Francis Johnson as Prolific Artist

Artistic work is considered to be of paramount importance in today's society because a lot of people look up to them as role models. Artists also entertain people with their work of music or drama since entertainment make people get relieved over their daily mental stress and hardships. Artistic job also enables people to come closer as a community because the message entailed in their artistic work. Francis Johnson is one of the most influential artists who entered in the industry during the 18th century. This essay is will address the his traits, ways in which his work influenced people, the obstacles that he encountered and also how his artistic work inspirers people in today's artistic work. Francis was an impeccable composer during the 18th century, where he used to write songs relating to the hardships faced by the community in general.at the time, it was pretty hard for African-American composers to come on board because the competition was pretty stiff. His prowess therefore must have been exceptional since his work made him host a racially-integrated concert in the United States of America (Johns, 2006). Francis was the first African-American artist to have his music published on a sheet music and also led the Americans to ensemble concerts abroad hence helping mobilize the American musical genres. His musical prowess also culminated to the establishment of the popular promenade concert style to America. The promenade concert involved classical concerts that involved educational and children events. Adults were also authorized to attend as the concerts were made to enlighten people and entertain them with orchestra music. The promenade concerts also ensured that children and other aspiring musicians also got the opportunity to learn by watching experienced artists perform on stage. The promenade was also embraced in the United Kingdom (Caldwell et al, 1994).

Francis Johnson traits

Johnson was a hard-working artist whose efforts were depicted by the numerous records that he made. He made over 300 records whose message and entertaining qualities embraced thousands of his followers. Moreover, he travelled across European nations during active years where he could actually hold concerts and perform his tracks, which were considered fascinating by the huge chunk of his followers. Johnson portrayed admirable leadership qualities over his tenure as an artist. Fellow music composers also viewed him as the role model, whom they could consult in matters relating to their profession. He also established the promenade concerts, which acted as profound basis for upcoming artists since they could watch the proven artists perform live. He is actually rumored to have been the leader to the Philadelphian Matt Black band that established a remarkable musical basement in the country (McDermott, 1948). He portrayed courage and fearless traits as he started and carried on with his career under turmoil circumstances. Johnson, being an African-American found it pretty hard to establish himself as an artist. The Americans had predominated in the music industry and therefore one had to stand fearlessly with a lot of courage before his efforts got recognized.to prove his worth, he got his music published on the Music sheet, which was great achievement. Johnson therefore figured that music was actually his talent, hence devoted his life on the profession (Johnson, 2012). Johnson was also a proven teacher, who imparted knowledge to both black and white people. Being a versatile and established musician, Johnson gave back to the community as he taught music to the youths, both black and white. People saw him as an established figure whom they believed that his knowledge would actually create a difference as far as the music industry was concerned. He was extremely resilient towards any form of discrimination during his career. Johnson faced racial discrimination from the whites especially during concerts. Due to his resilience, Johnson never gave up but solely focused on winning the crowd.it didn't take long before the crowds realized how talented the black man was hence started loving his work.

Ways in which Johnson work influenced people

He contributed significantly to shun racial discrimination in the country. Through his musical concerts, Johnson enlightened people to embrace each other as they were all humans. He also taught blacks and whites musical lessons hence embracing all the races. Johnson's efforts to shun racial discrimination can also be depicted through his travel and performance on different countries without considering his color. Johnson laid the foundation for the musical artists not even locally but also internationally. He was the first black American to get his name on board as an exceptional artist, hence acting as a motivational foundation for black artists who had found it hard to break through the white-dominated industry. Through him, the blacks figured that they could also break into the industry and prove the worth. Johnson acted as a role model to small children, whom he taught as a teacher. For example he taught musical skills to the children, who treasured him as their role model. They dreamt of emulating his strategies and composing power. Today's jazz music artists owe Johnson a lot.it is believed that the jazz style of music was initiated by Johnson during his musical career. The genre was formulated by Johnson and his band hence creating the foundation for the future jazz music style, who found a readily established musical foundation (Taylor, 2005). Johnson also influenced people through his performance to the churches, hence motivating Christians through his educative music. For example he performed sacred music at the Philadelphia, New York and Boston black churches hence bring people together across the USA. He also influenced the life of military people as a music director.as an established artist, the military also sought his services in composing military songs. He also directed their performance through rehearsals and encouraging talks. Johnsons work was so outstanding that his music was also used in national functions for example his work "new cottolions and March" was performed for General La Fayette during his visit in the year 1824.this is a clear indication that Johnson's work was a thriller to the general world.it was such an honor to the American people to have an iconic artist whom foreigners people paid much attention to his work (Kang, 2008).

Obstacles faced by Francis Johnson

Although Francis Johnson had such a remarkable carrier as an artist, his career path also encountered hardships and turmoil. He was subjected to severe ethnic discrimination, which adversely affected his career path. The whites, who had literally dominated the industry viewed Johnson as an outcast.it was pretty hard for him to get on stage and perform as people hurled insults as he performed on stage. His career had also been deterred by the whites as they took much time before printing his music to the music sheet. Discrimination was such a demoralizing vice that some blacks could actually give up their ambitions. Even though Johnson remained resilient to the vice, it hugely affected his attitude and ambition. It's argued that racial discrimination was the greatest challenge that Johnson encountered as he tried to win over people's confidence (Southern, 1973). He also encountered hardship as far as storing his musical work for future reference. Back in the days the global countries had not improved to a greater extent hence proving to be a stabling block to musical storage. The only available option was the manuscript which cannot actually be kept for a long time. His regrets must have been poor technological availabilities. Johnson lacked support from the local administration that would have helped him become a good artist on time. The local administration, especially the Philadelphian administration failed to support upcoming artists and instead let the locals support racism. He also lacked support from his family members.it was unfortunate Johnson's parents couldn't be traced hence making him lonely. Johnson also faced opposition from the white artists, who at the beginning felt that his music was not good enough.at his time of coming up, he met the whites who were absolutely disillusion and stereotypes that blacks were not in a position to make good music. They felt that only whites were in a position to compose good quality music hence no way that the black's music would be printed on the music sheet. The artist was also confronted with physical violence from a crowd where he had showed up for performance. The insulting crowd argued that he couldn't even read the music sheet and that he made music through his ears. Luckily, Johnson escaped partially hurt despite the government even ordering for his arrest.it was unfortunate that the people around him, including the local administration could not realize the much effort he had put forth in composing the beautiful music. However, the locals later realized that he was genuinely talented.

How Johnson's artistic work inspires people in today's life

Johnson's artistry is recommendable even in today's life because he is viewed as the Godfather of jazz music genre therefore he laid down the profound basis under which todays artists compose their music. Therefore todays artists look up to Johnson's footsteps. He is a good model to today's black artists who should embrace his resilience and devotion on their work. People should therefore not be intimidated on the grounds of color, origin or any other physical appearance. Johnson's artistic work is true reflection for the love of mankind. It's therefore import for people to treat others the way they'd love to be treated for the world to be a better place. He actually taught students from different ethnic background hence portraying a good picture to the society. People need to emulate his character and embrace fellow mankind for a better society. In conclusion, Francis Johnson proved his heroic characters because the background was not promising for any back artistic to fight and prove his worth in the artistic profession. He went through turbulent experience such as the racial abuse, physical attacks, and lack of support from the administration and the unsupportive society. However through hard work and resilience, he became an astounding artist whose music united people and restored love and unity amongst the people. He laid a profound legacy that people should emulate for a better world.

Reference

Jones, C.K., 2006.? Francis Johnson (1792-1844): Chronicle of a Black Musician in Early Nineteenth-century Philadelphia. Associated University Presse. Caldwell, J., Roque, O.R. and Johnson, D.T., 1994.? American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1: A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born by 1815. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Johnson, D., 2012. Positive Surrender: An Interview with BREYER P-ORRIDGE.? Contemporary Theatre Review,? 22(1), pp.134-145. McDermott, J.F., 1948. Indians and artists.? College Art Journal,? 8(2), pp.101-106 Johnson, D. and Lewis, C.E., 1998. Introduction: [Children's and Young-Adult Literature].? African American Review,? 32(1), pp.5-7. Taylor, F.J., 2005. Black Music and Musicians in the Nineteenth Century.? Western Journal of Black Studies,? 29(3), p.615. Kang, N., 2008. Charles K. Jones. Francis Johnson (1792-1844): Chronicle of a Black Musician in Early Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia.? African American Review,? 42(3-4), pp.763-765. Southern, E., 1973, October. Needs for Research in Black-American Music. In? College Music Symposium? (pp. 43-52). The College Music Society.

Cite this page