Immigration has enriched the forms of music in the United States of America
Colleague one
Changes of American Music Traditions Under Immigration
With the fast development of the world economy as well the transportation, immigration has become popular. At the same time, as the most developed country in the world, the United States has attracted a lot of immigrants from many different countries around the whole world. In the process of immigration, some cultural traditions in the United States have also changed dramatically. In her article “Culture, US Imperialism, and Globalization”, Song argues that cultural hybridization has become the trend and has changed the cultural traditions in many countries because of the development of globalization. With the progress of immigration, the cultural traditions in the US have altered greatly especially in the field of music.
Initially, immigration has enriched the forms of music in the United States of America in the past years. Traditionally, the United States’ musical form was related to the Indian people. In the past, Indian singing was mainly used in labor, weddings and funerals, preparing for war and other occasions. It was accompanied by percussion instruments such as drums. Its tone was simple and unique. However, Indians were not respected in the past and when they did not have power, they were not likely to make the musical forms last for a long time at the same time. After the 16th century, with the arrival of immigrants from various countries, they also brought about their own musical culture. After fierce competition, the British finally gained the advantage in the North American continent. Therefore, British music has the greatest influence on American music, which lays the foundation for the formation of American music. At that moment, the music form of American music began to form.
Among immigration, black Americans have contributed to the changes and development of American music greatly. In 1619, the first group of African black slaves was trafficked to North America. They loved music and got used to singing while working. The moving melody and unique syncopation rhythm of black music begin to influence American music imperceptibly. Although many black Americans were sent to the US as slaves, they finally became recognized citizens in the US and could be regarded as immigrants from other cultures. The influence of black music on American music began in the 19th century. With the singing of black soul songs, banjo from Africa began to become a very popular instrument. American composers used the rhythms derived from the black soul songs and wrote many popular songs. The most popular and famous American composer in this period is Stephen foster.
Colleague two
The Effects of Technology on Oral and Written Culture
Introduction
Delivery of contemporary folklore material such as the drama sculptures and even storytelling within the past to the current times has managed to bring out better in-depth analysis and proper perceptions towards such material. This is because these materials have proven to be easy to comprehend as they convey their messages and information more naturally. The materials have been printed text, and they usually maintain their intended effect on the audiences that use them in various instances. Traditional folklore suffered from a lack of electronic devices that would aid the genre in making its cases such as videotapes and cameras. This is formally being applied by contemporary folklore to record their performances. The traditional activities happened to be based upon the environmental circumstances that were existent. They were not being stored due to a lack of technological equipment to aid in the same. Maintenance of customs and cultural beliefs is essential while ensuring that such information can be passed from one generation to another, and failure by traditional setups to create materials that could aid storage rendered the folklore meaninglessly. From a modern point of view, technological advancement, and development concerning the electronic devices continues to create an environment that is enabling while helping to highlight all the information needed. This is centered on the performances, artistic roles such as sculpturing, and even oral narratives. According to Guerini (p. 163), the urban legend proves to be a folklore genre that is comprised of various stories that are placed on the assumption of being accurate, especially when they have happened to the family members or friends who are close to a person. Such stories usually come out with humorous elements or happen to be encompassed with upsetting situations to other people. In such situations, culture and urban tales inter-relate clearly while creating a sense of anxiety. In that regard, this paper aims to evaluate and analyze the technological effects upon culture based on urban legends while trying to confirm the various prejudices and cultural tolerance within the society.
Urban Legend Folklore and Technology
The creation of a negative perception has always been the norm when it comes to technological advancement assumptions. This continues to bring about cultural differences between communities at a very high rate. Such a notion happens to be tied to the level of primitiveness within the community since it is clear that technology positively affects culture. This is based on the influence it brings to society’s way of life by condensing different traditions in one belief. Moreover, technology continues to be incorporated into various countries’ social structures as they continue to embrace the positive effects of technological advancement. This has been aiding the growth of the folklore genre, such as urban legend, as information is stored upon electronic devices to be retrieved quickly when needed to carry out research.
On the other hand, urban legends have been circulated with the use of oral presentations while also focusing on social media spread. For instance, there has been the application of newspapers and even emails to pass across urban legend. At the same time, Dagnall et al. (p. 942) affirm that most of the urban legend happens to have been by-passed by time while minor changes continue to be made to suit the ongoing regional variations within the cultural setup. This is also connected to the fact that different communities continue to initiate diverse mechanisms that incorporate into the urban legend based on their traditional cultural setups. Furthermore, various concepts within urban legend are often tied to technological acceptance in such regions while trying to assimilate the much-needed diversity within their cultural setup and beliefs.
Effects of Technological Advancement upon the Cultural Setup
The advancement of technology continues to change every aspect of people’s lives while benefiting them. Modern technological incorporation has brought the much-needed changes to all the sectors of life while increasing the availability of advanced devices to store data and information from urban legends folklore. The main question that stems from this advancement in technology happens to be about how to manage the process of cultural change within the society while focusing on improving the positive impacts while at the same time mitigating the negative impacts. In that regard, a conclusion can be drawn from this perspective that written, and oral culture continues to be affected by advancement in technology in a positive and even a negative manner.
The advancement of technology that is being witnessed in many sectors has indeed become more pervasive as it has also increased the inequality levels within the society when it comes to access to information. At the same time, this advancement has been able to create a division in people’s beliefs, while others have been left lagging in defending their primitive cultures. However, technology plays a critical role in the sense that it has increased the availability of storage devices, which can now be applied to preserve folklore for future use. This is indeed helpful as folklores usually depend upon word of mouth, which has proven to delimit ongoing research in a similar context.
Based on authenticity in any given form of cultural information, the use of technology has been at the forefront. It is well known for ensuring that such useful information is carefully preserved. This is usually done with the application of the online framework used in accessing such information while using the internet to make everything more comfortable in the long run. At the same time, technology can be used in spreading the urban legend and even helping to debunk these legends within their contexts. Whitney (p. 2) affirms that urban legends are critical to society and its cultural setup. The internet plays a significant role when it comes to creating an online platform for which people can apply while looking for diversity. This is connected to different cultures without necessarily accepting a mere word of the mouth from people who strive to tell the urban legends.
According to Kim (p. 254), oral cultural factors and values usually prove to be allied to the various traditional beliefs and customs within the society. These are also essential connections that should never be eliminated with the application of technology within society. Technological advancement should only be done with the use of a persistent improvement to the evidence of existing beliefs and customs. It is also clear from this context that technology can shape different cultures in diversified ways while also allowing the intermixing of cultures in all circumstances. Technology that incorporates teleconferencing and computers has also been able to help many people to access any kind of knowledge across the world without necessarily leaving their homes. By doing so, it has been able to create the much-needed room for incorporating various technological aspects to the traditions, customs, and even the social beliefs within their cultural setups. This can be demonstrated with the figure below.
Figure 1 (Moran & Salazar, p. 2).
From this figure, it is clear that human beings’ nature can generate explanations that fit the situation or even the occurrences that stem from around their sceneries. It is indeed true that people usually form theories about how the world operates, or they focus on why different things are occurring the way they do at all times. For instance, people usually associate earthquakes and oceanic storms that bring them out to be destructive forces within the universe. Similarly, they are regarded to be forces that are very unpredictable when it comes to controlling over specific outcomes or even situations.
The other example is tied to the folklore that reflects the undistinguishable waves while manifesting itself within supercomputers, phones, and even books (Stubbersfield, 130). This form brings about a high level of anxiety within different cultures that people associate themselves within society. Without examining the urban legends in an in-depth manner, people may believe in the folklore existence due to the advent of modern technology. The other example is for the Northern Minnesota people who believe in the urban legend while affirming that it always has more information about the concept of the wendigo, as shown in the figure below.
Figure 2 (Vaičiulaitytė, p. 2)
According to Mowlabocus (p. 123), urban folklore has been around for some time. For that matter, it is everywhere for many people to embrace it while creating a better interconnection. In this line of this thought, it is easier to acknowledge that technological advancement has improved the mechanism of enhancing myths through quotations of related evidence from the internet or any other source.
At the same time, people are finding it easier to cope with the application of this information as they rely mostly on the use of the internet to advance the level of information they possess. In the same way, the urban legends continue to prevail while capturing a significant portion of the immediate historical context. For that matter, technology has improved the context of oral cultural setup about the myths. Still, it has also managed to change the various social setups that can be found within the verbal storytelling within the community as a whole (Murphie, p. 22). Through technology application, people can recall various aspects of the culture which took place in the ancient past, with some of it being preserved on the internet for future generations.
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