1. The significance of the “sorrow songs” to African American culture and history would be the struggle that they had to go through for hundreds of years. Today we have musicians who create music in order to express their experiences and situations they encounter in their everyday life. The same case can be made with sorrow songs. The songs were originally created for African slaves to express their deep sadness and turmoil. These songs represent the pain and suffering they had to endure for generations. The songs were also used for mourning family and friends that had their lives taken. Although these songs symbolized a dark and depressing state of mind, they also had the potential to be used for worship. There are songs that the slaves would use to praise God and ask for blessings. They would not only ask for blessings in these songs, but they would ask to be released from the agonizing life they lived so they may be at peace. These are the reasons that made the sorrow songs so significant to the African American culture.

2. The most significant song in my opinion would be “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” by Louis Armstrong because it expresses so much with saying so little. This song in my opinion tells the audience that they cannot even begin to imagine what African Americans in the United States have been through. Whether its abuse or torture or death, nobody truly knows the trouble that has been seen by African Americans for hundreds of years but God himself.

The point that I believe Damon Krukowski is trying to make with his statement in the beginning of the “Power” episode would be that those who have the power to present something to the world would be in control of what is considered to be the marginal, the repressed, and the rejected. This can relate to the differences between the powerful and marginalized in music because of how music producing companies such as pandora or Spotify can produce music based on what they feel the public would like to listen too. If the music company doesn’t think the songs are popular enough it gets put into a rejected category, whereas the more popular would be produced more frequently.

1. I would agree with the ideas that were presented by Damon Krukowski in this episode of Ways of Seeing when he says “the sounds of our voice across digital lines are limited”. This could be proven because of how our voices can become disrupted by the digital coding of the cell phones. I agree with his analysis of how analog microphones can transmit a full range of sound whereas cellphone microphones compresses the voice because of how early musicians demonstrate the way it was used in the 1960s such as Frank Sinatra. This would prove that he is accurate when explaining how the intimacies of sound is different when it comes to digitial sounds because it does not let a person regulate their voice.

2. The most interesting point about sound that I discovered in this short history of A.S.M.R. would be how many different sounds there are that can have different effects on a person. I was always aware of the sensation that can be caused by certain sounds, but I was unaware of how many different sounds can trigger a persons senses.

The second episode of Damon Krukowski’s Ways of Hearing would be his way of describing the different sounds and the space around it. This podcast shows a huge similarity to the experiences that I encounter everyday. For example one of Krukowski’s guests Jeremiah Moss explains during the podcast “when I see people looking at the screens, I see people that are opting out of the street life of the city creating a private bubble”. This logic is very accurate because there are many times when I have been walking in public places such as Times Squares, subway stations, and even grocery stores while having my attention on my phone.. This helps to me to not focus on unnecessary things around me and makes it easier to navigate around certain places that are both over populated. Another good way of eliminating the noises of the environment would be earbuds. Krukowski and his guest Emily Thompson described earbuds as “an auditorium without walls”. I would agree with this comparison.  I would say that earbuds function the same way with me because it feels as though the sounds coming from the earbuds are as loud as stereos and other loud noises but the sound is only being bounced around inside our heads.

I believe Martin A. Berger’s argument is accurate and I agree because there are many evidences throughout history that have proven this argument. I believe that Berger is right about the white media giving more insight on black victims than black political actions because black Americans have been going through injustice and abuse for centuries. Those who are not familiar with black history may not agree, but it even is shown in today’s society. Berger’s argument of black Americans being shown more as victims rather then activist leaders is important because it gives more focus on the issue of racism that still exists in today’s society.