Research Paper on Music in American Culture

Introduction

Music usually differs from country to country just as culture changes with the country. Music in America shows the nation's diverse ethical population that has a wide variety of styles. It consists of the music influenced by the Irish, Scottish and western nations. The American most recognized music genres are the country music, jazz blues, rock soul, hip-hop, and techno music. The United States tends to have the biggest music market that was approximated up to $ 4898.2 million in 2014. The countries music has always been heard globally since the beginning of the 1920s (Starr& Larry 40). Native Americans who tend to be the earliest inhabitant of United States played their first music in the start of the 17th century. The immigrants from other nations such as the Spain United Kingdom and Ireland started to arrive in huge numbers thus introducing new musical instruments and styles while the African slaves brought the traditional music. This study will focus on the music culture in the United States and its effect on adolescence.

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Most of the modern music traces its roots from the African American blues in the 10th century and the development of gospel music in the 1920s (Starr& Larry 90). There are tremendous African roots in the traditional music of the native white settlers, for example, the blues grass and country music. Most of the United States towns and cities develop conspicuous music scenes that tend to support various regional music styles such as cities and towns include New York City, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Portland. The American music is mainly characterized using asymmetrical and syncopation rhythms, long irregular melodies that reflect the extended open geography and sense of individual freedom that is evident in the American life.

Music in the United States is linked to cultural and social identity this includes race, social class, ethnicity religion and gender. The relationship between race and music is the most determining factor of the meaning of music in the United States. The occurrence of the African American musical identity from the African and European sources tends to be a continuous form in the United States music history (Krank & Marvin 130). The social and economic classes differentiate the United States music through consumption and creation of music. For example the poor music performers of the ethical and rural folk music. While the upper-class music of symphony-goers. The United States is considered to be a cultural hotspot that influences the world and introduces new ways of cultural expression. Even though the American music may be traced from a specific origin, claiming a specific original culture towards musical elements is highly problematic. Due to the continuous development of the American music, through hybridizing and transplanting techniques, genres, and instruments.

The American music culture is made up of various music genres and styles that each has its unique characteristic; each music genre tends to dominate different regions of the country whereby each musical genre has its way of introduction, it may have been influenced by culture, or it helped influence the culture. The various genres include.

Rock and Roll

The American rock and roll music was redefined by the British, who intended to change it to their liking. After the music genre got to the United States, it was further improved. The rock music leads to the development of other music groups such as the rock stone and the Beatles. Introduction of the music in the United States also led to the growth of the fashion industry. Examples of the fashions that did well were the long hairstyles and the miniskirts. The rock and roll music included the use of instruments such as piano, drums, saxophone, electric guitars, and bass. It was until 1964 when the music rock and roll music was renamed to rock music (KAPIKIRAN et al. 56). The music had various impact on people this included, and it did change the moods in people, it also affected how people dress, act, speak and live. The music of a country portrays what the countries culture will be like. Rock music, which is a very popular music genre, has socially influenced the young generation in particular.

Initially, rock music was thought to be a rebellious type of music, but the rebellious image faded as the music got popular and finally was appreciated as a form of art. Currently, rock is preferred by all generations as compared to its initiation time when it was liked by only the young generations. Rock music social impact became very popular to a point where the rock performers gained the name "rock stars." Worshiping of the performers ended up being acceptable, and people still do it. The celebrities are watched and followed by millions of individually due to technology. However, the rock music came with negative impacts for example. Drug use, violence, and other risky behaviors, that led to parents discouraging their children from listening to the music. The followers of rock imitated the rock performer's behavior in various ways that included. The way they dressed, the activities they have sung about, and looking rebellious.

Country Music

This popular unique type of music is said to have been introduced by the population living in the southern states of America a long time ago. Country music has greatly shaped the different various cultural religions in the United States whereby the music introduced different emotions on different people. According to Dr. Daniel Leviton, the reason behind people liking a specific type of music is due to memory association to a particular song. People can enjoy certain types of music if it relates to them and links something from their life. An example is the case of country music that draws its audience since only specific people can relate to this kind of music. Country music often talks about the lessons that everyone can relate to in life. Such lessons involve the southern food, the outdoors, and the southern way of life. The music also tends to be sweet, simple, and plain to the ears. The people of the south like country music since the music is simple while the people of the southern region are easy-going people.

The message portrayed by the country music is that no matter how much challenging life may seem to be, someone who cares about us will be there for us in the time of need. This proves that country music plays a major part of the southern population lives since they can relate to most of the music thus music gets entwined with their culture. However, the country music tends to tell stories on the southern way of living. This music tries to remind people of their own lives and tries to inspire people from the southern side to live their lives properly. The music is also able to spark many of the emotions of the southern population. Considering that, music shows people's lives and the various activities that the southern go through on a daily basis. Country music has had to deal with a specific group of people since it does not appeal to the huge percentage of people in the United States. This music only reflects the southern side of the United States since it is laid back and simple melodies.

Hip-Hop

Since the 1970s, a cultural movement had been created and enjoyed through the hip-hop music in the United States (Krank& Marvin 162). According to Shabazz, hip-hop music is made up of two parts that include, first. Rapping, this refers to the delivery of smooth, rhythmic and lyrical vocals secondly djing, which is the production of instrumentation by sampling or production of musical sound through vocalized codes. Hip-hop originated from New York City where people gathered to form a culture that shared their common goal in hip-hop. New York became a music magnet for other people such as Jamaicans, Puerto Ricans and the black Americans from the neighbouring areas. Hip-hop was a uniting factor that helped people avoid criminal activities and drugs and also allowed people to express their thoughts. According to DJ Afrika Bambaataa, hip-hop culture was based on four pillars that include, disc jockeys. Breakdancing, master of ceremonies, and graffiti writing. Since the introduction of hip-hop, disk jockey has been the one generating rhythmic beats. The DJ played the record on the turntable as another individual serves as the master of ceremony.

Hip-hop introduced a lifestyle that included many elements, ranging from language, art, and dance. The music also had a distinctive language that as a result of hip-hop success in the nineties and early 21st century the distinctive language got absorbed into the various dialects across the United States (Keene & James 40). Hip-hop acted as a way of handling hardship and of the minority communities in the United States and a way of eliminating gang culture and violence. Hip-hop culture has helped save many lives of the young population not only in America but also in the entire world.

Jazz

Jazz music was introduced in New Orleans in the early 1990s whereby it was influenced by the ragtime and blues (Keene & James 40). Jazz formed the face of American culture that appears in other forms of art other than music. This includes fiction works, photography, painting, and poetry. The music came with a message of democracy that involved freedom and equality. Jazz spread the gospel of liberation from hatred which is what the people of the generation of world war needed most. The music was initially perceived as uncivilized and discordant instead it's breaking of rules set by classical music went hand in hand with people deviating from the classical United States culture.

Jazz played a huge role in uniting the nations, the popular jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Lillie holiday were breaking barriers and uniting both the blacks and white. These musicians were the leaders of civil rights movements while music was there with them. The period between the abolishment of civil rights movement and slavery shows a huge part of the human culture in America while jazz was part of the culture.

Effects of the Music Culture to the Adolescence

Music tends to be an inseparable part of everyone's life, and a plays a crucial role in socialization in children and adolescence. Listening to various varieties or genres is considered as part of growing up in the society. The music creates entertainment and acts as a distraction from our challenges and also act as a way of eliminating tension and boredom. The effect that music has over the adolescent is on their emotions and their perception of the real world. Every parent is always aware that the influence that music may have on the teens is rather significant. The music can inspire them, motivate them, or assist in calming them down. The taste of music changes with time, therefore, the parent may argue with the teens over listening to a certain type of music since they might not be aware of their preferences. Currently, the highly contentious styles of music include the hard rocks, heavy metals, and hard-core rap. According to research, this musical genres may have huge negative effects on the teens. The adolescence uses their music in their process of identity formation and the music choice give them means to attain group identity and integration into the youth culture. However, the music culture tend to have a huge effect on the adolescent depending on the music genre that the adolescent youth is listening to some of the effects of music include

Behaviour Change

Music has become explicit about drugs, sex, and violence over the years, according to research on the content analysis on the top 10 CDs that were performed in the national institute of media found that every CD played c...