Challenging Musical & Social Norms

Challenging Musical and Social Norms

By: Arika Williams

The early styles of Jazz made a huge impact on American culture. Jazz challenged the social and musical norms. Jazz and Blues are among America’s greatest culture achievements and exports to the world community giving powerful voice to the American experience. Born of a multi-hued society, it unites people across the divides of race, national boundaries, and has always made powerful statements about freedom, creativity, and American identity.

Jazz starts to get a reputation of being immoral and many members of the older generation saw it as threatening the old values in culture and promoting the new decadent values of the Roaring 20s. The roaring 1920’s made incredible impact for Women’s Rights. Jazz’s influence had a lot to do with the “newfound liberal” (Jazz and Its Influence on America) determination of the women. The flapper style of dress connects to the Jazz scene. The style inspired people to challenge the social norms. Jazz itself challenges the social norms of music. The chord structures of Jazz were new at the time, and used extensions to brought fresh sound which were never heard before. The metaphor of jazz improvisation has been mapped on to the organizational context in order to help us see organizations in a new light, thus generating useful insights into the phenomenon of ‘organizational improvisation’ (Woodall). This activity has probably been stimulated by the observation that there seem to be remarkable similarities between what jazz improvisers do and what goes on in organizations with a predilection for action and continuous learning, and a culture of risk-taking and experimentation.

Jazz music’s effect loosens up the people giving off the vibe of feeling good and having fun. “Jazz music was the soundtrack of the 1920’s” (Jazz and Its Influence on America ) and build the atmosphere on the decade. In Jazz music, improvisation is prompted by a deliberate attempt to deviate from what is perceived as ‘standard’ practice or rhythmic formula respectively. Improvisation is also emergent and exploratory, without the need to depart from a ‘standard’. Although there is no deliberate will to improvise, role improvisation happens because of social factors that emerge from the broader social environment. It is mostly triggered by the perception of a problem that has to be tackled hastily. The Women’s Right movement eventually led to the successfulness of the Civil Rights movement. Jazz music deepened the impact on social equality and minimized sexism and racism.

Music should always be indulged with an unbiased and understanding attitude. Without the liberal minds of the 1920’s the society of today would be a far cry from what we see now. Jazz has had an endless amount of influence on our culture.

Media Sources

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O03roqmArAA “Cultural Change and Challenging Status Quo Beliefs” – Tribal Jazzman Scholar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SclJ94h2oyQ “The Roaring 1920s”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3svvCj4yhYc “Flappers – The Roaring Twenties”

Primary Sources

"The History of Jazz." The History of Jazz. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <http://www.acesandeighths.com/jazz.html>.

"Jazz and Its Influence on America." HubPages. HubPages Inc., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://paulwestphal.hubpages.com/hub/Jazz-and-its-influence-on-America>.

Woodall. ""Awakening a Horrible Monster": Negotiating the Jazz Public in 1920s Istanbul." Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. 3rd ed. Vol. 30. N.p.: Duke UP, n.d. 574-82. Print.