Music And Life

When You Believe - Leon Jackson

2010-09-02T04:30:00.000-07:00

Many nights weve prayed
With no proof anyone could hear
In our hearts a hopeful song
We barely understood

Now we are not afraid
Although we know theres much to fear
We were moving mountains long
Before we knew we could

There can be miracles
When you believe
Though hope is frail
Its hard to kill
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe
Some how you will
You will when you believe

Easy to despair
When all you hear is fear and lies.
Easy just to run and hide,
To frightened to begin

But if we dare to dare
Dont wait for answers from the sky
Each of us can look inside
And hear this song within

They dont always happen when, you ask
And its easy to give in, to your fear
But when you blinded by your faith
Cant see your way clear through the rain
A small but still resilient voice
Says hope is very near
Ohhhhh...

There can be miracles
When you believe
Though hope is frail
It's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe
Some how you will

Now you will
(Now You Will...)
You will when you believe
You will when you believe.

What Makes Music Sound Good Or Bad

2010-09-02T04:18:00.000-07:00

Ever since ancient times, scholars have puzzled over the reasons that some musical note combinations sound so sweet while others are just downright dreadful. The Greeks believed that simple ratios in the string lengths of musical instruments were the key, maintaining that the precise mathematical relationships endowed certain chords with a special, even divine, quality. Twentieth-century composers, on the other hand, have leaned toward the notion that musical tastes are really all in what you are used to hearing.
Now, researchers reporting online on May 20th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, think they may have gotten closer to the truth by studying the preferences of more than 250 college students from Minnesota to a variety of musical and nonmusical sounds. "The question is, what makes certain combinations of musical notes pleasant or unpleasant?" asks Josh McDermott, who conducted the studies at the University of Minnesota before moving to New York University. "There have been a lot of claims. It might be one of the oldest questions in perception."
The University of Minnesota team, including collaborators Andriana Lehr and Andrew Oxenham, was able to independently manipulate both the harmonic frequency relations of the sounds and another quality known as beating. (Harmonic frequencies are all multiples of the same fundamental frequency, McDermott explains. For example, notes at frequencies of 200, 300, and 400 hertz are all multiples of 100. Beating occurs when two sounds are close but not identical in frequency. Over time, the frequencies shift in and out of phase with each other, causing the sound to wax and wane in amplitude and producing an audible "wobbling" quality.)
The researchers' results show that musical chords sound good or bad mostly depending on whether the notes being played produce frequencies that are harmonically related or not. Beating didn't turn out to be as important. Surprisingly, the preference for harmonic frequencies was stronger in people with experience playing musical instruments. In other words, learning plays a role—perhaps even a primary one, McDermott argues.
Whether you would get the same result in people from other parts of the world remains to be seen, McDermott says, but the effect of musical experience on the results suggests otherwise. "It suggests that Westerners learn to like the sound of harmonic frequencies because of their importance in Western music. Listeners with different experience might well have different preferences." The diversity of music from other cultures is consistent with this. "Intervals and chords that are dissonant by Western standards are fairly common in some cultures," he says. "Diversity is the rule, not the exception."
That's something that is increasingly easy to lose sight of as Western music has come to dominate radio waves all across the globe. "When all the kids in Indonesia are listening to Eminem," McDermott says, "it becomes hard to get a true sense."
The researchers include Josh H. McDermott, New York University, New York, NY; Andriana J. Lehr, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. and Andrew J. Oxenham, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Understanding what makes pop music popular

2010-09-02T04:11:00.000-07:00

Back in the day, hits were tracked by record sales and predicted by how they sounded to music industry veterans. If you really wanted to test the waters, you could let Dick Clark play a soon-to-be-released single on American Bandstand and see if people moved to it. ("It's got a good beat and you can dance to it. I'll give it a 93, Dick.") Even today, the tastes of the record-buying public are something of a mystery to the labels. A couple of PhDs at MIT may change that with a program that mimics the musical tastes of the public.
The application, written by Brian Whitman and Tristan Jehan of MIT's Media Laboratory, "listens" to music, analyzes elements of a song (e.g., pitch, beat, tempo, melody) and gives it a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. When compared to the Billboard charts, the software is "surprisingly accurate."
Predicting which music will get listeners on the dance floor, and more importantly, to buy CDs or individual tracks from online music stores has become big business. One company, HitPredictor, scored big in 2002 when it hit gold with its advice on how to stagger releases from a Christina Aguilera album to maximize sales. Unlike Whitman's and Jehan's application, HitPredictor uses a combination of focus groups and other market data to determine how the public will respond to new music.
Music retailers of all stripes would love to have reliable data on consumers' musical tastes. All of us have had recommendations thrust at us on Amazon or one of the online music stories. Those are hit and miss, and in my case, more often miss. Having an application that is able to analyze the songs or CDs in your shopping carts and then use a reliable algorithm to come up with suggestions that you would actually like would thrill retailers.
Will software that can nail the musical tastes of the public lead to even more homogenized-sounding airwaves? If Whitman and Jehan have their way, it won't. Their goal is to actually broaden the musical tastes of the public by using data gleaned from the application to get a wider variety of music on the radio. Anything that results in less bubblegum pop and whiny rock is fine by me.

The Complete Definition Of The Music

2010-08-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

Portal

Music is a form of art that involves organized and audible sounds and silence. It is normally expressed in terms of pitch (which includes melody and harmony), rhythm (which includes tempo and meter), and the quality of sound (which includes timbre, articulation, dynamics, and texture). Music may also involve complex generative forms in time through the construction of patterns and combinations of natural stimuli, principally sound. Music may be used for artistic or aesthetic, communicative, entertainment, or ceremonial purposes. The definition of what constitutes music varies according to culture and social context.

If painting can be viewed as a visual art form, music can be viewed as an auditory art form.

Allegory of Music, by Filippino Lippi

Allegory of Music, by Lorenzo Lippi

Contents

1 Definition

2 History

3 Aspects

4 Production 4.1 Performance

4.2 Solo and ensemble

4.3 Oral tradition and notation

4.4 Improvisation, interpretation, composition

4.5 Composition

[edit] Definition as seen by [http://www.FaceYourArt.com]

Main article: Definition of music

Music is Wonderful

2010-08-27T13:25:00.000-07:00

Music was always famous for its beauty, notably through the many music artists to express their emotions and feelings. Good dancers have lot of fans and their songs are sung. The basic elements of music: high, timbre, loudness and duration. The tempo is also assigned to the universal element. Is the pace we have much to say about the song, as approved by pace or song fast and energetic or slow and sad.

Nowadays, artists become so popular that all the scandals and their interesting personal life. Artists themselves and understand that link popularity and was embroiled in all sorts of troubles and trouble, then that they had been written in every newspaper, for each of the magazine. Sometimes the performers are acting very sensational, such a kiss with other famous performers. The fans and the listeners cause a lot of curiosity, without a doubt on any music magazine, we will see sensational celebrity kiss. For example, Britney Spears To raise its rating for our entertainment world, had kissed in 2003 with Madonna. Now was all very interesting and they are lesbians or not they are healthy. Actors and find other tricks and how to become famous surpass others, such as Kate Perry has established a well-known song "I Kissed a Girl ''. After this song has been much debated.

Happens in the event that the artists it known after his death, or decline, such as Michael Jackson, also known as the King of Pop, guess everyone have heard the song ''Smooth Criminal." Music wonderful, find a song by Its lyrics. Some people stated that music is a whole different world that hypnotizes us and we it is analyzed. Music can help us relax, and induce euphoria, cheer, wonder, cry, mourn, and a lot of different feelings. There is no human in the world than the one which is not like the song, which is not nice to hear a voice or music videos mates.

Acoustical Foam And Acoustical Drapes - Two Great DIY Ways To Improve The Sound Of Your Voice

2010-08-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

If you are a vocalist, singer, or even when you play a musical instrument, you know that

practicing your art is an important component of keeping a great voice, and a great sound of your instrument. But how does your voice improve? And how does the sound of your musical instrument improve? We'll present two ways of how you can instantly improve the sound of your voice or your musical instrument in your practicing room. These two ways are: installing acoustical foam on your walls, doors, and possibly ceiling, and using acoustical drapes. You'll be shocked how either one or both together will improve the sound of your instrument.

But that is not all. I will bet that, having a better room acoustics, you will hear yourself play better and the sound of your instrument will continue to improve at a faster pace.

Installing acoustical foam

Acoustical foam looks just like a regular foam but is created from the natural or man made materials that have special sound dampening qualities. Such sound dampening must occur over the wide gamut of frequencies, the wider the better. The range of frequencies must definitely include the frequencies your voice or your musical instrument is capable of generating. The sound absorption is both a function of the foam volume and the foam surface, so many times acoustical foam is shaped with outwards pointing spikes, or wedges, to increase its surface, and decrease the sound reflection. Installing such foam on the walls, doors, and ceilings, will not only improve your sound but will also reduce the amount of sound that penetrates outside your room, likely making the house more livable for the others.

Acoustical drapes

Acoustical drapes, sometimes termed "noise drapes" have their place when installing acoustical foam is not practical, or not allowed, such as when you rent a flat. Acoustical drapes can be either permanent acoustical drapes, installed just like the regular drapes, or they can be portable acoustical drapes, and can be moved about, possibly on a frame with the coaster wheels attached. You may want to use acoustical drapes in conjunction with acoustical foam, to cover walls where acoustical foam is impractical, such as the walls that have windows. Of you can use these sound absorbing drapes on top of the sound dampening foam, to increase the sound dampening effect.

You can expect immediately audible improvement of the sound of your voice or the sound of your musical instrument after the installation over a significant portion of the surface of your walls. And, since you will have a better feedback on the quality of your own voice or sound, you can expect the sound of your music to continue to improve as the time goes on.

Musical Guide - A Brief History Of Musicals

2010-08-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

An artist has the privilege of communicating to you visually. Sometimes he wants to share his

believes in a few words.

The new 'Visual Grammar', developed by the European Avant-gard of the 20s, particularly by the Russian Avant-gard, - namely by Vasiliy Kandinsky, as well as the Classical heritage from Ancient Greece to the Renaissance - is a stepping stone for my own research in art.

What I do, is build composition on that stepping stone on the foundation of Visual Grammar, shaped by classical and modern schools, and than fill it in with content that is more emotional than intellectual, at this stage compelling rational tools to yield to intuition. It is like a rigid skeleton surrounded with a soft living tissue.

I do believe that the spiritual - ideal - objective model forms our real Reality.

So-called 'realism' is an ill defined term commonly attributed to art focused on depicting visible surfaces of material objects. This is an indication and a result of an incomplete, even defective, mental horizon, a primitive materialistic view on reality reduced to a small fraction of the physical world -- that only fraction, which can be seen or touched.
I must note here, that many great pieces of art labeled with this word, do not fall into this ill-defined category.

A pure abstract art, which is closer to me because it deals with a more important part of Reality than the matter, specifically with the ideas and pure forms, seams to be deficient too. I believe that the total elimination of material objects as a class from paintings not only impoverishes the artist's 'toolbox', but is the consequence and indication of a one-sided approach to (the) Reality -- this time, a purely idealistic one, almost coincident with Plato's concept, who saw the changing physical world as a poor, decaying copy of a perfect one.

Yes, abstract art most certainly delivered great masterpieces to humanity in 20th century. And I cannot but agree with Roger Fry's statement: "The form of a work of art has a meaning of its own and the contemplation of the form in and for itself gives rise in some people to a special emotion which does not depend upon the association of the form with anything else whatsoever." But it doesn't mean that a self-sufficient form cannot be turned into a recognizable object.

By the way, an original definition of a widespread term - Visual Music - was coined by Roger Fry in 1912 to describe the work of Kandinsky, meaning the translation of music to painting.

Regarding intuitivism, or any theory stating that the creative process is solely an act of genius, spontaneous and purely emotional, it wouldn't be worth even discussing, were it not so widespread an assumption. I personally have heard from several artists, one art critic and several art dealers that the intellectual and physical aspects in the creative process (i.e. ideas and techniques) are only boring limitations, and an inevitable evil to creativity. I believe this started as an opposition to the dry, actually degrading academism or 'classicism' of the mid 19th century. It (could) may have started when some of the leaders of the Impressionist movement openly rejected the 'old grammar', emphasizing the importance of a direct impression and spontaneous, emotional reaction of an artist to that impression in a creative process. But almost all of the artists of that period had a solid 'classical' training prior to this rejection; they inherited all the goods possessed by that domain, they inherited the basic visual grammar even on subconscious levels, which cannot be said about many of their followers in 20th century, who even now keep questioning the importance of basic training in visual arts, as well as the power of the analytical, deductive component in art making.

Avant-grad Movement of the first third of the century came in as a gust of fresh air, filling in the vacuum left by an already dead Academism and degrading impressionism. It not only restored the position of intellectual tools in the arts, but also dramatically expanded the borders of visual arts to unprecedented levels. I'd like to emphasize here, that very similar and radical processes were taking place at that very period around the world in the social spheres, in science and industry, in architecture and literature, and of course in music.

Having said that, I'd like to summarize what all this means to me and to my art:

1. A solid abstract and, if need be, mathematically described foundation of composition is a must (to be present) in my work.

2. An object must to be presented in my artwork, for I do not share a purely idealistic ( in Plato style) approach to (the) Reality, which, to my mind, ultimately leads to the mental Uncreation of the world.

3. My work has to be a fusion of both aspects, ideal and material, blended together by a third - spiritual force.
In this respect, music, which is very abstract, and musicians with their beautiful instruments, who are so "real", are perfect subjects for my exercises. Moreover, music and visual arts have a lot in common.I cannot help from mentioning at least some categories that are common to both:

Rhythm - it's very obvious: duration / length / frequencies, including and forming (or formed by) negative spaces / pauses / absence / silence - all are common to both fields.

Proportions - harmonic proportions and derivatives from them, commonly described in mathematical terms, starting with very basic, discovered by Pythagoras- 1:2, 2:3, 3:4, 1:1- discovered specifically on the acoustic / musical territory (please note, that these are basic proportions of canvases one can buy in an art supplies store) and then going further to the Fibonacci series which have their limit in the irrational Golden Ratio.

The temperature (cold / hot) of sounds and colours. This idea is still considered to be controversial, yet it is obvious that sounds and colours can be warmer or cooler. Less obvious is an exact scientific correlation between them.

Movement - ascending, descending, elliptic etc. Musicians do not need an explanation of this, and neither do artists. Please have a look at my study of ascending and descending movements in the elliptic composition of the very first picture on my home page, titled the 'Trio".

All of these categories sound (or look!) familiar to both musicians and visual artists, don't they?

We can talk about background sounds and colours, about a sound being like a ray emerging from a particular starting point and fading away, or like a part of an endless line going from eternity to eternity. We could mention intensity / saturation of the tones in the both fields, we could dedicate a chapter to the theory of contrasts, for example between 'low' and 'deep' continuous sound or form and a sharp 'stroke' of a sound or a paint.

On the human capacity to see sounds and hear colours I would recommend, once again, Vasiliy Kandinsky Synaesthesia.

Another fascinating subject is the Counterpoint Concept (as known as Contrapunkt), which defines relationship between two or more different parts of a piece, which are somewhat independent, say, in rhythm, but are interdependent in harmony. This powerful instrument, in my opinion, has been much less understood, appreciated and used in visual arts than in music.

I drew these parallels on the very basic or fundamental level for both arts. But, as a part of Life, they are constantly changing (I hate the term 'still life' or 'nature mort', for life cannot be still or 'mort' by definition), developing, progressing or, unfortunately, regressing. I find a lot in common between modern scientific thinking (Relativistic Theory, Quantum Theory, Expanding Universe Model, String Theory etc.), modern art.

Finally, I am attempting two things: to explore reality, including but not limited to it's 'visible' fraction, and to take part in shaping it. This, I believe, is ultimately the essence of any creative process.

"We shall therefore borrow all our Rules for the Finishing our Proportions, from the Musicians, who are the greatest Masters of this Sort of Numbers, and from those Things wherein Nature shows herself most excellent and compleat." - Leon Battista Alberti (1407-1472)

Top 10 Famous Song Quotations

2010-08-27T13:15:00.001-07:00

Song Quotes #1
Fathers be good to your daughters, daughters will love like you do. Girls become lovers, who turn into mothers, so mothers be good to your daughters, too.John Mayer

Song Quotes #2

I'd rather be a hammer than a nail.
Simon and Garfunkel

Song Quotes #3

So often in time it happens, we all live our life in chains, and we never even know we have the key.
The Eagles

Song Quotes #4

Then one day you find, ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
Pink Floyd

Song Quotes #5

You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime you just might find, you get what you need.
The Rolling Stones

Song Quotes #6

You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, and know when to run.
Kenny Rogers

Song Quotes #7

Talk about your plenty, talk about your ills, one man gathers what another man spills.
Grateful Dead

Song Quotes #8

It seems to me, sorry seems to be the hardest word.
Elton John

Song Quotes #9

I understand about indecision, but I don't care if I get behind. People living in competition, all I want is to have my peace of mind.
Boston

Song Quotes #10

All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.
The Beatles

I hope you've enjoyed this Top 10 List of Famous Song Quotations.

Quotations about Music

2010-08-27T13:13:00.001-07:00

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~Leopold Stokowski

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~Berthold Auerbach

All deep things are song. It seems somehow the very central essence of us, song; as if all the rest were but wrappages and hulls! ~Thomas Carlyle

If the King loves music, it is well with the land. ~Mencius

Without music life would be a mistake. ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons. You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music. ~Gustav Mahler

Why waste money on psychotherapy when you can listen to the B Minor Mass? ~Michael Torke

And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs
And as silently steal away.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Day Is Done

He who sings scares away his woes. ~Cervantes

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. ~Maya Angelou, Gather Together in My Name

Were it not for music, we might in these days say, the Beautiful is dead. ~Benjamin Disraeli

Music is what feelings sound like. ~Author Unknown

There's music in the sighing of a reed;
There's music in the gushing of a rill;
There's music in all things, if men had ears:
Their earth is but an echo of the spheres.
~Lord Byron

Musical compositions, it should be remembered, do not inhabit certain countries, certain museums, like paintings and statues. The Mozart Quintet is not shut up in Salzburg: I have it in my pocket. ~Henri Rabaud

Music is the poetry of the air. ~Richter

If I were to begin life again, I would devote it to music. It is the only cheap and unpunished rapture upon earth. Sydney Smith

There is nothing in the world so much like prayer as music is. ~William P. Merrill

If in the after life there is not music, we will have to import it. ~Doménico Cieri Estrada

Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it. ~Henry David Thoreau

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. ~Ludwig van Beethoven

I have my own particular sorrows, loves, delights; and you have yours. But sorrow, gladness, yearning, hope, love, belong to all of us, in all times and in all places. Music is the only means whereby we feel these emotions in their universality. ~H.A. Overstreet

My idea is that there is music in the air, music all around us; the world is full of it, and you simply take as much as you require. ~Edward Elgar

Alas for those that never sing,
But die with all their music in them!
~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. ~Charlie Parker

Life can't be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years. ~William F. Buckley, Jr.

Music cleanses the understanding; inspires it, and lifts it into a realm which it would not reach if it were left to itself. ~Henry Ward Beecher

Play the music, not the instrument. ~Author Unknown

Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes, and I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind and makes them spiritually drunken. ~Ludwig van Beethoven

Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence. ~Robert Fripp

[An intellectual] is someone who can listen to the "William Tell Overture" without thinking of the Lone Ranger. ~John Chesson

Music's the medicine of the mind. ~John A. Logan

You are the music while the music lasts. ~T.S. Eliot

Music is the universal language of mankind. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,Outre-Mer

Music rots when it gets too far from the dance. Poetry atrophies when it gets too far from music. ~Ezra Pound

He who hears music, feels his solitude peopled at once. ~Robert Browning

You can't possibly hear the last movement of Beethoven's Seventh and go slow. ~Oscar Levant, explaining his way out of a speeding ticket

The Irish gave the bagpipes to the Scots as a joke, but the Scots haven't got the joke yet. ~Oliver Herford

What we provide is an atmosphere... of orchestrated pulse which works on people in a subliminal way. Under its influence I've seen shy debs and severe dowagers kick off their shoes and raise some wholesome hell. ~Meyer Davis, about his orchestra

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. ~Victor Hugo

...where music dwells
Lingering - and wandering on as loth to die...
~William Wordsworth, "Within King's College Chapel, Cambridge"
Music has been my playmate, my lover, and my crying towel. ~Buffy Sainte-Marie

Music is an outburst of the soul. ~Frederick Delius

Music is the art which is most nigh to tears and memory. ~Oscar Wilde

In music the passions enjoy themselves. ~Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 1886

Music is what life sounds like. ~Eric Olson

If this word "music" is sacred and reserved for eighteenth and nineteenth century instruments, we can substitute a more meaningful term: organization of sound. ~John Cage

Its language is a language which the soul alone understands, but which the soul can never translate. ~Arnold Bennett

Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words. ~Robert G. Ingersoll

Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends. ~Alphonse de Lamartine

There is in souls a sympathy with sounds:
And as the mind is pitch'd the ear is pleased
With melting airs, or martial, brisk or grave;
Some chord in unison with what we hear
Is touch'd within us, and the heart replies.
~William Cowper

When words leave off, music begins. ~Heinrich Heine

Truly to sing, that is a different breath. ~Rainer Maria Rilke

Music is the shorthand of emotion. ~Leo Tolstoy

There is no truer truth obtainable
By Man than comes of music.
~Robert Browning

Most people use music as a couch; they want to be pillowed on it, relaxed and consoled for the stress of daily living. But serious music was never meant to be soporific. ~Aaron Copland

What passion cannot music raise and quell! ~John Dryden

The joy of music should never be interrupted by a commercial. ~Leonard Bernstein

Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die. ~Paul Simon

Music, when soft voices die
Vibrates in the memory -
~Percy Bysshe Shelley

A jazz musician is a juggler who uses harmonies instead of oranges. ~Benny Green

The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes - ah, that is where the art resides! ~Artur Schnabel

The pause is as important as the note. ~Truman Fisher

The city is built
To music, therefore never built at all,
And therefore built forever.
~Alfred Lord Tennyson

Silence is the fabric upon which the notes are woven. ~Lawrence Duncan

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without. ~Confucius

Rock music in its lyrics often talks ahead of the time about what's going on in the country. ~Edmund G. Brown

Music can noble hints impart,
Engender fury, kindle love,
With unsuspected eloquence can move,
And manage all the man with secret art.
~Joseph Addison

My whole trick is to keep the tune well out in front. If I play Tchaikovsky, I play his melodies and skip his spiritual struggle. ~Liberace

Music that gentlier on the spirit lies,
Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes.
~Alfred Lord Tennyson

Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music. ~Ronald Reagan

The discovery of song and the creation of musical instruments both owed their origin to a human impulse which lies much deeper than conscious intention: the need for rhythm in life… the need is a deep one, transcending thought, and disregarded at our peril. ~Richard Baker

Music is the medicine of the breaking heart. ~Leigh Hunt

Classical music is the kind we keep thinking will turn into a tune. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard, Comments of Abe Martin and His Neighbors, 1923

Country music is three chords and the truth. ~Harlan Howard

An artist, in giving a concert, should not demand an entrance fee but should ask the public to pay, just before leaving as much as they like. From the sum he would be able to judge what the world thinks of him - and we would have fewer mediocre concerts. ~Kit Coleman, Kit Coleman: Queen of Hearts

I think sometimes could I only have music on my own terms, could I live in a great city, and know where I could go whenever I wished the ablution and inundation of musical waves, that were a bath and a medicine. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Are we not formed, as notes of music are,
For one another, though dissimilar?
~Percy Bysshe Shelley

Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies. ~Edward George Bulwer-Lytton

A song has a few rights the same as ordinary citizens... if it happens to feel like flying where humans cannot fly... to scale mountains that are not there, who shall stop it? ~Charles Ives

The pleasure we obtain from music comes from counting, but counting unconsciously. Music is nothing but unconscious arithmetic. ~Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. ~Aldous Huxley, Music at Night and Other Essays

Music is love in search of a word. ~Sidney Lanier

It is incontestable that music induces in us a sense of the infinite and the contemplation of the invisible. ~Victor de LaPrade

Music is moonlight in the gloomy night of life. ~Jean Paul Richter

Music is a friend of labor for it lightens the task by refreshing the nerves and spirit of the worker. ~William Green

If anyone has conducted a Beethoven performance, and then doesn't have to go to an osteopath, then there's something wrong. ~Simon Rattle

Bach opens a vista to the universe. After experiencing him, people feel there is meaning to life after all. ~Helmut Walcha

I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something else. ~Lily Tomlin

The scratches in Yoko Ono records are moments of relief. ~S.A. Sachs

Music is well said to be the speech of angels. ~Thomas Carlyle, Essays, "The Opera"

Opera is where a guy gets stabbed in the back, and instead of dying, he sings. ~Robert Benchley

No good opera plot can be sensible:... people do not sing when they are feeling sensible. ~W.H. Auden, Time, 29 December 1961

The Music of the Romantic Era

2010-08-26T05:19:00.000-07:00

When people talk about "Classical" music, they usually mean Western art music of any time period. (For more on this subject, see Classical Music and Music of the Classical Era.) But the Classical period was actually a very short era, basically the second half of the eighteenth century. Only two Classical-period composers are widely known: Mozart and Haydn.

The Romantic era produced many more composers whose names and music are still familiar and popular today: Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Schubert, Chopin, and Wagner are perhaps the most well-known, but there are plenty of others who may also be familiar, including Strauss, Verdi, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Puccini, and Mahler. Ludwig van Beethoven, possibly the most famous composer of all, is harder to place. His early works are from the Classical period and are clearly Classical in style. But his later music, including the majority of his most famous music, is just as clearly Romantic.

The term Romantic covers most of the music (and art and literature) of Western civilization from the nineteenth century (the 1800's). But there has been plenty of music written in the Romantic style in the twentieth century (including many popular movie scores), and music isn't considered Romantic just because it was written in the nineteenth century. The beginning of that century found plenty of composers (Rossini, for example) who were still writing Classical-sounding music. And by the end of the century, composers were turning away from Romanticism and searching for new idioms, including post-Romanticism, Impressionism, and early experiments in Modern music.

Background, Development, and Influence

Classical Roots

Sometimes a new style of music happens when composers forcefully reject the old style. Early Classical composers, for example, were determined to get away from what they considered the excesses of the Baroque style. Modern composers also were consciously trying to invent something new and very different.

But the composers of the Romantic era did not reject Classical music. In fact, they were consciously emulating the composers they considered to be the great classicists: Haydn, Mozart, and particularly Beethoven. They continued to write symphonies, concertos, sonatas, and operas, forms that were all popular with classical composers. They also kept the basic rules for these forms, as well as keeping the rules of rhythm, melody, harmony, harmonic progression, tuning, and performance practice that were established in (or before) the Classical period.

The main difference between Classical and Romantic music came from attitudes towards these "rules". In the eighteenth century, composers were primarily interested in forms, melodies, and harmonies that provided an easily-audible structure for the music. In the first movement of a sonata, for example, each prescribed section would likely be where it belonged, the appropriate length, and in the proper key. In the nineteenth century, the "rules" that provided this structure were more likely to be seen as boundaries and limits that needed to be explored, tested, and even defied. For example, the first movement of a Romantic sonata may contain all the expected sections as the music develops, but the composer might feel free to expand or contract some sections or to add unexpected interruptions between them. The harmonies in the movement might lead away from and back to the tonic just as expected, but they might wander much further afield than a Classical sonata would, before they make their final return.

Different Approaches to Romanticism

In fact, one could divide the main part of the Romantic era into two schools of composers. Some took a more conservative approach. Their music is clearly Romantic in style and feeling, but it also still clearly does not want to stray too far from the Classical rules. Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Brahms are in this category.

Other composers felt more comfortable with pushing the boundaries of the acceptable. Berlioz, Strauss, and Wagner were all progressives whose music challenged the audiences of their day.

Where to go after Romanticism?

Perhaps it was inevitable, after decades of pushing at all limits to see what was musically acceptable, that the Romantic era would leave later composers with the question of what to explore or challenge next. Perhaps because there was no clear answer to this question (or several possible answers), many things were happening in music by the end of the Romantic era.

The period that includes the final decades of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth is sometimes called the post-Romantic era. This is the period when many composers, such as Jean Sibelius, Bela Bartok, and Ralph Vaughan-Williams, concentrated on the traditions of their own countries, producing strongly nationalistic music. Others, such as Mahler and Strauss, were taking Romantic musical techniques to their utmost reasonable limits. In France, Debussy and Ravel were composing pieces that that some listeners felt were the musical equivalent of impressionistic paintings. Impressionism and some other -isms such as Stravinsky's primitivism still had some basis in tonality; but others, such as serialism, rejected tonality and the Classical-Romantic tradition completely, believing that it had produced all that it could. In the early twentieth century, these Modernists eventually came to dominate the art music tradition. Though the sounds and ideals of Romanticism continued to inspire some composers, the Romantic period was essentially over by the beginning of the twentieth century.

Historical Background

Music doesn't happen in a vacuum. It is affected by other things that are going on in society; ideas, attitudes, discoveries, inventions, and historical events may affect the music of the times.

For example, the "Industrial Revolution" was gaining steam throughout the nineteenth century. This had a very practical effect on music: there were major improvements in the mechanical valves and keys that most woodwinds and brass instruments depend on. The new, improved instruments could be played more easily and reliably, and often had a bigger, fuller, better-tuned sound. Strings and keyboard instruments dominate the music of the Baroque and Classical periods, with small groups of winds added for color. As the nineteenth century progressed and wind instruments improved, more and more winds were added to the orchestra, and their parts became more and more difficult, interesting, and important. Improvements in the mechanics of the piano also helped it usurp the position of the harpsichord to become the instrument that to many people is the symbol of Romantic music.

Another social development that had an effect on music was the rise of the middle class. Classical composers lived on the patronage of the aristocracy; their audience was generally small, upper-class, and knowledgeable about music. The Romantic composer, on the other hand, was often writing for public concerts and festivals, with large audiences of paying customers who had not necessarily had any music lessons. In fact, the nineteenth century saw the first "pop star"-type stage personalities. Performers like Paganini and Liszt were the Elvis Presleys of their day.

Romantic Music as an Idea

But perhaps the greatest effect that society can have on an art is in the realm of ideas.

The music of the Classical period reflected the artistic and intellectual ideals of its time. Form was important, providing order and boundaries. Music was seen as an an abstract art, universal in its beauty and appeal, above the pettinesses and imperfections of everyday life. It reflected, in many ways, the attitudes of the educated and the aristocratic of the "Enlightenment" era. Classical music may sound happy or sad, but even the emotions stay within acceptable boundaries.

Romantic-era composers kept the forms of Classical music. But the Romantic composer did not feel constrained by form. Breaking through boundaries was now an honorable goal shared by the scientist, the inventor, and the political liberator. Music was no longer universal; it was deeply personal and sometimes nationalistic. The personal sufferings and triumphs of the composer could be reflected in stormy music that might even place a higher value on emotion than on beauty. Music was not just happy or sad; it could be wildly joyous, terrified, despairing, or filled with deep longings.

It was also more acceptable for music to clearly be from a particular place. Audiences of many eras enjoyed an opera set in a distant country, complete with the composer's version of exotic-sounding music. But many nineteenth-century composers (including Weber, Wagner, Verdi, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Grieg, Dvorak, Sibelius,and Albeniz) used folk tunes and other aspects of the musical traditions of their own countries to appeal to their public. Much of this nationalistic music was produced in the post-Romantic period, in the late nineteenth century; in fact, the composers best known for folk-inspired classical music in England (Holst and Vaughan Williams) and the U. S. (Ives, Copland, and Gershwin) were twentieth-century composers who composed in Romantic, post-Romantic, or Neoclassical styles instead of embracing the more severe Modernist styles.

Music can also be specific by having a "programme". Programme music is music that, without words, tells a story or describes a scene. Richard Strauss's tone poems are perhaps the best-known works in this category, but programme music has remained popular with many composers through the twentieth century. Again unlike the abstract, universal music of the Classical composers, Romantic-era programme music tried to use music to describe or evoke specific places, people, and ideas. And again, with programme music, those Classical rules became less important. The form of the music was chosen to fit with the programme (the story or idea), and if it was necessary at some point to choose sticking more closely to the form or to the programme, the programme usually won.

As mentioned above, post-Romantic composers felt ever freer to experiment and break the established rules for form, melody, and harmony. Many modern composers have, in fact, gone so far that the average listener again finds it difficult to follow. Romantic-style music, on the other hand, with its emphasis on emotions and its balance of following and breaking the musical "rules", still finds a wide audience.

Music Software Development

2010-08-26T05:07:00.000-07:00

The BSc (Hons) Music Software Development will appeal to undergraduates wishing to develop their skills and interests in computing and music. The course integrates studies in computing, programming and software development, the professional use of computer technology in the service of music, and creative artistic studies in music including harmony, composition and orchestration.

The Music Software Development degree is an innovative course that bridges a gap by bringing together a practical exploration of the concepts and use of music technology with an understanding of the underlying computer science. Graduates of this degree will be skilled in music production and the creation of systems, real-time and graphical user interface software in general and music-related software in particular. Students will study music theory and practice and apply the knowledge and skills gained in the composition and manipulating of diverse sound and music resources.

Practical experience is based upon use of industry-standard software and equipment, a recording studio, post-production equipment and laboratories dedicated to digital music studies. The combination of academic studies and intensive creative practical work will prepare students for specialist jobs in the music, multimedia, games, television, animation and film industries.

Entry requirements will be typical of those for an honours degree course but additionally evidence of a keen and developed interest in music, some knowledge of music theory and both artistic and instrumental ability will be sought.

Students may choose to spend a year in industry after their second year or opt to continue immediately with their final year options.

Course Structure and Content

Full time undergraduate degrees are taught over three years at the university, plus perhaps, a "sandwich" year in industry after the second year.

These are the modules you could expect to study on this course. The modules you can choose in your Second and Final years will depend on those you have studied in preceeding years. Also, some second and final year modules may be changed or restructured in order to keep the course up to date with latest trends in the industry.

Music Together's Ongoing Research and Development

2010-08-26T05:05:00.000-07:00

As part of its ongoing research and development in early childhood music and the Music Together program operates a "lab" school serving the greater Princeton, New Jersey, area. Both Music Together and the Music Together Princeton Lab School are committed to helping families, caregivers, and early childhood professionals rediscover the pleasure and educational value of informal musical experiences. Rather than emphasizing traditional music performances, Music Together encourages family participation in spontaneous musical activity occurring within the context of daily life. Music Together recognizes that all children are musical and that every child needs a stimulating, supportive music environment to achieve basic competence in the wonderful human capacity for music making.

What does it mean when we say that Music Together is a "research-based" program? In addition to employing the research of others, we do three types of research on an ongoing basis: basic research, action research, and applied research.

Basic research is the stereotypical "hardcore" scientific method approach that attempts to collect and interpret data with more or less rigorous objectivity. Action research translates inquiries into actions in the real world which then generate more qualitative information, such as observing the rhythmic and tonal behaviors of children of various ages during a play-along experience. Applied research takes knowledge, often gained from basic and action research, and applies it in the field to see what really happens (e.g.: children learn through active music making, so what happens when these particular children experience those particular songs with this teacher in that environment, etc.).

All of these sources continually inform Music Together's creative work on program content, varied applications of the program, and teacher training.

Classical Music: Improving Children's Development

2010-08-26T04:57:00.000-07:00

since a 1993 study revealed that college students' scores improved on spatial-temporal reasoning tests after listening to Mozart, the "Mozart Effect" has been the buzz phrase that won't disappear.

The researchers behind the "Mozart Effect" study, Professor Francis Rauscher and Dr. Gordon Shaw, made national news again in the late 1990s with an inspiring study that motivated people on a national scale to reintroduce music – especially classical music – into children's lives and education.

After receiving keyboard lessons, preschool children in Los Angeles performed 34 percent higher on tests for spatial-temporal reasoning than children who were either trained on computers or received no special training.
At the Wales and Magee elementary schools in Wisconsin, kindergarten students, after a minimal amount of keyboard lessons, scored 36 percent higher on spatial-temporal reasoning tests than students who received no instruction.

Although other studies have produced different findings, the Rauscher and Shaw studies captured the nation's curiosity. The prospect of classical music as a device for enhancing intellect and stimulating development fascinates educators, leaders, and families. Even skeptics are intrigued. In fact, a Georgia program was founded based on the studies.

Raucher and Shaw's findings are not the first of their kind. Since the mid-1800s, research has suggested that classical music can have numerous positive effects on children's development and health.

Memory
Background music may aid in developing memory. Most importantly, memory recall improves when the same music played during learning is played during recall.

Emotion and mood
An Ohio study using the 30 variations in J. S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, found that children of different ages were mostly consistent in identifying the "emotion" of the variation as excited, sad, happy, or calm. Even children with no musical background were able to articulate the emotions expressed by the music.

The prodigy myth
Famous classical musicians are often deemed child geniuses. While Mozart is the most common example, there are others: Felix Mendelssohn wrote his first piece at age 11, and Frederick Chopin, the quintessential "romantic" composer, performed crowded concerts by the time he was 20.

While every child may not develop into a musical master, every child does have the potential to benefit from classical music – especially when music teaching takes a broad sensory approach.
Make the most of classical music

Develop motor and rhythmic skills by having children invent their own instruments with classroom materials or recycled objects. Encourage students to organize small ensembles and perform for the rest of the class.
Highlight a composer each month by providing biographical information and samples. Encourage class discussions that compare and contrast each month's composer with the previous ones.
Invite children to hum and sing along with music to enhance language development skills. David Brin of classical music station KDFC suggests the CDs "The Mozart Effect: Music for Children" and Polygram's "Bach for Breakfast."
Teach children the pleasure of music through dance. Encourage students to express themselves physically by stomping, marching, swaying, jumping, or shaking.

When appropriate, play consistent background music. Experiment to see which pieces children respond to the most. Below is a recommended list to get you started; it was compiled by announcer and producer John Clare, from KMUW, a public radio station in Wichita.

Spatial-temporal reasoning

It is the brain function behind difficult, complicated tasks like math or chess.
Spatial-temporal reasoning allows us to imagine ratios and proportions. For example, this type of reasoning is why we know that a tall, skinny glass and a short, wide glass can be filled with the same amount of water.

Georgia program

In 1998, an inspired Governor Zell Miller founded a controversial program that distributes the recording "Build Your Baby's Brain Power Through the Power of Music" to the 110,000 babies born in Georgia each year. Governor Miller and tenor Michael McGuire chose the selections for the album, which includes works by Handel, Mozart, and Vivaldi.

7 Top Reasons Why Music is So Important

2010-08-26T02:54:00.000-07:00

Everyone loves music. Music is everywhere, it pervades our world. Everyone knows music has power and importance. But have you ever stopped to consider why? What it is about music that gives it so much power and importance?

Here are seven top reasons:

Music is a universal language. It inspires common human feelings and bridges gaps between cultures that spoken languages cannot. It brings people together and creates universal community.
Music inspires and evokes emotion in a healthy way. It touches our emotional being and evokes moods and feelings that are sometimes difficult to express. It can change a difficult mood and make it happy or excited; it can change a light mood and take it deeper and more profound.
Music enhances learning and makes it more enjoyable. It is scientifically proven that music enhances brain functioning. Playing music uses many brain functions simultaneously: motor control, imagination, hearing, sight, memory, etc.
Music creates ambiance. You can use music in any environment to enhance and augment what is already there. Consider the difference between a party with music and one without, or a sporting event, or a movie, or a romantic restaurant, or driving in your car...
Music is spiritual. Music is of the spirit and inspirational to the spirit. All religions use music to help express spiritual values, and all religions use music to uplift the spirit.
Music sparks the imagination. It invokes mental imagery and inner scenery that opens the mind to amazing insight and spans the distance between the stars.
Music is a simple pleasure. All it takes is your ears and your imagination.

I believe that at the center of the phenomenon of the magic that music creates is the spiritual aspect. Music is a gift from God, a sacred expression of the Universal Life Force Energy that creates us all.

"The People Speak" says hip-hop can affect social change

2010-08-26T02:35:00.000-07:00

For hip-hop artist Lupe Fiasco, deciding to accept the invitation to take part in “The People Speak” was easy.

“I realized it’s just an extension of what I normally do — upset the system,” he said.

Fiasco’s performance Tuesday night took place as a promotion of the upcoming documentary, “The People Speak,” which highlights the importance of social activism.

The event featured clips from the documentary, readings by Fiasco and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and a panel discussion featuring documentary producer Chris Moore and Penn sociology professor Tufuku Zuberi.

The theme of fighting social injustice dominated the performance, which began with Fiasco’s reading of Muhammad Ali’s protest against the Vietnam war and continued with McDaniels’ recitation of the lyrics of the Public Enemy song, “Fight the Power.”

Moore took the stage following McDaniels’ performance and gave the disclaimer that, “As you can probably tell, I do not represent rap in any way.”

He went on to explain the premise of “The People Speak,” which is based on Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History of the United States, which Zinn co-wrote with Anthony Arnove. The two authors, along with Moore and actors Matt Damon and Josh Brolin, executive-produced the film.

Excerpts of the film featured McDaniel’s reading of David Walker’s inflammatory abolitionist pamphlet, Appeal, which encouraged slaves to rebel against their masters.

The film also included Fiasco’s recitation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party’s Petition Against the War in Vietnam, Don Cheadle’s reading of Frederick Douglass’ West India Emancipation speech and John Legend’s performance of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” — a song condemning racism against African Americans in the United States.

Moore stressed that the messages of these texts are timeless.

“‘Power will never give up power without a struggle,’” he quoted from Cheadle’s reading of Douglass. “What we’re trying to say is that’s true always.”

McDaniels echoed this later when he addressed the problems of religion and politics in the U.S.

“You guys have the capacity to change the world,” he said. “It ain’t a politician that’s going to do it for you, it ain’t a preacher that’s going to do it.”

After denying his allegiance to either the Democratic or Republican parties, McDaniels declared himself a member of the “hip-hop” party, which he proclaimed embodies the idea of social responsibility.

Fiasco ended the night with a speech on “the union of struggle” — the bond forged by people united in opposition to injustice.

Of his experience working on the film, Fiasco simply said “It made me proud to be an American.”

Reflections on a Failed Music Career: Keep It in Context

2010-08-26T02:29:00.000-07:00

Why Do We Listen to the Music That We Do?
This might sound like an unanswerable question, along the lines of "why do we
eat chocolate?" or "why are we attracted to Scarlett Johansson?" We presume desires related to food and sex are not rational, but innate appetites buried deep in our evolutionary programming. Our preference for certain kinds of music would seem the same: we don't think about it, we just like what we like.
If you are a musician, this question has added resonance. If you're playing music no one likes, you've got problems. If you're utterly clueless in predicting the fickle whims of the audience, you've got problems. Yes, I know, writing music with an eye towards audience appreciation or, God forbid, commercial success is "selling out" but get over yourself. Aren't you sick of Ramen noodles for breakfast?
Over at my article "The End of Rock Criticism?" I list some of the criterion that modern neuroscience has determined humans use to judge music. They are consonance/dissonance, familiarity/complexity, and contextualization. For an in-depth discussion of the first two, I recommend Chapter 8 in Daniel J. Levitin's book "This Is Your Brain on Music." In this piece, I'm going to focus on contextualization.

What is contextualization? In the world of computer programming, there is the notion of "metadata" which is essentially "data about data." In the process of using a computer program you might be asked to fill your name into a field. The program might then run a process that notes the date and time that field is saved. That date and time is metadata which captures an aspect of the data containing your name. You can think of contextualization as data describing music.
Let's consider the music of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons". Most people would describe it as pretty, perhaps fluid music. But they also might term it, "upper-class" or even "snooty." How can this be? Music isn't a living creature that can exhibit the traits of upper-class snootiness. But we are aware that, historically speaking, "The Four Seasons" is often played for people who could be termed upper-class or snooty. It's more likely to be played in a metropolitan Symphony Hall then a punk club. (Of course, there are plenty of snooty punk rockers.) Wholistens to a piece of music and where it is played is fundamentally separate from the music itself. Who/where is metadata/contextualization about the raw data/music.To use a more modern example, let's consider Jimi Hendrix's "Foxy Lady." The music itself could be described as bluesy, or amplified or aggressive, but it also has many disparate, nonmusical associations: the 60s, LSD, hippies, antiestablishmentarianism etc. Those terms define some of the contextualization of "Foxy Lady."
Let's define contextualization as "the application of social/cultural values to music." And let's ask the question, "does the contextualization of music affect whether or not I will listen to it?"Now, being that you're reading this esteemed website, I can tell that you're not a moron and have likely arrived at the answer on your own. Obviously, yes. But why does contextualization affect our choices in music? The answer has to do with the social aspects of music -- the subcultures associated with a particular form of music for example. This is because music is integrated into our social interaction. We go to concerts/discos/bars/clubs partly to hear music, but also to meet other humans. And even the act of listening to music alone helps us define ourselves ("I am a metalhead!"), which in turn affects who we choose to interact with.
By listening to music defined by certain kinds of contextualization, we are rewarded with various "social benefits." I will list the top three social benefits most people seek when listening to a certain kind of music.
1) Getting laid.
2) Getting laid.
3) Getting laid.
There are other, additional benefits: making friends (humans are social animals), meeting potential partners in commerce, and generally warding off boredom. But, as illustrated by the top three, we're driven to certain kinds of music by the same forces that drive us to do most things we do -- the desire to engage in acts that enable procreation and ensure the survival of our genetic material.
Some might take offense at this. "I'm only listening to music to have sex?!" they bemoan. "What about the intrinsic beauty of the melodies of Mozart, or the raucous call to action of the MC-5? Does not music serve more than just the base instincts, but the soul and the higher mind?"
Well, of course it does. And if we were listening to music only to get laid*, then we would pretty much like every song that came along within the right context, since one would be as good as any other. Obviously we do have emotional and intellectual reactions to music separate from its contextualization.* Some might argue that if sex drives our desire for music, people too old for sex wouldn't listen to music. Obviously that's a simplification the nature of genetic programming (it doesn't magically turn itself off once its "goals" have been achieved.) However, it is worth noting that people's taste in music do tend to change as they age, often towards styles of music that provide benefits more intellectual than sexual e.g. classical music or progressive jazz.
But let me ask you this: when was the last time you listened to Pakistani music? Or Hungarian music? Or traditional Japanese music? Unless you happen to be Pakistani or Hungarian or Japanese, the answer is probably somewhere close to "never." Are these cultures so artistically deprived that they are incapable of coming up with their own Mozarts, their own Beatles, their own Led Zeppelins, their own MC-5s? Possibly, but probably not. Our membership in specific cultures and subcultures doesn't completely control our taste in music, but it certainly points us to the pool of music we are likely to drink from. I don't listen to Pakistani music because I'm not likely to receive any social benefit from it --- most of my friends would simply think, "what's gotten into Wil?" For the same reason, a Pakistani man (living in Pakistan) is unlikely to listen to Ozzy Osbourne. (Being that Western music, American music in particular, has spread across the globe more thoroughly than other kinds of music, that previous sentence may not be true but the gist of it holds up.)
Okay, so our choice in music is driven by our culture. What determines our culture (or cultures)? A lot of factors, and they consequently affect the music we listen to as well. Let's examine a few...

Race
You're going to see more black faces at a hip-hop show than a country hoedown. You're good to see more Hispanics at a Tex-Mex concert than an opera.
Gender
What's the difference between the audience members of the Lilith Fair and Ozzfest? Primarily what's between their legs.
ClassWhen you walk up to the counter of a truck stop, you're not going to see a lot of Shostakovich CDs for sale. Conversely, the background music played at a pricey metropolitan restaurant is unlikely to be Social Distortion.
Politics When the Dixie Chicks criticized George Bush they alienated a huge part of their existing fan base while simultaneously gaining a new group of fans, even though their music stayed exactly the same.

Obviously there are exceptions; there are plenty of blacks who love classical music, women who love metal, and upscale liberals who love Toby Keith. And we all have some exceptions in our personal tastes --- we tend to call these "the guilty pleasure." Ironically, though we are often ashamed of our guilty pleasures, we listen to them for the purest of reasons: we're not expecting a "social benefit," we simply like the music. (I make it a point to rarely feel guilty for anything, but it might surprise people to know I actually enjoy the Indigo Girls.)
The major musical trend of the 20 century was the decline of sophisticated classical music, and the rise of the pop song. The goal of pop music is obviously to be popular, and this is accomplished by essentially being non-cultural. Pop tends to utilize instruments and melodies and harmonies that avoid any association with a particular nation or group. There is, from the listener's point of view, no barrier to entry. In many ways, pop music has been decontextualized and is often considered un-authentic. But I'm no pop hater; I think pop's break from history and cultures often gives it a clean slate to work from, enabling quite bold experimentation.
On the other hand, "authentic" music --- real hip-hop, bluegrass, Algerian trance, experimental classical etc. --- does require an investment from its listeners before it can be appreciated. This music is loaded with contextualizations which will be lost on people from different cultures. And people who anticipate no social benefit from attempting to decipher such foreign music will rarely venture to explore it.
Some might say that uncovering the cultural forces which guide our musical tastes takes the magic out of music. And I admit there's something slightly uncomfortable about it. But one should always be wary of becoming too comfortable. If you find yourself taking a look at your music collection or the bands you frequent and questioning why you like them (or whether you even like them at all) that might nudge you towards music you really do enjoy. It may point you towards the music of different cultures, cultures filled with completely new and different groups of people you can now attempt to have sex with.

How Does Music Affect Your Sleep Patterns ?

2010-08-26T02:24:00.000-07:00

Sleep patterns differ from person to person and not every one goes to bed at 8 in the night and wakes up at 6 in the morning. However, it is important for every adult to get at least 6 hours of continuous sleep to remain healthy. For people who suffer from sleep irregularities and disorders, there are several kinds of therapy like aromatherapy which uses oils and massages to induce sleep; herbal medications; conventional medications; and music therapy.

Everyone loves some type of music. However, certain types of instrumental music have been known to have positive effects in regularizing sleeping habits.

Music has a soothing and calming effect on people. It helps to calm the brain. Most people who do not sleep because of stress and the tension they are experiencing is invariably due to an overworked brain. The nerves in the brain get tensed and stiff and that is why people either experience headaches or sleepless nights.

Music helps to calm the brain and regulates the blood circulation. Certain kinds of instruments like guitar and piano can have good effect on the mind and body. People can try listening to soft harp or instrumental music while they lie on the bed. They will notice that they are drifting into deep sleep without realizing. This also helps babies with colic to fall off to sleep.

In addition, music helps several other types of disorders like autism and cognitive disorders. Music therapy is being used to treat several types of disorders like insomnia, depression, stress disorders and also cancer. So, the benefits of music to help with sleep patterns should not be scorned or taken lightly.

Research Proposal on Negative Effect of Rock Music among Teenagers Who Idolize Rock Music Singers

2010-08-26T02:18:00.000-07:00

Negative Effect of Rock Music among Teenagers Who Idolize Rock Music Singers

Introduction

Music is everywhere and it is in every, it is considered as the way of expression in which freedom is a privilege. It has many features and purpose, like an extraordinary way of communication through art. Music can be a universal language that invokes different reactions of people until it grows on them. In this study, the purpose of the music can be described on how it affects people and no matter how they fight it, they will end up singing the particular song that catch their attention until the end of the day – in which the teenagers call as “last song syndrome”.

Background of the Study and Problem Statement

According to a psychiatrist Edward Podolsky, music or its sounds travels to the ears. The nerves of the ears distributed the sound and have more extensive connections making the human body function based on what he/she just heard (Matt, 2006). Since music has a power to touch the inner-self of the people, as much as influencing their moods or behaviors, what would be the effect of the rock music on the generation of the teenagers? Moreover, the negative effects of it are the main topic for this study.

Research Objectives

The objectives of the study come in three parts. First is to understand the rock music in the view of the teenagers and how they idolized the rock musicians. Second is to identify the possible negative effects of the rock music on teenagers. And lastly, to establish a well-ground of facts on what is the role of music, not only for teenager but on the entire society.

Research Questions

The study presented several questions that can help the study in learning the truth about the rock music. Through this system, the researcher can estimate the adequate answer which is also suitable to the main problem.

1. What drives a person to write rock music or involved himself in listening to rock music?

2. What are the different views of the family/parents, singers/songwriters/musicians, and the psychologists on rock music?

3. What are the impacts created by this genre in changing the face of music industry?

Literature Review

In the exploration of the past studies, it is said that rock music has an equal characteristics of drugs, alcohol, and role-playing games of witchcrafts, voodoos, and Dungeons and Dragons. This might be the reason why other clinical experts argued that music can cause violent behavior, changing of attitudes, and unexplainable feeling of depression, happiness, or energetic. Furthermore, music can stimuli the sexual behavior of a person which is based on the rhythm and pornographic images or music videos (Matt, 2006; Shevy, 2007). The irregular beat of the music can control the rhythm of the person’s movements such as breathing and walking. This controllable issue of the music classified as the most powerful drug, for it can poison the person, making the person sick, or lift up its spirit. Listening to whatever kind of music has been part of the teenagers’ daily activities, especially with the technologies or gadgets that are handy (Hui, 2001). Apparently, the world-wide influence of the music can be seen on the teenagers. There are evidences that show the negative effect on the ability of the student to think and learn if the student is under the spell of rock music. Students who were found engaged in rock music and peer has a less commitment on their education (Hui, 2001; Matt, 2006). This might be the truth behind the words of Jimi Hendrix of 1969, who was considered as the rock’s greatest genius, where he finds that through his music he can hypnotize the people and reach their weakest point (Matt, 2006). Rock music has been the necessity for the development of the youth in their search for personal and social identity and this event shows the higher response in the freedom of their choice (Hui, 2001; Shevy, 2007).

Methodology

The empirical method applied in the study is the use of the interviews. The participants are not asked to reveal their identity because it doesn’t play essential role in this activity and the results are clearly based on their opinions. However, the research managed to set the demographic requirements on the participants such as the age, gender, and type of music they are into.

Analysis

Based on the interviews, most of the participants have less appreciated the rock music. While the other participants who loves the rock music are either wearing the style of their idols or making their own fashion statement for rock music. On the other hand, it is very obvious that the teenagers are pleased to hear the rock music with a combination of gothic preferences – or the dark-goth-rock music or the rock kind of music that involves intense beats which goes in the term of punk-rock music. There are also identified as EMO or Emotionally Motivated music as a style of rock music that is have more expressive, confessional, and melodramatic lyrics and sounds.

Conclusion

Music everywhere and it seems like the body moves according to its rhythm and beat and can condition the human mind. As a powerful, it can be also dangerous because there is a continuous investigation about the relation of the EMO music in many of the suicidal attempts of the teenagers. Rock music, and whatever kind of music associated into it, can widen the approach and can bring out different sides of people. But the most illustrative fact on this type of music is the negativity in which parents should be aware of. A weak person can be destroyed if all of the negative energies are surrounding him, especially on the teenagers that have the long-kept feeling that they are not loved, been betrayed, involved in family/peer issues, educational problems, dilemma on their identity, and so on.

Music and Studying

2010-08-26T02:14:00.001-07:00

Most people know that listening to music helps some people study, while hindering others. What many don’t realize is the type of music can make a huge difference for certain types of learners, making some types of music an option as a study help for people who think it does them no good.

That isn’t to say that music helps everyone. It doesn’t. How helpful it can be often varies from topic to topic, too, for people. But it can certainly help more people than realize it. (Some people consider this a separate learning style element, called aural.)

First figure out if words distract you with music—and I don’t mean if you’re distracted when one of your favorite songs comes on the radio that you don’t hear often and want to sing along with. Do words distract you as a rule? If so, you’ll have to bear that in mind while seeking a form of music, always finding an instrumental version of the style you’re testing. Are you more distracted by music you know well or intriguing new songs? Make sure you pick and stick to the one that will cause the least distraction.

Secondly, pick something to study. Make sure you stick to that specific type of studying (i.e., memorization, concept learning, mathematics) for the entire time you’re trying to isolate the best form of music for it.

Now run a few base tests with styles to try to narrow it down a bit. Try a few styles you like or can at least tolerate, like easy listening, Celtic, classical, and rock. If you’re familiar with the concept of “minor key” (it’s what makes most Celtic, Gothic, and New Age music depressing to some people and relaxing to others), try to notice if you study better with minor or major key.

If you prefer major key, next test a few music genres of that style. Gospel music, classical, pop, and rock are usually in the major key. Admittedly, some of these will be difficult to find instrumental versions for if that’s what you need, but it may be worth the study results. Artists often have samples online you can use to test, and you can always ask friends to borrow their CDs if they can trust you to return them.

For minor key, you may at first find it a bit more difficult. At a glance, your only option is Celtic or New Age—soft stuff, quite easy to find instrumental versions of, but what about those who work better with heavier music. This is where such genres as Celtic and Gothic rock come in, which are actually quite similar, so don’t panic at the “Gothic” name. Most people find it pretty if they don’t know what they’re listening to; it’s a technical term with historical roots, but if you’re predisposed to suicidal tendencies, please avoid those that do have depressing lyrics for your own safety.

If you’re unable to distinguish the keys, try to isolate characteristics of music that helps you even only a little to figure out what genre will help you the most. If you have to, you can compile the characteristics.

Once you’ve narrowed it down to a genre that helps you with that style of studying, congratulations! You’re ready to restart the process for another form, or you could just stick to the type of music you’ve isolated for studying in general till you have time to run another test. But be willing to turn the music off if necessary—just because it helps you concentrate on the math doesn’t mean it’ll help you with memorization.

Now that you know what you need, you might want to consider adding another style of music to your study bag: techno. Sometimes called “dance,” this is the rapid-beat music that restaurants play at busy times in the background so people move out quickly. A number of people find it annoying, but if you can even tolerate it, it might help you when you’re trying to accomplish something swiftly, like research and writing for a paper. Note—it also drives your pulse up the roof, so be careful with it.

It may sound silly, but do have a care with all music. It has biological effects besides damaging your hearing when you blare it too loudly. It can raise and lower your blood pressure, raise or lessen bodily stress, and some lyrics can have you thinking things you don’t generally—or ever—say or do. Have fun in picking your music style(s) needed for learning, and test numerous styles, but be cautious, too!

Psychology of Heavy Metal Music

2010-08-26T02:09:00.000-07:00

Iron Maiden - Darz Mol, Wikipedia, Creative Commons ShareAlike 2

The majority of research into the emotional and behavioral effects of popular music has focused on heavy metal, though a few studies have also included rock and grunge music. Overall, the popular belief that listening to certain musical styles causes a variety of behavioral problems is not supported.

Emotional Response

While a number of researchers have associated heavy metal music with depression or anger, these effects do not occur when heavy metal is the listener’s musical preference. A study of more than 1,000 gifted students aged 11-18 found that heavy metal music is used for cathartic release and to dissipate negative emotions, particularly among those with low self-esteem.

Grunge Music Effects

A study of the effects of different types of music found that after listening to grunge music, subjects reported increases in fatigue, tension, sadness and hostility, as well as decreased mental clarity, vigor, relaxation and compassion. However, grunge was likely not the musical preference of these subjects—a study of grunge fans may have produced different results.

Aggression

Some studies have found that individuals become more hostile, aggressive or angry after listening to heavy metal music, whereas others have found no aggressive response. Some researchers have even found that subjects who were angry to begin with become happier, calmer and more relaxed after listening to heavy metal when it is their preferred musical genre.

Suicide

Although the suicide rate is higher among rock and heavy metal fans (particularly the latter), a study of students with psychiatric disorders who were also heavy metal fans actually showed improved mood after listening to their music of choice. Other studies of depressed students have found similar results, suggesting that students may use this music to help treat their depression rather than becoming depressed as a result of listening to it.

Academic Performance

Some studies have found that adolescents of both genders who listen to heavy metal tend to have lower grades in school, but this is likely due to aspects of personality or environment (such as high stress) rather than any direct effects of the music itself.

Intelligence

Interestingly, college students whose musical preferences are alternative, rock or heavy metal actually obtain higher IQ test scores on average, particularly on questions where abstraction is required. Some studies have also found high intelligence among adolescent heavy metal listeners.

Risk Taking

Those who prefer rock or heavy metal music are more inclined to be reckless sensation seekers who take risks. This is a personality type rather than a direct effect of the music—sensation seekers have less reactive nervous systems and so it takes more intense stimuli to generate a sensation of happiness or excitement.

Risk takers are more likely to commit crimes because they are not as anxious about the consequences. This is not caused by the music however; the risk taker prefers more energetic music and more dangerous pastimes as a result of innate personality and physiology.

Drug Use

Studies regarding a link between heavy metal music and drug use have generated mixed results. One study found that teenagers who listened to heavy metal were more inclined to use drugs, though they were not more likely to use them excessively or become addicted. Other researchers have found no link between music preference and drug use or drug-related values. Overall, use of alcohol and/or drugs by parents has the greatest influence on adolescent drug use.

Attitudes Toward Women

A study of undergraduate men found that exposure to sexually violent heavy metal music increased the tendency to stereotype sex roles and hold more negative perceptions of women. However, this was likely the result of the sexually violent content rather than the heavy metal music itself.

Effect on Animals

A student named David Merrill subjected mice to the music of a heavy metal band called Anthrax 24-hours a day to discover how it would affect their ability to learn new things, but instead of completing Merrill’s maze, the heavy metal mice all killed one another.

In a subsequent experiment in which the mice listened to heavy metal music for 10 hours each day, they did not become homicidal, but they did grow worse at solving the maze than they had been when they first encountered it. But research indicates that reactions to music are shaped by whether or not it is the genre of choice, and it's highly unlikely that if the mice had a musical preference at all, it would have been Anthrax.

Effect on Plants

Dorothy Retallack tested the effects of various types of music on plants. She found that playing classic rock artists such as Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Vanilla Fudge caused the plants to grow in an unhealthy way, bend away from the speakers and die young. However, if we assume that plants can have musical preferences, it's possible that classic rock was not their music of choice.

Music For Your Brain Health?

2010-08-26T02:04:00.001-07:00

One of the most frequent questions that people have been emailing us about here at BrainReady recently is, "What about music as brain health booster?".

With all of the focus on foods, drinks, dietary changes and exercise that we've (rightly) covered here given the significant impact that these things can have on one's brain health and brainpower, it's easy to overlook the larger topic of music (or the meta-topic of sound in general) as applied to cognitive enhancement.

Most of us have already heard the loose rumor that "classical music is good for your brain", whether as brain-booster while working or as something that mothers should be doing for their developing children or even "sound as audio therapy" unto itself. For many, it may feel intuitive that listening to complex classical music pieces must somehow be better for one's brain than listening to, say, a simplistic three-chord rock anthem or a Rap track featuring a single looping drum beat with repetitive vocal (or many other genres of current pop/rock/rap music).

Or does that truly depend on the song in question, or one's world view, or one's attention to complex subtle nuances that may lie just below the surface of a seemingly trite piece of Pop?

The truth is that the potential for brain-boosting benefits from listening to music (or sound content of any type, for that matter) is a largely unstudied area, ripe for much deeper research spanning far more genres of "organized sound" (music) than certainly exist to date. The trouble is that this kind of research, like most other brain-related research, is extremely difficult to derive clear indications from... clear results and empirical data, given the massive number of variables that enter into the mix when trying to test how music truly impacts real-world human subjects.

The good news is that there already is some good research that suggests impressive, exciting news as to how music can enhance brain function, and if one takes a step back to extrapolate these research results and make an intuitive personal judgment regarding how music may help, it's a no-brainer (sic) to consider giving it a try. And why not: no side effects or contraindications with music listening, unlike supplements and medications and some foods!

The research: music with exercise? In one research study, clinical psychologist Charles Emery of Ohio State University studied the effect of music on people who listened (or did not listen) during regular physical exercise. Emery says, "I've always thought that music had many benefits for people, and increasingly people use music when they exercise, so it seemed like a logical next step in terms of a research project". So along with Evana Hsiao and Scott Hill of Ohio State, and David

Frid of Pfizer, Inc., Emery put his theory to the test, with the help of 33 men and women in the final weeks of a cardiac rehabilitation program. Each of the participants were tested for mental performance after exercising without music, and exercising with music.

The results were astonishing: on average, the participants performed more than twice as well on a verbal fluency test after listening to music while exercising than they did after exercising without the

music. Wow!

The music selected? Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons".

"When there was no music, there was no change," Emery says.

Emery chose Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" for the project because prior research by other scientists with that particular piece indicated that it helped patients with lung disease perform better mentally. Emery suspects, however, that similar benefits could be gained by listening to ALL kinds of music, not just classical. It is theorized that the passionate, upbeat rhythms of "The Four Seasons" may stimulate mental performance because it is complex, thus forcing the brain to organize neural transmissions.

But other selections might work better for some people. "I don't think there is anything specific to Vivaldi or even classical music that would necessarily trigger enhanced brain function," Emery says.

But he is confident that music makes a difference, whether it is jazz, hip hop, or classical. And while his research was centered on cardiac patients, because they often suffer mental decline as a result of their illness, Emery thinks it works for everybody, not just those who are sick.

Several other research studies have illustrated how listening to music is a more complex endeavor than it seems on the surface: the human brain has to sort out tones, timing, and sequencing of various sounds, in order to comprehend music. It is believed that the frontal lobe of the brain is stimulated and activated by listening to music, as it is the part of the brain that is associated with higher mental functions such as thinking abstract thoughts, or planning for the future.

Vivaldi or Mozart, but not Glass? Psychologist Frances Rauscher, now at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, and her colleagues made waves with the discovery that listening to Mozart improve d people's mathematical and spatial reasoning. Even rats ran mazes faster and more accurately after hearing Mozart than after white noise or music by the minimalist composer Philip Glass. Sorry, Glass fans. Rauscher reported that, for rats at least, a Mozart piano sonata seems to stimulate activity in three genes involved in nerve-cell signalling in the brain.

But don't just listen, join in: it's one thing to listen passively to music in order to derive brain benefits. But even more brain-engaging, and even IQ-boosting, is playing or writing music, including taking music lessons.

In fact, six-year-old children who were given music lessons, as opposed to drama lessons or no extra instruction, got a 2 to 3-point boost in IQ scores compared with the others. Similarly, Rauscher found that after two years of music lessons, pre-school children scored better on spatial reasoning tests than those who took computer lessons.

Although not yet tested with adults, there is little reason why similar benefits would not also apply to adults, including the elderly, which is why we here at BrainReady (and most other cognitive health experts) routinely recommend learning to play a new instrument and learning to read and write music (visually or even intuitively through experimentation) as wonderful mental health and brain fitness steps that adults of all ages should strongly consider.

Learning a new instrument, learning to read or write music -- these activities exercise a wide range of mental skills, with their requirement for delicate and precise finger movements, listening for pitch and rhythm, learning harmony and harmonic complexity, all combined with an emotional dimension, as well as memory. And this makes sense intuitively: if you're someone who has never played an instrument or learned to read or write music, and then one day you start on the long process of learning, what do you think is happening to your brain? Would your brain be different, better, more capable, one year after consistently working at it and becoming a capable musician?

The relaxation factor: then there's the obvious other area of benefit from listening to (or playing) music...relaxation and enjoyment. When you listen to or engage in music that makes you feel happy, relaxed, deeply engaged, contemplative, you're reaping some of the same deep relaxation effects that such activities as restful sleep, a warm bath, a wonderful meal, have on your overall stress level and physiological state. Simply put, it's relaxing, and that reduces stress, and stress is one of the biggest health hazards to brain & body alike.

Now, not all music produces such a state of calm relaxation, particularly as everyone's musical tastes are somewhat unique. Some may find Speed Metal or bombastic Hip-Hop deeply calm-inducing and mentally therapeutic while becoming filled with rage at the mere thought of a Celine Dion or Barbara Streisand vocal. Others may find the inverse. But there may well be something to listening to classical orchestral music, or music that is equally complex (large number of instruments, fairly complex harmonic and lyrical structure, emphasis on notes and melodies rather than repetitive drum beats or simplistic repeating motifs as found in most Pop music). So if you're going to select your "brain health music", it may be wise to include some Mozart, Vivaldi, Bethoven, Bruckner, Stravinsky and other greats.

And why not dig deeper into some of the extremely complex "serious" music by the likes of Edgar Varese, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and other great "serious" composers whose music may not strike you with the light calming lilt of the pop classical favorites yet may force your brain into new unexpected territories that reveal themselves only after your brain has really "evolved" to understand the brilliance.

Sure, include some of your favorite calming, pleasant favorite songs or pieces regardless of genre so that you can derive the wonderful anti-stress benefits of music, but just as with learning a new language or subject matter, stretching your brain by listening to some musically sophisticated, complex compositions may indeed do things for your brain that will one day be shown by researchers to be even more profound than the Vivaldi and Mozart effect.

Music Affects Teenager

2010-08-26T01:53:00.000-07:00

Things you should know about your kids and or you, and why some music is bad…

The thing I think about music is that it sends out a either good or bad messages that will have a big impact on kids actions and ideas. Unlike times in the past music is creating a gap and separating kids into groups.

Now I know I can tell if a group of people listen to rap music or not. Just by the way they walk, talk, and dress. And I for one think that rap music is sending out a bad message to everybody.

And most Goth and EMO music gets kids to cut and try to kill themselves. Crime, drugs, suicide, and teen pregnancy are all influenced by music. I’ve seen it time and again.

Now the thing that kids and mostly teens need to keep in mind is that these artists are just trying to make bank on the oh so many problems that teens today have.

Things like lost love and ghetto neighborhoods. Most of the rappers that are famous today grew up in first-class neighborhoods. They just know how to make money. You can’t trust people you don’t know. I’ve gotten robbed by guys who thought they were being just like their favorite rappers.

I myself have done drugs and involved myself in gang activity. And most of my bad ideas came from the music I liked at the time. But when I stopped doing drugs and listening to rap music I started thinking for myself.

And now I’m a freethinker. I now you want your so called friends to like you and you want to fit in-but when you’re in jail or getting shot at because of the colors you’re wearing, the last thing on your mind will be how much people like you.

And if your friends stop liking you because of the things you do and don’t like… then they’re not your friends. True friends are a hard thing to find in life. But when you find a true friend hanging out with people who you know are not true friends will seen empty to you.

I’m fifteen and I know many things about life. And bad friends have left a scar on me too. When I was ten years old I started smoking cigarettes and weed because my “friends” said it was cool. But it isn’t really.

Remember, when it comes to what is right and what is wrong, you’ll know what to do.

Music calms, relaxes and helps to sleep

2010-08-14T01:58:00.000-07:00

Relaxing music induces sleep
Relaxing classical music is safe, cheap and easy way to beat insomnia. Many people who suffer from insomnia find that Bach music helps them. Researchers have shown that just 45 minutes of relaxing music before bedtime can make for a restful night.
Relaxing music reduces sympathetic nervous system activity, decreases anxiety, blood pressure, heart and respiratory rate and may have positive effects on sleep via muscle relaxation and distraction from thoughts.

Music reduces stress and aids relaxation

Listening to slow, quiet classical music, is proven to reduce stress. Countless studies have shown that music's relaxing effects can be seen on anyone, including newborns.

One of the great benefits of music as a stress reliever is that it can be used while you do your usual deeds so that it really doesn't take time.

How does music reduces stress?

Physical relaxation. Music can promote relaxation of tense muscles, enabling you to easily release some of the tension you carry from a stressful day.
Aids in stress relief activities. Music can help you get "into the zone" when practicing yoga, self hypnosis or guided imagery, can help you feel energized when exercising and recover after exercising, help dissolve the stress when you're soaking in the tub.
Reduces negative emotions. Music, especially upbeat tunes, can take your mind off what stresses you, and help you feel more optimistic and positive. This helps release stress and can even help you keep from getting as stressed over life's little frustrations in the future. Researchers discovered that music can decrease the amount of the cortisol, a stress-related hormone produced by the body in response to stress.

Music And Life

2010-08-13T02:47:00.000-07:00

The sub-cultures in today’s society are all based on what you watch on T.V., the clique you hang around, how you were raised, and the music you listen to. Everything you do has an effect on your personality; Living in a community with gangs, violence, and drugs might influence you to do the same.
    The media and parents wants blame music for the way kids act. They blame it for the gang violence, murders and suicides, They believe the music kids listen to changes their perspective about life. Then they start blaming the artist for singing about such vulgar, melancholy, morbid music.
    Along with that, kids start judging each other by the music they listen to; they stereotype each other into certain cliques and they laugh at them because of it. If kids took the time to notice and listen to others, they might find out that there will be a couple common songs between them. When kids are grouped into certain clique they might feel like they only belong in that group. When did the music go bad? Music use to have a meaning, it use to symbolize a feeling and have heart filled messages being sent out. Now all you hear music talk about is drinking, guns, murder, drugs, rape, and suicide. I’m not just talking about rap music, it’s in rock and metal too.
    Music can have an intrinsic meaning or can have an extrinsic meaning. The meaning of music may be interpreted from the viewpoint of the formalist or from the viewpoint of an expressionist. Some people may listen to music just because they are bored or they like the beat; others listen to it for the lyrics and the expression the artist is trying to send out. The media says that rap should be blamed for the gang violence, drugs, devaluing women and male control; rock and metal is blamed for satanic rituals, suicides as an “alternative” or “solution,” sadism, and masochism.
    Rappers are blamed constantly for crimes across America. In 1988, Ice-T who was a well-known rapper was all over the media because of his song “Cop Killa”. Once he song was released numerous police were murdered; the media said they did it because of Ice-T’s song. Was it Ice-T’s fault for these crimes or was it the fault of the people committing the crime? The answer is no, cops were getting shot before the song came out, policemen know they have a dangerous job and the know the consequences. Rap music is growing rapidly, it has gotten many people out of poverty and out of the ghetto. Rap musicians donate thousands and thousands of dollars to charities all over America, but they don’t get any credit for that. Media only looks for the worse in all cases. Rap musicians rap about their life, the only way to fix what they rap about is to fix the society around you; they rap about what they see and hear. Rap music does not influence bad actions, but reflects it.
    Also, similar to the rapper Ice-T, some rock musicians are blamed for the violent actions of people. Marilyn Manson was blamed for two teen gunmen in the Columbine Shooting; just because they were labeled “Goth” and listened to Manson. On a VH1 interview with Manson, he was asked what he would of said to the gunmen? He replied, “Nothing, I would of listened cause know one else had. I went threw the same thing and no one listened to me.”
    Rock music is also criticized by the media and parents. They say that rock bands like Korn and Disturbed will give kids negative thoughts and act violently. The only way rock music influences teens is what they wear. Baggy pants, over-sized shirts, 3 feet long chains with 6 inch pendants usually listen to rap. Wide legged pants with chains and many pockets, body piercing, abnormal hair colors, excessive jewelry usually listen to rock or metal. Teenagers judge one another by the music they listen to and the clothes they were. Teens who listen to rock and metal are judged as “Goth”, “Emo” or “Scene”. Teens who listen to Rap, Hip-Hop, and R&B are categorized as “Gangster,” “Ghetto,” “Prep,” and “Jock.” Being placed into a certain group can hurt one’s self-esteem and making them think that they only belong in that group.
“Day, is fading here
My time, has gone away
I flirt with suicide
Sometimes kills the pain.”
- Jonathon Davis (Korn)

    Teenagers are faced with the thought of suicide everyday; Jonathon Davis’s lyrics just shows that he understands what kids are going threw and tries to show them that it will be alright. To some teens this is a comforting message being sent out.
    Musicians sing or rap about what they been threw as a child, how they were raised, and what they see and hear around them. The only message that these people are sending out is the fact that our society has gone bad and they are trying to make people realize how bad it got. Among the many rappers who rap about gangs, drugs, women and sex, there are those who rap about the positive side of life as well. Rappers like Tupac Shakur rap about the struggles they went threw as a child, they give thanks to those who help them out. Not a lot of people know that Tupac not only writes raps, but poetry as well. Most of his poetry is based on the love of a women, the hardship of life, and praying to God for forgiveness, and the dream of a better world. But does the artists get publicity for the good that they do? No, they get blamed for the violence in today’s society. Rock bands like Cold take other peoples problems that they hear and turn it in to music. Songs like “Wasted Years” is based on a ordinary guy that turned to drinking at a young age because of the way he lived and how is parents treated him. Many years later he realized that he can’t continue he life living like that and waste his life away. This band talks about everything and anything that has to do with real life problems that common people go threw. Do these kinds of artist really make kids go into rage and hate?
    Teenagers use music to escape from their life problems, however the media and parents are blaming music for the cause teen problems. Do the parents ever think about what they do that can cause their children to become such aggressive melancholy disturbed kids? Maybe it is something that the parents are doing or not doing that can cause this. Growing up in an one-parent household, living in violent community or household, hanging around the wrong people. These things can affect the minds of a teenage more then music can. If someone were to grow up in a violent family, they might be influenced to do the same and thus becoming an aggressive teen. Yet, if the child grew up in a suburban area with both parents and no violence they will turn out differently. Another aspect of why kids act the way they do might be because their parents don’t pay any or enough attention to them and they may begin to think that being troubled is the only way to get their attention. Parent need to start thinking of what they could do to help their kids become better people, cause it’s not the music’s fault.
    The media blames music for the problems with teens in today’s society. They blame rap music for drugs, murders and sex; They blame rock for melancholy, evil thoughts mixed with hate. But the truth is rap lyrics are rapping about the struggles in life and the societies problems. Rock lyrics is about the soul, rock lyrics are deeper then any other kind of genre of music out there. Music is so widespread and is the universal tongue that connects us to each other in someway; that’s why music is always going to be essential to someone