Thesis on "How and Why Young People Listen to Music"

Thesis 6 pages (1732 words) Sources: 7 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Society and Culture -- Music Habits

Music is one of the most common human activities and is evident throughout human cultures everywhere on earth. It has a long history of cultural and religious significance and still plays a fundamental role in modern social life and religious worship as well. In the United States, music has played a significant role in the identity of cultural groups as well as in connection with various important social movements in addition to generating intensely different feelings and perceptions among different generations.

The close connection between musical and language and between musical ability and other aspects of cognitive functioning in humans led to speculation that early exposure to music in children, and even in prenatal infants, could potentially stimulate greater intelligence. Music is typically also a component of adolescent development and personal identity in young adults. In modern society, the way young people listen to music has been (and continues to be) heavily influenced by the growth of digital technology, not the least of which has been the emergence of new legal concepts to govern intellectual property rights in the digital age.

Music and Cultural Significance

Some of the most common features of human religious worship and other cultural traditions have involved musical expression (Henslin, 2002; Macionis, 2003). Throughout the world, virtually every known society from the most advanced and technologically sophisticated to the most ancient and primitive have rich musical histories going back many generations all the way to antiquity. The range of musical instruments, sounds, and musical styles includes many different definitions of music, many of which seem quite foreign to those not raised in those communities.

However, in all instances, the fundamental elements of music are the same in principle and their common purpose has always been to help communicate and preserve cultural learning from one generation to the next (Henslin, 2002; Macionis, 2003). A survey of even the most disparate human cultures would reveal that music plays a very similar role in cultural rituals and especially in religious worship. It is a fixture in human celebration of good fortune to such an extent that breaking out into song is a universal metaphor for human happiness and joy. It is also just as universally associated with expressions of grief in times of great loss and tragedy.

In the U.S., just about every social group is associated with a specific type of music and in eras of racial and ethnic prejudice, music played a major role in inspiring negative stereotypes and, later, in breaking down some of the social barriers separating different groups. Only in relatively recent times, since the invention of equipment capable of reproducing, broadcasting, and storing music, has music become more of an entertainment medium than a form of cultural communication, ethnic identity, and cultural preservation (Macionis, 2003).

Music as a Form of Social Expression

During all of the major social eras in modern American history music played a predominant role. That was true of the so-called "gay nineties" immediately preceding the turn of the 20th century; and it was similarly true of the "flapper generation" of the 1920s and the Prohibition Era (Henslin, 2002; Miller, 1992). In the middle of the 20th century music became a heated topic in connection with tension between the races, even earning the moniker "race music" by those in the white community who harbored antagonistic feelings toward minorities in general and toward African-American culture in particular. When teenager of the early 1950s began to emulate the dancing moves of Elvis Presley, adults were shocked by the sexual connotations of his hip movements and the resulting pressure actually caused television stations to broadcast the performer only from the waste up (Miller, 1992).

By the time the "flower child" generation and the Hippie countercultural revolution that they embraced began taking shape in the 1960s music in the form of Rock and Roll had become one of the most important elements of youth culture and social significance (Henslin, 2002; Macionis, 2003; Miller, 1992). In many respects, music played a significant role in accounting for the breakdown of racial segregation among the young generation of the 1960s that took much longer to spread to larger segments of society (Henslin, 2002).

To many social historians, that era culminated in the Woodstock Concert of 1969 when approximately half a million teenagers and young adults congregated on a farm in Upstate New York to celebrate and also to protest the Vietnam War. That particular conflict was responsible for a tremendous rift between young people and the so-called "establishment" of the older generation; it was also the first major intimate connection between music and a large-scale social movement in American history (Miller, 1992). More recently, music played an equally important role in the evolution of Hip Hop culture in the African-American community as well as in the contemporary degree of social integration between different races in many segments of American society (Macionis, 2003).

Music as a Form of Personal Identity

On an individual level, music is often an important component of personal social identity, beginning in early adolescence (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008; Myers & Spencer, 2004). To a large extent, adolescents use music to establish distance between themselves and their parents; they also use music to define the social groups with which they choose to identify among their peers. In high school especially, music typically becomes one of the most important defining features of the different social groups that form the basis of the different identities of friends and social acquaintances. Even among young adults, it is not infrequent for the topic of musical preference to be one of the first questions asked during initial conversations in which individuals become acquainted with one another.

Music, Language Development, and Intelligence

Scientists first began studying the possible connection between music and cognitive intelligence after documenting several high-profile cases in the medical literature seemed to connect precocious musical ability with certain forms of so-called "idiot savants" who displayed tremendous musical talents and abilities in conjunction with serious cognitive impairments linked to various forms of autism (Dennet, 1997).

Similarly, child psychologists began to understand the neurological similarities between the manner in which human language is hard-wired into human cognitive development and the manner in which communication mechanisms in non-human animals (most notably, songbirds) are hard-wired (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008; Simonds, 2002). Just as in the case with songbirds, human infants and young children have a specific window of opportunity during which they must be exposed to the sounds of the language of their respective species in order to be able to learn to communicate vocally. In both cases, in circumstances where infants are not exposed to the sounds of adult communications during that window, they become unable to learn to communicate through language thereafter (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008; Simonds, 2002).

Partly as a result of these types of observations and partly of other connections such as the frequent coexistence of superior mathematical ability and superior musical talent (as well as the mathematical structure of music), scientists also began to consider the possibility that early exposure of infants to complex music (typically classical music) could enhance certain elements of human cognitive intelligence potential (Dennet, 1997; Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008). Early experiments into prenatal exposure to music seemed somewhat promising but more carefully controlled studies called those results into question. One of the difficulties involved is that it can be almost impossible to isolate the effects of music as opposed to the unintended effects of the relaxed state of consciousness experienced by mothers (Dennet, 1997; Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008).

Specifically, it had been independently established that the emotional state experienced by mothers during the latter stages of pregnancy could directly influence aspects of cognitive development and temperament of their infants. Furthermore, anecdotal evidence seeming to connect early exposure to classical music and intelligence could not be distinguished from the fact that parents who listened to classical music are statistically much more likely to be more educated and have higher IQs than other parents (Dennet, 1997; Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008). Ultimately, the most carefully controlled experiments into the possible beneficial effect of prenatal exposure to music were not able to establish an empirical link between the variables. On the other hand, musical exposure is generally considered beneficial to younger children, albeit in a more general way rather than specifically in connection to producing higher intelligence necessarily (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008).

Music and Contemporary Society

The popularity of music among young people in contemporary American (and other) young people has revolutionized various areas of modern intellectual property law (Halbert & Ingulli, 2007). That is mainly attributable to the rate at which digital media technology exploded around the turn of the 21st century. Initially, the use of Internet file- sharing methods, primarily among teenagers, led to landmark court rulings on the nature of intellectual copyrights. Those issues have not yet been resolved, mainly because the technology of media sharing and file storage are continually evolving while two hundred year-old legal concepts… READ MORE

How to Reference "How and Why Young People Listen to Music" Thesis in a Bibliography

Related Thesis Papers:

Music Education or Cross Platform Development Term Paper

Music Education or Cross Platform Development

Pitch is commonly mistaken for being a term which is analogous to frequency; however, pitch is actually based on perception. Pitch is the human… read more

Term Paper 61 pages (17690 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Music / Musicians / Instruments

---

Motivation Emotions Stress Research Paper

music I listen to. The terms from Chapters 11 and 12 in the text are unlikely to appear in music but for the most part the themes will be reflected.… read more

Research Paper 2 pages (649 words) Sources: 2 Topic: Music / Musicians / Instruments

---

Propaganda in Pop Music Term Paper

Communications - Pop Music

Propaganda in Popular Music

Propaganda exists in more than government publications and specific public relations pieces. Propaganda and mass persuasion are present in all forms of… read more

Term Paper 7 pages (1867 words) Sources: 7 Topic: Music / Musicians / Instruments

---

My Life Reflected Through Music Essay

Music

Timbaland's song "The Way I Are" is uniquely inspiring among modern popular hip-hop. Sang by both a man and a woman, the lyrics represent a soulful conversation about genuine… read more

Essay 3 pages (1005 words) Sources: 1 Topic: Music / Musicians / Instruments

---

World Music of the United Kingdom Term Paper

Music

Interview Report: "Martin"

Martin was born in the United Kingdom. Most of his family comes from the Midlands, around the industrial city of Birmingham. Much of Birmingham was destroyed… read more

Term Paper 6 pages (2012 words) Sources: 5 Style: MLA Topic: Music / Musicians / Instruments

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>