Blog #7 eBourgoing and Miller

Some of the main arguments Marguerite deBourgoing stated was artists “express their own individuality” with wearing a certain style of clothing, and even creating their own, clothes. Music is a way to expressions ones self in not just the music, but in their appearance, thus adding to their music and making it more memorable and giving it an image. Another argument she made was that with the digital revolution, hip hop is constantly adapting, innovation, and become more creative through time. One can see the changes in music and beats by looking back through time with Elvis, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Backstreet Boys, Lady Gaga etc. Technology has been a huge factor with that in allowing us to create beats and rhythms that were not otherwise possible.  

I believe that Marguerite deBourgoing and our class discussion have many things in common, however one major thing stands out to me, technological determinism. In class we continually talked about the different technology out there available to us, how it has changed, and what the future looks like, along with how our culture has changed behaviors with new technology. With deBourgoing’s article she talked a lot about how music has changed with the digital revolution. Music can be seen and heard online as well as offline, and can be changed and mixed with various technologies. With the wide usage of technology, people are beginning to come up with new beats and mixing various songs together to make new songs. Technology has also allowed music to spread rapidly with the usage of the internet, allowing individuals to get a hold of songs easier and edit and mix them themselves. 

In the book Rhythm and Science, Miller makes many arguments with music. He stated that people have some type of emotional approach to music, whether to reach out and touch someone, or emotions from themselves, “genres are about the morphology of structure- how forms and feelings transmute from on e medium to another”.  With this music that is created, DJ’s are then just the next step in the transformation of that song with their alterations and giving it their own personal identification. Music now a days isn’t by just one person, it gets altered and then sometimes becomes even more popular then the original songs such as with the Grey Album, a mix of The Beatles and Jay Z.   

Through reading the article by deBourgoing and the book by Miller I found many connections between the two. They both mentioned a lot about DJ’s and how they are a big part of music creation now a days, especially though technology. They also both made a point about music being an art form and a way to communicate. Miller stated “I write because I want to communicate with other human beings” while deBourgoing stated “Hip hop is an art form that exists in a society with a strong written tradition yet it is an art form that travels mainly orally”. Both of these statements go very well together in that music is a way to communicate, a way to communicate in an artistic oral way.