Category: Music

Thesis statement: Music videos portraying rape have strong influence on college students whose opinions about sexuality in such videos have changed over the years.

Burgess, M. C. R., & Burpo, S. (2012). The effect of music videos on college students’ perceptions of rape. College Student Journal, 46(4), 748-763.

This fundamental research provides valuable information and various insights necessary for gaining and understanding of the topic under study. The primary purpose of the article is to examine “the effect of sexualized portrayals of female artists in music videos on college students’ perceptions of date rape” (Burgess & Burpo, 2012, p. 748). The reasons why precisely music videos are selected for this study are that they are not labeled as ‘pornography,’ are commercially aired and repetitious, show the idealized world, and do not make most people think critically (Burgess & Burpo, 2012, p. 751). Overall, in order to gain specific conclusions, the authors observe and analyze randomly selected college students’ reactions on music videos portraying rape. Further, they examine the way these various videos affect participants’ further perception of violence against women.

Summary

Nowadays, various types of electronic media play a significant role in the lives of the youth. Social networks, video games, podcasts, and music videos have become more interesting for many teenagers and young adults than other activities. Consequently, if children and students are engaged in the digital world, it is possible to say that it has strong impact on their perceptions of the real life. In 2012, when the article was written, there was a gap in literature concerning the influence of music videos on “young adults’ perceptions of sexual interactions, particularly ones with a violent component” (Burgess & Burpo, 2012, p. 748). Therefore, there was a necessity to explore the issue and close this gap.

Before conducting their own experiment, the authors provide literature review and demonstrate that such a question was already raised several years ago by a number of researchers. For instance, in 2005, Ward et al. managed to find out that “the more music video exposure teens had, the more sex-role stereotypes they endorsed” (as cited in Burgess & Burpo, 2012, p. 748). According to Arnett’s research, females are usually portrayed “as scantily clad, engaging in sexually provocative movements, and often only present as visual extras” (as cited in Burgess & Burpo, 2012, p. 750). Further, in 2007, Jhally proved that females’ poor portrayals were not limited to rap music videos and illustrated that they were in general “rarely portrayed well in music videos, as artists or props” (as cited in Burgess & Burpo, 2012, p. 749). The aim of the article under study is to prove and develop the forementioned ideas.

Overall, a special experiment was designed to receive the necessary information. Burgess and Burpo (2012) randomly selected 132 college students and showed them music videos in which women are portrayed either as simple commentators or as a sex object. Then, the participants were asked to get acquainted with a story about a date rape and evaluate the guilt of a young male, as well as their feelings towards the victim.

Additionally, it is essential to mention that the authors also pay attention to discussing the definitions and perceptions of pornography as a general concept. They again focus on literature review and try to understand whether music videos in which females are extremely sexualized and demeaned may be considered pornography. The reason why this is important for Burgess and Burpo (2012) is because precisely society’s perceptions of pornography may have significant influence on the way males and females view rape.

References

Burgess, M. C. R., & Burpo, S. (2012). The effect of music videos on college students’ perceptions of rape. College Student Journal, 46(4), 748-763.

Introduction

The study by Kroeze (n.d.) is focused on the ability of plants to listen to music. As the author mentions, it has been established that plant stomata are capable of reacting to the music. Kroeze (n.d.) remarks that stomata may open due to particular types of music, such as songs of birds or high tones. Investigations demonstrate that plants grow and develop better if their stomata are open wide.

Main body

However, there is a warning for those who like this approach. Keeping the stomata open by force disables them from regulating their water amount and may cause dehydration (Kroeze, n.d.). Thus, letting the plant listen to music for longer than three hours daily may lead to adverse outcomes. Kroeze (n.d.) also explains the mechanism of shell resonance that may develop or restrict the process of protein synthesis in plants.

The author notes that the synthesis of proteins occurs “in tune to the vibration” (Kroeze, n.d.). Every amino acid constituting proteins has a particular frequency, which leads to each protein having a different scope of frequencies. A probable explanation of various tones’ impact on plants is that the hormones accountable for cell extension are made of two amino acids. Kroeze (n.d.) mentions that plants prefer classical music. It would be rather interesting to investigate who the most favorite composers of the plants are.

The article by Landhuis (2014) is dedicated to the ability of plants to hear danger that comes in the form of predators. The author analyzes the study by Heidi Appel and Rex Cocroft, plant biologists working at the University of Missouri, Columbia. These scholars did an experiment to check whether plants can hear predators. Appel and Cocroft performed their experiments on Arabidopsis. They put a piece of reflective tape on the leaf of the plant.

On the adjoining leaf, Appel and Cocroft put a hungry caterpillar (Landhuis, 2014). A laser beam was aimed at the tape, and scientists noticed that even with a minimal movement of the tape, the laser light signal would change. The speed of the light’s variation gave Appel and Cocroft the estimation of the leaf’s motion. After several years of experimenting on Arabidopsis, scientists moved their research to a new level. They recreated the vibrations recorded on Arabidopsis for a different plant.

Surprisingly, the effect was the same as when a caterpillar was sitting on the leaf (Landhuis, 2014). Scientists then decided to check whether plants would react to other sounds in a similar way. The experiment showed that plants only responded to chewing sounds (Landhuis, 2014). The findings of this article may be used in research to compare the levels of response in different plants.

In his article, Nauta (n.d.) gives an account of a variety of studies focused on the impact of music on plants. According to research performed by Dorothy Retallack, jazz and classical music attracts plants whereas rock music makes them sick. Marigolds exposed to rock music for a fortnight died, while those that “listened” to classical music grew beautiful and healthy (Nauta, n.d.). An Indian researcher T. C. Singh has been experimenting on Indian music and plants, and his findings are spectacular. Singh was able to stimulate the growth of tobacco and peanuts 50% higher than average, and rice 25-60% higher (Nauta, n.d.).

An agricultural researcher from Illinois George Smith performed an experiment with soybeans and corn. The plants that “listened” to Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in blue” all day long were greener and thicker, and their weight was greater than of the plants that grew in the non-experimental environment (Nauta, n.d.). A study performed by Peter Belton in Canada resulted in lower damages of corn by moth and larvae gained by using ultrasonic waves.

Conclusion

A New York researcher George Milstein reported that plant growth was increased by a constant low hum, leading to plants’ blooming half a year earlier than usual (Nauta, n.d.). The article by Nauta (n.d.) may be used in research when investigating the impact of music on organic gardening.

References

Kroeze, D. (n.d.). Influence of music on plants. CANNA. Web.

Landhuis, E. (2014). Plants ‘listen’ for danger. Science News for Students. Web.

Nauta, P. (n.d.). Music and plants – How to use music to boost plant growth. Smiling Gardener. Web.

Introduction

Darwin, who is called ‘the prophet of the evolutionary world,’ first presented his idea in 1900 that music provides the utmost opportunity for humans to select their own mates. By music, Darwin meant the sweet ‘birds songs’ and melodious tunes of other bird-like creatures, while by ‘sexual selection Darwin meant that music has biological significance to attract the opposite sex for reproduction. Later, Howell agreed with Darwinian thought and constructed a view of the social reality that seemed compatible with the new principles of evolution (Bender, 1996, p. 34). Darwin categorized sexual selection on the basis of two aspects, ‘aggressive rivalry’ and ‘mate choice.’ Since our research focuses upon mate selection, we will discuss it in context with the factors affecting human evolution.

The human mind possesses the capabilities to generate music and being influenced by music. Since he inherently possesses the capabilities to be receptive to various musical tones, musical voices, and different rhythms so with the passage of time, he has related music with language and communication. Wallace argued that it could not have evolved by means of natural selection. However, we would later negate this perception by comparing it with Darwin’s.

Evolutionary Psychology of Human mind

It is through the advent of evolutionary psychology that we are able to describe ‘human nature’ in context with the cognitive and emotional mechanisms of the contemporary human mind. This is also through understanding how such mechanisms evolved via natural and sexual selection by musical evolution. This notion is supported by three basic principles. First, music has let us understand that this approach is essentially cognitive in that it attempts to principally understand how human cognition and emotion have evolved. Second, the human mind is viewed as a sharp cognitive instrument (as it possesses both goodness and evilness in it) rather than as a general problem solver. Third, it is through the musical selection that we are able to grasp the evolutionary changes since earth’s existence which is historical. It attempts to understand the selection forces that rendered particular mental modules functional within an environment that existed long ago (Sterelny & Fitness, 2003, p. 72).

Like evolutionary psychology, the key focus of social psychology is on the human social mind, and in particular, how cognition and emotion interact with behavior, both within individuals and across individuals when they interact. Of course, interaction requires a particular language and a communication mode. In the study of intimate relationships, social psychologists study the structure and functions of the intimate relationship mind and seek to model and explain how cognition, emotion, and behavior play out in terms of the phenomena of intimate relationships of mate selection. Now, the main concern is the notion of what the real criteria of emerging emotions and feelings are? Just imagine a mute environment. Where would be the feelings if the earth gets mute and silent?

Human music and Nature

In order to relate human nature with music and in order to relate human sexuality with musical senses, we have to dig music at the ground root level. Theorists, in order to define music’s importance, typically capture music’s technical characteristics or music’s constitutive properties of sounds in their rhythmic and dynamic combinations. If we distinguish the concept of the ‘musical’ from that of the ‘non-musical,’ then we can claim that the non-musical plays no role in understanding human personality. Now, if we do not consider explaining musical ‘technical’ significance with that of human nature and do not consider music’s ‘technicality,’ we would see that human characteristics are incomplete without sounds. Sounds generate feelings, feelings, in turn, awake senses, senses to distinguish between good and bad sounds, low and harsh sounds. These feelings, in turn, awake our organs. For example, a romantic song awakes romance in an individual. A violent song might awake ‘sexual appeal’ in a person or might lead that individual towards motivation in his work. That means that music is capable of generating any sense in an individual, which varies from person to person. Therefore, human expressions are dependant one way or the other upon music, either in the form of voice or language.

Traditional philosophical distinctions help capture the relation in which ‘musical’ properties are related as contingent to essential, as extrinsic to intrinsic, as relational to monadic, as shared to unique when it comes to expressing oneself. (Goehr, 1998, p. 10) But though comparison with these distinctions helps capture the uneven or lopsided relation in which the ‘musical’ has stood, we can evaluate the focality of music in the form of vocal expression, but we are simply unable to explain it. Such explanation fails to capture the reality of human existence, which does not suggest the feel of how this world would have survived in the absence of sounds and voices.

Human beings use language (whose meanings are arbitrary, relational, and conventional); they elaborate cultural systems of meaning and complex institutions; they relate to their environment, not by tooth and claw, but through the use of tools and in various forms of social labor. Such human reliance on culture indicates the ability to distinguish and select music so as to ease life through utilizing features of human existence through a basic biological substratum (Lancaster, 2003, p. 203).

Sexual selection in context with the cultural aspect of Human nature

Modern biology is the assumption that the Darwinian process of sexual selection accounts for all aspects of the adaptation of an organism to a particular way of life in a particular environment. Research tells us that ‘sexual’ selection is a child of ‘natural selection because natural selection is a system of corrective feefavorshat that favors those individuals that most closely approximate some best available organization for their ecological niche., For Darwin this was a way of explaining the great diversity of organisms that inhabit the Earth. Biologists today use ‘musical evidence’ more often to explain the great generation-to-generation stability of a species’ characteristics or the near absence of evolution. They assume that an organism is already close to some maximum achievable level of adaptation, and on this basis, they attempt to predict features not yet known (Williams, 1992, p. 38).

In order to prove the relationship of sexual and natural selection, we consider Darwin’s theology that ‘Natural selection is dependant upon and must react to physical entities that vary inaptitude for reproduction, either because the physical entities vary in accordance with reproductive organs or it is the only resource of reproduction.’ That clearly indicates that nature and sex are interlinked, and by the word ‘physical entities,’ physical features of humans are considered (That could also include sexual organs), (Williams, 1992, p. 38). Whenever these conditions are found, there will be natural selection, and of course, nature suggests and requires sex to be a hereditary feature. Wherever they are found to a great degree: inheritance strong enough, differences in fitness great enough, competing alternatives numerous enough, selection may produce noteworthy cumulative effects.

The sense of ‘human reproduction is the intersection of two essentialisms, cultural feminism, and socio-biology that marks a certain double irony or contradiction therein. On the one hand, feminism conceived in opposition to the status quo is readily appropriated by the machinery of mass representation; they quickly become part of the dominant culture insofar as essentialist notions of gender and sexuality. On the other hand, reductive ideas like socio-biology have conceived full tilt against the current of historical happenings, nonetheless participate in the revaluation of cultural values; they register the heave and shove of social struggles and are thereby open to the effects of history (Lancaster, 2003, p. 147). Today, representations of nature are dealt with in the same manner as they used to deal in the past times; we live in the same environment enclosed in the same culture. Even our values are the same. Man, in the beginning, was only concerned about feelings like thirst, hunger, and sex. Today’s man primary concerns are the same. What has changed is our perception, our ability to sort things out. That means the sexual selection is there!

Music, senses, and sexual appeal

According to Frederick Turner (1992), “Our nakedness or hairlessness is what our sexual selection has let us in ritual courtship.” This reveals the full beauty of one’s own and another’s primary and secondary sexual organs. Music has not only contributed to sexual selection, thereby arising the sense of sexual appeal, it has also contributed to consider and understand the mating position from mounting to face-to-face (Lancaster, 2003, p. 41).

Even those civilizations that consider ‘cultural music’ as a form of identification possess sexuality in their music which they often pay on specific occasions like marriage ceremonies, festivals, etc. Naturally, there is no lack of theories about the origin of music. Charles Darwin attributed the song to the imitation of animal cries in the mating season. Against this, it is to be noted that while it is true the imitation of animal cries plays a big part in the oldest civilizations known to us, love songs are very rare and usually mythological rather than erotic in character. Similarly, erotic songs infuse within individuals a sense of ‘gender sexuality and arousal, which is different in context with different sexual organs. For example, in females, the sense of feminism arises, whereas males are subjected to physical ‘arousal.’

Rousseau, Herder, and Spencer argued that speaking with a raised voice was the beginning of the song, and a kind of ‘speech song’ or chant-like recitative is true to be found in many primitive cultures. Whether this style is derived from speech seems very doubtful, however, in view of the many nonsense syllables (without verbal significance) which form the ‘text’ of these songs. Wallaschek stresses the importance of rhythm in the origin of music. Buecher even traces its beginnings to occupational rhythms, overlooking the fact that occupational songs belong to a very late stage of cultural history (Wellesz, 1957, p. 6).

According to Father W. Schmidt and Carl, Stumpf music arose, like speech, from the need to give signals by sound. A loud cry led to lingering on a note of definite pitch. Keeping in mind this theory, Stumpf initiated his theory of consonance: if the loud cry is uttered simultaneously by men and women in such a manner that it sounded in two different pitches, the resultant would be ditones. However, preference being necessarily given to octaves, fifths, and fourths owing to their high degree of blending. If such sounds were then sung successively, instead of together, an interval resulted, and its progressive breaking up into smaller parts led to the formation of melody. In Stumpf’s view, the real step towards the development of music was the breaking up of the original tone into successive notes and the transposition of ‘cry’ notes and musical motives. This theory conflicts, however, with the fact that in many primitive cultures, the motives are often made up of very small intervals, and motive-transpositions usually occur at very close intervals (Wellesz, 1957, p. 6). Whatever be the primitive culture, sounds act as the gateway of music, which in turn molds the individual towards feelings.

Although we must reject the hypothesis that speech is protomorphic music, it is still possible to speculate whether the very ancient ‘sound languages may not represent the common source of both speech and music. In many languages, the meaning of a syllable depends on the pitch at which it is uttered. Thus we can say that language itself is musical. If it is sung, music merely gives a more arioso effect to the melodic speech curves already determined by etymology; it merely strengthens the existing musical element.

It is, of course, possible that the whole language is merely a sort of leveled-down music, but it is more likely that the sound language is the older element from which developed both speech and song, speech striving towards free rhythm and music towards a more regulated one. The greatest difficulty in the way of this new theory is that at present, we know too little about the languages of the so-called primitive cultures. It is true that various pygmy races display the elements of ‘sound languages,’ but so far, only a small number of examples have been collected. In this context, if we consider African Ewe languages and Chinese songs, we would see that such marked agreement of musical and speech sounds appear to support the theory of the common origin of music and speech.

In music, there emerge very quickly hard-and-fast, conventional melodic forms which by reason of their indeterminate significance can easily become vehicles of the most varied subjective feelings. So the objective formula is generally recognized and accepted, combine quickly and easily with the subjective feelings of the singer. In this way, music has a unifying effect on human society. Melody liberates and gives objective form to feelings that, to begin with, were amorphous, ultra-subjective, or exaggerated, and the best instance and the best occasion of showing exaggeration is none other than ‘sexual selection’ and mating.

Singing allows innumerable repetitions of the same words, repetitions which, apart from magical utterances, seem meaningless or clumsy in ordinary speech; it also enables things to be said or hinted at which it would be difficult to express in sober speech. To the uninitiated, the words of such songs are for the most part completely unintelligible; but the aboriginal knows exactly what the few, apparently quite disconnected words mean in association with a particular melody. In some way or other, music throws a neutralizing veil over that which is individual and realistic, giving it the appearance of something objective and universally valid or typical, without prejudicing its subjective emotional value. It is easier to sing a love song than to speak a declaration of love (Wellesz, 1957, p. 8).

Musical Significance to mating – another perspective

With the passage of human evolution, time has generated many differences except for the ‘primary needs and goals, which are the same of each class (Food, housing, clothing, and sex). Musical preferences are also different with reference to the social needs of dating and mating. Wealthy people from higher social classes are likely to be viewed as more attractive dating partners and potential spouses than those from lower classes (Whyte, 1990, p. 70).

Sexes with distinctive physical features

Most biologists and psychologists agree that female and male orgasms are fundamentally different in at least some respects. This difference seems to stem from the plumbing, both anatomical and physiological: males have a penis, which is where both sperm and orgasm arise. Sexual pleasure is centered on the clitoris, which may or may not is stimulated during intercourse. The clitoris and penis derive during embryonic development from the same tissue, which is then modified to produce the sex organs of a boy or girl.

On the path of discovering sexual facts, some of the blame can be laid at the feet of Sigmund Freud, who declared that women’s orgasms that centered on the clitoris were infantile and represented an immature stage of development; only orgasms achieved via penis-in-vagina intercourse, with no additional messing around in private parts by other appendages, were considered worthy of a healthy woman. This famous pronouncement led to feelings of inferiority or pathology in many women whom we would now count as perfectly normal in their sexual responses (Zuk, 2002, p. 140).

The evolutionary significance of the human female orgasm has received quite a bit of attention over the last decade and a half. Several scientists mused on ways in which female orgasm might help those women experiencing it to achieve higher reproductive success, either currently or in our evolutionary history. But two considerations are important here. First, before examining the adaptive significance of a trait, we need to determine whether the trait is an adaptation at all. Zuk (2002) takes, in this case, the example of a nose. In a classic paper on the pitfalls of wanton application of the theory of natural selection to many traits, the evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould and the geneticist Richard Lewontin pointed out that although human noses are shaped in a perfect way to support spectacles, still no one would believe that noses have evolved because of selection for that function. The nose is not an adaptation for holding up glasses, and it would be absurd to look at different people’s noses to see which of them represents the organ best suited for the task and conclude that such individuals have been shaped, so to speak, by natural selection (Zuk, 2002, p. 142).

Similar is the case with a sexual selection which is seen differently in different cultures. For example, the concept of dating and mating in European countries is not considered bad before marriage, but the same concept is prohibited in Eastern and Arabic cultures. So, irrespective of the fact that how mate selection is made, sexual intercourse is the same everywhere. In every part of the world, sexual intercourse follows the same process and same procedure. Now comes a very interesting point that would bring the research to a full stop. Forget about the musical significance in sexual selection. During the mating process, sounds occurrence is natural, and sounds, as mentioned above, are the form of music. Whether human voices or sounds of Mother Nature, birds’ songs or a lion roar all are one way or the other associated with various pitches of music.

To get along with the notion that music effects sexual selection, we cannot go back in time and view the ancestral form of most traits, it is often difficult to know whether any particular trait is an adaptation or whether, like the bridge of the nose, it was co-opted for a different use much later in its history. However one thing for which we are sure is that music is still in evolution with the same process of ‘sexual selection’.

Works Cited

1. Bender Bert, (1996) The Descent of Love: Darwin and the Theory of Sexual Selection in American Fiction, 1871-1926: University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia.
2. Frederick Turner, “Biology and Beauty” In: Incorporations, ed. Jonathan Crary and Sanford Kwinter (New York: Zone Books, 1992), 406–21, 413
3. Goehr Lydia, (1998) The Quest for Voice: On Music, Politics, and the Limits of Philosophy the 1997 Ernest Bloch Lectures: Clarendon Press: Oxford.
4. Lancaster N. Roger, (2003) The Trouble with Nature: Sex in Science and Popular Culture: University of California Press: Berkeley, CA.
5. Sterelny Kim & Fitness Julie, (2003) From Mating to Mentality: Evaluating Evolutionary Psychology: Psychology Press: New York.
6. Wellesz Egon, (1957) Ancient and Oriental Music: Oxford University Press: Oxford.
7. Whyte Martin, King: Gruyter De Aldine, (1990) Dating, Mating and Marriage: New York.
8. Zuk Marlene, (2002) Sexual Selections: What We Can and Can’t Learn about Sex from Animals: University of California Press: Berkeley, CA.

Introduction

Research in music education is an area of research that lacks a philosophical grounding of research (Bennet Reimer, ed. Colwell, p.3). quantification of music education research has faced severe criticism because it is believed that music is immensely complex and the presence of the aesthetics element makes it impossible to quantify its aspects.

But the idea attained prominence in the 1930s by researchers like Carl Seashore. Proponents of the idea of quantitative research believe that it is not the music itself but the responses to different music teaching that is quantified (Madsen and Madsen, 1970, p.50, quoted in Colwell, p.96). The article under review is “The Effects of Choral Music Teacher Experience and Background on Music Teaching Style” by Alan Gumm.

Main text

The research methodology that has been used by Gumm consists of both correlational as well as experimental methods. Further this has been measured through observing music teachers in classrooms along with a questionnaire. The main purpose of this research was to develop a comprehensive music teaching technique which can be universally used. keeping in mind this aim Gumm had tried to compare the music teaching techniques of “novice” and “experienced” teachers and their effect on students.

The primary question that the research sought to answer is “What effect does choral music teacher experience and background have on music teaching style?” and the secondary questions which were also of concern in the research are “What are the relationships between background variables, including experience?”, “In parallel to a common criterion of effective music teaching behavior research”, and “what are the relative effects of background and music teaching style on music festival participation and success?”

The methodology employed by Gumm in the research was primarily based on collection of the data which was not done in the earlier phases of this experimental research. A questionnaire with demographic and educational details and their music education background details were asked along with a few questions regarding the teacher’s basic professional affiliation was asked. Teachers were asked to rate from a list of 134 music teaching styles which ones they “never” use to “always” on a 5-point Likert scale. The statistical analysis was done on finding the correlation and the dependency of the teaching styles and the experience of the teacher and the Chi-Square significance test.

The results of the research are indicative of the music teaching styles vis-à-vis ethnicity, age, experience etc of the teacher.

According to Phelps et al. (p. 185) the three concepts associated with experimental research are controlled observation, reliability, and validity. In Gumm’s research the method of controlled observation was employed wherein he observed the teaching styles of music teachers. Gumm inferred the teaching priorities of the teachers through their choice of music teaching behaviors. The reliability of self-rating techniques which Gumm undertook has been proven to be reliable by previous researchers like Bennet(1976), Cicchelli (1984), and Schultz and Switzsky (1984).

Gumm believes that the method of self-rating gives a more accurate finding of the teacher’s orientation than general observation which is a more objective methodology. So first the research gathered the music teacher’s self-perceptions regarding the music teaching styles and their focus, orientation and intent in the overall behavior of teaching of the respondent. Previous research has shown that teaching styles are stable over time but teaching behaviors vary.

Representing these priorities, eight dimensions of music teaching style identified and validated in the research were labeled Assertive Teaching, Time Efficiency, Nonverbal Motivation, Positive Learning Environment, Group Dynamics, Artistic Music Performance, Music Concept Learning, and Student Independence.

The eight dimensions of music teaching style were divided statistically into two higher-order factors, with the breadth of active behavioral learning inferred as the common focus of the first four dimensions listed above and the depth of student reflective cognitive learning as the focus of the latter four dimensions. The research instrument thus used by Gumm in music teaching style research was shown to be valid and reliable for use with teachers and students in choral and instrumental music.

The data was collected from choral music teachers from 2000 public and private schools randomly selected, in the US. The resultant sample was 473 choral music teachers. The statistical analysis that was done was based on categorical principal components analysis with optimal scaling was used to find the relationships between teacher background variables. Then categorical regression analyses were done with optimal scaling were used to investigate the effects of teacher background on music teaching style and to investigate the effects of teacher background and music teaching style dimensions on choral music festival participation and success.

Optimal scaling procedures allowed the full range of categorical (nominal) and quantitative (ordinal and numerical) variables to be analyzed in a single model for each dependent variable. Then the significance level was calculated by Chi-square. Since the method employed was taken from statistical researches the study could be generalized for any kind of music teaching research. Further, the literature support provided by Gumm validates the reliability of the methodology employed for the research.

The results thus found in the research showed that time and advancement in the music teaching profession was the common link between the variables of the first component, and that specialization in the music education field was the common link between the variables in the second component, except for gender.

This implies that music teachers in larger schools seemed to have a more varied and deep music teaching style and music teachers seemed not to differ substantively in music teaching style in short ranges of experience. Instead, a series of multi-year developmental stages can be deduced from the results. A distinct connection was found between gender and specialization implied that females and males tended toward different areas of specialization.

The standardization of music teaching method as is the purpose of Gumm’s research was also a research issue for Britton (1950, 1989). He too tried to formalize the music teaching style and had conducted extensive research with a lot of stress on validation and had documented his study. (Colwell, p.75)

Summary

The study’s design was based on experimental study but it did not have any hypothesis which was tested. This would have validated the experiment more strongly. Further in experimentation research, usually there is an experimental situation that is created wherein the teachers would have been shown a experimental video of music teaching scenario and then they would have been asked to pinpoint as to what was wrong or right in the video of music teaching and what he would have done in such a scenario. This would have given a clear picture of what the teacher feels eliminating the self-rating bias and given a more reliable result.

Reference:

MENC Handbook of Research Methodologies, edited by Richard Colwell. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Phelps, Roger P., Ronald H. Sadoff, Edward C. Warburton, and Lawrence Ferrara. “Quantitative Research: Experimental Methods and Statistical Techniques.” In A Guide to Research in Music Education, 185-203. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, INC., 2005.

Traditionally, music played a significant role in Christian worship services. Christian worship music is as old as the religion itself. Although its style has transformed significantly with time, it message has remained the same (Goff 56). In this paper, three important roles of Christian worship songs and hymns on their worship services will be looked at in detail.

Teachings for believers

Christians have used music to make important teachings to its believers. The intention was to spiritually uplift fellow Christian believers. Essentially, hymns and songs were sung to help the believers break from the thoughts of their routine, frustrating and problematic daily life. In addition, singing during worship services taught fellow Christians how to remain focused on their faith.

Christians have traditionally used music to encourage the believers to learn lessons on unity, and to challenge them to live as per the words of their songs. Christian believers have not only used songs for personal benefits but also for the benefit of teaching others (Taff et al. 45).

Through music, the churches’ theology was effectively communicated, educating fellow Christian believers how to “ instruct one on how to worship, teach small portions of Scripture, and speak of ways to successfully minister to others” (Taff et al. 45). Notably, music publicized the gospel and gave emphases on the essence of spreading the good news of deliverance.

Music could also bring the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ into the hearts of men. This was an additional way of uttering the message of the gospel. Ideally, music for worship contained elements about God’s attributes such that the worshippers would focus their attention upon him.

Music a show of dedication to God

Gospel songs and hymns are considered by Christians as a central component for worshiping their God. Music has a special way of “communicating to the emotions and planting the seed of definite decision in the heart” (Wilson-Dickson 23). This is achieved through simplistic and straightforward songs.

They also used harmonious and easy to sing lyrics which helped the singer to memorize songs as a sign of dedication to their God. Scores of songs are composed with the inspiration of the Christian Scripture, hence showing their dedication to their God. The message that the songs communicated tried to encourage Christians to establish deep and personal relationship with their God (Ogasapian 23).

Encouragement

Christians also use music as a source of encouragement. Music was a means of expressing the believers’ emotion. To others, music would stir their hearts to repentance to the Lord Jesus Christ, while to others; music would soften their stubborn hearts to bow down before the Lord. Through singing of songs which were repetitive, the Christians developed a sense of solace and encouragement. The believers enjoyed singing hymns and songs together as a show of unity which encouraged them to grow together.

Ogasapian claims that when a Christian sings, those around notices the singer and attempts to sing alongside as a sign of encouragement (56). Martin Luther said that, in addition to theology, music is a perfect art that can bring peace and joy to the hearts of Christians (Wilson-Dickson 23). The members of the congregation found singing uplifting and drawing them closer to God. As a result, they were better geared up to connect with the rest of the worship service.

Works Cited

Goff, James. Close Harmony: A History of Southern Gospel. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2002. 56. Print.

Ogasapian, John. Church Music in America, 1620-2000. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2007. 23. Print.

Taff, Tori, Christa Farris, Caroline Mitchell, Stephanie Ottosen, Jay Swartzendruber, Michael Tenbrink, and Chris Well. CCM Magazine Presents 100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music. Nashville, TN: Integrity Publishers, 2006.45. Print.

Wilson-Dickson, Andrew. The Story of Christian Music. Oxford, England: Lion Publishing, 1992. 23. Print.

Abstract

Findings from previous research have established that various features of music have profound effects on human behavior particularly the mood and endurance in exercise and sports domains. This research aims at determining how music tempo affects human performance in specific tasks.

To examine this concept, the current study, involved 28 participants grouped into two categories, the experimental group with 15 participants and the control group with 13 participants, who were required to complete three mazes before filling out questionnaires. The experimental group listened to fast music while the control group only listened to low tempo music.

The results showed that the control group, on average, completed the mazes at a significantly lesser time than the experimental group. This indicates a correlation between the effects of music upon the subjects’ lives and task performance. These findings have potential implications for labor force in enhancing labor productivity and sports psychology and training. Understanding how the tempo of music affects the speed of performing a task is not only helpful in keeping work schedules but also increasing physical productivity.

Introduction

The effect of music upon human behavior has aroused much interest in psychology. Most of previous researches centered on aspects of human behavior such as mood, emotional responses, and personal preferences. Edworthy and Warring (2006), established that faster music elicits happier responses and can influence the mood (p. 597).

In contrast, slower music or lyrics produce unhappier emotional responses. Music, therefore, elicits emotional responses, which in turn influence the human perception of speed. These emotional responses perhaps relate to people’s perception of time and speed.

Webster and Weird established that people who listen to faster music, have much happier moods, thought they talked faster and conversation subjects progressed much faster than people who listened to slower music (2005, p. 196 ). Since listening to music alters the mental states that influence human activity, various structural aspects of music can also alter the physical speed.

The effect of music on athlete’s performance offers important insights on the influence of music on speed and endurance. Most athletes listen to music during workouts and prior to competitions as a motivational tool that makes them work harder.

Music tends to distract one’s attention from the present task, which makes the individual less focused on the physical activity (Crust, & Clough, 2006, p. 191). Diverting attention to music leaves no room to focus on tension or pain produced by the exercise. Consequently, the perception about the exertion or complexity of the task is lower.

This increases the people’s endurance as well as efforts in performing tasks. Music, therefore, increases endurance making people to work harder though subconsciously. The high efforts expended, when people are listening to music, speeds up the completion of the specific task. However, much of the previous studies do not show how different music tempos influence speed of a physical or mental activity. This research uses a combination of slow and fast tempo music w to investigate people’s speed when performing specific tasks.

The purpose of this study is to examine how the different music tempos affect the levels of human activity with other factors such as habits held constant. This research will test the following hypotheses: Firstly, music with fast tempo will lead to fast completion of the mazes. From the literature review, fast music elicits happier emotional responses, which improves the speed of task performance. Secondly, the research will test the alternative hypothesis that a faster tempo will make a participant stressed out, perform the task poorly, and as a result, take longer to complete the task.

Method

Participants

This study involved 28 male and female college students. The participants were grouped into two categories; experimental and control groups. The grouping was random, that is, there was no specific criterion used to place the participants into either of the group.

The research involved manipulating the tempo of music using a classical piano piece called Chopin’s love with the experimental group listening to high tempo music as they completed three mazes. The control group listened to the piece of music only at the original tempo.

Materials and Measures

This study involved 28 participants divided into two groups. There was a provision of sheets of paper to each of them upon sitting down. The papers contained instructions on how to complete the three mazes. The instructions demanded that the participants had to inform the timekeeper before starting and after completing a maze.

The participants were required to complete three mazes while listening to music of varied tempo. They recorded their respective times of completing each maze. After the exercise, the participants were required to complete a questionnaire to provide information regarding their experience during the exercise.

Procedure

Description of Experimental Music: The music selection used involved a classical piano piece known as Chopin’s love as composed by Nakamura Yuriko. The control group listened to the piece of music at the original tempo, BPM of 108.42 according to mix Meister BPM analyzer.

For the experimental group, researcher increased the tempo of the same piece of music to 185 BPM using a Garage Band program. The two groups listened to the piece of music at a constant volume from an apple Mac laptop through large headphones covering their entire ears.

Completing the mazes: Once the seated, the 28 participants had to read a sheet of paper containing instructions about the exercise. The research then grouped them into two categories: the control group (n=13), who only listened to the piece of music at the original tempo and the experimental group (n=15), who listened to the music at a higher tempo at 185 BPM.

The two groups were to put onto the headphones and once the music begins playing, count five seconds aloud. The two groups listened to the music through headphones. Once the music started playing, the participants counted loudly for five seconds before informing the timekeeper to start timing.

After finishing each maze, the participants were required to shout “STOP” and again count five seconds before proceeding to complete the next maze. The procedure required the participants to repeat these instructions until they completed the three mazes. Questionnaire: After completing the mazes, participants were then asked to fill out a

Questionnaire with questions about the role of music in their lives, their experience during the maze completing exercise, their familiarity with the music played and whether they have any hearing impairments. This aimed at determining whether the impact music had on the participant’s lives correlated with the effect the piece of music had on the participant’s speed in completing the maze. The researcher recorded all the respective data.

Results

The analysis of the results focused on the hypothesis that fast tempo music elicits positive emotional responses that would make the participant to complete the maze faster. Table below records the mean of the participant’s maze completion time (in seconds) and the standard deviation (SD) for the two groups (the experimental and control groups);

Mean = Summation of the time taken to fill the mazes/Sample size

Standard deviation=√∑ (each value-mean)²/Sample size

Maze Completion time (seconds)

Table 1: Means for control and Experimental groups

The preliminary results indicated that the questionnaire items had less effect on the speed at which either group completed the maze. The table 1 shows the means and the standard deviations for each treatment.

The results conformed to the hypothesis that high tempo music the participants making them to complete the mazes faster than their counterparts subjected to low tempo music do. On average, the participants in the experimental group completed the mazes 3.34seconds faster compared to the participants in the control group.

Because the participants in the experimental group completed the mazes much faster compared to participants in the control group, the results were consistent with the first hypothesis.

To understand the results of maze completion, the research sought to find out if there is any correlation between the questionnaire items and the speed of completing the mazes.

Overall, no participant reported having any hearing impairment, six participants never listened to music while working, and five rarely listened to music, 12 sometimes, five usually with no participant always listening to music when working. These results indicated that the participant’s previous music life or habit had no significant effects on the participant’s speed of completing the mazes.

Discussion

The major purpose of this study was to find out whether the music tempo has an effect on the speed of task performance. Previous research had established that music elicits emotional responses. These emotional responses then influence the perception of speed, which makes people to perceive that an action progresses faster when subjected to fast tempo music (Edworthy, & Warring, 2006, p. 604). In addition, previous research has shown that music influences the efforts that people put into a task, particularly sporting activities (Crust, & Clough, 2006, p.194).

Based on this evidence, the present study hypothesized that the high music tempo would make people complete involving tasks such as maze completion much faster than in conditions of low tempo music., the results obtained were consistent with the hypothesis but supported the alternative hypothesis that high music tempo makes people perform involving tasks at a much faster rate.

The experimental group, on average, completed the maze at a faster rate compared to the control group under conditions of low tempo music. From these results, it is justifiable to conclude that fast tempo music stimulates physical and mental activity when performing specific tasks, which increases the speed of performing the task.

This research also aimed at identifying the specific characteristics that predict the extent that the effects of music tempo had on people. However, the items, which included the music life of the participants, hearing impairments and the music genre that participants frequently listened to, did not correlate with the speed of completing the maze.

This indicates the inapplicability of these items in prediction of the speed of completing performing tasks. Although the items tested in the questionnaire had less overall impact on the participant’s speed, the lack of hearing impairment among the subjects suggests clearly that speed correlated with music tempo.

This design of this study aimed to explore the relationship between music tempo and cognitive speed. Usually, when many factors are involved, it is difficult to find results without any external influences. However, this research overcame these obstacles by using a common activity (maze completion) and a piece of music popular among the participants.

The intention of the questionnaires items was for better interpretation of the results obtained from the two groups. The findings of this research that high tempo music has a distractive effect, allow for further investigation into the role music plays in enhancing human performance in competitive situations such as athletics or sports. Further research is essential to find out why and how music tempo influences human performance.

Limitations of the Study

One limitation of this study was that few participants participated in the research, which made it difficult to collect a large amount of data for each treatment. Another limitation of this study was that the participants could not have known the purpose of this study and consequently provided wrongful information when filling out the questionnaires. Future research should explore the effect of both music synchrony and lyrics on the speed of human performance, particularly in physical activities.

References

Crust, L., & Clough, P. (2006). The influence of rhythm and personality in the endurance Response to motivational asynchronous music. Journal of Sports Sciences, 24, 191-196.

Edworthy, J., & Warring, H. (2006). The effects of music tempo and loudness level on Treadmill exercise. Ergonomics, 49, 597-604.

Studies on adolescence and teenage culture are confined to understanding of teenagers’ needs. Because adolescents have similar concerns and needs and create similar peer groups, music performs the same goals for all of the groups. Being a source of peer group identity, music contrasts either with working class street subculture or with conformist culture in schools.

Accepting the potent impact of music on adolescents’ behavior, identity, and psychology leads to a deeper analysis of the influences of heavy metal music on teenagers’ development. At this point, adolescents’ preoccupation with heavy metal music is found to be harmful in terms of its influence on school achievement, social behavior, and individual differences (Harqreaves & North, 1997).

It has been discovered that heavy metal fans are likely to display delinquent, disrespect, and aggression (Harqreaves & North, 1997). Male heavy metal admirers tend to be more amoral, manipulative, cynical, and hypersexual. Therefore, further and prolonged fascination with this genre of music contributes negatively to teenagers’ experience and increase the extent of alienation and rejection of society.

Regardless of gender differences, both female and male adolescents absorbed with heavy metal music display negative character traits development. Specifically, male fans of heavy metal, therefore, disclose a higher level of reckless behavior, including sexual behavior, driving behavior, and drug use (Arnett, 1991).

They are also reluctant to establish and sustain favorable family relations. Female fans of heavy metal music report reckless behavior in terms of vandalism, shoplifting, drug use, and sexual behavior. They also display lower level of self-esteem (Arnett, 1991). To understand the connection between musical preferences and adolescent behavior, specific emphasis should be placed on subliminal effects of heavy metal music bringing in backward message to the adolescents’ consciousness (Frith, 2007, p. 322).

Adolescents’ being fond of heavy rock bands seek to become more self-assured with regard to dating and sexuality display. What is more threatening is that family relationships are in accord with liking or disliking heavy metal music. Within the context of music production and industry, it is not the actual music popularization that influences adolescent behavior, but the music itself with its aggressive rhythms, extremely loud volume, and electric guitars playing.

The connection between behavior and physical influence of music is apparent. Music, for instance, has the ability to ‘seize’ a moment and make adolescents feel that they are living out of time, with no memory for the past and the present. So, the influence of beat, pulse and rhythm controls human mind and body.

In order to understand the psychological dimension of music impact on mood and behavior, reference to behavioral and cognitive theoretical frameworks should be made. At this point, Saarikallio (2007) argues, “…musical activities are indeed behavioral actions and mood regulation is realized through various behaviors like listening, playing singing or dancing” (p. 30).

At the same time, music can be regarded as a platform that fosters the cognitive analysis of emotional experiences. Music is a kind of a symbolic space enabling the listeners to pass through conflicting issues and reevaluate their emotional experience. In addition, music proves to monitor three elements of emotional experience, including valence, attention and intensity, and clarity (Saarikallio, 2007).

First, valence presents music as a means of expressing adolescents’ attitude to the surrounding world. Second, the degree of attention and intensity is affected by adolescent affiliation to a particular genre of music. Finally, music sometimes allows adolescents to understand and interpret both their positive and negative experiences.

With regard to the above, music performs the function of a mood regulator. In particular, listening to the music can modify situation through creating an atmosphere. Music can also deploy attention through focusing on feelings and thoughts, as well as through distracting from undesired feelings and thoughts. Mood is recognized as a source of regulating positive and negative moods (Saarikallio, 2007).

In case with adolescents, heavy metal music can serve to dampen negative moods. Greater music regulation is closely associated with diversity in musical preference. Specifically, the strong intensity and high volume of heavy metal and rock music reveal the emotional experience of teenagers and provides a mechanism for coping with stressful experiences that are predetermined by challenging development period.

The influence of heavy metal music on adolescents can be much more threatening. In particular, Scheel (1999) has found a strong connection between music preferences and suicidal vulnerability among teenagers. Hence, it has been reported that “…heavy metal fans have weaker reasons for living, overall, than do nonfans and that female heavy metal fans show a more extreme negative pattern” (p. 259).

However, there is also an assumption that suicidal vulnerability involves such variables as family problems and stresses that teenager experience. As a result, they tend to listen to depressive music aggravating their already problematic psychological state. In addition, there is likelihood of development of antisocial attitudes and behaviors (Hansen & Hansen, 1991).

The personality characteristics, however, also matter when it comes to differences in music preferences. In addition, contrastive characteristics of heavy metal fans with nonfans also prove significant variation between these interest groups.

Music preferences strongly depend on personality types. According to the studies conducted by Schwartz (2004), forceful, inhibited, sensitive adolescents with self-esteem and family rapport concern tend to listen to heavy music. The research also indicates that general percentage of adolescents listening heavy music is much higher than among those listening to other genres of music (Schwartz, 2004).

Hence, admirers of heavy music have an anti-conformist way of thinking contributing to their higher self-doubts. Such teenagers are inclined to question other’s abilities, motives, and rules; they communicate in an insensitive and blunt manner and they feel difficulties while encountering changes. With regard to these studies, heavy metal music enhances the negative experiences of adolescents, as well as aggravates their in ability to live in society with commonly shared norms and values.

Listening to heavy music enables adolescents with family problems to forget about them and find comfort in emotional filling of the music. Such adolescents are usually emotional immature because of developing conflicts with parents based on their children dependence/independence.

Finally, it is also suggested that heavy music reflects teenagers’ negative emotions. In particular, Schwartz (2004) states, “listening to “upsetting and protesting” and “tough and hard” music likely reflects the quality and intensity of their internal states and assuages their turbulent emotions” (p. 57). This is of increased concern when the performers of heavy music are almost of similar age to the audience. Detachment from society, therefore, is compensated by negatively colored music.

As it has been defined earlier, group identity and status are closely associated with class distinctions shaping their personal needs, concerns, and interests. According to Firth (2007),

…if group identity is a part of teenage culture for conventional reasons…then even people with an ideology of individual takes become a groups of individuals and need the symbols and friends…to assert themselves as a group (p. 6).

In this respect, uniting groups under the influence of common music preferences, particular under the influence of heavy metal music, contributes to shaping new identities with specific personal features. Sharing common social attitudes, their behavior becomes similar and, as result, such group can develop a new sub-culture.

From a historical perspective, the development of hippie movement was the result of identity formation where distinctions between the audience and the performers were blurred (Frith, 2007, p. 18.). Because the organized community ideology was based on music along, their views on life were beyond the established norms in a majority society.

As a result, groups interested in heavy metal music are inspired in violent movements against social constraints. Adolescents form the major part of those movements because of their increased psychological vulnerability contribute to their aggressive behavior, anger, and rejection of existing society that disapprove of adolescents’ choices.

While discussing on the influence of heavy music on identity formation, specific attention should also be paid to the analysis of such issues as moral relativity, hypermasculinity, and anti-establishment values. There is a strong connection between heavy music listening and adolescent experiencing psychological pressure.

In this respect, music preferences reveal the needs, conflicts, and issues that constitute teenagers’ psychological portrait, involving the aspects of dependence – independence, identity, and separateness – connection. What is more important is that music choices reveal values, norms, and images forming the adolescent’s self.

Within these assumptions in mind, Schwartz (2004), “…adolescents preferring heave music have more sympathetic views of suicide, homicide, and Satanism…experience psychological turmoil…and exhibit more anger and emotional problems…” (pp. 48-49). In addition, fans of heavy metal express less respect for women and are more likely to be involved in criminal activities and antisocial behavior.

In addition, identity formation is also carried out through fans’ affiliation to the subculture to the degree that high perception seeking is correlated with alienation from society and family. Within the analysis of three profiles, Arnett (1993) demonstrates their high sensation qualities, involvement in subculture with regard to the extent of their alienation.

In conclusion, the analysis of relations between heavy metal music listening and adolescent mood, behavior, psychological state, and regulation has revealed negative evaluations mostly. In particular, adolescent behavior becomes more aggressive and less motivated. Both boys and girls are less likely to achieve high results in school; they prefer following the subculture of alienation because of family problem and friction with their peers whose outlooks on life conform to the accepted social norms.

Adolescents listening to heavy music have increased suicidal vulnerability because of the lower self-esteem and inability to make sense of their life. Finally, the psychological state of teenagers is largely affected by the physical construct music rather than by the overall popularity of heavy music trends. Hence, intensified and hard, rough and loud, the music enhances the negative perceptions of the world and contributes to the establishment of anti-social outlooks. Such a situation can lead to formation of specific identity groups.

References

Arnett, J. (1991). Heavy Metal Music and Reckless Behavior among Adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 20(6), 573-592.

Arnett, J. (1993). Three Profiles of Heavy Metal Fans: A Taste for Sensation and a Subculture of Alienation. Qualitative Sociology, 16(4), 423.

Frith, S. (2007). Taking Popular Music Seriously: Selected Essays. US: Ashgate Publishing.

Hansen, C. H., & Hansen, R. D. (1991). Constructing Personality and Social Reality Through Music: Individual Differences among Fans of Punk and Heavy Metal Music. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. 35(3), 335-350.

Harqreaves, D., & North, A. (1997). The Social Psychology of Music. US: Oxford University Press.

Saarikallio, S. (2007). Music as Mood Regulation in Adolescence. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Jyvaskyla Studies in Humanities.

Scheel, K. S. (1999). Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Suicidality: An Empirical Investigation. Adolescence, 34(134), 253.

Schwartz, K. (2004). Music Preferences, Personality Style, and Developmental Issues of Adolescents. Journal of Youth Ministry, 3(1), 47-64.

Whenever a man obsessed by the idea of a piece of art living in him, starts expressing his understanding of the world, and the people living in it, and him living among those people, there must be the new masterpiece coming.

In spite of the fact that, as a rule, one indulges into art to find the shelter from the reality, the author of the book called The Soloist explores quite a different issue of the man who uses his art as the only way to cling to the world that is slipping through his fingers.

However strange and confusing that might sound, music and only music both takes one away from this world into another sphere of self-cognition and helps to get through in the world of the ordinary.

To Make a Snapshot of the Book

Exploring the issue of a man getting crazy because of the twists of fate and playing a violin to stay sane, Lopez provides quite a case for the psychologists from all over the world. It seems unbelievable what music can do to a person who has problems with surviving in the world.

Amazingly, it can help both people with deeply psychological problems and the disabled. There must be some invisible material that makes music the one and only language understood by everyone, despite the differences in the age, education, culture or whatever.

Music unites and makes people share everything what they have with the rest. It provides a quiet resort for those who need to be distracted from the surrounding cruelty, and links things and people that might never collide together.

It is impossible to predict the turns of destiny that night lead one to the state if insanity. As Lopez put that himself,

Mental illness doesn’t choose the most talented or the smartest or the richest or the poorest. It shows no mercy and often arrives like an unexpected storm, dropping an endless downpour on young dreams. (Lopez 116)

It is extremely important to figure out the way Lopez sheds the light on the problem. To him, it is a conflict between a man, art and society. This has always been an issue for heated debates, and the question of whether music or any other kind of art can help one to integrate into the society and become a part of it, understanding it better with the help of music, or, on the contrary, be thrown away as a weirdo that is prepossessed by the art that no one needs.

Indeed, one can dissolve in music so fully that it will take long time to crawl back to the world with its daily-routine issues and the growing lack of beauty. So the question is how on earth music can be a link between the world of a single person and the one that makes the other universe?

Can the music support the one who feels an outcast among the people who have repeatedly pushed him away and now are not willing to take him as a part of their universe?

This is the problem that has been brewing in the society since the day it was born. Thus, the importance of the subject is beyond any reasonable doubt. Is it possible that the music can be a therapy that might cure the patient? If yes, then what are the ways that it can work all those miracles? The credibility of the issue is rather doubtful, and all this doubles the problem. Many things like people’s psychological state, their health and their sanity depend on it. The abovementioned altogether highlights the importance of this research.

Now it is time to speak of the results that the given research can provide.

The Importance of Being Different

First of all, it has been figured out that the influence that music can have on a person may vary depending both on the one who listens to the music and on the kind of music that is being played.

It is very reasonable to point out that in case when music is supposed to have therapeutic influence on children, it is better to use the one of classical genre, that has the effect both soothing and making children think better and react better.

The idea is that at this stage, children are supposed to gain new knowledge, absorb new information and acquire new skills that will help them in their future relations with the outer world. However, together with the abovementioned, children must have much more rest than the adults do, since the organism of the former is far too fragile yet, and they need a special treatment that will allow them to absorb knowledge efficiently.

At this moment, the tissue of the classical music comes to the point. It is not that the children should like it or listen to it daily with the growing interest. The whole idea is that they can hear it as a background, which will have the impact on the learning process and the process of cognition of the outer world.

This can help with the situation when a child is rather nervous – which is rather widespread situation – and needs something that could help him or her to calm down. The effect of the classical music in the situation with a nervous child is amazing, since a few days later any traces of neurosis will vanish and the child will become times calmer and composed.

It is especially important if a child suffers from a mental disease. In this case, the music therapy is of utter importance for the child, for his or her further development and for coming to terms with the society.

Music is a no-other-way-out situation in the case of an autistic child. There is nothing else than parents could find to help the boy or girl to remain in the big world, not letting the child to get locked in the small world of his or her own.

As Betsey King-Brunk claims,

The first step toward learning and communication, therefore, is helping a child focus on the information that is important. Several “acoustic” therapies have been created to help children in the autism spectrum learn to filter, tolerate and/or prioritize the sound frequencies around them. Although many of these techniques have children listen to the recorded music, they are a separate category of music therapy. (18)

The above-mentioned altogether means that music therapy is actually more than simply listening to the recording. What does it include, then?

In fact, there are several traits that differ listening to music and music therapy. These are the specific sounds and melodies that might serve as the therapy, chosen carefully and developed into a course that is aimed at certain result. Otherwise, there will be not effect.

The numerous researches in the sphere of music therapy for autism show that its impact is huge. Children begin to get interested in the outer world and stop chaining themselves to the small space they used to live in, isolated from the rest of people. Thus, the aim of the researchers is to dig deeper to figure out if music therapy can cure the disease completely. In this case, the art of medicine will make a huge step forward, allowing doctors to cure the people who are now doomed to be the outcasts of the society.

Which Way Does the Music Heal?

However, these are not only children who can benefit psychologically from listening to the music as a therapy. It can work with adults as well, In spite of the fact that adults are a harder material to deal with when it comes to speaking about psychology and the problems with their consciousness and soul, there are still some prospects of curing psychological diseases with help of music.

The thing that must be remembered is that there are basically two approaches of the music therapy that are applied to the adults. These are a psychotherapeutic approach and a music-centered approach. The basic ideas of the two are rather simple. The former, introduced by Mary Priestley, and actually a pioneering one in the sphere of music role in psychiatry, presumes the individual approach to the patients in terms of their music treatment and is not focused on working with a lot of people at once:

She began to use insights gained from her analysis in understanding the work with her music therapy patients and subsequently began to consider the music to be an expression of emotion in sound and a link to the unconscious. Priestley’s definition for her method was ‘the use of words and symbolic music improvisations by the client and therapists for the purpose of exploring the client’s inner life and providing the proclivity for growth’. (Darnley-Smith 25-26)

The calculations were impeccable. The new method worked right and the results came fats and encouraging. Indeed, certain patterns of music can create the necessary environment for the people suffering from a range of psychological diseases and cause a fast recovery.

The second method called Nordoff-Robins therapy suggests a music-centered approach and is based on the fact that practically every single man can create a certain rhythm with help of a musical instrument. The relaxation that comes as a result of making music, and not simply listening to it, is something that cannot be explained as a plain need for rhythm. There is something that makes the essence of “homo sapiens sapiens”, the very need for art that lives in every single man.

It has been notified that even the people with psychological dysfunctions are eagerly indulging in all kinds of arts – actually, it would be reasonable to say, “every man with psychological dysfunctions”, because, unlike the rest of people, they need something that could help them to prove that they are worthy, that they are a decent part of the society that they live in.

Indeed, “Bodies of music therapy knowledge are not universalizable but there are commonalities of practice” (Aldridge 22). There are no typical cases in psychiatry and psychology, but there are certain patterns and certain ideas that might serve as the grounds for the further treatment of the given disease.

Where the Words Cease

Summing up all that has already been mentioned, there is the clue idea that holds the whole theory of the musical treatment and the music therapy as one of the variants of curing people with mental and psychological problems. The very fact that music is something that everyone can enjoy and understand is of the utter importance for the psychological research.

Giving the basic ideas of how music therapy can help people experiencing certain problems, the given work suggests th future prospects of the music therapy development, as well as summarizes everything that has been achieved I this field so far.

It is extremely important that people should understand that music is one of those instruments that could give psychologists the opportunity to look into the patient’s soul without the wearing talks and long researches. It is quick, efficient and fruitful in terms of the positive effect that one can observe through the last ten years of the music therapy development.

However, it is also an important conclusion that the approaches have to vary depending on the person that they are applied to. Although a person’s chain of reactions can be traced and explained, there are still a lot of white spots in human’s psychology, and there are no common places in the theory.

It was perfectly explained by Grocke:

With the increase of social migration all over the world, therapeutic relationships are significantly influenced by the cultural norms of both clients and therapists. Subtle communication cues and personal space are culturally sensitive (23).

Thus, although the approach that has to be taken is supposed to ground on the latest researches and the methods described above, the doctor also has to take into consideration the patient’s personal peculiarities that differ him from the case studies that have been known so far. Each of them is a new world that has to be unlocked and understood, and that is where the music therapy must help.

With the new ways of helping people to overcome their own problems, whether those are phobias, neuroses, depressions or mental diseases, the doctors will be able to increase the speed of the patients’ recovery in hundred times. What used to take years of psychological training and careful observations, could now last for several weeks.

However amazing and unbelievable that may sound, the new means of treating the patients with help of music can provide the clue for curing the diseases that used to chain people to the ward of the asylum.

This is a major breakthrough, which has to be taken into account. After all, the famous expression says that music begins where the words cease, so there might come the time when hope rises where a melody sounds. This sounds like a description of heaven, doesn’t it? Well, perhaps heaven is another name for the place where there is no room for illness.

Works Cited

Aldridge, David. Case Study in Music Therapy. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2005. Print.

Dranley-Smith Rachel, Helen M. Pattey. Music Therapy. Sacramento, CA: SAGE, 2003. Print.

Grocke, Denis, Tony Wigram. Receptive Methods in Music Therapy: Techniques and Clinical Applications for Music therapy Clinicians, Eductaors and Students. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2007. Print.

King Brunk, Betsey. Music Therapy: Another Path to Learning and Communication fort Children on the Autism Spectrum. Orlando, FL: Future Horizons, 2004. Print.

Lopez, Steve. The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music. New York, NY: Penguin Group USA. 2010. Print.

Intervention Overview

Social work as a profession and discipline has adopted various psychological therapeutic interventions throughout its history. One of such interventions is music therapy which is aimed at helping people in a sensitive way accurately adjusting the possibilities this therapy may offer to the requirements of a particular client of a group of clients. Music as a method of treatment has been used for several centuries and exists as a discipline for approximately seventy years (Wheeler, 2015).

Since ancient times, people have been using music for healing and ensured the power of music to be a source of positive influence to make a change. Reflecting the cultural background and the views of particular nations on music and its conceptualization, music therapy grew as one of the most frequently and effectively applied interventions.

In the 19-20^th century, it developed into a distinct academic discipline. The earliest publications were made by Edwin Atlee and Samuel Mathews in the first decade of the 19^th century (American Music Therapy Association, 2019). In the 1950s, the National Association for Music Therapy was organized in the United States which gave a start to multiple similar institutions not only in the USA but also around the world.

In the US, music therapy emerged as a part of the recreational movement, which included other kinds of arts used for treatment interventions (Kelly & Doherty, 2017). Thus, the factors that influenced the development of music therapy are related to the historical, religious, and overall cultural background on the earlier stages of its advancement, as well as the belief that recreational activities have a prospective positive influence on both, mental and physical health of a person.

Music therapy is based on several theories of human behavior. They include behaviorism and social learning theory, and psychodynamic theory (“Overview of theories of human behavior & the social environment,” 2008). Within the psychodynamic theory, a person’s problem is viewed from the perspective suggesting that the cause of the issue “lies within an individual” and might be eliminated through a change in a personality by overcoming the defensive obstacles (Maguire, 2002, p. 45).

Another theory, behaviorism and social learning, concentrates on how people “develop cognitive functioning” and learn with the help of the environment they are in (“Overview of theories of human behavior & the social environment,” 2008, p. 2). This theory applies to behavioral and symptomatic change and provides a broad range of interventions. Music therapy ground on these theories and enables taking into account the environment and the level of psychological development to find an individual approach to each client and ensure his or her efficient recovery.

Intervention Strategies

Music therapy has acquired a wide range of principles and concepts throughout its history. According to the American Music Therapy Association (2019), music therapy “is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program” (para.1).

This intervention provides opportunities for a therapist to resolve different physical, emotional, social, or cognitive issues by initiating listening to, creating, or dancing to music. The main principle of this intervention is that it focuses on helping clients “to develop skills, adapt behavior, and overcome obstacles” (Wheeler, 2015, p. 5). The clinical goals are achieved with the help of restructuring human behavior, provoking emotions and reactions, as well as establishing an opportunity for a person to express him- or herself through music. According to Rolvsjord and Stige (2015), the concept of context is crucial when carrying out music interventions.

A qualified therapist should incorporate the data about the social, environmental, historical, and cultural context the therapy is applied in to reach the highest level of efficacy when introducing an individualized approach to clinical treatment.

The main music therapy strategies involve some specific approaches to the organization of work with diverse patients to succeed in their recovery. Since there exist a broad array of interventions and issues where music therapy applies, there might be many variants of strategies’ utilization. The primary action is determining the therapeutic effect which might be gained with the help of such methods as receptive activity, composition, improvisation, and performance (Wheeler, 2015).

Another strategy is the application of musical improvisation to facilitate the expression of emotions and enhance awareness about them (Lee et al., 2018). A music therapist might introduce diverse interventions for both, individual and group sessions, thus enforcing bonding with the patients and improving the clinical context for the comfort of the clients.

This intervention is considered to be an evidence-based one, as it follows from the definition presented by the American Music Therapy Association (2019). Evidence-based practice requires constant updating of the theoretical and practical data serving as a basis for the interventions following the latest findings and literature publications (Wheeler, 2015). Since music therapy is a multidisciplinary area of work, it needs to be performed in agreement with the principles of other disciplines to deliver the anticipated results. Within this area, a social worker needs to be aware of the latest findings of the application of music therapy in many psychiatric and medical fields, the outcomes and positive implications.

Client Fit

The analysis of academic literature provides an opportunity to characterize music therapy as a multifaceted discipline capable of being applied to various health problems (mental and physical) to reach clinical goals. The collected evidence underline the positive outcomes music has provided for physical rehabilitation, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, autism spectrum conditions, depression, substance abuse disorders, and many others (Greenberg, Rentfrow, & Baron-Cohen, 2015; Hohmann, Bradt, Stegemann, & Koelsch, 2017; Ragilo, 2015; Wheeler, 2015). These types of problems might be addressed in different client groups.

The specific populations with which music interventions work well include people of different age and with various health issues. According to Porter et al. (2017), some positive effects were found upon the application of music-related procedures for children and adolescents experiencing behavioral and emotional problems. At the same time, this approach showed significant results for seniors with depressive disorders, as well as groups of patients going through rehabilitation after a physical injury (Wheeler, 2015).

Another population that music therapy works well with is people suffering from substance use disorders (Hohhman et al., 2017). Therefore, music-oriented procedures are adequate for minors, adolescents, adults, and seniors who experience a range of health issues from anxiety and depression to substance use and autism.

The music-related interventions are universal and address multiple clinical issues but do not embrace every client group subject to therapy. For example, music therapy will not provide any effect for the deaf or people with significant auditory sense disorders. Also, according to Wheeler (2015), the implementation of music in therapy for the end-of-life clients did not show sufficient evidence proving the ability of the intervention to reduce anxiety and suffering in this population.

The same insufficient results were achieved for mechanical ventilation and coronary heart disease patients (Wheeler, 2015). Thus, there are specific groups of patients with whom music-related therapeutic procedures do not work well. However, the significantly large number of issues where this therapy is effectively applied validates its inclusiveness and potency.

Cultural Competence

As mentioned earlier, music therapy is closely intertwined with the cultural background of a person under treatment. The very nature of music as a type of art that emerges on the background of some national beliefs and traditions imposes a great cultural sensitivity of this method. However, it is vital for a therapist to adhere to some rules and ethical norms to ensure cultural competence. When introducing music-related interventions for a client, it is important to obtain “cultural empathy, openness, and a nonjudgmental attitude” (Wheeler, 2015, p. 61).

For example, it would be applicable to incorporate traditional songs and melodies in the therapy with First Nations peoples. Also, the professional utilization of music specific for the ethnicity of a particular client will enhance the therapeutic effect of the procedure. Apart from ethnic groups, music therapy allows for the treatment of disorders in LGBT patients. Despite its potential in application to sexual minorities’ therapy, a multicultural competence in music interventions is difficult to achieve due to the complex history in work with this population.

According to Bain, Grzanka, Crowe (2016), the modern LGBT therapy lacks tolerance and is mostly heterosexually oriented. Thus, it is important to incorporate “diverse sexual orientation and gender identity issues into an existing disciplinary framework that has been historically hostile towards non-normative sexualities and genders” (Bain et al., 2016, p. 22). Since LGBT youth struggles with prejudice in the society, as well as in clinic environment, it is vital to develop a culturally sensitive therapy capable of resolving the issues of sexual minorities with the help of music.

Regarding the above-mentioned issues concerning cultural competence in music therapy, it is relevant to introduce specific ways to improve the interventions for the benefit of all client groups. According to National Association of Social Workers (2015), a culturally competent social worker has to foster self-awareness about the cultural background of his or her own and apply the same respectful attitude to others, especially those in therapy.

To succeed at this, a music therapist should not only possess a significant level of expertise in the psychological area but be a professional musician, who has a good command of culture knowledge (Wheeler, 2015). Therapists should improve their understanding of cultural groups that they serve, “identify the limitations and strengths of contemporary theories and practice models,” and demonstrate cultural empathy (National Association of Social Workers, 2015, p. 28). It has to take time and effort to implement these considerations in practice.

Summary

In conclusion, a significant number of research studies on music therapy suggests its many strengths. This intervention applies to children, teenagers, adults, and the elderly experiencing depression, physical rehabilitation, behavioral and cognitive disorders, Parkinson’s disease, autism, and substance use. It is also effective in cultural context due to the nature of music as a characteristic of ethnic arts. However, there are some limitations to this therapy because it does not provide sufficient results in end-of-life care, the deaf, and LGBT clients.

The research of this intervention has increased the level of professional knowledge about the possible application of music in therapy. It is evident that there is a scope of literature devoted to procedures for diverse groups of clients. Thus, a therapist’s practice might benefit from the utilization of existing studies. At the same time, the detected gaps in research allow for further investigation of some areas of music interventions application, including the LGBT population and the issues specific for particular ethnic groups.

References

American Music Therapy Association. (2019). What is music therapy? Web.

Bain, C. L., Grzanka, P. R., Crowe, B. J. (2016). Toward a queer music therapy: The implications of queer theory for radically inclusive music therapy. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 50, 22-23.

Greenberg, D. M., Rentfrow, P. J., & Baron-Cohen. S. (2015). Musical experience through the empathizing–systemizing (E-S) Theory: Implications for autism. Empirical Musicology Review, 10(1), 80-95.

Hohmann, L., Bradt, J., Stegemann, T., & Koelsch, S. (2017). Effects of music therapy and music-based interventions in the treatment of substance use disorders: A systematic review. PLoS ONE 12(11): e0187363.

Kelly, B., & Doherty, L. (2017). A historical overview of art and music-based activities in social work with groups: Nondeliberative practice and engaging young people’s strengths. Social Work with Groups, 40(3), 187-201.

Lee, M. Y., Chan, C. H. Y., Chan, C. L. W., Ng, S., & Leung, P. (2018). Integrative body-mind-spirit social work: An empirically based approach to assessment and treatment (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Maguire, L. (2002). Clinical Social Work: Beyond generalist practice with individuals, groups, and families. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

National Association of Social Workers. (2015). Standards and Indicators of Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice. Web.

Overview of theories of human behavior & the social environment. (2008).

Porter, S., McConnell, T., McLaughlin, K., Lynn, F., Cardwell, C., Braiden, H. J., … Holmes, V. (2017). Music therapy for children and adolescents with behavioural and emotional problems: a randomised controlled trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 58(5), 586-594.

Raglio, A. (2015). Music therapy interventions in Parkinson’s disease: The state-of-the-art. Frontiers in Neurology, 6. Web.

Rolvsjord, R., & Stige, B. (2015). Concepts of context in music therapy. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 24(1), 44-66.

Wheeler, B. L. (Ed.). (2015). Music therapy handbook. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Many people love music in the society. Daniel J Levitin bought himself a stereo system when he was eleven years old despite its price. He earned the money to buy from weeding his neighbour’s garden. He used a lot of time listening to music records. He did not listen to loud music. This is remarkably different compared to the time he went to college. He started setting his loudspeakers at an extremely high volume. The parents even were complaining exceedingly much about this. The father bought him headphones to use whenever he was home. They significantly changed his way of listening to music. Headphones made music personal to him. It came from his head. Levitin’s perception to music leads him to further attaining a degree in neuroscience. He even goes ahead to becoming the head of the laboratory in music perception, cognition, and expertise in the University of McGill in Montreal. Chapter one deals mainly with the concepts of music such as rhythm, loudness, pitch, tone, and others. It also deals with complicated concepts like key, melody, and harmony.

The book begins when Levitin is a rock member. He later becomes a music producer and proceeds to a recording engineer. Levitin succeeds explaining issues in the book through giving examples from daily life and from well-known experts in music. The author declares that the writing of the book is not for specialist or colleagues. He declares that his point is not to develop the map of a brain, but it is to understand the working of a brain, and how the vibration of neurons and shuttling of neurotransmitters can lead to joy, or sadness, laughter, and thoughts.

How the brain works

The book “This is Your Brain in Music” is not difficult to understand. Therefore, it is comprehensive. This is due to its approach to music, or any discipline related to music. Also, levitin emphasises on the philosophy of the mind and the theory of evolution. The book mainly drives the point on how the music affects the brain, minds and, thoughts.

The work of explaining the principle of music to non-musicians is extremely difficult. The same case applies to explaining anatomy and chemistry of the brain especially to people who have no interest in science. Some readers find it to be exceedingly hard to understand terminology and concepts used to explain the basic brain concept. We do not hear the music. Rather, transmission of sound into the ear occurs when molecules vibrate at a certain frequency. The molecules bombard the ear drum which vibrates depending on how hard they hit it. On the contrary, the molecules do not have anything that identifies their origin or what they are in association with. This is an area that Levitin makes sure that science is understandable. He gives examples that ease understanding. In these chapters, readers start understanding no matter what their musical preferences are. It is clear that chapter two in this case deepens on the concepts of music.

Flow of music

Chapter three introduces philosophy of the mind and neology of the music. This is where debates by people with brain-minds about music brains take place. The prevailing view of the brain is that it works like a computer. A network connection to the neurons sends information to the brain which in turn leads to decisions, thoughts, and perceptions. There is no way that music or sound can flow from ear to the brain on its own route. Rather, the brain must send information about the sounds, and then integrate them into what they are. For example, a dog bark, a car horn, and many others.

Origin of music

The final chapter of the book might be the most interesting one. It brings arguments about the origin of sound. Some scientists argue that, music resulted from a happy accident or a by-product that no one planned for during the development of language. On the other hand, Levitin shows how music has played a significant role in human during evolution. He proposes arguments. Archaeological findings like bones and culture support the first and the second argument. Also, he shows how it improved early human interruptions. This last area is a bit discouraging especially to non-musicians, even in ancient time, those with musical instruments were desirable than non-musicians to females.

Levitin is remarkably successful. He achieves the almost impossible through discussing two ultra-technical subjects in the best way possible. He uses music to talk about the functioning of the brain.

In the remaining chapters, Levitin discusses cognitive model through considering processes of music both in mind and the brain. He makes it possible for people to understand the relationship of the brain with music. The examples that Levitin gives are a clear indication that, every reader is able to understand the functioning of brain by use of music. In conclusion, this book makes the writer a prominent author or a skilled person.