Anthropology of Music
The Impacts of culture on Music
Scholars with the orientation of anthropology of music have faced various difficulties in finding the theoretical approaches that would explain the link between the musical styles. They have had to study the broader perspective of the cultural patterns and the social process that explain the roots of music in the anthropological perspective. Music can thus be situated in anthropological analysis in two distinct ways. First, music can be defined as a communicational practice with organized sound patterns in terms of pitch, loudness, and timbre. This analysis grants the analysis of social issues of sound in a structured communication system. The other way of approaching music in the anthropological perspective is the analysis that roots from the social and cultural worlds under discussion. This analysis reveals the arguments made by people involved in the performance of music and other sociocultural domains. Therefore, this analysis consists of the transformation of social and cultural practices based on the social evolution of music as a cultural artifact. Music intertwines with the meaning of human life and its purpose embodied in its performance. Music is thus one of the cultural artifacts significantly affected by the within and cross-cultures embodied in its various ways of performance.
Music and Culture: Difference and Similarities
The discussion about the connection of music with a place can be broadly framed by boundaries forming ecological, acoustic, political, and the social context of the surrounding. Such environments affect the type of music because music repeats the inspirations and thoughts of people and at the time. No form of art has proved to attach itself to humanity more than music. Music has been creating and at the same time, destroying cultures in many societies. Fads may come and go but the trues music never fades. The stories of the subcultures in music can be attributed to the early 1920s in the history of America (Cole, 2012). Popular music fell by the wayside in the wake of the prohibition. In this regard, swing music was considered unethical in some societies. During the time of Hitler in Germany, listening to swing music would attract punishment. Some music has since remained reputable in society and various cultures across the world, while some dispute them. In the 1950s, the culture of Rock and Roll took a different twist.
Colonel Tom Parker introduced a different twist in American culture. Rock and Roll introduced America to its future. The foundation of the modern Rock and Roll was credited to a few youngsters such as Presley, Buddy Holley, Bill Haley, and the Comets. Rock and Roll impacted severely on American culture and lifestyles (White, 2016). Older people did not agree with at all, and children were forbidden from listening to music. This is because the music contents, as composed by various artists, always focus on specific messages in society. Music can be meant for religious purposes, entertainment, and leisure. The difference is the context and the context of the song. If the cultures are mixed, the music may not relay the intended meaning and can be considered unethical. For instance, the Rock and Roll can be a disgrace in religious contexts (Cole, 2012). Music is thus performed primarily to suit a specific culture and background as prescribed in their compositions.
Music is peculiar to every culture, and various music intends to relay various meanings in society. In Papua New Guinea in Africa, the music of Kalulis is meant to share close interlink with the rainforest to show the relationship between music and ecology. The lift-up-sounding pattern is an essential aspect of Kaluli music (White, 2016). The construction of the musical instruments in the Kaluli music is confounded on the cultural beliefs that ancestors can anticipate the meaning and bring rain forth. Thus, in Papua Guinea, music is heavily related to the cultural beliefs of rainmaking. The cross-cultural music in the State Borders in the Northern Fringes of Europe also share a close connection with the ecosystem (Cole, 2012). On the other hand, the Sundanese music in Indonesia differs from Kaluli music. Sundanese music is associated with rituals, ceremonies, and celebrations where vocal music is performed. In Indonesia, this music serves the purposes of dances such as the “ketuk title.”
The culture of economics on Music
Over many generations, music has created interesting types of genres. In the 1950s and 1960s, the various practitioners of the anthropology of music embraced it different functionalities in a way that would link music to the making of social life (Kelly, 2015). In America, for example, various ethnomusicologist followed the American trend of grouping societies into cultural identities. In so doing, the anthropological music as an artifact in American society was much pegged on the economic contributions. The economy affects music by affecting individuals, the community, and the world at large. The advancements in technology can understand the study of music in modern anthropology regarding economic impacts (Cole, 2012). Economics encompasses the study of the production of goods and their consumption. The consumption of music in the era of technology affects individuals.
Economy can have various effects on music at individual levels if the person producing the music or the singer is economically advantaged or disadvantaged. Music production entails various economic aspects (Hughes & Lang, 2013). The economy also controls the availability of the required items for musical production. The ability of a musician to purchase instruments such as violin, guitar, and flutes is purely based on the ability of the person to purchase these items. The advancements in technology have also led to innovations in the instruments (Kelly, 2015). Instruments such as violin and flutes are slowly becoming obsolete in the current world of music. The production of music has thus become expensive. Therefore, musicians in the current era may face economic hurdles in producing music. When the individual musicians are affected, the community becomes economically disadvantaged too.
The international success of musicians has created appreciation and visibility for musicians. Artists in the community have raised the levels of interests in regional music (Hughes & Lang, 2013). Musicians who have been producing music at the community levels have sought to popularize their music by creating subtle innovations and selective use of indigenous forms and instruments. The contemporary international styles, judicious use of jazz, rock, and blues heritage have dominated the economic world of music through the creation of a unique sound that can captivate the international audience (Kelly, 2015). Under the banner of “world music,” the international audience has been developed through marketing and entrepreneurial enthusiasm. The global consumption of music can be explained using a conceptual schema that comprises of six phases, namely; content origination, production, reproduction, consumption, education training, and critique, and archiving and rights protection. This schema is useful in understanding the cultural production of music from the individual level to international levels.
Work, gender culture and music
Gender plays pivotal roles in shaping the culture of music. A feminine voice recording a song is different from a male voice. In American society, feminine voices are more plausible in soft love songs because they are regarded to be conveying the intended feelings in a romantic atmosphere. The converse is true for the culture of reggae music. However, the society experienced a different twist beginning the late 1890s (Hughes & Lang, 2013). Female voices began traversing the genres popularly known for men, and men sinning more and sweeter love songs. The gendered culture in music is today, not having defined cultural lines for males and females. Any person of any gender can produce any song (Kelly, 2015). More profoundly, we have seen males in the society championing for women’s rights, and they tend to be more “feminists,” then the women themselves. This explains the modern society does not have gender alienations when it comes to the production of music for cultural significance. Music is thus equally loved between men and women in cross-cultures.
The definition of gender is used concerning cultural and social differences. Gender can be argued to be socially constructed based on the sex of a person. However, research works between the sexes prove to be different and peculiar to every culture. According to Margaret Mead (1935), a cross-cultural study in Papua New Guinea revealed a different pattern in male and female behaviors to that of America at that time (Cole, 2012). In Papua New Guinea, among the Arapesh, the temperament for both females and males was gentle, cooperative, and responsive. In the Mundugumor now Biwat, the two genders were violent, aggressive and seeking power and positions in various works. In the Tchambuli now Chambri, there was a distinct temperament between males and females. Women were dominant, managerial, and impersonal, whereas men were less responsible and emotionally dependent (Cole, 2012). On this perspective, Mead separated biologically-based sex from the social construction of gender.
Music has created a cultural influence on fashion. The impact of music in a society based on the influence on fashion can be traced back to the years between the 1920s and 1990s (Cole, 2012). The Jazz musicians in the 1920s led the music trends and created a phenomenal trend of flapper’s style, symbolic to the jazz fashion. The introduction of the Rock and Roll music also introduced the Rock and Roll fashion through the way the composers addressed the music and the public persona as well as dressing (Hughes & Lang, 2013). Three decades after the Rock and Roll, Hip Hop emerged in America. Hip Hop brought with it the Hip Hop culture where the musicians expressed their various lifestyles, and performances on the broadcast of the music television popularly known as the MTV. MTV expanded its popularity base in the 1980s, which was the initial exposure for many audiences in the world of Hip Hop culture.
In conclusion, understanding the anthropology of music paves the way for understanding what influences music has on culture and what culture has in shaping music. Music is thus affected by various cultures across the world. In some cultures, music is performed as a tool for entertainment, while in some communities, music is deeply rooted in cultural beliefs and customs. Music affects culture by influencing fashions. While some of these cultural beliefs are tagged to be a root cause for the erosion of social fabrics, the musicians believe the change in culture is good for the continuity of the music. In this way, music shapes and can also destroy a culture. The society in America has witnessed several cultural transitions under various musical eras that brought with them a massive sway in the way people dress, talk, and behave. From the aspect of the economy, such diversity is good for the well-being and continuity of music, just like tastes and preferences also vary in the consumption of goods and services.
References
Cole, R. (2012). “Fun, Yes, but Music?” Steve Reich and the San Francisco Bay Area’s Cultural Nexus, 1962–65. Journal of the Society for American Music, 6(3), 315-348.
Hughes, J., & Lang, K. R. (2013). If I had a song: The culture of digital community networks and its impact on the music industry. International Journal on Media Management, 5(3), 180- 189.
Kelly, S. N. (2015). Teaching music in American society: A social and cultural understanding of music education. Routledge.
White, A. L. (Ed.). (2016). Lost in music: Culture, style and the musical event. Routledge.