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How does classical music affect the mind
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In the play, The Piano Lesson, music played an important role. The piano in the play represented the African American history and culture. The ghost of Sutter represented the pain and trauma that had been endured throughout the generations in the Charles family. Berniece did not play the piano because she associated it with pain and the bad things that happened to her family members. She did not want to accept the things that had happened in her family’s past. She thought that she could deny everything and act like it never happened. She believed if she continued to run from everything and everybody that the pain would go away. Berniece was burdened and haunted by the ghost of Sutter until she gave in and played the piano after all of those years. After playing the piano, Berniece was no longer burdened or haunted by the past. She was free from all of the denial. She escaped the pain through the music and reflecting on the carvings on the piano, which represented her heritage. Berniece’s brother, Boy Willie, told her “Berniece, if you and Maretha don’t keep playing on that piano… ain’t no telling… me and Sutter both liable to be back” (Wilson 108). By saying that, he meant that if she did not allow her daughter to continue playing the piano and learning about her culture that she would end up going through the same things that Berniece had gone through. Music has a huge impact on the African American culture in several ways and many things about the past can be learned through it. There were different types of music mentioned in the play. Work songs were one of the types of music mentioned. In the play, The Charles family men sat around the table and sang a work song reminiscing on the days of the past. Work songs, which are c... ... middle of paper ... ...ncestors and why things are different now. People can learn a lot about their ancestors and things of the past through music. Music tells the stories of what happened in the past. It exposes what people have gone through to get to where things are now. Understanding the culture and history allows the people of today to become more appreciative of the things that the past generations have done to make things better. African Americans have endured a lot of hardships throughout history and it is important to know that and realize that people today do not have it as hard as they did. African Americans no longer have to experience things such as slavery and segregation because some of the black people of past generations were courageous enough to fight for equality. Although hatred and racism still exists, it is not as prevalent and boldly shown as it was in their time.
Surprisingly, this novel ends with Boy Willie and Lymon going back to Mississippi without selling the piano. Finally, Boy Willie closes by telling Berniece that if she doesn’t keep playing on the piano, he and Sutter would both be back. In saying this, Boy Willie means that if they don’t keep their inheritance close to their heart, unfavorable events could begin happening once
The Piano Lesson written by August Wilson is a work that struggles to suggest how best African Americans can handle their heritage and how they can best put their history to use. This problem is important to the development of theme throughout the work and is fueled by the two key players of the drama: Berniece and Boy Willie. These siblings, who begin with opposing views on what to do with a precious family heirloom, although both protagonists in the drama, serve akin to foils of one another. Their similarities and differences help the audience to understand each individual more fully and to comprehend the theme that one must find balance between deserting and preserving the past in order to pursue the future, that both too greatly honoring or too greatly guarding the past can ruin opportunities in the present and the future.
Most public schools in the United States kept it simple and straight to the point. They taught, what we know as, “Black History” from the media’s standpoint. This concept neglects the true meaning of black history in the educational system, making it hard for African Americans to be prideful in who they are. Knowing history other than what the school systems tells us African Americans would not only give us more knowledge, but would allow us to stand up against others when try to put down our history. Media gives us mainly negative perspectives with very little positives of our
All of the musicians, writers, and artists shared a common purpose. This purpose was to create art that reflected the Afro American community. Through this era, African Americans provided themselves with their cultural roots and a promise for a better future. Music in this era was the beginning. It was the beginning of a new life for musicians and African Americans.
However, his desire conflicts with the racial situation during the time of the play. The play is set during a time when blacks were primarily slaves and considered property. They also didn't own any property. His belief that he is of equal standing with a white man could probably be traced to his lineage with the piano. The piano had symbolized his ancestors since the piano has been around during his grandfather's ...
The African-American civil rights movement was a cruel time for the African American race to endure due to the harsh discrimination and segregation that they faced. This movement fought for the rights and the equality of African Americans in the United States. With all that was going on, African Americans turned to music for motivation, courage, inspiration and strength to overcome the difficult obstacles that they would soon face. “Non-violence marchers faced beating, hosing, burning, shooting, or jail with no defense other than their courage and songs” (Hast 45). “It's been a long, a long time coming/ But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will” (Cooke, Sam. A Change Is Gonna Come). Music was their greatest hope for change in the near future and is the thing that kept them fighting for what they deserved. They came together with each other due to the lyrics of many different songs that kept the civil rights movement alive and known. Music painted a vision that they could picture and look forward to; it was a dream that they could fight for. “Music empowered African Americans to hold tight to their dream of racial equality” (Jeske). A genre of music that bought society together during this movement was folk.
African American history plays a huge role in history today. From decades of research we can see the process that this culture went through and how they were depressed and deculturalized. In school, we take the time to learn about African American History but, we fail to see the aspects that African Americans had to overcome to be where they are today. We also fail to view life in their shoes and fundamentally understand the hardships and processes that they went through. African Americans were treated so terribly and poor in the last century and, they still are today. As a subordinate race to the American White race, African Americans were not treated equal, fair, human, or right under any circumstances. Being in the subordinate position African Americans are controlled by the higher white group in everything that they do.
...on American soil, they were treated with disrespect and forced into a life of servitude and pain. However, they were able to change adapt and find hope even when it didn’t seem as though there was any to be found. The African American culture has been greatly shaped around what their ancestors were put through and the struggles that they endured. The pain and suffering that was inflicted among them will never be forgotten and will forever be apart of the African American culture.
The African arts formed an essential platform for the promotion of the African American culture today. This culture could not have been created and maintained without the aspiring poets, artists, writers, and musicians that all played a role.
In the Piano Lesson the main symbol is the piano in Berniece’s home. The piano has a lot of meaning behind it and has been through a lot. This piano has made it all the way from the South to the North, which wasn’t easy. Berniece brought the piano miles from where it was because it meant so much to her. The carvings on this piano are magnificent they represent all of her ancestors. The blood and sweat that were put into making this piano means so much more than just something you play is amazing: “ Willie Boy carved all this. He got a picture of his mama… Mamma Esther… and his daddy, Boy Charles. He got all kinds of things that happened with our family” (1183). Instead of carving what Sutter asked he made the whole piano about the history of his family. After the carving was done, the piano became a monument to his family’s
Berniece believes the piano represents the spirits of the past and should be left alone and never bothered, and is afraid to accept or embrace her family?s history. The piano represents a particularly bloody and disturbing past for her. She sees Sutter?s ghost and senses his presence, and is constantly haunted by the thought of the dead spirits coming into her life. She believes the piano stands for the bloodshed in her family?s history, and is ashamed of the violence associated with obtaining it. When encouraged to play the piano, she refuses steadfastly, saying ?that piano?s got blood on it.? She thinks that the spirits in the piano are bad, and is ashamed of the bloodshed they have caused. ?All this killing and thieving,? she exclaims. Berniece also believes the piano has strong sentimental value, and won?t agree to let go of it any way. She remembers how her mother cared so much about it. Berniece says, ?For seventeen years she rubbed on it till her hands bled....
Slave music was divided into three groups; recreational, work songs and religious songs. A work song is some sought of music connected with specific work that is sung while conducting a task, timing or even appealing for protest. Work songs helped to organize groups of people into manageable units hence easing the burden of hard labor. Records of work song are ancient like the historical records; they vary depending...
The piano held symbolic significance in the story of the family and their struggle to move forward. The piano represents the importance and value of slaves during slavery. Slaves were traded for objects during slavery. Slaves were of no importance to their slave owners. As Doaker says in the story “now she had her piano and her niggas too”, meaning slaves were nothing more than an accessory to their slave owners (Wilson 395). Doaker sarcastically speaks of how slaves were not considered humans but property. As Sandy Alexandre states in her work, “Property and Inheritance in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson”, “Doaker sees greed where there should be something like repulsion or at least a semblance of hesitation to accept such an ill-begotten gift”(77). Alexandre argues slaves are not given the proper respect and are not considered equal. This specific event from the story shows how little to ...
When considering the Holocaust in its totality, historian Nora Levin believes that such an atrocity is without parallel; a perspective that can be supported by the detailed accuracy of the dramatizations that have been made based on the events of this tragedy. The extreme cruelty, destructive political and racial ideology, size of the human slaughter and overall insensitivity of the world are characteristics that make this act of cruelty, an event than can never be compared to. In The Pianist, individuals were throwing themselves out of windows or poison themselves when they felt that the time had come to be deported to a concentration camp and possibly executed in the gas chamber, so that they could at least die with dignity instead of being shot down in the street like a rabid dog or being deported to an unknown location with an uncertain future. This act of desperation is
Music played a very important role in the lives of people is diaspora communities. It served as a reminder for the immigrants of their homeland, which allowed them to proudly express their national and cultural identities. Diaspora refers to an international network of communities linked together by the identification of a common ancestral homeland and culture. People in these communities are no longer living in their homelands, with no guarantee of a return either. (Bakan, 19). Music played a large role in African diaspora communities. This was first started by the slave trades many years ago when slave traders traveled to the coast of West Africa to capture Africans and brought them back to the United States to be slaves on plantations. Slaves were more prone to loose a sense of their own culture because every new aspect of their lives was forced upon them, therefore they were undoubtedly forced to abandon their n...