Class Project- Music
I will to echo some of my classmates’ proposals because I think that the project could focus on cultural music. Music and culture feed into each other; they are inseparable. We find that phrases in music often become a chorus in outr everyday lives. YOLO. It is surely the same with music of cultures other than that of mainstream America. I find that the very spirit of a culture is reflected in their music; sometimes it may be derived from it. I know in my experience, for example, how the happy and talkative vibes that Guyanese people give of are exactly in sync with the sounds of Soca, a popular genre in the Carribean. At the risk of sounding cliché, it is true that music unites people, especially within a culture.
Our project would focus on the music consumed by the different peoples of New York. After pooling together what limited understanding we have of the many different kinds of music that different cultures within New York listen to, perhaps we could visit neighborhoods of those cultures and asking them what kind of music they listen to. What is their favorite song? Artist? Genre? We could then listen to the music see if it is in any way reflective of their cultural expressions in New York and even back in their home countries.
I think that we could briefly touch upon what kinds of instruments are used and the style of song writing, but the project would really place an emphasis of how music affects culture. It is no surprise that cultures with different values have different music. Why? In what ways does music influence culture and vice versa? Are different cultures more “sensitive” to their music than others?
These ideas are very preliminary; I am unsure about how much depth we can go into. But, the accessibility of these many cultural enclaves within New York can lend to a greater depth of analysis and understanding than would be possible without it.
While other topics can be interesting, I feel that the subject of music is far more involving and less dull when compared to the more removed aspects of the People of New York. It would not be difficult to divide the work amongst the class given that we could define the varying cultures and subcultures within New York. And hopefully everyone will enjoy the project because of the subject and its possible depth.
