Sounds of the Converging Family Tree: Analysis of Music Preferences
Every generation’s taste in music is influenced by variables such as socioeconomic status and our interactions with the people we meet. Within the context of my family, there are some strong correlations between the music that the past generations have listened to and today’s popular music. During the course of my research, I have come to the conclusion that the environments we are raised help determine our initial music preferences. As we progress, the people we meet, places we visit, and events we experience play a role in our change for different styles of music.
Both sets of my grandparents grew up during worsening economic and social conditions underway which were relative to their choice of music. My grandfather from my father’s side was brought up in a wealthy family. He was exposed to the sounds of the orchestra from a young age. Opera and classical music have always been popularly regarded as a higher form of art by high society, always marketed and targeted at individuals with higher income levels, and were performed in elaborate concert halls. To contribute to that exclusive aura, the clothing that my grandfather wore to these performances was both dressy and expensive. All of these elements created a sense of limitation, which my grandfather said represented the separation between social classes and races.
Despite the effects of the Great Depression, my grandfather still held onto his opera and classical music. As a means of escaping reality, my grandfather would sit by the radio and listen to the opera of Pavarotti. The soft, subtle sounds helped him escape his current problems. As a middle-aged man, he was a soft-spoken and serious man. When visiting his apartment, I remember walking into the parlor and witnessing him listening to his opera music and smoking his cigar. He had his eyes closed and was lightly nodding his head up an down. Even into his last years, he was using opera music as a medium of escape and symbol of his hard work to overcome poverty.
Growing up in Roslyn, a predominantly white suburb on Long Island, my father was exposed to opera music in his household. His father invited him regularly to shows at the New York Metropolitan Opera House, but he preferred to attend New York Knicks games. My father had little interest in opera music. He was influenced by the popular music of Elvis Presley. With the lyrics of songs such as “All Shook Up”, my father and his friends collectively could relate with the messages that Presley sang about, such as the world being all scrambled with the challenges of America’s youth and segregation. Him and his friends could identify with one another as they were all adapting their lifestyles to the sound of rock n’ roll. My father would wear a leather jacket on the weekends to create that rough, suave image. This piece of clothing detached him from his upper social class standing and made him feel like an average individual. My father was not induced by his family’s income, it made him feel like an outcast to American teenager society. Due to my father’s racial blindness, he was not able to fully conceptualize the racial problems, but he did not advocate for racial divides.
As he grew older, he traveled to other places in hopes of improving his basketball game. The people that he met and the sounds that were introduced to him are responsible for his current taste in music. The music that was played on the courts was upbeat and energetic, reflecting the outburst of energy on the court. It was in the schoolyards of lower-income neighborhoods that he heard the music of James Brown and The Four Tops. The music that was exposed to my father in these schoolyards set a stamp that remains with him. To this day, I can walk into his office and hear James Brown’s “I Feel Good” blasting from his stereo. In the distance, he is shaking his legs and snapping his fingers. In high school, his preference for Motown and doo-wop styles of music began to climax. His record collection consisted of artists such as the Five Satins and their famous hit, “In the Still of the Night”. By interacting with diverse people, my father felt good about himself and the upbeat, syncopated rhythm attributed to that.
After high school, my father attended a private institution whose student body consisted of individuals from all different walks of life which was key in his musical development. His pact of friends was comprised of everyone from the leading scorers on the basketball team to the overachievers of the class. He began to listen to other artists and styles of music. With the heightening of the Vietnam War and segregation, my father began to listen to music that represented his thoughts and views on these issues, such as Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changing” . My father had negative views toward the Vietnam War and could relate to the words of frustration and anguish towards the direction that our world was heading in as relayed in Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and felt a place of resort in the mysticism in most of Bob Dylan’s music.
My mother grew up in a similar environment, however her values were different than my father’s, thus affecting her preference of music. My mother’s parents came from middle-class families and were not exposed to elite music. They grew up with different values than my father’s parents, such as being happy with what you have and the importance of family. The music that my mother’s parents listened to painted happy pictures. One of their favorite artists was Perry Como and his song “Magic Moments”. Through the soft melody and genuine lyrics, his music created love and happiness in their marriage, as it was their wedding song. These were the values that they taught my mother and her brother.
Similar to my father, my mother grew up in Merrick, a suburb on Long Island that was residence to mostly white, upper-middle and upper class families. This had a tremendous effect on her initial tastes in music. Her family was middle-class which was reflected through the values of family, love, and happiness that were sung about in the songs that could be heard in her home. Songs such as Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life”, which spoke about overcoming struggles and climbing to the top again, were popular in her family. Her friends came from very similar backgrounds. They were happy children and enjoyed the simple things of life such as the music of Connie Francis and Peter, Paul and Mary. Through the whimsical melodies and colorful lyrics, these songs depicted the simple values such as being content, trouble-free, and respectful that her friends and herself lived by.
When my mother went off to college, her musical preferences remained biased. She began listening to songs by Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles and James Taylor. Her music began to reflect her political and social issues views, such as the messages conveyed through “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor and “America” by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. After growing up in a segregated neighborhood, my mother felt very deprived from not being exposed to other races and ethnicities of people. The music of Simon and Garfunkel created a sense of unity, equality, and justice for her. The lyrics in “America” infer all the different types of people setting out and looking for that land of equal opportunity which held true with my mother’s view. By carefully listening to the lyrics, my mother gained an appreciation for her freedom and equality.
Shortly after college, my mother’s collection of music began to slowly expand. The main culprit for this transition was her interaction with the African-American communities in the borough of Brooklyn. As a teacher in this foreign environment, she was introduced to a whole new culture. Her students exposed her to artists such as The Isley Brothers, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Jackson 5, and Richie Havens. During these times, segregation and inequality was coming to an end. My mother could easily relate with songs such as Diana Ross’ “The Boss”. With women finally gaining the same equal rights as men it was a time of celebration for all women and the loud. The swerving sounds that could be heard in non-segregated concert halls was a symbol of the end of racial and gender separation, with the sweet voice of Diana Ross and the joyous rhythms in the background.
My siblings and I grew up in a similar environment as both of my parents, which was monumental to our musical preferences. Our parents introduced us to artists such as Billy Joel, Elton John, The Beach Boys, The Temptations and Patti Labelle. The first concert that I attended was Billy Joel and it was only the beginning of my relationship with the music of the 1960s-1980s. As we grew older, our preferences for music began to extrapolate as well as wander in other directions. Similar to my father’s youth, my brother began to play basketball in lower-income neighborhoods and with that both his development of music and circle of friends began to shift as he began to fill his CD collection with more urban artists such as Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G, Warren G, and Outkast. On the other broad end of the spectrum, there has been an interesting trend that follows my sister and her music preference. Her past boyfriends have influenced her tastes as she has learned to love and listen to each of their favorite bands such as The Dave Matthews Band and The String Cheese Incident.
For myself, my parents, the media, and my circle of friends, have had the biggest influence on my musical preferences. My iTunes library includes artists from the 1960s such as The Beatles and Bob Dylan to the popular artists of the 21st century such as John Mayer and Michael Buble all the way to the artists that my friends introduced me to in the midst of my high school years like Jack Johnson and The Format. Since I entered college, I’ve reached outside of my comfort zone by interacting with people from different backgrounds and getting involved activities that have stirred my taste in music,
There tends to be a strong linkage between our initial exposure which include the values, beliefs and morals that are proctored to us by influential people and our tastes in music.
My grandfather’s introduction to opera and classical music created a foundation that lasted a lifetime. An offset occurred however due to my father’s explorations in other neighborhoods and exposure to newer, more energetic and soul defining forms of music. Due to my mother’s parent’s childhood experiences, my mother grew up in a middle-class family and was introduced to more earthy and moving music beginning when she was a little girl. It was not until she began teaching in more diverse neighborhoods that her biased views on music began to change. Similarly, the views of music that exist between my sibling and I are reflections of the music that was played in our household while growing up and other variables such as new friendships, places of interest, and activities. Our views of music still hold a balance but will continue to change due to the people we met, places we visit, and the events that we experience in our unpredictable lives.
