Free Digital Sheet Music

On the weekend I watched the documentary The Devil’s Music that examined the communities reaction to the advent of jazz in the 1920s. One thing that I remember was the mention of an article, Does Jazz put the ‘Sin’ in Syncopation . It was by Anne Shaw Faulkner writing in Ladies Home Journal around 1921 warning of the dangers of jazz. It has lines like: A number of scientific men who have been working on experiments in musico-therapy with the insane, declare that while regular rhythms and simple tones produce a quieting effect on the brain of even a violent patient, the effect of jazz on the normal brain produces an atrophied condition on the brain cells of conception, until very frequently those under the demoralizing influence of the persistent use of syncopation, combined with inharmonic partial tones, are actually incapable of distinguishing between good and evil, right and wrong. Such music has become an influence for evil. I’m sure these arguments were recycled for the rise of rock’n'roll. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet you can read the whole thing on line here. If syncopation is a tool of the Devil then we have a season ticket on a one way ride.