Musical Behaviors of Black People in American Society

Abstract

All sorts of tastes in music exist among black people in America. As is true of other Americans, they too have various kinds of music activity they enjoy, support, become actively involved with, or will tolerate. Further, there is as much difference between tastes of different socioeconomic levels as there is among different age groups within the total black population. While generalizations beyond this point are apt to be dangerously misleading, this paper will risk the hazard, secure in the knowledge that whatever is cited has been carefully arrived at and will be discussed as a means of motivating further scholarly study in an important and potentially rich area of research. There always have been two dominant musical traditions in America: the musical traditions or aesthetic of white people of the Western world, and the musical traditions of black people translated to the New World. John B. Hightower, director of the New York Museum of Modern Art, explains the musical tradition of white culture when he writes (1970, p. 41) that all of our major arts institutions are founded on a European tradition and approach to the arts. Their concerns are more reflective than immediate, more interpretative than creative. The world performed and the exhibitions displayed, more often than not, celebrate the creative talent of another century and another country. Interestingly, black people have held tenaciously to their unique way of creating and recreating music and other art in spite of (and sometimes because of) widespread instances (on the part of the dominant white culture) to change and/or diminish the acceptability of such behavior. True, there has been considerable borrowing between the two cultures (even extending to cultural attitudes toward, translation of, and responses to, certain musical events)