Compare and Contrast Essay By Kathy Min Music has always showed its extreme importance to both modern and ancient cultures as an outlet for self-­‐expression. Through time, music has evolved from simple melodies to what we see today. Early cultures, like Ancient Rome and Greece, have impacted modern music, especially Rhythm and Blues, in terms of instruments used, lyrical poetry, and sources of inspirations; as a result of the changing demands of musical audiences, the music of ancient civilizations have shaped modern styles of music. Many aspects of today’s Rhythm and Blues, or R&B, music have remained identical to the music of Ancient Rome. For example, many instruments used in ancient times follow similar, if not exact, concepts of current music. To illustrate, the Ancient Romans and modern R&B artists understood—and still understand— the necessity of incorporating percussion, wind, and string instruments, like organs, trumpets, and guitars, into a piece of music. Furthermore, speaking in terms of instrumental usage, the love of performance still exists. Orchestras and instrument ensembles are common in Ancient Rome and modern R&B performances, as well as vocal accompaniment. Likewise, poetry has also found itself as a regular theme in music. Poetry has been a path to becoming famous, and still is today. For example, renowned R&B singer, dancer, and actor Ne-­‐Yo has written and co-­‐written songs for successful singers like Rihanna, Leona Lewis, Beyoncé Knowles, and more. In Ancient Roman times, poet Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” brought him fame. Additionally, the inspirations of Ancient Rome and R&B styles can be compared. Both their inspirations were of long and rich culture. In short, even modern R&B music shares similarities with the music of powerful civilizations like Rome. Although some properties of current music remain comparable to early music, other traits of Ancient Roman music differ from modern R&B. The usage of electric instruments like electric pianos and guitars is a popular choice of music nowadays. Ancient Rome existed from about 750 B.C. to 470 A.D., centuries before the first electric bass, invented in 1933 A.D. Moreover, researchers conclude that Ancient Roman music was strictly monotonic, meaning there were no harmonies. Nowadays, R&B music incorporates many backup singers or choirs. Also, back in Ancient Rome, the most famous poems were never sung. Sometimes a guitar would softly play in the background when poems were read to audiences. Most recognized poetry, these days, are lyrics to hit songs, and poetry isn’t read aloud like a story; rapping is scarce in R&B music. While the Romans where motivated by the artistic Greeks, R&B music takes its guidance from the soulful African-­‐American culture. Consequently, Ancient Roman music is definitely not the R&B flair music audiences are familiar with today. Several noticeable changes in music have occurred over the millennia. One example is the ancient lyre. A lyre is the ancestor of the guitar, but much simpler, with some having but three strings. It evolved over time into the modern guitar used not only in R&B, but country, rock, pop, and other genres as well, due to the growing appreciation for the lyre. Poetry has also made several changes; namely, the usage of the epic poem. Long ago, in the years of Ancient Rome and Greece, oral poetry was one form of entertainment. Wealthy families invited a bard, or storyteller, to recite a story to them. Like stories of today, ancient stories were lengthy. The bard had to memorize the whole story. The difficulty of the task resulted in reciting long poems called epic poems. Nowadays, people are educated to read and write, so the necessity of hiring a bard is small. They can read a printed story or from the Internet, as web access is being spread to more and more people. Another change in music is how genres are inspired. In particular, during the First Punic War (264-­‐241 B.C.), the Romans stumbled across Ancient Greek music through conquering the Greeks. Nowadays, music is inspired by cultural heritage, interest, and exposure. In fact, soul singer Adele’s recent record-­‐breaking R&B album, 21, incorporates themes of country music in it, due to her bus driver on a tour playing country music constantly. This swap in how inspirations are met is because the world and peace organizations like the United Nations don’t approve of war. Also, as previously mentioned, technology opens a variety of possibility. With websites like Youtube, Billboard, Wikipedia, and more available at just a press of a button, the convenience of accomplishing a task while sitting down brings more pleasure than shedding blood in war. Moreover, the Romans, copying so much from their inspiration, the Greeks, have almost nothing to boast of their music, whilst R&B is a word that draws pictures of rich, beautiful, successful celebrities in their mind. One reason why the Romans have an almost empty source of information on music is because at the time when the great civilization was annihilated the Christian leader Constantine I dissolved every trace of Rome’s former glory and permitted only gospel music. Conquering a nation these days seems foreign, as economy, world peace, and more balances on the stability of nations. Information on R&B, however, is abundant, thanks to all the fame and achievements made in the genre. In other words, music has evolved immensely from the times of 400 B.C. to today. Music will continue to be a means of self-­‐expression because so many people are inspired by it, and further advances in music will be made not only in the instruments, poetry, and inspiration, but in every property that music has shown. The arts will receive even more support since so much press and funding revolves around the music industry. Music, has, is, and will be the soul of all self-­‐expression.