The Role Of Music As A Reflection Of The Human Condition

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.

Without the human intention, perception, and interpretation of sound, then the existence of music would be imaginary. Music includes talking words in a way that the person creates a sound that is made with the intention of being music (Deutsch, Diana 10-13, Justus & Timothy., 33-40). Besides, people can perceive silence and sound and put them together so as to call the outcome music. In Bakan’s fourth proposition, he identifies the approach as the Human Intention and Perception (HIP) approach (Resnicow, Joel E., 10-22). In other words, the proposition tries to suggest that music is inseparable from the makers; or more specifically the people who perceive and experience it. Bakan gives numerous examples to show that music is a product of human intention and perception. This paper conducts research and gives appropriate examples to show that music is only identified as music if the person is making it has the intention for their words to be music.

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.

Dmitri Shostakovich and Aaron Copland are two major composers of the 20th century who were both influenced by politics in their time. While Shostakovich publicly opposed the communist regime in the Soviet Union, Copland quietly embraced communist ideologies while in America. Shostakovich’s political stance is demonstrated in his Symphony No.5, a bombastic and triumphant piece of music in which Shostakovich voices his distaste with Stalin’s rule. Copland’s “Into the Streets May First” was the product of a “brief yet decisive phase of left-wing culture that promoted modernist aesthetics as a challenge to the conventions of American industrial capitalism.” Living on opposite sides of the world and opposite sides of the political spectrum, both

Dmitri Shostakovich is known as one of the most major composers within the 20th century. This composer, born in 1906 in Saint Petersburg, Russia discovered his musical talent at age 9 after beginning piano lessons with his mother. Throughout the years, he learned full piano and composition which lead to his graduation from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory at age 19 with his first symphony. Shostakovich often times found difficulty in balancing his artistic inspiration and the demands of the soviet state. Shostakovich is recognized for his themes of solemn ambivalence as well as for his ability to incorporate deep emotional range within his work. For this review, I chose to watch Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 2. This concert was performed by the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the USSR. The conductor of this concert was Yevgeny Svetlanov and the violoncellist performing was Mstislav Rostropovich. Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 2 was performed in the Large Hall of Moscow State Conservatory on September 25th, 1966.

After Dvorak left the Organ School in 1859, he basically disappeared from the public eye for twelve years until 1871, which is when he emerged back into the public as a composer. For those twelve years he spent in seclusion, he was occupied with extensive writing in the classical form (8). To much grief and disappointment Dvorak’s first son died in September and his second daughter in October of 1877. These tragic losses were experienced within his grandiose oratorio “Stabat Mater.” For the next twenty years, Dvorak was invited to other European countries to conduct performances of his own works while enduring a struggling relationship with his publisher Hitherto Simrock (7).

Durring this time in Shostavovich life, Stalin was against muscians who did not have a potical languge in their music. Shostavovich musical creativity was of his own and would be soon called out by Stalin. Shostavovich felt as if he was writing for his life. Also durring that time many composers were silinced, but Beethovens music survived. This in a sense slows down creativity. The thought of fear, " If my music is not politically fullfeeling, then my family or I could be assanssanted." Stalin then went to Shostavovich performance. There he left durring intermission. The encounter was not favorable for Shostavoich. Stalin later placed in the press how Shostavovich's music corrupted the soviet spirit. This was the fear once dreamed. It

Centralised control of art, paired with the fear of Stalin’s reign, instilled harsh, dissonant pieces of music. Music could no longer be composed under the freedom of expression that was previously granted to composers. Now, music was tailored to

The dictionary provides biographies of Soviet Composers. Short but valuable descriptions will assist when choosing composers to highlight in the essay. Shostakovich as one example has been chosen due to the insightful knowledge provided by the dictionary. It states that although successful, the opera “Lady Macbeth” not only caused much controversy in the public eye but also provoked Stalin. It provides examples of publications that highlight the fury caused by the opera and gives many arguments which emphasise the large restrictions placed upon Shostakovich. This is a highly credible source due to the historical factors at the time of publication and the large body of sources used to construct the biographies. It will be used as a reference

Shostakovich, like many other artists at this time, is a man who simply wants to make music, however, he faces many hardships and injustices as the Party uses him for their own benefit. Oppressive societies supress natural human instincts and treat people unjustly. Oppression comes in many different forms, be it individual, institutional, and/or cultural. No matter the form, oppression has taken toll on and is currently the sad reality for many people around the world. As seen in the repetition of history, a group of a few self-entitled people find ways to diminish the dignity of the human person again and again, and unfortunately this perpetual cycle may never come to an

The impact of music on positive psychology and emotion is a well known fact. Music has an extraordinary ability to change people’s emotions. In humans, music has the ability to invoke emotions of sadness, happiness and even fear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the casual relationship between music practice and participation on the emotions and well-being of male and female adults. The hypotheses for this study were as follows; Hypothesis 1: Music practice and participation has an emotional impact on individuals under study; Hypothesis 2: Preference of more music genres is positively correlated with higher levels of happiness among the population under study; Hypothesis 3: Preference of more music genres is positively correlated with emotional response among the population under study. Results of the study indicated that both age groups had a positive emotional response to music.

If the 20th century is indeed the age of experimentation, then Shostakovich is no ideal. Perhaps, if the Soviet government had been more tolerant, his

The relationship between music and society is an exceptionally powerful and crucial one. In some cases, this relationship is viewed as one that is harmonious and beneficial to large communities of people. However, that exact relationship could also be scrutinized as one that is extremely discordant to other communities. Green Day happens to fall precisely in the middle of that musical spectrum, depending on who is asked. Regardless of opinion, songs are much more than just music and are essentially retained as pieces of history. These songs help showcase the trends, behaviors, and even struggles of different time periods. With that being said, one may ask “What all did the musical group Green Day contribute to society?”.

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

This book provides an account of the formation of the Union of Composers in 1932 and the battle between Stalinism and artistic freedom during 1930 and 1956. The author only explores Soviet composers of this time as victims to power and policy and negatively argues their effect on music and public thought during this time - demonstrating a great level of bias. The book offers extensive information relating to the research question, however, is written with the intent of persuading his audience to agree with his view that composers of the time were political puppets- which could also be used as a differing viewpoint for the research essay.