The Power of Music

On Monday night I went to watch the African Dance Theatre. I think it was more of a cultural experience than anything else. This was a world-renowned dance group that had actually come to perform at my high school the year before. They were dressed in authentic African garments and had drums from Africa. It was a short performance but it was a lot of fun to watch. Not only were there Loyola students there but also many people from the community came to watch the performance as well. There was a group of school children that came in and also just a large group of adults from Baltimore as well. Although this was not designed as a year of the city event, it was an event for Black history month, I think the two connected very well. It was introducing part of the African culture, something that is obviously very present in the city of Baltimore, to the students of Loyola that otherwise would have been unlikely to see something like that.
I also realized the power that music and dance can have over people, about 15 minutes into the presentation the performers had us on our feet dancing to the music they were playing, unifying the whole group. We see this aspect of unification in John McClusky’s “Lush life” when Billy is describing the situation when the woman comes up to him to tell him about her baby and how he was hurt. His friend Earl responds to him, “ It’s this music we play, Billy. It opens people up, makes them give up secrets. Better than whiskey or dope” (571), clearly showing that just because these musicians play a certain type of music that people feel connected to them, feel related to them, causing them to open up and share stories and experience that one would only share with someone close to them.
Music is also something that is seen as able to break down boundaries, break down barriers between cultures and bring them together. This is the reverse effect that we have seen throughout our discussions in class. During our discussions we talked about people build boundaries, emotional and physical boundaries to protect themselves to protect their thoughts. But music can break through those boundaries and work as a unifying factor between cultures, between races and between different backgrounds.
In Walt Whitman’s poems, “ One’s Self I Sing” and “I Sing the Body Electric” the speaker emphasizes more of the beauty of music by celebrating individuality and what makes us human. Both poems are a way of expressing equality, and also there is mention of both the male and female figure in both poems. This stresses the concept of one’s individuality. Whitman’s “I Sing the Body Electric” is also a free-form poem in structure, mimicking the poems message of being free, of being different, of having no boundaries. Here Whitman uses songs, uses lyrics, and music as a way of expression, as a way to reach out to people and get his messages across in a way that is universally accepted in a way that everyone recognizes.