Joshua Hug

Global Perspective Through Music

2/17/15

1. Blues music was once a minority music in the American South that was

mainly for African Americans. After World War 2 it spread to the rest of the

United States. It then branched out into many genres that are also evolving

and is still popular today.

2. The Qin is very similar to a violin or a cello. These are chordophones like the

Qin and in Western culture they are held up as centerpieces of an orchestra

and are looked at as sophisticated instruments.

3. Pieces in Western Music also have programmatic titles that describe the

piece and evoke a certain emotion. For instance in the Disney film Fantasia

programmatic music is used to great effect to address the themes in the

movie.

4. Jiangnan sizhu can be compared to a jam session since in a jam session there is

usually a melodic baseline that is then expanded on by soloists which is similar to

the casual heterophonic style of Jiangnan sizhu. In addition both jam sessions and

Jiangnan sizhu are not for money but simply for the enjoyment of what is usually

an amateur band or group.

5. Jingju theater is similar to Broadway since they both encapsulate the same

performance ideals. In Jingju there is an emphasis on both aural and visual

performance like broadway because there is music while acting. Costuming is

also important in both. Finally both of them are usually tourist attractions and

have spread from a central hub outwards into mainstream popularity.

6. In Han there is a strict baseline with chord progressions with slight

variations to create a heterophonic sound. This is demonstrated in Western

music by many songs that have a strict chord progression that does not

change such as hip hop music. This music does not have a lot of variation and

usually has a percussion accompaniment as well as a chordophone like a

guitar or a piano.

7. Music can be used as propaganda in the US because some commercials and

politicians have musical taglines that promote themselves. A historic

example is during the American revolution there was a lot of songs sung at

the retreating British as a justification for ungentlemanly actions by the

Patriot army.

8. One of the most prominent examples of this is the National Anthem, which

instills American values and nationalism into the people when they sing it or

hear it. In religion singing is used to connect with a higher power or to praise

that higher power. This instills moral values into people when they sing

songs about religion.

9. Music is considered bad in the Communist view since Marxism and Confucian

world views are completely different. Confucianism defines a clear social

hierarchy while Marxism is completely opposed to hierarchy and attempts to

eliminate social and economic differences.

10. This is because the country was going through a radical change and this was

used because the older music was considered old and outdated music that

needed to be changed along with the country itself. The modernization

approach was taken to society and music.