Download The Individual Context

Chapter Two
Responses to Music
Primary Roles in Music
•Creative Process
•Composers
•Musicians
•Performance Process
•Musicians
•Audience (at live events)
•Listening Process
•Audience (that’s you!)
•Musicians (you also?)
•Composers (?)
Secondary Roles in Music
Producer
Record Producer
Manager
House Manager
Concert Manager
Personal Manager
Recording
Engineer
Critic
Reviewer
Deejay
Veejay
Four Categories of Human
Attributes
Cultures all over the world have identified
four human traits or characteristics–
•Cabala (Kabbala)
physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual
•Indigenous
(Native American, Australian Aboriginal, etc.)
warrior, healer, teacher, visionary
•Sufi
existence, experience, consciousness, the soul
•Carl Jung
sensation, feeling, thinking, intuition
Human Responses to Music
Physical = “feet” music
Emotional = “heart” music
Cognitive = “head” music
Spiritual = “soul” music
Physical
Obvious responses
Foot tapping
Hand clapping
Swaying
Dancing
Subtle responses
Blood pressure
Relaxation or tension
Heart rate, respiration, brain
wave activity
Emotional
Some Causes—
• Music itself--melody, harmony, rhythm
• Associations you have with music—where
you first heard it, for example
• Lyrics—the words that accompany the
music are meaningful to you
• Your feelings about the performer(s),
composer, instruments used, venue, etc.
•What you do or do not know about the
music, the performers, the composer, and/or
the instruments
Spiritual
There is a difference between spiritual and
religious .
•Religious—the whole organized establishment
that maintains a particular faith community--e.g.
Catholic Church
•Spiritual—a personal experience, often of
transcendent values or deep meaning, either
secular or sacred
•Spiritual responses depend on an intimate
experience with the cultural context of the music
Cognitive
Cognitive responses depend on our thinking about music

Knowledge can be Formal



Comes from reading, listening, or talking about the
music, its composer, instruments used, etc.
Does not include remembering where we heard the
piece before
Knowledge can be Informal

Comes from direct experience with the music or
performer(s)
Rastafarianism
 Religion practiced in Jamaica
 Centers around Haile Salassie, former
emperor of Ethiopia
 Combines elements from several
different religions
 Reggae music often centers on
Rastafarian beliefs and political concerns
Rastafarianism
•The Rastafarian religion originated in Africa.
•It is not just a religion, but a way of life.
• Rastafarians speak out against poverty,
oppression and inequality; not just religious
ideas but global problems.
•Rastafarians use the Bible for guidance.
Rastafarianism
•The prime belief of the Rastafarians is that Haile
Selassie is the living God for the black race.
•Selassie, whose previous name was Ras Tafari,
was the emperor of Ethiopia.
• Rastafarians say scriptures prophesied him as
the one with "the hair of whose head was like
wool, whose feet were like unto burning brass."
Rastafarianism
•The Rastafarian name for God is Jah.
•The Lion of Judah represents Haile Selassie, the
Conqueror. It represents the King of Kings as a
lion is the king of all beasts.
•Selassie wore a Lion of Judah ring that was
given to Bob Marley at the time of Selassie's
death.
Rastafarianism
•Babylon is the Rastafarian term for the white
political power structure that has been holding
the black race down for centuries.
•Past-- Rasta see that blacks were held down
physically by the shackles of slavery.
•Present-- Rasta feel that blacks are still held down
through poverty, illiteracy, inequality, and trickery by
the white man.
•The effort of Rasta is to try to remind blacks of
their heritage and have them stand up against
Babylon.
Rastafarianism
•One of the more obvious symbols of the
Rastafarians are the colors red, gold, and green.
•Ganja is used for religious purposes. Its use is
mentioned in the Bible in Psalms 104:14, "He
causeth the grass for the cattle, and herb for the
service of man".
•Rastas are vegetarians. Drinking preferences are
anything that is herbal, such as tea. Liquor, milk,
coffee, and soft drinks are viewed as unnatural.
•Dreadlocks symbolize the Rasta roots, contrasting
the straight, blond look of the white man and
establishment.
•Dreadlocks are also in the Bible: Leviticus 21:5,
"They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall
they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any
cuttings in the flesh."
•Dreadlocks symbolize the Lion of Judah and have
also come to symbolize rebellion against the system
and the "proper" way to wear hair.
Reggae
Rasta forms the base of reggae
music, the vehicle that artists
such as Bob Marley used to
spread Rasta all over the world.
 This indigenous music grew from
ska, which had elements of
American R&B and Caribbean
styles.
