Music Is An Essential Part Of Our Social Environment

"On those nights that I missed him most I listened to music" (Alexie 3086). Woven throughout Sherman Alexie 's work, "Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock,” is the theme of music. Its presence is a faint drumbeat of life, felt throughout the piece. It not only accompanies moments of sorrow, such as when the narrator listens to music while he is longing for his father, but encompasses every variation of emotion available to man, and because of its extraordinary influence on the characters, it takes on human qualities. Through music 's multidimensional effect on characters and its personification, Alexie highlights music’s everyday influence in life, suggesting that it is inescapable and necessary to the human experience.

Music is a tool that touches the world and does not require anyone to understand the words to hear its voice. It is something innate to every living human being that does not have to be taught, but is just felt or expressed. Music has been appreciated by people throughout time, enjoyed and celebrated from Beethoven, Bach and Mozart to AD/DC, Beyonce and Prince and will continue to be revered so long as man is free to play it. Music is also feared by many as it can unite a people, prompt the march of an army, express the feelings of the repressed, create an entire new group of people, or even be the tune to topple a dynasty. This was proven by the people known as the “Hippies” as this class of people rallied behind bands such as Janis Joplin, The Who or Jimi Hendrix, with none being more prominent than the Beatles. Music has an influence on society in a greater way than any can imagine, just take a look at the sixties and their figurehead The Beatles and how they did not make people hate the war in Vietnam, nothing in their lyrics says anything about the war. They just brought together like-minded people who started a revolution and changed the perspective on an entire altercation. But like Steven Stark says, “’Why on earth would anyone need another work [book] about the Beatles?’” and this is quite true if it wasn’t for the fact that most works written on this innovative group are bibliographies or dissections of the musical prowess. Instead,

Billy Joel once said, “I think music in itself is healing. It 's an explosive expression of humanity. It 's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we 're from, everyone loves music.” In many ways this quote is very accurate both socially and scientifically. Music is a vital part of almost every culture and serves many purposes culturally as a means of self expression and communication within a culture and the world at large. While music does serve several external purposes, perhaps its most important and fascinating functions happen within the brain when its making or listening to music. Over the years there have been countless studies on music 's effect on the human brain and body and many have concluded that music positively affects the brain by doing things like relieving stress and improving cognitive function, and the body as well, by relieving pain and muscular and cardio vascular tension. Music is an important part of the human experience and affects our brain, bodies and emotions in both abstract and physical ways, making it vital to many facets our well being.

Music has played a major role as an agent of socialization in each of my 4 decades. I know and hope that it will continue to do so. During each period music has affected my personality, shown my personality, affected my perceptions and helped me to cope with growing and changing as a person. My Looking Glass Self has compared the person in song and possibly the singer themselves to myself to gain perspective of who I was at each time. I am going to discuss each decade with the thought of how music was an agent of socialization in each.

Art has undoubtedly become a decisive aspect of our culture; embedded in the way we learn and grow on a daily basis. Art forms such as music, television and dance dominate our society as an outlet of freedom of speech for humanity. The evolution of music has rapidly exceeded its original classifications, developing new genres with greater appeal to an audience, hence its influence on society has expedited. In recent times, lyrics (specifically rap lyrics) have been introduced into the court room as a form of documented confessional evidence, evidently challenging law’s authoritative nature. This essay will closely follow the genre of rap and its relationship with law, through cases based in the United States of America (USA). In addition, the trial of Simon Bikindi in Rwanda and Smith v The Queen will be used to form an acute analysis on the influencing factors of relevance, identity, freedom of speech and current constitutional law.

Music, for many cultures, is held at a high prestige. It has been used since the beginning of time to elicit power, emotion, spiritual forces, and a sense of community among its listeners. It has helped us, as music enthusiasts, to understand the role that music plays within our own lives in today’s society, as well as how it has functioned in the lives of those before us. So why is this? What makes music, instead of other forces, so influential to our kind? In Thomas Turino’s book Music as Social Life, he argues that, “Musical participation and experience are valuable for the processes of personal and social integration that make us whole” (Turino, 2008). Many believe that music offers us a source of identity, which in turn develops our idea of self and allows us to fit inside certain communities throughout our lives. Turino also describes a theory proposed by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi that offers additional incites to this idea of “psychic wholeness”. This theory introduces the theme of flow and how heightened concentration can produce an optimal experience when associated with music. This paper will address these concepts stated above in association with the African American spiritual. The spiritual will be traced back to its origin in West Africa, described how it evolved as a result of the transatlantic slave trade, and the influence that it has on today’s genres like blues and gospel. I propose that, these notions of flow and identity within the music of

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

Dance is one of the most beautiful, expressive forms of art known to mankind. It expresses joy, love, sorrow, anger, and the list truly goes on for all the possible emotions that it can convey. Dance not only can express how one feels, but it can tell a story or even be used to praise a higher power. Dance has intricately played an important role to every culture over the course of time. Two forms of dance that have not only stood against the test of time but have influenced the development of other various styles of dance is none other than Classical Ballet and Modern Dance.

Since the beginning of time, music and dance has been a form of entertainment for millions of people. As audiences across the world prepare for dance performances, they typically expect to see something that is lively, exciting, and unique. However, what most audiences of dance and musical performances neglect to consider is the origins and importance these forms of dance and music have on culture. It is truly astounding how synonymous music and history have been and continue to be. Understanding the history and culture behind a certain piece of music only makes the experience more special than ever. People need to realize the significance music has had on the foundation and progression of each and every culture around the globe.

Music is made up from rhythm and beats with notes and feelings, vocal and/or instrumental sounds combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. Yet, music is so much more than notes on paper, music represents movements in time, music is memories, history, connections, relaxation and escape. Many people are influenced by music they listen to. “Music is much more than mere entertainment. It has been a feature of every known human society—anthropologists and sociologists have yet to find a single culture throughout the course of human history that has not had music” (Greenberg, 2016).

Dance is a universal language, there are no words being said but you can still feel something very powerful. Dance has been around for centuries, some of the earliest known records are paintings from nine thousand years ago in India. There are also some dancing figures from an Egyptian tomb that were found which were dated back to three thousand, three hundred BC. It is said that before the invention of written language, dance was the most powerful method to tell stories throughout generations. Is this why dance is still around after so many years, because it can portray amazing stories with no words? Today, we are going to explore the many reasons why dance, in the use of musical theatre, can make the difference between an amateur show and a Broadway show.

Although some may suggest music can only serve for entertainment, music imposes a direct impact on the ideals and actions of today’s culture. In the past, the music of a culture greatly impacts the people and speaks what the people felt afraid to express. Different types of music reach different areas of the human brain, thus affecting the way people act in various ways. Music possesses such a deep impact on human brains it affects the way we act and process different situations we go through. Although music can serve entertainment purposes it affects our brains and actions deeply.

Music is a huge part of our everyday life. Many people don’t realize that music plays a significant role in in the way it affects the human brain. It connects and helps us share experiences with loved ones, friends, and random acquaintances. The variety of genres lets us explore the different emotions as we listen to specific songs, whether or not its pop, hip-hop/ rap, indie, country, rock/ heavy & death metal, classical, dance, jazz, blues, soul, reggae, and opera. Psychologists seem to believe the answer lies within the rhythm, tone, lyrics, and melody of the music. A great and inspiring songwriter/ vocalist, Mitch Lucker, said, “Keep listening to music, cause it gets you through everything. I promise.” My question is, why do people turn to music rather than friends or family? Considering this, what is it about music that helps us through difficult obstacles in life? According to many psychologist music can affect mood, health, mind, and learning ability.

Media takes all forms of shapes, from video games to music it influences people daily because we are always surrounded by it. Music especially impacts individuals because in a lot of ways it can say what we want to say in times when we as individuals cannot say it. In those times we lean on music to help us understand the hardship we are going through, or as a mechanism to face our feelings or to block them out. Interpersonal violence which is defined as an individual using power over another in the form of violence whether that be emotional, physical, or sexual. With the many forms of interpersonal violence it’s apparent that it has been expressed in the form of music for quite a while, and sometimes not always in a preventative way. By

Music has always been an influence in the evolution of world civilizations and is still an important form of art and entertainment that humans find great pleasure in listening to today. There are multitudinous types and genres of music from all over the world, varying from classical, jazz, hip-hop, reggae, country, rock, and even rap. Despite these numerous amounts of genres, music can be found from all over the world residing in different parts of the world, and essentially, in different cultures around the globe. Presently, popular music and their lyrics are identified as a factor that influences and shapes location while at the same time, is shaped by the location itself. Specific locales such as cities, neighborhoods, landmarks and/or natural factors are locations where music like rap can be entrenched and thus give a sense of strong geographic orientation. In other words, location is intently related to rap, and rap is intently tied to location, as evident in Kendrick Lamar’s album, “Good Kid, M.A.A.D city”. Kendrick Lamar presents themes of gang/region affiliation, peer pressure, and influences of community within Compton, California through lyrics, grounded in narrative, by drawing a clear connection between a place and the culture within and around the city. In this essay, the definition of cultural geography and how culture and place are linked together will be discussed, then in regards to local musical spaces, describe why music has a strong sense of geographic