How Musical Taste Differs Based On Social Background
Introduction
Music is refers to any sound that is composed by the human beings and that is appealing to the ears and contains words with similar rhymes and rhythms. Because music requires the connecting of various words and sentences to make the songs sound more pleasing to the listener. Music has developed from the early years whereby the people used to make music through the traditional means that encompasses of the combination of traditional musical instruments that required skill and talent for them to be played (Savage 2005: 164).
This is totally contrarily to the music that is listened in the current generation that only concentrates to the manner in which the music is played and not the message that is portrayed in the music itself. Because of the change and the development that has taken place in the musical industry, almost all the people in the world have decided to choice the type of the music that they spend most of their time listening to the songs (Peterson 1996: 904). For instance, the old people who are the adults and the parents usually prefer listening to music that is more soothing and more educational as compared to the youths who prefer listening to music that is much louder and is able to be danced using the modern dancing styles (Savage 2005: 168).
The civilization has also caused the various tastes that people have in the music industries. This is vivid when comparing the developed nations and the poor and the non-developed nations. The music that the citizens of the developed nations listens to in most of the cases is not similar to the music that is listened to by the people found in the less developed nations. For these reasons, it is then true to conclude that different social backgrounds is the main cause of the various diverse tastes that the people in the entire world have and is also the reason that makes different music to be played in diverse places. Some of the major social backgrounds that makes the people to have the different encompasses of the educational backgrounds, the level of income that the people in the society contain, and lastly the presstige nature of the people.
According to Bourdieu, people identify themselves with a particular music depending on the type of audience the creator of the music aims at (Bryson 1996: 897). He argues that targeted culture forms a clear basis of the aesthetic value of the music and relies more on the content in the music. For instance, classical music is liked since it encodes the central part of the European culture and has some educative message (Savage 2005: 162). Bourdieu acknowledges that intellectualized appreciations in ways that best fit elite symbolist era tend to make the music more popular.
Education backgrounds
Education is the major influence and reason that is causing the different tastes in the entire world since it is one of the major aspect that is currently used to categories the people in the society (Savage 2005: 169). Because of the educational background, people are able to obtain the different musical tastes in the sense that the educational people will only listen to music which has impact in their life by teaching them new ideas while those who have not got the chance to attend to the institutions for the main purpose of achieving knowledge will listen to any music as long as it is aping to the ears.
Level of income
The level of income that the people earn as their salary also matters when the aspect of the taste in music is being discussed. The rich who are considered as the people, who earn high salaries for the amount of work they perform, listen to good soothing music since they can afford to purchase the variety of the music they like (Bryson 1996: 899). This is contrarily to the poor who are forced to listen to any radio channels since they lack the funds to choose the music they would prefer listening to when they get the urge of listening to music.
Prestige
Prestige refers to the high self esteem that is especially seen in the rich and the well-off people in the society. These kinds of people in the society will tend to have a different taste of the music which they listen not because they love the music but because they want to be different with the other people in the society. These people like to listen to classical music, jazz and electronic, especially for the ladies. For the males, prestige plays a minimal role in their choice of music though the prestigious people will always tend to listen to classical music (Tanner 1996: 901).
Peterson observes that the field of music experiences greater levels of variance as people listen to a wide range of genres (Peterson 1996: 903). He is of the view that people’s likes on music arts is not linked on educative value to attract many listeners. The omnivore perspective of Peterson shows that people have come to show openness in their way of appreciation of different music (Peterson 1996: 899). The appreciation is not based on what is taken in but the manner in which a person understands the music art. He claims that instead of people having fixed favorites, they range over diverse type of music forms regardless of the type of music.
Factors that makes people like or dislike certain genres of music
People vary in the taste and preferences of the several music genres. There are a couple of factors that influence their music taste. These factors include their social background, gender, culture, race and age. These are the main factors that influence the music taste of different people. The financial background of a person also determines the music one’s preference, though in negligible cases. However, ones personality is the main factor that influences the kind of music that on likes or dislikes. The environment in one was brought up also plays a major role in ones preference when it comes to music.
Ones age plays a major role when it comes to the music he or she likes (Peterson 1996: 901). This is because at different times, there were different types of music that were popular. For instance the old people, especially those with low educational qualifications, love country music since in their time country music was the popular genre. For the younger people they either listen to hip hop, pop or rock since this is currently the popular genre of music. This is however not always the case. Some of the youths listen to country music in a bid to be unique and different (Bryson 1996: 896). This is where personality as a factor comes into play. In most cases people individually decide what kind of music they want to listen to and develop a forced love for that genre. In most of the cases, they end up loving that genre and listen to it henceforth. These people hate other genres of music by seeing them as senseless and unimportant. The youthful people on the other hand will see country music as outdated and associated with the old people.
Race and ethnicity contributes to ones taste and preference in music in that a people of a certain race and culture have a certain genre of music that is popular in their country of origin. For instance the black-Americans listen to hip hop since it is the popular genre of the blacks and they are associated with it. The African-Americans will thus despise some of the other genres since they do not define them (Tanner 1997: 691). The young whites, predominantly the male, are seen to like rock music and the female will like soft rock and blues. Classic music for instance is overly listened to by the Europeans (Savage 2005: 163). Other ethnic minorities listen to a special genre of music which is solely found in their countries of origin. These people will thus mostly listen to this genre and ignore all the rest (Savage 2005: 162).
Ones gender will also define the kind of music he or she listens too. The male people will be seen to like violent and bold genres of music while the female will appreciate soft and calming genres (Savage 2005: 164). The females will abhor heavy metal rock and hardcore hip hop and will end up liking soft rock, classical music, electronic, techno and the likes of other soft music genres. The most of males, on the other hand will hate soft music and like the bolder genres. Ones personality may however, oppose this presumption. Some of the male like soft music and some of the females like violent music.
The genre one likes is also influenced by the current popular music. Most of the people are seen to change their preferential music genre with current trend. Most people love to be up to date and will thus avoid the so called ‘old fashioned’ music (Savage 2005: 168). This trend is common among the youths. However, some genres have always been stigmatized and avoided greatly for instance, heavy metal rock (Savage 2005: 169). These genres are thus hated by the majority. These kinds of genres will never at anyone time be termed as the popular form of music. Some people however, have a fixed preference and will under no circumstances follow the popularity of music in selecting their favorite songs.
According to the theory of Warner is vivid to state that the cultural aspect is also an impact to the taste of music to the different ethical groups (Savage 2005: 171). Different cultures have different songs that are used for various diverse occasions in the society. For instance, the theory illustrates the impact on the culture on the taste of the music by the people in the society basing on the pattern variations. The songs that are used in one culture for the main purpose of celebrations activities might be totally contrary to the songs that are used in the other community thus the aspect of the diverse in the taste of the music is aroused.
References
Holt, D. (1997). Poetics 25 (1997) 93-120 Distinction in America? Recovering Bourdieu’s theory of tastes from its critics by Douglas B. Holt
Savage, M. (2006). Cultural Trends Vol. 15, No. 2/3, June/September 2006, pp. 159–174 The Musical Field by Mike Savage
Peterson, R., & Kern, R. (1996). American Sociological Review, Vol. 61, No. 5 (Oct., 1996), pp. 900-907 Changing Highbrow Taste: From Snob to Omnivore
Bryson, B. (1996). American Sociological Review, Vol. 61, No. 5 (Oct., 1996), pp. 884-899 “Anything But Heavy Metal”: Symbolic Exclusion and Musical Dislikes
Tanner, J. (1997). Social Forces 88(2) 693–722 Listening to Rap: Cultures of Crime, Culture of Resistance
