Influence Of Music On Society

Music and society

As everyone knows, music includes pitch, rhythm, dynamics and so on. It can be performed by a vast range of instruments, produced by composers whose styles are really poles apart. Speaking honestly, it is really seemed like a mixture including history, custom even the whole society, hence, in my opinion, it stands for the social form of the time when it was produced, certainly, music is based on society, in other words, society provides music (or composers) subject themes. In a word, they influent each other. I’ll explain this viewpoint in three respects as follow which contain two ways that music affects society by influencing people’s emotion, social concepts and society affects music by providing unique background.

People share their moods and emotions in society, meanwhile, emotion is affected by various kinds of music, pop, classic and so on. It can be understood easily if I give an example, Certainly, this influence is obvious in a society facing huge challenges, instantly, China. The national anthem of the Republic of China () is one of the most typical examples about this topic. Most of people may have heard of the war between Japan and China, called War of Resistance Against Japan [1937-1945]. It is really a disaster for all Chinese or even the peace of world. “During the war of aggression against China, invading Japanese troops committed innumerable crimes such as murder, arson, looting, and rape. One is the Nanjing Massacre. Nanjing Massacre is among the most brutal crimes committed in China by the invading Japanese troops…another is Japan’s Unit 731.” (Reilly James, Remember History, Not Hatred: Collective Remembrance of China’s War of Resistance to Japan, Modern Asian Studies,2011) The whole country was plunged into an abyss of suffering, meanwhile, the song was born in this disaster. At the beginning of the war, Chinese wasn’t united, they were so scared that they could do nothing but be killed, however, after seeing their family members or friends dead in their front, a few people understood our nation should rise to revolt, that’s why composers wrote the wonderful song. Thanks to the

“The only things artistic that have yet sprung from American soil and been universally acknowledged as distinctive American products.” (Revered African American poet James Weldon Johnson,1920s) From James, we can know the importance of blues in American music history, certainly, it also confirms that that music which belongs to black music is received public recognition even if society exists racial discrimination. Blues was a tool people used to express their moods at the beginning. “The blues is both a state of mind and a music which gives voice to it. Blues is the wail of the forsaken, the cry of independence, the passion of the lusty, the anger of the frustrated and the laughter of the fatalist. [The] blues is the personal emotion of the individual finding through music a vehicle for self-expression.” (Paul Olive, The Story Of The Blues, 1998) And the basic function became a vital feature. Blues helps black people express deep and personal emotions containing fear, sadness aroused by the discrimination and the brutal slavery, meanwhile, the emotions make music truer, more moving and powerful. That’s the reason why blues can touch people’s heart and is popular in the whole world. In 1920s, white people began to listen to negro music, and “father of the blues” William Christopher Handy took the blues from regional music style to national style, he made the listener from black people to others.