Jazz Musicians - Essay Example

Jazz Music and Ideal Citizenship Qualities Jazz musicians have been associated with qualities of ideal citizenship over the years. The ability of the music to bring together people of all races in America has been found to be a unifying force of the diverse people from different cultural backgrounds. Having been founded in America, Jazz music has overtime promoted ideal citizenship due to its racial balance. During the performances, no race is discriminated as all people attend in the events, while members of the bands are drawn from diverse cultural backgrounds so long as they are talented. Four ideal qualities of a good citizen that are exhibited by Jazz musicians include self-sacrifice, public spirit, sincere performance of duties and self-control and self-confidence (Heater 198). Most of the jazz artists exhibit these qualities in their own unique way. Self-sacrifice in reference to a good citizen is one who gives up self-interest to the interest of the community. The spirit of service and devotion are upheld by the individual. Such qualities are portrayed by Jazz artists in their work and performances. The desire of every Jazz artist is to keep all Americans entertained without considering their race or color. Benny Goodman was the first white bandleader to hire a black musician into his ensemble. He used his fame in the Jazz music to spread black music. He sacrificed his fame among the white listeners and that of his band all for the purpose of promoting the blacks and black music. The quality of public spirit states that a good citizen shows willingness and readiness to make it a living interest in all the public affairs. Such a citizen is ready to fight for the rights if other people while taking part in all public activities. Billie Holiday who was a jazz artist was vocal in fighting for the rights of the black people, especially with her song “Strange Fruit” that was inspired by the lynching of the two blacks, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. The artist performed the song every night amid emotions, and this made the civil rights movements to adopt it as their anthem (Peretti 89). Sincerity in the performance of duties means that a citizen performs his/ her duties with sincerity and faithfulness. Such a citizen willingly cooperates with the state officials in the discharge of their duties and remits their taxes just as the law requires them. Jazz artists and musicians perform their duties with devotion and sincerity. Among the most celebrated musicians of jazz and who was also a pioneer of jazz was Louis Armstrong born in 1901. At the age of 13 he started playing the cornet. All through his career life, he dedicatedly played jazz music with the purpose of entertaining the American population. Indiscriminately he played in all concert whether made of white people, black, Asians or Muslims. Self-control and self-confidence requires a good citizen to be sober in temperament and exhibit a lot of self-control in all public dealings. A self-controlled citizen possesses a disciplined character and does not indulge in vicious habits. Duke Ellington who was a master composer of jazz showed his self-confidence and self-control qualities of good citizenship during his entire career life of jazz. At the age of seven, he was confident that he would be a great keyboard player as well as founding the “swing” era of jazz. He remained a self-controlled person even after the great success that he had in his career. 2. My view of these qualities including additional measures proposed for moving present-day America toward a thriving multi-cultural society A lot of efforts have been directed towards creating a thriving multi-cultural society in the present day America. Along the history of racial oppression among people in the American population, any method available that could completely erase or wipe out the culture of racism in the American population has been embraced. Promoting quality citizenship among the American population has the potential of ending the culture, which is generally associated with individual perceptions of one another. The qualities of good citizenship help in reducing rivalry among the people in same society. Being a citizen is not a matter of color or race but an issue with commitment and love for the country. Promoting the qualities of good citizenship among the population has the potential of wiping out the culture of racial oppression among the citizens of the American society. Promoting cohesion of all citizens through social events such as national holidays would in a great way reduce the level of racism in America. Molding a racially constructed and solidified society from children would be a long term solution to the problem. Children need to be taught how to be good citizens by both the teachers and parents. The issue of color or race should be explained keenly to them that it makes them no different since they are all Americans. 3. My role in the thriving multi-cultural society which still exhibits multiple forms of racial inequity Every American plays a big role in promoting racial equality in the American’s thriving multi-cultural society. Racial equality can only be achieved if all American citizens willingly play their part in ending discrimination among themselves. Accepting it as a fact that the American society is a multi-cultural society with the potential of expansion is the first step to solving the problem. Individual citizens need to understand this, and later put their efforts in trying to embrace the culture of togetherness. Personally, I have a big role to play as an American citizen in ending the culture of racial inequality. By allowing other American citizens regardless of their origin or race to enjoy their rights freely is a duty that I need to embrace always. Being a good citizen does not only mean obeying the laws of the country but also respect other people. Therefore, I need to show my respect to other people despite their culture or origin. Educating my peers and the young people on the importance of co-existence among each other is part of my duties as an American. Education is the only way in which most of the problems that affect the society could be solved. With people being aware of the advantages of upholding racial equality among themselves, the problem is likely to be solved. More so, allowing other people to enjoy their rights as Americans will increasingly reduce the problem of racism in America. However, this is not possible without the participation of all Americans, I included. Works Cited Heater, Derek B. Citizenship: The Civic Ideal in World History, Politics, and Education. Manchester [u.a.: Manchester Univ. Pr, 2004. Print. Peretti, Burton W. The Creation of Jazz: Music, Race, and Culture in Urban America. Urbana [u.a.: University of Illinois Press, 1994. Print. Read More