Introduction
When you listen to music, you want to escape the real world with its problems, duties, and fears into the one suggested by musical context which makes you feel at ease (Cook 1). The first chapter of the book by Nicholas Cook suggests that we should think about the music in the context of the word ‘music’, in the context of its meaning, and the context of its appearing. As music is one of the ‘universal languages’ existing in the world (Cook 17), it is necessary to identify its basic features.
Music in this chapter is referred to as a “symbol of national or regional identity” (Cook 5). However, modern society seems to have found a way to unite different nations, as similar genres and international bands built bridges between the cultures, though the elder generations may be excluded from this unification. Music nowadays claims your status and your essence in life; who you want to be is divided from who you are. On the contrary, sounds that are produced by people with the help of musical instruments are referred to as music, which stands as the primary and stronger position for this concept.
The stages of development of music include “composing, performing, and appraising” (Cook 16). In this respect, popular music can be considered to be one of double nature because it is artificial as the performer and the composer are different people and the soul of music is lost, whereas it also appears to be natural when the performer endows music with his soul while performing. While playing in a band, it seems natural to be glamorous and glittering, though it is a fantastical side of the music. Thus, when one listens to music a fantasy may become more realistic and it may be a little painful to turn back to reality when you have to “play the woman’s request” (Cook 3).
When you hear the music, you imagine some other things that exist in reality and you dream about being the one who knows what he/she wants. Unfortunately, sometimes people fail to find their genuine place in life which presupposes that the sound of music does not coincide with the image. As classical music is associated with maturity, age, some success in life, it seems to be more appropriate for representing the time that can come if you make the right choice now. The whole idea of division of the image, sound, and meaning is that sometimes particular music can render certain meaning which is unconsciously adopted.
Assertions on Music in the World
A particular culture has certain musical cues which stand for particular meanings and associative lines; representatives of different cultures would understand music playing in commercials differently as their background knowledge presupposes different meanings for particular music. Each subcultural variant has distinct features of its own announcing about the category of people that listens to a particular genre of music, wear a particular style of clothes, and visits particular places and events.
The lifestyle is highlighted by the music and the subculture it identifies. Some activities are considered to be more appropriate for discussion in the musical context than others (Cook 6). When addressed a particular genre of music, we usually endow it with certain features which seem to be typical of this genre. As each genre includes a certain meaning, the latter can be attributed to the genre by some characteristics. Authenticity is one of the characteristics which are considered to be the basic one differentiating between the rock and popular subcultures.
The origins of music can be traced in every culture while every genre stemmed from certain historical subcultures, for example, rock’n’roll is based on blues which came from the very heart of the society of Black Americans of the South (Cook 7). Though rock music as opposed to the classical one, both have roots and reasons for existing. As blues started in the free-loving society, it has a freer structure and connotation as well as rock does while classical music was born in the European society of snobs where social norms were more important than true feelings and desires.
Some music is considered to be artificial while another is “free and natural, giving direct expression to emotion and feeling” (Cook 7). The real natural music should go from the bottom of the soul; “… music must be authentic, for otherwise, it is hardly music at all.” (Cook 14); in order not to be artificial, it should be a pure improvisation including feelings, emotions, and ideas of the author. The performer is the key figure while selling the music records; the image and profile are important regardless of the type of music (Cook 13). If the performer is charismatic enough, any kind of music would be profitable.
There are many ‘clones’ of the popular bands and performers, while no rock band can be considered a clone of some other rock band. Authenticity is a disputable issue while analyzing popular music because some performers are natural and their way of performing some music is original and authentic. Singers, suchlike Beyonce, Rihanna, Madonna, and others are charismatic which should mean that they are simply good distributors of artificially produced music. However, these performers do not copy others’ styles of performing; neither do they allow interfering with their ideas on the way some piece of music should be presented.
Financial dependence and the financial factor, in general, are really important while creating the next superstar. In this respect, rock music sifts out talented musicians and promotes their music through the masses, while the artificially produced ‘clones’ of famous bands will never be noticed and recognized. When we talk about certain rock groups that became popular and their style recognizable, we refer to masters of performance who had managed to be original despite financial circumstances.
Their authentic music made them famous and financially independent; they managed to create an original image that could be easily recognized which brought them fame and fortune. Consequently, if a person does not have a talent but has some financial support, he/she is sure to become a clone of a famous music star. However, history is likely to repeat itself and some features of the previous century can be traced in the style of modern music performers.
When you feel to be “absorbed in the music” (Cook 1), you are absolutely and absorbed by the subculture which stems from this musical genre. We think of music as something which goes without saying with some subcultures, events, actions, and meanings. The music is believed to be authentic when it comprises the natural sounds and emotional performance which stands for a sincere performer.
Each subculture has its values and assumptions, though few universal ones can be raced in any subculture. For example, pop music presupposes a certain performer who does not always appear to be the author of the piece of music, as well as rock music, has a performer (as a rule, it contains several people because playing musical instruments is equal to producing a song with voice). Usually, the rock performers are the authors of the music they play, though the possibility of cooperation with other bands is not excluded.
To conclude, the producing and performing can be treated equally when the performer brings something new (his/her style which can be identified) into the composition. Thus, international music performers that can be easily detected within the scope of those can be treated as authentic ones performing authentic music which is naturally flowing, allowing the listeners to feel the same emotions as experienced by the performer because the emotions cannot be properly conveyed unless experienced and overcome.
So, the world community can differentiate between natural music and the artificially produced and performed one, which means that no clone would be successful while performing inauthentic music bearing no emotions. The subcultures which incorporate authentic music are more emotionally free and can afford to reveal their emotions, though representatives of the rock subculture do not seem to be truly emotional. On the contrary, the rhythm’n’blues can be considered very emotional, though most people think that it is artificially produced and performed.
Works Cited
Cook, Nicholas. “Musical Values.” Music. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. 1-18. Print.