Paper Example on Harmony of Influence: Unveiling the Impact of Artists on Society and Vice Versa

Music is the art of sound which is made to express one's idea(s) through means of emotions (Dai et al., 2018). In line with this, music is made by musicians who are commonly known as artists. In a wider diversity, the musical genre comprises pop music, rock, jazz, songs, blues, folk music, and classical music. Poetry work is not left behind in this list. Songs have been versioned to address wars, patriotism, poverty, drug addiction, governmental authoritarianism, "How much I love my babe", heroes and heroines, the existence of a Supreme Being, and racism.

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Historically, music has often been used on different occasions like to drive soldiers onwards in battle, in religious practices, and in refreshment ceremonies. Every kind of music is associated with their relevant artist. Throughout this assignment, I will analyze how the artists impacted the times in which they lived and how the way times in which they lived impacted and influenced them. Also, out of all the artists, I am going to select one of them and personalize these questions for him/her: how was he/she impacted by the times in which he lived and how did he/she influence the times he/she lived.

Artists majorly influence society's collective composition. Recent research has shown that art has highly affected the fundamental sense of one's self. This has resulted in people changing opinions; thus; they translate experiences across space and time. In addition to this, most ideologies witnessed today began to emerge a long time ago when music began to exist. For instance, in the political world, different artists have been digging in and out as well as revealing to society what has been happening behind the curtains. All artists from Joe Hill to Curtis Mayfield have their influence and impact in the era they lived. These are either positive or negative impacts. Basing my argument on the positive effects, first; since art is done through communication, these artists' art allowed people to communicate with each other through sound as well as stories shared rhythmically. For example, musicians from the United States go to perform in Britain, which opens a good forum for people to share their ideas and gain other new ones. Artists also created job opportunities for many individuals. Take, for instance, an artist who performs a jazz song and does not know how to play musical instruments, this artist has to hire qualified instrumentalists to go along with the artist. After the show, these artists get paid and hence they can meet their basic living expenses. In addition to this, most musicians after composing a song, have to go to the studios so that the artwork be produced and released to the market. This creates a job for the producers.

The times in which artists lived had impacts on them. In consideration of times like during wars, artists would be made to compose music relevant to that current war. By doing this, warriors would merge forward singing war songs that motivated them to face their enemies and at times defeat them. When the warriors emerged victoriously, they could also celebrate while singing songs and reciting poems. In times of celebration, by just stating, an artist cannot be called to perform and begin to mourn but instead should even capture the attention of the audience by showing joy to them (Kerley, 2015). Here, the artist is influenced by the current situation happening at that particular time.

Another good example is when there is an alarming use of drugs in a certain place. At this time, artists try to cope with that current situation and begin to work towards composing poems and songs relevant to that situation happening right away (Kerley, 2015). Here, the artists are just made by time to respond to that current issue and not them having an impact on that time.

I would select an artist like Pete Seeger and personalize the questions on him. This artist was becoming an influential figure in Woody Guthrie's right. As a young man, he had been interested in volunteering to fight the fascists in the Spanish Civil War (Habib, 2015). A sociology professor once told him that he could not change the world but only to analyze it. He was eager to change, but he removed himself from any communist association in the 1930s.

Pete Seeger was made to separate himself from actively engaging in the communist party. This man used to compose war and anti-war songs at different times. He was once asked to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) whether he had ever sung for communist audiences. Still, he said that he had ever sung for Americans for every political persuasion and he would never refuse to sing for an audience (Habib, 2015). In another place, he was prevented by McCarthyism from appearing on television, but he broadened this awareness as a solo artist by getting involved in the civil rights movement (Habib, 2015). He composed many songs like "I have heard it sung in a great mass meeting with a thousand voices singing as one" which led to great impact and influence to many. Many students could sing this song when being dragged away to jail simply because they felt the power that could not be described which made them rejoice. Seeger continued all day long to effect change in his life.

Conclusion

Music is the art of sound which is made to express one's ideas through means of emotions. Artists had great impacts during their times. These impacts resulted in influences on those times in which the artists existed. These impacts were a result of the ideas that they shared with society as a whole through how they conveyed the message. Contrary, the times in which they lived also impacted a lot them. A very clear example is how Pete Seeger brought influence to students and in the political field. Still, he was influenced by his time since the political associations were not clear to the citizens, but he tried to bring change in the end.

References

Dai, S., Zhang, Z., & Xia, G. G. (2018). Music style transfer: A position paper. arXiv preprint arXiv:1803.06841. https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.06841

Habib, S. (2015). Effective Civil Society in Pakistan (Comprehensive Analysis of Civil Society Effectiveness: A Case Study of Pakistan) (Doctoral dissertation, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES ISLAMABAD). http://prr.hec.gov.pk/jspui/handle/123456789/6668

Kerley, S. C. (2015). If I Had a Hammer: American Folk Music and the Radical Left. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2614/