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Parlor Music



Been thinking a lot lately about the fact that even only a generation or two ago in some cases, families used to gather round in the parlor and play music together. O, how times have changed!

Parlour music is a type of popular music which, as the name suggests, is intended to be performed in the parlours of middle class homes by amateur singers and pianists. Disseminated as sheet music, its heyday came in the 19th century, as a result of a steady increase in the number of households with enough surplus cash to purchase musical instruments and instruction in music, and with the leisure time and cultural motivation to engage in recreational music-making. Its popularity waned in the 20th century as the phonograph record and radio replaced sheet music as the most common method of dissemination of popular music.

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5 Reader Responses

  1. Crystal Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 12:16 pm

    It’s sad, isn’t it?

    I wish I could get together with some people and play music. I guess I should join a rock band or something.

    I already play music with people in an orchestra, but I long for that organic feeling of looking your group members in the eye, or breathing with them, and knowing when to change tempo, when to change key.

  2. Big Elk Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 12:45 pm

    The only thing about having a “rock band” though as an outlet for music is the notion that you need to go out and “play shows” etc, which is not for everybody. Would be cool just to have a kind of club or something where people show up and play instruments and its all super casual and fun… like a musical potluck almost.

  3. Ian Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 3:30 pm

    I’ve heard of a bar where they have a weekly blues open jam session, basically anyone with an instrument can show up and play together. I’ve never been, as I don’t play anything myself, but it sounded like fun. I’m sure people would enjoy watching that as much as they would participating (with the implied expectation that it was not a “show”).

  4. Crystal Says:
    February 21st, 2008 at 12:58 pm

    I like the idea of not having an audience. Like you’re just doing it for and with yourselves, not performing. Like a conversation, or playing, but with music. I mean, they do call it “playing,” but we have lost some sense of that.

    I like the idea of a “musical potluck.”

    Another thing that’s been on my mind for a few weeks is how people used to listen to records together. Like, before everything was available on the Internet, it was a social event to go to a friend’s house, maybe smoke a little weed or have a beer or something, and put on the newest Led Zeppelin record or whatever.

  5. Big Elk Says:
    February 21st, 2008 at 2:05 pm

    Yeah, I’ve been meaning to write about that as well: when you listen to records, that’s what you’re doing. But when you listen to a CD, it becomes a backdrop for some other activity. And mp3’s are really just a back drop to surfing the web and checking your email…



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