Popular Music Essays (Examples)

Today many mainstream popular artists have Rhythm and Blues influences. In addition some artists fluctuate between signing R&B and pop music. Although there are often distinctions made between the two genres R&B is definitely a type of popular music that has been greatly influenced by all of the above Genres.

Rap music or hip hop is also a prime example of the influence of African-American Music on popular music. Rap music actually comes from the ancient art form of poetry. The original intent for rap was to tell a story -- provide a narrative. ithin the context of African-American folk tradition storytelling is extremely important -- the griot is important. Griots are the keepers of the oral traditions -- the storytellers. According to Powell (1991) "To the accompaniment of drums or other percussive instruments, griots entertain and educate their audiences by reciting tribal history and current events. Their performances are…

Works Cited

Powell, CT. (1991) Rap Music: An Education with a Beat from the Street

The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 60, No. 3,

Progler., J.A.(1995) Searching for Swing: Participatory Discrepancies in the Jazz Rhythm

Section Ethnomusicology, Vol. 39, No. 1,, pp. 21-54

In "The Times They Are a-Changin'," released in February 1964, he encapsulated the spirit of the times, and issued a timely warning to the older generation to accept the changing times or be drowned in a youth-inspired social revolution. (Mcilliams, 32)

hile Dylan was introducing protest folk music in the mainstream popular music in the early 1960s, bands such as "The Beatles" had captured the imagination of the estern youth on both sides of the Atlantic. By accepting the influence of each other's music in their work, these artists revolutionized estern popular music. The power of such music in shaping the direction of the youth culture was immense. It spread the message of peace, love, racial and gender equality and challenged the hypocrisy of the existing social order.

Not all aspects of the sixties music were positive. Many of the sixties rock musicians adopted a hedonistic lifestyle and indulged in…

Works Cited

DiGrazia, Judith L. "The Sixties: Notes of Discord." Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. 1983. January 18, 2007.  http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1983/4/83.04.04.x.html 

McWilliams, John C. The 1960s Cultural Revolution. Ed. Randall M. Miller. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000.

Rodnitzky, Jerome L. "The Sixties between the Microgrooves: Using Folk and Protest Music to Understand American History, 1963-1973." Popular Music and Society 23.4 (1999): 105.

Dylan started to introduce amplified rock music into his acoustic folk repertoire by 1965 and the "Beatles" replaced their simple "I wanna hold your hand" lyrics by more socially relevant themes in their songs in the latter part of the sixties.

Music Producers

Biographical Introduction: Teo Macero

Producers work behind the scenes and are the unsung heroes of music. While some producers receive public notoriety like Brian Eno and George Martin; others like Teo Macero remain known mainly to music scholars and serious audiophiles. In 2008, when Macero died, The New York Times ran an obituary with the tagline: "Teo Macero, 82, ecord Producer," as if readers would need that crucial bit of vocational data. Indeed, Macero is best known for his work on Miles Davis's masterpieces Kind of Blue and Bitches Brew. He was also a composer, whose approach to music takes into account the big picture rather than attention to minute detail.

Macero was ahead of his time. He incorporated electronic effects and electronic media in ways that made Bitches Brew as momentous and groundbreaking an album as it is. The embrace of new technology is therefore a hallmark…

References

"George Martin," (n.d.). Beatles Bible. Retrieved online:  http://www.beatlesbible.com/people/george-martin/ 

Martin, G. (2012). Interview with Marc Myers. Retrieved online:  http://www.jazzwax.com/2012/09/interview-sir-george-martin-pt-1.html 

Ratliff, B. (2008). Teo Macero, 82, Record Producer, Dies. The New York Times. 22 Feb, 2008. Retrieved online:  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/arts/music/22macero.html 

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2010). George Martin Biography. Retrieved online:  http://rockhall.com/inductees/george-martin/bio/

From the research I know he was a ladies man. In Joan Peyser's book (The Memory of All That: The Life of George Gershwin) it is 1927 and Gershwin is discovered in bed with one of the attractive women from a show he and Harry Richman were working on. Caught with his shirt and pants still in his hand, Gershwin offered: "Mr. Richman, what can I say to you? I'm waiting for a streetcar?" (Peyser, 2007, p. 136).

Question #3: Music is far, far more than entertainment. A soft playing of Pieces (8) for Piano, Opus 76, by Johannes Brahms is the healing salve that helps a widow relate to the passing of her 88-year-old husband of 58 years. The Piano Sonata in E Minor D. 566 by Franz Schubert is the ideal theme to be played respectfully in the background as a new artist shows her latest abstract art…

Works Cited

Butterton, Mary. (2004). Music and Meaning: Opening Minds in the Caring and Healing

Professions. Oxon, UK: Radcliffe Publishing.

Peyser, Joan. (2007). The Memory of All That: The Life of George Gershwin. Milwaukee, WI:

Hal Leonard Corporation.

Fake books with jazz notation might look as if they are intended for amateurs. However, although beginners may use the simplified notation to practice music, the fake book's original intention was to provide a stepping-stone for a musician or an ensemble to create their own, unique rendering of the music. Thus jazz notation reflects the stress in this musical tradition upon the musician or the band's individual style. The musician, rather than the composer is the star, when using jazz notation. Rather than attempt to slavishly recreate a performance from the past, which is impossible, as every audience, every musical context changes from night to night, jazz notation empowers the musician to create a living and vibrant performance on the stage, with his or her fellow musicians. ("Fake Books," ikipedia, 2006)

Fake books and jazz notation originated with illegal transcriptions of overheard music, although most fake books today copyrighted with…

Works Cited

Fake Book." Wikipedia. [6 Jun 2006]

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_book 

Marsalis, Wynton. "On a slave's need for improvisation." From Jazz: A PBS documentary by Ken Burns.2001. Companion Website. [6 Jun 2006]  http://www.pbs.org /jazz/time/time_slavery.htm

Musical notation." Wikipedia. [6 Jun 2006]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_notation

Music eport

Archaeological finds show that prehistoric man had already played music. Music and dance are the humans' most natural and original forms of expression. Berendt said of modern generations: "Nada brahma - all is sound," in nature. Stones, bones, pieces of wood, hollow vessels and cups make sounds when pushed, beaten or rubbed together. Stretched hides bang, the buzz of the arrow whizzing off the bow can be imitated with fingers and the murmuring, roaring and whistling of the wind can be caught in reeds, bone pipes or hollow branches.

Today, numerous types of different forms of music are played across the world. Because humans are so diverse, it comes as no surprise that people like different types of music. For example, there are many adults, many of them older, who do not particularly appreciate hip hop and rap. Part of this has to do with the slang language,…

References Cited

Berendt, J.E. Nada Brahma. The world is sound. Rowohlt, Reinbek,1983.

Christenson, P.G. And Roberts, D.F. It's Not Only Rock & Roll: Popular Music in the Lives of Adolescents. New Jersey: Hampton Press, 1998.

Freidan, Gregory. "A Response to Professor Taruskin." New York Times, December, 2001.

Liske, Kenneth L. "A Statement of Educational Philosophy and Professional Purpose." University of Wisconsin. 11 May, 2005.

I have had friends who turned on me because they wanted to hang out with people they thought were cooler, more popular, or who had better toys. Those friendships rarely lasted, though. In high school, the kids who had cars were more able to get friends, but those friends were only hanging out because of the car and not because they actually liked each other. I managed to remain friends with some people who I still consider close even though we go to different schools. The superficial aspects of our lives are meaningless and transitory. Money, looks, and other superficial traits fade, and what really counts is our character. I have seen people in my family bicker over money and other materialistic things that do not matter, when I really wish they would just love each other for who they are. This is why I find Timbaland's song to be…

Work Cited

Timbaland. "The Way I Are." Song.

Music and Dance in Indian Films

In sheer quantity, INDIA produces more movies than any other country in the world-over 900 feature-length films in at least 16 languages, according to a recent industry survey. This productivity is explained by several factors: the size of the Indian audience, low literacy rates, the limited diffusion of television in India, and well-developed export markets in both hemispheres. (http://worldfilm.about.com/cs/booksbolly/)

In its historical development, India's film industry paralleled that of the West. Dadasaheb Phalke's Raja Harishchandra, the first silent film for popular consumption, appeared in 1913; Alam Ara, the first "talkie," was released in 1931. ut the Indian cinema derived its unique flavor from the older Indian musical theater-particularly from the Urdu poetic dramas of the late nineteenth century. The influence of this tradition ensured that Indian movies would favor mythological or legendary-historical stories, that their dialogue would carry an Urdu flavor even in languages…

Bibliography

 http://worldfilm.about.com/cs/booksbolly/ 

National Identity in Indian Popular Cinema 1947-1987 (Texas Film Studies) by Sumita S. Chakravarty Univ of Texas Pr; (December 1993)

Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema by Ashish Rajadhyaksha (Editor), Paul Willemen (Editor) British Film Inst; Revised edition (September 1999)

Cinema of Interruptions: Action Genres in Contemporary Indian Cinema by Lalitha Gopalan British Film Inst; (July 1, 2002)

People are now looking ways to fight this problem of stress. Some people take help of drugs to control the stress issue but the side effects of drugs create more problems rather than solving one. Exercise has been proven as a natural solution to the problem of stress with no side effects. In certain cases of other psychological problems combining exercise and music can be helpful.

Effects on Mental Performance: esearches have also shown that both music and exercise combined together have positive effects on cognitive abilities. In a research including 33 men and women in the final weeks of a cardiac rehabilitation program after bypass surgery, angioplasty or cardiac catheterization, the effects of classical music and exercise were studied. All participants were asked to complete a verbal fluency test before and after two separate sessions of exercising on a treadmill. Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons', a classical music piece, was…

References

Henderson, S. (August, 2005). The Rhythm of Capoeira: Aerobic Workout Combines Cultural Music and Dance for an Effective Exercise. Ebony. 60(10): 94+.

The Effect of Music on Exercise', Retrieved on September 26, 2007 at  http://www.anselm.edu/internet/psych/theses/2004/hall/webpage/ 

Morris, a. Myers, S. Schaumburg, L. Schrage, K. And Veasey, M. (2006). The Perceived Effects of Music on Exercise Performance. Retrieved on September 26, 2007 at  http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/541.asp 

Little Music with Exercise Boosts Brain Power, Study Suggests' Retrieved on September 26, 2007 at  http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/hartsong.htm

Music and Society

Music has a profound influence on society. As with other forms of art, music has the ability to communicate messages that are both complex and oblique -- the message need not be specific, but may convey an emotion or ethos, external to the lyrical content of the songs. Music gives a voice to generations by allowing those who have the ability to convey their thoughts and feelings through the form, and others to convey theirs through the consumption of the media. Thus, while music can have significant influence over a generation, and reflect its values, likewise the music to which that generation is drawn to reflects its values outward to the world, allowing some of the music (and other art) consumed by that generation to be understood by any society that chooses to consume that music. One cannot replicate the 60s just by listening to the Doors…

References

Edmonson, J. (2013). How social media and streaming have influenced the music industry. Socialnomicsi. Retrieved December 6, 2015 from  http://www.socialnomics.net/2013/12/02/how-social-media-and-streaming-have-influenced-the-music-industry/ 

Gordon, A. (2014). Subcultures, Popular Music and Social Change.: Subcultural practices in UK punk culture. Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

merican popular culture has also infected our dietary choices although in my case, it has encouraged me to think much more critically about what I put into my body. Ironically, the poor suffer the worst in that regard because fast food restaurants are concentrated in their neighborhoods (

Kasser, 2003). Meanwhile, fast food is much more expensive than quality food and it only perpetuates obesity and diabetes. I have sworn off all merican fast food, largely because of my continual exposure to its effects on those who eat it regularly. I cringe to think that people still eat McDonald's, especially knowing how much fat, sodium, and artificial flavorings are in their imitation of real food. The mass consumption of meat is also destroying the environment. Knowing what I do about fast food has turned me off to it completely and the fact that merican popular culture pushes it so hard…

American popular culture has also infected our dietary choices although in my case, it has encouraged me to think much more critically about what I put into my body. Ironically, the poor suffer the worst in that regard because fast food restaurants are concentrated in their neighborhoods (

Kasser, 2003). Meanwhile, fast food is much more expensive than quality food and it only perpetuates obesity and diabetes. I have sworn off all American fast food, largely because of my continual exposure to its effects on those who eat it regularly. I cringe to think that people still eat McDonald's, especially knowing how much fat, sodium, and artificial flavorings are in their imitation of real food. The mass consumption of meat is also destroying the environment. Knowing what I do about fast food has turned me off to it completely and the fact that American popular culture pushes it so hard has influenced that decision on my part. It is the exact opposite of the way that corporate marketing departments want me to react. Rather than sell me on the latest bun-free chicken burger that uses slabs of pre-fabricated and reconstituted chicken, KFC has only ensured that I will never patronize any of their "restaurants" ever again. American popular dietary culture has actually driven me to make healthy dietary choices. I now make sure to cook my own food and take it with me so that I am never so hungry that I am tempted to set foot into a McDonald's or KFC for any reason.

American retail culture has also turned me off to shopping entirely in much the same way that American fast food culture has influenced my decision-making

Music on Teens Actions

In the past 40 years all kinds of music has turned out to be more and more overt predominantly towards the negative side like sex, drugs, aggression and violence. Lately two of the genres which have caught great attention is hard rock music and rap music. In most of the cases, the lyrics of the music are made in such a way that they induce negativity in the developing minds of the teenagers. This negativity is reflected in their actions in the form of drug abuse, aggression, violence, sex and rebellious actions towards parents, family, family and society in general. This kind of negative music is a major concern these days because it poses mental and physical threat to the teens of today. Some of the other alarming effects of such music are pregnancy, STDs, accidents, killing and this has resulted to be the normal lifestyle…

Works Cited

Burns, Kate. The American Teenager: Examining Pop Culture. Annotated Edition. Publisher Greenhaven Press, 2003. ISBN 0737714670, 9780737714678, pg 150-189.

Connell, J., and C. Gibson. Sound tracks: Popular music, identity and place. London: Routledge. Pg 145-147. 2003.

Hawkins, S. Settling the pop score: Pop texts & identity politics. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing. Pg 121. 2002.

Martino, S.C., Collins, R.L., Elliott, M.N., Strachman, A., Kanouse, D.E., & Berry, S.H. Exposure to degrading vs. non-degrading music lyrics and sexual behavior among youth. Pediatrics, 2006, 118, 430 -- 444.

music of the Twentieth entury. Specifically, it will compare music of the Twentieth entury to the music of a previous period, and include information about the significance of composers in society, the role of music in the societal landscape, and the evolution of musical forms through the centuries.

Twentieth entury music embodies so many different forms and types that it is difficult to lump it together under one heading. In the United States, the Twentieth entury brought music listeners everything from Gershwin to rap and blues to headbanging. Just as America is a rich cultural melting pot, her music is just as rich and varied, and this is nowhere more evident than in the Twentieth entury.

At the turn of the Twentieth entury, most of America listened to opera and classical music - much of it from some of Europe's most famous composers of the previous centuries, such as Bach,…

Composers have always been revered by society, and the part they play in the social fabric of a time is incredibly significant. The music of Copland and Gershwin embodies an age in American culture, just as the music of Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman embodies another time and place. Good composers can "feel" the time and place, and create music that embodies the spirit of the country and the people. This was never more evident than after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when people suddenly wanted to hear patriotic melodies, and several composers complied by writing touching tributes to America and the victims of the attacks. Composers have always created music that spoke of the people and the times, and as such, they are mirrors of society, and change in society. Jazz came about because the lifestyle of the people was changing, and they needed music that reflected these changes. Rap came about for the same reason, and so did rock and roll. All of these forms of music came about at the right time. Composers recognized the societal changes, and were not afraid to change with them.

Music can touch a place in a person's soul, and this is another reason composers who can feel what the people are feeling are so important. Music is woven into the fabric of our lives. We marry to special music, are buried with special music, and remember certain music of the past by the memories it evokes. Music, and the people who write it, are a vital part of society at every level, and at every stage in a person's life. We tend to look back at the music of our youth with fondness, which is one reason music of the past can sometimes resurge, such as the current cult popularity of swing bands, such as Big Bad Voo Doo Daddies, Manhattan Transfer, and the Brian Setzer Orchestra.

In conclusion, music has always evolved and changed how we listen to it. One critic said, "Reviewing the popular music of the twentieth century as a whole, most people would probably agree that some of it is excellent, some unbearable, and most of it very indifferent" (Van der Merwe 3). This continues to be the case.

He has also learned to appreciate an even wider and more eclectic variety of music than even his mother enjoyed. But without an early musical foundation and exposure to music as a part of life, he does not think he would be nearly as adventurous. The pairing of certain musical styles against one another, like posh vs. common, classical vs. contemporary, and Mod vs. Rock, has more to do with personal, class-based and aesthetic self-definition, he felt, than the fact that one musical style is inherently superior to another musical style.

As he has grown older, Martin says that he listens more for personal taste, rather than to suit his tastes to a particular style because of personal self-definition. He attributes this to being more secure in his own identity. He says that he likes to listen to the music of his youth, although he also listens to a great…

Sexuality is another common theme in music. We see in the songs studied testosterone and estrogen, the sexual response cycle, psychosexual images and sexual orientation issues. These treatments of the same basic thing are again complex, ranging from purely physical explorations of the subject to the deep-rooted psychological attributes of sex. Self-esteem and denial are also wrapped up in this subject in some of the songs. This again reflects our need to understand our sexual selves, in particular as distinct from our emotional/loving selves.

In the other category, power proved a major theme. Self-esteem, self-serving bias, defense mechanisms, ego, superego, the spotlight effect, achievement motivation and projection are all components of this theme that emerge in the music. The need for power reflects a desire for achievement that we all have and the need to feel important in this world, perhaps explaining why this theme is so popular. Its popularity…

Music on Vocabulary ompetence, Writing, Reading omprehension and Motivation in English Language Learning in High-School

EFFETIVENESS OF MUSI ON VOABULARY

The Effectiveness of Music on Vocabulary ompetence, Writing, Reading omprehension and Motivation in English Language Learning in High-School

Most English language learners in high schools show poor vocabulary competence. The main reason for this is the limited level of exposure to the language. It is generally understood and practically acknowledged that words form the basic unit of language structure. Therefore lack of sufficient vocabulary constrains students from effectively communicating and freely expressing their ideas.

Vocabulary competence is critical to developing reading comprehension skills. Lack of vocabulary development is detrimental to the development of metacognitive skill that is important in comprehending advanced texts. omprehension is a major component of development of vocabulary, reading to learn. Therefore, reading comprehension it is quite challenging for students lacking adequate knowledge of meaning of words.…

Chapter IV: Results and Evaluation

The main purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of using music on vocabulary competence, writing, reading comprehension and motivation in English Language Learning in High school students as a part of the learning process in the classroom. Many teachers of English as a second language as well as the learners consider vocabulary as a critical factor in learning the language. Therefore it is important to develop creative and interesting ways of teaching vocabulary in English class. A qualitative study was appropriate for the research for the reason that the objective was exploratory (Creswell, 1998). The significance that was recognized to the singularities of teaching was examined with hermeneutic methods (Creswell, 2002).

In order to give a reply to the answer of the three research questions, mean scores and standard deviations were computed for each of the two groups on each of the three dependent measures at the ending of study. All three of the dependent measures are considered to be the evaluation of the sight-reading, the evaluation of the playing abilit, and the

Japanese Music from Anime and Video Games on American Culture

Music found in Japanese anime and video games has found its' way into American culture, as the popularity of these mediums has provides a route through which Japanese artists and creative works may extend beyond the Asian region (Shahriari 179). The cross cultural nature of music can be seen in the development of today's Japanese popular music; known as J-Pop, has roots which can be traced to the pre-orld ar II western jazz clubs (Shahriari 178). The Japanese music scene developed its' own culture, as seen with Japanese crooners emulating the style of Elvis Presley, such as Paul Anka and J-Pop songs of the time such as Sukiyaki (Shahriari 179). The style mainly stayed within Japan, with little music becoming well know externally (Shahriari 179). However, the use of the music in anime, as well as video games has increased…

Works Cited

Kelts, R. Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Print.

Knobel, M, and C Lanlshear. "Remix: The Art and Craft of Endless Hybridization." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 52.1 (2008): 22-33. Print.

Sexton, J. Music, Sound and Multimedia: From the Live to the Virtual. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007. Print.

Shahriari, A. Popular World Music. Abingdon: Routledge, 2015. Print.

Suddenly Western Music no longer needed to follow all the old rules. Just as the abstract painters dispensed with the traditional canon of art at just the same time, so also men like Bartok and Stravinsky take a fresh look at what constituted good music.

According to Bartok, the aesthetic success of this new homophonic-polyphonic music would depend upon the "harmonic entity" that results from the rise and fall of the "horizontal line" formed by the many discrete tone patches.... "an architectonic or similar scheme is not absolutely necessary; the construction of the line born out of the different degrees of intensity that are inherent in the tonal succession would be completely satisfactory," and by his likening of such constructions to works written in prose rather than verse (Gillies, 2000, p. 55)

Stravinsky too made his own way in the musical world. Working alongside Diaghilev and his Ballet usses he…

References

 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=78927455 

Gillies, M. (2000). 4 Analyzing Bart k's Works of 1918-1922 Motives, Tone Patches, and Tonal Mosaics. In Bartok Perspectives: Man, Composer, and Ethnomusicologist, Antokoletz, E., Fischer, V., & Suchoff, B. (Eds.) (pp. 43-56). Oxford: Oxford U.S..

A www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=62222623

Maconie, R. (1997). The Science of Music. New York: Oxford University Press.

The piano plays quick octaves and the urgent bass motive portrays an intense wild ride. This strong galloping is also being formulated by the piano's triplet rhythm which allows for the development of the dramatic storyline's urgency.

5. ) There are four different characters in this piece: the Narrator, the father, the son, and the Erlkonig. Although Schubert uses one singer to portray and sing all of the four parts of the characters, the listener is able to quite clearly differentiate them from one another. The son is sung in the high register in a minor key with dissonant harmonies. On the other hand, the father is sung in low register while the Erlkonig is sung in a coy with pleasant and soft melodies in the major key.

6. ) There are two ways that Schubert builds momentum in his piece. The first way is by using the bass as…

References:

Kamien, R. (2010). Music: An appreciation, brief edition. (7th ed. ). New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.

Music in the 21st century was accused of being increasingly derivative and irrelevant. Interest in individual performers, in the era of iTunes, was being relegated to the sidelines as teens assembled their own 'mixes' rather than sought to embrace the output of an individual artist. It was said that the era of the great soloist and the great musical concept album was dead. ith her first album The Fame in 2008, Lady Gaga changed all of that and silenced the industry's critics. Yes, she is frequently outrageous and provokes controversy for her attire as well as her voice. But underneath all of the glam and glitter, Lady Gaga has proved that she a unique mix of vocal talent, showmanship, and social activism. She has also generated a huge following on Facebook and Twitter. Lady Gaga's fans do not simply download "Poker Face," "Telephone" and "Born this ay" online. They love…

Works Cited

"Lady Gaga tells all." Rolling Stone. June 21, 2010. [November 11, 2011].

 http://www.rollingstone.com /music/news/lady-gaga-tells-all-rolling-stones-new-issue-20100621#ixzz1dRIFREJj

"Poker Face." Lyrics. [November 11, 2011].

 http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/l/lady_gaga/poker_face.html

However, at the same time, the Dominican Republic is also a Hispanic speaking island and thus the Latin influence is also heavy in their version of Reggae and other musical tastes. Finally, as the band grew up in the Bronx, their musical background was also heavily influenced by the growth of American style hip-hop, which grew up out of the Bronx area. This diverse, mixing pot of musical heritage was combined by the band Aventura to create the unique musical character of Bachata.

Overall, I found the Avnentura Kings of Bachata concert to be of high quality and highly entertaining. Watching the band perform on stage shows you how much they care about their music and how much they enjoy performing it for their fans. These facts bring a high level of energy to their show, which I found captivating. The band played their songs at a fast, energetic pace…

Popular American Culture

The analogy of the tail-wagging-the-dog has never been more prevalent than in the expression of contemporary angst, vision and dreams popularly embraced by American film and music. Where both mediums were once the looking glass through which society could admire its best qualities and endeavor to rise above its worst ones, the passage of time and the resultant re-invention of personal values have transformed them into templates for destructive behaviors predicated on greed, loss of identity and desperation.

SEX

What ever happened to commitment and fidelity? The themes of early movies and songs revolved around the premise that for every woman there was just the right man, a romantic journey of discovery that was as happily anticipatory as the final destination itself was secure and ever-lasting. One needs only to look at America's dismal, 50% divorce rate to question the validity of those early promises, a disenchantment…

Music, Art, Literature Trends

From impressionism to pop art, jazz to hip hop, science fiction to beat poetry, artistic, musical, and literary expressions have varied considerably between 1870 and 2005. The period between the end of the nineteenth century to the current day can be generally described as the modern and postmodern eras. The beginning of the modern era, during the final decades of the nineteenth century, coincided with the Industrial evolution. Along with fascination with modern technology and optimism for the future came simultaneous disillusionment. However, modern technological advancements have made such widespread creativity possible. Social and political trends have also influenced creative endeavors, and vice-versa. Art, music, and literature are more accessible and more possible to create than they ever were in the past. The modern era has been characterized by an overall flourishing of the expressive arts, but some trends have a more lasting significance than others.…

Rock music became more than just a musical trend; it also characterized the rise of the teenage culture, symbolized rebellion, and influenced political and social attitudes. Furthermore, rock and roll remains a viable creative endeavor today, and is also internationally popular, which is why the trend is so important. Beyond rock and roll, electronic music and hip hop are recent significant musical trends. Electronic music has been around for decades, and reached a peak with the advent of the rave. Electronic music remains a vital force in the industry, and has also impacted the development of hip hop. Hip-hop is yet another musical trend that coincides with social and race-related realities in the United States. The genre is so important because it represents American urban culture.

Among the literary trends between 1870 and the present day, the most significant ones include post-colonialism, science fiction, beat poetry, and horror. Post-colonial literature such as the works of Joseph Conrad brought awareness to the problems associated with the colonialist mentality. Post-colonial fiction put a human face on the very real political, social, and economic issues of the modern world. Realism was a major literary method used by post-colonial authors, who depicted their worlds with stunning detail. With the modern fascination with technological advancements, science fiction became a highly significant literary trend to emerge during the twentieth century. Science fiction originated in the early twentieth century when Orson Welles' reading of H.G. Wells' novel the War of the Worlds shocked the nation into believing that aliens had indeed attacked the United States. Science fiction literature strongly influenced television and film, too, and is responsible for the popularity of both Star Trek and Star Wars. Related to but different from science fiction, fantasy writing also emerged during this time and gave rise to the writings of J.R.R. Tolkein, whose works recently spawned motion pictures.

Another significant literary trend to emerge during the middle of the twentieth century was beat poetry and beat literature. Beat poetry was completely free verse and free form, in sharp contrast to earlier, more structured forms. Moreover, beat poetry was far more abstract than previous works. Just as modern art was becoming more abstract and expressionist, so too was literature. Another key literary trend to emerge during the past century was horror fiction. While horror derives from earlier Gothic literature as well as from science fiction, the horror genre has had a huge impact on modern literary expression. Authors like Stephen King have become immensely famous by making people afraid, and his works as well as the works of countless other horror writers have impacted the plots and themes of films and television shows.

Even the lyrics, which nonetheless maintain the same kind of bubblegum-angst present in nearly any widely successful "alternative" band, manage to surprise simply by the fact that the band seems to have gained a wider vocabulary, both in terms of individual words and the metaphors used. Put another way, burning "like the fire of a thousand suns" is simply a more enjoyable image than "one step closer to the edge / and I'm about to break," even if both convey generally the same theme within either song.

Following the release of A Thousand Suns, Linkin Park has, as it did previously, focused on charity work alongside the writing of the next album a promotional tour. Most recently, the band has played benefit concerts for victims of the earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear fallout which hit Japan earlier this year, with the first being in Los Angeles alongside the band B'z,…

Works Cited

Anonymous. "Linkin Park Awards."AceShowBiz. AceShowBiz.com, 2011. Web. 23 Sep 2011.

.

Anonymous. "B'z, Linkin Park rock fans in Los Angeles to aid disaster-hit Japan." Mainichi

Daily News 01 Sep 2011. Web.

Music and the Universe

Music is one characteristic everything in existence possesses. For anything to be existing, it has to possess an amount of energy and these always undergo vibration. From these vibrations, sound waves are generated and these combine to form what we call music. Nothing better defines the phrase "Universal Language" than music. Every human being relates to it. Sound waves move and come in contact with just about anything existing including water, soil, animals, vegetation, other worlds and galaxies etc. Music could also determine a person's mood. This power of music on human moods and emotions can actually be explained easily. The sound waves on reaching a person encounter his/her unique energy signature which causes a unique response to each sound.

This study aims to illustrate just how music and language are related and to also conclusively show that these two have a deep mental and scientific…

References

Auner, Joseph. "Chapter two: Expanding musical worlds" in Music in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. WW Norton and Company. (2014): 16-34

Brown, Steven, and Joseph Jordania. "Universals in the world's musics." Psychology of Music 41, no. 2 (2013): 229-248.

McMullen, Erin, and Jenny R. Saffran. "Music and language: A developmental comparison." Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal 21, no. 3 (2004): 289-311.

Slevc, L. Robert, and Brooke M. Okada. "Processing structure in language and music: a case for shared reliance on cognitive control." Psychonomic bulletin & review 22, no. 3 (2015): 637-652.

There is more to it than meets the eye (or ear), and repeated listenings make that even more apparent.

Great music also depends on great performances, and that is another reason to listen to it more than once. Each artist interprets music a bit differently, and so, no performance will be exactly alike. This is true of all types of music, even classical. Even though the scores are the same, each musician, director, and arranger sees the work differently, and adds a bit of their own interpretation or personality into the piece. Thus, the same song sung decades ago by the Beach Boys does not sound like the same song today sung by a young rap or hip hop artist.

Do these theories apply to pop music, as well? In many aspects, yes, they do. There are certainly many songs in pop music that are complex and detailed, with different…

References

Features to Listen for in Classical Music." Classicism and Classical Music. 123-124.

Popular Entertainment and Commercial Interests

Popular entertainment is overly influenced by commercial interest. Superficiality, obscenity, and violence characterize films and television today because those qualities are commercially successful."

Through a variety of overt and subtle ways, commercial interests are the key determinants of the content of popular entertainment.

For example, two summers ago, a movie called The Cell opened amid criticism of its stylized depictions of extreme violence. In the opening scene, a pretty girl lies dead in a bathtub. The camera zooms into her vacant eyes and pulls out to show the killer fishing out her bloody kidneys. A later scene shows the killer twirling his victim's intestines around on a stick. Critics complained about the senseless violence, but the movie made $57 million in the United States alone. However, when it was time to release the movie in the international market, New Line Cinema had a problem with…

Works Cited

Romance Writers of America. "Romance Fiction: Publishing's Billion-Dollar Genre." from the RWA National website. Retrieved November 25, 2002 from http://www.rwanationa.com/statistics.stm

Waxman, Sharon. "Sweat, Tears and Blood: In the debate over movie violence, one voice that's seldom heard is the filmmakers'." The Washington Post Magazine. October 29, 2000. 8-14.

Sharon Waxman, "Sweat, Tears and Blood," The Washington Post, October 29, 2000, p.8.

Romance Writers of America, Romance Fiction: Publishing's Billion-Dollar Genre.

Music Videos Promotional Devices or Products in Themselves

Music Videos: Promotional Device or Separate Product?

Music videos are constructed in many different ways, but many of them involve the artist and others singing and dancing to specific songs. Some also tell stories or provide other background dealings that make the music video much like a television program. An example of this would be Michael Jackson's 'Thriller,' which was a very long video that involved much storytelling and other information as opposed to just the song. Some of these story type videos are still done today but this seems to be more popular in country music that it does in rock-and-roll.

No matter what genre is dealt with, however, the debate as to whether music videos are promotional devices or a separate product in and of themselves has been continuing for many years. In 1981 music television first began broadcasting music…

He encourages people to come aboard a train being engineered in "weirdo abandon" by musicians who "dramatized a sense of what it is to be American" (1987, p. 10). Christgau, another writer who sees the correlation between this music and the greater society in which it occurred, adds: "rock criticism embraced a dream or metaphor of perpetual revolution. . . . Worthwhile bands were supposed to change people's lives, preferably for the better. If they failed to do so, that meant they didn't matter." (2003, p. 140)

ock and roll is recognized much more than by its musical and stylistic differences. It is also utilized in many different ways by its followers. Grossberg (1983) analyzes the way that rock and roll functions in societal transformations. He notices that although rock and roll has a variety of different local effects, it appears to also have a unified historical identity. He says…

References

Cohen, S. (1993) Ethnography and popular music studies. Popular Music. 12(2), 123-138

Christgau, G. (2003) a History of Rock Criticism, in National Arts Journalism Program: Reporting the Arts II: News Coverage of Arts and Culture in America, Andras Szanto, Daniel S. Levy, and Andrew Tyndall (Eds) New York: NAJP at Columbia University, 140.

Finnegan, R. (1989). The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town Cambridge: Cambridge University

Greil, M. Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n Roll Music (1975) New York: Penguin Group

As a result, consumers again have choices. y limiting media exposure, and being aware of media techniques used to brand and market pop stars, we can make educated choices. Rather than choosing what to listen to by turning on the radio and television, we now have the choice to investigate on our own, on the Internet. It will be interesting to see how pop music responds.

ibliography

Daly, Steve. "ritney Spears inside the heart and mind (and bedroom) of America's new teen queen." Rolling Stone, 15 April 1999, 60-70.

Fox, Mark A., and Paul Kochanowski. "Models of Superstardom: An Application of the Lotka and Yule Distributions." Popular Music & Society 27, no. 4 (2004): 507-522.

Larson, Charles U. Persuasion: Perception and Responsibility, 9th ed. elmont, CA: Wadsworth / Thomson Learning, 2001.

Lelanc, Larry. "A Revival At Top 40 Radio rings Wave Of New Teen Acts In Canada." illboard, 17 June…

Bibliography

Daly, Steve. "Britney Spears inside the heart and mind (and bedroom) of America's new teen queen." Rolling Stone, 15 April 1999, 60-70.

Fox, Mark A., and Paul Kochanowski. "Models of Superstardom: An Application of the Lotka and Yule Distributions." Popular Music & Society 27, no. 4 (2004): 507-522.

Larson, Charles U. Persuasion: Perception and Responsibility, 9th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth / Thomson Learning, 2001.

LeBlanc, Larry. "A Revival At Top 40 Radio Brings Wave Of New Teen Acts In Canada." Billboard, 17 June 2000, 75.

Latin Music

Many are unaware that in the United States today, people are blessed with a variety of Spanish-language and other Latin American cultures that are in the midst -- which were brought to the country by individuals from numerous different parts of the hemisphere. In attempting to understand and appreciate these cultures, we can learn much from their music Mexican-American music is something that has high regards in their culture. Over the years it has been expanded crossing over into many cultures ith that said, this essay is intended to analyze the many methods and styles of music and musical cultures that have been able to make their way into the United States from Latin American nations.

Origins

Surprisingly, Latin American music is a subject where there has not been a lot written about it. There is very little research on Latin music perhaps because many are not interested.…

Works Cited

Gonzalez, J.P. "Third latin american conference of the international association for the study of popular music." Popular Music 20.9 (2009): 269-274.

Loza, Steven. Barrio Rhythm: Mexican-American Music in Los Angeles. University of Illinois Press, 1993.

Moehn, F. "From tejano to tango: Latin american popular Music/Musical migrations: Transnationalism and cultural hybridity in Latin/o america, volume I/Situating salsa: Global markets and local meaning in latin popular music." Ethnomusicology 49.1 (2010): 137-142.

Jamaican Music

It is never just about the music.

No matter how great the musician, music is always the expression of an entire culture, of a moment in history, of a particular place in time. The genius of a particular musician, the synergy of a particular group - these are both essential to the success or failure of a particular group. But that success or failure is never intrinsic to a single song, to a single album. Music that succeeds - both in its own time and later - does so because it has the ability to express something important about that moment in time. eggae has been able to provide just such an expression of the beliefs of a particular people at a moment in history for the last two years - and it has been able to do so because of its ability to change with larger political…

Folk Music

The Evolution of Folk Music Vocals

By its definition, folk music technically refers to indigenous forms of music created by local, regional or native populations as a way of engaging in cultural expression. This means that at its core, folk music is not intended to command a commercial value nor is it necessarily folk music by definition once a form has been co-opted by an outside culture. However, this is also a definition for folk which has long been rendered obsolete by the aesthetic and vocal qualities that listeners tend to associate with the genre today. This is because the most historically significant instances in which folk music converged with the commercial zeitgeist would come to produce a highly distinctive set of sounds.

Indeed, when we think of folk music, one tends instantly to conjure image of a young Bob Dylan with harmonica rack and guitar, wheezing his…

Works Cited:

EW. (2013). The Great Folk Rock Revival: how bands like Mumford & Sons and the Lumineers are leading a global phenomenon. Entertainment Weekly.

Holden, S. (2013). When They Hammered Out Justice in the '60s. The New York Times.

Jacobs, P. (2006). Bringing It All Back Home -- The Folk Music Revival. Rewind the Fifties.

McCormick, N. (2011). Folk Music: A Quiet Revolution. The Telegraph.

Reggae music, born of a combination of R&B, blues, jazz, and traditional African music, and combined with a religious tradition, was unique to Jamaica at a time when the country was looking for her identity. The combination of political messages, religious connotation, and raw sound was ideal for the changing society of the time. However, to be pushed to international stardom, the music was altered and rerecorded by milder, less powerful white British artists who helped internationalize the genre. The end result, however, was that it would take many years for true reggae to reach international audiences, complete with the ideology and messages the music was intended to portray. hile the British musicians helped popularize the culture, it would take Bob Marley and many others decades to bring the true message of reggae music to international light.

orks Cited

Connell, John. Sound Tracks: Popular Music, Identity, and Place. London: Routledge,…

Works Cited

Connell, John. Sound Tracks: Popular Music, Identity, and Place. London: Routledge, 2002. Questia. 7 May 2007  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=103320803 .

Everything Jamaican. "The History of Reggae Music." Jamaica. Everything Jamaican. 2004. 7 May 2007.  http://www.everytingjamaican.com/jamaica/ .

Farred, Grant. What's My Name? Black Vernacular Intellectuals. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003. Questia. 7 May 2007  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=109751409 .

Bays, Barry T. Reggae, Rastafari, and the Rhetoric of Social Control. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2002. Questia. 7 May 2007  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=106845661 .

Music

There is an old cliche that contemporary music, especially popular music, is without lasting significance or quality. The truth is just the opposite. Contemporary music is extremely creative, and employs a wide range of styles and draws on many traditions around the world. In fact, contemporary composers and singers encompass all the known traditions and rich styles of the past, in both western and eastern cultures, in mainstream society as well as indigenous groups. Contemporary music is all music -- from string quartets like the Kronos Quartet, whose classically trained string quartet offers jagged, minimalist, modern music that has won many fans, to the seminal and groundbreaking work of popular singer/composers like Paul Simon, who in his Rhythm of the Saints album, employed African and tribal percussion. Contemporary music can be rock and roll, rap, classical, gospel, jazz, country western, or world music (music of other cultures).

So how…

Bibliography

Dylan, Bob. Lyrics 1962-2002. Simon & Schuster (2002).

Dylan, Bob and Ellison, James. Younger Than That Now: The Collected Interviews With Bob Dylan Thunders Mouth Press (2002).

Grout, Donald J. And Palisca, Claude. A History of Western Music, 6th Edition. W.W. Norton & Company (2000).

Kostka, Stefan. Tonal Harmony, With an Introduction to 20th Century Music. McGraw-Hill. (2000).

Blues music however did not cross racial lines, with the majority of famous blues musicians still residing in New Orleans and various other well-known black music entertainment venues of the South.

Gospel music has been an African-American church tradition with influences from traditional African music and especially prevalent during the slavery era. Later (most likely because of those particular ignominious associations and all they implied, especially in the South) gospel music was strongly discouraged within mainstream society and actively suppressed.

Similarly, blues music represented a blending of black musical traditions with a centuries-long history originating from the earliest days of American slavery. Sammy Davis Jr. And Nat King Cole, were and remain today among the best-known of early black entertainers within the (then) up-and-coming rock 'n roll genre of the 1940's. Each had a heavy influence upon Elvis himself.

Obviously, though, the blending of Southern musical traditions was not started…

Works Cited

African-American Musical Tradition." (June 9, 1998). Retrieved January 9, 2007,

From:  http://www.questia.com/html .

Bane, Michael. White Boy Singin' the Blues: The Black Roots of White Rock.

Harmondsworth, Eng: Penguin, 1982.

This, along with the older Psalter by trenhold and Hopkins, was the main influence of the Bay Psalm Book printed during 1640 in Massachusetts. This can be compared with the first musical influences on and compositions by Li Jinhui. The traditional forms were explored thoroughly before new ideas in music were explored.

Culturally, the new Americans at the time were deeply religious, following the Puritan tradition on which they based their way of life. Their music therefore reflected this tradition, and the earliest genres were mainly religious in nature. As such, the musical format was unaccompanied by musical instruments, as these were viewed as secular and therefore sinful. The same type of division can be seen in the later genres of Asian music, where Cantopop began to lose its popularity in the face of new and more trendy developments. In contrast, however, the Chinese does not have as clear a…

Sources

Faigin, Tom. "The Minstrel Show's Contribution to Folk Music." 2007.  http://www.jsfmusic.com/Uncle_Tom/Tom_Article6.html 

Wikipedia. "C-Pop." Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2007.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-pop 

Wikipedia. "K-Pop." Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2007.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-pop 

Wikipedia. "Li Jinhui." Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2007.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Jinhui

Blacks in Blues Music

Biographer Lawrence Jackson wrote that author Ralph Ellison was exposed to the blues and classical music from an early age, eventually playing the trumpet and pursuing a degree in music at Tuskegee (McLaren Pp). hen he moved to New York to pursue his writing career, Ellison was exposed to the musical developments in jazz and often attended the Apollo Theater, the Savoy Ballroom, and Cafe Society Downtown, and although he admired such figures as pianist Teddy ilson, Count Basie and Duke Ellington, he did not particularly admired Dizzy Gillespie's Bebop, considering its use of Afro-Cuban influences as a "strategic mistake" (McLaren Pp). Ellison, writes Jackson, was more concerned with the "homegrown idiom" (McLaren Pp). That homegrown idiom that Ellison referred to was the blues, a music born in the fields of the South by black workers who used their African musical heritage to give birth to…

Work Cited

McLaren, Joseph. "Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius."

Research in African Literatures; 12/22/2004; Pp.

Southern, Eileen. The Music of Black Americans. W.W. Norton & Company.

1983; pp. 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, 336, 338.

For those who are deeply interested an option as choice may be given as elective or additional subject. Earlier, music was the domain of the elite and aristocrats and music and art that was cherished in the western world related to the classical music styles and that has ever since undergone a lot of change. Music education in schools began in the 1960s. For the person willing to take music as a career, or art as the main goal in life, schooling and colleges in these subjects will be a blessing. For others it would become a tool whereby they can enjoy music and art better and by teaching the rudiment in schools and colleges we can create better artists and critics for the future. (Walker, 2007)

3. What is your opinion of today's music?

Western music has a rich tradition that was based on the classical composers and was…

References

Benardete, Seth. (1992) "Socrates' Second Sailing: On Plato's Republic" University of Chicago Press.

Landy, Leigh. (1991) "What's the matter with today's experimental music?: Organized

sound too rarely heard" Routledge.

Minsky, Marvin. (1981) "Music, Mind, and Meaning" Computer Music Journal, Fall, vol. 5, no. 3, pp: 23-27.

Then in 1949, China was liberated and the state controlled by Mao Zedong, took over all music and artistic activities. Mao made great efforts to change musical traditions which he had associated with the older, defeated Chinese society. Promoted revolutionary songs and "Yangko Plays," (Yu un 1991). He moved the traditional away from professionalism, and towards exploring the life of the proletariat, the common people. Mao then allowed ussian influences to permeate into Chinese cultural traditions based on the nature of communism in the Soviet Union. Communism forced music like you would force production. Mao basically destroyed creative expression, all music other than state approved works were banned Popular musical developments were still occurring in British held Hong Kong, where the 1950s saw movements of Chinese ock and oll based on its Western influences (Wong 2000). Yet, it is clear that the music being handed down by the generations in…

References

During, Jean. 1982. "Music, Poetry and the Visual Arts in Persia." In The World of Music, 24(1). pages 72-84.

Nelson, Kristina. 1982. "Reciter and Listener: Some Factors Shaping the Mujawwad Style of Qur'anic Reciting." In Ethnomusicology 26(1). pages 41-47.

Nueman, Daniel M. 1985. "Indian Music as a Cultural System." Asian Music 17(1). pp.98-113.

Nueman, Daniel. 1989. "Music." The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives Francis Robinson, ed. Cambridge University Press. (pp.445-8).

Shakespeare used Music in his orks

illiam Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright and poet, is recognized all over the world as the greatest dramatist of all times. His plays have been performed more times than those of any other dramatist and have been translated in almost every major language. (Kastan) hile many aspects of Shakespeare's plays have been discussed and analyzed, it is perhaps not so widely known that music has also played an important role in many of his plays. In this paper we shall review the historical background of music in the Shakespearian era and discuss how and why music was used in Shakespeare's works. The type of music used by the playwright as well as some examples of music in specific plays shall also be described.

Historical Background of Music in the Shakespearian Era

The 16th century in which Shakespeare was born was a period when England was…

Works Cited

Lackey, Stephanie. "Shakespeare and his Music." October 12, 1998. Vanderbilt University's MusL 242 Gateway Page. April 25, 2003.  http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Blair/Courses/MUSL242/f98/slackey.htm 

Kastan, David Scott. "William Shakespeare." Article in Encyclopedia Encarta. CD-ROM Version, 2003

Music in the plays." The Internet Shakespeare Editions. March 1996 (Updated January 26, 2003). April 25, 2003.  http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLTnoframes/stage/music.html 

Music of the streets and fairs." The Internet Shakespeare Editions. March 1996 (Updated January 26, 2003). April 25, 2003.  http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLTnoframes/literature/streets.html

This section was made up mainly of alto and tenor saxophones, but sometimes also included baritones as well.

1935 saw the creation of the Benny Goodman Trio, yet another development in the evolution of Goodman's style. The trio was made up of legendary jazz musicians; Teddy Wilson, Gene Krupa who he had played with in his radio days, with Goodman leading and composing. In this era, Goodman followed a much more mature style, as seen in After You're Gone, (Groove Music, 2008). In these recordings, he explored a complete range of the clarinet and was prone to play in "blue thirds," (Groove Music, 2008). In 1936, the trio became a quartet with the addition of Lionel Hampton on the vibraphone.

One night in 1938, Goodman got the chance of a lifetime, and has been thereafter accredited with bringing swing music into national recognition. He and his band performed at Carnegie…

References

De Toledano, Ralph. "The Night Swing was Born." Insight on the News. Vol. 13. Feb.,

Gridley, Mark. Jazz Styles: History and Analysis. 9th ed. Prentice Hall. 2005.

Groove Music. "Benny Goodman." Associated with PBS' Jazz a Film by Ken Burns:

Selected Artist Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 3/31/08 at  http://www.pbs.org /jazz/biography/artist_id_goodman_benny.htm

Ethiopian Music 4

Ethiopia actually contains many distinct cultures. The most populous is that of the Christian Amhara around the capital plateau, but there are other Christian, Jewish, and Muslim peoples, some remote and virtually unknown. The following remarks apply to Amhara lyric poetry.

Sung verse poetry is here the major musical artform, given a very plastic melodic conception based in artistic standards which revel in double meanings. The basic formats together with the ambiguities in phrasing have something in common with poetic forms in Yemen and serve principally to attract interest. The sonorities of instrumental ensembles can also be similar, with the instruments serving primarily to accompany or mimick the voice, but with the notable inclusion of the krar lyre which seems to have direct ties to ancient lyres of Greece and King David (a fixture of Ethiopian iconography). The music itself is very much melodically driven, frequently with…

References

Ethiopian Music. Retrieved May 23, 2006 at  http://www.scaruffi.com/history/african.html 

Abyssinie Swing. Ethiopian Music. Retrieved May 23, 2006 at  http://www.rootsworld.com/reviews/book-abbys.shtml 

Gebrekidan, Fikru. Roots, Kwas, and Reggae. Retreived May 23, 2006 from htt:/ / www.seleda.com/may00/bawza.shtml

World Fact Book. Ethiopia. Retireved May 23, 2006 at  http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/et.html

Social Analysis of the lues Music in the American Society

The blues, or blues music, has been considered an important and popular music genre in the history of American music. Its history goes back many years ago, during the black slavery period in the American history. lues music was said to have traced its roots in the cotton plantations commonly found in the South, and that blues music sang by the African-American slaves were their forms of protest against the slavery system that the white American society encourages. However, blues music did not proliferate and became prevalent among the black and white American society until after the Emancipation period, wherein most African-American slaves were now freed from bondage to slavery legally, and slavery was now abolished and prohibited to practice in the society, especially in the white American community.

The blues is defined as a "musical style created in response…

Bibliography

David, Angela. "Blues Legacies and Black Feminism." 1998. George Washington University Newsletter Web site: "Women Writers Talk History, Feminism, and Politics." 3 November 2002  http://www.gwu.edu/~wstu/newsletter/spring98/writers.htm .

Douglass, Frederick. E-text of "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave." 1845. Afro-American Almanac Web site. 3 November 2002  http://www.toptags.com/aama/books/book10.htm .

Evans, David. "Demythologizing the Blues." 1999. Institute for Studies in American Music Newsletter. 3 November 2002 http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/isam/evans.html.

Herman, Hawkeye. "History of the Blues."

Jim Cleveland introduced the nation to the 'Gospel Choir' and in 1968 organized the Gospel Music orkshop of American and due to his success has received three Grammy Awards and a star on the Hollywood alk of Fame (Moore Pp).

Leading a movement inside the Gospel music industry to go mainstream was Edwin Hawkins, who in 1969 recorded 'Oh Happy Day' which rose to number one on the Top Fifty Chart, and a new generation of Gospel was born (Moore Pp). Then other artists such as Andrae Crouch followed Hawkins' crossover success by writing gospel lyrics for more popular secular songs (Moore Pp). Beginning in the late 1980's, contemporary gospel groups such as Take 6 and the inans began to take the gospel message to an even wider audience (Moore Pp). Both groups could easily fill a concert hall as they played their new style to the sacred and the…

Works Cited

The Roots of Gospel Music

 http://hem.passagen.se/daveo/roots.htm 

Petrie, Phil. "The History of Gospel Music." http://afgen.com/gospel1.html

African-American Music: Spirituals and Gospel Music.  http://www.sbgmusic.com/html/teacher/reference/styles/spirituals.html

Mind, Baby

Contrary to popular belief, sex and sexuality has been present in popular music for at least the past 60 years. Since the age of "oldies" -- which in this discourse is defined as the "doo wop" period of the 1950's and the 1960's and which hearken to tunes such as "Blue Moon" and "Angel Baby" -- the lyrics of songs have included elements of sex. However, in much the same way that other forms of art -- particularly those with a pervasive appeal as disseminated through media such as film and television -- have modified their presentation to go from subtle implications to overt displays of a graphic nature, the tendency to portray sex in popular music has gone from what began as implicit references that required the upper reaches of the imagination to fully understand, to blatant references of a carnal nature that oftentimes are noticeably deficient…

References

Pac. (1996). "How Do You Want It." All Eyez On Me. Los Angeles: Death Row.

Klein, M. (2010). "When Music Turned To Sex -- And Changed The World." Psychology Today. Retrieved from  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sexual-intelligence/201004/when-music-turned-sex-and-changed-the-world 

Goffin, G., King, Carol. (1961). "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" [Recorded by The Shirelles]. Backtrackin'. Manhattan: Scepter.

am Cooke," Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/am_Cooke.An extensive entry on the singer that includes biography, discography, a discussion of his legacy in music, and a large section discussing the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death.

tewart, B. 2005. Message in the Music: Political Commentary in Black Popular Music from Rhythm and Blues to Early Hip Hop. The Journal of African-American History. 90 (3): 196-209. Explores the history, purpose and some specific instances of political commentary in gospel, R&B, soul, and hip hop. Briefly discusses some of am Cooke's songs including "Chain Gang," and his posthumous "A Change is Gonna Come."

Ebony. 2000. The 25 Most Important Events in Black Music History. 55 (8): 140. A brief article chronicling the major events and movements in black music history including an entry on am Cooke's release of "You end Me" in 1957, which "marked the beginning of the transitional period leading to soul music"…

Sam Cooke," Wikipedia,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Cooke.An  extensive entry on the singer that includes biography, discography, a discussion of his legacy in music, and a large section discussing the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death.

Stewart, B. 2005. Message in the Music: Political Commentary in Black Popular Music from Rhythm and Blues to Early Hip Hop. The Journal of African-American History. 90 (3): 196-209. Explores the history, purpose and some specific instances of political commentary in gospel, R&B, soul, and hip hop. Briefly discusses some of Sam Cooke's songs including "Chain Gang," and his posthumous "A Change is Gonna Come."

Ebony. 2000. The 25 Most Important Events in Black Music History. 55 (8): 140. A brief article chronicling the major events and movements in black music history including an entry on Sam Cooke's release of "You Send Me" in 1957, which "marked the beginning of the transitional period leading to soul music" (140).