Music: An American Fascination

Whenever you switch on your television, or go to the movies, or sometimes even just walk down the street, something is always there. Whether it's the subject of a certain thing, or just providing ambiance to an otherwise quiet subject, music is a constant medium to daily life. Commercials play and you hear a catchy jingle behind the advertising of the product featured. At the movies, various musical numbers provide emotional cues to scenes of sadness, happiness, or anything in between. Even just driving in the car, most of the programs on the radio feature music instead of news shows.

Why is this though? Why do we, as a culture, enjoy music so much? There are many answers to this question. On a purely scientific standpoint, music has been proven to change your mood (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1428802/how_music_affects_your_mood.html). By listening to classical music, you can feel more calm, relaxed, and productive. On the other side of the spectrum though, people who listen to country music regularly have a higher chance of depression and suicide when compared to people who don't.

From a purely cultural standpoint though, it's all up to personal interpretation. Types of music that is popular changes with age and area, so no concrete statement can be said about what music is better. In the southern United States, jazz and country are more popular in the south, while rap and rock tend to have a larger audience in the northern regions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_the_United_States). You can see music's affect on how we perceive the people of each region though. When you think of someone from the south, what do you think? Most people would say something about country music. When you think of someone from any large city, a lot of the time people would assume they listen to rap or rock music.

Why can something like music affect the various way we think about people? As I stated before, music can affect your mood, so why would it be unheard of to affect your social ideas too? It wouldn't be all that hard to believe. Simple ideas about how people from a different area act would probably be easier to change then how you actually feel about something.

Another thing is, music can be a medium between different cultures. The way we hear a musical number is the same as anyone in the entire world hears it, despite living in different areas or cultures. In this way, you can see how music can connect people. It can bring us all together, help us see eye to eye, and show us that despite differences, everyone is the same when it comes to the simplest of things, music.