The topic for this class was the phenomenon of cross-training present in American music during the twentieth century.  It was first introduced, as much is in this class, by discussing the minstrel show.  How musicians of all colors in American industry would “put on acts” to reenact the minstrel shows, and how this is the first form of “American Music.”

The minstrel show, while it may seem blatantly offensive, and perhaps it was intentioned that way at first, nonetheless evolved into a form of cultural amalgamation and normalization I feel.  Because, the minstrel show is in effect, a musician putting on a certain act in order to appeal to a certain audience, and I recall back to the first mentions of the minstrel show in class, when the private and public identity differentials of artists such as 50 Cent were referenced.  On stage, an artist may portray a certain image, and the image may indeed change as the audience does, and then the same artist may seem entirely diffferent in their private life.

Circling back to the cross-training of music, people of all color would participate in the “minstrel show influences” in order to normalize their culture into American society.