Music and Dance Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Music and Dance - Term Paper Example One can even observe this in the present day, such as how cheerleaders would put on some amazing gymnastics and heart-pounding drum beats for the crowd. In fact, as has been portrayed countless times on the silver screen as well as the big screen, even supposedly primitive and uncivilized societies have their own form of music and dance, which they then incorporate into their rituals and ceremonies. This should be a clear indication of the importance of the arts in our everyday lives. As a matter of fact, to say that this is omnipresent in the present day and age is an understatement. Our ancestors were furthermore said to make use of dance and rhythmic music in order to put soldiers in a so-called battle trance, momentarily discarding their individual identities and losing themselves to the music (Jordania, 2011). Another study by Pieslak (2009) shows military units taking advantage of songs and dances in a manner similar to the above, psyching themselves and their comrades up just before commencing their combat missions. Other cultures have also used such arts for healing, as noted by Guenther (1975). And in more everyday settings, these have long served as a means to convey one’s feelings or retell tales of epic deeds. They say music comes in many different forms, and this is no different when applied to Latin music. Quite understandably, one might take this sentence to mean that Latin-American music has a lot of subgenres, which is not exactly false. However, more than just diversity in terms of the kinds of music, this can also pertain to the purpose music has served in the lives of the Latin-American people. More so than in other cultures, Latin-American culture owes much of its identity to its music.