Chapter Two

Responses to Music

•Creative Process•Composers•Musicians

•Performance Process•Musicians•Audience (at live events)

•Listening Process•Audience (that’s you!)•Musicians (you also?)•Composers (?)

Primary Roles in Music

Secondary Roles in MusicProducer

Record Producer

ManagerHouse ManagerConcert ManagerPersonal Manager

Recording Engineer

CriticReviewerDeejayVeejay

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

Four Categories of Human Attributes

Physical = “feet” music

Emotional = “heart” music

Cognitive = “head” music

Spiritual = “soul” music

Human Responses to Music

Physical

Obvious responsesFoot tappingHand clappingSwayingDancing

Subtle responsesBlood pressureRelaxation or tensionHeart 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)

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.

Rastafarianism

•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.