Music Gives Us a Shared Cultural Experience

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In today’s society, people tend to spend less and less time together as a family unit and as a group of people as a whole. Many people have even come to the conclusion that we no longer have any shared cultural experiences that unite us as a community. Dan Kennedy, a journalist for the Boston Phoenix, wrote, “All of us, in other words will become more and more isolated from society and from each other. What’s being lost is the sense of shared cultural experience.” Dustin Kidd, a sociologist at Temple University in Philadelphia, took a different stance than Kennedy when he stated, “The Release of the latest Harry Potter novel may not spark a revolution but is an important element of social cohesion. It unites the community in the pursuit of a common goal – Potter.” Although some of the allegations may be true about the people of today’s social “universes” becoming smaller with the use of technology, there is proof that technology can do the opposite as well. It is how we use it that it will affect us. And although Kidd has a good argument for novels such as Harry Potter bringing the people of the world together, music has an even better argument. One thing people will always share and that will unite us all is music and the effect it has on us. No matter what type of music you prefer to listen to, there are others out there who listen to, not only the same style of music but the same musicians as well. The most classic examples are of Beethoven in 1770 Germany, Mozart from 1756 Austria, Bach in the 1600’s and Wagner in the 1800’s both from Germany, and Chopin residing in the 1800’s of Poland. Although these men became famous at different points in time in different countries, these names are known all over the world and their music is taught and appreciated by people of all ages and all races. Lajean Shiney, an elementary school teacher for over the past 25 years
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