Culture and Cross-Cultural Linkages in American Music Essay

Music is often considered “the universal language.” Throughout, history it has symbolized love, brought people together, and has been the cornerstone of many lives. In the 1950s, a new form of music entered American mass culture that drastically changed the culture of the United States (U.S.): rock music. In the U.S., it began as Rock ‘n’ Roll, a originally “black” music genre that was then taken and promulgated by white Americans. Post WWII, many Americans—especially teenagers—struggled with the newfound societal conformity and normalcy, and rock provided them a form of retaliation. From its beginning, Rock united the younger generation of Americans, stirring up a sense of community amongst teenagers and troubling many adults by their actions—heightening

Music is an outlet to all aspects of life and culture is a significant way of forming people and the way they live. Although not always seen directly culture has an overbearing influence on the music that is produced and made popular. The political Climate of the early seventies was full of fire with issues such as Vietnam and constant protest throughout the county. Later in the 70’s the end of the Vietnamese conflict brought the rise of the Watergate scandal and Iran Contra. These issues swept headlines and ingrained people’s thoughts. Social issues also played a big role in the developing culture of the seventies. Protests and constant outbreaks about gay rights and women’s rights seemed to

Music defines our culture. As Americans, we listen to music while we drive our cars, are at work, doing housework, studying, etc. We have songs for special occasions: Christmas, Hanukah, birthdays, weddings, parties, etc. We have taken songs from the various cultures that make us diverse: Arabic, German, Mexican, Native American, etc. We have many genres: country, hip-hop, rap, pop, blues, jazz, rock, heavy metal, etc. And although we may think of music as simple and easy, looking at all this makes one realize how diverse and complex our music truly is. Two things that contribute to this diversity are theme and symbolism.

According to www.talks.cam.ac.uk, “Globalization emphasises difference, promotes pluralism, and increases diversity through the accelerating circulation of a multiplicity of cultural practices. In turn, music affected these elements of globalization in significant and often unexpected ways.”

You could say that I started to like rock and roll at the age of eight. What woke me up and made me realize I enjoyed the sounds was Elvis. At that time he was all over the TV. My dad when he was writing at this big desk he had would listen to music according to his mood. I could be music from the 1920s or jazz or even classical so my little ears picked up whatever music dad was enjoying at the moment. Suddenly dad was faced with a little daughter who was intently watching the TV screen and a young man on the screen singing in a loud voice, “Let me be your teddy bear”’. I guess dad realized he was in trouble and had some heavy competition so whenever Elvis was on TV dad made me laugh

American Music is a melting pot of different cultures, emotions, experiences, and therefore genres. It is incredible to see how as music evolves and changes with the time, so does The United States. We are a mixed bag as a country, accepting all different cultures and backgrounds. This has led to many breakthroughs and innovations in music throughout history. We are all influenced by our experiences in life and this is no different in the evolution of music in American History. The Blues was created from African American Slave songs, with lyrics that narrate the hardships of the human experience at the time. These rhythms and forms carried over and eventually created what is now Rock and Roll. Over the next five weeks, we will explore and discover five key genres and artists who are known to specialize in that genre as a way to reconnect with our history and explore the possibilities for innovation in music in the future.

In a time where the world was recovering after its second world war, a great quantity of interesting events were taking place. The nineteen fifties was a flourishing time for our economy, since the U.S. was a world power. Accordingly, there was room for innovation in science, especially in the medical field. Also, mass leisure was common amongst the world, especially in the United States. This made music become a major influence in teenagers. Prior to the end of World War 2 in the previous decade, there was a lot going on in politics, and it was a very active time for the government, especially in a war such as the Cold War. This led to many movements, such as the Feminist and Civil Rights movements. Harry Truman was also the president that

Music in America has been on the decline since the turn of the millennium. Recent popular musical genres such as rap and hip-hop have promoted sex, violence, profanity, and drug abuse. Artists such as Drake, David Guetta, and Nicki Minaj have missed the mark when it comes to good music. Music is supposed to make people feel something, to take people on a journey. In this sense, music draws a certain parallel to the trajectory of America. When times were good in America, music seemed to be good. Recently, bad music has influenced the mentality of American youth and made them unstable and insecure. Music that has a positive, uplifting message has the power to help.

Throughout history, music have defined or depicted the culture and social events in America. Music has constantly played an important role in constituting American culture, where people have expressed themselves through music during flourishing and turbulent times. In the 1930’s, Swing music created a platform for audiences to vent their emotions in the midst of Great Depression and political unrest. Such strong relationship between music and culture can be seen throughout history, especially in the sixties.

     The music industry is in a time of growth at this very moment. The environment for its growth has been increasing rapidly on many geographical boundaries and has been established through information technology and Internet. In this paper I will analyze how the music industry not only has been affected by Globalization as an economic institution but also that it has become a worldwide-globalized commodity. First, I will begin by analyzing how the music industry, though its consumption is not a necessity, it is affected by large economic factors and has become a large Music Market. Furthermore I will analyze how the music market has globalizing tendencies

Country music is constantly changing, an example of this is how women are now viewed in country music. The American form of music became popular in the 1920’s, and continued to grow, artists of this era include the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, and Vernon Dalhart. One of country’s most well-known female singers is Dolly Parton, becoming a major country star in the 1970’s. Dolly was one of the first female artists to challenge the gender stereotypes in country music, this major success led to her long career. She has contributed over 35 hits to country and popular music, including her album Coat of Colors released in 1971, by RCA records was the album that changed her career. The 8th solo album made it onto Time Magazine 's 100 Greatest

Along came my teen years. From hanging out with my friends, and sometimes their older siblings, I became exposed to more of what they were playing on the FM radio stations, then the AM ones. Rock n' Roll was my thing. To this day, which it primarily still is.

Music plays a significant rule in our lives. It’s a melody and rhythm we live in. It plays a very essential rule in our day to day to life when it comes to expressing feelings, passing time and for other uses as well. Though we in general may not think about how music has changed so much in the past few decades we must acknowledge the fact todays music is the outcome of the various change in the past. Today’s majority of music we hear is what we define as more as a “westernized” music. Considering other cultures in the world, a huge impact of western music is seen within them. Westernization and modernization are two different words with different meanings and they have two different impacts on a society. Modernization is used to define the improvements and show a progressive transition from one stage to another. Westernization is the concept of being influenced by the customs and techniques of the western society and reflecting them in a non-western culture. This essay will discuss furtherly about the impact of the western society on music cultures of North India and Korea by looking from both the positive and negative point of this impact.

My memory of my childhood is fuzzy at best, probably like most people. There are many important events in my early life I cannot remember, like the events of September 11, 2001, or the first day of kindergarten. I also do not remember much of my musical life prior to middle school. My family was not a musical family. We did not constantly play music in our house, if we ever really did. Nor did my parents very often put on albums that they loved from their younger years. Music mostly seemed cosigned to car rides, whether the radio for quick car rides from home to school or to the store, or one of my dad’s CDs that he kept in his glovebox for long car rides to visit my grandparents or my aunt and uncle. Nonetheless, we did listen to music.

Present in throughout the Hindu, Greek, and Judaic cultures, is the divine and meticulous use of music in various ways. Similarly between these cultures, music is symbolic of the most important and sacred concepts. The musical elements often exist to celebrate parts of the culture, to provide an element of sound to express spiritually, and to worship one or more Gods. Furthermore, music has occupied a central place in Hindu, Greek, and Judaic cultures, in which there are intrinsic musical principles, an arrangement of different instruments, and several forms and textures within all three cultures.