The definition of fashion is very loose. Often, the word “fashion” is used in relation to clothing, but this encompasses only one part of fashion. In reality, fashion is a multifaceted concept that can include any form of art, behavior, and even technology. This paper will cover some of the aspects of fashion that could show how expansive this term is.
Discussion
One of the most important concepts to consider is that fashion is often directly connected to its environment. A good example of this connection would be the way fashion is often connected to a popular musical style. The most overt example of this would be the New Wave movement of the 1980s. Outrageous haircuts, bright and bizarrely cut clothes, elaborate makeup patterns, and abundant accessories served a clear purpose (Adkins 17). All of them worked to show how this type of music is distinct from whatever came before. It showed the risk and experimentation that were synonymous with this genre of music. Fashion in this case also worked to show a different view of masculinity (King 27). It accentuated androgynous features of artists, or at the least provided a more colorful style of menswear. With the increased popularity of this genre of music, this style of clothing became popular among the fans of New Wave bands (Peters 298). Even 30 years later, this style of clothing is inseparable from the music it was associated with, showing how fashion goes beyond clothing.
Fashion can come from such ephemeral things as moods. The last ten years have progressively become more oppressive. The class divide has never been wider, global companies have gained a significant influence other the government policy, nationalistic views of the people are being fueled by propaganda, and it seems like there is no way to fix anything (Lacy 1246). On paper, our world already sounds like a sci-fi dystopia. This mood of oppression has slowly resurrected the interest in the cyberpunk aesthetic of the early 1990s (Kwon and Ha 837). Due to its origin in film and literature, this fashion is very varied. It can include such things as clothing, furniture, architecture, visual arts, and even technology. It is also intrinsically tied to the moods and ideas of the sci-fi subgenre.
For example, cyberpunk clothing often utilizes monochrome tones and hides facial features. This shows the dystopian atmosphere by removing most color, evokes technology through the utilitarian colors of steel, and shows the concerns for privacy, that is hard to get in a society that is constantly monitored (Kwon and Ha 850). Bright neon colors are sometimes used to connect the idea of the 1990s Japan and Hong-Kong that were often used as a setting for cyberpunk stories (Brown 7). Cyberpunk fashion in architecture is often represented by the plain walls of the brutalist buildings. Their complex geometry and lack of decoration are evocative of the former cold war era secret installations and the ruin that they are in right now. It is a combination of melancholy and fear that makes them appealing to the cyberpunk fashion (Johnson 195). Fashion, in this case, is an all-encompassing and complex aesthetic that is both inspired by an outside source and inspiring for other mediums of art.
Conclusion
It is very hard to define fashion in one sentence. Perhaps, it is more important to see how fashion could be comprised of many different mediums of art and even less concrete things like ideas and concepts. This is why it is essential to go beyond clothes when talking about what is fashion.
Works Cited
Adkins, King. New Wave: Image is Everything. Springer, 2015.
Brown, Steven. Tokyo Cyberpunk: Posthumanism in Japanese Visual Culture. Springer, 2016.
Chadwick, Peter. This Brutal World. Phaidon, 2016.
Cox, Laura. “Expand and Deliver: Adam Ant Squeezes a Fuller Frame into His Highwayman Costume as He Takes to the Stage for Tour.” Mail Online, 2013, Web.
Johnson, Keith. “Nihei Tsutomu and the Poetics of Space: Notes toward a Cyberpunk Ecology.” SERAS Southeast Review of Asian Studies, vol. 35, no. 5, 2013, pp. 190-203.
King, Martin. “”You Spurn My Natural Emotions, You Make Me Feel I’m Dirt, and I’m Hurt.” New Wave, New Men, and Fragile Masculinities”. Global Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, vol. 4, no. 1, 2015, pp. 27-35.
Kwon, Sanghee, and Jisoo Ha. “A Study of Fashion Influenced by Dystopian Ideas.” Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles, vol. 37, no. 7, 2013, pp. 837-851, Web.
Lacy, Karyn. “Race, Privilege and the Growing Class Divide”. Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol 38, no. 8, 2015, pp. 1246-1249.
Peters, Brian M. “Androgyny, Masculinities and the Re-Gendered Aesthetics of the New Wave: Duran Duran and the Second British Invasion.” Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture, vol. 1, no. 3, 2016, pp. 297-313, Web.
The website represents an online store for musicians looking for cheap deals on various musical instruments and professional studio equipment. The main purpose of the website is to ensure a stable connection to the service and provide its users with the ability to connect with each other. Another purpose of the website is to find its niche because this type of website is not really common and might become quite popular among the targeted community.
Goal Definition
The website’s key goal is to implement an approach that would help musicians sell their used musical equipment and instruments for a reasonable price. The goal may also be defined as creating a website based on the bids coming from the users looking to buy a particular product (the current design, however, does not reject fixed prices).
Requirements
The website should follow several requirements. First, the team should monitor the market and identify their competition. This is necessary to help the team understand what their customers will look for on their website and plan their development activities according to a premeditated strategy based on the evaluation of the market. Second, the developers should pay close attention to the usability and functionality of the website. The website is expected to load quickly and concisely to provide the necessary information. A slowly loading website will turn customers away from the service, so this requirement is essential. Third, the team should ensure that only relevant content is posted on the website. The information should be updated recurrently (Sørum et al. 699). Fourth, the team should be aware of the ways to advertise and use SEO tactics. A higher rank in the search results is guaranteed to bring more potential customers to the website. Fifth, developers should not underestimate the power of social networking. The last requirement is to link the website to social networks and allow the users to share the information about the items they like or are looking to buy.
Site Plan
For this website, the grid model is used. This is done because the developer expects to divide the items into several categories. The related and recommended items will be displayed on the page (Sørum et al. 700). This model is chosen because it displays an organized list of items and makes it easy for the user to pick the necessary product or sort the search results respectively. Nonetheless, the developer will not implement a pure grid structure and will use a mixed type instead.
Design Prototype
The prototype represents a typical vertical layout with two sidebars and an area for the main content (Figure 1). The items contained within the navigation bar will be separated into several categories to comply with the grid model that has been chosen during the previous development stage. The current design has been elaborated to provide the expected users with a layout that looks simple but is represented by a good user experience (Al-Qeisi 2286). This is backed by the supposition that not all musicians deal with websites regularly. Moreover, a complex layout would confuse users, and this might result in a high bounce rate.
The links should be dynamic (similar to the website itself) to let the users travel outside the website if needed (Cebi 1040). Consequently, the website would also feature several icons representing social networks to follow the company on social media and share the link to a certain product with the customer’s followers or friends (Safar and Mahdi 101).
Site Implementation
The site is implemented in compliance with the premeditated plan. The developer expects to analyze the performance and introduce necessary changes throughout the process of implementation. The design is accurately applied to the chosen website model. The implementation of the current website should be seen as a creation of a dynamic network helping people to connect.
Testing
The website was tested in several directions – graphic user interface (GUI), general acceptance and adequacy, user experience (UX), code validation, and frequent checkups for bugs and possible limitations (Myers 80). First, the GUI was evaluated based on the looks of the website. The design featured a strict color palette and disproved aggressive colors (except red which may be used to highlight hot deals and sales in the future). Second, in terms of the UX, the website was found to be navigated easily and quickly (Sivaji and Tzuaan 30). All of the delays in the page loading time were successfully mitigated. The developers also performed both black box and white box testing.
Releasing
Before releasing the website, the developers identified that the website fully complies with the initial objectives. The developers also found that the website satisfies user expectations. Nonetheless, the team expected to perform several corrections to the website design and changed the fonts to make it look more professional. After the release, the team concentrated on the possible upgrades and politely asked the first-hand users to provide relevant feedback concerning the website.
Works Cited
Al-Qeisi, Kholoud et al. “Website Design Quality and Usage Behavior: Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology.” Journal of Business Research, vol. 67, no. 11, 2014, pp. 2282–2290. Web.
Cebi, Selcuk. “Determining Importance Degrees of Website Design Parameters Based on Interactions and Types of Websites.” Decision Support Systems, vol. 54, no. 2, 2013, pp. 1030–1043. Web.
Myers, Glenford J. The Art of Software Testing. New York, NY, Wiley, 2012.
Safar, Maytham, and Khaled A. Mahdi. Social Networking and Community Behavior Modeling: Qualitative and Quantitative Measures. Hershey, PA, Information Science Reference, 2012.
Sivaji, Ashok, and Soo Shi Tzuaan. “Website User Experience (UX) Testing Tool Development Using Open Source Software (OSS).” SEANES, vol. 3, no. 1, 2012, pp. 21–54. Web.
Sørum, Hanne et al. “Public Websites and Human–Computer Interaction: An Empirical Study of Measurement of Website Quality and User Satisfaction.” Behaviour &Amp; Information Technology, vol. 31, no. 7, 2012, pp. 697–706. Web.
Culture refers to elements of a society such as arts and other expressions among people. It is defined as a set of manifestations of a group of individuals who share common characteristics. Differences within a culture lead to further classification of individuals into subcultures.
A subculture consists of members of a larger culture who have specific characteristics, distinct from other members of the parent culture. This paper seeks to discuss the ‘hip hop’ subculture. Based on an interview with a member of the subculture, the paper will discuss some of the terms used in the subculture, how its members dress and look, as well as how they act.
Terms that forms the subculture
Language is one of the elements that distinguish ‘hip hop’ from other subcultures that are based on music. The subculture has specific diction and vocabulary that are attributed to its origin. The subculture that originated from the United States had racial roots that greatly influenced the terms used in communication.
Having developed from African American and Hispanic American races, most of its terms are a corrupt integration of the languages. The terms, though closely related to English, are modified with additional letters either within the original English words of at the end of the words. There are terms such as ‘dis’ instead of the term ‘this’ or words such as ‘homie’. Other terms are derived from the regular English language but are given special meanings in the ‘hip hop’ culture.
The term ‘old school’ is for instance used to mean the early period of time in which the ‘hip hop’ music developed. A regular consideration of the English language would offer a different meaning to the term. The subculture also uses the term ‘biting’ to refer to a person who infringes other peoples’ rights over proprietary musical styles and forms. The subculture therefore has terms that distinguish it from main artistic culture, of music, that involves other subcultures such as rap and rock and rhythm.
How they dress and look
Like its language, the ‘hip hop’ culture has a distinct dress code that distinguishes it from other sub cultures. Though a number of transitions have been witnessed, there has been a uniform trend of loosely fitting clothes among the group’s members. The initial dressing style of the group was a set of lose cloths with generally bright colors.
Tracksuits and jackets were also common. Developments in the subculture also witnessed acculturation of hairstyle designs and specially designed caps. Currently, the subculture is characterized by sports wears that are specifically loosely fitting. At the same time, specially branded jewelry known as ‘bling bling’ have been adopted by the subculture.
The dress code is also defined by special brands of products that are attributed to the subculture’s music legends. Members of the subculture are therefore distinct in the way they look and they can be distinguished by their appearance.
How they act
A ‘ghetto’ form of behavior identifies the ‘hip hop’ subculture. This particular set of attitude and reaction is attributable to the origin of the subculture. Having originated from minority races that were lowly regarded in the United States’ New York, the subculture still exhibits an inferiority complex based behavior with elements such as rudeness, arrogance, and violence. There is also a high level of peer influence.
Conclusion
The ‘hip hop’ subculture, derived from ‘hip hop’ music, is a subset of a major culture that is defined by the music industry. The sub culture has distinct characteristics in its language, dressing style and behavior.
How events in the case coincide with issues raised in the case
The first major event was when the Royal Conservatory of music was annexed to the University of Toronto. This coincided with the successful nature of the Conservatory. Since it was acknowledged as the top piano school, then it was only natural for the institution to associate with one of the top tertiary institutions in Canada. These two entities had one thing in common; they both trained students to become professionals in music.
The next event was the restructuring of the Conservatory. This coincided with the relatively new appointment of Peter Simon as President. He restructured at a time when the institution was marred by a lack of identity since it had lost its traditional role of training concert type musicians to the University of Toronto.
The Conservatory had lost control of its crucial functions and it may have been this issue that prompted Peter Simon to restructure by firing staff. The other event was separation of the university from the Conservatory. This coincided with poor financial management which came with an academic culture. He saw the need to inject a new culture into the Conservatory through a shift to corporate culture.
The other events included introduction of new genres of music through the music path, renovations, creation of a new centre, internet and outreach programs. Each of these latter events coincided with the expansion of the school of music, better financial management and proliferation of technologies respectively.
Whether Peter Simon has been successful
Peter Simon has been successful because he has turned around the ill fortunes of the Conservatory. He identified the various problems ailing this institution and came up with a strategy for turning them around. In other words, he identified problems in financial management, human resources, program offerings, technological use, expansion of the institution and organizational culture. He has raised the financial well being of the institution as seen through the many projects he initiated.
The introduction of outreach programs and learning through the arts are new ways of raising revenue and are also indicative of his success in changing the organizational culture and organizational growth. He has also addressed problems in human resources by restructuring and delineating the Conservatory from the University. Issues of technology use have been addressed through the internet outreach programs.
Meaning of shift from academic and corporate culture
In any academic institution, focus is usually on instilling knowledge rather than financial gain. This means that an institution may sacrifice some financial gains for educational purposes. One of the reasons why the conservatory held on to all those teachers was because they focused on what they could achieve academically rather than business wise.
In the corporate culture, decisions are based on the concept of maximization of profit. In other words, strong financial performance is a priority and if this necessitates firing staff or introducing new and unconventional programs to raise revenue then those decisions will be made. The two notions are incompatible because academic cultures are often slow and bureaucratic while corporate cultures are always fast moving.
Advice for Simon in the future
Simon should remember that barrier removal is an important component of change management. Consequently, he should learn to discern possible competing initiatives and opposition as was the case with the University of Toronto so that they do not hamper the process. He also needs to have feedback mechanisms that will help him understand the success of his initiatives.
Reference
Scott, A. (2005). Simon Says: As Head of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Peter Simon Has Turned the Place Upside Down, Pushing a Controversial $60-Million Reno Job and Introducing (the Horror!) Acid Jazz and World Music to the Play list. How a Fusty Old School Got Its Groove Back. Toronto, January 2005, pp. 55-58
Scholars have reviewed youths and popular music cultures across the globe, and they show that the trend is likely to continue as new genres of music emerge. We note that youth popular cultures and movements have transformed societies by contributing to some progressive forms in terms of sexuality, gender, race, and cultural developments. Most studies tend to look at the impacts of youth cultures and music on society.
We must acknowledge that youth culture has radically transformed and changed the world through different genres of music. Since 1956, social issues like gender roles, race relations, aging processes, and sexuality have taken different turns due to forces of music.
As a result, studies tend to look at youths of today alongside the popular music cultures. Some scholars refer to such youth cultures as unfairly maligned. Youth cultures have influenced social changes for the past fifty years and have instilled values in societies that can never change (Danesi, 2010, p. 13).
Global context
The explosion of compact discs of the 1990s rocked China hard and had great impacts on its youths. The Chinese youths had the opportunity to try the new types of trendy lifestyles and sounds from the music. They referred to this as dakou CDs. These CDs became the new identity of the Chinese emerging youths. In fact, this generation abandoned the culture of the Maoist to concentrate on the emerging forms of leisure activities.
The music of 1990s also emerged and grew with China as it seeks cultural and economic growth in the global scene. Consequently, there were social challenges in Chinese society among the youths (de Kloet, 2005, p. 15). Sociologists have shown interests in studying activities of adolescents, and how they react to social changes in society, cultural issues, and cross-cultural influences in the global scene. However, it is only sociologists and some scholars who have remained experts on youth popular cultures and other social issues.
The study of youth emerged from the West after a period of rapid industrialization and social changes in structures of the society. However, serious studies began during the 1960s with such music as Punks, Hippies, the anti-war demonstrations, Beatles fans, and so on. Studies on the Western youth cultures revealed self-conscious individuals of consistent behavior demonstrated by attitude and trends in lifestyles (Arnett, 2002, p. 36).
This became known as the youth subculture. What stood out in the subculture of the Western youths were their levels of self-consciousness and manner of self-expression. The music was loud. There was a distinguishing hairstyle, fashion, behavior, and a tendency to reject any form of culture perceived as conservative or adult oriented. Though studies of the youths came from the West, analytical methods for researching Western urban youth cultures can easily apply in studying the Chinese urban youths.
Following the adoption of new lifestyles and trends as a result of Western music, Chinese youths became factors of study to determine their self-consciousness in relation to their societies. In the recent past, the growth and transfer of various types of music, such as rock ‘n’ roll, hip hop, and other forms of music entertainment only contributed to the expansion and consolidation of the urban youth style that is different from the old generation and other cultural outcomes.
We have always believed that Chinese had strong cultural orientations based on the wise teachings of their philosophers. Thus, we may think that a Chinese would not easily give up his culture for a foreign one. However, this is not the case as industrialization began to change Chinese society. Chinese youths had the opportunity to interact with the Western music and produce their music based on imitation to reflect their popular culture.
Most urban areas of China have experienced such changes. Consequently, some different forms of youth culture have emerged in urban China due to quick development and industrialization. Even in remote villages, Chinese youths would reflect the urban influence of popular youth cultures through their attires, music and so on. Most Chinese youth cultures originated from the popular cultures of urban music.
These changes are evident in their behaviors. Chinese youths have suddenly increased what were only popular in the Western world, such as materialism and consumerism, demand for self rights, individualism, active premarital sex, rebellion, and experimentation with new lifestyles.
Some scholars have approached the issue of youth popular cultures from a global perspective and view it as a problem of globalization. They argue that the youth is a generation at crossroad. Such is the case of Columbia studies conducted by Dennis. Dennis argues that challenges facing the youths in terms of cultural representation results from negative effects of globalization.
He argues that it is globalization that has promoted imbalances in society seen in socio-political ills, such as poverty, violence, warfare, and income inequalities among others. He further notes that such prevailing social ills in Colombia have great impacts on the racial minorities of Afro-Colombian origins. The youths find means of expressing such socio-political ills through rap music because they do not get any benefits from effects of globalization (Denis, 2006, p. 276).
According to Dennis, the content of the hip hop music expresses frustration and dissent due to inaccessible of benefits of globalization. This reflects broken promises, and such youth know that such advantages cannot be for all members of the society. It is the globalization that has led to changes in cultures and youth identities as seen in Afro-Colombian youths. Some youths have found themselves integrated into the modern economic and cultural trend of globalization.
Afro-Colombian youths can only use their music to construct their identities. These youths can only use hip hop to establish themselves both in the local and international societies. They have turned their music talents into cultural and professional activities for defining their ethnical identities. Their performances also reflect their ethnic-racial identities and cultural importance of their roots.
These artists have learnt the art of combining both the local and foreign elements of different cultures into their music to enable them celebrate their origins, define their black identity, and localities. Such forms of music do not fit in any culture due to combination of different cultures from other parts of the world.
Dennis refers to this culture as autonomous culture and neocolonial dependence. In order to understand the Afro-Colombian culture, we must first understand their histories and cultures. This is because its form of hip hop music keeps on changing in terms of discourse, forms, cultural, and narrations in the global context (Denis, 2006, p. 279). Just like in other societies, the popular music culture has also penetrated the identities of adolescents in Poland.
These are complex changes that affect Polish society over several decades. The popular music of the Polish reflected various aspects of their everyday lives under the guidance of communism ideologies. At the same time, they also experienced economic strain on their musical experiences. However, Polish youths and popular music cultures became complex and fragmented after 1989. This was after the democratic revolution (Kotarba, 2002, p. 233).
The Polish youth music experience shows significant changes in three major ways. First, the popular music culture of the US or Britain has reached Polish youth through various means such as the Internet, and popular music TV channels among others. Second, Polish youths heavily borrow from the popular international music for creating their own local versions.
Third, some Polish artists have remained true to their cultural roots, musical styles, and traditional music. These combinations of music have served the western youths in creating their own subcultures of adolescents.
Hip hop music has influenced many youths across the world. However, the main challenge is how to fuse hip hop and local music among youths. Australian Aboriginals youths are enthusiastic about hip hop music just like any exposed youths in society. Among Australian youths, hip hop has served as a form of expression particularly with regard to expression of socio-political agendas. It is in hip hop music where Aboriginal youths find solid foundations for their self-expressions.
At the same time, hip hop serves them with the purpose of providing youth identification (Morgan and Warren, 2011, p. 925). People blame the rap and hip hop for moral deterioration in Australia. They view these forms of music as purely African-America musical styles. According to Australians, hip hop is the major cause of problems they have in the country with reference to youths. They believe that hip hop and rap music portray violence, pimping, misogyny, sudden wealth, machismo, and brutality.
These bad influences reach the youths through popular music TV channels, music videos, and commercial radio stations. These characteristics of hip hop and rap music have given politicians a chance to blame these forms of music on almost all unrests across the world involving the youths. On the other hand, the Aboriginal hip hop is not like African-American forms of hip hop and rap. In fact, Morgan and Warren observe that most native Australian hip hop music portrays the elements of hip hop as positive.
These elements include MCing, graffiti, DJing, and breaking. In Australia, they see their native, Aboriginal hip hop as a channel through which youths can express themselves, give the disadvantaged youths opportunities for recognition and as a way of encouraging the use of indigenous languages (Morgan and Warren, 2011, p. 927). Aboriginal language is native and unwritten language. It remains a language of expression in terms of arts, rituals, dance, and others.
Given this context, Aboriginal hip hop blends well with this native language. The use of local language has enhanced majority of Australians to know a lot about their native hip hop. The use of local language has enabled Aboriginal elders to encourage young people to participate in hip hop music.
This has also increased the number of Aboriginal youths participating in hip hop music industry. Hip hop has become a means of exploring one’s identity and relating with their traditional ways of life. On the other hand, when we look at Aboriginal hip hop from the educational point of view, we notice that it gives the youths opportunities to express their pride in their roots, anger, join the community through performances, storytelling, and consider their places in the modern society.
Scholars who have taken keen interests argue that American rap, hip hop, or gangsta music provides a way of expressing deviant culture that reflects a message of social criticism, resistance, drug, violence, and empowerment among others. They also note that the analyses tend to avoid the explicit sexist and misogynist contents of such music. They have noted that most gangsta rap music contents are violence, misogynist relation to use of certain terms such as bitch.
Gangsta music has created its documented domain in the study of African-American music and culture. Further studies look into gangsta music and violence, and misogynist tendencies, gender relationships, and crime. These are some the few meanings scholars are trying to link with the explicit gangsta music (Riley, 2005, p. 297). Most sociologists always strive to establish the link between gangsta music and social problems in society.
They argue that it is the gangsta music that is responsible for the promotion of a value-free society through representation of romanticizing themes in the lyrics. These representations usually portray women as celebrating their pimping nature and explicit lifestyle. In addition, they note that the erosion of America values in 1989 occurred as a result of rap music, which tried promoting the lifestyles of gangsters and sluts.
However, the music is becoming tame as time goes. Sociologists look at the role of language in gangsta music. They argue that language acts a form of symbolism for behavior itself. Consequently, they are trying to establish the role language plays in defining interpersonal relations. They note that the use of language influences the manner in which we see what is real. In addition, they note that words are just like actions, particular when practiced instead of expressed (Schneider, 2011, p. 36). We must understand rap music in its verbal form.
This allows us easily analyze the content and interprets the lyrical messages of songs. A comparison of meanings in gangsta music will inform us of what language codes it represents. The music codes have their distinct meanings that sociologists use to interpret lyrical contents of rap music.
Conclusion
Youth popular cultures and music have become established part of everyday life across the globe. This observation is evident from reading some literature across the world. We have also seen how Western music has influenced the entire youth populations in relations to music they consume and what it says about them. Thus, we can establish the relationship between youth popular cultures and music within the context of their identities, and relations in the modern society.
Youths produce and consume their own music in a manner that reflects their self-consciousness, self identity, and society. Societies in which youths operate define their identities. A closer look at Chinese youths and their music cultures show that their cultures emerged during 1990s at the time of globalization. This influence came from the US through compact discs. Chinese youths copied some aspects of the US music for production of their own.
On the other hand, Afro-Columbian youths use music for condemnation of negative effects of globalization, reinforce their black identity, and express their anger and frustration. The Aboriginal youths try to relate with their traditions through their hip hop music. This shows that youth popular cultures and music depend on the social environment of youths. In such cases, the music tends to reflect what their main sources of concern might be.
References
Arnett, J. (2002). Adolescents in Western countries on the threshold of the 21st century. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Danesi, M. (2010). Geeks, Goths, and Gangstas: Perspectives on Youth Culture. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc.
de Kloet, J. (2005). Popular music and youth in urban China. China Quaterly, 183, 609-626.
Denis, C. (2006). Afro-Columbian hip-hop: Globalization, popular music, and ethnic identities. Studies in Latin America Popular Culture, 25, 276-295.
Kotarba, J. (2002). Popular music and teenagers in post-Communist Poland. Studies in Symbolic Interaction, 25, 233-246.
Morgan, G, and Warren, A. (2011). Aboriginal youth, hip hop and the politics of identification. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 34(6), 925-947.
Riley, A. (2005). The rebirth of the tragedy out of the spirit of hip hop: A cultural sociology of gangsta rap music. Journal of Youth Studies, 8(3), 297-311.
Schneider, C. J. (2011). Culture, rap music, “bitch” and the development of the censorship frame. American Behavioral Scientist, 55(1), 36-56.
Music festivals work as powerful mediums for inspiring, motivating and stirring transformation for an improved world. These can be observed as a common platform for gathering, making relationships with other people and celebrating with others. Music festivals are sources of entertainment and pleasure, and they provide opportunities for actuality and being in the right place. Hence, music festivals are important in the way that they add to the conversion of sustainability. The prime objective of most of the festivals is to fulfil the specific needs of a community and provide entertainment. Students’ choices for travel and leisure destinations are followed by a wide array of motivations. These festivals provide them opportunity to interact with their friends and fellow students and share their experiences with them. Music festivals are very popular among the Chinese students and China’s music festival industry has enormous potential.
However, the growing competition in this sector has made it necessary to understand the relationship between the motivation and satisfaction of the visitors with the music festivals. The present research is an attempt to understand and analyse the relationship between Chinese university students’ motivations for attending the popular Strawberry Music Festival in China and the satisfaction gained from their experiences. It is found in the survey that the festival image, destination image, experience opportunities, cost and trip quality are the more common factors that are observed to be motivating the Chinese students for coming to the music festival, and they can increase students’ satisfaction. The research may help the music festival organizers to determine what makes the Chinese students attend music festivals and how to provide them the utmost satisfaction with the music festivals.
Introduction
Festivals and celebrations have been a part of recreational program from ancient times. During ancient period, these festivals and celebrations were mainly in the form of leisure activities with religious essence (Celik & Cetinkaya 2013). People involved in different religious and cultural activities celebrating mainly the agriculture harvesting for getting retreat and break from their mundane work routines. Later, the transformation of rural labour into urban labour generated different groups in the society that demanded leisure as a necessity. Main factors contributing to the growth in leisure activities were: technological advancements, growth in the average age, improved revenues and significance of time. According to Karakucuk (1997), “The recreational activities that are done voluntarily on personal choice with an aim of protecting human body which is seriously affected by the intensive work of human being, routine life style or negative environment effects, regaining, protecting and keeping the mental health and getting pleasure providing personal enjoyment in the leisure time are defined as events” (as cited in Celik & Cetinkaya 2013, p. 2-3). Events are an integral part of the tourism development plans and play an important role in the destination desirability (Getz, cited in Celik & Cetinkaya 2013).
Events are organized with an aim to address persons’ needs associated with people’s interactions. These are aimed at achieving the goals of persons as communities, rather than individuals. Besides this, these are structured with a purpose to share a common idea and to socialize persons (Poloma, cited in Celik & Cetinkaya 2013). Cohen and Taylor (1976, p. 49) assert that “holidays are culturally sanctioned escapes routes for inhabitants of western world.” Getz categorizes events mainly into three sections.
The first type of events includes cultural celebrations, art events, political events, and entertainment.
Commercial, educational, and scientific events are included in the second group.
The third group consists of the special events, sports and recreational happenings (as cited in Popescu & Carbos 2012, p. 19).
A significant part of all events are the festivals that provide diverse and unique experiences to the visitors and take them away, for some time, from their regular mundane life and entertainment media. It can be experienced in different forms of celebrations such as dance, drama, ethnic and cultural heritage music, comedy and religious ceremonies etc. The festivals are organized with an aim to provide recreation, protect and develop the local cultural heritage and develop local tourism industry and employment opportunities (Gunersel, cited in Celik & Cetinkaya 2013). Their distinctiveness is evident from their emphasis on society and celebration and theme arising from their own society (Buther, cited in Celik & Cetinkaya 2013). Events are unique because they are available for a specific period of time (Small 2007).
It is evident through research that involvement in a particular activity can predict the participant’s intentions about its continuance in future (Kouthouris 2009).
The prime objective of most of the festivals is to fulfil the specific needs of a community and provide entertainment. They provide a feeling of social and cultural belonging to the community people. Besides this, people sharing same festivals also develop a sense of geographical belonging (Popescu & Carbos 2012).
Music is integrated and fused in several types of festivals, thus, the festival having music as an organizing theme becomes a music festival. According to Bowen and Daniels (2005), “Music festivals organized around live music performances are unique special events that can attract visitors from an expansive breadth of demographics” (as cited in Mosley, Lehto & Day n.d., p. 1). In comparison to the other festival activities, the musical ones are more popular and attract the visitors definitely (Chung 2014).
Music festivals work as powerful mediums for inspiring, motivating and stirring transformation for an improved world. These can be observed as a common platform for gathering, making relationships with other people and celebrating with others. Music festivals are sources of entertainment and pleasure, and they provide opportunities for actuality and being in the right place. Hence, music festivals are important in the way that they add to the conversion of sustainability (Stettler 2011). The role of music for listeners is interesting to study because it evokes certain emotions. The problem is in the fact that it is difficult to examine under what situations they experience emotions to music (Juslin et al. 2008).
Popularity of music festivals is widespread and attendance in such events continues to increase in many countries including the United States and European countries (Snell 2005). Youth tourism is an increasing phenomenon in the global tourism market. Their motivations and expectations from the events and festivals provide a significant basis for future event organising. Youth and student travel has served as a significant keystone in the past 50 years, but there was not much light thrown into this field. However, in the recent years, the development of the youth market accentuated the subject globally. The significance of youth tourism “as a field of interest for policy makers was first emphasised internationally in November 1991 with the first World Tourism Organisation (WTO) conference on youth tourism in Delhi” (Richards & Wilson 2003, p. 6).
International organizations like the International Student Travel Confederation (ISTC) and Federation of the International Youth Travel Organisations (FIYTO) are established to look after the tourism related needs of a large number of youth travelling internationally (Richards & Wilson 2003). Analysis of youth travellers suggests that “they involve in wide range of activities during their stay, which underlines the desire to seek various experiences” (Moisa 2010, p. 645).
Statistics to the research topic
Increasing number of festivals in the United States has raised a fierce competition among the event organizers for attracting more and more visitors and talents. People are spending a lot of money and time on these events (Kitterlin & Yoo 2014). These festivals are rising in popularity with increased number of attendees every year. In Australia, in the last five years attendance in the famous live music festivals has increased by 40% to 47%. According to the Australian Council for Arts (2010), the Australian youth was found to be more motivated by the musical events as compared to the rest of the population. However, employed youth attended music events more (76%) than the students at secondary students (59%) and tertiary students (69%). The reason behind employed youth’s higher attendance could be their higher disposable income than the students.
The young group seems to be motivated by the arts in its creative as well as receptive form (More than bums on seat: Australian participation in the arts 2010). “In September 2012, 269, 672 people had signed up to the official Big Day Out Facebook site, whereas the number of people signing up to the official Wallabies (national rugby site) Facebook site was only 173,210” (Ballantyne, Ballantyne & Packer 2014, p. 1). Thus, “music festivals are becoming more popular with the young population and challenges the widespread perception that young citizens or students are more inclined towards sports than arts” (Ballantyne, Ballantyne & Packer 2014, p. 1).
Popularity of music festivals can be understood by the fact that tickets of festivals similar to the UK Glastonbury Festival are sold out immediately after their release. The sites selling these tickets had a difficult time while selling 3000 tickets per minute for the Glastonbury Festival 2014 (Glastonbury 2014 tickets sell out in record time 2013).
It is evident through research that events are the driving factors for increased tourism (Getz et al, cited in Mosley et al. n.d.). International and domestic leisure and travel activities provide a significant market to tourism. Motivations for such trips can be different and that makes it complicated for the marketers to monitor (Smith 2010). The fast growing economic changes and the increased use of electronic and social media by the students has significant influence on their travelling decisions (Scott-Halsell & Saiprasert 2011).
Students’ choices for travel and leisure destinations are followed by a wide array of motivations. “Both internal and external motivations ultimately influence where, when, and how students travel” (Smith 2010, p. 3). Besides the activities like visiting the famous tourist spots and cultural objectives, the youth indulges in various other activities like visiting the less popular tourist areas, relaxing on the sea side, getting close to the nature, taking part in different events and festivals, going to see friends and relations etc. (Moisa 2010). College students are young people who live in the present, are keen on experimentation, and are eyeing on instant outcomes (Lee 2002). One among the four ancient civilizations, China, has a vast geographic stretch and a history of almost 3,600 years. China is proud of its rich and intense culture that can be found back many centuries ago (Chinese Culture 1998).
Music festivals are very popular among the Chinese students. These festivals provide them opportunity to interact with their friends and fellow students and share their experiences with them. They get an opportunity to share their feelings such as sadness, joy, disappointment, excitement through music as it is the best medium for expressing one’s feelings and thoughts (Frisch 2010). Like the other big businesses of the country, China’s music festival industry too has: “huge potential, eye popping expansion, rampant imitation and meddlesome government officials. There is also a great quantity of glittering, impressive output of dubious quality, longevity and profitability” (Frisch 2010, par. 1).
In addition, “in China, the Woodstock – like idealism that was strongly associated with Cui Jian’s first generation of rockers – was in its initial stages in 1989, when the Chinese urban youth was pushed strongly away from ideas and towards consumerism” (Frisch 2010, par. 1). In absence of any values musical festivals are treated by Chinese youth as a medium to show-off their fashion sense and having a get together with their friends. However, the new emerging concepts about music festivals in China ensure transformation and evolution of music festivals leading to their increasing demand among the Chinese youth. Music festivals are becoming very popular especially among the Chinese students.
These festivals provide them opportunity to interact with their friends and fellow students and share their experiences with them. They get an opportunity to share their feelings such as sadness, joy, disappointment, excitement through music as it is the best medium for expressing one’s feelings and thoughts (Frisch 2010). ZMF (Zebra Music Festival) and similar companies orient to organizing festivals in different cities every year and ensure that the events and programs are planned as per the taste of the people living in the area. For example, they focused on rock music while planning the event for Chengdu in 2009 and pop music for the Hangzhou in 2010 where people prefer pop music (Frisch 2010). According to Scarlett Li (a music executive atop Zebra media), “We try to offer an experience that is tailor-made to the tastes of each city” (Frisch 2010, par. 8).
Why you are going to choose this research topic
Music festivals are an integral part of Chinese society, therefore, they always demand significant amount of exploration in order to understand the factors responsible for their success and popularity among the visitors. With the evolution and growth in the number of music festivals with the theme of modernity, there has evolved a great connection between these festivals and university students as they constitute the major part of the visitors. The increased number of festivals has led to severe competition among the festivals with respect to the number of visitors attending them. The growing competition has made it necessary to understand the relationship between the motivation and satisfaction of the visitors with the festivals (Boer et al. n.d.). Knowledge about the motivational factors that drive the Chinese university students to attend these festivals can help in increasing the level of satisfaction among the students by providing them better experiences. Moreover, these insights also help the organizers to familiarize with the demands of anticipated viewers.
Aims and objectives
The research aims to analyse the relationship between Chinese students’ motivations for attending the music festival and the level of satisfaction gained from their experiences.
The research attempts to seek the following objectives:
To determine the motivation factors on Chinese university students’ participation in music festivals.
To determine the satisfaction factors on Chinese university students’ participation in music festivals.
To find out relationship between motivation and satisfaction of Chinese university students’ participation in music festivals.
To suggest the organizers of music festivals on attractive factors for increasing the participation in music festivals among Chinese university students.
Structure of this dissertation
This dissertation is completed in four parts. The first chapter is the literature review that provides in depth information about the subject of research through a comprehensive study of scholars’ works. It helps in gaining insights about events and festivals, the motivational factors for attending festivals and the factors influencing their satisfaction with the festivals. Different theories developed on the subject of motivation, satisfaction and their mutual relationship with reference to events and festivals have been discussed. A review of different case studies conducted on the subject has been presented in the chapter. Based on the literature and sources review, a model for the present study was proposed to analyse relation between factors such as the festival image, destination image, experience opportunity, cost, trip quality and festival quality and visitors’ experiences and satisfaction levels with a particular festival.
The second part indicates the used research methodology and describes the primary research, quantitative analysis, its advantages and disadvantages, questionnaire design, data collection and ethical considerations. The locale and data collection method are also discussed. Hypotheses are measured with a 5-point Likert scale. The methodology includes techniques of determining the quantity and consistency of results.
The third part presents the key findings of the survey along with their step by step analysis. In order to check the mean value, standardized deviation, and normality of statements, the descriptive statistics analysis is conducted. The Cronbach’s Alpha is employed to measure the reliability in SPSS relating to the present study. The correlation between the motivational factors and the satisfaction factors is checked by creating a scatter plot. A multiple regression linear is used to see how and to what extent these variables influence customer satisfaction.
The fourth and the last part presents the conclusions inferred from the study. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the main findings taking up all the objectives of the research one by one and then finding the answer to the overall aim of the research work. This part of the dissertation also describes the usefulness of the study for visitors and organizers. Moreover, it recommends some ideas for festival organizers and event managers that may help in improving the image of their offerings to improve and augment satisfaction levels among the visitors.
Literature Review
Introduction
It has been recognised through researches that music is a powerful medium to “exault the human spirit, transform the human experience, bring joy, beauty, and satisfaction to people’s lives” (Pascoe et al. 2005, p. 8). Music festivals open more opportunities for students to explore as they allow an opportunity to discover different places and destinations which they might not have thought of visiting (Mosley et al. n.d.). According to Ballantyne et al., “much of the available literature examining people’s motivations for engaging in music related activities and events focuses on the development and reinforcement of the individual and/or community identity” (Ballantyne et al. 2011, p. 1). This chapter discusses the previous research on motivation and motivational factors, as well as on satisfaction and factors, that can influence perceptions of music festival attendees.
Music Festivals and Attendees’ Attitudes and Perceptions
Music theorists emphasize on the need to take active participation in music for creating identity through “self-expression, mood enhancement, and spiritual expressions” (Juslin & Sloboda 2001, p. 337). Packer & Ballantyne (2011) found in their research that music festivals are significantly related to social wellbeing and psychological benefits. They reported that music festivals provide a unique sense of engagement and connection that is not possible in some other form of musical events such as the music concerts. Music festivals allow greater interaction with other attendees and the artists.
Packer & Ballantyne (2011) studied the psychological impact of the music festivals on young adults and found that the music festivals provide a common ground for gaining the experience of socialising with others which is not possible while listening to recorded music or being present in a concert. They found that visitors develop a sense of connection with other visitors as well as with the performers. More opportunities for exploration are offered through music festivals to students as they allow an opportunity to discover different places and destinations which they might not have thought of visiting (Mosley et al. n.d.).
The power of engaging in music is evident in everyday life. In their study of students aged between 20-31 years, Juslin et al. (2008) found that the attendees of festivals often feel happiness, nostalgia, and a kind of elation. ISTC’s with the Association of Leisure and Tourism Education (ATLAS) conducted a transitional survey in 2002 to gain insight into the subject of youth and student travel market. The survey revealed that exploration and excitement were the most common motives among the student travellers. Improving knowledge, relaxation and socialization were the other important driving factors motivating the students to visit new places and events. The survey brought into light the eagerness of students below the age of 26 for developing friendly relations with others and their excitement and opportunity to experiment (Richards & Wilson 2003).
There are many entertainment options available to the consumers from individual festivals and host communities; hence, festival organizers need to focus on enhancing and maintaining the intrinsic motivations of festival attendees. In order to understand the relationship between motivational factors for participating in music festivals among students and the satisfaction factors with respect to the motivations and to analyse the relationship between these two phenomena, we need to look at the theories of motivation and satisfaction.
Motivation and Motivational Theories
Motivation is a phenomenon that is closely related to the basic of human behaviour. It provides understanding, explanation and prediction and hence, is the focal point in any social scientific study (Jafari 2003). The socio psychological definition of motivation is generally seen in the context of emotional and cognitive motives (Ajzen & Fishbein n.d.). It is normally known that the intensity of motivation can be judged by a person’s involvement and preoccupation in an interesting activity that makes him is neglectful to all else. Intrinsic motivation (Deci 1975), or motivational flow (Csikszentmihalyi 1975) are situations where conditions are created that enhance interest in seeking mastery and learning (as cited in Graham & Weiner n.d., p. 63).
Some other common principles of motivation are based on the argument that performance or learning is affected in the situations where motivations for basic necessities like food and living are more persistent (Maslow cited in Graham &Weiner n.d., p. 63). It is argued that motivation in the form of positive benefits subsequent to certain behaviour increases the chances of its repetition. It is also believed that students are more motivated for acquiring mastery of the material rather than competing with others. Establishing contextual relationship between students and their performance is necessary for increased motivation as a performer rather than a passive recipient (Skinner, Nicholls & deCharms, as cited in Graham &Weiner n.d., p. 63). Besides this, it is also important to recognize and prioritize motives in understanding the factors that can affect the attendees’ decision-making (Crompton & McKay 1997).
The push and pull factors theory
Dann (1997) presented the theory of push and pull factors that affect tourists’ motivation for travelling (as cited in Thaothampitak &Weerakit 2008, p. 2). The idea of push and pull model is to disintegrate the destination choices into two forces. The first type of force pushes people to go somewhere else but does not specify the destination. However, the pull force attracts visitors to some specific destination. Push factors is a phenomenon relating to the socio psychological constructs and environments of the visitors that explains the driving factor behind the intention to travel. “Most of the push factors are intrinsic motivators such as, the desire for escape, rest and relaxation, prestige health and fitness, adventure and social interaction” (McGhee, Murphy & Uysal1996, p. 46).
Gnoth (1997) explains that push factors are internally produced drives that force people to explore objects and their features that ensure lessening in the dominant drives. In their turn, pull factors result from the visitors’ familiarity with the goal. Push factors may lead to different responses to diverse external situations (Pavlov, cited in Gnoth 1997). Whereas pull factors are based on cognitively accessible considerations (Psylyshyn, cited in Gnoth 1997). The study of Mohammad & Som (2010) also supports the idea that tourists are motivated by internal and external factors. They discovered that people go on vacation to fulfil their intrinsic desires and their decisions are influenced by the destination characteristics (Mohammad & Som 2010). Kanagaraj & Bindu (2013) found in their study of domestic tourists’ motivation in their visits to Kerala, India, that “tourists are motivated to go away from rather than go towards something”. They believe that people decide to go on vacation driven by two most significant psychological motives: relaxation and escape motives.
Xu, Yoder & Matarrita-Cascante (n.d.) incorporated push and pull factors to examine the travel motivation of university students during spring break vacations. Their survey revealed that there were four dominant motivational factors that pushed the students to travel. These factors included: exploration, relaxation, activity seeking and socializing. Out of these four push factors exploration and relaxation were the most dominant motives leading to the inference that university “students travel mainly to pursue rest, excitement, thrill, and difference” (Xu et al. n.d., p. 2-3). However, the desire to observe and participate in different lifestyles and cultures was also observed among some students. They got an opportunity to learn and experience something different that was not possible in their routine lifestyle. Activity seeking and socializing indicated students’ urge for recharging and experiencing independence.
Besides the above mentioned push factors, there were certain pull factors such as “entertainment, facilities and services and environment” (Xu et al. n.d., p.3). Entertainment was the most dominant factor in driving students to visit particular places and events. It was inferred from the responses of the students that people rely on the information gathered from family and friends for planning their short-term vacations regarding the recreational activities, decent travelling environment along with favourable amenities and services. The study of Xu et al. (n. d.) provides a more comprehensive picture of travelling motivations by measuring both types of factors. The findings of the study help in gaining insight into the travelling motivations of university students and consequently developing effective strategies to ensure them greater travelling satisfaction. “Based on the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, individual tourist builds his or her perceptions, and the perceptions can be different from the true attributes of the product depending on how the individual receives and processes information” (Gartner et al. cited in Mohammad & Som 2010, p. 42).
Motivational Factors
Research on the subject of travel motives has helped in gaining insight into the typical factors that influence the travelling decisions of people. According to Getz and Cheyne (2002), there are three dimensions of motives to attend events:
Individuals have leisure motives and the desire to travel while attending events. They often need fulfilment and focus on seeking escape.
Persons seek for event-specific features. These features help to distinct events among others with the focus on benefits proposed according to the event program.
People are driven by extrinsic motives depending on any particular event (as cited in Abreu-Novais & Arcodia 2013, p.36).
Age and education also have a significant influence on influencing travellers’ choices or motives for travelling (Cha, Mccleary & Uysal 1995). However, researchers also determine other motivational factors. The organizers of the International Bellapais Music Festival (North Cyprus) feel that the common motive to attend the festival is driven by the desire to be together with their family and upkeep the festival. Their previous experiences with the festival and the reputation of the festival are also a driving force to attend the festival (Dikmen & Bozdaglar 2013). Crompton’s (1979) concept of seven socio-psychological motives provides significant insight into people’s decisions for attending the music festivals. They are escaping the mundane environment; self evaluation; relaxation; prestige; regression; family togetherness; and socialization. It is possible to refer to Crompton’s motives to visit new places and events while determining motivational factors influencing visitors’ decisions:
Festival Image
This motivational factor results from Crompton’s discussion of prestige. The focus on standing and status drives individuals to do something different. Visiting different places with a good reputation and attending unique events is considered a prestigious activity and influences visitors’ decisions about their leisure planning.
Destination Image
Meeting new people in different settings is a significant motivational drive for people to visit different places or events. The short time meetings with unfamiliar people or groups provide opportunities to exchange views and extend social contacts (Crompton 1979). Family togetherness is also a motivational factor for visiting the festivals with a certain destination image as it enables family members to spend time in one another’s company. It enables to have a greater understanding of each other that is generally not possible in a usual set environment.
Experience Opportunities
Exposure to a different new situation provides opportunity for self-discovery. People get motivated to visit different places because it offers them a whole new experience different from the one they get in the familiar surroundings. Attending the festivals or events also provides mental relaxation to the attendees. According to Crompton, relaxation here means spending time in following the activities of interest. People visit places or events to seek pleasure and mental peace; however, it may result in physical exhaustion.
Cost
Costs are also the influential factor because people need to choose the event according to their opportunities to afford it, and this factor can influence not only motivation but also the further satisfaction.
Trip Quality
People need to change their environment for some time to avoid the boredom of daily routine life in order to seek pleasure in the environment that is different than that in which they normally live. Still, motivation to visit the place again depends on the trip quality.
Festival Quality
People seek pleasure vacation in order to have a chance to do activities which they cannot pursue in their routine life styles. An urge to engage in irrational and childish behaviour sometimes motivates people to visit newer places or attend festivals that offer them opportunities to withdraw from their usual roles and obligations. The desire to regress from the complex, changeable and technologically advanced environment drives people to visit different and unique destinations and events. As a result, the quality of the festival influences the decision to attend this particular event.
Satisfaction and Theories
The success of events and their image as successful destination depends on visitors’ satisfaction with the offerings. Visitors’ satisfaction influences their decisions to revisit the destination (Kozak & Rimmington 2000). Satisfaction relates to the overall evaluation of the experience associated with the concrete service. According to Fournier and Mick (1999, p. 16), “Satisfaction is a context-dependent process consisting of a multi-model, multi-modal blend of motivations, cognitions, emotions, and meanings, embedded in socio-cultural settings, that transforms during progressive and regressive consumer product interactions.” Satisfaction relates to consumers’ opinion about a product or service (Oliver 2010). Therefore, it is a significant strategic element that requires appropriate consideration in marketing (Baez-Montenegro & Devesa-Fernandez 2014).
Satisfaction in travelling and tourism is normally used as an assessment device that examines the efficacy of the experiences observed at the events or destinations. Satisfaction is a tourists’ emotional state after experiencing the trip (Baker & Crompton 2000). Studies show that motivation for different festival products may vary among different festival attendees, however, the socio-economic impact and satisfaction is found mostly same with all the visitors irrespective of the difference in the festival products (Yolal, Woo & Centinel 2012). Destination image implements an affirmative influence on supposed value and satisfaction. Chi & Qu (2007) state, visitors’ satisfaction improves with the positive image of the destination. Further, more favourable image increases the possibility of revisit to the same destination.
Mayo and Jarvis (2008) describe that the consistency theory makes people like things to take place as per their desires and complexity theory describes that surprising and unique things make people satisfied (as cited in Yu & Yen 2012, p. 214). According to the consistency theory, the level of satisfaction increases proportionally to the impact of a person on receiving the desired object or attending the desired place. Following the complexity theory, the level of satisfaction depends on the emotions associated with observing the desired events or receiving the desired objects (Yu & Yen 2012).
Satisfaction Factors
The research indicates that satisfaction can be examined with references to the factors that are correlated with the spheres of the person’s decision-making and emotions. In addition, satisfaction can be measured with the focus on the level of persons’ emotions as well as on their character. Researchers state that it is important to refer to negative and positive emotions affecting satisfaction, as well as on the high level of low level of satisfaction (Chi & Qu 2007; Yolal, Woo & Centinel 2012). In this context, the aspects that can be associated with the individuals’ level of satisfaction are expenditure satisfaction and emotional or affective satisfaction. Therefore, the factors that need to be identified as associated with satisfaction are:
High level of expenditure satisfaction and affective satisfaction (very satisfied).
Medium level (somewhat satisfied).
Neutrality.
Low level of expenditure satisfaction and affective satisfaction (dissatisfied).
Relationship between Motivation and Satisfaction
Motivation for a certain act or behaviour should fulfil in its satisfaction. It is closely related to satisfaction. People need to have motivation before experiencing the events and their experiences need to be followed by their satisfaction with the event. Usually, festivals pull visitors from local areas and their sustainability depends largely upon increasing number of repeat visitors. The increasing number of festivals has made it necessary that the experiences of visitors should ensure their revisit to the festivals “If needs are fulfilled, then satisfaction will result. Therefore, in order to monitor satisfaction, there should be knowledge of needs which festival visitors are seeking to satisfy” (Crompton & McKay 1997, p. 426). According to Dann (1981), “It makes little sense to study satisfaction in isolation from motivation” (as cited in Crompton & McKay 1997, p. 426). Beerli &Martin (2004) assert that motivation is “the need that drives an individual to act in a certain way to achieve the desired satisfaction” (as cited in Thaothampitak &Weerakit 2008, p.2). Motivation needs to explain the satisfaction with the focus on emotional motives of certain behaviours. Motives can be internal and external in terms of tourist motivation (Gnoth 1997).
According to Iso-Ahola (1982), “Individuals perceive a leisure activity as a potential satisfaction-producer for two major reasons: it provides certain intrinsic rewards, such as feeling of mastery and competence (approaches), and helps them leave the routine environment behind (avoidance)” (Iso-Ahola1982, p. 259). Any leisure activity is seen as a potential satisfaction provider by people because it offers some intrinsic rewards like tones of mastery and capability and allows them to come out of their routine environment. Generally, both the components are present in the leisure motivation and specifically in tourism motivation though their significance vary for different groups or individuals (Iso-Ahola 1982).
According to Leiper (2004) motivations can be seen “as a force for people to act to satisfy their needs; when individuals feel a state of deprivation, there is a need for them to satisfy the shortage”(as cited in Yu &Yen 2012, p.214). “Motivation serves as a mechanism to initiate, direct, and arouse human behaviours and it is an appropriate lens through which to examine how behaviours are generated” (as cited in Yu &Yen 2012, p.214). Pitts (2005) studied the visitors’ experiences at the Round chamber music festival in Sheffield and found that audience did influence one another in the festival and has a significant connection with the performer.
There can be different motivation types that drive people to remain engaged in some particular leisure event and have positive experience that eventually leads to satisfaction (Geus, Richards & Toepoel 2013). These studies support the notion that music festivals satisfy the need of social integration among visitors that motivates them to visit the festivals. Richards and Wilson (2003) discovered that the satisfaction level of the participants in the music festivals motivates them to repeat their experience. “Music is a medium for young people to communicate and express their individual identities which allows them to present themselves in a particular way, share their values and exhibit their attitudes” (as cited in Hargreaves, Miell & Macdonald 2002).
Festival attendees can be put in two categories: First category consists of the people who have attended the festival for the first time and second category comprises those visitors who have already experienced the festival and are familiar and satisfied with the event. Both the groups are significant with respect to their socio-demographics, attitudes, destination awareness and travel motivations. It is observed that regular visitors are satisfied more than the first-time visitors and spends more and stay for longer as an authentication for their loyalty (Kruger, Saayman & Ellis 2010). Young people consider music as a “badge of identity” (North & Hargreaves 1999). They feel that engaging in some particular kind of music can help in forming and expressing their identity (Goulding, Shankar & Elliot 2011).
Crompton and McKay (1997) enunciated ins and outs of conducting festival and event motivation studies with the belief that it will help in increasing satisfaction from visiting festivals. They suggested that awareness about festival motivation will help in designing appropriate offerings for visitors, in recognizing the factors influencing their decisions and eventually increasing their satisfaction levels with the events. People involve in certain products or services in order to satisfy their needs, hence festivals should be designed keeping in view the expectations of the visitors from the particular event. Festival elements may suffer from suboptimal presentation in case of inadequate awareness about visitors’ needs (Crompton & McKay 1997). Crompton and McKay (1997) studied the relevance of the seven motive domains in context of the 10 days festival including various non-sporting events organised by Fiesta San Antonio and inferred that people may have different motives for any kind of event and different events can satisfy the similar needs to different degree. It is possible that the same event type is capable of satisfying different needs. It found that festival visitations are more influenced by recreational motives in comparison to tourism offerings (Crompton & McKay 1997).
Research Gap
Festivals draw the attention of most scholars due to their universality and popularity in terms of visitors’ experiences and occupy a significant place in cultures all around the world. Hence, sociologists and anthropologists find great interest in studying the subject and developing relative theories. Festival studies have also proved appealing for the students and event organizers as these are associated with creativity, crowd pulling and generating emotional reactions (Getz 2010). The value of festivals to culture were discussed in several researches, but there has been little research on the correlation of visitors’ motivations and satisfaction with respect to these festivals.
Despite holding a significant place in the event related literature, festivals were not considered separate and independent category of events (Getz 2010). The research done in this field is mainly associated with the economic impacts and visitors’ motivation. It is necessary for the festival organizers to see relationship between the motivational factors and the satisfaction factors of visitors’ participation in the music festivals and to gain insights about their event experiences so that significant perceptions can be developed for better planning and improvement in future (Boer et al. n.d.). Therefore, this research work aims to provide the insight into motivations of university students for participating in a particular music festival and their experiences related to the satisfaction of these motives, using Chinese university students’ as the sample of study.
Conception Model
A specific research model has been developed for the present study that includes motivational factors such as the festival image, destination image, experience opportunity, cost, trip quality and festival quality to assess visitors’ experiences and satisfaction levels with a particular festival.
Hypotheses
In view of the literature reviewed for the purpose of the study, some hypotheses have been generated that require to be tested through survey on the research area. These are:
H1: festival image is related to satisfaction positively
H2: destination image is related to satisfaction positively
H3: experience opportunities is related to satisfaction positively
H4: cost is related to satisfaction positively
H5: trip quality is related to satisfaction positively
H6: festival quality is related to satisfaction positively
Case Study
This paper focuses on the Chinese students’ motivation for visiting the Strawberry Music Festival in China and their satisfaction with respect to their motivations for participating in the event. Organized by the key indie music company in China, Modern Sky Entertainment, the festival was earlier known with the name of Modern Sky (Shwartz 2015).
Founded in 2009, Strawberry Music Festival is an entertaining music experience for the youngsters every spring. It attracts the maximum number of spectators in China. This popular music festival has evolved tremendously with the visitors’ number ranging from 10,000 in the first year of its inception (2009) to 50 thousand in 2013 (2014 Strawberry Music Festival 2014).
The Strawberry Music Festival started its journey from Beijing and expanded its exposure to 12 Chinese cities in 2014 drawing 710,000 visitors altogether. The attendance of festival visitors was 150,000 and100, 000 in Beijing and Shanghai respectively. The youth of China is in fact hungry for Modern Sky’s indie music offering and the end result is their prompt growth. “The company makes 75 percent of its income from festivals and the general revenue has increased over 300 percent in the last three years” (Shwartz 2015, par. 4). Modern Sky’s annual Strawberry festival pulls a huge number of spectators in Beijing and Shanghai during its three days performance in May. Proving a tremendous money spinner for Modern Sky, the festival has been a stimulus for many other similar festivals in China (Williamson 2014). It is one of the biggest and best music festival in the competition and brings forth the most appealing and charismatic indie, punk, metal and electro talents to the big stage (Strawberry festival brings local, foreign talents to Beijing 2014).
Research shows that “pop and rock music are most popular among Beijing youth; the statistics show that rock—be it from the west or from China—remains a popular sound for Beijing youth (Kloet 2012). The co-founder of Split Works (a music company founded with an aim to bring international acts to China), Archie Hamilton believes that a “good festival is encapsulated in the vibe” (Outdoor Music: Split Works 2013, par. 3). Hamilton finds the Modern Sky’s festival more promising and attractive for Chinese youth for being a low cost way to have fun in a festival environment and enjoy listening to songs and exchanging thoughts with friends (Outdoor Music: Split Works 2013). The Modern Sky Festival is known as an outdoor festival specializing in rock music. The festival takes place in Beijing, China’s capital city. In 2007, the first festival was held, and it gained its popularity among the young public (Jing 2013).
Methodology
Introduction
This chapter will provide a discussion of the methodology. Data collection tools used to analyze the relationships between motivational factors and satisfied factors that make university students to get involved in music festivals will also be discussed. This part describes the research methodology appropriate for conducting the study, and it includes primary and secondary research, quantitative analysis, its advantages and disadvantages, questionnaire design, data collection and ethical consideration.
Primary and Secondary Research
Primary research and secondary research are two different terms which should be implicit in a different way since both the concepts are totally different from each other. Information gathered from actual experience of persons is known as the primary data. Investigators start from collecting secondary data. The next step is the primary research. The researcher can refer to interviews, questionnaires, and direct observation. In this case, the secondary data is the published information gathered by others. Focusing on secondary data, a researcher can save the time necessary for collecting data. Moreover, the primary research is an expensive procedure. Primary research is considered to be of better quality in comparison to secondary research since a researcher collects data on his own by spending a lot of time in it. The advantage of secondary data is using the prepared statistics and factual data without the additional research. However, there are drawbacks because it is difficult to check the data and approve its reliability.
Primary research is generally elaborative because it is used for both qualitative and quantitative purposes but data which is received from secondary research is not much in detail because indirect sources are used in receiving such data. Primary research is done with too much hard work though secondary research is much easier in comparison to this. Many sources and data are involved in doing secondary research. It includes books, periodicals annual reports, statistical data and case studies etc (Difference between Primary Research and Secondary Research 2011).
Primary Quantitative Research and Its Advantages and Disadvantages
The presented research is a quantitative analysis. It is also a descriptive survey examining whether there is any relationship between university students’ motivation and satisfaction of music festival. The findings aim to present a comples analysis of the data from a selected population to state this relationship. According to Dawson (2009), the difference between qualitative and quantitative methods should be understood by researchers (Research Methodology: An Introduction n.d.). Qualitative research uses personal information. Dawson (2009) notes that qualitative research refers to attitudes, behavior, and experiences with the help of interviews. This research focuses on deep feelings and opinions of survey participants (Research Methodology: An Introduction n.d.).
Quantitative research is known as a pragmatic approach. The quantified data is usually objective. The data is collected with interviews and specially structured questionnaires. Dawson (2009) states that quantitative research can reach more people than the qualitative research. Still, skilful and experienced researchers are needed. According to Veal (2005), traits of qualitative approach include:
Understanding of the personal experiences;
People’s understanding is more important than external causes;
The participants’ point of view is a matter;
Personal changes are important;
Human-interest problems are discussed.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Quantitative Research
Advantages of Quantitative Research:
Testing already created theories
Testing hypothesis which was created before data collection
Data is useful for quantitative predictions
Helps in collecting data in speed like, telephone interviews
Providing accurate, numerical, quantitative data
Analyzing data is not much time consuming since it is done with the help of statistical software
In this type of research, there may be the possibility of having higher credibility of many powerful people like, politicians, administrators, people funding programs etc.
This research focuses on studying a large number of population
Disadvantages of Quantitative Research:
There is a possibility that the researchers’ categories do not show the understandings of local constituencies
It is also possible that the theories of researchers do not depict the understandings of local constituencies
Knowledge which is generated from such type of research could be very general and abstract which cannot applied to specific contexts (Strengths and Weaknesses of Quantitative Research n.d.).
Reasons to Choose the Quantitative Research
The used research methodology is mainly quantitative. Referring to this methodology, the hypotheses can be determined, measured, and analyzed. The method is useful to determine the results quantity and consistency. The method contributed in stating the relationships between university students’ motivation and satisfaction of music festival. The descriptive representation and collected quantifiable data can be statistically verified and analyzed to determine the research effectiveness. Quantitative method was chosen because of need to have satisfied value to support the arguments in this study. The analysis of the data was done using SPSS.
Questionnaire Design
The research instrument is survey questionnaires. The survey was conducted offline as well as online. All participants were provided with questionnaires in order to determine their level of their satisfaction and motivation level to get involved in music festival. The survey instrument was based on general questions related to persons’ understanding of the subject. Open-ended and closed questions were used.
The following questions were proposed:
What motivates you to participate in music festivals?
What are your expectations when you get involved in the music festivals?
How often do you get satisfied when you participate in these festivals?
In-depth interviews are employed for exploring the persons’ view of the situation (Research Methodology: An Introduction n.d.). The survey provided statistical quantitative data to confirm the findings presented by qualitative data. The statistical survey guarantees standardized information, and it is a well-organized way to collect data regarding the understanding of a subject by respondents. For the purpose of this study, a Likert scale, a bipolar scaling method, is followed to develop the questionnaire. A Likert scale is used to develop questionnaires to receive psychometric replies. The degree of agreement and preferences of respondents is measured. These scales do not refer to comparative techniques. A single feature is evaluated. The level of agreement has to be shown with the statements in an ordinal scale (Bertram n.d.).
The Likert Scale is an easy to use system in the surveys. It can be in the form of self- completion questionnaires or can be given as a self-completion part of survey, administered by an interviewer (Brace 2008). In this system, participants are asked to show their degree of agreement with the given statement. Likert scale system uses five-point scale system where the respondents have to pick any one option from the given five points. The 5-point Likert scale was used to measure each statement, with 1 represents strongly disagree, 5 represents strongly agree, and 3 represents neutral. Before the final distribution of the questionnaire, a test research was carried out. For this purpose, 10 copies of questionnaire were sent randomly through email. The aim of the pilot study was to make sure that the questionnaire is easy to understand to the participants. Then the questionnaire was sent to the sample selected for the research.
The design is best suited for this study. The rationale behind the choice of the design is that it studies individuals or objects as whole units and not in parts. The design also investigates the motivational factors and satisfied factors that make Chinese students to get involved in music festivals in depth with a view of understanding it more broadly. Quantitative research methodology is used because data (perceived effectiveness) being tested in this study was through various sources which support it. The study is guided by the actual data collected from the respondents, and the purpose of the study is to analyze them. Such worldview requires the analysis of the strength of the facts and comments.
A systematic procedure and structure in the research process are referred to because it follows a rule-bound approach, which meant that this worldview made use of surveys, content analyses, field experiments, and other assessments that will collect verifiable data (Philimore & Goodson 2004). The worldview also entails the focus on data that will reveal trends, patterns, and statistical relationships. A quantitative research methodology was used because the method utilized open-ended questions as well as close questions; pre-determined approaches, and numeric data (Creswell 2003).
According to Ross (1999), the quantitative method is more frequently associated with using surveys, which entails studying a large number of subjects that is drawn from a specific population. The research design for this study employed the use of survey questionnaires and analyzing data gathered from the respondents. These were prepared in advance, and the questions were reviewed to find their relevancy in the concept being investigated. The language used in the questionnaires was relatively moderate to be understood by the people and the procedure was understood. There were some short answers type questions too where the participants had to choose just one answer out of five options.
Reliability
The data collection method has been tested and validated by past studies (Sunderman, Christopher & Orfield 2004). The strategy for obtaining good measures for the study involves upholding appropriateness of the study for the purpose of the study. Thus, the instrument section clearly defined the processes for this method, which will enable future researchers to repeat the study. In order to uphold the reliability of this study, the participants were selected according to their genders, age, education etc. The questionnaire targeted people from different universities.
Population and Sampling Procedure
For data collection, students of Chinese universities were selected. The choice of location was based on accessibility of organisations for the researcher, referring to Singleton’s (1993) argument about the ideal accessible setting. The population of interest for this study is 203 people both male and female from different universities. This distribution is done on the basis of gender, age, education level, monthly income. A large no of participants is used in the sample. Since this is a descriptive design, sampling is a significant process because of the need to obtain an accurate representation of the population (Heck 2004).
Data Collection Procedures
Primary and secondary data are used to get proper answers of the research questions. For this study the in-depth interview was chosen as data collection method, based on the questionnaire. The survey took place offline as well as online so they could feel relaxed and comfortable and could answer the questions with their full thoughts, experiences and feelings. According to Kinnear and Taylor (1979), “In-depth interviews may be defined as an unstructured personal interview which uses extensive probing to get a single respondent to talk freely and to express detailed beliefs and feelings on a topic with little directional influence from the researcher” (as cited in Research Methodology: An Introduction n.d.).
During this procedure the author posted the questionnaire on a website to collect data. At the same the author asked some Chinese university students to fill in the questionnaire.
The target groups for this research were both male and female from different Chinese universities. A sample that is fully representative of attitude and views of the students who were interested in music festivals was selected. Sampling is a technique used by researchers to gather information. It involves selecting individuals or objects from a population or a group for study. The main research instruments to be used in this study were questionnaires, which were accessible both offline and online.
After making the survey questionnaire, some Chinese university students were approached directly but some got access of the questionnaire online. The test-retest method was used. The questionnaire was given to the respondents to fill for a later scoring. The participants were given sufficient time to complete the questionnaire. After one week, the same questionnaire was given to the group for scoring.
Limitations
The limitations that were observed in this study were:
There was a time limit for completing this project.
The data gathered from various university students can be biased.
There was some difficulty to communicate properly to the students
Since a part of the survey was done online, it does not disclose the character of the whole students.
Ethical Considerations
Ethical problems referred to qualitative research and quantitative researches differ. The ethical conflict occurs in connection to how a researcher approaches a community group and what kind of effect he may have on the participants. The main focal point of qualitative research is to define, explore and examine people their likely atmosphere.
Respondents were made aware of the purpose of the study, the researchers agreed not to reveal the identities of the participants and not to disclose their personal information for ethical reasons. All the respondents were made sure that their views on any questions would be kept confidential. This was to win their trust so the quality of data could be good. A particular time frame of the survey was decided and it was determined that interview time would not exceed from the set time and the respondents would not be stressed except they themselves wanted time for answering questions.
Main Findings
Introduction
The chapter discusses the findings of the research with references to data collected with the help of questionnaires.
Demographic Information and Characteristics
The distribution of the sample is examined with the focus on the distribution of gender, age, education level, monthly income, and times attendees participated in the music festival. Referring to the results, 108 participants are males while 95 are females, accounted 53.2% and 46.8% of the sample respectively (Figure 1, Table 1).
As shown in the results, 27.09% of the participants’ age ranges from 26 to 35, which is the largest proportion, followed by participants aged 18-25 (25.62%) and participants aged 36-45, (24.14% of the sample). There are 23.15% of the participants aged above 45 (Figure 2, Table 1).
According to the results on the distribution of education level of the participants, 84 participants have bachelor degree, composed 41.38% of the sample, and it is the largest number. Participants who have diploma present 38.42%, and individuals who have high school or below education level, composed 14.29% of the sample. Finally, there are 5.91% of the participants have postgraduate degree or above (Figure 3, Table 1).
There are 69 participants have income between 3001 and 5000, accounted 33.99% of the sample. 24.63% of participants have the income more than 5000. Participants with the income in 3001-5000 represent 13.35% of the sample. In addition, there are 17 participants have income between 1000 and 2000, and 12 participants have income less than 1000, composed 8.37% and 5.91% of the sample respectively (Figure 4, Table 1).
According to the results on the time the participants have attended in music festival, more than half (52.71%) of the participants have attended the music festival for 4 to 6 times, followed by participants attending the event more than 6 times. Then, participants attending the music festival 1-3 times come (Figure 5, Table 1).
Table 1 summarizes the demographic information.
Table 1: Demographic Characteristics.
Demographic
Type
Frequency
Percent
Cumulative Percent
Gender
Male
108
53.20%
53.20%
Female
95
46.80%
100.00%
Total
203
100.00%
Age
18-25
52
25.62%
25.62%
26-35
55
27.09%
52.71%
36-45
49
24.14%
76.85%
Above 45
47
23.15%
100.00%
Total
203
100.00%
Education
High school or below
29
14.29%
14.32%
Diploma
78
38.42%
52.74%
Bachelor degree
84
41.38%
94.12%
Postgraduate degree or above
12
5.91%
100.00%
Total
203
100.00%
Income
<1000
12
5.91%
5.91%
1000-2000
17
8.37%
14.29%
2001-3000
55
13.35%
27.63%
3001-5000
69
33.99%
61.62%
>5000
50
24.63%
86.25%
Total
203
100.00%
Times participated in a music festival
1- 3 times
43
21.18%
21.18%
4-6 times
107
52.71%
73.89%
More than 6 times
53
26.11%
100.00%
Total
203
100.00%
Relationship between Motivation and Satisfaction
Festival image descriptive statistics
Festival image is composed of 3 statements. In order to check the mean value, standardized deviation, and normality of these 3 statement, the descriptive statistics analysis was conducted on these 3 statements. The results are shown in the following table and figures. The 5-point Likert scale was used to measure each statement, with 1 represents strongly disagree, 5 represents strongly agree, and 3 represents neutral.
Table 6 Festival image descriptive statistics.
Mean
Std. Deviation
Skewness
Std. Error of Skewness
Kurtosis
Std. Error of Kurtosis
FestivalImage1
3.936
0.797
-0.715
0.171
0.051
0.340
FestivalImage2
3.961
0.843
-0.525
0.171
-0.256
0.340
FestivalImage3
3.931
0.853
-0.978
0.171
0.597
0.340
According to results in table 6, the mean value of three items measuring festival image is around 3.9, close to 4, indicating a relative positive feeling about the image of the music festival. The skewness of all three items are below 0, indicating that these scores are skewed to the left. However, the skewness statistics and kurotosis statistics value are less than 1, suggesting that the distribution of the score of these three items can be regarded as normally distributed. The following figures 6-8 summarized the histogram and normal curve on histogram. From the normal curve on the histogram it can also be seen that the scores for these 3 items are normally distributed.
Destination image descriptive statistics
Destination image is composed of three statements. The following table and figures show the mean, standardized deviation and normality of these three statements.
According to results in table 7, statement 1 “The destination is an ideal place for a fun day trip” has the highest mean value of 4.128, followed by statement 3 “The festival is hold in a destination I prefer”, with mean value of 4.030. The statement 2 “The destination is attractive that I have planned to go to” has the lowest mean value of 3.675. The skewness of statement 1 and 3 are below 0 while the skewness of statement 2 is above 0, indicating that statement 1 and 3 are skewed to the left while statement 2 are skewed to the right. However, the skewness statistics and kurotosis statistics value are less than 1, suggesting that the distribution of the score of these three items can be regarded as normally distributed. The following figures 9-11 summarized the histogram and normal curve on histogram. From the normal curve on the histogram it can also be seen that the scores for these 3 items are normally distributed.
Experience opportunities descriptive statistics
Experience opportunities are also composed of three statements. The mean value, standardized deviation, and normality of these three statements are summarized in table and figure below.
According to the results, the statement 1 “This festival is a unique experience” has the highest mean value of 3.813, followed by statement of “There are things that worth me to see and do in the festival”, with mean value of 3.670. Generally the mean value of these three items are higher than 3 but less than 4, indicating a medium to high level positive attitude towards the experience opportunities. The skewness statistics and kurotosis statistics value are less than 1, suggesting that the distribution of the score of these three items can be regarded as normally distributed. The following figures 12-14 summarized the histogram and normal curve on histogram. From the normal curve on the histogram it can also be seen that the scores for these 3 items are normally distributed.
Cost descriptive statistics
Cost is composed of 3 items. In order to check the mean value, standardized deviation, and normality of these 3 statement, the descriptive statistics analysis was conducted on these 3 statements. The results are shown in the following table and figures.
Table 9. Cost descriptive statistics.
Mean
Std. Deviation
Skewness
Std. Error of Skewness
Kurtosis
Std. Error of Kurtosis
Cost1
3.808
0.756
-0.636
0.171
0.180
0.340
Cost2
3.818
0.765
-0.213
0.171
-0.318
0.340
Cost3
3.852
0.843
-0.015
0.171
0.651
0.340
According to the results, all of these three items have mean value around 3.8, indicating a relatively high level of the perceived cost of the music festival. The skewness of all 5 statements is below 0, indicating that theses scores are skewed to the left. However, all the skewness statistics and kurotosis statistics values are less than 1, indicating that the scores of these 3 statements can be regarded as normally distributed. The histograms and normal curve on histogram are shown in the following figures. It can also be seen that all of these 3 statements are normally distributed.
Trip quality descriptive statistics
Trip quality is composed of 5 items. In order to understand the mean, standardized deviation, and normality of these 5 items, the descriptive statistics are summarized in the following table and figures.
Table 10. Trip quality descriptive statistics.
Mean
Std. Deviation
Skewness
Std. Error of Skewness
Kurtosis
Std. Error of Kurtosis
TripQuality1
3.084
1.080
-0.311
0.171
-0.565
0.340
TripQuality2
3.074
0.964
-0.417
0.171
-0.423
0.340
TripQuality3
3.039
0.954
-0.079
0.171
-0.723
0.340
TripQuality4
3.108
1.089
-0.241
0.171
-0.870
0.340
TripQuality5
3.562
0.912
-0.521
0.171
0.578
0.340
According to results in table 10, the statement “It is convenient for the transportation” has the highest mean value of 3.562, followed by statement of “The accommodation is satisfactory”, with mean value of 3.108. The other three statement “People at the destination are warm and friendly”, “It is safe at the festival”, “I have my family/friends together to attend the music festival”, have mean value around 3. The results indicate that the participants’ attitude to the trip quality is neutral, with mean value around 3. All the skewness statistics and kurotosis statistics values are less than 1, indicating that the scores of these 3 statements can be regarded as normally distributed. The histograms and normal curve on histogram are shown in the following figures. It can also be seen that all of these 3 statements are normally distributed.
Festival quality descriptive statistics
Festival quality is composed of 4 items. Table 11 summarized the mean, standardized deviation, and normality of these 4 items. Figure 23-26 show the histogram and normal curve on histogram of these 4 item scores. According to the results, the statement 2 “The sound quality is well” has the highest mean value of 3.69. The other 3 statements have nearly same mean value around 3.5, indicating that the festival quality is at a medium level as perceived by participants. The skewness of all four items are below 0, indicating that these scores are skewed to the left. However, the skewness statistics and kurotosis statistics value are less than 1, suggesting that the distribution of the score of these three items can be regarded as normally distributed. The following figures 23-26 summarized the histogram and normal curve on histogram. From the normal curve on the histogram it can also be seen that the scores for these 4 items are normally distributed.
Table 11. Festival quality descriptive statistics.
Mean
Std. Deviation
Skewness
Std. Error of Skewness
Kurtosis
Std. Error of Kurtosis
Festival Quality1
3.576
0.922
-0.668
0.171
0.572
0.340
Festival Quality2
3.690
1.004
-0.710
0.171
0.200
0.340
Festival Quality3
3.507
1.002
-0.737
0.171
0.423
0.340
Festival Quality4
3.557
0.885
-0.563
0.171
0.429
0.340
Satisfaction descriptive statistics
Satisfaction is composed of three items. The following table and figures summarized the mean, standardized deviation, and normality of these three items. According to the results in table 12, the mean value of statement 2 “ I am not regret to participate in the music festival” has the highest mean value of 3.645, followed by statement 1 “Overall, I am satisfied with experience of participating in the music festival” with mean value of 3.49. This indicates that participants’ satisfaction is at a medium level. The skewness of all three items is below 0, indicating that these scores are skewed to the left. However, the skewness statistics and kurotosis statistics value are less than 1, suggesting that the distribution of the score of these three items can be regarded as normally distributed. The following figures 27-29 summarized the histogram and normal curve on histogram. From the normal curve on the histogram it can also be seen that the scores for these 3 items are normally distributed.
Table 12. Satisfaction descriptive statistics.
Mean
Std. Deviation
Skewness
Std. Error of Skewness
Kurtosis
Std. Error of Kurtosis
Satisfaction1
3.493
0.846
-0.595
0.171
0.586
0.340
Satisfaction2
3.645
0.986
-0.427
0.171
-0.186
0.340
Satisfaction3
3.281
0.876
-0.447
0.171
-0.274
0.340
Reliability Analysis
The reliability analysis evaluates whether multiple items are measuring the same concept or construct. The Cronbach’s Alpha is frequently used to measure the reliability in SPSS. Specifically, if the Cronbach’s Alpha value is above 0.7, then the items measuring the concept can be regarded as reliable and internal consistent. In this study, the Cronbach’s Alpha value was adopted to measure the reliability of the items measuring various constructs. In addition, the Corrected Item-Total Correlation (CICT) was also produced to evaluate whether each individual item is reliable and valid. The minimum requirement of CICT is 0.5.
Festival image
The Cronbach’s Alpha value for festival image is 0.742, which is above the minimum requirement of 0.7, indicating that the items measuring festival image is reliable and internal consistent. By inspecting the CICT, it is found that all of three items have CICT values above 0.5, indicating that there is no problematic statement with low correlation among measurement items.
Table 13. Reliability of Festival Image.
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Mean
N of Items
Cronbach’s Alpha
Festival Image1
0.600
3.943
3
0.742
Festival Image2
0.505
Festival Image3
0.601
Destination image
The Cronbach’s Alpha value for destination image is 0.750, which is above the minimum requirement of 0.7, indicating that the items measuring destination image is reliable and internal consistent. By inspecting the CICT, it is found that all of three items have CICT values above 0.5, indicating that there is no problematic statement with low correlation among measurement items.
Table 14. reliability of Destination image.
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Mean
N of Items
Cronbach’s Alpha
Destination Image1
0.546
3.944
3
0.750
DestinationImage2
0.586
Destination Image3
0.602
Experience opportunities
The Cronbach’s Alpha value for experience opportunities is 0.859, a relatively high level reliability value, indicating that the items measuring experience opportunities is reliable and internal consistent. By inspecting the CICT, it is found that all of three items have CICT values above 0.5, indicating that there is no problematic statement with low correlation among measurement items
Table 15. reliability of Experience opportunities.
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Mean
N of Items
Cronbach’s Alpha
Experience Opportunities1
0.672
3.711
3
0.859
Experience Opportunities2
0.775
Experience Opportunities3
0.759
Cost
The Cronbach’s Alpha value for cost is 0.795, which is above the minimum requirement of 0.7, indicating that the items measuring cost is reliable and internal consistent. By inspecting the CICT, it is found that all of three items have CICT values above 0.5, indicating that there is no problematic statement with low correlation among measurement items
Table 16. reliability of Cost.
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Mean
N of Items
Cronbach’s Alpha
Cost1
0.604
3.826
3
0.795
Cost2
0.655
Cost3
0.659
Trip quality
The Cronbach’s Alpha value for festival image is 0.745. As a relatively medium level reliability value, this also indicates that the 5 items measuring trip quality in internal consistent and reliable. By inspecting the CICT, it is found that all of the 5 items have CICT values above 0.5, indicating that there is no problematic statement with low correlation among measurement items
Table 17. reliability of Trip quality.
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Mean
N of Items
Cronbach’s Alpha
Trip Quality1
0.761
3.173
5
0.745
Trip Quality2
0.783
Trip Quality3
0.767
Trip Quality4
0.706
Trip Quality5
0.560
Festival quality
The Cronbach’s Alpha value for festival quality is 0.739, which is above the minimum requirement of 0.7, indicating that the items measuring festival quality is reliable enough. By inspecting the CICT, it is found that all of three items have CICT values above 0.5, indicating that there is no problematic statement with low correlation among measurement items
Table 18. reliability of Festival quality.
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Mean
N of Items
Cronbach’s Alpha
Festival Quality1
0.521
3.583
4
0.739
Festival Quality2
0.648
Festival Quality3
0.554
Festival Quality4
0.512
Satisfaction
The Cronbach’s Alpha value for satisfaction is 0.859, a relatively higher level reliability, indicating that these three items can measure satisfaction well enough. By inspecting the CICT, it is found that all of three items have CICT values above 0.5, indicating that there is no problematic statement with low correlation among measurement items
Table 19. reliability of Satisfaction.
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Mean
N of Items
Cronbach’s Alpha
Satisfaction1
0.768
3.473
3
0.859
Satisfaction2
0.720
Satisfaction3
0.725
Correlation analysis
Correlation between Festival image and Satisfaction
In order to check the correlation between festival image and satisfaction, a scatterplot was created. As shown in Figure 30 below, there is a positive correlation between festival image and satisfaction. After inspected the positive correlation between festival image and satisfaction, a correlation analysis was conducted and the results are shown in table 20 below. According to the results, festival image has a positive and significant relationship with satisfaction, with correlation value of 0.161 and significant at 0.05 levels. As correlation value below 0.3 represents weak correlation, these results indicate that festival image has a weak correlation with satisfaction. In other words, better festival image will lead to higher level satisfaction.
Table 20.Correlation between Festival image and Satisfaction.
Satisfaction
Festival Image
Satisfaction
Pearson Correlation
1
0.161*
Sig. (2-tailed)
0.022
N
203
203
Festival Image
Pearson Correlation
0.161*
1
Sig. (2-tailed)
0.022
N
203
203
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
Correlation between Destination image and Satisfaction
In order to check the correlation between destination image and satisfaction, a scatterplot was created. As shown in Figure 31 below, there is a positive correlation between destination image and satisfaction.
After inspected the positive correlation between destination image and satisfaction, a correlation analysis was conducted and the results are shown in table 21 below. According to the results, destination is significant and positively related to satisfaction, with correlation value of 0.157 and significant at 0.05 level. As correlation value below 0.3 represents weak correlation, this result indicates that destination image has a weak correlation with satisfaction. In other words, better destination image will lead to higher level satisfaction.
Table 21. Correlation between Destination image and Satisfaction.
Satisfaction
Destination Image
Satisfaction
Pearson Correlation
1
0.157*
Sig. (2-tailed)
0.025
N
203
203
Destination Image
Pearson Correlation
0.157*
1
Sig. (2-tailed)
0.025
N
203
203
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
Correlation between Experience opportunities and Satisfaction
In order to check the correlation between experience opportunities and satisfaction, a scatterplot was created. As shown in Figure 32 below, there is a positive correlation between destination image and satisfaction. After inspected the positive correlation between experience opportunities and satisfaction, a correlation analysis was conducted and the results are shown in table 22 below. According to the results, experience opportunities are significant and positively related to satisfaction, with correlation value of 0.402 and significant at 0.01 level. As correlation value between 0.4 and 0.6 represents medium correlation, the results indicate that experience opportunities have a medium level correlation with satisfaction.
Table 22. Correlation between Experience opportunities and Satisfaction.
Satisfaction
Experience Opportunities
Satisfaction
Pearson Correlation
1
0.403**
Sig. (2-tailed)
0.000
N
203
203
Experience Opportunities
Pearson Correlation
0.403**
1
Sig. (2-tailed)
0.000
N
203
203
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Correlation between Cost and Satisfaction
In order to check the correlation between cost and satisfaction, a scatterplot was created. As shown in Figure 33 below, there is a strong correlation between cost and satisfaction. A correlation analysis was conducted to confirm the relationship between cost and satisfaction. The results are shown in table 23 below. According to the results, cost is significantly related to satisfaction, with pearson correlation of 0.381, and significance value of 0.000, which is below 0.05.
Table 23. Correlation between Cost and Satisfaction.
Satisfaction
Cost
Satisfaction
Pearson Correlation
1
0.381**
Sig. (2-tailed)
0.000
N
203
203
Cost
Pearson Correlation
0.381**
1
Sig. (2-tailed)
0.000
N
203
203
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Correlation between Trip quality and Satisfaction
To examine the correlation between trip quality and satisfaction, a scatterplot is proposed. There is no clear correlation between cost and satisfaction. A correlation analysis was conducted to confirm the relationship between trip quality and satisfaction. The results are shown in table 24 below. According to the results, cost is not significantly related to satisfaction, with significance value of 0.329, which is above 0.05.
Table 24. Correlation between Trip quality and Satisfaction.
Satisfaction
Trip Quality
Satisfaction
Pearson Correlation
1
-0.069
Sig. (2-tailed)
0.329
N
203
203
Trip Quality
Pearson Correlation
-0.069
1
Sig. (2-tailed)
0.329
N
203
203
Correlation between Festival quality and Satisfaction
To examine the correlation between festival quality and satisfaction, a scatterplot is developed. There is a positive correlation between festival quality and satisfaction. After inspected the positive correlation between festival quality and satisfaction, a correlation analysis was conducted and the results are shown in table 25 below. According to the results, festival quality is significant and positively related to satisfaction, with correlation value of 0.508 and significant at 0.01 level. As correlation value between 0.4 and 0.6 represents medium correlation, the results show that festival quality has a medium level correlation with satisfaction.
Table 25. Correlation between Festival quality and Satisfaction.
Satisfaction
Festival Quality
Satisfaction
Pearson Correlation
1
0.508**
Sig. (2-tailed)
0.000
N
203
203
Festival Quality
Pearson Correlation
0.508**
1
Sig. (2-tailed)
0.000
N
203
203
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Regression analysis
Regression analysis is effective to estimate the impact of independent variables on dependent variables (Wagner, 2009). Thus, regression analysis is typically used to examine the role of changing an independent variable in the change of dependent variables (Wagner, 2009). The correlation analysis demonstrates relationships between festival quality, experience opportunities, destination image, experience opportunities and satisfaction. To state how variables affect customer satisfaction and which one can have the largest impact, the multiple linear regressions are used.
Table 26: Model Summaryb.
Model
R
R Square
Adjusted R Square
Std. Error of the Estimate
Durbin-Watson
dimension0
1
0.693a
0.481
0.459
0.68811
1.388
a. Predictors: (Constant), Festival Quality, Trip Quality, Cost , Festival Image, Experience Opportunities, Destination Image
b. Dependent Variable: Satisfaction
The adjusted R square is 0.459, indicating that the independent variables of festival quality, trip quality, cost, festival image, destination image, and experience opportunities can explain 45.9% of the variance of satisfaction
Table 27: ANOVAa.
Model
Sum of Squares
df
Mean Square
F
Sig.
1
Regression
36.242
6
6.040
12.757
0.000a
Residual
92.806
196
0.474
Total
129.048
202
a. Predictors: (Constant), Festival Quality, Trip Quality, Cost , Festival Image, Experience Opportunities, Destination Image
b. Dependent Variable: Satisfaction
By summarizing the ANOVA table, it can be said that the independent variables of festival quality, trip quality, cost, festival image, destination image, and experience opportunities can predict the dependent variable of satisfaction at a significance of 0.01, by considering F=12.757.
Table 28: Coefficientsa.
Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized Coefficients
t
Sig.
Collinearity Statistics
B
Std. Error
Beta
Tolerance
VIF
(Constant)
1.901
0.448
4.239
0.000
Festival Image
0.334
0.128
0.228
3.262
0.003
0.314
3.186
Destination Image
0.220
0.129
0.151
2.231
0.033
0.312
3.207
Experience Opportunities
0.473
0.113
0.360
4.536
0.000
0.336
2.975
Cost
0.380
0.104
0.288
3.961
0.000
0.489
2.044
Trip Quality
-0.027
0.076
-0.024
-0.350
0.727
0.812
1.231
Festival Quality
0.517
0.103
0.462
5.036
0.000
0.435
2.297
a. Dependent Variable: Satisfaction
Results in table 28 above show that festival image, destination image, experience opportunities, cost, and festival quality can significantly and positively impact satisfaction, with significance value all below 0.05. Specifically, festival quality has the biggest impact on satisfaction, with standardized coefficient of 0.462, followed by experience opportunities, with standardized coefficient of 0.360, and cost, with standardized coefficient of 0.288. However, trip quality was found to have no significant impact on satisfaction, with significance value of 0.727, which is higher than 0.05. From these results, it can be concluded that H1, H2, H3, H4, H6 are supported fully, when H5 is almost rejected.
Conclusion
This study was conducted to analyse the relationship between the Chinese university students’ motivational factors and their satisfaction with respect to participation in the Strawberry Music Festival in China. Motivational factors such as festival image, destination image, experience opportunities cost, trip quality and festival quality are found to be related to students’ satisfaction positively.
According to the results, more than half (52.71%) of the participants have attended the music festival for 4 to 6 times. It is evident through previous research that music festivals work as powerful mediums for inspiring, motivating and stirring transformation for an improved world. Chinese students also observe these festivals as a common platform for gathering, making relationships with other people and celebrating with others. They use this platform for building self-identity and active participation in music festivals allows them to express their feelings, uplift their moods and provide them opportunity to experience things of their interests.
It is observed that the image of the music festival is a motivating factor for the students. The destination image is also positively related to students’ motivation to participate in the Strawberry Music Festival. Most of them responded that they participated in the festival because the destination was an ideal place for a fun day trip. It is evident in previous research that people want to visit music festival because they want to seek pleasure and avoid the boredom of daily routine life. The students’ felt that they could gain a unique experience through participation in the Strawberry Music Festival. Researchers believe that students are interested in visiting the music festivals to gain a whole new experience than that of their usual surroundings. Being free from the college routine and enjoying with friends in doing something of their choice gives them excitement. Meeting family and relatives and socializing with friends and new people are definitely the motivating factors for students to attend the music festivals. Young generation is always keen on making new contacts and exchanging their views with others.
With respect to the push and pull factors, it is found that the same event type is capable of satisfying different needs. Students’ expectation with the Strawberry Music Festival is influenced by both ‘push and pull’ factors. As Iso- Ahola (1982) describes that any leisure activity is seen as a potential satisfaction provider by people because it offers some intrinsic rewards like tones of mastery and capability and allows them to come out of their routine environment. Generally, both the components are present in the leisure motivation and specifically in tourism motivation though their significance varies for different groups or individuals.
A significant level of satisfaction was observed among the students with their visit to the Strawberry Music Festival. Their needs to explore something new and different, interesting and exciting were fulfilled. Crompton & McKay (1997) believe that satisfaction will result with the fulfilment of the needs.
The correlation analysis indicated that there are relationships between festival quality, experience opportunities, destination image, experience opportunities and satisfaction. Further, the multiple linear regression analysis indicates that festival image; destination image, experience opportunities, cost, and festival quality can significantly and positively impact satisfaction. Festival quality has the biggest impact on satisfaction followed by experience opportunities, and cost. The analysis of the data leads to the conclusion that H1, H2, H3, H4, H6 are supported while H5 is rejected.
Suggestions
Music festivals are unique events and need appropriate planning in order to become significant and remarkable tourists’ destinations. Tourism authorities need to identify factors that affect peoples’ decisions about their holiday destinations for planning their activities more effectively (Kassean & Gassita 2003).
The organizers should make efforts to gather information about the motivational factors that drive people to participate in music festivals. Accordingly, they should plan their programs and advertisements based on their expectations and needs. It is good for covering up any loopholes in the events and makes them a success by providing greater level of satisfaction to the visitors (Crompton &McKay 1997).
Popescu and Carbos (2012) believe that events need to be appropriately planned including all the minute details into consideration. The organizers of the festivals and events have to work logically in order to augment the level of satisfaction among the participants and the audience (Popescu & Carbos 2012).
For this purpose “a successful matching of the push and pull motives is essential for a marketing strategy in destination areas, and the examination of the motives are useful in segmenting markets, designing promotional programs, and decision making about destination development” (Mohammad & Som 2010, p. 44).
Studies reveal that music has the power to improve positive emotions and wellbeing (Harrison, 2014). The most important thing that a music festival should generate is the feeling of fun. Another important thing is a beautiful setting. Though people hardly travel in China, but music festivals need to create such pull that people are compelled to visit the festival irrespective of the distance of the venue (Outdoor Music: Split Works 2013).
It is important that the possible negative impacts of the music festivals on the students like drug or alcohol abuse, antisocial behaviour should be researched in order to design preventive measures in this connection. Deeper study is required into the ways of offering better music festival experiences, enhancing their positive outcomes and mitigating their negative impacts. Such knowledge may help students to make better choices with respect to participation in the music festivals leading to improved, fruitful and satisfying lives.
It is further required that the festival designers should not only depend on the manifestation of arts but also encompass the unified theory of festival experiences. Further, “the worth of festivals and other celebrations has to conceptualized in terms other than those found in the event tourism discourse, with emphasis on personal, societal and cultural contributions” (Getz 2010, p. 21). The present study indicates that festival quality, experience opportunities, cost have significant impact on satisfaction, hence, organizers should appropriately look into all the minute details of these elements while planning the events. They should work rationally in order to enhance satisfaction among the participants and the audience of the music festivals.
Contributions and implications
This research will be helpful to the organizers in providing better offerings so that more students and visitors get attracted towards the Strawberry Music Festival and the desirability of the festival can be augmented. An attempt has been made through this research to throw light on the factors that motivate the Chinese students’ to visit the popular music festivals in China and their experiences with respect to the festival image, destination image, opportunities to involve in different exciting activities, trip quality and festival quality etc. The results of the study may provide direction to the organizers in terms of improvement in the problem areas and suggest them useful tips for increasing the attractiveness and desirability of the festival.
Limitations
The present research wasfocused on the Chinese university students’ participation in the music festivals; hence, the results cannot be applied to the overall population and may vary in different settings. Further, there is a possibility of biasness on the part of the university students with respect to festival image or destination image as different people have different motivations for travelling and students’ choices for travel and leisure destinations are followed by a wide array of motivations. Besides this, there could be possibility of students not knowing the real reasons of their participation in the music festival. Dann’s (1981) assertion about the limitations in collecting real data from tourists applies to this research work too. According to him, investigating the actual reasons behind tourists travelling may be affected because:
Tourists may reject reflecting on the real motives
Tourists cannot reflect on real intentions
Tourists reject expressing motives
Tourists may cannot express real motives (as cited in Williams 2004, p.76).
Moreover, there could a possibility of miscommunication and miscalculation as the part of the survey and data collection is done online.
Ethical considerations
In order to state the value of the research, it was kept under consideration that the time and studies of the students do not get affected by the survey. For this purpose most of the survey questionnaires were distributed online and time frame was set for part of the survey that was conducted personally. However, respondents were given sufficient time to complete their survey. Respondents knew the study purpose and were assured about the privacy of their identities and personal data for ethical reasons. Respondents were assured that their views would be kept confidential to receive unbiased and authentic data from them.
Future research work
This research aimed to understand the Chinese students’ motives for participating in the Strawberry Music Festivals and the relation between their motives and satisfaction level with the festival. The study deduces the conclusion that there is a positive correlation between the Chinese university students’ motivations and satisfaction with respect to visiting the particular festival. However, in view of the significance of subject and its usefulness for the festival organizers, future research is recommended in this field.
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Hip hop is a subculture that has spread rapidly over the past 30 years, pioneered by the DJ Kool Herc who introduced hip hop music in the Bronx, New York City, from where it has spread across the globe to listeners and performers, gathering a solid fan base along the way. There are four primary elements of hip-hop culture: MCing, DJing, graffiti, and breakdancing. Other secondary elements of this culture are beatboxing, hip hop fashion, and hip hop slang.
DJing
DJing existed before hip hop did, but hip hop’s contribution to the concept of DJing was significant because it gave it greater scope and more techniques than it previously had. Kool DJ Herc was the first hip hop DJ as he separated “breaks” in albums, i.e. the part which emphasized the beat, and created hip hop this way. Following his techniques, other DJs such as Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore, and Grandmaster Caz also introduced new elements such as scratching.
Scratching is a technique which in hip hop culture is used to gauge the expertise of a DJ, as he is expected to produce new sounds simply by moving a record back and forth while it is playing on a turntable and at the same time manipulating with the crossfader on a DJ mixer. DJ Grandmaster Flash described scratching in Toop (1991, p.65) as “nothing but the back-cueing that you hear in your ear before you push it [the recorded sound] out to the crowd.”
As convention dictates, DJs usually use two turntables at the same time, which are connected to many other electronic musical tools and equipment such as a DJ mixer, an amplifier, and speakers. The DJ then produces distinctive sounds by manipulating and working tricks on the two albums playing simultaneously such as isolating breaks or scratching. Hence the two songs then become one unique sound.
When hip hop first originated, the DJs were very popular, and considered the stars of hip hop, but since 1978 MCs have taken over this status largely due to the contribution of Melle Mel, who was part of the crew of DJ Grandmaster Flash (Rosen, 2007).
Nevertheless, in recent times there have been a number of noteworthy DJs who have gained a massive following. Popular names include, aside from the above mentioned, Mr. Magic, DJ Premier, DJ Scratch, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Scott La Rock, DJ Pete Rock, DJ Muggs, DJ Clue, and DJ Q-Bert. The popularity of turntablism, described as “A phonograph in the hands of a ‘hip-hop/scratch’ artist who plays a record like an electronic washboard with a phonographic needle as a plectrum, produces sounds which are unique and not reproduced – the record player becomes a musical instrument” (Cox & Warner, 2004), has led to a renewed focus on the skills of the DJ.
MCing/Rapping
MCing is also known as Emceeing, Rapping, Spitting, Rhyme spitting, and even simply as Rhyming. This is one of the most fundamental aspects of hip-hop culture in general and hip-hop music in particular. In the 1960s, the word rap was present in the African American English dialect and it meant “to converse”. Soon after, it became associated with the musical style which has originated with the West African folk poets who were known as griots. Rapping is accompanied by a beat and can be delivered even without one, simply as rhythmic verses (Toop, 2000).
Graffiti
Graffiti is another cultural pillar of hip hop. In the 1960s it was used as a tool of expression by people wishing to make a political statement, such as activists, as well as by street gangs to ensure that their territory is well-marked. Around the late 1960s then, Philadelphia graffiti writers Top Cat, Cool Earl, and Cornbread started to produce their signatures on graffiti, from where the movement spread to New York City.
Raki 183 and Taki 168, one of the founders of graffiti in New York would write their nickname and street number, and put their graffiti all over a train, where it was carried by subway all over the city. Writers from the Bronx started by using bubble lettering, but the art of graffiti was eventually characterized by the elaborate Brooklyn style referred to by Tracy 168 as “wildstyle.” In later years, Dondi, Futura 2000, Daze, Blade, Zephyr, Crash, and Lady Pink became popular graffiti artists (Toop, 2000).
Graffiti and hip-hop culture are closely related because the early graffiti artists were avid practitioners of other elements of hip hop as well, and graffiti had a definite presence in areas where other cultural aspects of hip hop were slowly emerging. In the same way that breakdancing is termed the physical expression of rap music, graffiti is viewed as the visual expression of the same. Hip hop graffiti gained mainstream acclaim through the book Subway Art (Copper & Chalfant, 1984) and the TV show ‘Style Wars’, first shown in 1984.
Breakdancing / BBoying
Breakdance is a central part of hip hop culture and is one of the initial forms of hip hop dance, where dancers show off their dance skills in a form of a contest, without there being any physical contact between the adversaries. It is also known as B-boying (or B-girling for women) or breaking. While b-boying is often associated with other funk dancing styles which emerged around the same period, i.e. the 1960s, in California, such as “popping”, “ticking” and “boogaloo”, it is distinct from these. It originated in the South Bronx similar to other aspects of hip hop (Palmer, 1981).
It was at DJ Kool Herc’s parties that the term B-boy first came into being because the dancers at these parties would always get in front of the audience at the break section of the song, and dance their very best moves in an entirely unique and frenetic way. The documentary “The Freshest Kids”, the fictional film “Beat Street” and the TV program “Style Wars” have all documented this style, which is one of the most crucial elements of hip hop culture.
In the 1980s, b-boying was very common and popular among people and it was not unusual to see a group of people with radio, on a sidewalk or playground, showing off their skills to an audience. Today hip hop as a dance form is gaining popularity and while Bboying was the starting point for hip hop dance, the latter has now evolved to include a larger number of moves than just the breaking ones. Hip hop dance differs from most other dance forms because it has little structure if any at all, and very few rules regarding steps or positions (Chang, 2005).
Beatboxing is regarded by many as the fifth element of hip hop, said to be the vocal expression of the culture. Beatboxing refers to the art of creating rhythms, melodies, and beats by simply using the human mouth, and it got its name from the very initial drum machines, which were called beatboxes. It is a method of creating hip-hop music and at times is accompanied by rapping. In the 80s, beatboxing was a very popular art form and artists such as Darren “Buffy, the Human Beat Box” Robinson and Biz Markie were famous for their beatboxing skills. Then in the late 80s, its popularity started decreasing but towards the turn of the 21st century, the release of Rahzel’s “Make the Music 2000” contributed to the renewed taste for this form of hip hop expression (Chang, 2005).
Today hip hop has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry and while the elements above might form its core, there are various other aspects that also have a significant role in defining its scope. Hip hop today is a genuine political and cultural movement, according to KRS-ONE, an important figure in the hip hop community and founder of the Temple of Hiphop, which includes the elements mentioned above, as well as hip hop fashion, hip hop slang, street knowledge, and street entrepreneurship. The Temple of Hip Hop is a Ministry, Archive, School, and Society with the goal to maintain as well as promote hip hop culture (The Temple of Hip Hop).
History of Hip Hop
Throughout American history, the African American community has always had some version of verbal acrobatics or chanting which involves rhymes. Some of these rhymes have been called various names such as Shining of the Titanic, Signifying, Testifying, prison ‘jail house’, and double Dutch jump rope.
The Bronx in New York City is the place where the roots of hip hop can be found, particularly in the large block parties held in NYC in the 1970s. Back in the 1930s, a significant number of the residents of Harlem belonged to the West Indies and the block parties of the 1980s reflected this association by being astonishingly similar to Jamaican parties.
These celebrations were large, held outdoors, where music was loud and came from expensive stereos, and people would start conversing with lyrics or engage in toasting, which refers to talking or chanting over a rhythm or a beat. As the RM Hip Hop Magazine states, “in the South Bronx, the half speaking, half singing the rhythmic street talk of ‘rapping’ grew into the hugely successful cultural force known as Hip Hop.” Jamaican immigrants such as DJ Kool Herc and poets who spoke rather than sang lyrics or poetry such as Gil Scott-Heron were the leading innovators in early hip hop.
As DJs competed with each other and isolated percussion breaks, which dancers loved to show their best moves on, MCs started chanting or talking over the beats, this was the beginning of rap music. These percussion breaks which were isolated and lengthened also led to the evolution of a similar style in Jamaica known as dub. Nevertheless, rap music of this time consisted of both, good quality material by experts, as well as mediocre or poor quality material hurriedly put together in order to earn a quick buck. As Lil Rodney Cee of Funky Four Plus One (which was famous because it was the first Hip Hop group from the Bronx to have gotten a recording deal) put it, Cowboy of Grandmaster Flash and Furious Five is regarded as “the first MC that I know of…He was the first MC to talk about the DJ”.
The first few rap songs ever recorded include “King Tim III (Personality Jock)” by Fatback Band and “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang, which was a massive hit as it attained the 36th spot on the Billboard charts (Toop, 1991).
Rap became very popular because it just like the verbal/rhyme jousting and games that had been popular in the African American community, it gave the New York youth a chance and a medium to freely express themselves. Also, an important reason why rap caught on was that it was accessible for everyone regardless of how much money or resources they had. It was a verbal skill, which anyone who was interested in could practice and perfect the art of.
It also became popular because they were no rules or restrictions, and hence, there were unlimited challenges to be original and produce new, unique rhymes to go with the beat of the music. The ideal end goal was to be regarded as ‘def or good by peers. Rap also allowed people to stay true to themselves, as it allowed one to adapt the technique to their own personality, and then their personality would reflect in their rhyme and beat. Hence it definitely served as a medium of expression, which played a major role in its popularity (Chang, 2007).
Incidentally, all of the four basic elements of hip hop described earlier had this factor in common. Their popularity was in large part attributed to their serving as a form of self-expression, the driving force behind them being people’s need to be seen and heard.
D (n.d) discusses how at the time before hip hop originated, New York’s Black radio station started to change their positioning in order to cater to an older, more affluent, and primarily whiter audience. Due to this, young people were left with not much to listen to especially when “bubble gum and Europeanized versions of disco music began to hit the airwaves.” This was because many people perceived this style of music to lack a certain personality and soul, and seemed mechanic and formulaic.
In the time before hip hop music evolved, like Afrika Bambaataa (a DJ, community leader in the Bronx, as well a pioneering force in the early development of Hip Hop throughout the 1970s) said, that New York’s relationship with funk music weakened. Black radio started patronizing “established rock acts doing generic-sounding disco tunes” while Black artists such as George Clinton and James Brown were nowhere to be found on the airwaves. At this time, a void was created in music and hip hop emerged to fill this gap. Simply put, “hip hop was a direct response to the watered-down, Europeanized, disco music that permeated the airwaves.”
Hip Hop Fashion
Hip Hop fashion refers to a particularly unique style of dress which, similar to other elements of hip hop culture, originated with the Black and Latino youth living in the Bronx, and it was later developed further as it was influenced by the hip hop culture of Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and the South among other areas. The fashion is very reflective of the attitude that the hip hop culture emanates, and while it may have as its founders the African American youth, today it has been embraced by all ethnicities and nationalities (Chang, 2005).
When fashion giants such as Adidas, Nike, and Kangol started producing styles and clothes in the 1980s associated with the hip hop scene, this fashion truly became a style of its own. In this decade, hip hop fashion was characterized by tracksuits of bold colors, jackets made of leather or sheepskin, Dr. Martens boots and sneakers, large eyeglasses, and name belts. Heavy jewelry was also very popular and to this day it is a defining element of hip hop fashion, especially gold necklaces and rings, as they are a sign of prestige and wealth (Chang, 2005).
In the late 1980s and 1990s, traditional African clothing, hairstyles, etc. were a dominant part of hip hop fashion and hip hop artists promoted blousy pants, hats made of kente cloth, Africa chains, and dreadlocks. Gangsta rap, which is one of the genres of hip hop music and “reflects the violent lifestyles of some inner-city youths” (Adaso, n.d) was one of the most dominating influences on hip hop fashion as the styles of prison inmates and street gangsters became popular. Baggy pants which were worn low and without a belt, black ink tattoos, bandanas, and a “homeboy” mentality were all elements that had been taken on by the African American at first and then had spread to the hip hop community in general.
Conclusion
Hip hop as a culture comprises a lot more than just hip hop music or fashion. It is an attitude that has been taken by global media companies, who have partnered with fashion giants, beverage brands, and sports franchises to package it into a complete lifestyle. But as Chang (2007) points out, “the most interesting element driving hip-hop’s global appeal is its cultural and political resonance.” While hip hop may have proved to be an “astonishing moneymaker”, it has also proved to be a powerful medium of youth expression and empowerment. And therein lies its true strength. Young people who find themselves on the outside looking in have chosen this as their voice, and this is what differentiates hip hop from other forms of popular cultures in recent times.
What is also interesting is that these young people have been, more often than not, African American. According to Chang (2007), “Whereas record labels in the 1950s, for example, used personalities like Elvis Presley and Boone to soften rock-and-roll’s edges, rap music has remained, by and large, a defiantly “black” musical form.”
While other ethnicities and nationalities have adopted rap and other elements of hip hop culture, what this means is that hip hop in its most authentic way is very much connected to the prevalent social and political realities. Hip hop culture has become what it is today because it is the voice of the streets, regardless of where in the world these streets exist. It gave the powerless a voice, and connected with them in a way that could not have been predicted and could definitely not have been controlled.
Considering the state of affairs within the company in question, one can assert that the strategies one can apply to make the company more successful are the contingency planning and crisis management.
Obviously, at present, the company uses the crisis management strategy to avoid crisis management, yet it seems that the actions undertaken so far are not enough. While the company tended to focus on single business with Edgar Sr., Edgar Jr. Offered the strategy of diversification, which predetermined certain complexities.
Hence, it cannot be denied that the corporation urgently needs certain stability, which will allow further strategic planning. According to the evidence obtained, the Warner Music Group requires considerable effort to rise from ashes after the Vivendi decade. However, the enterprise is obviously progressing towards success now.
According to what the authoritative sources say (Griffin et al.), the four functions of the management process include such necessary elements as planning, organizational issues, the process of leading the company towards success and the controlling of the processes that are currently running in the given entrepreneurship.
With the help of the aforementioned ingredients working efficiently, one can claim that the given company is bound to succeed in the world market. Considering the state of affairs in Warner Music Corporation at the times when Edgar was the official CEO of the company, one can see that the enterprise suffered to a considerable degree because of the inefficient and highly risky decisions made by the CEO of the company.
Beyond any possible doubt, the company would have escaped the crisis and the deplorable consequences unless Edgar Bronfman Jr. had broken one of the key principles that lie in the basis of the planning process. Once the harmful decision had been undertaken, there was hardly anything that could be done to avoid the damage.
Speaking of defining what makes a good manager in general and the qualities of Edgar Bronfman Jr. as a CEO in particular, one should emphasize that there are several aspects of being a good manager. On the one hand, there is the obvious standard that one is supposed to suit and the principles that one has to follow or making the company prolific. According to these aspects, Edgar Bronfman Jr. can be considered rather inexperienced than incompetent.
However, speaking of the personal issues, such as the business intuition that can lead to the correct choice, or the necessity to refuse the attracting innovations and resort to the time-tested experience of the forerunners, one can claim that Bronfman Jr. lacks certain personal qualities that an ideal manager is supposed to possess. Hence, it can be concluded that Bronfman Jr. is unlikely to make an efficient manager.
Speaking of the skills that managers need to be effective, one should mention such aspects as the technical one, human relations, time management, decision-making and the conceptual skills (Griffin et al.). Considering Edgar Bronfman Jr. as a manager, one can claim with certainty that Edgar lacks the technical and the conceptual skills, since he was not able to understand the way the company works and what helps the corporation obtain its revenues.
As a result, the failure and huge losses followed the unreasonable policy of Bronfman Jr. According to the critics, the lack of conceptual skills, namely, the lack of experience and the inability to predict the outcomes of the actions undertaken led the company astray. However, once choosing the correct strategy, the company is likely to succeed again.
East Asia is the region that includes such countries as China, Japan, Mongolia, North, and South Korea. Taiwan and Tibet are quite disputed territories as the Chinese government considers them to be an integral part of the country, while these states claim their independence (Miller and Shahriari 182). Some of the mentioned countries are highly populated, but in certain areas (especially Tibet), population density is minimal. Nevertheless, irrespective of the differences in the geographical landscape, cultural uniformity is a characteristic feature of the countries of East Asia (Miller and Shahriari 183). This paper includes a brief description of East Asian culture and music, as well as the way the societies evolved.
Chinese Civilization
China is one of the countries that underwent various changes while preserving some values, concepts, or meanings. The Chinese culture started developing as early as the twenty-first century B.C.E., and it was influenced by the landscape of the region (Miller and Shahriari 184). The soil and woods of the plain of the Yellow River became the key elements of the cultural paradigm of China (“BBC Documentary”). The development of technology and the use of bronze and iron shaped the way society and culture evolved bringing to life sophisticated items. The Chinese music development was also affected by social and political changes that took place throughout centuries, from antiquity to the communist traditions settled in the middle of the twentieth century.
Landscape and Materials
It has been acknowledged that the landscape and natural resources available to people have a substantial impact on the way the community residing in this area develops. China could be no exclusion, so its loess and wood were primary treasures valued by ancient people (“BBC Documentary”).
Loess was fertile, which contributed to the development of agriculture, and the woods constituted up to 80% of the territory. However, deforestation led to the almost complete disappearance of woodland with only remnants of the grand nature in Huang Ling (“BBC Documentary”). According to the legends, the Shang dynasty planted the trees there, and the plantations preserved water springs on the plateau. Wood was used to create tombs of the emperors, as well as numerous works of art. Wood was seen as a valuable resource, which was also used in music.
The development of China in the Bronze and Iron Ages was characterized by the creation of majestic pieces of art, economic stability that was followed by the period of unrest and horror. The interaction with the Western world was also instrumental in the further evolution of Chinese culture (Miller and Shahriari 190). The shifts that took place in Chinese society had an influence on the way Chinese music developed as new instruments were created. In addition, people’s memories about wars and horrors of turbulent times became the basis of many musical genres and pieces (“BBC Documentary”).
The twentieth century saw a mixture of trends and concepts with a direct interference of the political agenda (Miller and Shahriari 191). Music was seen as a potent tool of propaganda and a way to affect people’s minds and behaviors.
Chinese Musical Traditions and Concepts
China is characterized by a considerable degree of diversity in nature, people, ideas, and musical instruments. According to the traditions that evolved, Chinese people grouped musical instruments into eight broad categories “known collectively as the basin (or “eight materials”)” – namely, wood, bamboo, metal, stone, clay, skin, silk, and ground” (Miller and Shahriari 190). Due to the philosophical value of the number eight, “a philosophically complete ensemble” would include the instruments of all the categories mentioned above (Miller and Shahriari 190). The types of ensembles tend to bear the name of the materials used to create the instruments.
A characteristic feature of Chinese music is its vocal nature and diversity of regional forms and genres. It is possible to identify the most common topics musicians address in their instrumental or vocal pieces. These are nature, myths and literature, mood, and musical structure. In the majority of cases, the author is anonymous, and “the tune exists at an almost conceptual level” (Miller and Shahriari 191). The tune can be performed in many ways, as a solo or orchestral piece, as a song or unaccompanied tune. Telling stories with the help of musical means is another important tradition that led to the creation and popularization of different types of theatre.
The Guqin
The guqin is one of the symbols of Chinese culture and music. The tunes produced with the help of this instrument are characterized by meditative and intimate tones, which made guqin music “particular to Chinese scholars and philosophers” (Miller and Shahriari 192). This musical instrument is one of the oldest in world history that is currently used. The guqin is a rectangular board zither made of wood with seven silk strings. It is approximately 51 inches long and usually painted black. Eleven circles are made of mother-of-pearl mark vibration or acoustical nodes for the strings.
The musician uses fingers to play the guqin making sliding movements and touching the nodes. Typically, the guqin music comprises five tones, but other pitches can also be used. This music is characterized by short motives, which often makes it seem inconsistent with the Western listener. The guqin was mainly related to scholars who expressed Confucian values and ethics with the help of the instrument. Musical pieces were often inspired by Chinese literature as scholars were expected to be knowledgeable in Chinese poetry, philosophy, and history (Miller and Shahriari 194). Due to its use among a narrow circle of scholars or elites, the guqin music was (and remains) almost unknown to the general public.
Silk and Bamboo Ensemble: Jiangnan Sizhu
Silk and bamboo ensembles consist of string instruments (with strings made of silk) and flutes, fiddles, lutes, and some percussion instruments (made of bamboo). This music is characterized by a more pronounced rhythm, tunes, and phrases, as compared to guqin music (Miller and Shahriari 195). Silk and bamboo ensembles play tunes and compositions “from a limited repertory” that should be known to all musicians (Miller and Shahriari 195). Jiangnan‘s pieces often create mood, allude to a literary character or story, or focus on a historical event. This music is characterized by a duple meter “with obvious downbeats and upbeats” (Miller and Shahriari 199). The created melodies often have over five pitches while rhythms are mainly simple.
One of the most typical features of such ensembles that seem rather peculiar to Western listeners is the heterophonic structure of music. Heterophony is typical of Asian music, and musicians in such ensembles play one tune but in different ways. This style originated from Shanghai, but it was widely used and often modified in different parts of China. In contrast to guqin, Jiangnan music is quite common in daily settings as people play it during weddings or other social occasions.
Amateurs often played this music and formed ensembles. Unlike guqin notations that mainly included charts notifying when to stop or touch strings with some mentioning of pitch or rhythm, Jiangnan music notations use Jian Pu. Jianpu utilizes Arabic numbers that are believed to have been brought by Western missionaries. Rhythm and duration are described in these notations with the help of lines and numbers, and such keys as D and G Diao are mainly utilized.
Beijing Opera
The music of Beijing Opera can seem unusual for Western listeners with its “clangor of percussion” and “nasal-sounding” fiddle (Miller and Shahriari 203). However, live performances make this component of Chinese culture very popular due to its spectacle. Performers have brightly painted faces and masks, exquisite costumes, but the action on the stage is the most striking. Acrobatics based on Chinese martial arts makes Beijing Opera so popular among people of many cultural backgrounds.
Beijing Opera is referred to as Jingju (“capital city opera”) is characterized by little vibrato singing or no vibrato singing at all (Miller and Shahriari 203). The roles are high in range, which makes them sound peculiar for Western listeners and uncommon for Asian listeners. Some roles are performed in a declamatory style, while men performing female roles, which has been a common practice, sing in the falsetto voice.
Two groups of musicians use percussion and melodic instruments to accompany the cation on the stage. The melodic group is further divided into military and civil sections, the former use double-reed while the latter use fiddle. The military group plays percussion instruments exclusively and is led by a conductor. Singers improvise by the role type, linguistic tone, rhythmic pattern, and melodic mode.
Jingju strives for symbolic action and representation of various stories, which makes it different from other types of theatre. The characters are universal types, and every aspect of the play is stylized, and specific language is utilized. While actors in other types of Chinese theatre receive no formal education, those acting in Beijing Opera can obtain an education in specific schools that are usually supported by the government. Jingju is the theatre chosen as a preferred representation of the Chinese theatre, so other types are hardly performed outside the country.
Revolutionary Beijing Opera
Revolutionary Beijing Opera or yangbanxi is a very different form of Chinese theatre irrespective of the meaning its name may suggest. Actresses and actors on the stage are dressed in modern costumes that are often military uniforms (Miller and Shahriari 208). The setting and scenery are also modern and less symbolic. Importantly, Western instruments are mainly used, and even if Chinese traditional musical instruments are employed, Western harmony is utilized. Instead of symbolism, the story is based on “political ramifications” (Miller and Shahriari 209). Positive characters are the followers of Mao, and the villains are Chinese nationalists.
Mongolia
Mongolia is situated between China and Russia and has quite specific grassland landscapes that are called steppes with rather harsh climatic peculiarities. The population density of the country is one of the lowest in the region, and approximately 40% of Mongolians live in the capital city (Miller and Shahriari 213). In the past centuries, the region was inhabited by nomads who depended on horses and military expansion.
In the thirteenth century, Mongol Khans (emperors) were extremely powerful. They managed to conquer Korea, China under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, as well as vast areas of Asia and even some parts of Europe. The empire declined soon and was controlled by China until 1921 (Miller and Shahriari 214). Therefore, the influence of the Chinese culture has been tremendous, but contemporary Mongolia has only a few remnants of its glorious past as the decades under soviet rule had destructive effects.
When discussing the specifics of Mongolian music, it is necessary to note that Mongolians have lived in relative harmony with nature, among cattle and steppe. Ritual singing and music that help people to unite with the spiritual world have been central to this region. Mongolian music is largely represented by urtïn duu (long songs) accompanied by morin khuur music and khoomei (known in English as throat-singing) (Miller and Shahriari 215).
The principal instrument is based on the way of life as it is a long-necked fiddle that is often decorated with a carved horse head at its top. The fiddle has two silk strings and a bow, males mainly play this instrument. Long songs tell stories related to the glorious past of the people, the beauty of nature, and spiritual aspects. Throat singing seems rather peculiar to western listeners, but it is also a natural invention of people who lived in steppes among their horses.
Korea
Korea is situated between two mighty countries, China and Japan, which defined the development of the peninsula. Korea was highly influenced by Chinese culture, and Koreans adopted Confucian teachings and Buddhism. Chinese music also had a significant effect on Korean music, especially when it came to ritual and court music. These genres of Chinese music continued evolving, but Korean court and ritual music remained largely unchanged, which makes Confucian ritual music a-ok “the oldest continuously living music tradition in the world” (Miller and Shahriari 218).
In the first part of the twentieth century, Korea was occupied by the Japanese (from 1810 to 1945). Therefore, some traits of the Japanese culture can also be found. After the end of the Second World War, the country was torn into two new states, North and South Korea. The former has been under the influence of Communist China, while the latter was under the influence of the western world while paying much attention to preserving its traditions.
P’ansori is a traditional genre of music that has become one of the features of Korean culture. P’ansori entails the performance of a vocalist who begins with “a cathartic wail” and then uses numerous vocal techniques ranging from whispers to shouts (Miller and Shahriari 219). The narrative is accompanied by drums music and is linked to such topics as duty, love, virtues, and others. Apart from traditional music, Korean popular music has become a characteristic feature of South Korea. South Korean bands created hits that earned wide popularity in the country and beyond. Many Korean bands and performers (for example, Wonder Girls or BoA) are popular in the USA (Herman). This genre can be seen as a mixture of Western and Asian modernity and traditions.
Japan
Japan is an island country with mountainous landscapes that are hardly appropriate for building or farming. Land, as well as other resources, are rather scarce, so minimalism and precision have become the major characteristic features of Japanese people (Miller and Shahriari 223). Unlike Korean or Chinese music that is often ornamental, Japanese music “prefers minimal activity and makes silence an integral part of the soundscape” (Miller and Shahriari 223). Japanese instruments are also refined and often regarded as pieces of art.
Sankyoku, translated as “three instruments”, can be seen as an embodiment of Japanese musical tradition (Miller and Shahriari 225). One of these instruments is the shakuhachi, a bamboo flute that is held vertically. The koto is a board zither that is made of paulownia wood. The instrument is 70 inches long and has ivory (or plastic) elements that support silk (or nylon) strings (Miller and Shahriari 225). Shamisen is a lute with a square wooden body and a long neck.
Ivory or plastic elements hold three silk or nylon strings, and the player uses ivory or plastic plectrum to pluck the strings. The music is highly structured, and players follow notations strictly with no improvisation. Sankyoku chamber music is usually performed in small spaces for a limited group of listeners. Every detail is well-thought, including instruments, notations, costumes, vocals, and words.
Kabuki theatre is another characteristic feature of the Japanese cultural landscape. Lutes, flutes, and drums, as well as performers’ singing, make up the stories told in a majestic atmosphere (Miller and Shahriari 231). Kabuki evolved on the basis of noh, earlier theatrical tradition, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Noh involved actors playing basic human types and moving slowly and the use of drums and a flute. Kabuki theatre is characterized by the use of more instruments and vocals.
Tibet
Tibet is a unique country due to its geographic location as its inhabitants live up to 17,000 feet above sea level (Miller and Shahriari 233). The climate in the region is harsh as daily temperatures may range from below zero to up to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. People live in rural communities farming and raisin Tibetan yaks (Miller and Shahriari 233). These conditions affected the way Tibetans saw the world, so their music is linked to their spiritual beliefs.
Buddhism is the primary religion practiced by the vast majority of the population. In the middle of the twentieth century, the Chinese invaded Tibet and started fighting against the religious practices that existed in the area. Nowadays, Tibetan monasteries are mainly used as museums. The tension between Tibetans and the Chinese government is still rather strong, which affects the development of Tibetan culture.
Tibetan ritual music is associated with the use of such instruments as dung kar, kang dung, dung chen, nga bom, and rom (Miller and Shahriari 234). The dung kar is a shell trumpet while kang dung is a timber trumpet. These instruments are played in pairs to produce overlapping and continuous sound. The dung chen is a metal trumpet that produces low pitches (Miller and Shahriari 234). The nga bom is a membranophone having two faces and placed vertically.
The player uses sticks to strike the drum that tends to accompany chants. The rom is a large cymbal the player strikes with a wooden stick. Instrumental performances and chanting are seen as spiritual sounds that are mainly performed for Buddhist deities (Miller and Shahriari 237). The major goal of Buddhists is to reach enlightenment, and chants help them create the necessary atmosphere for attaining this objective.
Conclusion
On balance, it is necessary to note that Chinese music is inspired by the landscape and the historical development of the country. Fertile soil, wood, and metals enabled Chinese civilization to develop and bring in remarkable cultural gains. Chinese music seems quite peculiar to the Western listener, but it is still acknowledged as unique and prominent. The Beijing Opera is accompanied by Chinese music and has become a representation of the Chinese culture. It is necessary to add that the cultural development of the country underwent a considerable shift in the middle of the twentieth century.
The Revolutionary Beijing Opera is an illustration of the changes the Chinese society faced. Although the political agenda has become prevalent, the Chinese culture and traditional music are still majestic illustrations of the might and significance of the Asian civilization.
The entire region has been highly influenced by Chinese cultural traditions, but East Asian countries still have their peculiarities in terms of their music and conventions. The musical traditions of Japan, South and North Korea, Mongolia, and Tibet have some similar features but are still unique. The location and climate of the countries can be seen as one of the most influential factors that contributed to the development of music in the region. However, the political agenda of China shaped the way such countries as Korea or Tibet evolved in many respects. Irrespective of these external influences, all the countries of East Asia have preserved their traditions, values, and cultural perspectives.
Works Cited
“BBC Documentary Civilisations EP01 China – the Soul of the Dragon English subtitles.” YouTube, uploaded by marlene heine. 2017. Web.
Chinese traditional cuisine has been recognized from the viewpoint for its rich history and, therefore, it has gained the world’s reputation due to its sophisticated nature. In particular, traditional Chinese cuisine and foods reflect the richness of Chinese culture, including a range of vegetables, jellyfish and salted fish, tofu-derived products, and rice-related food. The overview of selected products, as well as the techniques of preparing food in China, provides a wider picture of Chinese culture. In particular, Li and Hsieh (2004) assert, “food in China is not consumed merely to satisfy hunger, but for health promotion, treating diseases and, most importantly, building relationships among people and enhancing family values” (p. 147). Thus, the basic Chinese diet consists of such cultivated crops as rice and soybean.
Chinese music has a long history and constitutes an integral part of Chinese culture. It is mostly represented by Cantonese instrumental and operatic music, which dates back to folk melodies and gave rise to modern Chinese opera. According to Huai Sheng (2005), “Cantonese instrumental music has played a key role in the development of traditional Chinese instrumental music at large” (p. 1). Due to the increased cross-cultural communication, Chinese music has rapidly spread to other civilizations, including Western societies. Especially attention requires the second half of the nineteenth century, the time when operatic music has penetrated to Vancouver.
Xu et al. (2009) have detected that the Chinese verbal communication style is premised on the mode preference paradox, which relies on the preference of speakers to obtain information on probabilities of the event in numerical terms but verbally renders this information. Verbal preferences are prevalent in Chinese-speaking communities. The prevalence of the communication preference model occurs among Chinese culture more frequently. Mandarin, Cantonese, and Min are considered primary languages in China. However, these varieties of the Chinese language are often regarded as their dialects (Tsung, 2012). Due to the lack of distinction between languages in terms of understanding of primary and secondary language in China, there is rigid debate within the context of Chinese culture. In addition, Tsung (2012) focuses on the study of major language groups – Yi and Han Chinese – to define that the Yi language and its varieties have been interacting due to the close communication between the two language groups. Such an interaction has led to the creation of a new code-mixing language (Doctoroff, 2011). The analysis of language distinctions has a potent impact on the development of worldviews in China. Specific emphasis should be placed on Confucian paradigms that remain popular in the current society. The sophisticated nature of the Chinese language influences the depth of their philosophical and cultural stereotypes and judgments. In Chinese culture, the use of body language and nonverbal communication is not a frequent phenomenon. Rather, Chinese speakers are more inclined to use tone and intonation as major indicators of modality.
Chinese music, culture, and food preferences have a long history due to the nation’s strict adherence to ancient traditions. This is of particular concern to Confucianism, the early development of agriculture, and deep interaction with the world of culture. In addition, Chinese food has a deeper symbolic meaning because it is closely associated with Chinese ancient rituals and customs. Chinese music rapidly spread across other cultures due to its refined and complicated nature and, therefore, it has received recognition all over the world.
References
Doctoroff, T. (2011). The China Code. Society. 48, 123-130.
Huai Sheng, Q. (2005). Chinese Traditional Music in Greater Vancouver. Canadian Folk Music, 39(1), 1-5
Li, J., & Hsieh, Y. (2004). Traditional Chinese food technology and cuisine. Asia Pacific Journal Of Clinical Nutrition, 13(2), 147-155.
Tsung, L. (2012). Language and power: Tuanjie hua, an Yi-Han mixed language. International Journal Of The Sociology Of Language, 2012(215), 63-77.
Xu, J., Ye, X., & Li, S. (2009). Communication Mode Preference Paradox Among Native Chinese Speakers. Journal Of Social Psychology, 149(1), 125-130.