Everybody has support mechanisms that keep them motivated or calm them down when needed. I think that music can play a role of such a mechanism because of its ability to transfer emotions that a person feels. It is not a secret that when someone is sad, he or she will play the music that will be suitable for that particular emotion. No wonder that people have closer connections to music when they are in their teens – the large spectrum of emotions that they experience is usually released through the music that they listen to.
Evidence
Researchers have intensively studied whether music could benefit people from the psychological perspective and found some correlations between music listening and the improvement of psychological functions such as mood, self-awareness, arousal, and others (Schafer, Sedlmeier, Stadtler, & Huron, 2013). Such findings show that music has the potential of facilitating people’s development as fully-rounded and mentally stable individuals. For children, music has been shown to activate brain subsystems involved in expressing emotions or motivation and subsequently enhance activity (Henze, 2013).
For instance, children who do not speak a second language fluently are more likely to be successful in participating in music activities because they are universal and do not require any particular skills. Among patients diagnosed with complex conditions such as Parkinson’s, therapy strategies such as music-based movement can contribute to the improvement of gait-related activities (de Dreu, van der Wilk, Poppe, Kwakkel, & van Wegen, 2012).
Conclusion
These findings show that music plays a large role in our lives and is not limited to a particular sphere – it can provide emotional support to people in distress while being proven by research to benefit patients clinically or to enhance children’s learning and cognition.
References
de Dreu, M., van der Wilk, A., Poppe, E., Kwakkel, G., & van Wegen, E. (2012). Rehabilitation, exercise therapy and music in patients with Parkinson’s disease: A meta-analysis of the effects of music-based movement therapy on walking ability, balance and quality of life. Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, 18(1), 114-119.
This study aims to establish a link between music preference and personality traits. To achieve this end, this study adopted deductive reasoning. As such, the questions adopted for the survey were derived from past literature on the topic at hand. These questions were elicited by the need to clarify the contentious issues in the literature on personality and music preference. Audio records and questionnaires were adopted as the instruments for data collecting data. The collected data was then analyzed quantitatively. Thus, the correlation coefficient was adopted to measure the relationship between variables.
The findings revealed mutual dependence between the style of music and a person’s character. As such, the adults who preferred classical and jazz types of music were less likely to exhibit cases of depression. On the other hand, playing the piano was identified as a necessary tool for raising self-esteem. These findings, among others, imply that music preference is correlated to cognitive and personality traits. Moreover, the findings imply that the choice of music that an individual listens to can be attributed to behavioral traits that he/she possesses. These findings are consistent with past literature. However, this study could not explain all the intervening variables between music preference and personality traits. Hence, it recommends for future research to address this gap in a profound manner.
Discussion
Restatement of the Hypothesis
This study is comprised of five main hypotheses. These hypotheses seek to establish the correlation between music preference and personality traits. Despite the presence of consistency of the results between this study and the past studies that were reviewed in the literature, this study has added new information to the body of knowledge, as it has managed to establish other variables that influence the correlation between music preference and personality traits.
Implication and Interpretation of the Results
The first hypothesis is consistent with Schafer and Sedlmeie’s (2010) findings. This hypothesis affirms that people are motivated by different factors in their choice of music. This explains that the cognitive purpose of the music and the physiological intrusion deduced by the music are the key determinants of the choice of music. The second hypothesis is consistent with Kopacz’s (2005) findings. This hypothesis affirms that inherent aspects that shape personality traits with respect to music determine a person’s preference for a particular kind of music. This finding, however, contradicts Sedlmeie’s (2010) findings, which are premised on inherent personality traits.
The third hypothesis is consistent with Lim’s (2008) findings. This hypothesis affirms that introverts are often internally under-aroused, and thus they require alternative stimuli to raise their moods to the maximum level of response. But given that establishing the extent to which high pitch sound is positively correlated to enthusiasm is a challenging task, the results of this hypothesis can be contradictory. The fourth hypothesis is consistent with Kopacz’s (2005) findings.
This hypothesis affirms that liveliness influences the choices of music. This finding is facilitated by the fact that this study seeks to associate the lively people with the desire to listen to music with various melodic elements. Finally, the fifth hypothesis is consistent with Lim’s (2008) findings. This hypothesis affirms that playing piano has a positive correlation with high self-esteem, as opposed to listening to music with therapeutic effect.
Strengths and Limitations
The strength of this study is premised on the fact that it has reviewed diverse articles in order to test diverse concepts pertaining to the relationship between music preference and personality traits. However, this study is faced with a number of limitations, including introducing a model that assumes a lack of intervening variables between music preference and personality traits. This assumption contributes to an analysis that can assume premature dismissal of the relation between the two variables. For a case in point, this study could not establish the extent to which high pitch sound is positively correlated to the enthusiasm with respect to age, among other variables. Thus, this study can be criticized on the grounds of overlooking the intervening variables while formulating the results.
Future Direction
This study has established the future direction of the study that will help establish the relationship between music preference and personality traits in a concrete manner. First, the findings of this study have failed to establish all the intervening variables between music preference and personality. As earlier indicated, this study could not establish the extent to which high pitch sound is positively correlated to enthusiasm. Thus, delving into a study that seeks to establish the intervening variables would be critical since it would help improve the evaluation of the extent to which music preferences are influenced by personality traits.
Conclusion
This study aimed to establish a correlation between music preference and personality traits. This necessitated the need to establish the motive behind the choice of specific music among diverse personalities. The literature review forms the basis for replicating this study. Most importantly, the replication of this study has been able to develop diverse theories to establish the convergence and divergence of music preferences and personality traits. Through this development, this study has established room for further research. Hence, this study has added new information to the body of knowledge.
Reference List
Kopacz, M. (2005). Personality and Music Preferences: The Influence of Personality Traits on Preferences Regarding Musical. Journal of Music Therapy, 42(3), 216-235. Web.
Lim, A. (2008). The effect of personality type and musical task on self-perceived arousal. Journal of Music Therapy, 45(2), 147-163. Web.
Schafer, T., & Sedlmeie, P. (2010). What makes us like music? Determinants of music preference. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 4(4), 223–23. Web.
In present-day society, music plays an important role. People of both genders listen to music when they go to school or to work, do their chores, and relax (Palmiero, Nori, Rogolino, & D’Amico, 2016). Some people do their homework and involve in mental activities with some music on. There is no doubt that there is a certain connection between music and emotions (Michel-Ratliff & Ennis, 2016). In addition to several personal issues and attitudes to music, this art may have certain psychological, education, and scientific impacts. For example, music can be applied in the course of teaching various subjects in college and help students improve their results and achievements (Berk, 2008; Hogan & Huesman, 2008). Another peculiarity of music is discussed by Carr and Rickard (2016), who explain music as the possibility to evoke emotions and make people remember things better due to the possible effects on an emotion-enhanced memory. The effects of music on people vary considerably, and this project should help to understand the peculiar features of the connection between human memory and music.
Results of Previous Research
During the last century, many researchers and writers investigated the field of psychology to clarify how music can influence memory and facilitate or, at least, change human lives. Each investigation is a certain contribution to the chosen field. A variety of directions is impressive indeed. Berk (2008) explains how the integration of music may change learning processes. The author underlines the importance of teachers to be a part of a process because they should not only provide students with knowledge but also with music with the help of which new information can be memorized. Almost the same investigation was developed by Hogan and Huesman (2008), who showed how students could remember more vocabulary units from a list under the impact of music. Previous investigations conducted by Carr and Rickard (2016), Palmiero et al. (2016), and Michel-Ratliff and Ennis (2016) explore the impact of music on different psychological aspects, including emotions, feelings, and gender behaviors.
The goal of the Project
This paper aims at considering the possibility of music to improve human memory. Music might be useful in the course of study, and teachers should feel free to incorporate it into the classroom. Besides, students with music training may have a better memory to remember words and improve their behaviors. What is more, while listening to music which they like, people tend to remember more visual information (Berk, 2008). Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate how visual and listening activities may be connected. Apart from that, music is likely to evoke memories that are connected with this music. The project should be based on the idea that human emotions and feelings may be controlled with the help of music. Still, music should not interfere when it comes to finding the location. Taken into account the above-said, it is possible to set the main goal of the project that is the investigation of different psychological fields within the frames of which the idea that music improves college students’ memory can be proved.
The rationale for the Hypothesis
This paper has the purpose to investigate the connection that may exist between music and memory. Five articles that are devoted to the topic have been reviewed to understand what kind of work was done and what investigations may be developed in the future. To sum everything up and develop a hypothesis, it is necessary to point out, that music may have different impacts on people and their memory in particular. Further research will examine the ability of music to improve the memory of college students while studying regarding the results demonstrated by Berk (2008), Hogan and Huesman (2008), and Michel-Ratliff and Ennis (2016). The rationale for the hypothesis includes the explanation of the next activities and the explanation of each stage of the project. First, it is necessary to prove that all 40 participants may be randomly chosen. The participants will be in two groups: Group 1 will be given 20 words to memorize in 3 minutes with music (R&B) in the background, and Group 2 will be given 20 words to memorize in 3 minutes with no music in the background. Each experiment has to be properly described and analyzed. The reactions of students should be observed to use the results in the project and prove the chosen research hypothesis.
Hypothesis of Research
In this project, it is hypothesized that music improves memory in college students. The already offered literature and the results of the experiment can be used to prove or disprove the offered hypothesis and develop the recommendations that may be given to students, teachers, and other people, who may be involved in the chosen psychological field. At this moment, there is proof that music influences students’ memory in different ways. The future project will help to investigate the possible impacts of R&B music on students’ memory under certain conditions.
References
Berk, R. A. (2008). Music and music technology in college teaching: Classical to hip-hop across the curriculum. International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 4(1), 45-67.
Carr, S. M., & Rickard, N. S. (2016). The use of emotionally arousing music to enhance memory for subsequently presented images. Psychology of Music, 44(5), 1145-1157.
Hogan, D. E., & Huesman, T. (2008).Music training and semantic clustering in college students. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 169(4), 322-331.
Michel-Ratliff, E., & Ennis, M. (2016). This is your song: Using participants’ music selections to evoke nostalgia and autobiographical memories efficiently. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain, 26(4), 379-384.
Palmiero, M., Nori, R., Rogolino, C., D’amico, S., & Piccardi, L. (2016). Sex differences in visuospatial and navigational working memory: The role of mood induced by background music. Experimental Brain Research, 234(8), 2381-2389.
Music is found in both traditional and modern societies. Its roles have not changed significantly amid changes in lifestyles and state of technology. Music serves to entertain, overcome certain emotions, express some emotions, and relax the mind.
Through music, people can change their moods from sadness to happiness without realizing it. It has positive effects in relieving stress, which suggests that it influences the brain and its processes. Music drives people’s moods so that when shifts from one state to another occur, they feel relaxed and relieved.
Through it, people can go about their daily chores energetically. This paper reports on the positive effects of music on both the brain and mood.
Introduction
Different people have disparate music preferences. However, some music genres make individuals to react both emotionally and physically. Music constitutes an essential element of people’s lives. Individuals react towards music without realizing.
For instance, when one hears his or her most favorite music, he or she starts singing along or even dancing without even realizing it. This aspect suggests that music influences the brain significantly. When sad, listening to one’s favorite music can change the mood to happiness.
Depending on the genre, music shapes people’s moods accordingly. For example, listening to blues may create a romantic mood amongst its listeners. This paper discusses the effects of classical music on the brain and mood. It first establishes a theoretical background on the effects of music on the brain and mood.
Literature review
Music plays important roles in the lives of people. Historically, it was highly appreciated as it formed part of the primitive ancient civilizations’ lifestyles. Similarly, it forms part of the modern civilizations’ lives. Similar to language, music is universal in the sense that all societies and communities have differing music genres, which are powerful tools that speak louder than words (Yehuda, 2011).
Indeed, sound does not tell lies so that music possesses a legitimate authority. Many philosophers and psychologists are intrigued due to the effects of music on emotions, brain, and moods of people. Therefore, they endeavor to unveil its implication on the human body. Music can be traced at infancy stages of human development
. Yehuda (2011) posits that infants have an innate psychological behavior for music in terms of depicting awareness of it and the expression of musical behaviors. This assertion suggests that music in rooted in nature of people.
People possess predispositions for ‘musicking.’ Gilboa, Bodner, and Amir (2006) maintain that music constitutes a biological adaption, which is developed through evolution. The authors deploy concepts of music in describing initial communications between mothers and their babies, and thus it forms the annotation used by people while speaking expresses their authentic emotions (Gilboa et al., 2006).
Consequently, music constitutes a manifestation of emotional communications amongst people. Miell, MacDonald, and Hargreaves (2005) report positive impacts of music on people’s bodies by discussing its therapeutic effects in Greek myths and beliefs.
For instance, Yehuda (2011)notes that music helps in “restoring both the soul and the body to a state of equilibrium, arousing or soothing as needed, to temper excess or deficient emotion and creating the sensation of pleasure through movement” (p. 86). The Greeks also believed that music helps in inducing the catharsis, which purges the soul of emotional turmoil.
This assertion suggests that since ancient times, people have appreciated that music has the capability of penetrating souls and bodies. Various productions for human behavior underscore the existence of the perception that music produces healing effects. For instance, King George I suffered from troubles of tension handling coupled with failure of the capacity to recall.
On searching “the biblical account of King Saul, he considered Saul to have suffered the same problem” (Yehuda, 2011, p. 86). King George quickly realized that King Saul deployed a specific type of music to overcome his problems. Therefore, he directed Fredrick Handel to create a piece of music that would produce similar effects to those realized by King Saul through music. Handel composed the ‘water music’, which king George loved incredibly.
Music comprises a symbolic language, which does not refer to particular associations. Nevertheless, Miell et al. (2005) posit that its structures help in conveying certain meanings to the people’s brains.
The authors further state that music “can act as a powerful sensory stimulus, thus engaging the brain in retraining neural and behavioral functions that can be applied to non-musical context in everyday life, such as therapeutic needs” (Miell et al.,2005, p.78). This aspect suggests the likelihoods for the music to impact people’s brains and moods. This likelihood is discussed in the next section.
Impacts of music on the brain and mood
Music compliments everyday lives of all people. Individuals listen to music to make their mornings better, ensure that they relax after work in the evening, or even enhance their motivation at work. Students find music valuable during study time, while surgeons conduct their intricate procedure with glamorous background music.
This aspect implies that people deploy music as a mechanism of enhancing their moods (Janssen, Broek & Westerink, 2012). This positive effect of classical music in enhancing people’s moods has significantly become important over the last 20 years following the rapid explosion of new technologies, which have facilitated the digitization of music.
People now can listen to classical music while on their cars, doing household chores, reading, and doing almost any other activity. When reading a book, people prefer relaxing classical music. When doing hard jobs, energizing classical music is perhaps highly preferable. This aspect implies that different music genres suit different situations depending on the required specific type of mood arousal (Janssen et al., 2012).
Music influences people’s mood by affecting various factors, which promote or trigger certain moods. One of such factors is stress levels. Different people have disparate levels to which they can withstand stressing environmental conditions effectively.
Factors such as personality types, the emotional stability attributes of different people, and more importantly personal temperaments may determine this ability (Kumar & Sharma, 2011). Exposure to stressing environmental conditions has negative consequences to both psychological and physiological health of people.
Stress may have the implication of low satisfaction with life, and thus lead to incapacity for people to work both effectively and efficiently. At organizational level, stress correlates positively with burnout, which constitutes an important factor for high labor turnover (Adhia, Nagendra & Mahadevan, 2010).
In clinical settings, stress entails one of the risk factors for cancer, hypertension, and diabetes among other chronic ailments. If classical music can help to alter people’s moods, then it implies that listening to one’s favorite lyrics can help to shift the mind from environmental stressors.
Music has the capacity to reduce stress and increase it depending on the classical genres played. For example, music reminiscent of sorrows in life may increase stress associated with certain encounters in life. However, many psychological studies on impacts of music focus more on positive effects of music than negative consequences.
The goal of psychology is to produce healing effects on an individual, rather than worsening the situation. Although stress may have some positive implications on people, its management mainly concerns dealing with its negative consequences in all lifestyles.
Stress management highlights the deployment of psychotherapeutically designed techniques for reducing and keeping stress levels under check to ensure proper functioning of people’s brains in theireveryday work. Music can alter people’s attitudes.
Indeed, any psychotherapeutic technique that alters people’s attitude produces healing effects. For instance, yoga is one of the techniques for managing stress and its historical roots and principles hinge on Hinduism philosophy.
For instance, the karma yoga, which is one of Yoga types, aids in controlling stress through the development of appropriate attitudes in relation to work environment coupled with enhancing the ability to respond positively to professional anticipations for managers and employees in any organization, the industry of operation notwithstanding (Kumar & Sharma, 2011).
In workplaces, the alleviation of stress entails the use of strategies like the minimization of demands, thus raising people’s ability to deal with changing cognitive appraisals, psychological, and behavioral responses. Deploying music in managing stress constitutes a palliative approach to dealing with internal psychological process among individuals.
It has the capacity to reduce distress coupled with tension (Yehuda, 2011).As argued before, music influences people’s mood by reducing stress. Excessive stress levels beyond an individual’s stress threshold may induce common illness such as aches and pains, inflexibility, and lack of mental relaxation.
Stress truncates to uncomfortable life through the reduction of joy by conditions as insomnia and headaches coupled with backaches. These challenges constitute the symptoms of major epidemic illness like osteoporosis. Stress also correlates positively with vata derangement, which is associated with reduced instability and flexibility upon excessive rise of air related to various aspects of the body (Treven, 2010).
High levels of vita air have the implication of causing people to have mood swings due to lack of focus and rajasic mental state. Major symptoms for this condition include insomnia and anxiety. Classical music produces positive effects on these conditions by countering incidences of mood swings. To this extent, by influencing moods, classical music enables people to live happier lives.
Burnout constitutes a response to interpersonal coupled with emotional stressors within work environments. It has inefficacy, disparagement, and mental and emotional fatigue as its main aspects (Adhia et al., 2010). In particular, work-related burnout has negative implications on the effectiveness of an organization and its workers’ health.
Research in organizational management identifies burnout and discusses its complexity in affecting work relationships, which leads to organizational conflicts. In organizational settings, the relationship between stress and burnout suggests that classical music can offer holistic solutions that can foster stress elimination through influencing people’s moods (Adhia et al., 2010).
Music techniques deployed in dealing with stress entails listening, imagery, muscle relaxation, and preferred listening among others. Brain plays significant roles in relaxation. If music can result in positive effects in terms of enhancing relaxation, then it implies that it has effects on the system that controls functionalities of the body.
Yehuda (2011) supports this assertion by evidencing the psychiatric effects of classical music on prisoner patients. The author reports that the treatment for psychiatric conditions for the patients indicated significant improvements in terms of relaxations, alteration of moods, and thinking processes about one’s personality and abilities (Yehuda, 2011).
This aspect shows that music affects people’s moods, which is preceded by influencing the brain on a given stimuli, thus invoking certain mood changes. Studies conducted through survey for participants in parenting magazines in the US context evidence that people cognize the roles of music in the reduction of stress and alternation of the mood.
Yehuda (2011) posits that participants in the surveys frequently cite the capacity of music to change their moods. Despite the view that the conclusions by Yehuda (2011) depended mainly on institutions, a growing body of literature supports such findings.
He lists various researches in the fields of education, therapy, and psychology by registering positive effects of music on stress management coupled with changing moods for children and adults (Yehuda, 2011). Mood has the capability of inducing anxiety among people. Classical music acts as anxiolytic treatment strategy, which is essential in the reduction of anxieties (Janssen et al., 2012). Classical Music affects people’s mood via sympathetic resonance.
Time utilized in medical examination is highly relaxing by playing patients soothing music (Yehuda, 2011). Indeed, music has positive impacts on differing clinical settings. However, only few nursing and medical researches study the roles of music in clinical settings.
However, based on psycho-physiological literature, specific types of music reduce anxiety levels coupled with improving respiration and heart rate without negating the increment of temperature (Janssen et al., 2012). Indeed, Yehuda (2011) recommends classical music genres deployed traditionally to relax the mind and reduce anxiety experienced by students waiting to take tests in learning institutions.
This aspect implies that music can help in changing an examination mood, which helps in the elimination of fear for an examination. Such moods result from over concentration on test, which brain plays central roles in maintaining focus on the subject. Thus, since music changes an examination mood, it also suggests that it helps in shifting the focus of the brain from over-thinking on the awaiting test.
In this context, music affects the brain of not only students waiting to sit for a test, but also on anxieties in all contexts. Despite the fact that classical music has sedative effects so that its lowers anxiety, it is perhaps inconclusive to infer that people respond in the same manner to sedative classical music.
Response to music depends on factors like familiarity, training, the presently experienced mood, and the preferences for different music types. Consequently, determining the effects on music on an individual’s mood requires an understanding of neuropsychological relationship between emotional process and musical responses. This understanding can lead to the development of a thorough knowledge on implication of music on brain-mood emotional structure.
People, amid their cultural inclinations, have the capacity to identify emotions associated with specific types of music, which can change moods on top of inducing and controlling emotions. This aspect makes it possible for the music to be deployed in enhancing people’s well-being, distracting patients, lowering stress levels, and handling unpleasant symptoms.
Yehuda (2011) notes that music “seems to effectively reduce anxiety and improve mood for medical and surgical patients, especially for patients in intensive care units and those undergoing aversive procedures” (p. 90). In addition, it creates a soothing environment for people with terminal conditions as they undergo lenitive care. These aspects influence the alteration of moods since every feeling has an associated mood.
Music makes people smile, excited, dance with the rhythm, and cry. Playing classical music may bring back into life a past memory. It changes the mood instantaneously.
The main question, which has elicited diverse investigations, is on how listening to music coupled with rhythms may help people to improve their life experiences so that they can live fulfilling lives while dealing with situations such as stress and anxiety in some scenarios.
Classical music may affect people’s mode in differing ways, but the primary mechanisms involve the rhythm coupled with tone elements. When listening to classical music rhythm, one’s heart synchronizes alongside the playing music. Slow heartbeat followed by increasing diastolic pressures notifies the brain about the possibility of a bad thing or depressing experience.
Fast beats accompany excitement. “Dreamy rhythm coupled with occasional upbeats may create a mood of love or joy” (Kumar & Sharma, 2011, p. 18). Similarly, tones of classical music help in defining the mood in the context of the music, which is assimilated into the individual listening to the music.
A strong “key may signify communications that are cheerful and soothing to the brain of the listener, while low keys indicate soft lamentations coupled with sighs (O’Donnell, 2013, par. 17).These aspects influence the brain by directing the people’s psych to feel the things communicated to them.
However, determining the manner in which classical music affects the brain and the mood does not constitute a simple endeavor. Researchers across the globe heavily engage in the task of determining the applicability and validity of these discussed possible ways in which classical music may impact or cause mood changes.
For example, a research conducted by the Missouri University researchers argued that in certain situations, music has the capacity to alter the mood of the listeners and increase their happiness within a period of two weeks (O’Donnell, 2013). In the research, the participants were instructed to make attempts of feeling happier while listening to neutral music or a high upbeat music.
Listeners for upbeat tone were found happier than for neutral music. The music therapy indicated that cheerfulness could also be contributed by listening to music of the right tune and rhythm (O’Donnell, 2013). Considering the potential positive effects of classical music on the mood and the brain, the music can be adapted to influence people to behave in certain ways.
For example, one can increase his or her energy for the day chores by listening to upbeat music early in the morning as he or she prepares for work. Such music can help in awakening hormones related to just get up and get ready. By encouraging this kind of activities coupled with the brain’s response associated with it, the mood for work may increase, which also helps in fostering one’s productivity all day long.
Depression and anxiety act together to lower one’s mood. In a bid to decrease the effects of anxiety, listening to soothing music such as classical music accompanied by meditation is crucial. However, the overall outcome may also depend on the selected tune of classical music.
In this context, Janssen et al. (2012) note, “Pioneers in the field of music, tones and mood are creating more and more pieces aimed at not only speaking to the brain, but actually directing it to achieve changes you would like to feel” (p. 261). Such music arrangements produce a particular rhythm, which then the brain follows to induce a predetermined mood.
From the above augments, scholars studying the effects of music on the mood and brain contend that the impacts on music on mood and brain depend on the type and genre of the music. Amid its positive effects in managing stress and its related moods, music can also induce stress, intolerance, and anxiety (Yehuda, 2011).
Classical music can be used as a weapon or a strategy of ensuring that people behave in a particular manner. For instance, in the past, music has been used in Britain and Australia to induce a mood of intolerance. Classical music effectively compelled teenagers to walk away from a railway station when they became bored by it.
The US military also use “combination of high amplitude rock and happysmiley children’s songs that are reported to break the will of the hardest terrorist” (Yehuda, 2011, p.90). Thus, music can change reasoned decisions. Such decisions involve the use of brain in determining appropriate cause of actions.
Considering the view that different music genres have different effects on the brain and the mood, an emerging question is what music should one listen to -classical music, rock, or blues. A study conducted at Penn State University indicated that students listening to any kind of music experience joy, relaxation, optimism, and calmness (Yehuda, 2011).
While some researchers at the university recommended that students listen to soothing music like classical music, others noted that even the hardest music like rock produce positive effects on the student’s mood. However, irrespective of the genres that make one happy or emotionally energetic, there is also sad music.
Bachorik, Bangert, Loui, Larke, and Berger (2009) discuss one of the studies on the impacts of sad and happy music on people’s mood after listening to them. People listening to happy music feel happiness as an outcome while those listening to sad music feel sad afterward. The specifically worrying aspect in the research findings is that sad or happy music triggers different thoughts.
People listening to sad classical music remember mainly of bad experiences that they have encountered in their lives. Bachorik et al. (2009) reckon that they also experience challenges in successfully doing simple chores.
The mind reacts in diverse ways to both gloomy and cheerful classical melodies. In fact, few words of either kind of music have the implications on one’s mood. For instance, “listening to a very short piece of music, one can judge or interpret neutral expressions as matching either sad or happy moods” (Bachorik et al., 2009, p. 359).
Facial expression changes when listening to a specific type of classical music, which indicates the capacity of the listened music to change the mood of an individual. Classical music affects the mood and brain in terms of felt and perceived emotions. This assertion suggests that people can understand emotions associated with classical music, but they might not feel them.
This aspect may explain why some people may find sad classical music enjoyable as opposed to depressing. Opposed to the actual life situations, listening to sad classical music does not arouse a feeling of an eminent danger. Consequently, it becomes possible to perceive related moods without essentially feeling them.
The effect of classical music on the brain is outstanding. O’Donnell (2013) observes that classical music playing at 60 beats per minute activates right and the left side of the brain in a simultaneous manner. This trend helps in increasing learning coupled with information retention capacity.
The information studied sets the left-brain into action. On the other hand, the played classical music activates right part of the brain. Playing classical music instruments constitutes one of the activities aiding inactivation of the left and right sides of the brain, and O’Donnell (2013) claims that it enhances the information processing ability.
Conclusion
Music has had historical connections with all societies across the globe since the civilization of humanity. All cultures possess music in their traditions. Modern history evidences the influence possessed by music on societal civilization. It aided Jefferson in writing the declaration independence as he could play the violin to help in figuring around the necessary wording for some parts of the document.
Even though music comprises different genres, the available research indicates that all genres have effects on the people’s mood and brain. For instance, classical music creates a relaxation mood, anxiety, and a happy mood depending on the rhythm and the tone. Upbeats create the mood of happiness.
Low beats and low tones create the mood of sadness and sorrow. Such classical music may be referred to sad music, which this paper has argued that it reminiscences past bad feelings and experiences after listening to it. Thus, it is possible to change one’s mood by selecting the rhythm and the tone of classical music to suit the desired mood after listing to it.
References
Adhia, H., Nagendra, R., & Mahadevan, B. (2010). Impact of Adoption of Yoga Way Life on the Reduction of Job Burnout of Managers. The Journal for Decision Makers, 35(2), 21-33.
Bachorik, P., Bangert, M., Loui, P., Larke, K., & Berger, J. (2009). Emotion in motion: investigating the time course of emotional judgments of musical stimuli. Music Perception 26(4), 355–364.
Gilboa, A., Bodner, E., & Amir, D. (2006). Emotional communicability in improvised music: The case of music therapists. Journal of Music Therapy, 43(1), 198–225.
Janssen, J., Broek, E., & Westerink, L. (2012). Tune in to Your Emotions: Robust Personalized Affective Music Player. User Adaptation International Journal, 22(5), 255-279.
Kumar, J., & Sharma, K. (2011). Karma Yoga: A Philosophical Therapeutic Model for Stress Management. International Journal of Education and Allied Sciences, 3(1), 15-22.
Miell, D., MacDonald, R., & Hargreaves, D. (2005). Musical Communication. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
O’Donnell, L. (2013). Music and the Brain. Retrieved from www.cerebromente.org.br/n15/mente/musica.html
Treven, S. (2010). Individual methods for reducing stress in work settings. Interbeing, 4(2), 1-5.
Yehuda, N. (2011). Music and Stress. Journal of Adult Development, 18(3), 85-94.
The study of how music affects the memory, motivation, and confidence has been the theme of interest for many researchers in this field. The interrelation of music to the mental and physical health of individuals has been the subject of debate aimed at improving scientific research. Many studies by Cardena (2011, p. 143) have maintained that music has positive effect on our memory, motivation, and confidence.
Music, as Thiam (2006, p. 97) notes, has the power of healing our frequent ailments as human beings. In addition, research validates that the classical forms of music has had an impact on individuals, reporting impressive results on the power of healing particularly (Effects of Music on the Mind and Brain 2014). Music has a calming effect on the human mind, and an inspiring zeal on the general composure of the body.
Besides, music is an exciting element that hastens human recovery from health illnesses, given its ability to inspire motivation to feel better. More than that, music helps in fighting nervousness, especially due to the comforting impact it has on the mind, the muscles, and the body. Music helps to reduce the impacts of depression.
For instance, when individuals are under depression are gloomy or feeling inadequate, music can offer soothing effects that can raise their composure to normal levels (Effects of Music on the Mind and Brain 2014).
Dejection has the capacity to moderate the actions of the brain, inhibits the ability of brain to think consistently, and perform certain responsibilities. In this aspect, music induces in individuals an aura of strong will that reverses the impact of depression and autisms in the body (Volkmar 2013, p. 48).
Deficiency of neurotransmitter and serotonin in the brain, according to Koelsch (2014, p. 172), may result in depression. However, listening to music has the ability to inspire the hormones and raise the levels of these elements to equilibrium, making the brain to work optimally.
Soothing musical sounds inspires the production of serotonin levels in the brain, thereby helping in the alleviation of mental depression (Larson 2010). Soothing music has a natural way of making the brain relaxed, creating an aura of confidence in individuals, as well as motivating people in very effective ways.
Among the tried, tested, and trusted benefits of listening to music includes a broad spectrum of ideologies and practicalities that research has sought to validate. To begin with, music has the capacity to relieve anxiety and make the brain more at ease with the body and the environment (Cardena and Winkelman 2011, p. 120).
Anxiety has a unique way of making individuals to degenerate to the lowest ebb of their lives given that it inspires a feeling of fear of the unknown to weigh the body and brain down (Effects of Music on the Mind and the Brain 2014). The outcome of the unknown makes individuals worried, and this might lead to temporary brain malfunction with probable greater consequences in the event that this trend escalates.
Increased levels of anxiety, according to Hallam, Cross, and Thaut (2009, p. 62), may lead to stress, and, further, culminate into insomnia. Additionally, lengthy instances of worry may lead to ailments related to nervousness. Though if noted in time, making such individuals to listen to music can be instrumental in checking the menace (Koelsch 2014, p. 175).
Introducing music to individuals undergoing extreme levels of anxiety can help in relaxing their brain and raise their hormones back to normal levels (Effects of Music on the Mind and the Brain 2014).
Used in this way, music can help in calming the body nerves and, finally, sooth the mind to easiness. Flat musical notes can also be instrumental in inducing sleep in individuals with sleep-related disorders, thereby helping in their brain development.
Music has the capacity to motivate individuals as it affects both the learning and the thinking processes (Jensen 2005, p. 309).Studies in sciences suggest that soft background music stimulates the mind and the brain to absorb knowledge and retain data (Effects of Music on the Mind and the Brain 2014). Individuals listening to soothing beats while doing some work help them to work more rapidly.
In the process, they become more effective too. Music used in this way, therefore, helps individuals to feel motivated, and people become more positive about work in general. According to Cardena and Winkelman (2011, p. 127), research in this area indicates that music makes individuals more consistent in learning as it brings about remarkable progresses in fast tracking motivation in individuals.
Students can also find meaningful motivation in their respective studies while listening to music given that music breaks the monotony of everyday classroom work. As Hallam et al. (2009, p. 65) note, students who attend classes that prescribe certain kinds of musical notes while studying in the laboratory record greater progress results as they become more involved in their tasks than those with no musical notes.
Listening to some pleasant music, while doing some boring work or difficult task will eventually spur motivation to make the work look easier (Curtis 2008). Normally, an individual working while listening to some soft music at the background usually records least interruptions from other environmental hitches.
Due to least interruption, such people concentrate more on what they do, thus making them produce quality results in their tasks.
Research in this area also holds that music has the capacity to boost confidence, especially in individuals with low self-esteem (Hallam et al. 2009, p. 72). Music has an affirmative influence in developing the interactive skills of entities. Lack of sureness as well as no aspiration to comprehend is one of the attributes to letdown.
Accordingly, it is not always the inability of people to learn, rather, it is due to lack of confidence in what one does (Avanzini 2003, p. 296). Individuals have every endowment to learn given motivation and chance to do so.
Indeed, it is only that the prevailing situations in different settings may make some people to own up and let their low self-esteem weigh them down. Learners attaining poor grades in learning institutions, for example, are not essentially devoid of the required intellect.
Most educators agree that musical involvement advances students’ self-discipline, coordination, dexterity, thinking skills, self-esteem, creative abilities, listening skills, and personal expression, each of which supports learning in very profound ways. Most music educators, though, are not aware of specific research that will support such feelings and observations (Music and Student Development 2014).
As Thiam (2006, p. 117) notes, the students’ disinterest in the subjects in question leads them to record poor grades. However, music classes can help the learners to regain composure and fight out their low-esteem lag that makes them perform dismally. Music, therefore, helps in boosting learner confidence, encouraging them to explore new ideas.
In so doing, they venture in new fields giving them the basic orientation of people, places, and ideas that they previously felt was impermeable. From this perspective, music increases people’s ability in believing in themselves and in increasing their capacity to think big.
The effects of music in the recovery of physiological difficulties experienced after a stressful aperture induced by aversive visual stimuli are equally great.
Studies show that the relaxing nature of music is effective in regulating the spectral of the frontal temporal lobe, rejuvenating the skin conductance, moderating the heart beat variability, creating the respiration ambience, as well as encrypting the facial capillary blood current (Cardena and Winkelman 2011, p. 128).
Under normal circumstances, aversive visual stimulation evokes heart rate deceleration and decrease facial blood flow that could be detrimental in causing visual impairment. In such situations, respiration rate gets to unguided levels that may make the brain not to function optimally.
Studies show that pleasant music has the capacity to restore the baseline levels of several parameters and the recovery process of most of the body tissues (Sokhadze 2007, p. 37). Music relaxes the body thereby exerting positive modulatory effects on respiratory and cardiovascular activity.
Such activities regulate increased heart rate with the ability to balance the heart period variability, while regulating vascular blood flow, as well as respiration rate in the course of post-stress recovery (Sokhadze 2007, p. 43). In much of the research done in this area, data has been consistent to the effect that positive emotions guaranteed by music facilitate the process of neurochemistry recovery that arise from negative emotions
Invariably, music stands out as a universal feature in human development, partly due to its power and capacity to evoke strong sensations and influence moods. Investigation both in the scopes of science and art continue to develop their expanse of the richness of music to the wellbeing of man (Cardena and Winkelman 2011, p. 131).
In numerous studies, the neural correlation of music with its capacity to evoke emotions in individuals continues to be an invaluable element in the understanding and study of human emotions (Koelsch 2014, p. 177).
It is no doubt that functional neuroimaging research based on music and feeling demonstrate that music has the capacity to moderate actions in the mind much of which are critically encompassed in developing emotions.
Several brain structures such as hypothalamus, hippocampus, cingulate cortex insula, orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, and nucleus acumens heavily rely on hormones to inspire them to perform their desired functions (Cardena and Winkelman 2011, p. 139).
The possibilities of music to inspire and control hormones to act in these arrangements have imperative inferences for the application of music in the management of neurological and psychiatric ailments.
Essentially, emotions inspire the brain and enhance the processes of memory (Norden, Reay and Leven 2007, p. 60). Since music has the ability to evoke strong emotions, it could be instrumental in inspiring the brain to rise to the occasion and perform its duties optimally. To that effect, music arouses individuals either about a particular music, an event, or about an episode or information related to a particular music.
Neuroscience studies enhance insights into the role of music in relaxing the brain to inspire memory. Playing musical instruments, according to Jensen (2005, p. 313), acts as a multi-sensory as well as a motor experience generating emotions and motion tapping of the finger to dancing. Seen in this way, music engages the pleasure while acting as the reward element in the brain systems (Norden et al. 2007, p. 61).
Moreover, music has the potential to alter brain function as well as the brain structure when done well for over a period. Accordingly, intense musical tutelage and exposure has the capacity to generate and inspire new processes in the brain, and, normally, this occurs at different stages in life (Jensen 2005, p. 314).
As Norden et al. 2007, p. 68) observe, music is instrumental in developing the brain with a range of impacts based on creativity, the learning process, and cognition among other things.
Whether the purpose of music has to be for recreation, entertainment, or enhancement of moods, Koelsch (2014, p. 178) supports Forinash (2001, p. 33) argument that many people listen to music for various reasons, especially for its inspiring value.
Because of its potent and ubiquity, music is very effective in the construction and correction of autobiographical memories while helping in building judgments about others and on oneself (Forinash 2001, p. 34). Several elements in human development factor in the role of music such as aiding in memory formation and recalling of autobiographical facets and episodic information.
From the forgoing analysis, it becomes clear that music has a vital role in developing individuals in very many special ways. In essence, music is an essential and extremely valuable tool in the way individuals learn. Music has a calming effect on individuals and, indeed, an inspiring zeal on the composure of individuals generally.
Music has the ability to incite hormones exciting and speed up human recovery from health ailments given its ability to inspire motivations (Music and Student Development 2014). Apart from that, music’s comforting influence aids in fighting nervousness since it relaxes the muscles, the brain, and eventually the whole body.
Neuroscience, in particular, offers firsthand and profound perceptions into the function of music in composure of sentiments. Moreover, neuroscience studies enhance understandings into the role of songs in feelings, relaxing the brain to inspire retention. Moreover, music helps to reduce the impacts of depression; it is true that when individuals undergo depression, they become gloomy, making them feel inadequate.
Music, therefore, can offer the basic soothing effects that can bring the discomfits back to normal levels. As observed, depression has the capacity to moderate brain functions, inhibits the ability of the brain to think and reason with a high level of consistency, and carry out certain tasks. When played along, it induces in individuals an aura of strong will that reverses the impact of depression weighing down the body.
Finally, since deficiency of neurotransmitter and serotonin in the brain may go down because of depression, music offers itself as a correctional factor that incites the hormones needed to raise neurotransmitter and serotonin to normal levels. In retrospect, listening to music has the ability to inspire the hormones and raise the levels of the brain structures to equilibrium, making the brain to work optimally.
In conclusion, as the case may be, comforting musical sounds inspires the production of serotonin levels, thereby helping in the alleviation of mental dejection. Soothing music, therefore, has a natural way of making the brain relaxed, creating an aura of confidence in individuals, while motivating to rise to the occasion and feel better.
References
Avanzini, G 2003, The neurosciences and music, New York Academy of Sciences, New York.
Cardena, E 2011, Altering consciousness multidisciplinary perspectives, Praeger, Santa Barbara, California.
Cardena, E., and Winkelman, M 2011, Altering Consciousness, 2 Volumes Multidisciplinary Perspectives, ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara.
Curtis, B. W 2008, Music makes the nation nationalist composers and nation building in nineteenth-century Europe Cambria Press, Amherst.
Forinash, M 2001, Music therapy supervision, Gilsum, NH, Barcelona.
Hallam, S., Cross, I., and Thaut, M. H 2009, The Oxford handbook of music psychology, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Jensen, E 2005, Teaching with the brain in mind (2nd ed.), Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria.
Koelsch, S 2014, ‘Brain correlates of music-evoked emotions’, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, vol. 15, no. 17, pp. 170–180.
Larson, D 2010, The effects of chamber music experience on music performance achievement, motivation, and attitudes among high school band students, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Norden, J., Reay, A., and Leven, J 2007, Understanding the brain, Teaching Co., Chantilly, VA.
Sokhadze, E 2007, ‘Effects of Music on the Recovery of Autonomic and Electrocortical Activity After Stress Induced by Aversive Visual Stimuli’, Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 31-50.
Thiam, P. B 2006, Effects of school band experience on the motivation of high school students, Springer, New York.
Volkmar, F. R 2013, Encyclopedia of autism spectrum disorders, Springer, New York.
This lecture concentrated on aesthetic philosophy through the example of music. I will discuss concepts like performers’ and listeners’ interpretations of music, music definition, music preceding humanity, music as a language, and their interplay. This video covers the interaction between aesthetic philosophy and music, simultaneously considering music’s place in mental and cultural spaces. Ultimately, music has its own philosophy, and it can act as such.
The first aspect that stood out for me was the phenomenology of time in music. Dr. Senyshyn’s experiment explores this notion by presenting recordings of famous fast-paced music compositions by different performers to his students (CosmoShidan, 2017). The students were then asked to guess the fastest and the slowest composition based on listening to each performer twice: first slowed down and then at the actual speed. As a result, the two extremes were picked incorrectly: slowest as fastest, and vice versa (CosmoShidan, 2017). Dr. Senyshyn then explains that the slowest pianist, Vladimir Horowitz, plays it slower so you can hear the harmony in the music and its transitions throughout (CosmoShidan, 2017). The fastest pianist, Rachmaninoff, performs so quickly that one cannot hear all stages of harmony’s internal rhythm; instead, the human ear synthesizes the sound, only picking up the slower ‘waves’ of harmony (CosmoShidan, 2017). This experiment demonstrates how one’s perception of time may differ based on the performer’s interpretative choice.
In the next section, I learned about defining music as a whole. Dr. Senyshyn discusses defining music as a thing in itself and draws parallels between music and philosophy since neither has any determining limits (CosmoShidan, 2017). Dr. Senyshyn states that music is not limited to the manufactured rhythmic sounds – it can be the sounds of the environment or non-human animals, like the ‘whale song,’ or even absolute silence (CosmoShidan, 2017). Intriguingly, silence and sound can equally be perceived as music; moreover, they define and are defined by each other’s potentiation (CosmoShidan, 2017). However, the question of defining what music is and what is not remains. To answer that, Dr. Senyshyn offers the following definition: if a human decides they have created musical composition, it does not suffice; but if anyone else agrees with them, it can then be considered music (CosmoShidan, 2017). However, if this understanding remains at the single-person level, that is a “private language” (CosmoShidan, 2017). Hence, the definition of music hinges on the shared experience between people.
An aspect that made me most curious about this video was the notion of possible pre-existence of music. Dr. Senyshyn states that music inferentially precedes human existence (CosmoShidan, 2017). This statement partially derives from the earlier discussion of music potentially being any sound. Pre-Socratic philosophers and adjacent movements perceived music as something to be worshipped, a supernatural force, or even the possible cause within the Big Bang Theory (CosmoShidan, 2017). However, I would like to challenge this notion and point out the distinction between sound waves and music. In this framework, one should ask how music can precede human existence if it requires, by definition, a creator and at least one listener. In other words, if the universe performs the role of a creator, the question is who then will perform the role of a listener.
This discussion brought me back to seeking reasons for having no comprehensive definition of music. Dr. Senyshyn explores the reason for it, referring again to the fact that the potentiation of music precedes human existence and since cannot be defined in absolute terms (CosmoShidan, 2017). Dr. Senyshyn argues that music evades definition not by one’s conscious choice but by a logical necessity. Dr. Senyshyn highlights that as an external inference, music does not communicate with people; instead, humankind utilizes it through their means of culture to communicate it, and thus it becomes a social construct (CosmoShidan, 2017). Darwin believed that there was music as sound and potentiation before the ‘human-appropriated music,’ and, thus, the ‘original music’ became the foundation for human rhymes and languages (CosmoShidan, 2017). That, however, does not imply that music is a language.
The last notable aspect of this talk was its opposition to the widespread statement of music as a universal language. According to Dr. Senyshyn, music is not a universal language – it is only universally applied, appreciated, and practiced (CosmoShidan, 2017). One cannot translate music into another language as one can do from one language to another. One can speak of music from within their personal experience, but this can only be adequately understood by others when their description of this cultural aspect of music is the same (CosmoShidan, 2017). Therefore, music cannot be universal – it can only be a sign of the shared cultural experience in which it is embedded.
In conclusion, this talk has provided many excellent insights into the semiotics of music through an aesthetic philosophy approach. I learned about the phenomenon of relative time perception in music through the experiment by Dr. Senyshyn. Next, I was prompted to contemplate what music is and how it is defined; in doing so, I noted the importance of a shared experience and understanding of a musical composition from a philosophical perspective. A topic that attracted most of my interest was music preceding humankind, which made me question the interplay between music being any sound or silence and music requiring a listener. I wondered whether the absence of a listener in the pre-human times effectively eliminates the existence of music. Lastly, I learned about music not being a common language but rather a sign of the shared cultural experience. This video has been profoundly informative, and I am excited to delve more into this topic in the future.
Plato saw music as not just entertainment but a serious and important matter. His theory of musical education is connected with this. Plato built his system of public education based on music and gymnastics. Comparison of these seemingly heterogeneous phenomena served Plato as a means for a comprehensive, harmonious education of a person. If gymnastics affects the body, bringing up masculinity, courage, and strength in a person, then music affects the soul. Therefore, the task of education is to harmoniously and expediently combine music and gymnastics. Plato believed that music lessons should be the basis of the state education system. That is why they should be mandatory for all citizens. With music, Plato linked his utopian hopes for the revival of the old policy and the strengthening of statehood.
At the same time, Plato considers music to be a crucial means of social life-building. Plato repeatedly spoke with a moral interpretation of music. He demanded, in the name of strengthening morality and eliminating licentiousness, all sorts of restrictions and strict regulation in the field of musical practice, up to the prohibition of specific modes or musical instruments. In particular, Plato forbade using complex instruments such as trigons. Similarly, Plato opposed purely instrumental music.
Music is understood by Plato not only as a means of social and political control and regulation. Plato argues that musical education, in addition to purely moral and social goals, should pursue beauty as its goal and make a person “beautiful and good” (Hare & Russell, 304). Along with the state-political approach to music, he spoke about the aesthetic nature of music, the disinterestedness and purity of musical enjoyment, and the connection of music with love and beauty.
Lyman Sargent considers two definitions of utopia given by Joyce Oramel Hertzler and J. Max Patrick. Although both scientists based their reasoning on the ideas of More, each of them contributes distinctive features. At first glance, the definitions appear to be identical, but there is a critical difference between them. Hertzler bestows perfection on utopia, arguing that it is “purged of the shortcomings, the wastes, and the confusion” (Sargent, 155). In Hertzler’s ideas, utopia is idealized. In turn, Patrick’s utopia is an alternative to the usual, which is not a model of unrealistic perfection (Sargent, 155). Thus, the utopia in Patrick’s ideas is a picture of an imaginary society, a representation as opposed to an existing being. This point of view implies that utopia is built based on an alternative socio-historical hypothesis; that is, utopian ideas differ significantly from the existing structure of society. Thus, scholars have presented different views on the nature of utopia, as presented by More.
It is noteworthy that Sargent shares the opinion of Patrick and considers Hertzler not proper. This is because, according to Sargent, Hertzler misunderstands the definition of More. Sargent (2005) argues that More does not describe utopia as perfect in the sense of something finished, complete, and unchanging. Moreover, Sargent rejects Hertzler’s idea because of the sinfulness of human nature, which is contrary to the idea of a perfect society. Thus, the main difference presented by Sargent concerning the interpretations of utopia by Patrick and Hertzler is that the former opposes this concept to the existing reality, while the latter idealizes it. Notably, the author accepts Patrick’s idea and criticizes Hertzler.
References
Hare, M. and Russell, D.A. (1970). Volume four, the Republic in The dialogues of Plato. (Jowett, B., Trans.). Sphere Books Ltd.
Sargent, L. T. (2005). What is a utopia? [PDF document]. Web.
Drug abuse, trafficking, and sentencing are issues that many people in the United States understand. One of the themes in James Baldwin’s novel “Sonny’s Blue” is the usage of drugs by young people. Similarly, in her poem “We Real Cool,” Gwendolyn Brooks writes about young people who have dropped out of school and used drugs. Although young individuals perceive the use of drugs as gratifying, frustrations and misery push them to such a life whose result is death.
The two authors share some historical similarities in that both started their writing careers around the same time. Baldwin was born on August 2, 1924, in Harlem, New York (Biography.com. par.1). One of the social issues affecting citizens of African American descent was segregation, which led most youths to turn to turn to drugs for solace. Brooks was born on June 7, 1917, just a few years before Baldwin; hence, they witnessed the rising use of drugs (Academy of American Poets par.1). Brooks was born and raised in Chicago when the majority of the residents were blacks. Both authors took an interest in writing literature concerning the plight of African Americans in the post-slavery era.
In Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues, drugs are viewed as a mode of coping with distress and anxiety brought about by social issues. For instance, Sonny Struggles in life and is eventually jailed due to his addiction to heroin (Baldwin 92). When Sonny is released from jail, he resumes his passion for jazz music and starts singing in the bar. However, for the first time, his brother sees the brokenness, pain, and inner frustrations that he is trying to hide as he entertains people. Thus, the drugs have a way of hiding the reality of the users’ struggles such that people only see the addict instead of the person.
Likewise, Brook’s poem creates the image of some young adults who have left school and spend most of their time playing pool. The poet describes some of the activities that the young adults are involved in as “sing sin” and “thin gin” (Brooks stanza 3). Denotatively, singing sin means having a habit that is considered immoral by a society which makes them an outcast. Thin gin is an alcohol brand that, in this poem, connotes that individuals are fond of using drugs. Therefore, the youths are already stigmatized for doing what is out of the norm, and drugs may be a solace for their struggles.
Interestingly, the title in both works can only be understood in light of African American slang. For instance, the term “blues” in Baldwin’s novel is used for the pleasure that people feel after using drugs. Similarly, “real cool” in the poem shows a distorted kind of feeling good. In turn, both writers understand that when people use drugs, they have a wrong perception of reality. They are in a new world that outsiders may not understand because, despite all the adverse effects of addiction, they feel some relief from their struggles as the chemicals enter their brains.
In conclusion, Baldwin and Brooks shared a common ancestral lineage and witnessed the social struggles that African Americans were undergoing in the post-slavery era. The two authors highlight the use of drugs among youths and its problems in society. Remarkably, they also show the distortion that the drug users have after using drugs while, in reality, they are wasting away. Drug and substance abuse continues to affect many lives in the United States; hence, the two works of literature can enhance understanding.
Music is that phenomenon which helps people to feel the harmony of the world expressed in melodies. These melodies are always around us. They are in our everyday reality and wait for us in the sounds of a rain or a violin. In his essay, “Living with Music”, Ralph Ellison depicted his relations with this magic world of sounds from very childhood to the moment of writing the essay. One of the most important questions which he discusses in the work is connected with people’s different visions of the correlation between classical and jazz music.
Why should the passion for classical music reject the enthusiastic interest in jazz? Ralph Ellison accentuates the idea that the sense of music cannot be dependent only on the perfectness of the melody. The beauty of the music is in the feelings, not in those which should be expressed according to the rules, but in those which the musician wishes to express and which arouse in the audience’s souls.
Ralph Ellison concentrates the readers’ attention on the fact that he always lived in music which could cause his moods or become the way to express his feelings.
Nevertheless, there was a definite struggle in his heart affected by traditional points of view related to the role of the music and the notion of musical harmony. The author understood the beauty of classical music and of jazz. Thus, he “had been caught actively between two (styles): that of the Negro folk music, both sacred and profane, slave song and jazz, and that of Western classical music” (Ellison, 2011, p. 119).
It is possible to find the harmony in the range of sounds which are combined in a definite melody only according to the author’s preferences and visions of rhythm, and it is possible to perceive his feelings which are expressed with the help of this melody. It is also possible to admire the traditional perfectness of classical music which involves in its world with its greatest melodies.
Why should people play not those melodies they really feel, but those ones which they should feel according to the traditional principles of classical musical education?
It was most confusing: the folk tradition demanded that I play what I heard and felt around me, while those who were seeking to teach the classical tradition in the schools insisted that I play strictly according to the book and express that which I was supposed to feel (Ellison, 2011, p. 119).
It is the choice of the musician to play according to his favourite styles and follow any melodies he prefers. Nevertheless, the beauty is not always in perfectness. Jazz music can be considered as the revolution in the perception of the melody and harmony of sounds. It makes accents on those combinations of sounds which reflect the real melody of the soul. It does not hide the emotions of the musician, but emphasizes them and reveals in a rather controversial form of jazz music in relation to the tradition.
Ralph Ellison focuses on the inspiration as the main principle for creating and playing good music. If you have the inspiration and want to implement it in the form of melody, it does not matter what kind of music you choose. Thus, our feelings can be successfully expressed as classical sonatas and jazz scratches presented as wonderful melodies.
Why can people be afraid of unfamiliar things even when they are expressed with the help of jazz music? Any kind of melody in which we can observe and feel the soul and harmony can influence our psychological and moral state. In his essay Ellison depicts the peculiarities of his perception of the melodies which were produced by his neighbors. They were with him when he was writing and thinking, they were the part of his life. Moreover, Ellison did not stop his musical exercises. It was that we can call as living with music.
One learns by moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar, and while it might sound incongruous at first, the step from the spirituality of the spirituals to that of the Beethoven of the symphonies or the Bach of the chorales is not as vast as it seems (Ellison, 2011, p. 124).
It is significant not to be afraid of looking for something new. Ellison succeeded in his understanding and accepting of the classical pieces and jazz improvisations which he heard being at home. These melodies reflected his idea about the impossibility of dividing music into wrong and right. “Those who know their native culture and love it unchauvinistically are never lost when encountering the unfamiliar” (Ellison, 2011, p.124). The peculiarities of music perception depend only on the inner boundaries of the person.
In his essay Ralph Ellison develops the opinion that it is not necessary to choose between definite types of music, if their principles are close to you. It is important to feel the music without references to the style. The effect of music is in its closeness to people. When people do not perceive and feel it they cannot consider it as close to them. The passion for jazz improvisations cannot decrease your interest in classical masterpieces.
Reference
Ellison, R. (2011). Living with music. In R. J. DiYanni (Ed.), Fifty great essays. (pp. 116-125). USA: Longman.
Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is a very unique poem. Some say it is a kind of diary entry or detailed self-reflection and this makes it that unique. However, the poem is also special because it combines two types of art: literature and music.
“Song of Myself” is a musical artwork since in this poem it is difficult to see the line between music and poetry. This peculiarity makes the poem that unique and that personal. It is possible to state that the poem is unique self-reflection which reveals the poet’s thoughts just as they appear in his head.
This is why Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is considered to be one of the greatest works of American poetry, since it is not simply read but felt.
Cowley points out that the structure of “Song of Myself” should not be regarded as logical since it is not a mere “geometrical figure but a musical progression” (xvi).
It is very tempting to analyze the poem in terms of psychology or logic considering topics discussed in the poem, but it is much more interesting to reveal its uniqueness in terms of the specific structure which makes the poem pertain to two different types of art.
The tone, rhythm, tempo of the poem change when themes change. The poem has been called a “rhapsody or tone poem” (Cowley xvi). It is very melodic. This work is also characterized by unity (which is a characteristic feature of musical works) since all lines are in the right place revealing certain idea.
It is always amazing how people can combine different types of art since it is similar to combining different senses. Some say they can “see music” or they can associate colors with some sounds. Whitman made something more unique.
He made his thoughts and his very soul sound as a beautiful melody. Of course, there are many poems which become songs later on. However, there is no need to create music to sing “Song of Myself” since it is already a melody addressed to people’s hearts.
Most importantly, this peculiarity of the poem makes it even more personal. Many scholars suggest that the poem is self-reflection since Whitman reveals his thoughts, ideas and longings, and stipulates his position towards various issues.
However, Whitman goes further. He does not simply enumerate his ideas, he makes them sound in a way they sound in his head. Admittedly, music is inevitable part of human life. People often whistle, murmur or even loudly sing various melodies. It is but natural that music is not on the surface of human consciousness.
This level (surface) is for words, but music reaches deeper levels of human mind. Therefore, Whitman’s poem is even more personal than a diary. It is like a reflection of his consciousness.
On balance, it is possible to point out that Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is one of the most unique poems. It is usually considered in terms of its content, exact wording and themes discussed. However, it is much more important to consider it in terms of its specific structure.
The poem combines two types of art, music and poetry. Therefore, in the first place Whitman proves that words can become a melody. More importantly, Whitman creates a poem which is extremely personal since it seems that the poet reveals his thoughts just as they appear in his head. The reader does not read the poem, but the reader rather listens to “Song of Myself”.
Work Cited
Cowley, Malcolm. Introduction. Leaves of Grass: The First (1855) Edition. By Walt Whitman. New Haven: Penguin Classic, 1961. vii-xxxvii.