Craig+Thorogood+RP+Post+5

When I was a child, I used to think that music had one role - to entertain. Yeah, there might be different instruments but they all had the same purpose, right? Nope. As I grew older, I understood that music plays different roles in different societies. For some, music might be a sense of pride, like a national anthem. Music may also be used to communicate, or it could be used to represent a particular movement or culture. In fact, music cannot be generalized to just ONE role - it has many, and the goal of this paper is to research those many ways and see how the role, or roles, has changed over time. One role of music that I have come across in my research is that it is used to evoke emotion in the audience and for someone to get a message across. Selwyn Duke argues that music can "touch and twist one's soul" and that music can be used to soothe emotions or ignite them (http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/item/17311-influential-beats-the-cultural-impact-of-music). She also insists that music can influence emotions, but if used in the wrong way it can be dangerous. Similar, I guess, to television shows and movies and video games - they can influence people in the wrong way. This is pretty interesting because I've never really thought of music as something dangerous, but I guess it could be considered that.

Doctor Anthony Curtis agrees that music has many different roles, and he describes and few (http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/Courses/ResourcesForCourses/Music&PopCulture.html). Curtis observes that music has been really important from a religious aspect. Specifically, he reminds us that the slaves created spirituals, or religious songs, that blended traditional African songs with those of Europe. In this case, songs were both a way to communicate but also to motivate and keep everyone going.

Similarly, Langston Hughes touches on the cultural impact of music in "The Weary Blues", his poem. He writes about a lonely old black man playing his piano, singing the notes of the weary blues. The blues were a huge part of African-American culture, and represented the views and struggles of the blacks as a whole.

The sadness that music can express is explored in the poem "The Guitar" by Federico Garcia Lorca. In this poem, the "weeping" of the guitar is a representation of the guitar player's sadness.

Overall, many authors believe that music is a way to express emotion both vocally and instrumentally, and certain music can express and symbolize an entire culture, not just an emotion or idea.