Canadian music is worthy of attention for many reasons. They involve the absence of cultural diversity, the desire to create and develop images but not just to sell them, and, of course, the use of music for personal satisfaction. Such devotion to own traditions and negation of popular culture is one of the first sings of authenticity in Canadian music.
In this paper, the constructions of authenticity in Canadian music will be explained and investigated by means of the deep analysis of a true meaning of the world authenticity , peculiarities of Canadian music, and the consequences, which take place around the constructions of authenticity.
The concept of authenticity aims at defining original from fake, relic from changed, and trustworthy from false; in Canadian music, constructions of authenticity usually depend on the environment, nature of learning, and some other theoretical interpretations, which lead to variations in authentic interpretations and assessments of performance, competence, and expertise.
Canadian music is considered to be the topic for discussion for many people of different age. This type of music, as in any other country, has its own genres and peculiarities, this is why the concept of its authenticity differs from the others even if the constructions of authenticity remain to be the same.
In spite of the fact that the music of Canada was constantly under the pressure of the American culture and traditions, in the middle of the 1990s, the Canadian music industry as a whole was considerably stronger (Shuker 73) and proved its rights to existence and independent development.
One of the most amazing things about Canadian music is the ways of its creations: people do not actually care about popular culture that created not by masses but for these masses, their primary goal is to take into consideration own interests, represent their intentions and thoughts, and be happy to share interesting ideas through their music.
This music is created by Canadians and for Canadians, and if it is created in this way only, its authenticity is to be beyond any doubt, and its components can be easily determined. Modern pop Canadian music dominates the airwaves: the songs of Celine Dion are known to the vast majority of the world, the works of Neil Young cannot stop impressing people, and the voice of Paul Anka is recognizable in many countries.
The concept of authenticity may be understood in different ways, and one of them is closely connected to assumptions about the moment of commodification, when indigenous or folk musical traditions came into contact with wider musical economies (Connell and Gibson 28).
In other words, when we talk about Canadian music authenticity, we mean the value, according to which this music is perceived and analyzed by its cultural and certain social origins. In comparison to American music, Canadian music is not that commercial and comes more from peoples hearts.
This is why it is not enough just to have pretty face, fine body, and nice voice in order to present really authentic music, because its true authenticity lies deeper inside and requires more attention to the essence of music, its impact on people, and peoples perception of this music. When music stirs up a desire, emotions, and thoughts, in this case, this music may be called authentic.
Larry Grossberg is one of those figures in cultural studies, who worked thoroughly on the ideologies of authenticity. He identifies three major dimension of authenticity: the skills, which are inherent to the artists, the construction of sexual body, and peoples feelings and experience (Connell and Gibson 29).
These very ideas are used in many genres of music, which can be called authentic. As a rule, folk, blues, and country music concentrate on these ideas and provide people with a chance to listen and to feel the emotions of the composer by means of sounds and words. However, to create captivating and real Canadian music, certain constructions of authenticity have to be taken into consideration.
Any construction of authenticity in Canadian music may have rather consideration consequences, which may cause numerous misunderstandings and debates (Anderson and Grossman 101), and it is better to evaluated several constructions of authenticity in Canadian music in order to get a clear understanding of why this or that genre of Canadian music has to be regarded authentic.
One of the most significant constructions of authenticity is authentic assessment of performance. A holistic execution of music plays an important role, as it touches not upon a separate piece of music or the process of its creation.
Taking into consideration the peculiarities of the creation and spreading of Canadian music, this very construction of authenticity focuses of composers intentions, peoples reaction to this music, ideas, which are transmitted by means of this music, and the means, which are used to develop this piece of art. Another important construction of authenticity is keeping the place. Authenticity was constantly sought by embedding music in place, yet such efforts never guaranteed commercial or critical longevity (Connell and Gibson 44).
In comparison to popular music that usually depends on contemporary life and other local traditions, authentic Canadian music is and has always to be mobile. The last construction of authenticity in Canadian music as well as in many other nations is change.
The significant mainstream of change is usually caused by cultural actions and heritage and should be always accompanied with competence. Competence is that very construction of authenticity is the one that is closely connected to real world conditions. Canadian music may be under a terrible threat because of impact of American culture, this is why it turns out to be crucially important to find competent enough ways out to maintain changes, which are favorable for Canada.
In general, Canadian music may serve as a good example of music that puts human emotions and experience on the first place. Nowadays, many countries present their national music in order to take leading positions at musical markets and earn as much money as possible. On the one hand, such step should be considered as effective and winning, because their music takes into consideration the ideas of popular culture and aims at satisfaction of masses.
On the other hand, music should functions as a form of entertainment and aesthetic satisfaction (Connell and Gibson 43), and popular culture does not promote aesthetical satisfaction at all. People do not have a chance to demonstrate their own feelings and own experience. And Canadian music is one of the few types of music that still appreciates composers feeling, it is created by people and for people considering such constructions of authenticity like change, performance, and place.
Works Cited
Anderson, Ian and Grossman, Michele. Blacklines: Contemporary Critical Writing by Indigenous Australians. Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2003.
Connell, John and Gibson, Chris. Music and Place: Fixing Authenticity. In Sound Track: Popular Music, Identity, and Place. New York: Routledge, 2003.
Shuker, Roy. Understanding Popular Music. New York: Routledge, 2001.
Many people think that art, and especially modern popular music, has nothing to do with political and social life of countries. Nevertheless, art has proved that it is a powerful tool in struggle against the evil.
Thus, Glenn Miller, the famous musicians who was killed in during the World War II, made a great contribution which was regarded as an important part of the war effort (Farley). Admittedly, music inspires people to continue struggling and fight for freedom. Bob Marleys War is one of such songs. It has been inspiring people for more than three decades.
The song War first appeared in Bob Marley & The Wailers album Rastaman Vibration in 1976. This song was addressed to all people in the world, but primarily to Africans who suffered during the apartheid. The apartheid in South Africa started in 1960s and lasted up to late 1980s (The History of Apartheid). This was a severe conflict between African people and their oppressors.
The creation of homelands in the 1950s made Africans aliens in their own country (The History of Apartheid). People were deprived form basic human rights. They were to have passports which restricted their civil rights as well. Many people refused to obey and get passports. The Public Safety Act and the Criminal Amendment Act which were signed in 1953 enabled the government to declare the state of emergency.
This, in its turn, enabled the government to imprison people and violate their basic human rights. During this conflict many people were killed and thousands were pursued and imprisoned. Despite the fact that the majority of world population were against the cruelty and unfairness which African population had to suffer from, the conflict lasted for two decades. Of course, many Africans tried to fight for their rights. There were military conflicts and street fights.
However, unfortunately, the parties had unequal forces. This was the major reason why so many civilians were killed, wounded, arrested or imprisoned. Nevertheless, people did not cease to fight and eventually achieved their goals. It is important to state that such songs as War was a great inspiration for people who believed that they were doing the right thing and that they would win.
Thus, the song was created in times when the conflict was taking place. At once it became an anthem for many people who condemned cruelty against African population (Lacey). In fact, even nowadays this song is as significant as it was in the distant eighties in such countries as Ethiopia and Jamaica and it is one of the most popular worldwide (Lacey; Sanneh; Farley; French).
Of course, it reached those it was addressed to. People from all over the world were singing along to every word of the War . People of South Africa were keeping this song in their hearts.
This song was aimed at inspiring Africans to struggle for their rights. Of course, the purpose of Bob Marley was not to escalate the conflict, he sang about his position. Marley thought that people should have resisted and continued their struggle. It was not escalation of the conflict, but rather inspiration for oppressed to fight against the evil. Interestingly, the lyrics of the song is largely constituted by the passages from a speech of Haile Selassie I.
The speech was delivered at the United Nations General Assembly (1963). The initial lines of the song reveal the major idea: Until the philosophy which hold one race superior & Everywhere is war . Marley points out the core reason of the conflict. He stipulates that racism is the major problem which leads to conflicts and such severe outcomes as apartheid in South Africa. Interestingly, the song does not explicitly say that people should take weapon and fight.
The song only states that the war is everywhere if human rights are violated, if superior nations exist, if ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold people in Angola, Mozambique, South Africa remain ruling. However, such statements which are also warnings become the call for action. Marleys vocal is really touching and inspiring. His heartfelt performance reveals his feelings. The musician expresses his mourning and hope while singing the famous anthem. It is important to point out that the song has been performed by many people.
However, only Marleys version became the most popular. The song evoked many debates concerning the authorship. Notable, Marley did not right the lyrics. In fact, he only performed the song. Nevertheless, he is regarded to be the creator of the great musical masterpiece of the twentieth century. The song is associated with the glorious apostle of freedom and equality.
The song is a great example of reggae music. As far as the texture of the piece is concerned, it is necessary to point out that it is homophonic. Its disjunct melody creates a hypnotic effect. It is very calm and harmonic. It is not characterized by complicated composition. As any other reggae melody the piece is played in 4/4 times. The following instruments are used: Jazz bass, drums, guitar, percussion, keyboards.
Percussion serves as the background of a melody and creates the rhythm. Basically, percussion is the basis of the song which prevails. Jazz bass appears in the very beginning of the song and during the chorus. Guitar is not that explicit. The melody and the instruments used in the song are characteristic for reggae songs. As far as composition is concerned it is possible to state that the piece is not unique or innovative.
However, this melody should be only a background for very important lyrics. It is not about artistic innovations, it is about song which is to evoke thoughts and ideas about rebel, about freedom and justice. Thus, the melody serves the appropriate background for the song. The smooth and peaceful melody enhances the meaning of the lyrics. It is often said that reggae is quite hypnotic, the song in question can be also called hypnotic. Percussion creates definite background and Jazz bass stresses the most important parts of the song.
Thus, Bob Marleys War is one of his most famous songs. It became an anthem for Africans fighting for their right during apartheid in South Africa and the symbol of anti-racist struggle for people worldwide. The peaceful melody and lyrics, evoke, nonetheless, ideas about the necessity to fight. This peculiarity makes the piece so popular.
Basically, the Marleys War is now regarded as one of those songs which were created during certain conflict but remain the anthem of struggle for future generations. Notable, the song was performed by many musicians and bands, but it became unique only because of Bob Marley. His vocal and his philosophy made the song that strong and meaningful.
Music harmony is the art of simultaneously employing pitches and chords in the enrichment of sound. The study of music harmony, therefore, entails unveiling the intricate characteristics of chords, the way they are built and the principles of their connection.
Harmony is the opposite of melody since the latter is taken as the horizontal characteristic of music while the former is taken as the vertical characteristic of music. Some definitions of harmony even include the word melody such as; Harmony is anything that accompanies the melody (Serge, 1998, p. 1).
Forms of harmony
In many cases, listeners of music are unable to distinguish harmony from other components of music because it is always the intention of the composer of the harmony to hide it from them. Therefore, an explanation of the different forms of harmony may seem like theory despite their practicability.
Some of the forms that harmony takes include chords. These are a combination of notes that are played together. Broken chords can also be used to achieve harmony. Broken chords in this case mean the notes in a given chord that are strategically played one after the other in order to achieve harmony. Among the most basic and the commonest harmonies in music are the triads.
The major triad is a perfect example that can be used to make people understand the nature of triads. It produces a nice sound and thus it is used in major scales as the basic chord. Also usable in exemplifying triads is the minor triad which is used in a minor piece as the basic chord (Serge, 1998, p. 1).
Harmonic progressions
Chords are, essentially, meaningless if they do not help in making the music sound better. This fact is what necessitates the use of harmonic progressions. Harmonic progressions are created as composers of music move from chord to chord in a bid to make the music sound better and create some kind of continuity in the music.
There are a myriad of harmonic progressions in music today, and more harmonic progressions are continually developed by creative artists. Cadences are one of the commonest types of progressions in music. They are utilized before sections end since they give the listener a thought-settling feeling. The two main Cadences that are widely used in the music industry are the authentic and the plagal.
They have similar and simple composition and thus composers have an easy time using them. However, most composers avoid using them because they may give a listener the impression that the music is ending while it is only the section that is ending (Schneider, 2002, p. 1). Due to this concern, most composers are fond of using cadences when the entire piece of music is ending in order to have that appropriate impression at the end of the music.
Inversions
Inversions are almost the same as harmonic progressions in their nature. However, they do not bring a change to the triads and thus they are disqualified from this classification. Basically, inversions are formed by changing the order of the notes within a given triad. This statement means that after the inversion of the notes, the triad is not changed and hence my aforementioned point.
Inversions are useful if the composer would like a given note to be isolated within the triad making it stand out in the music (Schneider, 2002, p. 1). For instance, when playing a piano, the top note has to stand out since it is more audible than the others. To achieve the objective of making certain desired notes stand out, composers usually form the top of their triads using melody notes so that the note can be easily heard.
Conclusion
Although this discussion is a perfect description of the theoretical intricacies of what goes on in a composers mind when composing songs, the theory discussed cannot be successfully used to compose songs. This is because, as we all know, music is largely experimental, and in order to learn harmonic progressions and their chord counterparts, there is need to experiment with less involvement of the mind.
Thus the ears should be worked more than the mind in any efforts to learn harmonic progressions and chord progressions. If you go through harmony theory posted on a website or written in a book, the theory will make you think of music harmony as an undecipherable code that one must spend a lot of time internalizing. This will be a misleading conception because in practice and with experimentation, music harmony is much simpler.
Another important thing to note is the fact that personal preferences are important in music harmony. This is to say that what will be to one person a perfect harmony may not be that appealing to another person. The reason for the application of tastes in music harmony is the fact that harmony is composed of dissonant and consonant forms, each of which may be pleasing to certain people and not to others.
Reference List
Schneider, E. (2002). The four elements of music melody, harmony, rhythm, and dynamics.
Music production is one of the most lucrative businesses. It involves several activities from production, recording, distribution to sales. Music production requires professional expertise; most of the musicians do not have the expertise to do this. This is where record label companies come in.
A record label is a trademark company that records produces, distributes, sells, and promotes musicians. It also protects music copyright, scouts and develops new talents. Record labeling is one of the most lucrative businesses with stiff completion between record labels to win musicians signatures. This paper will discuss one of the most successful record labels Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
The formation of Sony BMG Music Entertainment was born out of the 2004 perilous merger between Sony Corporation of America and BMG Music Group. It became the second largest music recording company; universal was the first. Ownership was on 50-50 basis. Sony Corporation of America is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation, a Japanese investment giant, ownership held by several trustee accounts and Japanese banks (Anaswerbag para. 4).
It is the world leader in the production distribution and supply of electronic goods especially in sound, audio visual, communication and information technology (Sony Corporation of America para 1). It also has stakes in the financial sector and owns Sony Life Insurance Co., Sony Bank Inc., Sony Assurance Inc. and Sony Financial Investment Inc.
Sony BMG had other interest apart from music. It ventured into selling classic photos of famous personalities. The company acquired these photos from a gallery previously owned by Columbia Records, a company Sony Corp. took over in 1988 (Pompeo para 1). Sony Corp and BMG merger did not capture the expect market share and its fortune dwindled considerably culminating in BMG selling its stake to Sony Corp of America to form Sony Music Entertainment (SME) .
Illegal online music piracy threatened the music industry so much. As a result, SME sort to distribute music online via secure mobile phone technology. Together with Dada, they formed Dada Entertainment, each owning 50% share, to distributed music content via mobile phone platform; Dada was to provide the application technology while SME provided the music (Lawrence and McDaniel 99).
Similar partnership with Warner Music Group and a Chinese digital technology firm Access China created online music distribution platforms for mobile phone customers. It is currently working with Mobile Roadie to develop personalized mobile phone applications that will offer interactive services for musicians and their fans (Sony Music para. 3)
Financially it experienced a 16% drop in 2009 revenue, despite a 5% increase in its market share from 2008 (Peoples para 2). This was an impressive performance bearing in mind the challenges of dwindling returns occasioned by illegal online music piracy.
SME matches forward undeterred by the challenges it has faced in the past. Its management, lead by Rolf Schmidt Holtz, its hardworking Chief Executive Officer, has appreciated the need to embrace innovative ways to distribute content globally. This has lead to collaboration with software companies for online distribution. It also owns a photo gallery that sells classic photos of famous personalities to improve its financial outlook.
The expected Sony BMG challenge Universal Entertainment success in distribution of music content did not materialize. Analyst suggested that BMG Group was affecting Sony BMG performance and hence advised BMG Group to surrender its 50% stake to Sony Corp. of America.
Works Cited
Anaswerbag. Who owns Sony Corporation? 2010. Web.
Lawrence, Gitman and McDaniel, Carl. The future of business essentials. Ohio: Southwestern Cengage Learning. 2009. Print
Peoples, Glenn. Sony Music Revenue, Income Slips. Biillboard. May 2009. 3 Jan 2011. Web.
Pompeo, Joe. Sony to Sell off Iconic Photo Archive in the Face of Industry Slump The commercial observer. May 29, 2008. Web
Sony music. Sony Music Entertainment to Develop Dynamic Artist Apps Using Innovative Mobile Roadie Platform. 2011. 3 Jan, 2011 https://www.sonymusic.com/
Although music is the sphere where the words cease to exist and where only the melody has the enchanting force that wins over the hearts of the audience, there is the chance to combine the two. In opera, the power of music and words is a single force which drives the audience through the plot of the story, making them feel every turn of the plot with every vein of theirs.
Trying to bring together music, gender and sexuality, Susan McClary manages to work the ideas underlying Carmen, the famous opera where sensuality collides with the art of music to create a perfect child of love, whose name is masterpiece. Arguing that music serves to express another point of the relations between a woman and a society in Carmen, McClary suggests a specific version of the impact of the music in the opera.
It is obvious that McClary suggests that the music should serve not only as the background for the opera, but also as the means to emphasize the tenseness of the moment, make the audience feel the opera through, so that they could understand with their own heart what the author meant and what thoughts whirled through his mind as he was composing the art of his.
McClary also drives to the idea that the music is supposed to coordinate with the key points of the ideas suggested by the storyline. Thus, she presupposes that the role of music as the evidence is enormous, and thus it needs careful observations so that the idea which the music carries could not escape the spectators eyes and be well understood.
McClary provides certain premises for the argument, and these premises seem to be sufficient to start a discussion about. McClary emphasizes that the music should necessarily support the ideas which the plot suggests. Such must be the musical illustration that it should make the audience not only hear the beautiful melody, but also see what it describes, watch the range of images rushing through their minds as the story unwinds into a perfect symphony, the union of music and words.
The evidence which McClary uses is quite sufficient. Basing her arguments on Carmen, McClary clarifies her idea of he role of music in the opera. The methods which the author uses in her research are rather sufficient to see the problem in depth and to analyze it, there are certain suggestions concerning the evidence. Indeed, the examples which McClary drives are of utter importance and are full of meaning, yet it would be desirable that the experiment should be taken a bit further and to touch upon some more examples.
The suggested evidence is convincing, yet it would be better if the author based her research not only on a single opera, but involved some other specimen of the opera art to consider. Thus, the multiple issues of different pieces of music would have been considered closely, and the result would have been more objective.
As a matter of fact, the question of whether music can serve as a piece of evidence is a thing in itself, demands close consideration. If considering music as a form of evidence, one must pay attention to the tiniest details which usually pass unnoticed by the rest of the people.
Music as an evidence is a note falling out of the order of the musical party, or a sudden change of the tone, or the winds or strings sounding in a different way. The fault of music as an evidence is that it is very uncertain, rather leaving questions to answer than the solutions to the problems.
Music frames the scene described in the play, without creating the additional features. It suggests some more hints to the puzzle which the author gives, yet it does not provide any clear answer. Where music reigns is the depth of the subconscious, that is, the sphere where there can be no certainty. With such evidence, as light as a feather, it is impossible to make any solid assumptions about the idea of the opera.
However, there is hardly anything that music cannot say. With each and every note, with the change of tone and melody, it makes people think of certain things, and different ideas and images float through their minds as they listen to the enchanting melody. This is where the subjectivity which McClare is speaking about matters so much.
The individual perception of the music plays an important part in evaluating the role of music as a piece of evidence for the opera. I case the melody evokes the same ideas in minds of different people, the goal has been achieved and the music has played its part as the means to emphasize the curves and lines of the plot.
The so-called musical language must not be underestimated. When used with the maximum of its expressivity, it can speak of different social problems as well as of the personal ones, crying about those living in misery and helping the others to understand the life of those in need. Binding people together, music can close the age, race of money gap between different layers of society and make them come to understanding each other.
Throwing some light upon the problems which have been topical for a number of centuries, music can help people to solve these problems. Pushing the audience to think, music opens their hearts to the ideas which would have never occurred to the audience if they had not listened to the motifs as old as the hills.
In this respect, music provides a sort of healing, which can make people see the light. Disregarding the form which the music takes, and the way the words sound, whether the latter make a song or a recitative, whether they float smoothly or sound like a drum, the music will remain the most powerful means of saying what escapes peoples attention.
Sacha Wunsch-Vincent and Graham Vickery note that the relationship between the artist and the record company is usually contractual which normally last for a limited period of time or number of records depending on the specification of the contract.1 Record companies converts the artistic creation into consumer products alongside investing in artists to expand and market their works.2
A record industry can be said to be doing extremely good if one in ten of the total artist investment in turn out profitable. Noteworthy, most artist often never sell enough to recover the incurred overall cost. Record companies sponsor novice artists from profits, catalogues sales and new releases. Artist must achieve a specified number of copies sold to break even.
The customary recording industry revenue is collected from recordings while the turnover from T-shirt sales, concerts and so forth, normally grow to the artist. Once a music piece has become popular, the music industry package industry in diverse bundles to sell the same consumer the same piece multiple times.1
In times of increasing revenue from sponsorship, merchandised, live touring and declining sales of CDs the industry has experience a shrinking share in the general
1Sacha Wunsch-Vincent and Graham Vickery, Digital Broadband Content: Music,
Working Party on the Information Economy: Directorate for science, technology and industry committee for information, computer and communications policy, 2004, p. 39.
2Barney Wragg, Vice President, eLabs, Universal Music International (UMI) and Ms. Sara John, Government Affairs Head, EMI Music during the OECD Digital Broadband Content Panel (OECD, 2004b).
music revenue. With regard to declining CD sale, the negative outcome of the changing record label approach on the artists returns had to be revisited in terms of digital music sales also which may shift artists returns. 1
Digital rights management (DRM)
Effective DRM technologies have been embraced as the business enablers has for the digital delivery of music as well as for the numerous business models that meet the consumers expectations. In spite of their drawbacks, they may be a significant technical device for protecting the IPRs and have potential of becoming persistent across the overall digital distribution chain.
Through their capacity to secure content, they may motivate the content rightholders to avail content for digitization and ensuing digital sales. By virtue of their ability to offer diverse access schemes to content the, DRMs may afford content aids that are conform to consumer needs including the right to buy time-limited admittance to songs and thereby increasing consumers choice and expectation. Many problems are associated with DRMs.
To begin with the key problems with DRMs appear to have had difficulty in curbing unauthorized access. DRM programmes and technologies should be substantially robust to guarantee the protection of digital content to piracy. Means of harnessing technology to secure intellectual property have been developed and have taken effect.
3European Commission, communication on The Management of Copyright and Related Rights in the Internal Market.
To address this issue, various governments have pledge to develop a sufficient legal protection and useful legal solutions against the circumvention of technological security interventions such as DRMs. These lawful protections are prerequisite for DRMs to function as expected. 1
Second, the expanding adaption of DRM technologies has posed question that the latter may potentially restrict usage rights. Indeed this concern has become a policy basis presumably for consumer association and is apparent in relevant forums. Based on some academics, limits place to private copies can turn out bothersome when they swing the equilibrium between the expectations of copyright holders as well as the public.
DRMs have seldom been known to block legitimate access of content and services, unlike the CD-Rom copy-protection technologies. Nevertheless, designers of DRM, users of DRM-protected product must be equally concerned to ensure suitable usage rights, and players in the market adapting DRM, transparency, privacy, and ease reliability of access.1
Bibliography
European Commission, communication on The Management of Copyright and Related Rights in the Internal Market, 2004, pp. 11
Wragg B, & John S, EMI Music during the OECD Digital Broadband Content Panel (OECD, 2004b). Wunsch-Vincent, S & Vickery G, Digital Broadband Content: Music, Working Party on the Information Economy, Directorate for science, technology and industry committee for information, computer and communications policy, 2004, p. 39.
Music and especially Italian opera had a significant impact upon the poetic style and life of Walt Whitman. Fond of music and fascinated with opera performances, Whitman wanted to spread the idea of the beauty of music to the masses.
The opera performances have become a source of pleasure and inspiration for the poet. Whitman was amused with opera as a multi-layered canvas combining the features of drama, music, dance and poetry and tried to use opera allusions and singing voice for extending the traditional frames of poetry.
The phrases I see and I hear are interchangeable throughout the text of Whitmans poems and appeal to the readers imagination for intensifying the effect produced by other language means and stylistic devices used in his works.
The poems Song of Myself and Proud Music of the Storm which were included into Whitmans collection of poems Leaves of Grass demonstrate the impact of music and opera upon the poetic style, images and rhythmic contour of Whitmans poetry.
Authenticity of Whitmans poems
The collection of poems Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman represents the result of the poets searches for himself and his contribution to authenticity of American poetry.
As it was cited in the book by Skaggs Overtones of Opera in American Literature from Whitman to Wharton, commenting on his works published in Leaves of Grass, Whitman admitted that he needed to find himself and his niche in American literature so that to create those poems first published in 1855 (Skaggs 13).
Whitman acknowledged the influence of Emerson, another outstanding American poet who promoted the idea of authenticity of American poetry and supported Whitman in finding his unique style.
Under the influence of Emersons aesthetics, the traditional American democratic ideals, including those of democratic equality, diversity and self-reliance, have become the central themes of Whitmans poems (Loving 355).
In A Backward Glance Oer Traveld Roads , one of works included into the 1889 edition of Leaves of Grass, Whitman admitted that contributing to authenticity of American poetry was his primary inclination in selecting the themes and motives for this collection of poems: I would sing, and leave out or put in, quite solely with reference to America and today (Skaggs 13).
It is significant that treating his works as songs of democracy, Whitman indicates not only content of his poems, but also their form and rhythmical contour. Whereas Emersons aesthetics had a significant impact upon the selection and molding of Whitmans ideals, the musical rhythms and particularly Italian opera influenced the poets meter-making methods.
Bringing the beauty of music to the masses
Faithful to the ideals of American democracy in his works and personal life, Whitman highly appreciated the music and was aimed at bringing its beauty to the masses in his poems. Whitman rejected the stereotype that only the wealthy elite can understand the aesthetic value of music and emphasized the role of music in public education and civic life.
The poet admitted that making music a regular branch of studies at schools could have a positive impact upon the minds and habits of American youth. Developing his ideas, Whitman pointed out at the vital role of music in establishing the national identity of American people: The subtlest spirit of a nation is expressed through its music and the music acts reciprocally upon the nations very soul (Skaggs 14).
In Whitmans opinion, music and songs can help a nation to express their concerns and feelings. First, Whitman differentiated the music of feeling and the music of art. Later on, in the process of evolution of his views, he concluded that music can become a spiritualizing force for a democratic society and an art form for expressing the democratic ideals in his poetry.
These changes can be explained with the inner conflict in Whitmans soul. He was always fond of music, but when Italian opera first came to New York in 1825, most journalists criticized it for its falsity, and Whitman inevitably undergone the influence of this prevailing negative opinion.
The critics claimed that opera singers sounded unnatural expressing their passion or revenge in songs because people do not sing in real life. However, after closer acquaintance with opera, Whitman was fascinated with its beauty and spiritualizing force and decided to spread its beauty to the masses by interpreting opera in his poems.
Opera as a source of inspiration and vocational necessity
Though Whitman was fond of music in general and appreciated various musical genres, his discovery of opera allowed him to apply its musical forms in poetry. The spiritualizing force of opera was helpful for expressing human feelings and describing their experiences.
Whitmans acquaintance with opera started as vocational necessity. As a journalist, he had to attend and review numerous opera performances. Thus, this vocational necessity allowed Whitman to hear and see the best of European and American opera singers.
First, Whitman like most of his compatriots did not appreciate the beauty of opera because of his outdated musical tastes. However, his journalist practice which coincided with the golden years of opera in America fostered the evolution of his tastes and made opera not only Whitmans favorite form of art, but an important device which the poet implemented in composing his later works.
There is evidence that Whitman continued looking for the opportunities to attend opera performances even during the years of the Civil War (Skaggs 16). Moreover, even after his journalist career was over, the poet sought for opera experiences which remained the source of his amusement and inspiration.
There is historical evidence that the personality of an outstanding opera singer of the period Marietta Alboni and her proclamation of the principles of Aural beauty and nonchalance in opera art influenced Whitmans style significantly (Schmidgall 52).
The years of Whitmans fascination for opera coincided with the years of his work on the poems which later were published in the collection of poems Leaves of Grass.
For this reason, the influence of opera upon Whitmans writing style can be identified in the interplay of images, rhythmical contour and stylistic devices of the poems included into the book, such as Song of Myself and Proud Music of the Storm , for example.
Singing voice in Song of Myself
Aimed at spreading the democratic ideals and the beauty of music to the masses, in translating the power of opera to the wide audience in his poems, Whitman found the opportunities for poetic self-expression and including the singing voice into his works for enhancing their aesthetic value.
It should be noted that opera as an art form is a hybrid genre which incorporates the features of not only music, but also drama, dance and poetry. Opera as a multi-layered canvas attracted Whitmans attention with the variety of opportunities for poetic self-expression.
As a poet, Whitman lacked the methods which can be used in music and dance and decided to incorporate a singing voice into his poetry which allowed him to overcome the inadequacy of words and turned out to be a breath of fresh air into American poetry.
The poem Song of Myself can be regarded as Whitmans aesthetic confession in which he proclaims his main goals for using opera allusions and touching upon the democratic ideals in his works.
The opening of the poem resembles poets sociopolitical identification and proclamation of his philosophical and aesthetic principles (Williams 49). An important principle of Whitmans poetry is celebration of the power of human voice which is connected to the body and can go beyond the primary meanings of words.
In the poem Song of Myself , Whitman proclaims: I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul (Skaggs 19). The singer disappears and these are only his pure voice and its sound that are left to for the audience.
Thus, incorporating opera allusions into his works and translating his personal perception of opera into a singing voice, Whitman extended the traditional frames of poetry and intended to reach the invisible dimensions of reality in his songs which would be impossible without using a stylistic device which allowed using the text of a poem as a multi-layered canvas.
The readers of the poems by Whitman are expected to see more than the surface of his words. My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach (Skaggs 19).
In general, in his poem Song of Myself Whitman explained his understanding of the role of a singing voice in enhancing the aesthetic value of his works and improving their inner working for communicating the democratic ideals and the idea of the beauty of music to the intended audience.
In the poem under consideration, Whitman manipulates the language material, paying special attention to the connection between the speech and the corresponding vision of poetic reality.
Starting from the poets personal amusement, Whitmans fascination of opera grew into his desire to share his impression with this splendid form of art with his audience and translate certain fragments of opera performances in his poems for making them understandable for wide audiences.
Thus, the poems by Whitman were expected to become a bridge between the opera as a form of art and masses whose musical tastes were unprepared for perceiving the opera performances and appreciating their beauty and aesthetic value.
On the other hand, the role of opera allusions in Whitmans poems was not limited to fostering love of music in masses. The singing voice was also significant for enriching the meaning of Whitmans poems and adding special appeals to his works so that to allow readers to see much more than is actually said by words.
Along with devices and multi-layered canvas, Whitman borrowed his extraordinary rhythmical patterns from opera. For example, a well-known literature critic Malcolm Cowley in his introduction to the collection of poems Leaves of Grass, admitted that the structure of Whitman poem Song of Myself was rather psychological than logical (Thomas 212).
This work is more than a mere poem in terms of its rhythm and tone, and is closer to the form of rhapsody. As opposed to his predecessors and even to his own poems written earlier, Whitman used wavelike flow for Song of Myself .
Analyzing the tone of the poem which changes its tempos, raising at the moments of climax and falling in other episodes, it can be stated that the rhythmical contour of the poem resembles a musical progression as opposed to the traditional geometrical figure used by other poets.
Thus, the rhythmical contour becomes an influential factor affecting the readers perception of Whitmans poems which should be taken into consideration for evaluating not only the imp[act of opera forms upon the poets heritage, but also the aesthetic value of Whitmans poems in general.
Hearing and seeing in Proud Music of the Storm
The poem Proud Music of the Storm is another example which illustrates the influence of Italian opera upon the images, language style and contours of Whitmans works.
The singing voice was an effective method use by Whitman in his poems for enriching the meaning of words by influencing the readers perception of the language materials. T
he poetic representations of singing and seeing are interrelated and mutually dependent in Whitmans poetry because even the phrases I see and I sing give way to one another, as it can be observed throughout the texts of Whitmans poems (Skaggs 29).
The experiences of seeing, hearing and feeling are interlaced in the text of the poem Proud Music of the Storm at the intersection of the sounds of nature and the authors opera experiences.
Even admiring the sounds of nature in this poem, Whitman draws upon opera for expressing the depth of his feelings and evoking the intended emotional reactions in his readers.
Praising the music of storm at the beginning of the poem, in the line 75, Whitman mentions Italias peerless compositions and emphasizes the role of opera singers in awakening of his soul. This approach allows communicating the authors idea of the beauty of opera performances and the ability of this art to reveal the deepest emotions and the strongest human feelings.
Whitman recalls his personal associations between the sounds of storm, episodes from opera performances and the feelings expressed by the opera heroes and heroines on the stage.
Describing his opera experiences, Whitman uses the phrases I see and I hear which not only demonstrate the multi-layered canvas used in operas, but also appeal to readers senses for enhancing the effects produced by the language materials.
Coming across the phrases I see and I hear in the text of the poem, the readers are expected to use their imagination for perceiving the images created by the author and hearing the sounds of nature and the singing voice for receiving the poets messages at their fullest.
In the line 94, Whitman mentions Alboni and compares her to sister of loftiest gods (Skaggs 30). This simile and opera allusion demonstrate the authors fascination of opera performances in general and the specific impact of Albonis personal talent upon Whitmans aesthetic taste and poetic style.
Whitman paid special attention to the sound composition of this poem uniting the sounds of the sea and opera into the poetic whole and expresses his claim in the phrases Give me to hold all sounds (I madly struggling cry,)/ Fill me with all the voices of the universe (Skaggs 29).
The poet creates the links between the processes in the world of nature and the motives of the opera performances, associating the sea storm with the plot lines of passion in love, the tragedy of suicide and the outrage of revenge.
It should be noted that the initial title of the poem was Proud Music of the Sea-Storm which was later revised by the author by omitting the word sea which according to the systems of Whitmans poetic concepts, symbolizes the cosmic life processes (Skaggs 30).
Taking into account the fact that his personal interpretation of symbolic meaning of the concept of sea can be not understood by some readers, the pet deleted the word sea so that not to limit the readers imagination in decoding the meaning of the word storm, its sounds and processes.
The lines Poems bridging the way from Life to Death, vaguely wafted in night air, uncaught, unwritten express Whitmans primary concern in creating the sound effects of the storm and communicating his ideas to the readers (Skaggs 30).
Thus, the opera allusions, sound whole and the singing voice used in Proud Music of the Storm intensify the impression produced by the poem upon the readers by involving their imagination for translating the authors symbols and understanding his philosophical ideas.
Conclusion
In general, it can be concluded that love of music and fascination of opera experiences played an important role in Whitmans personal life and development of his poetic aesthetics.
The instances of opera allusions and a singing voice can be detected in Whitmans poems Song of Myself and Proud Music of the Storm which allowed the poet to extend the traditional frames of poetry and intensify the effect produced by the actual language material of his poems, making readers look beyond the surface of the words and using their imagination for not only reading, but also hearting the sounds and seeing the images created by the poet.
Works Cited
Loving, Jerome. Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999. Google Books. Web.
Schmidgall, Gary. Walt Whitman: A Gay Life. New York: Dutton Press, 1997. Print.
Skaggs, Carmen. Overtones of Opera in American Literature from Whitman to Wharton. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2010. Google Books. Web.
Thomas M. Alexander. John Deweys theory of art, experience, and nature: the horizons of feeling. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1978. Google Books. Web.
Williams, Charles. On Whitman. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010. Print.
Music is the notion that makes people think about the tunes they really adore. There are different genres and directions in music that help it to be in favor of different people. There are many specific qualities which apply to music. Thus, it may help think about something important, remain happy or remember something sad and unpleasant. However, there is an assumption that music possesses useful qualities, it can heal. The healing qualities of music are researched by numerous scholars.
They believe that listening to some specific genres in music it is possible to impact the particular organs in human organism. However, there are other ideas in regards to this belief. Reading an article Sacred and Profance: Music in Korean Shaman Rituals by Keith Howard it seems obvious that music may be used as healing for human soul and body. Using the example of the shaman ritual the author wants to prove that music is healing not only to human soul, but also to human body.
One of the main priorities of shaman rituals is the music which sounds all the time the ritual is in action. Keith Howard is sure that this music can be useful. Thus, listening to music of the ritual which may serve as the stimulant, people can experience block out of the physical environment. Additionally, rhythmic sounds can be used to regularise body activity or to destabilise mental and/or physical behaviour (Howard 1).
Therefore, listening to active and rhythmic music people appear in the situation that their bodies are impacted by the rhythm even though people do not notice this. Human body is a complicated structure. Additionally, human brain has never been researched to the full, therefore, the perception of the music which appears constantly in rhythm might be perceived by the brain and delivered to the human body accordingly.
It is impossible to disagree with the statement that rhythmic music influences human brain and is reflected on the body. Listening to the rhythmic music many people want to dance, they feel how their body seems to be dancing. Is not this the proof that music impacts human consciousness? Dwelling upon the shaman rituals and rhythmic music used there, the author of the article mentions the impact of some particular instruments (double-headed drum and oboe) on human emotions.
Keith Howard is sure that oboe is the melodic instrument considered closest to the human voice since it, virtually uniquely, is capable of the same wide and sudden fluctuations in dynamic, rapid and large melodic leaps, gentle ascending and descending portamenti, and subtle pitch shading (Howard 2). The music impacts human emotion by means of heightening the change of rhythm, tone and other characteristics.
Additionally, the author states that rhythm, whether in perception or action, is emotional when highly developed, and results in the response of the whole organism to its pulsations (Howard 3). Pulsation is a kind of movement. Life is movement, the more people move, the healthier they remain. It seems that shaman rituals are aimed at those who want to remain healthy bearing the healing aspects on the human organism.
The final problem considered by Keith Howard in the article Sacred and Profance: Music in Korean Shaman Rituals is its belonging either to the sacred or secular uses. The author considers the history of the music paying much attention to the instruments and their origin. However, attention is paid to the origin of the music which is played during shaman rituals.
The author believes that it is really important not to distinguish the specific nature of music as being sacred it remains essential for every day of human life. The specific use of the music in such cultures where rituals are important is explained by the close connection of human spirit to the emotional side. Those people got used to rituals and consider them as an essential part of their life.
The rituals are always supported with rhythmic music that helps people remain active. Having a sound mind always presupposes having a sound body. Ancient cultures knew it and their desire to use rhythmic music in their rituals was a great opportunity for people to remain healthy in their everyday life, both physically and mentally.
Therefore, it may be concluded that the article under consideration Sacred and Profance: Music in Korean Shaman Rituals by Keith Howard states about the useful impact of music on human mind and body. The research conducted by the author helps draw conclusions that music is an essential healing for those who use it appropriately.
Rhythmic used during the shaman rituals is a good stimulator for human brain and body. Having an impact on human mind, music influences unconsciousness desire to move their bodies. The influence on emotional state cannot be even considered as everyone knows how music impacts human mood; the rhythm and melody may make a person both smile and cry influencing the general condition of human health.
Works Cited
Howard, Keith Sacred and Profance: Music in Korean Shaman Rituals. Indigenous Religious Musics. Eds. Ralls-Macleod and Harvey. New York: Ashgate: 2000.
The music industry has been in existence for a long time with the respective managing authorities putting up measures to improve the industry. The commitments by the founding personnel have transformed the industry into a successful venture that has changed lives of many people.
For instance, it has created jobs and encouraged many people. Music has brought consolation to individuals through listening. The Royal Conservatory of Music is an excellent example of an institution that has struggled to streamline the music industry from the 1886 through 1947 to 1990s. The institution has experienced radical changes that have brought the industry to heights.
Being among the leading Royal Conservatory of Music, an organisation that was concerned about the music culture and the need to nurture it, there was a need to instil mechanisms that would take it to the next level. Therefore, this called for a visionary leader that would mobilize people and resources with a common goal to prosperity.
The key elements entail; setting up of music training facilities and recruitment of teaching staff that would guide the students through the study. The then appointed leadership in the industry raised the educational level up to higher education. At the same time, expanding the institutions facilities to accommodate the increasing number of student enrolment was necessary.
Setting plans and working towards implementing them is a vital factor that leads to success of any organization. Toronto as a music conservatory institution had to create relationships with other institutions to solicit funds to enable its progress. This led to the creation of other key offices like the examination and registrar that addressed the students pleas.
After the World War II, the institution experienced a significant increase in enrolment. This resulted to management challenges, due to the large numbers. This did not make them loose hope; instead they incorporated new methodologies in the teaching industry.
The facilities in the music industry like pianos and guitars had to be improved to diversify and make the industry more entertaining. The study suggests that most of the Canadian youngsters enrolled for the degree and diploma programs.
The reorganization in the department of music in 1970s by assigning the head in the faculty resulted in a fully-fledged Royal Conservatory of Music. The department had the mandate to organize and carry out its curriculum as an independent body.
This conservatory played a significant role in encouraging people to embrace music as a vocational and humanizing activity in their daily lives. Identifying the gifted children and sponsoring them to pursue further studies in the music industry is part of the institutions program. This worked to encourage and lure many youngsters to fill up the gaps that left by the fore founders in the music industry.
The 21st Century has experienced substantial developments among them expansion of the training programs aimed at developing human potential through the arts and classroom projects that teach the main curriculum through storytelling, dancing, writing of songs and photography.
These new modes of knowledge dissemination have impacted positively on the young children. The children are intrigued when they formulate new songs and share them with their colleagues.
Though the rate at which the world is evolving is high, there is a strong need to embrace culture. Incorporating art work in all learning institutions will play a prominent role in preparing children for creativity. The children will also acquire leadership skills.
Before looking at the popular music of the Uzbeks, it is important to understand who they are and their origin. Most of them live in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic while the rest live in Northern Afghanistan.
They were not originally part of Central Asia since the region was inhabited by Iranian-speaking people. They emerged as a separate group under Muhammad Shaybani Khan who was a Turkic prince and a descendant of Juch, the founder of the Golden Horde.
Uzbek folk music is basically divided into two categories. The first category is vocal music while the second one is instrumental. There is a wide diversity of folk songs that have emerged over years, most of which draw on daily life experiences.
They are therefore comprised of wedding songs, work songs, love songs, funeral songs, lullabies, epic songs, historical narrative songs and magical songs. Work songs portray the main occupations of the people of Uzbek. They are sung while sowing, weaving, threshing, harvesting and working with metal among other daily activities of the people of Uzbek.
Some of them support the contention of the current regime that the people of Uzbek were subjected to oppression under the old feudal social structure and were always optimistic of a better social order, an inspiration that was only fulfilled under the soviets.
The second type of Uzbek folk music is love songs. They use similes from nature to describe the individuals they talk about. They are usually sung in a lapar style which is a humorous dialogue between a girl and a boy, often in a competitive style. It is aimed at demonstrating the wit of the participants to each other and the spectators (Dickens 15).
The third type is comprised of ceremonial songs which are sung during important rites of passage. For example, Yaryar is a song sung during wedding ceremonies while Yighi is sung during times of lamentations.
Uzbek folk music is also comprised of lengthy epic narrative songs. Epic narratives combine legendary and historical material. Basically, the narratives are poems which are converted into music and may be performed for several nights, involving lengthy memorization on the part of the singers.
At times, they are sung unaccompanied while at other times the singers play a dombira. They are categorized into dast and dastan. In dastan, the singer recites all the contents of the song, but the material is not usually grouped into stanzas. The dast is usually a mixture of sung poetry and spoken prose.
Apart from the folk music of Uzbek, modern pop music in the country is also significant. The emergence of this type of music dates back to the 50s and 60s. Since then, it has been growing and gaining importance among the people of Uzbek. Uzbek pop music has been trying to cope with a difficult process of searching its unique style.
It is comprised of compositions whose style resembles that of techno-soul, rave, rap, Latin rock and reggae. In addition, artistes who specialize in this type of music blindly imitate oriental rock and European groups. In the recent past, it has been accumulating different intonations in terms of content and form. In this sense, positive experience with regard to the national art style interpretation has been observed.
It is important to note that modern pop music in Uzbek has been forming such tendencies like embracing art heritage and repertoires done by prominent singers. As a result, pop versions that represent classic music have been on the increase. In the recent past, this type of music has become common in various public ceremonies such as weddings.
During these ceremonies, traditional renditions of makoms vocal parts done in pop styles and other vocal genres have been common. Such arrangements have been embraced by many television channels and radio stations (Mulladjanov 5).
There is a major difference between Uzbek folk music and modern pop music. As it is widely known, forms of festivity arts which emerged during the initial stages of the development of human civilization took an important part in the history of human beings. Portraying main principles of morality and ideological foundations that characterized individual historical periods, they always depicted national and religious significance.
Modern pop music emerged at times when radical changes were common especially in public consciousness, specifically, when massive dissemination of secular opinions formed the basis of the changes. In such times, major transformations among urban populations took place.
On the other hand, individuals from the bourgeois class and emerging proprietors who possessed economic and political powers became common. At the same time, classes of industrial workers emerged. The classical art forms that were developed by members of the aristocracy were not accepted by many people.
This caused abandonment of the ancient folk culture which consequently led to the development of modern pop music. Contrary to the Uzbek folk music, it was characterized by aesthetic criterion in that it had the capacity to entertain. In addition, its form was simple and the content unsophisticated.
Works Cited
Dickens, Mark. Uzbek Music 2000. Web.
Mulladjanov, Davlat. Art Heritage in Uzbek Pop Music 2012. Web.