In his 1941 essay On Popular Music, Theodor Adorno describes popular music as “cheap commercial entertainment, (…) patterned and pre-digested” (in Storey, 2009: 70). He compares his time’s popular music, such as jazz, to what he defines as ‘serious’ music – classical works. He claims that the listeners of popular music “are distracted from the demands of reality by entertainment which does not demand attention either” (in Storey, 2009: 70). Is he by this stating that the listeners are simply just following the stream without paying attention to what they are really listening to? In this essay I will in relation to examples and critics of Adorno’s work show what he means by this quote from his essay - which is perceived as a crass criticism of the Western popular music in contrast to the ‘serious’, classical music. Adorno describes popular music as “standardised, pre-given and pre-accepted” (2009: 64), and furthermore says that “popular music divests the listener of his spontaneity and promotes conditioned reflexes”. He claims that in difference to classical …show more content…
In their everyday boredom, people crave a simulant for new experiences, which is what “popular music comes to offer” (in Storey, 2009: 71). According to Adorno this stimulation is only met with the incapability to invest effort in what he thinks is identical music – the popular music. “This means boredom again. It is a circle which makes escape impossible. The impossibility of escape causes the widespread attitude of inattention toward popular music” (in Storey, 2009: 71). Adorno writes that the listeners does not have anything to miss if he or she is not paying attention to the actual melody or music. “Distraction is not only a presupposition but also a product of popular music. The tunes themselves lull the listener to inattention. They tell him not to worry, for he will not miss anything” (2009:
In Mark Edmundson’s Article “Can Music Save Your Life?” he discusses his theories on music. He goes through personal experience and later onto philosophical stances. Edmunds believes music, opens figurative doors, should inspire one to create, and above all preserves the listener. Edmundson says music should make the listener desire to create.
Carter Wright Mrs. Roe English 6 February, 2023 Final Draft How 1930s Music Affected Political Discourse Imagine, if you will, a time where you have no money but you still want to spread your political beliefs. In the 1930s, the answer to this predicament was to listen to music and to make music. That is why, in this position, many people in the 1930s decided to turn towards music in order to spread their belief. Popular music in the 1930s was a cheap and effective way to share political and cultural views to a large audience of listeners.
As the late Hunter S. Thompson said, “Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio.”
From my experience, this form of listening is especially prominent if music is a major part in the person’s life. For example, I am in choir, and I have noticed that because singing is a big part of my everyday routine, I can easily notice the details in music, and sometimes even mistakes. Like Copland mentions in “How We Listen”, intelligent and educated listeners are constantly aware of harmonies, rhythms, melodies, tone colors, key changes, and notes, just to name a few musical devices. This type of listening simply depends on a person’s musical education and
Music can change time, tempo, dynamics, and mood very fast. This music can also be easy on the ears to quite difficult to listen to. “It is natural enough for the uninitiated to imagine that all problematic music may be safely damned under a single heading. But actually, even in the old days of "ultra-modern" music, a great many different kinds of music were grouped indiscriminately together,
The Evolution of music in the 20th Century Music is a living art form, not only is it not static in its production, like a painting which once created is intended to remain the same, but the techniques and styles used to generate music change throughout the course of history as well. Many musical theorists and philosophers have proposed different motivators for the dramatic (as compared to changes in different eras) changes in music that occurred in the 20th century. These motivators include firstly the blending of cultures through migration, both forced and voluntary, represented by the views of George Lipsitz and Iain Chambers in their respective essays “’Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens’: The Class Origins Of Rock and Roll” and “A strategy
By just turning on a song that you like can put you in your own world where no one criticizes you or judges you for being you. Music is an escape from any problem in society and it is meant for everyone. “Music is just something that helps me escape and be totally free from everything.”-David Schmitt. This quote shows the true meaning of music.
”(p. 20) With this in mind, it is clear that music is a vital aspect of keeping society’s happiness and hope at a steady rate. It also signifies that without music there would be only darkness, and society would crumble because of
In his article “The Naysayers,” Alex Ross analyzes the debate that looms between Benjamin and Adorno. Ross concludes that “if Adorno were to look upon the cultural landscape of the twenty-first century, [Adorno] might take grim satisfaction in seeing his fondest fears realized” (Ross). That fear being is Adorno’s expressed concern that music was progressing as another tool for the capitalist society. Unfortunately, this concern of Adorno’s has become all too realized, particularly in the pop music industry. Artists like along the lines of Justin Bieber and Kesha are manufactured products.
Title: Adagio for Strings (1936) Composer: Samuel Barber (1910-1981) Summary: Short orchestral work taken from the second movement of his String Quartet, Opus. 11. Perhaps Barber’s greatest composition, leaving a significant impact on audiences around the world after its debut. Background information: This piece was composed in 1936 during Barber’s vacation in Europe.
Music Appreciation Essay Music today is something we can easily take for granted. Through class I have learned several important influences in music. The most significant composer in my opinion was Ludwig van Beethoven. I feel his works broadened music and took it to a whole new level.
Whilst in exile in the USA key theorists Max Horkheimer and T.W. Adorno developed an account of the “culture industry” calling attention to how industrialized and commercialized culture had become under capitalist relations of production. This observation was most evident through the overwhelmingly low level of state support for film and television industries. Mass culture was highly commercialised which was a key facture in determining a capitalist society. This became a focus of critical cultural
Adorno and Horkheimer drew from Marx with regards to capitalism. According to Lorimer and Scannell (1994), “Following Marx, they saw the application of capitalist methods to cultural production as exploitative of the mass of the production” (p. 165). Adorno and Horkheimer believed that mass culture due to capitalism makes it homogenous. The audience then becomes homogenous and unified. Baofu (2009) further explains the culture industry as, “Popular culture is akin to a factory producing standardized cultural goods to manipulate the masses into passivity; the easy pleasures available through consumption of popular culture make people docile and content, no matter how difficult their economic circumstances.”
The archetypal forms of music were probably drum-based, prelusion instruments being the most easily handy at the time. For an example, rocks and sticks. These plain instruments are thought to have been used in spiritual tradition as representations of wild things. Therefore, many of us do not realized that listening to music really does help a person’s health physically or mentally. In that case, scientist really do recommend us to choose a person’s favorite songs based on a person’s chosen genre and blast the music up anywhere and
People are immersed in popular culture during most of our waking hours. It is on radio, television, and our computers when we access the Internet, in newspapers, on streets and highways in the form of advertisements and billboards, in movie theaters, at music concerts and sports events, in supermarkets and shopping malls, and at religious festivals and celebrations (Tatum,