Interviews and thoughts

As I progressed through the topic I choose I found it difficult to choose a type of fieldwork to fit my concept. In the end I settled with doing interviews of musicians, one who is a local dj and producer and one who is a classical fanatic. The results I expected were that the electronic musician would be more involved in the online musical community and be able to provide feedback on the topic of cultural change via music, and the classically trained and oriented musician would opt for the technical information found between music between different cultures which would distinguish them.

I asked the Electronica artist the following; What effect is there on culture by music and vice versa, and how do you think the connection is today (between a culture and its music) versus before recordings, to which he replied saying that music was everything. He went on the talk about the interactions people had via music and how as time progressed there was more of a melting pot which changed the face of music, and in a way universalized it, changing it from something performed once by a symphony with limited access to something consumed  by the masses.

I asked about the digital age’s effect on music as a whole. He responded saying that the internet and the vast availability of it all, no matter the song or style, universalized it and allowed for an even larger mass consumption of sorts.

The final question I asked was on the idea of a sort of cultural merger, much like what the United States of America has done to produce a nation of similar peoples, in the context of music. He responded saying that every culture is unique and that although they are different each is able to build unity because everyone can relate to it now; the crossbreeding of genre’s was what he specifically mentioned. Again he mentioned the internet and it being a tool for musicians and a source for music of every genre saying that it was breaking boundaries.

I have yet to finish my interviews as I have not yet talked with the classical oriented student.

I found it interesting that a Producer would have immediately jumped on the idea that music was everything in defining culture, and mentioning that it was the digital technology that acted as the universalizing force behind music because the availability. As for any other details, they were about what I expected.

In the end, I found it intriguing how others agreed that there is a social change that is spurred forward by the technological distribution and creation of music. I will certainly incorporate this into my paper.