Brazilian Music Revival Analysis

Throughout the reading this week, the information presented in David Elliott and Bennett Reimer’s texts stressed the importance of music and more specifically, music education. “People everywhere find music rewarding, and everywhere we find people engaged in formal and non-formal efforts to teach and learn music.” (Elliott, 2014, p. 4)

Demonstrate understanding of relationships between music and the other arts, other disciplines, varied context, and daily life.

Music is a very powerful expression of emotions that come together as a whole to morph your psychological feelings into a sub-reality vision. Over the many years, history has been able to capture the moments at which music has made an impact on human lives. We can start with Manu Chao the artist that sings about left-wing messages and portrays his concerts as “collective therapy”. Or Juan Gabriel the young man that rose out of poverty to become the world’s most beloved artist/songwriter and whose music carried a resonate flamboyant style. Music is a way of communication that is used in many realms such as entertainment, tradition religion and sporting events. So far this semester, Chic 316 has influenced me to seek a more coherent relationship

How did Cuba and Brazil affect popular music, culture and dance in the 1940’s and 50’s? In this investigation I am going to establish what affects Cuba and Brazil had on popular music and dance. The first thing I’m going to do is discover how the music from Cuba and Brazil spread to America, the center of music. While doing my research I will be looking at what types of music were popular in Cuba and Brazil during the 40’s and 50’s as well as how these types of music affected American popular music. Two of the sources I used in this essay, Latin Music USA and Music in Brazil will then be evaluated. To

Whenever I spend time with my family, music permeates the place. Producing a relaxing, peaceful environment, the slow, Salvadoran cumbia differs from the upbeat, Puerto Rican salsa and reggaeton which create a convivial, dancing atmosphere. Soaking in the mumbling music as they casually converse and dine, my Salvadoran family contrasts with my Puerto Rican family. Initiated by yelling “WEPA” and demanding dancing, the music couldn’t even restrain my ailing, wheelchair-bounded great-grandmother from

For as long as mankind has walked on this earth, music has been an important part of our culture and lifestyles. Each walk of life beats to a different drum. Different cultures use music for many aspects of their lives; for religious purposes, for celebrations, for comfort, for sorrow, for relaxation, for sports, for dances, for energy, for learning, for sleeping, and for sexual experiences. Everyone uses music for something. Music connects with people and reaches them in ways that words simply cannot. Music is a representation of what feelings sound like. It expresses emotion and brings that characteristic out from within us; it tells us a story. Every generation has its’ own sound and different music styles have emerged and become

Art has always been used to symbolize one’s culture, history, society and national identity. Countries identify each other through their culture, their art. Art has many forms, one of them being music. One of the most famous music genres in the world is samba. Due to the fact that Samba is the musical life force of Brazil; it ultimately represents their national identity.

Moreno asserts that ““Too many times, we have read our history books that have been written by Europeans, and it has had a tremendous impact in the way we view our culture and listen to our music. I do think that our identity is lost with it and at some point, we try to find it again later in life” (7). Students are able to see a different point of view rather than only the perspectives of textbook writers who at times deprive students from the full truth and the media who exaggerates or embellishes the truth. Many artists and musicians express their anger and oppression through music and students are able to listen to this and get the complete synopsis of problems happening in the world. For instance, in “The Embodiment of Salsa: Musicians, Instrument and the Performance of a Latina Style and Identity,” Patria Roman-Velasquez argued that the embodiment of salsa develops through specific practices whereby instruments, performance techniques, vocal sounds, bodily movements and ways of dressing are encoded and experienced as part of a particular Latin identity. Therefore, this expressing that music has much of an influence in Latin identity and the construction of identity and

Music is an art form and source of power. Many forms of music reflect culture and society, as well as, containing political content and social message. Music as social change has been highlighted throughout the 20th century. In the 1960s the United States saw political and socially oriented folk music discussing the Vietnam War and other social issues. In Jamaica during the 1970s and 1980s reggae developed out of the Ghetto’s of Trench town and expressed the social unrest of the poor and the need to over-through the oppressors. The 1980’s brought the newest development in social and political music, the emergence of hip-hop and rap. This urban musical art form that was developed in New

Across the United States many elementary school music classrooms are filled with simple and popular tunes such as Hot Cross Buns and The Ode to Joy, played on the recorder, while high school students may be playing collegiate or professional pieces of music such as Armenian Dances and Carmen Suites. I have been very fortunate to have gone on the journey of progressing through different music education programs within Fairfax County Public Schools. If I was never exposed to music while in elementary school I might not have ever found one of my greatest passions or been able to create such fond and unforgettable memories. While music education programs across the country appear large and strong, many schools are beginning to experience budget reductions. As a result, music is often the very first component of a school 's curriculum or programs to be cut or significantly reduced, but I believe this is not the right course of action. It is important to preserve and promote music education in public schools because of the proven cognitive, character,and academic benefits for students.

Ever since it’s creation, music has served as a medium for education, entertainment, celebration, and communication. Throughout the world, individuals write lyrics that share messages to the world about their life, about time of darkness and about the struggle their society faces. Music has had important impacts on the politics in many countries. National anthems are often the proof of this relation. Throughout the 20th century in Brazil, music and politics were closely tied.

On Wednesday August 26, 2015 I attended a Global Cultural event. It took place in Byrnes Auditorium. The event was named ¡Bailemos! A Night of Latin Dance. It was a night that we were able to come out to see and experience some of Latins culture! At this performance, there was a band, Samba dancers and Latino dancers. The band’s name was Batuque de Terreiro. The band was made up of all males. They performed and sung several songs from the original sounds of Bahia. The songs and dances were those, which you would see in Brazil. There were also Samba dancers to give us some more taste of Brazil. The dancers were called Movimentos de Samba. They were female dancers that performed and taught the crowd some of Brazils well known dances. Some of the dances that were performed was the Samba, Afro Brazilian, Axe, Frevo, Samba, Reggae, and Ballet. Lastly, there was a group of performers called the Folklorico Guadalupano. They were there to give us a taste of the Mexican culture. They gave us a taste of the Mexican tradition through the art of dance and music.

Now that the first element of music education has been explained, it becomes relevant to quantify and define what determines a quality music education for an individual. It is not as simple as “one ought to be exposed to different kinds of music to listen to and enjoy for cultural diversity.” That is a key element to quality music education and pedagogy, but it is a little bit more involved than that. The first

Scholars have attempted to define music, and to be quite honest, it will be a huge challenge to try to weave a definition around the art that is music, because it is beyond definition. However, for the purposes of this work, we shall adopt the definition by Aluede & Eregare (2009), not because the definition is, in itself, complete, but because it captures the very essence of what we look for in the definition of music. Music, according to Aluede & Aregare (2009), is not only an organization of sound but also a symbolic expression of a social and cultural organization, which reflects the values, past and present ways of life of human beings. Also, Jones (1975), cited in Amana and Onogu (2015), defines music as “a language which encodes emotions, aspirations and people’s goals in autonomous and self-expressive arts forms.” These definitions are important in understanding music, because they highlight the fact that music does not only appeal to the feel-good emotion, it is not only used for entertainment; it is a valid form of social expression and this underscores the centrality of music in African socio-cultural life.

There is much more to music than what the average ear hears. Music is a form of art which can tell a story on behalf of the culture it comes from. In Sergio Mendes’ piece, “Magdalenha”, it appears to be a piece in which people gather around to celebrate an occasion. Now I use the world celebrate loosely because I am not familiar with the cultural background. This piece could be a religious gathering, a mourning of life, or simply a party. It is through the ethnomusicologist’s tool box that we can gain a better understanding of the piece even if that gained knowledge is about the music itself and not the culture behind it.