Music In Society

Music In Society Music interacts with society in an almost infinite number of ways. It can effect a person�s political views, the way they dress, their attitude towards their life and others�and the list goes on. In this essay I will highlight three ways in which music interacts with society and discuss how and why they are beneficial. Religion Music has been used for religious and ceremonial purposes for centuries. It�s possible that music has been around since the dawn of Man Kind. For this section, however, I will be looking at the development of Christian Gospel Music. Gospel music usually consists of dominant vocals with a blues and soulful feel. The prayer songs can be performed with the help of a band or acapella. The roots of Gospel music can be traced back to the 16th century during the years of slave trade. The vocal techniques and even the topics may have been lifted from the songs sung by slaves. Slaves would sing to �The Lord� asking for freedom and redemption during hard times. They would also sing prayerful songs to God giving thanks. Before the slaves had been converted to Christianity many of them would have believed in different Gods from their home lands. It was from these religious views back in Africa, for example, that would have influenced the way they praised. Music had been used in Africa for ceremonial and religious purposes for a long time before the slave trade started. Gospel music would go on to influence many musicians with the style of performing and singing. This would lead to the development of Blues, Soul and R&B music. R&B and Blues music was frowned upon by devote Christians and was seen as the Devil�s Music due to the artist�s references to God. It was seen as taking The Lord�s name in vain. Ray Charles was famous for his Gospel style of singing and playing and some of his music was seen as controversial to a predominantly black audience. Blues music would have been seen as Devil music as many blues musicians claimed to have sold their souls to the devil in exchange for musical ability. Listening to early blues music its easy to see the gospel vocal techniques. From Soul and Blues came Motown and R&B which went onto to influence bands like the Rolling Stones, The Who and other �Rock� bands. R&B and Soul would also go on to influence more recent acts such as Leona Lewis, Alicia Keys and Rihanna. All of which show clear signs of Soul music in their vocal style. Music In Education Music can be studied in a variety of forms : Instrument Lessons, Theory Lessons, Music History Study, Music Lessons in Schools, College and University and there are more. It can be studied by anyone of any age and from any background. For this section of the essay I�ll be discussing the exposure people have to music and education from a young age: Primary School through to leaving Secondary School. As it is these early years of studying music that may spark of an interest to pursue music later in life. Most primary school music lessons consist of the teacher wheeling out a trolley filled with various percussive instruments. The teacher desperately tries to gain control of a class all banging away on cymbals and tambourines and

furiously shaking maracas. It is this early introduction to making music that could influence a child to take up learning a instrument in their own time. In my opinion not enough time is spent teaching music to Primary School Children and the values of Music in society and the benefits of learning an instrument. Studies have shown that learning a musical instrument can help children with dyslexia and help to improve test scores and language skills. In secondary school a child will have probably developed more of an interest in the music that they listen too and we have more opportunities to study music. Prior to GCSE Music a student will have more fulfilling music lessons. Lessons usually consist of ; basic theory, music history, and class instrument lessons all playing the same piece as an ensemble. Some students may choose to continue learning an instrument in their own through the school. GCSE music is usually chosen by student who have a keen interest in studying music and possibly choosing as a career option or to study in Higher Education. Most students by this point will have found an instrument that they enjoy playing and feel they can express themselves with that instrument. GCSE Music lessons consist of ; tuition in your instrument, keyboard skills, composition and more complex theory and history study. Music as a tool in education is also important. It can play a role in many lessons such as Drama, English, and Art for inspiration or it can be used as background music to improve concentration or as part of a presentation to increase attention. When a student has completed their GCSE�s they have the opportunity to study music at college and then onto university. With good education in music the career opportunities are endless. Music and Development of Character For most people Music plays a massive part in how they develop throughout life. This can be how they dress, style their hair and their attitude ect.. I am going to discuss how I think music influences people to make certain lifestyle choices and whether music can influence people in a positive or negative way. When we are young we are exposed to the music that are parents/carers choose to play. We have no say in what we listen to and will probably complain about it because it might be old or not very popular. Young children will tend to listen to the same music as each other for a number of years, only really paying attention to the charts. As we get older at around ten or eleven years old our music taste changes. We no longer want to stick to the same music we liked when we were five. This is down to people wanting to develop a sense of individuality. When we start to become teenagers our music tastes are so strong and influence us so much that we start to judge people based on what kind of music they like. Generally speaking young people fall into two categories ; those who mainly like rock music and those who mainly like Rap/Dance music. It is unusual to find a young person of around 12 -15 years old who can honestly say that they like both equally. Now from here we will let the music and artists who create the music to influence the way we look (without wishing to stereotype everybody but this is based on my own personal experience). Those who like Rap/Dance music tend to wear Tracksuits, Nike/Addidas sport trainers, Trendy jeans and have shorter hair. People who like �Rock� music tend to wear clothes such as ; Band shirts, tighter fitting or baggy jeans, converse/skateboard trainers or boots they also tend to have �strange� hair styles. There are people who will disagree with this but for me I think it is naive of people to think that stereotypes don�t exist. On occasion, however, there will be people who do like a healthy mix of both music styles and are not driven to look a

certain way by bands/artists. It is around this time as well that we will start to choose our friends based on what music they like and how they choose to dress. The great irony of growing up is that you aim for individual status but along the way most people choose to stick with people they have a lot in common with. When we develop further our barriers are dropped and we start to explore the unknown. We are forced into situation where we must live and work with people who like different things to us. After getting to know a person you start to take onboard their tastes, so musically speaking, we start to appreciate some artists we might not have known about or liked before. Music can influence the way we choose to interact act with society. Lyrics play a major part in this. The lyrics sung or rapped by an artist can help the listener to understand the life of the artist and imitate the actions that are being sung about. They can also give the listener a sense of joy is the lyrics are happy or a sadness should the lyrics be about a sad topic. �Love, love me do. You know I love you, I'll always be true, So please, love me do�

Paul

McCartney �Love Me Do� 1962 �Love Me Do� was a Beatles song that was released in 1962 but the lyrics are still relevant to today�s way of life. It�s a typical love song in which the writer is writing and then singing to what we presume is his love interest. Lyrics like this are so relevant because everyone at some point will experience a love of some kind. Lyrics bring the artist and the listener closer together, the listener can relate to the experiences described in the lyrics and therefore make them feel a variety of emotions.