When studying the industrial revolution, I often hear about visual art and literature, but it seems musicianship is often ignored or considered a separate subject, especially when referring to folk musicians. How did music evolve throughout the industrial revolution, notably folk music? What effect did the revolution have on musicians? How did music education exist and evolve during this time? How did young musicians start as opposed to earlier traditions?
The growth of industrial manufacturing , the increasing urbanization of populations, the expanding of markets and commerce...wow, all this had very large effects in many places. ...
A big change would have to be the rise of the large concert hall, with large audiences, and professional composers. Previous to 1800, the typical European composer was someone like Hayden, or Scarlatti: someone working for a patron, or a series of patrons. With Beethoven, you begin to see composers writing for large orchestras, large audiences, and for popular publication of their music. Beethoven was a notoriously un-professional businessman - he would could take the money and not produce the work- but he was trying to make a living from sales of his compositions.
With the large concert halls and big orchestras there were changes in the instruments. Developments in music wire technology and cast-iron frames resulted in louder pianos, but other instruments changed, too. Flutes and woodwinds became louder, with expanded range and the ability to more easily play in different keys. String instruments like violins were changed, given tilted necks for higher action, longer scale length, and steel strings for a brighter sound.
How this affected folk musicians? The effects were very diverse. In Belgium, for example, industrialization seems to have mostly eliminated the oral folk music traditions in many places, so that when there was a folk revival in Flanders in the later 20th c., there were no existing players of bagpipes or hurdy-gurdy to learn from. The same thing happened in the industrial northwest of England, with bagpiping traditions and the once-popular 3/2 hornpipe being lost. But in the northeast of England, on the other hand, with a boom in the coal mining industry, there was increased interest in the Northumbrian bagpipe. There were changes in the instrument, giving it a greater range and the ability to play more chromatic notes ( like other woodwinds) , the traditional repertoire was kept but expanded, there were various competitions, and prizes.
And the lower cost of instruments and the greater distribution certainly had an effect as well. A lot of musicians in the rural US benefited from the advent of Sears & Roebuck. Likely most of the country music performers of the early 20th c. got their first instruments via mail order.