Popular Music and Music Stereotype - Literature review Example

Popular Music and Music Stereotype Name Professor Institution Course Date Popular Music and Music Stereotype Music is viewed as on the most fundamental aspect in human life, and this perception is greatly attributed by the fact that music is a cure to the heart, mind and the whole body. Music acts as a tool to relieve the mind from thoughts, and sometimes stimulates the mind into functioning without divided attention because it captures the entire mind and focus of the listener. The nature of music that people listen to defines their character and behavior because they tend to follow the teaching contained in the music, and sometimes consider the artists as their role models (Jones & Brown, 2005: 49). It is easy to identify the perception of people towards music depending on the type of music they listen to, and the reasons they offer as to why they like listening to those types of music. This paper aims at investigating music genres and tries to answer the question as to whether music genres are often stereotyped. This follows the argument established by Lewis (1995) and Morrison (2005) that popular music genres are often stereotyped. Additionally, the paper will investigate on whether popular music genres have been misinterpreted in the mainstream popular media, and create a clear understanding on the effects of the misrepresentation on the genres and the fans. An evidence-based analysis will be conducted on popular music genre and the aspect of music stereotype as a way of responding to the argument of Lewis and Morrison regarding stereotyping of popular music genres. Music Stereotype In the contemporary world, stereotypes are very common in the sense that they run in every society to an extent that they can be viewed as the fundamental elements that make up the norms of given societies. Stereotype is described to be a set of socially shared beliefs that people follow and hold in a given society and about members of a specified group. They focus on the group to which something is related to instead of the individuals themselves. There are various levels of stereotypes, and people have categorized them with respect to race, gender and the things that given group is interested in. the claim suggested by Lewis (1995) and Morrison (2005) can be considered to be true in the sense that there are various genres in music that are stereotypical in nature. It is understood that musical stereotypes exist in all genres of music in the current world. For instance, Hip-hop music is often stereotyped for the blacks and the perpetuate gang aggression. This implies that every genre has various stereotypes that are used to attack it, and more importantly to associate the funs with some specified behaviors that they derive from the music (Kun, 2005: 201). According to Lewis (1995), stereotypes in music are considered to be the excuse why music is not currently diversifying. People have been observed to use various stereotypes to justify their unwillingness to be associated with certain types of music, and it is the obligation of each and every musician and fans to understand the challenges associated with stereotyping music especially to behavior change. People should have knowledge and understanding about the music outside their zones of comfort as a way of eradicating stereotypes in the music industry. On the other hand, Morrison (2005) argued that the transformation of culture is difficult due to the perceptions that people have towards specified music genres, and that it is hard to convince people on the negative contributions of stereotyping music genres towards development of music in the current world. This observation was upon the realization that people have great interest in judging the behaviors of people with respect to the genres of music that they listen to, and this has hindered advancement in the music industry because most behaviors that are identified with various music genres are negative. Popular Music Popular music is considered to be eclectic due to its aspect of borrowing various styles from other forms of music, and this makes it difficult to define popular music. The structure of popular music is characterized by integration of repeated choruses and tunes that can be viewed as melodic. Additionally, popular music is made complete through the use of electric guitars, drums and other instrumentation to make the music interesting and pleasurable to listen to. It has mass audience appeal due to its nature of representation, and the targeted groups which are mostly the youths and some elderly people. Popular music is characterized by its aim of appealing to the listeners and not focusing on a specific sub-culture and/or ideology (Lewis, 1995: 37-58). It offers more emphasis on craftsmanship instead of establishing formal backgrounds and formal artistic qualities. Most of popular music is recorded over live performance, and the production integrates modern technologies to appeal to the audience. It is also observed that popular music as a tendency to reflect on the existing trends instead of concentrating or focusing on progressive developments. Popular music is purposely designed to stimulate listeners to dance due to its dance-oriented beats and rhythms, and this makes the genre more fashionable in the current world. The beats and melodies of popular music are simple, and according to Lewis (1995) and Morrison (2005), the music has limited harmonic accompaniment. The major focus of most popular music is love, but most people have stereotyped the genre with crime and violence. They fail to understand that the artists try to send messages linked to romantic relationships (Frith, Straw, & Street, 2010: 96). Popular music has been declining over the past few years in terms of quality. According to some critics, the sale of the music has significantly declined due to the fact that they are homogeneous in the sense that they almost sound the same. The number of chords and varying melodies has also declined and this is attributed to the inability of the songwriters to be adventuresome. They tend to copy the approaches they use to write the songs from other established lyrics, and according to Starr and Waterman (2010), "Musicians today seem to be less adventurous in moving from one chord or note to another, instead following the paths well-trod by their predecessors and contemporaries (Starr & Waterman, 2010: 45)." Connecting this understanding to the element of stereotyping of music genre, it can be argued that popular music integrates social functions that help artists deliver the messages they intend to pass to their audience through their material. Popular music foster the sense that constructive ideas regarding the life of people can be passed to people, and can be used as a tool to correct, modify and guide the behavior of people in the society (Frith, 2009: 95-6). Reflecting on the element of whether popular music genre has been misinterpreted in the mainstream popular media, it can be argued with some evidences that there is misinterpretation due to the perception that people have towards the type of music. The fact that people have the notion that popular music features the blacks presents the aspect of racism and discrimination, and this contributes greatly to the decline in production of the music genre. The image of popular artists has been tarnished due to the relation of the music with one race, and from the observation that the music is listened and produced in various countries and by artists from all races, then there is some truth about misinterpretation of the music genre by the public (Rentfrow & Gosling, 2007: 306-326). It is through the media that artists become popular, and their music spreads to various parts of the globe through the support of the media. However, when some personnel in the media have a negative perception towards certain music genre, they tend to ignore their role of establishing a good reputation of the music genre (Buckley, 2010: npag). From the reduction in production of popular music, it is confirmed that the media has neglected its obligations in ensuring that the music is accepted by all groups in the society irrespective of age, gender or class. Music preference is evident to be directly correlated with some personality traits. The cognitive functionality of an individual plays a great role in determination of the music to listen to, and more importantly in drawing better perception towards the nature of music to like or dislike. The stereotypes linked to various music genres contribute greatly in decision-making on the music to listen to, and this is supported by the argument that people tend to like music that is associated with good teachings. For instance, Christians are convinced that listening to gospel music is important to them due to the messages that are contained in the music (Negus, 1999: 42-47). On the other hand, Rastafarians are convinced that reggae is the best music to listen to because of the stereotype that is connected to the music and the beliefs that they have towards the origin of reggae music. In the main, popular music is unique and different from other types of music such as art music because the composers and producers are conceived for mass distribution of the music to various socio-culturally heterogeneous groups of audience. Additionally, it is usually stored and exchanged in non-written form, and this establishes its uniqueness and people make decisions on listening to popular music due to these qualities. It is mostly played in commercial stations and in production of movies due to the nature of beats and melodies that are contained in the music (Morrison, 2005: 48-66). This is an indication that popular music is interesting to listen to, educative and more significantly informative. Most of the stereotypes associated with popular music are negative, and this has greatly contributed to decline in production of the music genre (Holt, 2007: 29-35). It has also been observed that popular music is neglected by some media, and this limits the popularity of the music genre. The effect of this rejection from the media is misinterpretation by the public, and consequently this contributes to decline in the number of fans of popular music. It is essential therefore to avoid stereotyping music genre, and this can only be achieved if people are made aware of the intention and purpose of production and distribution of any type of music genre. References Buckley, D. 2010. "Pop" "II. Implications of technology", Grove Music Online Frith, S. 2009. "Pop music", in S. Frith, W. Straw and J. Street, eds, The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 95–6. Frith, S., Straw, W. & Street, J. 2010. The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 95–6. Holt, F. 2007. Genre in Popular Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 29-35 Jones, R & Brown, S. 2005. Michael Jackson, the man behind the mask: an insider's story of the king of pop. Select Books, p. 49. Kun, J. 2005. Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, p. 201. Lewis, G. H. 1995. Taste Cultures and Musical Stereotypes: Mirrors of Identity? Popular Music and Society, 19:1, 37-58 Morrison, S.A. 2005. Clubs Aren’t Like That: Discos, Deviance and Diegetics in Club Culture Cinema. Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture 4(2): 48–66 Negus, K. 1999. Music Genres and Corporate Cultures. New York: Routledge. Pp. 42-47 Rentfrow, P.J. & Gosling, S.D. 2007. The content and validity of music-genre stereotypes among college students. Psychology of Music, 35(2), 306-326. Starr, L. & Waterman, C. A. 2010. American popular music from minstrelsy to MP3. Oxford University Press. pp. 45 Read More