Music and Identity

18th October www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~s0897956/MusicPsych.html

Suggested readings for this week

North & Hargreaves: 217 - 236 Rosenstone, R.A. (1969). The times, they are a-changin: The music of protest. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 382, 131 - 144 Watch: The Secret History of Eurovision - check YouTube

Plan
Overview of concept of identity Music and national identity Music and teen culture Music and protest

Identity
Our self systems are made up of numerous self images which exist in relation to particular situations in which were closely involved Self identity - overall view of myself in which these self images are integrated Self identity is closely tied up with group identity In-group vs out-group - very important in identity formation Self Identity Theory (SIT) predicts that people develop a sense of social identity as well as a personal identity

Music and self-identity

Faulkner & Davidson (2006): singing in an all-male choir provided both self and gender identity for the members Hargreaves, Miell & MacDonald (2002): We all have many identities, which change according to the social curcumstances Music can intersect with these identities During the week Im a PhD student, I tend to listen to calming music to help me concentrate At the weekend Im a 20-something, so I listen to pop and rock music On Tuesdays Im a lecturer in Music Psychology, so perhaps I listen more to classical/ high prestige music when preparing for this

Role of music in group formation

Knobloch, Vorderer & Zillmann (2000) - If participants are told they share musical taste with an individual, they are more likely to appraise them positively and to want to become their friend North & Hargreaves (1999) - Participants responded more positively to an individual if they were described as a fan of a prestigious (pop) rather than non-prestigious (country) music genre Suggests that in-group members evaluate each other more positively than out-group

Music and social identity theory

Tarrant, North & Hargreaves (2002) summed up the relationship between music and identity Through the afliation of their peer groups with certain styles of music, adolescents associate those groups with the meta-information which such afliation generates Through intergroup comparison, this afliation can be exaggerated or diminished according to the value connotation of that meta-information, and in response to social identity needs Young people associate groups with the prestige etc of the music they listen to This can become more pronounced according to what other groups do

Music and national identity

Folkestad (2002) distinguished between national identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity Nationality is the cement that holds together different cultural and ethnic groups, the sense of nation being the marriage between a legally-dened state and culture If considering nationality, we should consider questions of statehood and identity States that music plays a particularly important role in countries which have had their legal and cultural sovereignty seriously threatened over extended periods of time

Inside or Outside looking in?

Folkestad (2002) - inclusive and exclusive role for music in national identity Inside-looking-in: group members use music as a way of strengthening bonds Outside-looking-in: music enables outsiders to recognize a group as belonging together Again, strong effect of in- and out- group

Case study: Eurovision!

Part of dening your identity is working out your relation to other groups Eurovision gives us a great example of national identities The history of modern Europe In particular, Soviet vs European Also, importance of songs for Bosnia etc

Eurovisions real intentions

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdF3EGeIAr8&feature=related

USSR and Eurovision

Eurovision glitz and glamour seen as a symbol of Western fun and freedom not desirable Eastern bloc used an alternative to the Eurovision - the Intervision Song Contest Organised by Intervision, network of Eastern European tv stations - took place in Poland Ran between 1977 and 1980 - replaced Sopot International Song Festival, held in Sopot since 1961 1981: martial law imposed on Poland, contest cancelled. 1984, Polish tv resumed organisation, under old name of Sopot International Song Festival

Voting in Intervision
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOEh9DSv0Zw

Intervision Song Contest - did it work?

Despite strict sanctions, some people tuned into Finnish TV to watch Eurovision Eurovision became the cool, glamorous big sister of the Intervision contest Intervision didnt become a real alternative, rather a sad attempt at protesting Western ideals Sopot International Song Contest, after fall of Intervision, has featured bigname guests, like Elton John, The Corrs, Johnny Cash, Vanessa Mae, Annie Lennox, Chris Rea, LaToya Jeckson, Whitney Houston Shows real interest in opening up to Western glitz and glamour

Modern attitude to Eurovision

Becoming part of the Eurovision community very important to newly-opened countries Creation of new in-group, rejection of old Of ex-Soviet states: Armenia 2006 Georgia 2007 Ukraine 2003 Azerbaijan 2008 Latvia 2000 Belarus 2004 Lithuania 1994 Estonia 1994 Russia 1994

Bloc-voting
Bloc-voting is seen as a threat to the competition - geographically or historically close nations seem to vote for each other Could be support, or simply a shared enjoyment of a certain kind of music Close geographically - perhaps close culturally? Is this really an issue, or inevitable?

Russias Eurovision
2009 - 43 countries took part -200 million viewers 16,000 people in Olimpiyski arena, 50 huge TV screens around Moscow Most expensive Eurovision contest ever staged - at least 35 million euro Biggest stage ever built - 2 square kilometres of LCD screens Attitude seemed to be, if were going to do this, lets do it properly Russia proving theyre not the backwards Soviet nation any more, rather a modern, rich nation with aspirations

 Georgia were excluded, because of their song We dont wanna put in We don't wanna put in, The negative move, It's killin' the groove, I'm o' tryin' to shoot in, Some disco tonight, To Boogie with you. Thinly veiled criticism of Putin - South Ossetia conict of 2008 Against whole concept of the Eurovision "No lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political or similar nature shall be permitted

Bosnia-Herzigovina 1993
With the explosion of new countries in the early 90s, Eurovision held a competition to allow some entry to the 1993 contest, in Cork, Ireland The whole world's pain/ Sva bol svijeta - Fazia The whole world's pain in Bosnia tonight I stay here to challenge and to ght And I'm not afraid to stumble and fall I'll never stop to sing, they cannot take my soul I stay here to challenge and to ght And I'm not afraid to stumble and fall I'll never stop to sing, they cannot take my soul Hugely powerful anthem for the Bosnian people, who were still at war Conductor wasnt able to get out of Bosnia

Is the Eurovision really that powerful?

For many people, the Eurovision was an emblem of freedom and liberty Because of this, it has a hugely powerful role on the worlds stage Made clear by each new countrys race to get accepted Playing Eurovision creates a new identity for these countries - new, modern, forward thinking Allows them to escape the struggles of the past Helps to create identity in musical endeavour

Discussion Questions
Can taking part in a signing competition really change lives? Whats the role of the other in our identity formation? Whats more important, nding who we are, or who were not?

Music and national identity - Ireland

Plantations from 12th C, grew in 16th and 17th Century Irish land conscated by British monarchy, given to British planters - under Henry VIII, Mary I, Elizabeth I, James I, Charles I, Oliver Cromwell Penal laws of 1691-1778 outlawed Catholics from teaching their children, leaving the country for education, entering university, running for parliament, voting, marrying Protestants, or adopting orphans etc etc etc etc etc Famine (An Gorta Mor 1845 - 1852) led to at least 1 million deaths, 1 million emigrations 20 - 25% of population Resulted in huge effect on culture, language, etc Irish historys great, isnt it?

Efforts to revive culture - music

Traditionally, the Irish entertained themselves with singing, dancing and story-telling This remained remarkably strong throughout c. 800 years of oppression, starvation, emigration etc The trad/folk tradition in Ireland remainedstrong into the 20th C - didnt need much revival, as it had continued underground under British rule Now needed to be actively encouraged - through schooling and community groups - from the turn of the 20th C Still a huge part of Irish life - many children learn to play trad music, do Irish dancing etc (alongside learning Irish in school, playing Irish sports such as Gaelic, Hurling, and Camogie)

Role of Irish music in forming identity

Two waves: Traditional traditional music remained a large part of national identity throughout settlements, famine etc Things started to evolve in the 60s: Sean O Riada and Ceoltoiri Chualann Played in concert halls, dressed in black suits, bow ties, but played trad songs also brought back some outdate instruments, like the bodhran Rather than a collection of musicians gathered together for a session, Ceoltoir Chualann played arranged pieces Played the harpsichord, in place of the clairseach They recorded the soundtrack of the lm "Playboy of the Western World" in 1963

Irish music and identity - diaspora

1848 - 1950: over 6 million people left Cobh harbour c. 4.5 million reached USA - settling in New York, Boston, Chicago Music formed a large basis of Irish identity in Irish- American communities Not just new immigrants, but their children, grandchildren etc Emmigrant laments/ballads - steeped in nostalgia, and self-pity, idolising an Ireland that no longer exists, or that the singers have never seen! (Thousands are sailing to America, Shamrock Shore) Rock-trad fusion - Flogging Molly from LA, Dropkick Murphys from Boston

Post- Ceoltoiri Cualann

Modern traditional music: from 60s onwards, fusions of trad music with folk. pop, rock, opera - interested whole new swathe of population in trad music The Chieftains, The Pogues, Planxty, the Bothy Band, Clannad, Anuna, U2, etc Interested the younger generation, who had been brought up on traditional trad music - had perhaps grown stale Both traditional and modern trad music have had a huge role to play in identity formation - in-groups include Irish traditional music players and real Irish republicans, and out-groups include British, classical music players, and not real republicans Also huge impact on Irish-American identities

Does this t with the psychological evaluation fo identity?

Remember Folkestad (2002) stated that music plays a particularly important role in countries which have had their legal and cultural sovereignty seriously threatened over extended periods of time Surely Ireland ts the bill? Music played a crucial role under British rule, and continues to mediate identity in Ireland and abroad

China - music & the Cultural Revolution

Under Mao Tse-tung, chairman of the Communist Peoples Republic of China, religion was suppressed, as it posed a threat to Maos totalitarian regime There is now such thing as art that is detached from or independenct of politics Music formerly played a huge role in religious ceremonies This ritual music was not directly outlawed, but certainly discouraged Music activity was always sensitive...though the music wasnt superstitious, it was treading the same path as superstition (Jones: 43)

Music re-purposed under Mao

Great Leap Forward: all of China (supposedly) united behind one common goal Musical practices were simplied, made secular, and much of the repertoire was lost Yunlou gong-frames melted down for steel Musical associations were recruited to write music for Parades to Report Joy Titles like Socialism is good, The Peoples communes are good suggest they werent given much scope to ex their musical muscles

The reality of the Great Leap Forward

Loss of liberty, governmental pressure and suppression, starvation due to famine and loss of employment, evidence of murder and cannibalism In Yuanmenkou the present ritual specialists had only learnt a third of the ritual manuals before all their old masters starved to death in 1960 (Jones: 48) Huge amount of musical repertoire lost Under the Four Clean-ups operations, instruments were conscated and vocal and instrumental scrolls were burnt

However...
Despite worsening hardships, some cultural authorities still managed to organize more traditional activities, such as folk festivals (Jones: 48) Priests who had previously held the (lucrative) monopoly on vocal liturgy and sheng-guan music now felt obliged to hand them on to ordinary villagers. Some music associations were even established early on in the 1950s, despite mounting difculties However, the vocal liturgy was more vulnerable than the instrumental music (Jones: 50) as instrumental music was memorized, and thus survived the Clean-Ups Despite increased governmental disapproval, musicians continued to practice ritual music furtively, in an effort to express their heritage and cultural identity in the face of the homogeneity of Communism

Post-Mao (1980s)
Revival of music began in earnest, with instruments, scores and opera costumes being reclaimed and replaced. Efforts were made to transcribe scores from memory, and old scores were often recopied. Beginning in the 1980s, a massive project was organized by the Chinese Musicians Association and the Ministry of Culture to assemble an Anthology of Folk Music of the Chinese Peoples Under Mao, music schools were closed down or repurposed - music was suppressed and much of the repertoire and instruments destroyed or banned There was a concerted effort to reverse this

Post-Mao (1980s)
However: ritual music seems to have been more resistant to decline than many other art forms (Stock: 650) The villagers of each area in China revived their music in order to help revive their cultural heritage and reassert their unique history and identity. Despite the cultural wash-out of the Mao regime, this music survived in part Could also be revived thanks to memorised scores etc

Reason for the revival of music Post-Mao

People re-asserting their freedom Turning their back on all the horrors of the past 30 years Perhaps a way of pretending it hadnt happened? Again, reasserting in-group / out-group status Bringing back self-respect, own volition etc

Discussion Questions
How powerful do you think music can be as part of national identity? Do you think music is always seen as a positive marker of identity? If music is pushed as a sign of nationalism, can it push people the opposite way/ turn them off? What musical identities do you consider yourself part of? Do they dene you?

Music and teen culture

Aristotle: Any musical innovation is full of danger to the whole state, and ought to be prohibited...[since] when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the state change with them Teens have always used music as a way to form groups, distance themselves from parents, create own identity Each generation, theres been some innovation that causes a generation gap Not necessarily a bad thing, part of growing up is forming own identity in a changing world

The rst teens

1950s USA - expectations of young people changed Booming economy Parents had lived though the depression and WWII - More indulgent of whims of their children More kids stayed in school - not leaving for work More free time and money - social and peer bonds - 1956 $8.96 vs $2.41 in 1944 Liberalised culture - opposition to parents - More dating, at earlier age http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,865481,00.html#ixzz1alPhdLvR

The rst teens

Teenagers rst emerged post- WWII Evidence for use of the term teenage in 1921, Websters Dictionary (3rd ed, 1961) teen-age (in 2nd edition, 1934), becomes noun teenager Before this, youths looked forward to the future, worked towards it Teenagers were concerned with the here-and-now, enjoyment and hedonism Mixed more with people of different races - effect of this on music

Music and teens

Billboard, Oct 13th 1958: Jo Stafford Todays nine to fourteen year old group is the rst group with enough money given to them by their parents in sufcient quantities to inuence the market Allowed much more freedom of choice Generational gap developed Music merely a symptom of these changes Often seen as the cause (still the case) The more music is attacked, the more popular it becomes

Parental concerns

www.beachpsych.com/pages/cc43.html

Advocating and glamorizing abuse of drugs and alcohol Pictures and explicit lyrics presenting suicide as an "alternative" or "solution" Graphic violence Preoccupation with the occult; songs about satanism and human sacrice, and the apparent enactment of these rituals in concerts Sex which focuses on controlling sadism, masochism, incest, devaluing women, and violence toward women Music is not usually a danger for a teenager whose life is happy and healthy. But if a teenager is persistently preoccupied with music that has seriously destructive themes, and there are changes in behavior such as isolation, depression, alcohol or other drug abuse, a psychological evaluation should be considered.

Whats really going on here?

Formation of in- vs out-groups Adults = politically and economically powerful Teenagers = powerless? Within the in-group of teenagers, further in-groups and out-groups Goths, emos, death metal, etc Formation of in-group again creating a safe place to investigate identity, feel youre not alone

Case studies
1950s - Elvis 1960s - Beatles 1970s - Sex Pistols 1990s - NWA/ Ice T (violence, gansta rap)

Elvis - 1950s
Began his career in 1954 in Memphis, Tennessee - one of the originators of rockabilly - up tempo fusion of country, rhythm and blues - big inuence of black music First single Heartbreak Hotel released 1956 - number 1. Became leading gure in new rock and roll 1956: Songs I want you, I need you, I love you etc earned him the name Elvis the Pelvis He was blamed for teenage delinquency - in particular his sexual dancing If someone saw me singing and dancing, I dont see how they can think it would contribute to juvenile delinquency. If theres anything Ive tried to do, Ive tried to live a straight, clean life, and not set any kind of bad example

Elvis - Reviews
Jack Gould, New York Times: "Mr. Presley has no discernible singing ability. ... His phrasing, if it can be called that, consists of the stereotyped variations that go with a beginner's aria in a bathtub. ... His one specialty is an accented movement of the body ... primarily identied with the repertoire of the blond bombshells of the burlesque runway." Ben Gross, New York Daily News: popular music "has reached its lowest depths in the 'grunt and groin' antics of one Elvis Presley. ... Elvis, who rotates his pelvis ... gave an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar, tinged with the kind of animalism that should be conned to dives and bordellos". Ed Sullivan: "unt for family viewing" Frank Sinatra, himself a heart-throb in the 40s, strongly criticised rock and roll: "brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious. ... It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people. It smells phoney and false. It is sung, played and written, for the most part, by cretinous goons. ... This rancid-smelling aphrodisiac I deplore." Elvis responded with: "I admire the man. He has a right to say what he wants to say. He is a great success and a ne actor, but I think he shouldn't have said it. ... This is a trend, just the same as he faced when he started years ago."

Elvis the Pelvis

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOvUdZgl7vo

Elvis
Florida tour - A judge banned Elvis from moving his hips. Police went as far as to lm shows, to check he wasnt moving below the waist Elvis became a bit more hardened: If [teenagers] want to pay their money to come out and jump around and scream and yell, its their business. Theyll grow up someday and grown out of that. When theyre young, let them have their fun Things started to change - Ed Sullivan said Elvis is a real decent, ne boy Elviss southern manners and modesty seemed to eventually win over middle America His highly-publicised military service cant have harmed either...

Elvis - end of controversy

Elvis was in the US army from 1958 to 1960, after which he focused on making lms - making 27 lms in the 60s These were universally panned, but soundtracks were still popular He had lost his super-sexual image, rst serving in the army, then marrying and fathering a daughter Staged a come back in 1968, and made a career in Las Vegas - more middle of the road music He had grown up, along with his fans, making room for the next big thing

The Beatles in the USA

First tour 1964 - 11 weeks after assassination of J.F. Kennedy Teenagers, like the general public, were bereft - had a gap which Beatlemania could ll Greeted upon arrival at JFK airport by 4,000 fans - some were injured in crush Ed Sullivan show - 73 million viewers (40% of population) - largest number of viewers ever recorded for a US tv show Start of the British Invasion - Gerry & the Pacemakers, Dave Clark Five, Billy J. Kramer

Beatlemania www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLvTq6FdOj4

Backlash
In 1966, John Lennon said that the Beatles were now more popular than Jesus. This led to huge protest, boycotts etc This coincided with the 1966 tour of the US - tour went ahead despite public burnings of records, and clains that the Beatles were anti-Christ Memphis: City council voted to cancel the concert, on the basis that municipal facilities should not be used as a forum to ridicule anyones religion - the concert went ahead Telephone threats were received, and the Ku Klux Klan picketed concerts South Africa banned play of Beatles records However, Lennons statement had been misconstrued "Christianity will go," Lennon said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go rst, rock 'n' roll or Christianity

Backlash
June 1966: Yesterday and Today, a compilation album created for US market, caused a backlash, as it showed the Beatles dressed in butchers overalls, with raw meat and baby dolls. Drug use became more obvious - towards end of 60s, the band were using hard drugs quite openly Elvis (previous hearth-throb) spoke to President Nixon, saying they exemplied anti-Americanism and drug use. Paul McCartney later responded, saying he "felt a bit betrayed. ... The great joke was that we were taking [illegal] drugs, and look what happened to him"

Sex Pistols
Punk band, formed in 1975 1976 - TV appearance on Today show - swearing Brought huge coverage to them - national newspapers London councillor Bernard Brook Partridge: "Most of these groups would be vastly improved by sudden death. The worst of the punk rock groups I suppose currently are the Sex Pistols. They are unbelievably nauseating. They are the antithesis of humankind. I would like to see somebody dig a very, very large, exceedingly deep hole and drop the whole bloody lot down it

Sex Pistols on the Today show (from 2 mins)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohQntZT8amY&feature=related

God save the Queen

Attacking Britons conformity and loyalty to the monarchy God Save the Queen/ She aint no human being/ And theres no future/ In Englands Dreaming Timed to coincide with Queen Elizabeths Silver Jubilee Most heavily censored record in British history - banned by BBC and all independent radio stations - more than 150,000 copies sold NME chart - number one BBC chart - number two

Ice T & Body Count Cop Killer

Released as a protest record, against police brutality Huge opposition from President Bush, Vice president Dan Quayle, and Tipper Gore Parents Music Resource Centre Tipper Gore: "Cultural economics were a poor excuse for the South's continuation of slavery. Ice-T's nancial success cannot excuse the vileness of his message [...] Hitler's anti-Semitism sold in Nazi germany. That didn't make it right (Washington post) Police organisations all over the US called for boycott of all Time Warner products Dennis R. Martin (Former President, National Association of Chiefs of Police): The 'Cop Killer' song has been implicated in at least two shooting incidents and has inamed racial tensions in cities across the country.

Was this response appropriate?

Mark S. Hamm and Jeff Ferrell: Ice-T is not the rst artist to embed a 'cop killer' theme in United States popular culture. This theme has been the subject of countless cinematic and literary works, and has appeared many times before in popular music. During the Great Depression, for example, musicians celebrated Pretty boy Floyd and his exploits, which included the murder of law enforcement personnel... But perhaps the best-known case is Eric Clapton's cover version of Bob Marly and the Wailers' 'I shot the Sheriff,' which reached the top of the U.S. music charts in the mid-1970s (a feat not approached by Ice-T). 'I Shot the Sheriff,' though, never suffered the sort of moral and political condemnation leveled at 'Cop Killer.' How do we account for this difference? Ice-T: "I'm singing in the rst person as a character who is fed up with police brutality. I ain't never killed no cop. I felt like it a lot of times. But I never did it. If you believe that I'm a cop killer, you believe David Bowie is an astronaut"

Whats common to all of these?

Pushing boundaries Different from previous generation/ powerful group Not actually as dangerous as the previous generation thinks - largely silly posturing/ swagger Yet each evoke a response - banning, censorship etc - which only serves to increase their popularity All of these things are key to teenagers forming their own identity Regarding yourself as different from others, while taking some aspects of their values, is key to us each forging our own path

Common trend of previous hell raisers denouncing next batch...

Frank Sinatra (formerly a teen heart-throb) criticising rock and roll Elvis criticising the Beatles as anti-American and drug users Matlock left the Sex Pistols because he liked the Beatles - kicked out? A fear of the next generation taking their place, and also derision of previous generation

Is music a danger?
Music is often seized upon as a cause of problems for teenagers Violence and drug use is often glamorised But is this really the case? Do kids shoot up schools because they listened to death metal? Surely if a child is disturbed in some way, music just acts as a conduit for their emotions, the same way any other medium might - art etc Whats your opinion? Can music cause violence/ harm?

Can we see this as positive?

Problem music need not be a threat to the moral bre of our youth, rather a positive phenomenon Positive way for teenagers to respond to any perceived threat of an older, politically and economically powerful out-group which doesnt understand them Music is a powerful builder of self-esteem, through group membership - being part of a cool, powerful in-group is much better than being a lone wolf Promotes a positive collective identity rather than a negative personal identity They will grow out of it

Different way of looking at this

Much of the research to date has been sociological in nature Has looked in very broad terms at how music is used by young people How could you look at it in another way? Possible to experimentally test the effect/role of music? What do you think?

Music of protest
A protest song can be dened as a piece of music whose lyrics speak out against a specic social, political, or economic injustice. It states or implies justice is needed (Lockard: 33) Protest song: attacks the social and political order by challenging traditional values and asserting new ones by presenting demands for social change, by raising the political conciousness of listeners, and by building support for collective movements for social change Fox & Williams (1974: 355) Confrontational - the music frames the opposition As with any niche system, protest music facilitates group formation

Protest music of the 20th C

Most well-known popular protest song writer: Bob Dylan Blowin in the wind The times, they are achanging A hard rains agonna fall Challenged the Eisenhower eras desperate plea for conformity, and the paranoia at anything that was the slightest bit different (Denselow, in Lockard: 33) His music and message was absorbed into the psyche of young people, and are still considered powerful protest songs Created a group dynamic which was new and alternative

Protest song/ Folk

Protest music began (largely) in the 60s Prior to this, pop and rock and roll only really got going in the 50s, with the new teenagers In the 60s, a revival of folk music coincided with social changes - civil rights, drugs, sex, inter-racial dating, war Created a strong and powerful protest culture - affected by a cultural lag Key gures: Joan Baez, Bob Dylan Began to write their own songs, moving away from standard folk repertoire

Disintegration of the Folk movement

Late 60s/ 70s, Bob Dylan et al retreated into their private worlds, writing about love and drugs, and not addressing the large-scale societal issues still in place Dylan My back pages denounced his previous fervor - made social problems the premise of older, sober men - young people had more important things to consider Moved away from the protest song creating a cultural group identity, to a private world So abandoned the group endeavour - can protest songs have the same group-formation effect when the innovators give up on it?

Protest song
Protest music served to create a community, to create a counter-culture Allowed the protest generation to show that they were different from the previous, powerful generation

Surely music here was being used in the same way as political music? Drawing attention to certain things, away from others, highlighting issues

Does protest music play the same role nowadays?

Whereas in the past, protest songs sought to make real change politically and culturally, do they still have the same power? There seems to be an apathy towards protest music nowadays. Robinson (2003) claims that protest songs are more likely to reach those who in the main think that warmight be bad for the worldrather than converting or annoying the hostile ears into which they righteously pour Robinson, John Country of Protest in Guardian Unlimited, March 29th 2003 http://arts.guardian.co.uk/war/story/0,,924745,00.html However, protest in music can take many forms

Rock and the Berlin wall

rock musicians were instrumental in setting in motion the actual course of events which led to the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the disappearance of the GDR Peter Wicke State repressed rock music, thereby creating a medium of resistance which was more or less impossible to control Musicians skilled at encoding rebellion in their lyrics, for the public to decode Musicians had power - economic etc In 1989, musicians illegally broadcast a statement to the west revealing the leak of young people to the west. The government clamped down, igniting a hostility which drove the New Forun movement and eventual reunication

Music as dissent - different roles

Work songs of slaves - used to uphold cultural traditions, undermine slave owners and pass secret information Belgrade radio station B92 broadcast throughout Milosevics regime. Only contact with the outside world, they helped to organise dissent and resistance to the regime Motown record company - home of the Supremes, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson - played a crucial part in the cultural politics of Detroit, not just by articulating a particular popular consciousness, but by providing a key element of the political infrastructure that facilitated community activism and campaigns for ofce - (Suzanne E Smith) In-group vs out-group clear in all these examples

Discussion Questions
Whats your opinion of protest songs? Do you think they can still be as powerful now as they once were? Do they play the same role nowadays? Do you think grass-roots protest is more effective than a popular protest music?

Readings for next week

Nowicki, S., W.A. Searcy & S. Peters (2002) Brain development, song learning and mate choice in birds: a review and experimental test of the "nutritional stress hypothesis". Journal of comparative physiology A, 188, 1003 - 1014

References
Faulkner, R. & Davidson, J. (2006). Men in chorus: collaboration and competition in homo-social vocal behaviour. Psychology of Music, 34, 2, 219 - 237

Folkestad, G. (2002), National identity and music. In R. MacDonald, D. Hargreaves & D. Miell (eds.) Musical identities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 151 - 162

Fox, W. S., & Williams, J.D. (1974) Political Orientation and Music Preferences Among College Students. The Public Opinion Quarterly 38, 3, 352 371

Hargreaves, D., Miell, D., & MacDonald, R. (2002). What are musical identities, and why are they important? In R. MacDonald, D. Hargreaves & D. Miell (eds.) Musical identities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1 -20

Jones, S. (1999). Chinese Ritual Music under Mao and Deng. British Journal of Ethnomusicology, 8, 27 66

Knobloch,S., Vorderer, P. & Zillmann, D. (2000). The impact of music preferences on the perception of potential friends in adolescence. Zeitschrift fur Sozialpsychologie, 31, 18 - 30

References
North, A. & Hargreaves, D. (1999). Music and adolescent identity. Music Education Research, 1 (1), 75 - 92

Smith, S. E. (1999). Dancing in the street: Motown and the cultural politics of Detroit. London: Harvard University Press

Stock, J. P.J. (2001). China: History and Theory since 1911. In Stanley Sadie (ed) The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Vol. 5, 2nd ed. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd, 647 652

Tarrant, M., North, A. & Hargreaves, D. (2001). Social categorisation, self-esteem, and the estimated musical preferences of male adolescents. Journal of Social Psychology, 141 (5), 565 - 581

Wicke, P. Wicke (1992). The Times They Are A-Changing: Rock Music and Political Change in East Germany In Reebee Garofalo (ed.), Rockin the Boat: Mass Music and Mass Movements, Boston, South End Press

Zedong, Mao Talks at the Yanan Forum on Literature and Art in Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol.3 Peking: Foreign Language Press