Describe your Personal Cultural Experiences With Music (Essay Sample)

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Music and Culture
Music plays a significant role in defining people and their cultures. Different cultures of the world have varied tastes and preferences of music. The correlation between music and people's cultures has led to the concept of music cognition in sociology. The ideology refers to the effect of an individual's culture on his/her music preference. Although the culture of an individual affects his/her music choice, over time the taste may change depending on the environment. In a nutshell, it is evident that culture plays a significant role in the determination of the type of music one prefers. In this paper, I discuss my culture and music preference.
I am from Saudi Arabia, where the main religion is Islam. The majority of the people in the country are extremely religious, conservative and family conscious. Although the people of Saudi Arabia have been exposed to other cultures of the world; they still observe their traditional customs, which date back to the Arab civilization period. I am proud of my culture and glad because I had the chance to learn it unlike most of my peers. I have since moved from Saudi Arabia to pursue my education in Canada. The music preferences of most of my friends who are Canadian differ from mine primarily because of the disparity in the cultural practices and norms. They grew in other cultures where the type of music was varied; hence, it is only logic that some of the songs I would not listen to are their favorites.
This paper discusses my personal experience with the two cultures that I have been exposed to and how they influence the music choices/tastes. From a personal experience, it is evident that the norms and customs observed in an environment affect the tastes and preferences in fashion and music of the people. The Saudi Arabia culture profoundly influences my perceptions of life, dress code, and music taste. I grew up in a religious, conservative and traditional environment; hence, I have a conservative demeanor. I am still active in my faith and observe the various teachings of Islam that I learned from an early age. In Canada, I have come across people from different cultures, a factor which has influenced my current view of the world. Therefore, personally, I can attest that religion, socialization, family values, school, and media all affect the view of an individual in regards to different elements of life, among them music (McRobbie, Angela 23-25). All these factors have modeled me to the person I am today. From experience, most of my friends find my music different, and some of them do not even like it because of the cultural difference.
All cultures in the world have their form of music. It is through the art of music that people in various cultures communicate amongst themselves and also with their unique identity. In Saudi Arabia, traditional music takes the form of poetry and is usually performed by several people together. As a child, I enjoyed spending time with my parents, who were music enthusiasts, during their leisure time; as a result, I learned the music and took a keen interest in the different songs played by people in my country.
The socialization process clearly influences the music choice of an individual even when they are adults. For example, I currently love reggae music and Kizomba, which were not my favorites a few years ago. The new found music interests can be attributed to my interaction with people from other cultures. I recently attended the  HYPERLINK "/deals/kizomba-canada-3"
Kizomba Canada Montreal, which belongs to the African and Portuguese cultures. It just shows how the world cultures are slowly being integrated as people continue to move from their home countries to other regions of the globe (McRobbie, Angela 31).
In a nutshell, music is important in every culture as it helps define the people. It is also an effective means of communication through which people display their emotions and feelings. Music in this sense does mean not only the words but also the beats and instruments used. For example, I find Kizomba music to be incredibly rejuvenating even though I might not understand some of the phrases, especially when the songs are not in English. Therefore, some of the elements of music that attract people include the beats, instruments, and rhythm. Personally, I prefer not to listen to rock music as it is noisy and violent. Perhaps, the reason why I find rock music to be unpleasant is that it is not related to my culture in any way. I grew up listening to calm, informative and soft music from my culture, therefore, it is difficult to adapt to something that is entirely different.
Musicians are carriers of influence, whether or not they are aware of it. The sound and messages of different songs have an effect on the listeners. It is particularly the case of the youth in the society. I was introduced to music at an early age by my parents who were music lovers. Most of the time, they insisted that I listen to religious music. The type of music influenced my faith in the Islam religion. Over the years, the music has been impacting me in various ways. For instance, I find reggae music to be very educative and motivating. There are some reggae songs...