When one combines the energy and charisma of youth, the influencing power of music, and the wide audience of the Internet, one can create movement with an immediacy that only the 21st century could bring forth. Super Pal Universe is a group of five young people, who all have a superhero alter ego. When they aren't saving the earth from pollution and littering, they are just a regular five-piece-band from Austin, Texas. The Super Pal Universe have music videos and have chalked up live performances around Austin. It's good to see youth providing good role models via music and stirring an interest in issues that effect everyone in the community.
Essentialsofmusic.com is a Web site built around the Sony collection of music called "Essential Classics." The site is more than electronic liner notes; also it contains explanations and definitions of the different classical musical eras. It also features a glossary of all musical terms, and a concise list of famous classical composers. There are also scattered bits of audio (one should have Real Audio for them to work) throughout the Web site. It provides a useful knowledge base with accompanying sound clips to enhance the learning experience.
The American Mavericks seem to be on the cutting edge of everything dealing with American music and composers. The entire Web site is filled with useful resources and media. The site has an entire section of both sound and video clips from their Internet radio show, as well as links to further resources about the composers and musicians, with interviews. With special features like an interactive rhythmicon, the site doesn't just inform, it entertains and makes immersion into the past, present, and future of American music an enjoyable adventure.
A good movie is a good movie, but without music, it's just a fancy slide show. The American Film Institute presents its seventh polling of American's Greatest Music in Movies. Just like one can tell the history of the Earth by viewing its layers of rock, so too can one tell much about the history of a nation by looking at the music which helped shape its culture. The songs range from childhood memories and teenage favorites, to songs that defined entire generations. This Web site is a useful reminder of the limitless possibilities of music. It can have great effects on ourselves as people, shaping some of our sweetest memories and our personalities, and on a larger scale, it can bring messages to an entire country of people, shaping the attitude and feelings of a whole nation.
Music's role in the history of who we are as a country has not been lost on society. The Center for American Music is dedicated to the preservation, education, and accessibility of historic documents tied to significant periods of American music. They under take projects like the Texas Music Oral History Project, which archives rare interviews and recordings that are in danger of disintegrating, into digital formats. The documents are accessible to the entire public, as well as professors and students for use inside the classroom.
This site on Texas-Mexican Conjunto music is presented by Texas Music History Online. One of the most interesting cultural creations of Texas was the formation of the modern Conjunto music, influenced by the cultural interaction between northern Mexico and Texas. It is a style of music that Tejanos can truly call their own. This unique musical identity is a definitive part of Texas and Southwestern culture, and the songs that helped shape the state of Texas can be studied as a means of learning its history. Information on this and other Texas music-related articles can be found throughout the Web site.
Although the design of the Web site is rather minimalistic, the content within is anything but. This Web site has a chronological history of American music before 1900, all the way up until present day. The collection isn't really expansive by itself, but it has a large collection of resources from every period, performer, and genre of music. It even has links to collections of old sheet music and lyric sheets. This site is a resource for information on the music of different periods in American history.
Musicals are proof that songs can speak more than just words, but volumes about the influence and power music can have over people. The very concept of a musical is a production based around song and music. The tremendous popularity of musicals is further evidence of music's importance in documenting who humans are as a people and how they have used music for not only entertainment, but to advance noble causes or retell historical stories. The Tony Awards remind us that people take music very seriously not only as an art form, but as a means of identity in a culture and as means of communication that can transcend language, gender, race, and perhaps even time.