The Position Of Foster’s Songs In The Development Of The American Popular Music

As the subject of music creation, composer’s status in the history of music developmentis mainly reflected in his/her musical works. Whether these musical works fit the aestheticideals and cultural needs of the times would decide the musician’s existence of social status;while the depth of effect these works have on art creativeness and consistency for the latergeneration would measure the musician’s place in history.Based on the songs created by Foster, an American musician, this paper demonstrates theimportant role Foster’s songs played in the development of American popular music throughthree dimensions, namely, creation background, art feature, and age influence.This paper is divided into four chapters. Chapter one studies Foster’s songs, presentingliterature review on the studies of Foster’s songs both at home and abroad. Chapter two isabout the creation background of Foster’s songs. This chapter explores different socialconditions in the North and the South of the United States before the revolutionary war,discusses developmental characteristics of popular music, briefly describes Foster’s life andcareer, and demonstrates her art types, creation trajectory and genres of secular music basedon the art category of his191popular songs. Chapter three analyzes the art feature of Foster’ssongs from six aspects—musical structure and form of songs, melodic patterns and themedevelopment features, rhythm and performance characteristics, tonality and harmonytechniques, lyrics, as well as songs of belonging. Chapter four is the conclusion part,generalizing the position of Foster’s songs in the development of popular music of the UnitedStates from the aspects of style evolution of minstrel show, mass aesthetic tastes and honoraffection.