Music is probably one of the most important aspects of our society that we have today. Believe it or not music effects the way we live more than most other variables that have an impact on our lives. Have you ever thought of why this is? Many believe that music is the key to the human soul.
Many would argue that music was one of the first things that humans created and found a kinship with from the very beginning of human civilization. Whether one plays an instrument, finds music as a hobby, listens to music to get themselves pumped up for an upcoming sports game, a day at work, or just for life in general. There is no denying that music is one of the quintessential aspects of life itself.
Going into why music exists and it's overall importance to our society and world is a critical idea to explore. This passage will go over how music came to be and why it is so important for our world and the people who live in it today.
Changing the culture is probably one of the hardest things to accomplish. Many musicians have effected our societies and created change over the past 2000 years in AD time. Music throughout time has usually been considered progressive or a way to move society forward.
Early musicians such as Johannes Sebastian Bach and Baroque worked together on composing different Germanic styles of language and rhythms in order to create his music. The music he mainly composed came out of his time in what is now known as modern-day Poland. At the time this area was under the role of the Holy Roman Empire and was ruled by a king. He composed music for the principle Lutheran churches in the city. Sebastian was then granted to the role of Court Composer by Elector of Saxony and King of Poland in 1736.
Much of his music focused around his Germanic mastery of counterpoint, harmonic, and motivic organisation, including his adaption of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, especially in France and Italy. Sebastian Bach would go onto compose thousands of musically pieces for public use all over the world. Some of Bach's best work include Contata Wached auf, ruft uns die Stimme or ER Kommat, er kommt, der Braut' gam kommt". These obviously were all written in what is modern-day Polish and German language.
Many other ancient composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who composed classical music for symphonies and individual musicians alike. All these "First Composers" created a remarkable feat. The major feat of using language with rhythmical harmonies was the first creation of what we consider to be today's modern music. These composers created written music with notes and laws to which we consider to be called music theory today. These artists help pave the way for modern day music.
Music in the early 1900's mainly consisted of classical, jazz, blues, swing, and folk music. Many creators of this music tended to focus on more sentimental things such as there personal lives, homes, love and loss, experiences they had in wars and battles such as the American Civil War or eventually The Great War (WWI).
Charles Dancia was a famous French violinist and composer during the early 20th century. He composed all types of music revolving around the violin and other woodwind instruments. Others included Susan Mcfarland Parkhurst who was an American Pianist who was from Leicester Massachusetts. She wrote music about the battlefield of war during the American Civil War as she experienced seeing bloody and beat up soldiers coming home from battle during the war. She later moved to Brooklyn New York and continued to work on creating music for the public.
Her works were some of the best of the time and she was thought to be one of the best pianists to ever live. Her songs included The New Emancipation Song, My Father's a Drunkard and My Mother is Dead, and Spirit Voices. Many of these others composers included George Becker, Felix Draeseke, Theodore Dubois, Richard Hoffman, and many others. All of these composers created music for other musicians to perform after writing them.
These musicians created the path for different genre of music to come about such as Rock n' Roll Disco, Hip-Hop, Rap, Pop, Jazz, and Country all became mainstream in the 20th Century.
At the onset of the 1950's popular music included mainly jazz, swing, and folk style of music. However this began to change one the end of the second world war and unmatched prosperity came about in the United States. Many musical pioneers such as Elvis Presley were able to change how music was created.Elvis, Chubby Checker, and The Beatles created a new genre of music on there own known as Rock n' Roll.This genre of music exploded especially in places like the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and the rest of Europe. Presley changed the game by performing and creating his new form of music through songs like "Burning Love" and "Suspicious Minds" these were considered to be game-changing when it comes to how music is composed and listened to. This music tends to have an upbeat rhythms, lyrics that have significant importance or meaning to society, tend to deal with love or other personal emotional topics and issues, and tend to be within a time frame of two to six minutes long.These songs transformed the world into the modern music that exists today. The Beatles from Liverpool England started writing music in 1958, became a group in 1962, and came to America in 1964. They composed hundreds of songs including those that had to deal with politics such as "Back in the USSR" and ones that had to deal with romantic relationships such as "Something" and "I Will". It was a tremendous culmination of musical talent that lead to the broader British Invasion of Rock groups such as The Rolling Stones, The Byrds, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac and many others.The fab four as they were known of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr (Pete Best) were known for creating works of musical art through albums and songs that would change the world. "Please, Please Me" was there first album and it included songs like "Love, Love Me Do" and "Twist and Shout" which were two very popular songs. Other albums include The Beatles for Sale, Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band, Revolver, The White Album, Let It Be, and Abbey Road. All of these are albums are known for being very important for music history. Songs like "A Day in the Life" and "Let It Be" helped pave the way for other Rock Songs such as "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd's "Money" on the legendary "Dark Side of the Moon" album. Groups such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin helped pave the way for groups like Van Helen, Aerosmith, and AC-DC. This type of hard-nosed style music and the soul and disco music that was created by composers like Janis Joplin and The Emotions lead to Rap music in the 1980's.Famous Rap Icons then emerged such as Easy E, Ice Cube, The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac all became widely popular in the 1980's. Rivalries started between groups such as Biggie and Tupac and Ice Cube and Snoop Dog. All this competition and rivalry lead to further musical creativity and flourishing of the genre.
Many rappers talk about and discuss the personal tough times that each individual went through to get the success the came too through raw talent. They discuss growing up in poor dysfunctional families, in the inner-cities of America where black poverty still strongly exists today. This made Rap and Hip-Hop a fan favorite genre among many in America including many other minority groups in America as well as whites.
"Street Cred" was then dubbed as a term for being well known or popular on the streets of poor black neighborhoods or being known generally as a musician. This music completion lead to hybrids of musical genres. Today this is mainly known as pop.
Pop music includes rock, rap, hip-hop, country, jazz, electronic, disco, soul, blues, and many other styles of music. Today pop music is the dominant mainstream music one will hear on the radio or out in public. These artists include groups like the Black Eyed Peas, The Fray, Coldplay, and individuals like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Mariah Carey, and many more.
American Top 40 run by Ryan Seacrest is a countdown of the top songs in the U.S. every week. Music is now downloaded and listened to onto smartphones and Ipod's alike. Much of today's music is now played on certain media sights such as Pandora, Iheartradio, and Spotify.
Music is enjoyed and created differently by different groups of people throughout the world but the one fact still remains. Music is the quintessential for our society and our times and will be for future generations to come.
The transformative power of music should not be overlooked. It has the power to change anything from political regimes to cultural trends in fashions and design. Music should never be taken lightly and should always be seen as inspiring and something to reach for.
It is the essence of progress and the key to the human future. One should always remember how music was originally created and where it comes from. Many of it has to do with religion and with religious organizations such as the Christian Church, Jewish Synagogue's, and Hindu and Muslim Temples.
Music has always been imported into forming and transforming life as we know it and this should never be looked over. Music has the power of transforming one's emotional feelings, personal thoughts, and overall world beliefs that almost nothing else can. This is the power of music and believe me, it is infinite!
