美国社会文化生活的反射镜乡村音乐.docx

1、美国社会文化生活的反射镜乡村音乐1. IntroductionIf one tries to figure out the current icon and the leader of American music , one of the answers will definitely be Taylor Swift. Taylor, an adorable and beautiful girl, is the most popular country music singer in America. Country music s a native born and bred Americ

2、an music, used to be the favorite of ordinary, working-class Americans. On account of its fresh and genuine content, harmonic and restful tune, unique regional and patriotic complex, it became an immediate attraction for the public, succeeded in entering the mainstream of the American society, and h

3、as got established as a US national musical style. However, traditionally country music is mainly confined to the area as musicology. Actually music can be investigated to reflect peoples social and cultural life greatly. This paper aims at looking into American social cultural life by studying coun

4、try music. Specifically speaking, the thesis will mainly focus on economy, politics, and culture of American social cultural life by analyzing the lyrics and the motifs of American country music. It is of great significance to know the origin and the development of country music in the process of st

5、udying. The organization of this paper will mainly be three parts: Firstly, it will embody the origin and the development of country music. Secondly, it will concentrate on American economy, politics, and culture through the motifs and lyrics expressed in country music. Instances will be illustrated

6、 to further prove that American country music can indeed be a component to reflect American social cultural life. Lastly, It will be the summary of the whole paper and the implications of the paper.2. BackgroundGrasping the background information is indispensable for us to go deeper into the essence

7、 of everything. Therefore, the origin of country music and the development of country music should be included in the background part.2.1 Origin of country musicIt is well-known that popular culture has extremely close association with peoples daily life. Among its various forms, music has permeated

8、 into every part of society, occupying a lot in peoples spiritual and cultural life. One of the most popular forms in the United States is country music, which originated from the southern USA in the 1920s when folk song took its step further. It is a blend of traditional and popular musical form. T

9、he term country music gained popularity in the 1940s when the earlier term hillbilly music came to be seen as denigrating. Country music was widely embraced in the 1970s .It is of great indispensability to look back upon the early history of country music. Immigrants to the Maritimes Provinces and S

10、outhern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the original form of country music and instruments of the Old World along with them for nearly 300 years. They brought some of their most important valuables with them, and to most of them this was an instrument: Early Scottish settlers enjoyed

11、the fiddle ，the German derived dulcimer, the Italian mandolin; the Spanish guitar and the west African banjo were the most common musical instruments .The interactions among musicians from different ethnic groups produced music unique to this region of North American .Appalachian string bands of the

12、 early 20th century primarily consisted of the fiddle, guitar, and banjo. This early country music along with early recorded country music is often referred to as old-time music. According to Bill Malone (1968) in Country Music USA, country music was introduced to the world as a southern phenomenon

13、(Malone, 1968, p. 1 ). In the south, folk music was a combination of cultural strains, combining musical traditions of a variety of ethnic groups in the region. For example, some instrumental pieces from Anglo-British and Irish immigrants were the basis of folk songs and ballads that form what is no

14、w known as old time music, from which country music descended. It is commonly thought that British and Irish folk music influenced the development of old time music. British and Irish arrivals to the southern US included the development of old time music. British and Irish arrivals to the southern U

15、SA included immigrants from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and England. The banjo, a major instrument in most early American folk songscame from African Americans. One of the reasons country music was created by African-Americans, as well as European-Americans, is because blacks and whites in rural commu

16、nities in the south often worked and played together, just as recollected by DeFord Bailey in the PBS documentary, DeFord Bailey: A Legend Lost.2.2 Development of country music 2.2.1 Country music in the 1920s American country music went commercial since it traveled out of the southern States in the 1920s, when radio stations picked it up and began to broadcast such recordings to wider areas and the first records were distributed. Radio WSM in Nashville, Tennessee,