Social and cultural processes create musical meaning. (These processes culminate into the culture of society where the meaning of music is drawn from.) The transition from the Classical era style of music to the Romantic style shows how cultural processes create music’s meaning. Classical era music was part of a movement towards a homage of the greek style; the era was based off of aesthetics. This aesthetic notion made music enjoyable without deeper meaning. Romantic era music was part of a movement towards emphasis of intense emotion, influencing the music of that era. This expressive aspect had pieces describe a certain emotion or musically described a place. Composers during the Classical era had specific styles and forms for music such as suites and symphonies. Romantic era music has many of the similar traditions and structures of the Classical era. These traditions changed with the Romantic period’s expression of emotion. Romantic composers would alter the rigid structure of Classical forms to fit the meaning of the piece. Social processes create meaning in music through the alteration and combination of musical styles. Styles of music have meaning from their history and purpose. When styles are combined or referenced, music will take attributes of the meaning from that style. Music, a Social Experience, shows this through talking about Aretha Franklin’s music. “Working with producer Jerry Wexler, Franklin recorded a string of hits that blended gospel’s soulfulness with pop music’s funky sexuality.” The songs Franklin performed had heavy gospel influence while singing about secular subjects such as broken love. Changes in social structure is shown through music’s meaning.The rise of gender and sexual equality is shown through music. In Music, a Social Experience, it is suggested that with the invention of television gender and sexuality became a prominent subject in popular music. Elvis Presley was seen in a range “effeminate” to “hyper- masculine,” being the start of popular music personas based on sexuality and gender. Stefani Germanotta, stage name Lady Gaga, is a modern day example of sexual persona. Many of Germanotta’s songs are based off of her own sexuality. Germanotta has become an icon representing the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transexual community.
Social and cultural processes create musical meaning. (These
processes culminate into the culture of society where the meaning
of music is drawn from.) The transition from the Classical era
style of music to the Romantic style shows how cultural processes
create musics meaning. Classical era music was part of a movement
towards a homage of the greek style; the era was based off of
aesthetics. This aesthetic notion made music enjoyable without
deeper meaning. Romantic era music was part of a movement towards
emphasis of intense emotion, influencing the music of that era.
This expressive aspect had pieces describe a certain emotion or
musically described a place. Composers during the Classical era had
specific styles and forms for music such as suites and symphonies.
Romantic era music has many of the similar traditions and
structures of the Classical era. These traditions changed with the
Romantic periods expression of emotion. Romantic composers would
alter the rigid structure of Classical forms to fit the meaning of
the piece.Social processes create meaning in music through the
alteration and combination of musical styles. Styles of music have
meaning from their history and purpose. When styles are combined or
referenced, music will take attributes of the meaning from that
style. Music, a Social Experience, shows this through talking about
Aretha Franklins music. Working with producer Jerry Wexler,
Franklin recorded a string of hits that blended gospels soulfulness
with pop musics funky sexuality. The songs Franklin performed had
heavy gospel influence while singing about secular subjects such as
broken love. Changes in social structure is shown through musics
meaning.The rise of gender and sexual equality is shown through
music. In Music, a Social Experience, it is suggested that with the
invention of television gender and sexuality became a prominent
subject in popular music. Elvis Presley was seen in a range
effeminate to hyper-masculine, being the start of popular music
personas based on sexuality and gender. Stefani Germanotta, stage
name Lady Gaga, is a modern day example of sexual persona. Many of
Germanottas songs are based off of her own sexuality. Germanotta
has become an icon representing the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transexual community. Germanotta's persona and lyrics change her
songs from a pop song to an anthem for a minority group.
