The Piano Lesson: African American Culture And Music

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The Piano Lesson expresses African American culture in a musical play that represents the milestones of this culture and its music. The play specifically shows how African American history and milestones are miscredited and how that traumatizes generations after. The culture originated from many things in many ways, but sweet music has proved to be the heart of the beginning. From Africa to the United States, music has engraved its position into the culture as an aspect of life. By using outside sources and combining them with African cultured sources, blacks created an original and divergent sound. This music has expanded through many trials and tribulations. To understand African American music and its many golden moments, it is necessary to understand where and how it all began.

Before being forced to move to the United States, blacks were dancing and singing happily in Africa. Africans had many music fulfilled ceremonies for a variety of reasons: …show more content…
Whites allowed African Americans to sing daily, but their artificial instruments were vanished. African American music and its history began with these artificial instruments. The instruments held a lot of meaning in the history of traditions, names, families and holidays. Their instruments bought half of the excitement used in their music. In the play The Piano Lesson, Berniece kept a piano in her home that featured carvings of her elders. The piano held much meaning to her heart and was an important part of where she came from. Bernice was treasuring the piano and teaching her child the history and importance of their existence. In the play, Boy Willie insisted on selling, to a white man, something very valuable to his roots. The piano, Bernice did not want to sell, represented her bloodline. Much like other African created instruments, it valued memories and stories that were worth more than money

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