Given the size of the United States of America, it is not surprising that the nation's music is diverse. In general, American music – like American culture – reflects a myriad of contributions, a fusion of dreams, and a crossing of different styles. One such musical genre that reflects the combination of cultures is ragtime, which is an instrumental musical genre developed before the beginning of the 20th century and is an important predecessor of jazz. Piano shuffles are based on a steady oom-pah, or one-two, beat in the player's left hand, which supports a highly syncopated melody in the right hand. In a cultural context, the upbeat musical genre of ragtime is influenced by African-American popular dance music and Euro-American social dance music. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Spiritual, blues, and ragtime are three musical genres developed in America during the 18th and 19th centuries, each vital to the beginning of jazz (Larson 13). Each of the genres was created to meet the particular needs of artists and audiences. All three forms have also found various ways to achieve cross-fertilization of European and African traditions. Immigrants are the driving force in creating American cultural aspects, one of which is music. However, the first African Americans did not come to the new lands willingly. According to Starr and Waterman's book (9), they were forcibly brought between 1600 and 1800. Central and West Africa, where most slaves were brought from, were home to numerous distinct languages, societies, and musical traditions. African American musical origins involved processes of syncretism and the creation of institutions that soon became the basis of black music: the church, the family, the school, volunteering and many others. Syncretism is the selective integration of traditions derived from Europe – with consolidated musical traditions – and Africa. African slaves were not only brought to North America, but also to other areas of the Americas. Thus, African American culture has taken various forms in Cuba, Brazil, Haiti, and Jamaica, with each country's music shaped by an established mix of European and African origin traditions and local prevailing social conditions. Spiritual music – a combination of elements of African American folk music and European Christianity – was created as a way for slaves to find meaning in their lives. The spirituals are also songs of justice and expectation to help slaves deal with the social and oppressive evils of hegemony and racism (Kirk-Duggan 504). The blues was created for the urban black population. Songs of the genre politically lamented the misery, hardship, desperation, and depression experienced by African Americans before, during, and after slavery. During the antebellum period, slaves played syncopated music in string ensembles. String ensemble jug band musicians used banjos, fiddles, foot stomps, and washboards. During the Reconstruction period, black musicians began using pianos (a European concept), which began to appear in juke joints and social halls throughout the South (Larson 25). In that period the ragtime musical genre was born. Early ragtime pianists developed the genre through extensive travel and exchanges of ideas in the same way the blues was created. Eventually, the piano was already emerging as one of America's most popular instruments. Ragtime was developed primarily in the Missouri towns of Sedalia, Carthage, and St. Louis. In the cities of art around 1890,.