Two Sides to Every Story!

In chapter 7, Negus focuses on the “politics” of music. Now one would naturally assume that he is going to cover the ins and outs of the music business, such as how an artist gets signed, how their money is distributed, how much royalty they receive and other aspects of this topic. Well he doesn’t. Negus focuses on the dynamics of power and influence.

            He begins the chapter with a focus on the “message” of music. When we listen to songs, why do we listen? What makes a particular song on an album more attracting than the track before or after it? Why does a couple pick a song to dance to as their first dance during their wedding? Or why do some parents, teachers and other authority figures disapprove of our youth listening to certain songs? It is because of the message! When we hear something that relates to us personally or our current circumstances, we naturally gravitate to it.  This applies to music as well.

            So what is it about music and the messages they bring, what is the big deal? First off Negus goes to explain to us how music has become versatile. When a writer writes a song, that musician may be writing about something they see happening in the world around them but the beauty of music is because everyone experiences things different when we hear a song, it may have a totally different meaning to you than the original intended meaning of the author. Say for example you hear a song about poverty. The artist may be writing about a poverty stricken area in near their home. When you hear it they meaning may be relevant to a poor person begging for change on the freeway exit. While someone over seas may be listening to that song and looking right in their home. The author may have intended for us to begin to recognize and admit that poverty exist while you may begin to think about how to help and that person overseas may be crying for help. Negus gives us an example of this with the song “Imagine” by the late Beatle John Lennon. The song “imagine” is asking the listener (you!) to imagine a world without things that cause conflict and division. Things such as: hunger, countries, religion and even possessions. Lennon is merely asking for us to think as the world as being “One.” Negus points out the versatility of the meaning of the song by informing us of where it has been heard. In 1987 the song was sang by a group at a conservative party conference in Britain as a greeting to Margaret Thatcher at the same time it has been sang by those who were protesting the wars and violence taking place during that time frame. On one hand the message of the song was to ask the listeners to imagine unity and on the other hand some took it as a form of protest. To the point where it had to carefully be considered before it was allowed to be played on the British BBC radio waves.  This brings us to our next point, music and their messages as influence. 

            Just as different songs have their messages, sometimes those messages can be viewed as a threat. The song “Imagine” by John Lennon was intended to bring unity to people but some saw it as a way to get people rallied up about circumstances. Because of the misreading of the message behind a song, some governments interfere with the distribution of music to “protect” their domains. An early example of this was in Nazi Germany. For fear that their cultural values would be corrupted by foreign influences, Hitler imposed a music policy in Nazi Germany. Hitler placed policies prohibiting jazz music or any other music written, performed or developed by blacks and Jews from being heard. Anyone caught would suffer time in jail or be placed in concentration camps. The justification behind this was “to purify a population.” Hitler felt that the American music had an influence on the people. He wanted to prevent “Americanization” through music and the washing away of traditional culture. This was the beginning and early stages of censorship. I will not go into this topic because it is one to go into much depth but if you want to know more about it click here. Recent example of fear put onto government through the influence of music is 90’s gangster rap group NWA. With their controversial lyrics about violence and feelings toward the police, there were numerous attempts to censor this group for fear of listeners adopting these point of views and acting on them. 

            Negus goes on to conclude that the purpose of this chapter was to illustrate how popular songs don’t have just one meaning politically but rather how the create and connect different political agendas. The messages in songs can either serve its intend purpose or be viewed as something else and create an opportunity for politicians to get there agendas put on the table and further control the people. I don’t want to scare away your creative expression, I just want you to realize that there are always two sides to a story!

I Heard it from... The Journey of Music from the Musician to You!

So as I began to read chapter 3 of the Popular Music in Theory book, I was truly intrigued on how they would tackle the topic of “Mediation” in which the chapter was titled. Unlike the traditional definition of mediation, Negus breaks this term into three main points of focus:

1.     Mediation as intermediary action

2.     Mediation as transmission

3.     Mediation of social relationships

Negus describes mediation as intermediary action as the process in which individuals intervene in the music process. The process of production and consumption; between corporation and consumer and between artists and audience.  This concept deals with the many different people that take part in the different stages of music from productions to distribution to consumption. Individuals involved in the process range from staff at record companies to DJs and even music video producers. These people are known as the “gatekeepers” because they ultimately make the decision of what you and I hear and buy.

The next point of mediation is mediation as transmission.  This phrase describes the process in which popular music disseminated to us through technology. Negus describes to us that there has been at least six different ways in which music has been given to the people. From street peddlers pushing sheet music and printed word on the streets, sound carriers, the broadcasting of radio, musical instruments, moving images and telecommunication technologies. Each of these stages had its internal evolutions that eventually led to something new. These new forms of transmission have not necessarily taken over the previous but have added to.  For example we not only have song lyrics and music videos but rather we have some music videos that display the lyrics on screen while the video is taking place.
                                                    (lyrics begin at 1:20)

The third and final aspect of mediation is the mediation of social relationships. This last aspect focuses on the relation of the previous two. The impact of what happens with music from who is involved and how they are involved to the way it gets out to us s listeners. This takes us back to chapter six of this book where we looked at the geographical aspects of popular music. Just as rap group Wu Tang Clan sang the song C.R.E.A.M. (cash rules everything around me), this is very true for where music is heard and what kind of music is heard. The more social influence one has on a particular area, the more the musical selections of that group will reflect in that area. This is partly why we have different radio stations.

Have you ever noticed that radio stations and music stores reflect one another? When you walk into a music store you have to walk around to find the section of the musical genre you like. When you turn on the radio, you have to change the stations to find the musical genre you like. This is not a coincidence. According to Negus, this is a strategic move done by record companies, music stores, radio stations and other individuals that are involved in the intermediary action process. This strategy was to allow for different types of music to be evenly distributed across a region but still at the same time control what we hear.

I am a fan of urban music so I listen to a lot of hip-hop and r&b so you will come to know that a lot of my references are examples of that genre.  Even though I listened to Gospel rap, I still hear what is popular in secular rap. I you ever wondered why you like the kind of music you like? You may think that it is because of your musical taste. In some cases that may be true, but how did you get exposed to it? Have you ever wondered why some the most talented remain underground but every man, woman and child knows how to do the “Soulja Boy” or the “Stanky leg” (I still can’t understand why anyone would be excited to have their leg be affiliated with anything that stinks)? These intermediaries are giving us selected limited material and saying, “you choose.” This brings me to my next point.

With the constant advances of the forms of media transmission, artists are not as creative as they once were. Not to discredit the artists of today, because you have to be very talented to come up with your own dance every few months; but they are no longer storytellers like the days of old. When there was only radio transmission, musicians had to be creative enough to tell you a story. You could not see where they were; only hear what they were telling you. So they had to be able to tell the story good enough to allow you to create a picture in your head and travel to that place with them. Old emcees like Slick Rick, Rakim, Biggie, Tupac, Nas and Eminem painted a picture for you, to let you see what they saw. So when the music videos were made, the image that you envisioned while listening was the image you saw in the video.  Now we are in the era of every song on the album becomes a hit and a music video is made. Negus goes to state that this allows the artists to heavily depend on music videos to reach us as an audience. So now I no longer have to be a storyteller to show you what I am talking about, I can give you instructions and show you myself on my new music video.

So as we continue to be a species that is constantly upgrading, there will be new forms of mediation as it relates to popular music (look at cds, pretty soon everything will be digital) we have to remember that it is all in the package. We have to treat them like a marriage, for better or worse; we just have to learn how to take the good with the bad.

My School Teacher is a Movie Star!

Image a world without school teachers. How will our youth learn, who will stand by them, who will fight for them, who else would care for them but most of all, who will be their voice? These are all the attributes that have been associated with teachers in our society today. Shannon and Crawford have pointed out that Hollywood has taken the lead on romanticizing teachers, school and teacher-student relationships. Because of the portrayal of teachers in movies they are now viewed by society as being: caretakers, a savior, drillmasters, keepers of wisdom, technicians and most importantly agents of change. A perfect example of this is the 2003 movie release of “School of Rock” featuring Jack Black. 

School of rock is about a guy named Dewey Finn who frauds the school system by becoming a substitute teacher. Dewey is an aspiring dead end rock star who mooches off of his roommate Ned Schneebly who is a substitute teacher. Given an ultimatum by Ned to either come up with the rent money by the end of the week or get out, Dewey decides pretend to be Ned when a school calls requesting him to come and sub. Dewey’s initial thoughts on teachers are that they are Babysitters (you can find this in the beginning scene where he is debating with his roommate) and that is exactly the way he approached the position. For the first Day and a half, Dewey didn’t want to interact with the kids; he didn’t want to attempt to teach them. He wanted to sit, make sure they were alive (and I doubt that he even cared about that) and get to the end of the day. His only suggested thoughts were to keep them occupied (like most baby sitters) by telling them to go to recess. After spying on the kids in their music class, Dewey has found a way to connect with the kids and teach what he loves to do “music.”

 Initially, Dewey wants to teach the kids rock & roll to develop them into a band to play with him at the Battle of the Bands contest to win money but he soon begins to do more than just teach. During this process Dewey transforms from being “a babysitter” to what Shannon and Crawford calls a “facilitator.” Dewey takes what each individual kid is good at and helps to further develop their skills while teaching them life lessons. He took one guy who could only play the cymbals in music class to molding him into a percussionist on the drums. He takes a guitar and bass player and teaches them with the electric guitar and bass. He takes a pianist and develops him on the electric keyboard. He finds singers and uses them as well. Not only does he help their musical skills but also helped others furthered their skills with computers, design creative expression and even helps build a girl's managerial skills. Like I mentioned before, he also teaches the kids life lessons through his “stick it to the man” philosophy. He helps build confidence, self-worth, self –esteem and resiliency by teaching them not to give up and never take no for an answer. In the end, like in most movies, the kids display what they have learned by encouraging him in his time of despair. Then all ends well with your traditional happy ending. He becomes somewhat successful by booking gigs with the school of rock band and the kids get to continue to learn from him and further enhance their skills.

In an article on the “Top Ten Picks for Great Teachers Flicks,” teachers explore the impact these movies have on teachers and society.  Some of the teachers say that these types of movies show how important teachers are to society. Others say they are great recruiting tools and that’s why they decided to become teachers. The teachers say that movies such as: Mr. Holland’s Opus, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, October Sky, The Blackboard Jungle, Dangerous Minds, Dead Poets Society, To Sir with Love and Up the Down Stairs all speak to the heart of teaching. They say that these movies touch on three things: Teachers have tremendous positive impacts on students; everyone can learn and if the system doesn’t work for students, change it.

By Hollywood romanticizing the profession of teaching and the student teacher relationship, I believe personally that it sets up false hope. For one, I have never had a teacher like the ones that are in the movies. Not to say that my teachers were not outstanding, they just didn’t put in the extra work like those in the movies. Second, people see these movies and decide to go into teaching but quickly realize that real life is not like them movies. Yes every now and then teachers will be able to make an impact on the students they are working with. But most of the time it does not happen that way and as they years past, it puts more wear and tear on the teachers. That is why you have some teachers who initially began teaching so they can become the agents of change that they see in the movies but get worn down to the point wear they dread going to work. They go from attempting to save the world to just doing the minimum to get by. I will agree that these types of movies are very entertaining and they are good for making one feel like they can change the world. But if you don’t want to be disappointed I would take it with a grain of salt.