jazz has nurtured a number of significant counter-academies, community organizations, and experimental societies focused on musical and religious development simultaneously. This chapter examines several such endeavors—Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, St. Louis’s Black Artists Group, Los Angeles’s Union of God’s Musicians in Artists Ascension, the Church of John Coltrane, and Alice Coltrane’s ashram—in light of this long history of new religious movements and their alternate socialities. By examining and contextualizing the motivations of community members, we see how the disciplines of music-making are integral to (even coterminous with) the formation of new religious identities that contrast with those of an artless world.Less
The history of American religions is overrun with intentional communities and religious utopian experiments, many of which have a strongly pedagogical and/or social critical dimension. Jazz has nurtured a number of significant counter-academies, community organizations, and experimental societies focused on musical and religious development simultaneously. This chapter examines several such endeavors—Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, St. Louis’s Black Artists Group, Los Angeles’s Union of God’s Musicians in Artists Ascension, the Church of John Coltrane, and Alice Coltrane’s ashram—in light of this long history of new religious movements and their alternate socialities. By examining and contextualizing the motivations of community members, we see how the disciplines of music-making are integral to (even coterminous with) the formation of new religious identities that contrast with those of an artless world.
Vicki Ohl
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300102611
- eISBN:
- 9780300130393
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300102611.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter focuses on the changes in the life of Kay Swift after she moved to New York City with her husband James Warburg. It explains that Swift re-enrolled in the Institute of Musical Art and ...
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This chapter focuses on the changes in the life of Kay Swift after she moved to New York City with her husband James Warburg. It explains that Swift re-enrolled in the Institute of Musical Art and decided to pursue the private activities of composition and performance instead of teaching piano. It also discusses the transformation in Swift's career and how the highbrow culture of classical music, ballet, and literature became tainted with the lowbrow thrills of Broadway, Tin Pan Alley, and Harlem. This chapter also mentions Swift's decision to join the Musician's Union.Less
This chapter focuses on the changes in the life of Kay Swift after she moved to New York City with her husband James Warburg. It explains that Swift re-enrolled in the Institute of Musical Art and decided to pursue the private activities of composition and performance instead of teaching piano. It also discusses the transformation in Swift's career and how the highbrow culture of classical music, ballet, and literature became tainted with the lowbrow thrills of Broadway, Tin Pan Alley, and Harlem. This chapter also mentions Swift's decision to join the Musician's Union.
