This is a scholarly article from the International Journal of Music Education.
Music is present everywhere that culture is present. Often times it brings people together. Right?
Well according to David J. Elliot in his article “Key Concepts in Multicultural Music Education”, music is not a universal language. He does acknowledge that this statement can shock many because enough people believe it, it is “contrary to popular relief”. The reason for Elliot’s claim is his observation on people’s first reactions or ultimate understanding of the music from other cultures. Nobody, Elliot states, “immediately understands, appreciates, or enjoys the musics of other cultures.” Elliot point out how even within the culture people have “their music” or “our music” concepts about each others music preferences. Often times people go further to identify themselves part of their music, part of that style. This way they separate themselves even further from their general culture. Elliot goes on to say that we have the “tendency to separate ourselves from one another”.
“So”, I think, “People within cultures separate themselves from others? That, actually, sounds reasonable.”
I don’t think there is one music genre that can define a whole culture because we are all different. We all have different likes and dislikes within our culture. Call them subdivisions. Nobody wants to be considered anything less than unique. I think that is why we have this “tendency” Elliot speaks about. I guess that after reading this article I realized that overall, music is not a universal language. I agree with Elliot. There are certain things that we can never understand, not only if we are not part of the culture but also, if we are not part of the fan group of that genre.
No comments:
Post a Comment