Jazz history 3

Humanities

What role if any, does an artist’s life, background, or cultural upbringing have in the creation of their art?

Over the past 2 modules and including this one, we’ve chatted about issues such as race, religion, mental health, and addiction, among other things. Some of these conversations have been musician specific. Thinking about the bigger picture of music and not necessarily tied to any one particular musician, share your thoughts on this.

Response – in your response to a classmate, respectfully share your thoughts on one or more of their comments.

Classmate discussion

The role of one’s upbringing is what defines a person. In a musical way, especially in jazz where an artist can be so creative with their music can be completely driven by their background. It can first give them the passion to find the outlet of music, and then direct the type of style they are drawn to. If they have more hardships they might play more of a blues style. If they want to celebrate life and be postive they might want to play more swing style jazz. Or even if they want to tell a story, or their story, they can express this through music as well. But I think music truly gives a person a creative way to express themselves and show people what they want them to see. And everyone uses music in some way shape or form. Churches will use music, different races have different styles of music, and even people that need some sort of healthy outlet can use music.

I have a close friend of mine who uses music. He suffers from a severe depression and will use music when he is feeling down, and has even started to try to learn how to play an instrument as a sort of distraction and because it makes him happy. Music can really touch people and not only be a way to express yourself, but it can take someone else on your journey as well. I feel like a lot of the music we have listened to, a person could really get into. Whether they lose themselves in dancing to it, or they close their eyes and just take it all in. It is really something powerful, and it is all driven by who we are as people. Where we come from and any sort of influences we may have had around us at any point in our life.