Tipton 1

Kelly Tipton

English 1201

Dr. Adrienne Cassel

21 September 2017

Connections and Community

If I had to pick a time in my life where I became absolutely mesmerized because of music

I would have to say that this happened at Warped Tour 2016, on the 21st of July. A traveling rock

festival with nearly a hundred different bands that participate in a nationwide tour over the

summer makes up the Vans Warped Tour. I remember a lot and yet so little of the event, but I

remember the excitement and amazement I felt when I not only saw all the bands that

participated in the tour, but also the thousands of people who came to see the event. My best

friend of ten years, Molly, invited me to go to the event with her, to which I happily agreed. Her

boyfriend and our friend, Brandon and Lance, went with us as they already had tickets for the

event. Driving to the event took a bit longer than expected, and no one said much aside from the

occasional directions to Molly, who drove us all up to Cincinnati where Warped Tour occurred,

and the music we played in the background as we passed around the audio cord so everyone had

a chance to play their favored music.

We arrived at the Riverbend Music Center around noon, received a time table that told

us when and where all the bands would play at, and decided which bands we really wanted to try

to see. The day became hot quickly with the suns daunting rays shining down on us with the

lack of shade and clear skies, and the body heat of thousands of people gathered in one place. I

remember a few of the bands quite clearly because our small quartet managed to get close to the
 Tipton 2

stage for the performances of Against the Current, I See Stars, and White Chapel. I somehow got

pulled into two moshes with Brandon when we saw White Chapel and I See Stars, but managed

to get out before I got hurt as the bands front man riled up the crowd and encouraged the mosh

further with their music blaring in our ears. I laughed when I saw Molly crowd surfing in the I

See Stars crowd, her trusting complete strangers to not drop her as she enjoyed floating high over

the heads of the crowd.

All the emotions really hit me when we saw Against the Current, a band new to me that

had just come out with their debut album In Our Bones. We walked across the fake grass to the

Riverbend Music Center, or the Cyclops stage to see them, as our list of bands included it

thanks to Lance, who had previously heard of them. We entered the shade of the shelter and felt

relieved for the coolness it provided, even if the heat lingered around us from the amount of

people gathered around. Brandon started stepping over the red chairs bolted to the floor, while

the rest of us followed his lead to get to the stage area quickly. We ended up rather close to the

stage as the band started to perform songs from their new album, one of the songs called In Our

Bones. In our darkest hours /We are not invincible /But we're both stronger than we know /In

our bones the lead singer of Against the Current sang into the microphone and moved about the

stage as the crowd roared to life. My ears popped at the loudness of the music and the cheers and

happy shouts of the crowd as my friends and I cheered along with them. I became mesmerized

by the amount of people who showed up to the event to only to become entranced by the music.

Amazement hit me when I realized all of us, thousands of people, came to see these bands

perform live because we all felt captivated by their music. I cannot forget that feeling as if limits

did not exist when so many people came together because of music they all connected to.

Memories of the event have truly become some of my more treasured ones that I will not forget
 Tipton 3

as I had an amazing time with not only my friends, but strangers as well, who held the same

passion for music as myself.

After experiencing this feeling, I wondered if anyone else had this sort of experience or

realization as well. That so many people came together because of music to see their favorite

bands live. How does music united so many people in a large social setting such as this? Did

anyone else get this kind feeling? After conducting research into these questions of mine, I came

across a study that may explain how music brings people together. I also found that others

experience that feeling of unity at events such as concerts.

So, how does music bring people together? According to Askel Tjora, a professor at

Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Experiencing community can be diffuse but

strong, and is often connected to common interests, tastes, and activities. Sharing a taste for

something can distinguish a group of individuals from the mass and thus indicate an element

around which they can be unified. According to the theory of Social Identity, people usually

favor others in their own social group or the ingroup. These social groups form around many

things, including music. Ingroups and outgroups form based on music preference, creating a us

and them separation between people, but it still, in a sense, brings people together as much as

it divides them. This brings up the question: can the ingroup and outgroup come together through

shared music preferences? A past study tested this theory of social groups.

The study included 97 participants from a high school in Manchester, UK, which

researchers then split into three groups: the ingroup, outgroup and control group. The hypothesis

of the study stated, that adolescents encouraged to believe the ingroup and outgroup had similar

musical preferences would demonstrate most positive intergroup perceptions (Bakagiannis). In

other words, would the groups form a common group identity based on their shared preferences?
 Tipton 4

The study had positive results as it concluded that when the groups have perceptions of shared

preferences the relations between the groups became more positive. When adolescents believed

that the two groups shared musical preferences, they reported that the outgroup would perceive

the ingroup more positively than they would when they were told nothing about the groups

preferences (Bakagiannis).

However, it also seemed that when the groups believed they had different music

preferences, they perceived the other group more positively due to both groups seen as highly

distinct, meaning that outgroups do not have importance to the ingroups social identity or do not

pose a threat to their social identity. As a result of not feeling the need to defend themselves, they

could perceive the other groups positively (Bakagiannis). This study showed that music does

bring people together, even though an us and them separation based on music preferences

may also result. I find I can relate to both results, as I enjoy Country music, but neither of my

close friends do, creating that slight separation in our music tastes. On the other hand, I willingly

listen to my friends strange music, as one currently likes Electro Swing. I would relate this

experience to the car ride on the way to and from the tour, but we all have very similar music

tastes.

I did find with research that others also have felt ths sense of community that I became in

awe of at Warped Tour 2016. Tjora conducted a study at a rock music festival, finding that

profound sense of connectedness between participants (Tjora). In his study, Tjora participated

in the festival he studied rather than sitting back and observing, to use personal experience in the

study instead. One of the high points of social interaction at the festival occurred during the pre-

concert phased, as people moved about the to stage areas or lounged around together until the
 Tipton 5

concert begins in the case of camp-based festivals. These social periods can also occur during the

concert phase as Tjora states in his study,

This dynamic forms the basis for a series of random meetings and chats between festival

participants; often between old acquaintances with shared festival interests but an

otherwise separate existence. Even without arranging meetings it is often the case that

one knows who one will bump into at the different festivals simply by knowing each

others musical taste.

In my personal experience I found both true, as my group talked more when we left the

stage areas, and other tour goers would come up to us to strike up conversation before running to

the next stage area. Of course, our small group ran into some other of our friends we knew we

would probably see at the tour. We knew not only because they confirmed with us beforehand

that they would attend the 2016 tour as well, but because we all shared similar music tastes.

At Warped Tour 2016, I felt awe because of the thousands of people who came to see the

participating bands, especially once I realized everyone attended for that same reason to see

these bands perform live because of shared musical preferences. A sense of community

overcame me once I recovered from the initial shock and excitement of going to my first concert.

I wondered for a moment, how does music bring people together like this, and did others feel

that same connection? Now I know that thanks to shared preferences, ingroups form and thus a

community, or social identity, and while it creates that unity with people in the ingroup, it can

cause a negative separation from those in the outgroup. I also found that others experience that

feeling of belonging, and because of these feelings ingroups and outgroups form, so people can

have some sort of sense of belonging and a group to reflect from. At Warped Tour 2016 I felt

this connection, and became absolutely mesmerized, and all because of music.
 Tipton 6

Works Cited
Bakagiannis, Sotirios and Mark Tarrant. "Can Music Bring People Together? Effects of Shared

Musical Preference on Intergroup Bias in Adolescence." Scandinavian Journal of

Psychology, vol. 47, no. 2, Apr. 2006, pp. 129-136. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/j.1467-

9450.2006.00500.x.

Tjora, Aksel. "The Social Rhythm of the Rock Music Festival." Popular Music, vol. 35, no. 1,

Jan. 2016, pp. 64-83. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1017/S026114301500080X.