What would
Top of the Pops been like 100 years ago?
The years of 1919 and 1920 brought the beginning of
big changes to how people lived. This
time was just after the end of the horrors of the First World War (WWI), which
had ended in victory, peace had returned, and people began to make money and
enjoy life with the music of the era.
How did people listen to music 100 years
ago?
There were no Ipods, mobile phones or CDs back
then. How was music played? On big, flat discs called records, of
course. How did people hear music from
those?
Well, there was the gramophone:
and the phonograph
Have a listen to a few of these songs that were big
hits in post-war 1919, with titles like Til
We Meet Again and I’m Forever Blowing
Bubbles – just listen to any from this list - of course it will sound very
different to music from today, so that’s the point of listening to it to find
out!
Top 40 Pop Songs in 1919
A lot changed in the 1920s, and the music in
particular!
These snips of a few tunes will give you a great introduction to the music that came soon after the terrible times of the First World War:
(You may already have heard of Louis Armstrong!):
What
was the Lindy Hop? The Charleston?
The music
of the 1920s brought a very different sound and this era (period of time in years) is considered to be
the beginning of the modern music era.
These dramatic changes were vast, with Jazz bands, Dance bands, ragtime.
In 1920,
the ‘Roaring Twenties’ were about to begin.
Why was this period of time called
‘The Roaring Twenties’?
Let’s see what
you can find out about some of the music of 1920 and how it influenced people
during this era. Who were some of the
most famous musicians of the 1920s? Create a fact file from what you've found out.
Have a listen to some 1920s jazz while you do your research:
Have fun!
