Photo credits: Wiki Commons

                    My first post - Just my personal opinion on what we're reflecting through music

I'm writing directly on Steemit. If I write anywhere else, I might be able to finish this, but then I'd lose the initiative to post this. 

Music is a part of my life. As a music education student with a love-hate relationship with it, I spend most of my school life immersed in it. I have music theory classes, music history, music education, small instrumental ensemble, chorus class, music lessons, day in and day out, it's music, music, music. But what I want to write about isn't about that. It's about how music is reflecting what's happening to society in general, either as a collective, or as individuals. 

This just popped into my mind after a concert today, in which the chamber ensemble of our music department participated, as accompanists for the seventeen year old piano student of our department chair. The kid is really something, an excellent pianist on top of being a violinist and a marimba player.

                                        Photo credits: Wiki Commons

(This is for those who don't know what a marimba looks like. The soloist played Czardas and Flight of the Bumble Bee on it. Look up those music on Youtube if you're interested.)

Well, thinking about his skills, the music that he made, brought me this thought, 'Just what do people show through music?'. Be it vocal, instrumental, pop, jazz, acapella, solo, folk, baroque, those music, what were they showing? What were the composers thinking? What did they feel? What was happening to them, that they felt that way?

When you study music history, you'll find out that the music by famous composers of different eras showed something of what was happening during their time in their music. 

Medieval - religious music and those about courtly love.

Baroque - embellishments and extravagance.

Classical - Mozart, Haydn, with their structured music, and Beethoven, our rebel, trying to break free from the bonds of patrons and rules ( of music).

And my favorite, the Romantic period, where music flourished and composers did what they wanted, where patriotic musicians involved their nationalistic styles in their compositions. 

But I digress, this isn't a music history lesson. What I wanted to say is, that musicians have their own way of expressing themselves through composition, and with enough examples, patterns show. Their way of thinking, what's happening, etc.

That is why music remains an integral part of society and culture, showing us what goes on, in a specific society or in the minds of this generation's youth. 

Which is why I had Jonghyun's photo in the first place! Here's another one:

  

                                     Photo credits: Wiki Commons

I'm not a fan of Korean pop culture. There's the occasional K-drama I watch, but that's the extent of it. My tastes  go to Japanese culture, like my favorite Joe Hisaishi.

This guy, Jonghyun, I only became aware of him when I came across several posts of my K-pop-loving friends. He committed suicide. What I noted was that several of the songs that he wrote (the lyrics were on the posts of my friends), reflected his state of mind, which, I believe, was suicidal. Maybe, what happened shouldn't have really been a surprise to people. 

It's just that, a lot of songs nowadays are about things that many people relate to. Depression, sorrow, love, heartbreak, drugs (I think, I don't really listen to pop, or rock, jazz, or blues), sex, these topics are stuff that people sympathize, empathize with. Songs, are showing present society's state of mind. 

And, there's also the possibility, that the music that most people love, affect their paradigm, the way a person thinks or feels about something. After all, if people affect music, it does the same to us.

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That's all. It's just a personal opinion I'd like to throw out there. 

Signing off,

MatchaGirl (I really love tea)