Antonin Dvorak and Amy Beach present two distinguishable viewpoints on the concept of "true" American music being found in African-American spirituals and Native American tunes. In Dvorak's perspective, he believes that the concept mentioned above is credible and should be taken into consideration by the general population of people in America. (Note: Even though Dvorak initially connects these ideas to the black peoples' music at first, he later comes to the statement that black peoples' and Native Americans' music were very similar to one another, so when reading these ideas, it can possibly be interpreted as Dvorak talking about both.) He tries to strengthen and defend his argument by stating that these cultures' music are pitiful, warm, ardent, sad, serious, daring, delightful, cheerful, and/or anything else. Dvorak also says with these cultures blends itself in appropriately to and for any atmosphere and/or any intention. These ideas are reminiscent of how Native American music can house a wide variety of feelings that are incorporated into the specific text of a song in certain ways, which are used wisely in regards to what specific emotions connect best with an individuals personal experiences which are represented in the lyrics the song, which was discussed in class and in previous readings. Furthermore, with the help of the statements mentioned above, Dvorak states that with these tunes performed by the black people (and Native Americans), that any American performer and/or any regular American individual involved in this business is able to comprehend these compositions and that they stir belief in these people, and stand out in their thoughts because of their connections to certain things.
Another idea that can possibly be implied through Dvorak's writing which is also used to strengthen his opinions on the concept mentioned at the beginning focuses on how intrigued a certain number of American people are by the African-American and Native American cultures music which is an essential part of their cultures. Dvorak uses an example when explaining about how his music students are always wanting to get the full scope immediately on the types of music and information that he presents to them and find out the meanings behind all of them. This statement is reminiscent of how Americans have had a strong interest in Native American music and have wanted to uncover its hidden meanings and symbolic lyrics for a long time and how that interest still exists in Americans today, especially with "throat-singing" and such, as was mentioned in previous readings and in class. Through these statements and other things in the text, it reflects upon how these kinds of music trigger what Dvorak calls the qualities of Americans to any non-native spectator, being "patriotism" and "enthusiasm" in the American people. By this statement, Dvorak is basically implying that the African-American and Native American music is "true" American music, because they allow Americans to develop their own individual senses of "push," which allows them to show off good emotions that they want others to notice.
Before going on to mentioning Amy Beach's points of view on the concept mentioned at the beginning, it is important to mention how Dvorak might have encountered disagreement towards his opinions. One way in which this could have happened could involve certain American people around him stating that he was a foreigner and that in being one, he would really have no significant and/or thorough insight into what American music actually is, especially in terms of how modern Americans might have viewed there music during his time. Another way in which this could have happened might have involved people saying that it would be impossible for African-American music and Native American music to fully represent "true" American music since other groups of people in America, such as white people, approach music in their own unique ways and compose music in certain methods that people in America of their own race would tend to prefer to listen to the majority of the time over the other cultures' music. One other way in which this might have happened could have involved people commenting back on Dvorak's thoughts, saying that these cultures' music did not fully represent "true" American music due to the fact these cultures originally came from other regions of the world such as Africa and the Artic regions and that they had also originated their cultural practices towards certain things, including music, before they "supposedly" decided to spread their teachings to other lands that they eventually came to inhabit. It is definitely possible that Dvorak might have faced some remarks like these back in his time and especially with trying to present his ideas to certain people the general population of America. Amy Beach's also offers some significant points of view on the concept mentioned in the beginning.
Amy Beach's viewpoints towards the concept presented above and/or Dvorak's statements are kind of mixed. Beach's viewpoints definitely contrast with Dvorak's in certain ways. (Note: Even though Beach might be specifically referring to only one culture in the text with some of these ideas, it can possibly be interpreted that she is talking about both.) This is evident based on a fact that talks specifically about native-born African Americans and Native Americans living as a member of their respective cultures from the earliest stages of existence who have listened to their respective culture's music since they were very young. She says that it only these specific people who can generally form any kind of "connection" to their respective culture's music and that a good portion of the American population goes about it's daily lives Another statement that Beach makes states that with certain cultures and their music, these forms of music do not generally create a complete model of this nation. She talks about this topic further by stating that the general amount of black people in America is too diminutive for its music to be called "American," since it describes only portrays a single group of people in the whole of this country, and that these people and their music do not initially come from America. Despite some of these kind of harshly critical comments that Beach makes, she does mention a few positive feelings towards the other cultures' music. One statement she makes is that other cultures' music still hold a great sense of elegance in their own ways and that their foundations are still good as well. Another statement that she makes is that the other cultures' music could perhaps still affect musicians in certain methods that could intrigue them and instruct them in good ways. Dvorak and Beach both make interesting points by their opinions on the concept mentioned at the beginning.
When it comes to both authors' viewpoints, I find it possible to agree and/or disagree with both of them. This is true due to a number of the statements made by both of them in the reading. I agree with the statement presented with Beach that traditional African-American and Native American music may only have a significant impact on the respective people in these cultures who grew up listening to it, because a certain majority of Americans tend to listen to the classic English language pop, rock, R&B, etc., kinds of music that emerged within their own country throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century that fall into their own kind of popular culture by American music artists and/or English speaking artists. This definitely relates to my personal feelings, because I would rather listen to music that I can quickly understand and in which I not have to decipher the lyrics sung in it, and listen to a song sung by any well-known and/or popular artist known solely in the English language and/or American music business, such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, and/or Christina Aguilera among others in this industry. However, I do disagree with Beach in the sense that I do feel as though artists from African-American, Native American, and other ethnic backgrounds can still make a strong impact on Americans and bring out the best reactions from them with music that still carries certain root elements from their own cultures but put a bit of an American formula into it. A case that I present to explain my opinion involves a song that I have song by a an Asian recording artist named Hikaru Utada which is called "Sanctuary," which was used as a song on the video game entitled Kingdom Hearts 2, which was a popular game in American culture as part of a video game series with that same name. The song is song mostly in the English language, but has some fewer lyrics in the original Asian language that it was initially sung in. The song is also reworked from the original Asian language version of the song, called "Passion," which is sung by the same music artist, but was structured a little differently. The English-translated version of this song made an impact on people who were big into this video game and it caught on to a number of American people who found it to be a good song. It has definitely made an impact on the American market, because a couple of times when I went on iTunes in the past to see if the song was available to purchase, one copy of this song was available but it apparently wasn't working properly and a good number of people complained about it and wanted the people running iTunes to fix it as soon as possible so that it could be listenable. In conclusion, both Dvorak and Beach present some reasonable statements in their respective readings.
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