Impact of Music

Prior to this class I never put much thought into music or the effects it can have. In my life music is background noise and is constantly playing whether I’m listening to it while walking to class, doing homework, working out, driving, or just relaxing. However, I never realized the impact certain types of music and songs can have on one’s emotions. “The Star-Spangled Banner” is a prime example of this. Growing up sports were my true passion and consumed my life. Before every game the “National Anthem” was played and I felt pride for my country as I looked up at the American flag. My grandfather was a veteran and when the "National Anthem" plays I remember him and as well as all the other soldiers who risked their lives fighting for us and I am grateful. The first verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, our “National Anthem”, celebrates victory. It makes listeners feel patriotic and empowered. It also gives a sense of unity among the citizens of the United States. The last line “o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave” gives a feeling of opportunity and a sense that you can do anything. We, Americans, are strong and can’t be defeated. 

I was unaware that “The Star-Spangled Banner” had four verses and I had only ever heard the one that is used in the “National Anthem”. When analyzing the other verses, the third one is much darker and degrading. It depicts Francis Scott Key’s feeling of betrayal of the slaves when they chose to fight alongside the British after being promised their freedom in return. Negative connotation was included when describing the slaves using phrases such as “their foul footsteps’ pollution”. In the third verse, Key wrote that the slaves got what was coming to them and deserved to die. Where the first verse is very patriot and makes people proud, this third verse does just the opposite. When hearing it people may be ashamed and think negatively of American. The verses of "The Star-Spangled Banner" are just one example but music in general has the power to call attention to different ideas or events and change the way people may perceive them.

What we can learn from this class

This week I was tasked with a whole set of new things throughout this class. In high school I was bad at two things, history and writing. Signing up for this class I knew that it would be a good healthy challenge for me with my writing. However, I was not thinking this would have anything to do with history. 

            Reading through the textbook that’s when it really hit me that this was a history class and a writing class. I thought I was in trouble.

            The saving thing about the class was the fact that it is music-based writing and history. Another thing that saved me was that these blogs are open opinion just throw words on a page that sum up the week in one page.  That is taking so much stress of me for this class.

            The songs we listen to are interesting in the fact that for example, the Star-Spangled Banner. A song we were all forced to learn and sing in elementary school and no one knew what the song was about expect it was about America. 

            One you get to middle school the national anthem goes away in place of the pledge of allegiance that you would have to stand up for everyday in homeroom and speak along with it. My first thing I remember about anything to do with politics or something to do with it was that in 8^Thgrade a girl in my class refused to stand up for it because she did like the line “one nation under god”. That was the first time all these really came to me and I realized that you don’t have to stand up for the pledge if you don’t want to. 

            Going back to the topic of the national anthem I believe that we should not be teaching young children this song until they know what the war was. This song has a lot of meaning to the war and everything that goes along with it. These children are growing up thinking that this song is just something fun from there music class. 

            Along with that I believe that everyone should know all four stanzas of the Star-Spangled Banner going through all four and giving a small lesson on each. They all have a lot of history to them and should be analyzed like a Shakespeare poem. The third one is something that I believe that later middle school or early high school. This is important and I shouldn’t have learned today that the British troops gave slaves freedom if they joined their side. I should have learned that in my junior year American history class. 

            My last thought is that I don’t really have a political opinion and I’m just starting to learn all about this stuff through this class because I thought that I was 19 years old and I should learn more about it. 

American Pride and the Perpetuation of Hate-Speech

During Thursday’s class, we watched a student-created documentary regarding the third verse of the National Anthem; a verse which I shared no familiarity with up until that point in time. This verse has apparently caused a fair amount of debate recently due to the controversial message it puts forth. Talks of revising of “The Star-Spangled Banner” have been underway for some years, but before one formulates a stuck-in-stone opinion on the matter, they must first understand the events leading up to it being adopted as our country’s National Anthem.

              The original poem was written September 14^th, 1814, by Francis Scott Key, a successful lawyer from Maryland who would later become the attorney general for Washington D.C. After a colleague of his was captured by British troops during the War of 1812, Key sought to negotiate his release. Though the man successfully convinced the British to free his friend, their oppressors wouldn’t allow them to disembark from the ship until the siege of Fort McHenry came to a close. On a ship, miles away from the action, Key watched in awe as the British bombarded the base for nearly 25 hours. However, as we know, the British hailed mortar after mortar to no avail. By the morning of the following day, “Our flag was still there” (Key, 1814). Contrary to popular belief, this poem was not recognized as our national anthem for another 100 years. Only after President Woodrow Wilson required that it be played at all official events in 1916 did it gain national recognition. Fifteen years later, on March 3rd, 1931, “The Star-Spangled Banner” was declared our country’s national anthem. Many know the poem’s first verse, but most don’t realize the there are, in fact, 4 verses within the complete composition.

              "Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave from the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave” (Key, 1814). Within the third verse, one can begin to uncover the United States’ dark past. The lines previously stated refer to the slaves who sought freedom, which the British promised in exchange for the slaves’ pledge of allegiance to the empire’s cause. As expected, many of those imprisoned and worked by the American populous chose to take their chance at potential freedom. Unfortunately, during that time, many Americans saw this action as treachery and condemned the slaves who participated; Key shared this view-point. The question remains, does rhetoric like this deserve traction in 2019?

              Many things have changed since 1814 in regards to American culture. Here in 2019, one can be assured that hate-speech like this is far less accepted than it once was. However, though the hatred driven third verse may not be part of our national anthem, it dwells just beneath a noble façade. One does not have to stretch their mental capacity to understand why people in today’s day and age would have a problem with the message brought forth within the lesser known verses of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” However, does this reasoning justify revising that which has been part of our culture for nearly a century?

              Though slaves are directly mentioned in the text, the finger is never pointed straight at African-Americans. Nowhere in any of the four verses does Key indistinguishably place the blame on black people for devious behavior. Key, rather, made a blanket statement encompassing all those who deviated from the side of the United States during the war. As previously stated, times have changed, drastically. We are on the right track toward equality for all walks of life at this point in time. Back then it was certainly a different case. “The Star-Spangled Banner,” sung as our national anthem, does not include the third verse for good reason. One must accept that the past, has passed. We are no longer what we were. As a child, I lived in Germany for 3 years after my family and I were stationed there. One of the biggest lessons I learned while I lived there was the fact that you can’t erase history, nor can you run from it. The reality is, not a single country in this world has a perfectly clean past. Everyone has made a mistake at one point or another. Some more drastic than others. It is the responsibility of every American to understand the past in order to prevent it from repeating itself. But by deleting or trying to forget about the mistakes we have made previously, we will lose sight on what really matters, the future.

Works Cited:

--Editors, History.com. “The Star-Spangled Banner.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 28 Sept. 2017, www.history.com/topics/19th-century/the-star-spangled-banner. 

--Key, Francis S. “Star Spangled Banner Lyrics.” USA Flag Site, www.usa-flag-site.org/song-lyrics/star-spangled-banner/.

Reflection : How does music affect me?

As my first post on this blog I thought I would share my experience with music and how it affects my life. I never really thought about the impact music had on me until we began to discuss it in class. The more I thought about it I realized that many people rely and how powerful it really is. Ever since I was young my parents always would play music from playing it in the car to playing it when cleaning the house on Sundays. I will never forget some of the songs my parents would play that still to this day reminds me of them. My parents taught me to have such a diverse taste in music which I appreciate today, from old music to new and everything in between. Music has a special place in my heart it has helped me get through the ups and downs in my life which I think that many people can relate to. 
I turn to music and usually the music I turn to will reflect my mood. I enjoy music because not only does it help me it helps people connect and have common interests through the music they listen to. Listening to music through headphones or from a speaker is great however one of my favorite things is going to concerts and hearing live music. There is nothing that compares to groups of people in one room all with a love of music. The energy of concerts is something that is indescribable. For me every song holds a different meaning, sometimes it will remind me of a certain time or maybe how the song makes or has made me feel. Sometimes a song can remind me of a person or a place. Music will always have a place in my heart and it will be something that I am always passionate about throughout life.

First Blog Post: Reflecting

As this is my first blog post, I thought it would be appropriate and important to reflect and summarize the past few lectures. On the first day of classes, we hopped right in by watching variations of the ‘Star Spangled Banner’. During this activity, we had time to react and to compare and contrast the different versions of the song. I learned during this activity that songs can mean or show something different, depending on the performer. For example, Whitney Houston’s performance of the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ gleamed with confidence and patriotism. Whereas, Jimi Hendrix’s version showed the reality of what was happening then with the war. His version of the song was defined as a protest. I thought it was fascinating that songs could vary in meaning depending on the artist or performer.

The following class, we got to read articles within a group. The article that my group and I were reading was “The 25 Most Important Civil Rights Movement in Music History”. When reading this article, I learned that many artists would deny performing if the audience was segregated. Then there were other artists that would use their platforms to spread a message about an issue, this could be writing a song or just speaking about the issue. I thought this article was interesting because I had no idea about any of them and it was very compelling to read about each one.

After these first few classes, it made me realize how important music is to me and music
has impacted my life.  I am glad I picked this as my first-year seminar class because I believe that I will have a deeper appreciation and better understanding of music.

What Music Means to Me

Music, it means a different thing to everyone. Summers driving with the windows down and blasting music, alone in your room studying or just relaxing with the music in the background, jamming out while working out, or casually listening to it while walking to class. Music to me, before this week was just something I would listen to when I didn’t want to feel alone, or didn’t like the silence. After listening in class this week I started to understand the importance and meaning of some music. Music isn’t just something we listen to, it’s the way people feel, it’s the way people communicate, it’s our way of life. If you tune out all the back noise and instruments of a song, and really focus on the words, you may understand the song in a way you hadn’t before. This week, after really listening to the words in songs and not just the catchy beats or singing along without knowing exactly what I’m singing, music changed to me. Many people use their talents and their music to express themselves and the world around us. It’s not just their way of life, it’s not just what they want or what they love to do, it’s what the need to do. Some artist speak out or speak up about problems the world tries to ignore and the some people in the music industry just won’t take it. They realize the problems and know that they have people who will listen to them, so they use that to their advantage. I knew that “The American Dream” was exactly that, a dream. After listening in class on Thursday to different artist interpretation of what that dream meant to them, I realized that everyone only sees what they are shown,and still will only believe what they want. Granted, not everything you see is believable, but people choose to ignore the major problems or act like they still aren’t a problem and that is why musicians speak up. They can’t ignore the music that plays around them, constantly songs stuck in their heads. Bands and musicians do it to raise awareness which is why sometimes bands or musicians even partake in protest. They agree with the problem and stand up for what they believe and because they are famous, they will bring more attention to the protest. Music is such an important part of everyone's lives, everyone relates to at least some kind of music or artist. At least once in life, everyone is going to go threw something and most people won’t turn to other people to deal with it, they will turn to music. Music speaks to people in a way that people can’t and sometimes people will relate or understand the situation better after listening to music. You might not know it at the time but music will help you heal or deal with whatever you have to. It’s the one thing in life you can always count on to be there. Sure music is changing, but it will never be gone, there will always be some kind of music around and i think when people's lives are constantly changing and nothing seems to be the same or even make sense any more, they will still have music. The best part is, no music is lost forever, so if there was a specific band or song or something that always comforted you or helped you threw something, it will still be there years later when nothing else is the same you will be able to turn to that song and everything will be okay for those few minutes while the song plays. Music brings people together in a way nothing else can, we are lucky to have music at our fingertips now a days. I know personally I would be lost without music, it helps me drown out everything around me and focus on what is important. I'm glad that I got the opportunity to take this class and realize how much music impacts my life .

First Blog post, by JC Spezeski

For my first blog post I am writing about the first few days of class and the interesting lessons that were taught. I found the comparisons of the star spangled banner fascinating, due to the different points of view that were described. I never thought of the notion that our national anthem could be used in different settings to describe emotional fulfillment. Our national anthem can be performed in many different ways to describe how the performer feels about a social movement, or governmental action.

Music is used to describe the feeling of a performer through lyrics and rhythm. As I have read in the chapters "Songs on the Immigrants and songs in American History and Politics" and "Protest songs: Music as a tool for social Change;" Songs can be used for protest, and political change. Music is used in the chapter to describe the struggles of a group of people, and is also used to show how groups of people can fight back. These first few classes have been fascinating.