Musical Impact Essay

In society today, music is shown to have an impact on ways of life. People within the society are raised with it in some way. Music is always present in society. It is natural then, to wonder about the origin of music. Music is a special type of sound and noises mixed in together. People create the meanings of these sounds and noises to create their own opinions and emotions of expressing themselves. Many people believed that music is created in the mind for this same reason. That we have the sounds and noises that are heard are within our own human being and along that, it can come once we are born with it. Although, this may not be true, due to the differences in today’s society, there are many aspects that can have a control of the musical taste of a person. One’s musical interests are not based on biology, rather the individual’s environment: community, culture, religion, and geography. First of all a community can effect an individual interest in music. The definition of a community is having the same beliefs, resources, needs and risks. When people tend to share and have the same interest they tend to also have the same interest in music. The term â€Å"community music† finds no more resonating tone than within minority groups working toward social acceptance and assimilation (Hayes 6). As shown in the International Journal we can see people tend to stick together in order to have the same identity and be accepted in the group. Also sharing the same risks and resources will help them have communication within each other, making it be easier on them to be able to relate. An example of this would be people in community, such as in Honduras, they have a lot of different beliefs. For example, in the burials, the community gathers around in order to their last goodbye to the deceased. Then they called upon a band, which in their thoughts mean that they celebrate the life of the deceased. They each sing and walk with the burial service and take them around. This event mentioned, to some may be disrespectful, but to Hondurans is a way to communicate with the dead. It shows that they respect him or her and show him or her that they are celebrating the life they had. Having communication in music brings to a community a better aspect to people and it is also very important for them. Yes, they can be sounds and noises to some, but many do not think that way. Like the people in Honduras, their beliefs are very important and they demonstrate them through music. Therefore, a community could determine a person’s interest in music because a community makes an individual do the same thing as other people. Another example would be, if a person listens to rock and they see that other people listen to it too, than they will would go ahead and hear it to. Secondly, culture is also another factor that influences music preferences on individuals. The culture of someone can affect the way of music choices. The two factors that generate culture will be academic knowledge and manners taught to each person (Yudkin 27). Each culture then possesses on its own musical language. This musical language reflects its own traditions, concerns, and activities; and in order to begin to understand the music of another culture, we need to understand something of the nature of its culture systems and the role the music plays in them (Yadkin 5). This is because many of the cultures have different academics and manners taught to them. An example is the culture would be of the Mandinka of Gambia in Senegal, they have a special musician leader, known as a jali. This leader is very important to the tribe due to that fact that he knows all the prayers and all the history of the tribe (Miller 44). As shown in this example each culture has its own special person and holds music as a special part of the community. The important part here is that a person needs to grow up somewhere. That place holds a significant knowledge making them a part of that culture group. With growing with them they hold a place within the culture. Music brings them all together making them communicate with each other easily and bring them normalcy. When this takes place the individual takes the musical knowledge and incorporates it into their system and beliefs. The beliefs that they incorporated can be seen in their academic areas. The literature, dance, and theater cannot go anywhere and do their expected ideas across without music. Music has to be in these areas in order to function well and be able to get the individuals culture across to the people. For example, dance cannot function without music. It gives the person the beats and the melody in order to create the feeling they want to get across to their audience (Miller 57). Dance also has different meanings in culture. A New Yorker can have a different rhythm than a person from China. This difference can be seen with the music they choose for their arts and their dance. It’s really difficult to be able to be prejudice to others cultures, because every culture is different. Music has that effect on society because it teaches the cultures and meanings of one’s society. The mixture of music to other society is also shown. Many of these arts can be seen throughout the world and from them people learn the differences in music. Music such as Jazz, Blues, and Gospels were produced when Europeans and Africans came together during the late nineteenth and twentieth century’s (Miller 61). Here we can see two cultures mixed in together and this is shown through their mix of their own music. Music can bring together worlds and is all due to its simplicity such as using their melodies and sounds. Music creates a new world for many people. The third factor that can affect the music choices of the individuals is the fact of one’s religion. Many religions do not allowed their followers to hear music from the outside world such hip-hop and rock. As said by Kong, â€Å"its nature is presented in a stylized and stereotypical fashion by the mass media the moral barricades are manned by bishops (Kong 104)†. An example of this is Christians and Catholics which have very different opinions regarding music. Christians is the larger group that includes Catholics. Christian women followers are not allowed to wear pants or the followers are not able to hear any type of music because in their regard they are preventing is a sin from them. While Catholic Church allowed their followers to wear their clothing with respect to God and be able to choose the type of music they listen to. As seen the music plays a big role due to the fact that Catholic churches make prayers into songs and sing them with their hearts, believing that God can be able to hear them (Miller kj187). While Christians cannot be able to do the same pray and sing to God due to the banned of music within their own. To many this is not unusual seeing the difference of worship. But once looked inside and see the music playing its role is different because it makes people think about what God thinks and which one he would prefer. If it is just music and prayers, then there is no music at all in its gatherings of worship. This is important because music can be seen playing a role in religions and making individuals having a different taste to the one with a Catholic follower. The religion of a person a can limit the person the knowledge of the evolution of the music outside their group. This can make it hard on them to relate to the others outside the society. The last and important factor that can make a difference in ones interest in music is the geography. Many people as seen can have different views and belief but geography make them have a different taste in music. We hear the melody, but we feel the beat. People in all cultures move their bodies to the rhythms of music, whether drumming, dancing, or rocking an infant (Silver and Trainer 2). This is important because a person in Los Angeles California will not have the same beats and rhythm as a person in London, Great Britain. Each part of the world is bound to have some type of music but the music differentiated in each part of the world. As mentioned in the seven themes of music geography â€Å"specific involvement with location of musical activities, such as the compositions and travels of their composers, rather than broader world distributions of regional delineations mentioned in Theme Two† (Nash and Carney 66). This means that even with culture and communities, music was first put into the field of geography due to the travels of the musicians and the spread of their ideas and tunes. This is important because it not only gives a way for questions to arise such the one that geography is the main factor as to the interest of music in humans. Due to the composers traveling, they spread around the ideas meaning that culture is affected and the belief is shaken with these ideas. The population of the countries is also a big factor because due to the fact that people are mixed together. People with different geography regions tend to have a different viewpoint of the world and music can be included in that. In conclusion this can be said, that these types of points can create music interest such one’s environment: community, culture, religion, and geography. This can be reasonable because people cannot be born with music interests. They are shaped by ones environment. People can have the same music interests if they shared the same belief and the same religion where they live. Music is very common in and around the world. Music is therefore a symbol to society because it represents the life and beliefs of people. Music can have a great impact on the life of people and this is important because this makes society. Music is evidently an important part of the lives of human beings. Music is reflected to our society we are in. The four aspects which are one’s community, culture, religion, and geography can determine each person’s interests in music rather than biological. Other factors can also relate to one’s musical preference, but the four aspects are the ones that are most common. Music is bound to be heard everywhere and without music the world would have hard times understanding things. Music is important to our world because it brings us together and also puts life and excitement. Music will always motivate people and will always be part of our lives. Without music, our society wouldn’t be the same including our feelings and impressions about it. Therefore, music brings happiness to our friends, and families, and all the people around the world.