It's All About the Music

The next four blog entries are all about music. The two genres of music I have focused on are soft rock and folk music. I chose these two because of my love and passion for music. I cannot go a day without hearing it because it brings my soul and spirit to a calmer place. These four posts contain everything from artist profiles to the way technology influences music creation. I hope you enjoy reading about these types of music and the influences music has within our world!

Back to the Future

"I believe musicians have a duty, a responsibility to reach out, to share your love or pain with others. "- James Taylor

Soft rock and folk music have had major influences on songwriters and artists within the 21st century. Some of the most popular and well known artists within the soft rock and folk genres include Cat Stevens, James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Peter Gabriel and the list continues for hundreds more. Soft rock, the unaggressive style of rock-n-roll focusing on lyrics not the beat, might have been a genre created after folk music, but it still took in that strong lyrical presence and tied it in with clever musical notes and chords to get the message across to the audience.

There may be thousands of genres now ranging from country, to rap, to rock, and etc., but it still doesn’t change the fact that music has been around for centuries. Most of the music genres such as rock, rap, pop, punk, etc. were not brought about until the 1980s and 1990s. Even though those genres were not around until that era, musical artists of today still give credit to the older artists they received a majority of their influence from when folk and soft rock were created.

"Nothing separates the generations more than music. By the time a child is eight or nine, he has developed a passion for his own music that is even stronger than his passions for procrastination and weird clothes," quoted Bill Cosby.

James Taylor is one of those artists that ties in folk and soft rock genres. He released an album entitled Sweet Baby James, which is considered to be a "folk-rock masterpiece." In his song "Fire and Rain," his folk background of music can be identified because of how much more the lyrics are heard than his guitar playing.

These two similar styles of music still hold a great influence in what we hear on the radio today and will continue to hold that calm and peaceful sound that we know coming back from time into the new world of technology and music.

Technology Changing Music

“Music can change the world because it can change people.”- Bono

Music is a big part of our society during this present time. Everyone has their own taste of what they like and dislike. Many people now have the power to convert the old music they once adored to a little handheld music player. Because of the influence of folk artists, as well as soft rock artists, on the performers of today, music will continue to be made and played through these little contraptions.

Since the creation of computers, iPods, mp3 players, cell phones and so on, we, as a society, are constantly connected to music and the outside world. Today, music can be heard blaring through the headphones of a kid walking by on the street, someone’s car speakers driving by or a random person sitting at a table with their laptop open and speakers playing one of their favorite songs. No matter where you may be, or how bad it may sound, music is still heard.

Used to, back before all these crazy inventions, the only place to buy records, not even CDs, was record stores, not an iTunes music store or Limewire. The 20th century started out music technology with record players, 8 tracks, then tapes, CDs, which has now developed into mp3 players and touch screen iPods. All occurred over a time span of a few decades.

Since these changes in technology occurred, we can connect to the roots of music easier by sifting through lists of songs off of a screen instead of those old records most deny having out of embarassment. Soft rock and folk artist's music are hard to find within stores nowadays because most people are looking for the new popular music of today. Because of technology, these oldies can be found simply by typing in the artist and buying a song for around 99 cents.

Continuing to change, technology, as well as music itself, will constantly be setting new standards for upcoming products and each new technology will be just a little bit better than the last.

Whether it’s the latest touch screen with built in speakers or that old junky CD player tucked away in a drawer, the way people listen to music will always be changing and conforming to the next generation of technology.