Genre Theory in Reggae Music - Term Paper Example

Genre Theory in Reggae Music Introduction Reggae is one of the most prevalent music that waves from Jamaica. Reggae music speaks of morals, happiness and truth about life. It is one of the most listened music all over. There are some rules that govern music when artists are making it. These are music genres that are applied in order to compose an excellent music. A music genre is a set of musical events that are governed by socially accepted rules (Weisbard, 2008). Music help to increase concentration among people, maintain alertness and increase worker productivity. It is used to motivate people, strengthen group cohesion, pass messages and make people achieve their goals. Moreover, it comforts people in rituals and in expressing physical fitness as well. The fact that music is commonly listened does not mean everyone is a fun and for those who listen to it choose according to their tastes. It is also chosen according to age and references of various groups. It makes people relax and reduce unhelpful thoughts in life hence eradicating or reducing stress in day to day life. In addition to that, it enhances mood management and reduces loneliness. It keeps people busy in their workings and reduces idleness thus reducing time wasted in bad things such as involvement in drugs. Music Genre Concepts Duration- this refers to sound length and silences in between music that includes beats and rhythm. This can be seen during silence period, where beats make the music moving, thus enhancing music sweetness. Pitch- this is shown by the highness or lowness in music sound. It is one of the aspects considered when composing a song. If the pitch is too high, sound is heard to be irritating and does not draw listener’s attention. Dynamics- this is characterised by sound volume of the song. It is the softness and loudness of the music and how individual emphasises on sounds. If the volume is too high to listeners, then many will not create interest to it though it is not recommended to be too soft. Tone color- this is what allows the music listener to differentiate or identify sound sources or combination of sound sources. If the individual’s voices are combined with the instrument sounds, the music becomes more interesting hence drawing the attention of many. Texture- this is the music sweetness from the combination of voices and instruments in music that makes it interesting. Structure-this is how idea is put together or designed in music to bring out clear and sensible information to listeners and attract more of them. Approaches Franco Fabbri approach Franco introduced a set of rules that govern music composition. Formal and technical rules- Johnson, Fulcher and Ertman (2007) emphasise that, these rules are the most considered in music composition. Many may not put into consideration the other rules as such, but these are as a must to be applied in music language. This is because the music should have a well grammar sentences and words. Semiotic rules- all the rules in the genre are said to be semiotic. This is because there are codes that create close relation between musical event and its content. The music content should be clear and understandable to listeners. Behavior rules- these are the rules that bring out the social behavior in the field bearing in mind that in each field there are regularities. These are to regulate the performer’s behavior and social psychology towards each other. Artists are expected to have good socialisation amongst themselves and to other people to make their music prevail well. Social and ideological rules-each genre vary in each community accepting the rules and those who participate in the musical events. These rules help to differentiate the social functions or internal and external social structure. Economical and juridical rules- these are rules that the music performer or listener uses not to let anyone know about their economical and juridical background of their survival. They help the artists to be independent. Fabian Holt Approach Fabian introduced a methodology for cultural analysis in solving a music problem and national identity in American cultural history. Ake, Garrett and Goldmark (2012) argue that, he supports genre theoretical and methodological through some case studies. Fabian says that some music artists are being optimistic today that the growth of culture is rapidly growing. In order to understand the aspects of music problem and national identity in American cultural history, Fabian uses genre as a tool to understanding. He proposes a poetic in understanding music in between genres. Alan Moore Approach According to Moore (2012), music is all about analysing and interpreting the recorded popular music from the artists. The music should have some components in order to make it attractive to listeners. He is said to be a comic writer and is a man of personal environment relations in recorded songs. On top of that, he is identified as a man of environment thus a man of everyone since human beings are part of the environment. Therefore, he argued that every artist should relate as part of the environment. The components that Alan Moore believed should be considered in the music are analysed below. Texture- this is the music sweetness when both voices and instruments are combined together. It is considered under the song title. Harmonic settings- these are the song tones. The tones should be produced neatly in order to make an excellent song. The tones depend on vocabulary mode used by the artist. Formal settings- this is the order of events or narrative based on music type. Genre Challenges These are the problems that are associated with music genre faced by the artists. It is said that musicians face some challenges when composing songs and, therefore, some researchers put their efforts in identifying these problems in order to make work easier for artists. Techniques and culture- music is said to be very technical and thus some of the artists face it as a challenge. Some are ruled by their culture hence finding it difficult to get it out of them during music composing time. It is critical to comprehend the techniques that are important in composing a song and do away with the culture. Style and genre- if the artists do not understand the music genre, it will be difficult for them to produce a nice song. Style is another factor that brings in a challenge to the artists hence differences in their songs style. Style also depends on song movements that differentiate musicology mode. Rules-these are music rules. In composing songs, the artists are guided by some rules that make them understand and do appropriately according to music culture. These rules need to be understood by every artist because it has become a challenge to them in recent years. Language conceptualisation- music is a language itself and indeed, the language in music should be grammatically arranged that make the listeners understand and grasp music ideas. It is a challenge to many, but it should be put into consideration all through. Distribution- this is the problem of understanding how the music will be distributed to reach the listeners. The channels to be used to reach the audience may be difficult for the artists to identify and understand the impacts of selecting such channels. Genre Conceptualisation Genre can be categorised from different perspectives. It can be categorised using rhetorical purpose and audience. In this step, the target group is the audience. It helps to determine how the writing will be achieved considering the role the audience will play or the specific writing purpose. Content is also considered as one of the most important things. This explains the massage that needs to be delivered to the audience and its effects to people. Structure is also considered in the categorisation of genre. Structure is how the information or the message will be passed to the targeted group and how the content is organised for presentation to the audience. Linguistic features are also put into consideration. These are the vocabularies used in the context, and the writer should ensure they are understandable to the target group. Stylistic Features Harmony- this involves the use of pitches and chords. This guides the song tone produced by the artists. It guides the musician on where the tone should range. Balanced phrases- the phrases in the song should be balanced to avoid too long or too short phrases that may bring boredom in whole song. Texture- the song must have its texture which is supported by the combination of sound voices and instruments to bring in its sweetness and attract people. Tempo- this is the pace of the music to which the music is designed to move at. It can be at high speed or low speed depending on the music designer. Aspects of Extra-Music Subjective experience- for one to compose an extra-music should have a subjective experience for some period of time. It incorporates the knowledge and understanding of the ideas to derive a meaningful message out of the song. It calls for wide experience to derive ideas from the external surrounding and within to come up with an extra-music. Music- language relationship- Scott (2009) points out that, many people argue about the aspect of language in music. Some emphasise that music itself is a language that is composed to bring out a message or ideas to people. On the other hand, others say that music is not a language itself because it needs to be interpreted to people to get to understand the information in it. Regardless of all that, the musicians are trying to translate the music into words that people understand easily so that they get the meaning or the information trying to be passed to them. It is assumed to be a worldwide language in human life in the world today. Education in music- experience in art has helped many to compose extra-musical songs. This can be achieved through the learned ideas and experience when put into action in the music field. Music art is becoming popular as well as an important aspect in the lives of many. Through interest and motivation from experienced musicians, many have dedicated themselves in music art in order to become popular musicians as their colleagues through producing extra-music. Generative grammar- grammar in music can be defined as a set of combined rules that music should be composed based on. These rules have significant roles in music through allowing the construction of sentences in a language and making meaningful words without allowing generation of sentences that are not characterised by the language. Marketing Forces The marketing forces can be explained by the use porter’s five forces. Suppliers’ bargaining power- one factor that is identified as one of the most important factors in determining the attractiveness of an industry is the bargaining power of suppliers. Suppliers tend to have high bargaining power when the substitutes of their products or services are less in the market or if the cost of switching to another supplier is high. Their bargaining power may also be high if the amount that can be supplied at a time is limited thus creating high demand for their products and services. In respect to this, the music artists’ bargaining power is high. This is because each artist has a different voice and ability to perform is unique thus their performances cannot be substituted. Therefore, the chances of entry in the music industry are high hence handing over the bargaining power to the artists. Internet has promoted the suppliers’ bargaining power since each one of them is running after selling and promoting their albums. Customers’ bargaining power- this aspect of customers determine the attractiveness of an industry too. The customers buy the albums in large numbers from stores. The music customers are individual music listeners, and their bargaining power may tend to be low if the prices are agreed upon them. Due to competition from the other industries, price may increase instantly, and their bargaining power also increases. Threat from new entrants- these are the new competitors entering the market. There are some barriers that prevent new entrants which may be the access to resources and distribution channels, industry contacts and level of expertise as well. Music industry requires high talented artists, and the new entrants may not be in a position to beat these highly talented artists in the industry. Consequently, the threat of new competitors in music industry is relatively low. Threat of substitutes- a substitute is a product that can be used in place of another.Music industry can face threat of substitutes through other entertaining channels. Although they may differ in terms of customer satisfaction, they provide similar services of entertaining them. The difference comes in as a result of high prices which may make customers shift from these other entertaining channels, thus the threat of substitutes is said to impose a relative less impact to music industries. Industry rivalry- this is the competition between the artists or music industries. Due to attractiveness of the industry, the opponent may be unable to compete with the other artists. Even though the competition is rapidly increasing due to increased talented artists in the industry, the industry rivalry is said to be high. Conclusion In conclusion, music is a very important tool in human life. Some believe that without music their lives might turn to be empty. It enhances people’s way of thinking, how they speak to one another and how to dress, and live with no or minimal stress. Music is said to lift up human souls especially in times of sorrows and challenges. Reggae is commonly listened by majority of the people making them feel part of it. Its rhythms and harmonies draw the interest of many thus becoming one of the most listened songs. It can be boring in weddings without music and so quiet in the environment, and this helps to pinpoint the importance of music in every corner. In schools music and art is becoming common hence more understanding of music rules thus producing more artists and talented artists for that matter. Music conveys all sorts of emotions, whether it is happiness or sadness. Some artists of reggae write songs for purposes of expressing themselves which is also very important since people will have clear pictures about them. Reggae expresses the importance of social change and cultural importance in Jamaica and to the worldwide. It also acts as a messenger to pass the facts to people. It is identified as part of the Jamaican culture which helps them define who they are. Reference List: Ake, D., Garrett, H., &Goldmark, D. (2012). Jazz/not jazz the music and its boundaries. Berkeley, University of California Press. Johnson, V., Fulcher, F., &Ertman, T. (2007). Opera and Society in Italy and France from Monteverdi to Bourdieu. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Moore, A. (2012). Song means: Analysing and interpreting recorded popular song. Farnham: Surrey, Ashgate. Scott, D. (2009). The Ashgate research companion to popular musicology. Farnham: Surrey, Ashgate. Weisbard, E. (2008). Listen again a momentary history of pop music. Durham: Duke University Press. Read More