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4.1 The Social Change of American Country Music 15
4.2 The Improvement of Music Structure 15
5 Conclusion 17
Bibliography 18
1 Introduction
The United States is a nation of immigrants which is often seen as a unique ethnic melting pot. People coming from all over the world met together in that land and influenced each other gradually and finally became the American nation. After forming a nation, Americans regard the music as a way of existing and living. On the one hand, with the development of music culture for hundreds of years, people maintained their own traditional music culture to some extent. On the other hand, different kinds of music were mixed together and merged into some fashion music styles. Among these various music types, three important types of music are American Indian traditional music, Blues and Jazz music by African-American and local American Country Music.
This paper mainly introduces the American Country Music and discusses the American values on the basis of music cultures. American Country Music originated in the southern of the United States. Being a blend of traditional folk music, Celtic music, Gospel music and ancient music, it can be traced back to 1920s. The tune of country music is generally very smooth and beautiful, and also its melody structure is extremely simple. As an essential part of American culture, American Country Music also reflects some important American values, and the country music singer, Alan Jackson describes country music as “the spirit of America” (Net 1).
However, it is found that the academic research on this area is very little both at home and abroad. Therefore, this thesis will resort to Discovering Country Music as the theoretical basis to make a comparative study of the American values embodied in American Country Music, which, inevitably, is very valuable and innovative. So the study of American values in American Country Music can not only strengthen our professional skills, but also help to understand the American culture from another angle, which is the value and innovation of this paper.
This topic has also already been studied by foreign sociologists. For instance, Don Cusic (2008: 67-81), in his famous book, Discovering Country Music, expressed his view that music in America reflected the ideals of a country that had built itself on a foundation of freedom and cultural persity. Country music had come a long way since the folk music disseminated to the south areas. Country music was a staple of American culture featuring lyrics that addressed the heart of human emotions. From the pioneering era of the American Frontier, American Country Music had been the inspiration for the American spirit of adventure since 1845. Today’s country music had not strayed too far from its original intentions of soothing the American soul through lyrics that spoke directly to the heart.
Undertaking Don’s idea, the paper is going to focus on this view, using the method of progressive transformation and taking the center of the similarities between the soul of country music and the American values. It’s a professional accomplishment for us to understand the deep values in music cultures, so the study of American values in American Country Music can lead us to keep more attention on American history and the nation’s culture. Moreover, the paper will also discuss the future of American Country Music and the change of American values in hundreds of years.
2 The Role of American Country Music in American Culture
Like other aspects in American life, music in this country is very difficult to categorize. Americans pursue new things diligently. And played as one of the most prominent in American culture, country music brought the creativity to the highest peak of diachronic. Since the United States were born on the earth, how to identify the American culture has been debated and this topic had valued by many people. Of course, on behalf of the American spirit, country music must be included in this controversial issue.