1. Music is an organized sound and that can be analyzed through concentration on its elements, such as melody, rhythm, phonic structure, form, and so forth. The ways to understand music needs a different approach. An insider to hear a musical tradition differently compare to an outsider. Evidently, the insider tends to react to his or her own cultural music in ways that draw on a lifetime consciously absorbed cultural knowledge and attitude while outsider is assumed not to bring in ethnocentrism into her or his interpretations. However, the outsider prefers to dwell only on these aspects of music that are observable to an outsider, such as objects and sonic structure. The major drawback of the insider and outsider is that the outsider cannot
Music can be defined as a collection of sounds and silence, however, as we learned in class, music style and verity can differ greatly between regions of the world. In this paper, we will summarize each studied region by listing a few important characteristics and themes of each. We will first look into the regional themes and styles of China, followed by those from Japan and Bali, then move on to the Pacific Islands, and finally end with Pacific Latin America. We will also compare and contrast each area along the way, and will list some common similarities and differences between them.
Race, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits (“Merriam-Webster” 2016). “The concept of race, as a construct distinguishing one group of humans from another on the basis of shared biological appearances, emerges from a legacy of human-different making that traces across humanity” (Radano and Bohlman 2000: 10). In my opinion, it is inevitable for musicians to subconsciously incorporate their ideas of racial differences in music making. With the influence of the mass media, racial differences are communicated through music, which then modifies the pre-existing perceptions of racial identities of the audiences. First, I will
Can music represent? Does it matter if it can? Roger Scruton and Peter Kivy tackle these two questions in two articles concerning music’s representational powers: Representation in Music (Scruton) and Sound and Semblance (Kivy). Scruton takes a two-pronged approach to the question of musical representation arguing that 1) music cannot represent things and 2) even if it could, such representation is irrelevant to the appreciation of the music. Kivy attempts to rebut both these charges. In this paper I will outline both Scruton’s and Kivy’s positions and argue that Kivy is correct in thinking that music can represent and that in certain cases, such representation is crucial to understanding the music. Finally, I will offer some arguments against Scruton that are not directly addressed by Kivy.
“The final years of the 1970’s saw the emergence of a new style of pop music that would continue in popularity into the early 1980’s. This music was known, by its fans at that time, as New Wave” (http://www.erols.com/alloyd/adam2.htm). “New Wave” had a particular style that utilized the synthesizer as a main instrument. The synthesizer was a machine that electronically produced music. It gave a certain artificial and metallic feel to the music.
Because of human intention, people have music. So I think music should be related to human intention. The next thing is about human perception. The interesting thing of music 's origin is that there is no clear record to tell the public when and how people have music. The time period, about 60,000 and 30,000 years ago, is an indecisive period and it only came from speculation. So maybe music emerged in different ways in different places, just as now in the world every country or even every city have its own musical cultures. In this perspective, music is really subjective since it is inescapable tied to culture and the experience of the audience. Hence, music is all about personal opinion, which is corresponding to perception. Even though music does have some basic component, everyone has different opinion on music. The definition of music should satisfies the subjective of music. "To be successful, a definition of music must balance these various stories, defining music in terms of its traditions"(Davis 552). The HIP approach solve this difficulty by reserving the subjective of music and balance various musical cultures and traditions in the world. This definition lets the audience judge if they think the sound belongs to music. Therefore, a successful definition of music should be related to human perception since only in this way can balance the various cultures. From the analysis
Some of my friends listen to certain genres of rock music, some listen to hip-hop. Despite our friendship we have differing views upon each genres of music. Having listened to both genres of music at one point in my life I have an understanding of why some rock listeners would be quick to reject hip-hop as meaningful, complex and valid art form.
There is a clear difficulty in apprehending and describing another’s musical experience (Downey, 487). Performers, spectators, and producers will have different ways of hearing the common piece that they are listening to together. All senses, including sound reception, are affected and refined by one’s culture. In order to better understand how our personal involvement with music may differ from our peers, we need to educate ourselves in the different ways to respond to music perceived as
How does music reflect society? The baroque period was a time of radical change that brought about some of the greatest composers and artists we know of today. However when one looks at art, they might think about how the people were back then, and if looking/listening to the art of that time that one might be able to picture everything. How does music reflect society?
What makes music distinct is the quality that differentiates it from other types of art. When you listen to a piece of music, you discover that it has different various characteristics. The music is sometimes slow or even fast. Different types of music, combine different instruments. The rhythmic pattern used to compose most songs is regular. Characteristics which make up a piece of music are known as elements. There are different elements in music, this are, texture, timbre, rhythm, melody and form.
Since the early time of human civilization, each and every ethnics that exist in this world, majority of them have come to express their culture identity through the form of music. For instance, during the ancient time of human life, societies used music as a way to gather people around the community in order to express their beliefs in terms of myths and history, ethnical background as well as cultural believes that has been foretold throughout generations within their communities.
Music is more than beautiful words put together. I have always found a strong connection to the lyrics of a song. Listening to music that I can relate to allows me to de-stress myself, concentrate, and gives me motivation. We’ve all had a heartbreak which resulted to having a playlist made of pop artist Adele. Music can help us cope with the struggles we face in life. I’ve always been a believer that the last song you hear on your way to work/ school will determine your mood for the day. Music is a form of art, it is a communication, and therefore many people make connections to the lyrics of a song. Music is remembering how things once were, where you want thing to be directed, and music is a form of self expression.
Throughout my life, music has always been a major influence. It has the power to change my mood when I'm feeling down, but the thing I find most intriguing about music is that it doesn't always end up improving your mood: like all forms of art, it imitates life, which is not always portrayed in a positive light. The musicians that I admire most have the versatility to induce several different emotional responses in the same piece. This quality is present in most of the wide variety of music I listen to, from Russian composer Dmiti Shostakovich, to Chicago jazz band Tortoise, to California pop/rock sextet Mr. Bungle.
Some may say music is just music; a song is just a song. However, music plays an enormous role in our psychology, because a single song has the ability to bring about many kinds of thoughts and emotions in the listener. Music is subtly one of the main factors in which people identify with certain groups and establish their belonging in society. It shapes people’s perspectives on how the world functions and the roles they play within it. Music can function the same way in a culture; it can reflect many of the culture’s values and ideologies. Music can have many effects on culture and the people’s idea of who they think they are within that culture. Music can serve in a way that promotes cultural identity and pride, yet it could also play a role in the separation of social and economical identities in within cultures.
There are many different styles and forms of music, that have their own distinct sound. Each sound that is heard is the sound of a culture, each piece of music has a tie to places, ideas, thoughts and feelings based on opinions. This often results in stereotyping and portraying the music and culture with an inaccurate view, of the larger population of the cultures in which the music has originated from. Many times the way a culture advertises itself, and is portrayed, is the visual that is reflected in their music, This will be expressed through the steel pans of the Caribbean, Aboriginal music, and classical music.
At the age of ten, my parents decided that I should learn how to play an instrument. In addition, they also chose which instrument I should learn, the guitar. I had no interest in learning the guitar, because all I wanted to spend my leisure time on was improvising my soccer skills. However, my parents believed soccer was a waste of my precious time, time which I should be using to focus on school and expanding my brain by taking on a difficult task, such as learning to play music. This was contrary to what I believed, but I had to do it or else my parents would be displeased. Therefore, the following week, I began taking guitar lessons.