Identity

This blog is centred around the theme of identity. These 10 keywords relate directly to the formation of ones identity and this blog has been created to express the relation between these terms and my identity as a musician, student and individual.

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Reference List.

Bargh, J. A & Chartrand, T. L, 1999, the unbearable automaticity of being, American psychologist, 54(7), p. 462.

Barker, C 2012, Issues of Subjectivity and Identity, in cultural studies: theory and practice, 4th ed, SAGE, London, p. 225.

Bloom, H 1997, The anxiety of influence: a theory of poetry, 2nd edn, Oxford University Press, Ofxord, p. 30.

Bukszpan, D 2010, musicians gone broke, cnbc, 29 october, viewed 20 March 2017, <http://www.cnbc.com/2010/10/29/15-Musicians-Gone-Broke.html>.

Elmo, What Makes Music, 2011, videorecording, Youtube, viewed 16 March 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4aQgvBiQA8>.

Evans, J 2015, On pop starts alter-egos, the website of Jules Evans, 11 September, viewed 21 March 2017,<http://www.philosophyforlife.org/on-pop-stars-alter-egos/>.  

Gordon, A 2014, ‘Distinctions of authenticity and everyday punk self’, Punk & post punk, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 183 -202.

Heather 2015, what does creative identity mean to you, weblog post, 4 June, viewed 20 March 2017, <https://nearlythere.com/2015/06/04/what-does-creative-identity-mean-to-you/>.

Howes, D 2005, ‘Skinscapes: eboidment, culture and environment’, in Classen, Constance The book of touch, Berg, Oxford, pp.27-39.

Liebman, J 2012, Larry Graham Interview, For bass players only, 1 October, viewed on 20 march 2017, <http://forbassplayersonly.com/interview-larry-graham/>.

Los Angeles Times 2010, Jac Holzman on Bob Dylan at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, videorecording, Youtube, viewed 20 March 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qwasjjQx2k>.

Mansfield, N 2000, Subjectivity: theories of the self from Freud to Harraway, New York University Press, New York. p.3.

McLeod, S 2009, Unconscious Mind, viewed 17 March 2017, <www.simplypsychology.org/unconscious-mind.html>.

McRobbie, A 1998, British fashion design: rag trade or image industry?, Routledge, New York, p.66.

Miles Davis Biography 2014, 16 October, viewed 19 March 2017, <http://www.biography.com/people/miles-davis-9267992>.

Miles Davis, image, rollingstone, viewed 15 March 2017, <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/miles-davis/biography>.

Robertson, T & Atkins, P 2008, "Essential vs. Accidental Properties", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2016/entries/essential-accidental/>.

Shockman, E 2016, weblog, 6 February, viewed 19 March 2017,<https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-02-06/how-music-can-affect-your-sense-taste>.

Sklar, M 2013, Punk style, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, p. 4.

Smith, P 1979, London’s calling, image, Wikipedia, viewed 20 March 2017, < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TheClashLondonCallingalbumcover.jpg>.

Tagg, C & Seargeant, P 2016, ‘Facebook and the discursive construction of the social network’, A Georgakopoulou & T Spilio' (eds), The Routledge handbook of language and digital communication, Routledge, New York, p 343.

Taylor, C 1991, The ethics of authenticity, Harvard University Press, London, p. 65.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Foxey Lady (1968), 2013, videorecording, Youtube, viewed 17 March 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PVjcIO4MT4>.

Thompson, W, Graham, P & Russo, F  2005, Seeing music performance: Visual influences on perception and experience, Semiotica, 156, pp. 203-227.

Van Zandt, S 2010, Rollingstone magazine, weblog, 2 December, viewed 20 March 2017, <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-artists-of-all-time-19691231/eric-clapton-20110420>.

Wald, E 2015, Dylan Goes Electric!, Harper Collins publishers, New York, pp. 1-2.  

Watrous, P 1993, The New York Times, The Blues: A Cousin of Mozart?, 7 February, viewed 20 March 2017, <http://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/07/arts/pop-view-the-blues-a-cousin-of-mozart.html>.

What Is The Blues? Lightnin’ Hopkins Explains, 2015, videorecording, Youtube, viewed 19 March 2017,  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvUVRkGe_Yo>.

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Fractured Identity.

Fractured Identity relates to the theory that the ‘self’ is made up of multiple contradictory identities (Barker, 2012, 225) that lead a person to subconsciously take on different personalities under different circumstances.  For example, the way in which one behaves in a professional environment in comparison to their personal life.  

We see this occur in music in the form of an artist’s alter ego. Some of the greatest musicians have built their careers around a single, or multiple alter egos, in which they emerge as on stage or draw influence from when composing lyrical content and help express the message they are trying to convey (Evans, 2015). David Bowie is a great example of this.

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Social Identity. 

Social Identity relates to the importance of the views of society and the “expectations and opinions that others have of us” (Barker, 2007, 219) influencing the manner in which we choose to express ourselves to the world from both a social and creative standpoint (Tagg & Seargeant, 2016).  

When Bob Dylan went ‘Electric’ in 1965, he was greeted with a sea of booing by audience members, who deemed it “heresy” (Wald, 2015, 1). However, those who booed him were later accused of being “stuck in the past” (Wald, 2015, 2) and that Dylan’s change in musical direction was a representation of the future (Wald, 2015, 2) and the development of a new social identity for both himself and his fans.

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Some managed their money badly. And some spent all their money on lavish mansions, expensive cars and various addictions.

Creative Identity.

Creative Identity is the constantly changing perception and evaluation of ones inner self through the expression of creative work. (McRobbie,1998, 66). It is constantly re-defined and altered to reflect on the individual’s current needs or desires (Heather, 2015).

When comprehending this subject, we see that this is apparent in the music industry. Artists are often drawn in a completely opposite musical direction in an attempt to re-invent themselves, usually for financial or social benefits (Bukszpan, 2010). This draws upon similar ideas as Authenticity and the concept of the ‘poser’ (Gordon, 2014, 183), where this attempt at re-defining ones self can often lead to the individual losing their Creative Identity altogether.

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Authenticity.

Authenticity is the formation and self-definition of ones identity in the search of originality, often as a conscious revolt against the pressures of social conformity and what is considered the ‘norm’ (Taylor, 1991, 65).  

In certain musical styles, subcultures have formed that share the idea of authenticity as a central focus of their values. This is particularly apparent in the followers of punk music, whose unconventional musicality, fashion statements and beliefs shape the way in which they are perceived by the rest of society (Sklar, 2013, 4). Authenticity is often challenged with the accusations of an individual being a “poser”, someone who wants to be a part of the culture, without sharing the same ideas (Gordon, 2014, 183).

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Creative Influence.

Creative Influence is an essential element of the formation of an individual’s creative identity through which misinterpretation (Bloom, 1997, 30) leads to the formation of authentic and original ideas.  

The history of Rock music can be viewed as one enormous misinterpretation. From early rock pioneers such as Chuck Berry, whose concoction of the blues mixed with an up-tempo back beat rhythm, sent young guitarists like Keith Richards and Eric Clapton scrambling to learn Berry’s guitar parts note for note (Van Zandt, 2010) to bass player Larry Graham, who is credited with the invention of  “slap bass”, influenced by need of necessity, to fabricate the sound of the drums in a bass and piano ensemble (Liebman, 2012).

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How music can affect your sense of taste

Why your senses of smell and hearing, not just taste, play a major role in how you experience and enjoy food.

Sensory Knowledge. 

Sensory knowledge is the concept that our perception of the external world is shaped by our most primal senses and as a result is crucial to the development of an individuals identify and the expansion of our minds (Howes, 2005, 27).  

Sensory Knowledge is a critical element of how we perceive music. Music is not just a purely aural experience (Thompson, Graham, Russo, 2005, 206); we perceive it through the combination of all our senses. We feel the vibrations of the low frequencies move through our bodies and visual aspects such as the lightshow and costume changes can make or break a performance. It can even affect ones taste, as discussed by Dan Pashman (2016) in the above article.

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Overdetermination.

Overdetermination refers to the theory that argues that the most insignificant behaviors directly relate to the complexity of ones inner self and greatly contribute to the construction of ones identity (Mansfield, 2000, 3). This is often overlooked and consider by many to just be an over analysis of the obvious and irrelevant.

The Blues is a deep expression of ones emotional state of mind. We often hear a story being told of the hardships that these people had to endure, which can only be fully rectified and expressed through singing the blues. But to many, the Blues is just a simplistic; three chord form of folk music (Watrous, 1993) with no emotional value besides that of the enjoyment of the listener.

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Unconscious.

Unconscious is the automatic processing (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999, p. 462) in which actions and thoughts occur without a conscious decision being made by the individual, leading to influence over the current state of the conscious mind through repressed memories, dreams and slips of the tongue as noted by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud (Mcleod, 2015).

Musical composition is a deep representation of the composer’s unconscious mind, heavily referencing their memories, dreams and thoughts, subconsciously organising them into a form of art.  This becomes apparent if we look at the energy and expression musicians show whilst performing live and how the music appears to be an extension of their identity. Psychedelic Rock God, Jimi Hendrix, showcases this above. 

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Essentialism.

The theory of Essentialism is that in order to exist, an object (or being) must have a set of “essential properties”(Robertson, Atkins 2016) that determine what the object is and how it came to be that way.

If we take music as the object being defined under Essentialism, it becomes apparent that in order for one to perceive a sound as musical, it must contain certain physical properties, such as pitch and rhythm. However, I believe music is more than just a physical being and with its creation, it draws upon the traits of its composer to create a reflection of their identity. Elmo does a great job of explaining this in the above video. 

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Subjectivity.

Subjectivity refers to the creation of ones identity and how the formation and separation into distinct selves (Mansfield, 2000, 3) is influenced by the conceptions and opinions that we hold about ourselves (Barker, 2007, 219) as well as the way in which society perceives us.

I believe Miles Davis was a pioneer of creative individualism and expression of the self through music. He strived to further invent his identity, from both a personal and musical standpoint through the influence of his peers, despite harsh criticism from traditionalists (Biography.com Editors, 2014). His compositions reflect upon his internal being, and the way in which he perceives himself and the state of society, and allows it to be externalised to the world.