Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Self Expression Through Music, Meagan L. Campbell

Agora

Positive self expression is a familiar concept to people of every origin, so there are recognizable expressions of positive emotions that span across cultures, song and dance being two of those forms. When voices are raised in song or bodies are seen moving in rhythm (or off rhythm) to a beat, it is natural for people’s minds to jump right to “celebration!” However, what are often times considered forms of joyous expression become expressions of passionate pain in dark times. The darkest time in American history was when slavery was practiced, so for slaves, singing was not an expression of …