Effects of Music on the Mind and Brain

How does music influence the working of the human mind and brain? What are the effects of music on the mind and brain? Read on to find out...

Ads by Google

Free music software Create your own music online with this free score maker. Register now scorio.com/score_maker

The mind and the brain Read quantum physicists' design for advancing neuroscience. NewPhysicsAndTheMind.net

Free Downloadable Videos You Must Own The Most Viewed End-Time Bible Prophecy Videos Now www.WorldsLastChance.com

The study of the effects of music on the mind and brain has been a subject of interest for many. The interconnection between music and the physical and mental health of human beings has been researched since long. The research has concluded that music does have positive effects on the mind and brain of human beings. Music has the power of healing certain ailments. Indian classical music has been found to have the strongest healing powers. Be it about fighting anxiety, be it about speeding the healing process, music is the answer to all the queries. Find information about classical music.

Effects of Music on the Mind

There are times when one feels depressed. Feelings of gloom and inadequacy fill one’s mind and carrying out even the daily activities becomes difficult. Depression reduces brain activity and hampers the mind’s ability to plan and execute tasks. Lack of the neurotransmitter, Serotonin, leads to a depressed state of mind. Soothing musical notes help increase the Serotonin levels of the brain, thus alleviating mental depression.

Anxiety is associated with an upcoming event that may have an unknown outcome. It may lead to sleeplessness and other anxiety disorders. Music plays a vital role in calming the nerves and soothing one’s mind. Flat musical notes induce sleep, while natural notes provide the mind with alertness.

Music is found to affect the process of learning and thinking. If work is accompanied by quiet and soothing music, it helps the listener think, analyze and work faster in a more efficient manner. Music develops a positive attitude in the listeners and provides them with motivation. Surveys have shown that music brings about remarkable improvements in the academic skills of students, who are made to listen to certain kinds of music while studying or working in the lab. Listening to pleasant music, while doing a difficult task, can make it seem easier.

Music has a positive effect on the interpersonal skills of an individual. Failures that we face in life are often the result of lack of confidence and lack of desire to learn. Students obtaining poor school grades do not necessarily lack intelligence. Their poor academic results are often an outcome of their lack of

motivation and their disinterest. Music lessons during school can help the students fight their mental block. Music proves helpful in encouraging young children to venture new fields. It helps them develop the confidence needed to achieve success in life.

Effects of Music on the Brain

Music has a positive effect on the concentration level of the listeners. It is also found to improve one’s memory. Research has found that the silence between two musical notes triggers the brain cells and neurons, which are responsible for the development of sharp memory. Flute music, and instruments like santoor and sarod are recommended for the enhancement of concentration and memory. Strong beats cause the brain waves to resonate in synch with the beat bringing about higher levels of concentration and alertness.

Music plays a vital role in enhancing creativity. Music has a positive impact on the right side of the brain. Music triggers the brain center, which deal with the development of creativity. Certain ragas are known to activate all the chakras of the listener’s body, thus benefiting him/her in the performance of other creative tasks.

Music is found to give students the capacity to trust themselves. It provides them with an internal discipline. Rhythm is known to help the students learn math. Music stimulates the brain centers that deal with thinking, analyzing and planning, thus enhancing one’s organizational skills.

Music helps secrete endorphins that help in speeding the process of healing. It acts as an effective distraction from pain and suffering. While diverting one's mind away from pain, it also helps bring about certain chemical processes in the brain that aid healing. After undergoing surgery, patients may be advised to undergo a music therapy. Listening to melodious, comforting music is sure to have a positive effect on the physical and mental well-being of patients.

How does Music affect your Mood?

Some look at music as a hobby; for some music is their passion, while some pursue music as their career. Music has a direct influence on your mood. Book stores, restaurants and shopping malls often keep some music playing in the background. The kind of music they choose to play depends on the kind of audiences they target. Music is found to enhance customer experience. Music being played in malls and restaurants peps up the mood of customers. People tend to spend more time in malls or hotels that play pleasant music. Music brightens up the atmosphere around you and is definite to cheer you up. Sad tunes often bring tears to the eyes. Cheerful songs brighten up your mood. Different types of tunes are seen to create different kinds of moods and arouse different kinds of emotions.

Listening to music gives me an experience of divine pleasure.

Music and the Brain

Laurence O'Donnell

"Music is so naturally united with us that we cannot be free from it even if we so desired" (Boethius cited by Storr).

Music's interconnection with society can be seen throughout history. Every known culture on the earth has music. Music seems to be one of the basic actions of humans. However, early music was not handed down from generation to generation or recorded. Hence, there is no official record of "prehistoric" music. Even so, there is evidence of prehistoric music from the findings of flutes carved from bones.

The influence of music on society can be clearly seen from modern history. Music helped Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence. When he could not figure out the right wording for a certain part, he would play his violin to help him. The music helped him get the words from his brain onto the paper.

Albert Einstein is recognized as one of the smartest men who has ever lived. A little known fact about Einstein is that when he was young he did extremely poor in school. His grade school teachers told his parents to take him out of school because he was "too stupid to learn" and it would be a waste of resources for the school to invest time and energy in his education. The school suggested that his parents get Albert an easy, manual labor job as soon as they could. His mother did not think that Albert was "stupid". Instead of following the school's advice, Albert's parents bought him a violin. Albert became good at the violin. Music was the key that helped Albert Einstein become one of the smartest men who has ever lived. Einstein himself says that the reason he was so smart is because he played the violin. He loved the music of Mozart and Bach the most. A friend of Einstein, G.J. Withrow, said that the way Einstein figured out his problems and equations was by improvising on the violin.

Bodily Responses to Music

In general, responses to music are able to be observed. It has been proven that music influences humans both in good and bad ways. These effects are instant and long lasting. Music is thought to link all of the emotional, spiritual, and physical elements of the universe. Music can also be used to change a person's mood, and has been found to cause like physical responses in many people simultaneously. Music also has the ability to strengthen or weaken emotions from a particular event such as a funeral.

People perceive and respond to music in different ways. The level of musicianship of the performer and the listener as well as the manner in which a piece is performed affects the "experience" of music. An experienced and accomplished musician might hear and feel a piece of music in a totally different way than a non-musician or beginner. This is why two accounts of the same piece of music can contradict themselves.

Rhythm is also an important aspect of music to study when looking at responses to music. There are two responses to rhythm. These responses are hard to separate because they are related, and one of these

responses cannot exist without the other. These responses are (1) the actual hearing of the rhythm and (2) the physical response to the rhythm. Rhythm organizes physical movements and is very much related to the human body. For example, the body contains rhythms in the heartbeat, while walking, during breathing, etc. Another example of how rhythm orders movement is an autistic boy who could not tie his shoes. He learned how on the second try when the task of tying his shoes was put to a song. The rhythm helped organize his physical movements in time.

It cannot be proven that two people can feel the exact same thing from hearing a piece of music. For example, early missionaries to Africa thought that the nationals had bad rhythm. The missionaries said that when the nationals played on their drums it sounded like they were not beating in time. However, it was later discovered that the nationals were beating out complex polyrhythmic beats such as 2 against 3, 3 against 4, and 2 against 3 and 5, etc. These beats were too advanced for the missionaries to follow.

Responses to music are easy to be detected in the human body. Classical music from the baroque period causes the heart beat and pulse rate to relax to the beat of the music. As the body becomes relaxed and alert, the mind is able to concentrate more easily. Furthermore, baroque music decreases blood pressure and enhances the ability to learn. Music affects the amplitude and frequency of brain waves, which can be measured by an electro-encephalogram. Music also affects breathing rate and electrical resistance of the skin. It has been observed to cause the pupils to dilate, increase blood pressure, and increase the heart rate.

The Power of Music on Memory and Learning

The power of music to affect memory is quite intriguing. Mozart's music and baroque music, with a 60 beats per minute beat pattern, activate the left and right brain. The simultaneous left and right brain action maximizes learning and retention of information. The information being studied activates the left brain while the music activates the right brain. Also, activities which engage both sides of the brain at the same time, such as playing an instrument or singing, causes the brain to be more capable of processing information.

According to The Center for New Discoveries in Learning, learning potential can be increased a minimum of five times by using this 60 beats per minute music. For example, the ancient Greeks sang their dramas because they understood how music could help them remember more easily ). A renowned Bulgarian psychologist, Dr. George Lozanov, designed a way to teach foreign languages in a fraction of the normal learning time. Using his system, students could learn up to one half of the vocabulary and phrases for the whole school term (which amounts to almost 1,000 words or phrases) in one day. Along with this, the average retention rate of his students was 92%. Dr. Lozanov's system involved using certain classical music pieces from the baroque period which have around a 60 beats per minute pattern. He has proven that foreign languages can be learned with 85-100% efficiency in only thirty days by using these baroque pieces. His students had a recall accuracy rate of almost 100% even after not reviewing the material for four years.

In 1982, researchers from the University of North Texas performed a three-way test on postgraduate students to see if music could help in memorizing vocabulary words. The students were divided into

three groups. Each group was given three tests - a pretest, a posttest, and a test a week after the first two tests. All of the tests were identical. Group 1 was read the words with Handel's Water Music in the background. They were also asked to imagine the words. Group 2 was read the same words also with Handel's Water Music in the background. Group 2 was not asked to imagine the words. Group 3 was only read the words, was not given any background music, and was also not asked to imagine the words. The results from the first two tests showed that groups 1 and 2 had much better scores than group 3. The results from the third test, a week later, showed that group 1 performed much better than groups 2 or 3. However, simply using music while learning does not absolutely guarantee recall but can possibly improve it. Background music in itself is not a part of the learning process, but it does enter into memory along with the information learned. Recall is better when the same music used for learning is used during recall. Also, tempo appears to be a key of music's effect on memory.

One simple way students can improve test scores is by listening to certain types of music such as Mozart's Sonata for Two Piano's in D Major before taking a test. This type of music releases neurons in the brain which help the body to relax. The effectiveness of Mozart's sonatas can be seen by the results from an IQ test performed on three groups of college students. The first group listened to a Mozart sonata before taking the test. The second group listened to a relaxation tape before their test. The third group did not listen to anything before the test. The first group had the highest score with an average of 119. The second group ended up with an average of 111, and the third group had the lowest score with an average of 110.

William Balach, Kelly Bowman, and Lauri Mohler, all from Pennsylvania State University, studied the effects of music genre and tempo on memory retention. They had four groups learn vocabulary words using one of four instrumental pieces - slow classical, slow jazz, fast classical, and fast jazz. Each of the four groups was divided into smaller groups for the recall test. These sub groups used either the same (i.e. slow classical, slow classical) or different (i.e. slow jazz, fast classical) pieces when taking the recall test. The results did show a dependency on the music. Recall was better when the music was the same during learning and testing. These same researchers did another test which restricted the changes in the music to just tempo (i.e. slow to fast jazz) or just genre (i.e. slow jazz to slow classical). Surprisingly, the results showed that changing the genre had no effect on recall but changing the tempo decreased recall.

Healthy and Not So Healthy Effects

Many revealing scientific experiments, studies, and research projects have been performed to try and discover the extent of the power of music. Up until 1970, most of the research done on music had to do with studying the effects of the beat of the music. It was found that slow music could slow the heartbeat and the breathing rate as well as bring down blood pressure. Faster music was found to speed up these same body measurements.

The key component of music that makes it beneficial is order. The order of the music from the baroque and classical periods causes the brain to respond in special ways. This order includes repetition and changes, certain patterns of rhythm, and pitch and mood contrasts. One key ingredient to the order of

music from the baroque and classical periods is math. This is realized by the body and the human mind performs better when listening to this ordered music.

One shining example of the power of order in music is King George I of England. King George had problems with memory loss and stress management. He read from the Bible the story of King Saul and recognized that Saul had experienced the same type of problems that he was experiencing. George recognized that Saul overcame his problems by using special music. With this story in mind King George asked George Frederick Handel to write some special music for him that would help him in the same way that music helped Saul. Handel wrote his Water Music for this purpose.

Another key to the order in music is the music being the same and different. The brain works by looking at different pieces of information and deciding if they are different or the same. This is done in music of the baroque and classical periods by playing a theme and then repeating or changing the theme. The repetition is only done once. More than one repetition causes the music to become displeasing, and also causes a person to either enter a state of sub-conscious thinking or a state of anger. Dr. Ballam goes on to say that, "The human mind shuts down after three or four repetitions of a rhythm, or a melody, or a harmonic progression." Furthermore, excessive repetition causes people to release control of their thoughts. Rhythmic repetition is used by people who are trying to push certain ethics in their music.

An Australian physician and psychiatrist, Dr. John Diamond, found a direct link between muscle strength/weakness and music. He discovered that all of the muscles in the entire body go weak when subjected to the "stopped anapestic beat" of music from hard rock musicians, including Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, Queen, The Doors, Janis Joplin, Bachman - Turner Overdrive, and The Band. Dr. Diamond found another effect of the anapestic beat. He called it a "switching" of the brain. Dr. Diamond said this switching occurs when the actual symmetry between both of the cerebral hemispheres is destroyed causing alarm in the body along with lessened work performance, learning and behavior problems in children, and a "general malaise in adults." In addition to harmful, irregular beats in rock music, shrill frequencies prove to also be harmful to the body. Bob Larson, a Christian minister and former rock musician, remembers that in the 70's teens would bring raw eggs to a rock concert and put them on the front of the stage. The eggs would be hard boiled by the music before the end of the concert and could be eaten. Dr. Earl W. Flosdorf and Dr. Leslie A. Chambers showed that proteins in a liquid medium were coagulated when subjected to piercing high-pitched sounds

On Animals and Plants, Too!

Tests on the effects of music on living organisms besides humans have shown that special pieces of music (including The Blue Danube) aid hens in laying more eggs. Music can also help cows to yield more milk. Researchers from Canada and the former Soviet Union found that wheat will grow faster when exposed to special ultrasonic and musical sounds. Rats were tested by psychologists to see how they would react to Bach's music and rock music. The rats were placed into two different boxes. Rock music was played in one of the boxes while Bach's music was played in the other box. The rats could choose to

switch boxes through a tunnel that connected both boxes. Almost all of the rats chose to go into the box with the Bach music even after the type of music was switched from one box to the other.

Research took a new avenue when in 1968 a college student, Dorthy Retallack, started researching the effects of music on plants. She took her focus off of studying the beat and put in on studying the different sounds of music. Retallack tested the effects of music on plant growth by using music styles including classical, jazz, pop, rock, acid rock, East Indian, and country. She found that the plants grew well for almost every type of music except rock and acid rock. Jazz, classical, and Ravi Shankar turned out to be the most helpful to the plants. However, the plants tested with the rock music withered and died. The acid rock music also had negative effects on the plant growth.

Conclusions

One cannot deny the power of music. High school students who study music have higher grade point averages that those who don't. These students also develop faster physically. Student listening skills are also improved through music education. The top three schools in America all place a great emphasis on music and the arts. Hungary, Japan, and the Netherlands, the top three academic countries in the world, all place a great emphasis on music education and participation in music. The top engineers from Silicon Valley are all musicians. Napoleon understood the enormous power of music. He summed it up by saying, "Give me control over he who shapes the music of a nation, and I care not who makes the laws" .

To Know More

* Ballam, Michael. Music and the Mind (Documentation Related to Message). pp 1-8.

* Jourdain, Robert. Music, the Brain and Ecstasy. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc.,1997.

* Lundin, Robert W. An Objective Psychology of Music. Malabar: Robert E. Krieger Publishing Company, 1985.

* Neverman. "The Affects of Music on the Mind." 3 pp. On-line. Internet. 20 December 1999. Available WWW: http://www.powell.k12.ky.us/pchs/ publications/Affects_of_Music.html.

* Scarantino, Barbara Anne. Music Power Creative Living Through the Joys of Music. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1987.

* Storr, Anthony. Music and the Mind. New York: The Free Press, 1992.

* Weinberger, N.M. "Threads of Music in the Tapestry of Memory." MuSICA Research Notes 4.1 (Spring 1997): 3pp. On-line. Internet. 13 November 1999. Available WWW: http://musica.ps.uci.edu/mrn/V4I1S97.html#threads.

The Author

Laurence O'Donnell III is a musicist (he plays the bassoon) from Perth, Scotland. He has created a site named Music Power. This paper was produced as a result of his senior paper. Email: laurence@characterlink.net

I was looking through Friday’s Globe And Mail (C2) when this headline caught my attention; “If music be the food of work, play on.” I read the article with interest.

Workers are more turned on by tuning in to music, a survey finds.

Nearly one-third -32 per cent- of 1,613 U.S. employees said they listen to music while working through the use of an iPod, MP3 player or similar device.

And 79 per cent of them said all that humming along improves their job satisfaction or productivity, the survey conducted by Harris Interactive for staffing company Spheron Corp. found.

The effect of music was the highest among younger workers, with 90 per cent of those 18 to 24 and 89 per cent of those 30 to 39 saying it boosted job satisfaction.

That finding didn’t surprise me one bit. As a teacher, I’ve known that for years. Listening to music helps improve productivity. Why? One reason is because music acts like white noise in the background preventing students from noticing every other little noise that usually distracts them. Some kids can’t tune out things like a pencil dropping or someone asking a question. Their brain takes everything in; consequently, they are often distracted and off task in the classroom.

Just so there is no confusion here, I want to say that I do not advocate listening to music during a lesson when I the teacher is teaching or during class discussions. During these times students need to be attentive listeners and listen to what is going on in the class.

Of course there have to be some guidelines for this to work effectively. I’ve learned the hard way.(Have you noticed, I seem to say that often?) After discussing using music as a tool to assist with concentration and focus, I give student these guidelines (well, they’re actually rules, but “guidelines” sound so much better. Some of my at risk students have trouble with rules. It’s all how you say it. I’ve learned that the hard way, too) These are the guidelines:

1. Listen to music that you know and love. Listening to new, unfamiliar music is distracting (your brain focuses on the new) and that defeats the purpose.

2. Listen to your own music on your own iPod, Mp3 player etc. Absolutely no sharing. Sharing wastes time and causes commotion that is distracting to other students and that defeats the purpose.

3. Listen to your music after I have taught the lesson. Listening to music while I am teaching distracts you from what I am saying and that defeats the purpose.

My students are cool about the whole music thing in class. They understand the need for guidelines and usually don’t push too often. It’s amazing to see the kids hooked up to their music and working away, doing far more while listening to their music than they would without listening to their music.

When I create an Individual Education Plan for my Learning Disabled or Behaviour students, if I believe that listening to music while working will help that student be more successful, I will include that accommodation in the I.E.P. and share that with the student’s teachers.

Sadly listening to music in the classroom using the latest portable media players no longer helps my students focus

Filed Under Behavior Management, Digital toys, The way I see it, motivating students, music in the classroom, positive climate, underachieving students | 11 Comments

Sadly, listening to music in the classroom using the latest portable media players has become a distraction for my students. I’ve always believed that for some students listening to music in the classroom while they do seat work helps them focus on the task at hand. I’ve written about it here, here and here. The idea being that the music my students listen to will create a type of white noise for them that will drown out distracting noises in the classroom like pencils dropping or other students talking. Unfortunately, listening to music on the new portable media players does not reduce distractions and help students focus on their work. On the contrary, the new more sophisticated portable media players have introduced a host of new distractions that lure students away from the task at hand. For example, students who have an ipod touch , can and do surf the web in class, send email, play games, update their Facebook status and text one another as well as listen to music. Less sophisticated portable media players like the ipod shuffle that only play music seem not to be as distracting, but many of my students prefer to use players that let them do more, let them do it all- surf the web, text, play games etc. In September, I’m only allowing my students to use media players that only play music. I found that these players worked well in the past to help my students stay on task.

Let me just say here that I am well aware of the controversy surrounding the claim that listening to music in the classroom helps students better concentrate on their work. More research definitely needs to be done. I can only go by what I see happening in my classrooms. I see students who get distracted easily in class focus better on their work when listening to music. I see students do more work when they listen to music. I agree with Mathew (see post comments) who noted

I’m willing to concede that music does not increase concentration. However, I know that when I have a task to do that I don’t want to do (like cleaning my desk, correcting papers, doing the dishes, etc.) music can wake me up and help me to work faster.

When my students are bored or unmotivated, I find that sometimes music wakes them up and gets them to work for short periods of time.

I too have students who at times are bored and unmotivated- imagine that :) . For example, not all my students have a passion for algebra. If listening to music while completing their algebra assignments helps make algebra bearable and they stay on track and complete the algebra assignments, then I’m all for listening to music while doing algebra. I’d rather they complete their assignments than not complete their assignments. If however, my students become distracted from completing their assignments because their media players enable them to do all kinds of other things they prefer over algebra like

surfing the web, texting, or playing games then I’m all for banning those devices from my classroom. I want listening to music to help students complete their work. I don’t want the devices students use to listen to music to introduce more distractions into the classroom.

The controversy about the benefits of listening to music in the classroom continues.

Filed Under Special Education, The way I see it, motivating students, music in the classroom, underachieving students | 5 Comments

The controversy about the benefits of listening to music in the classroom continues. In an earlier post, I argued that listening to music helps students better concentrate on the task at hand. I have been encouraging my students who have difficulty maintaining their focus in class because they have attentional deficits to listen to music while they work on their assignments. Why? The music they listen to acts like white noise to drown out many of the distractions caused by such things as a pencil dropping to the floor, someone in class sneezing etc. Some students have difficulty ignoring the multitude of minor distractions that occur in a busy classroom. The music they listen to distracts them from the distractions, if you will, so their attention isn’t darting all over the place as each new sound occurs. I hope I’m making sense here. The point being that when students listen to music while working they aren’t as easily distracted by other sounds and can better focus on the task at hand.

I haven’t done any scholarly research to support my contention that listening to music helps students with challenges like attention deficit hyperactive disorder focus on the task at hand. I’m basing my contention on the experience I’ve had for more than years supporting students who have attentional difficulties. Listening to music helps some students retain their focus.

GB, one of the readers of an earlier post of mine about the benefits of listening to music, made me aware ( see the comment she left) of an article that discusses the benefits of listening to music. The article concluded ” listening to music unfortunately won’t increase your concentration”.

I can just hear all the groans from those students who tell me they are writing persuasive essays and looking for evidence to support the practice of listening to music in the classroom to help them concentrate.

The author of the article discusses the current research on the effect of music on concentration with personality types as an independent variable. It does not follow that since listening to music does not help introverts or extroverts concentrate, listening to music would not help students with attentional difficulties concentrate. The independent variables are different. I know of no study that has attentional difficulties as the independent variable. If someone is aware of such a study, please let me know. I’d really appreciate it.

http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n15/mente/musica.html

http://www.teachersatrisk.com/tag/music-in-the-classroom/

http://www.teachersatrisk.com/2006/09/23/listening-to-music-helps-students-be-more-productive-in-the-classroom/

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/effects-of-music-on-the-mind-and-brain.html

How frequent does the youth listen to music ..

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_n2575_v121/ai_13695060/

Urban, rural, and suburban teenagers have different listening habits when it comes to popular music, maintains Keith P. Thompson, professor of music education, Pennsylvania State University. "According to my findings, urban young people listen to music an average of 4.43 hours a day, compared to 3.54 hours for rural teenagers and 1.98 for suburban adolescents. For suburban teenagers, most of their listening is confined to the evening, since they engage in more after-school activities than either urban or rural young people," he adds.

In a survey of seventh- and eighth-graders, student participants listened to 10 recordings, including "Black and White" by Michael Jackson, "Too Legit to Quit" by M.C. Hammer, "Broken Arrow" by Rod Stewart, and "Good for Me" by Amy Grant, then grouped them according to meanings. Most teenagers rated musical elements, particularly rhythm, as the most important characteristic of a song, with lyrics a close second. Rural adolescents rated lyrics slightly above rhythm and other musical elements. "Urban teenagers paid much more attention to a song if they could dance to it. For rural and suburban teenagers, so-called 'danceability' meant little."

The study also found that rural teenagers own more tapes and CDs than either their urban or suburban counterparts and are much more aware of the mood and uniqueness of a particular song. "Urban, rural, and suburban students were alike in describing rhythm as the most important musical element to them. They paid little attention to instruments and volume and none to melody or harmony.

"Up to the age of 10, young people watch TV together with their parents. After the age of 10, they tend to go to their room and listen to their radio, tapedeck, or CD player. Some of the dialogue between parents and children ends at that point." Once young people reach junior high school, they seldom discuss their musical preferences with their parents. This causes parents to question the influence of popular music on their children.

COPYRIGHT 1993 Society for the Advancement of Education

COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

http://www.dosomething.org/sharesomething/forum/is-music-poisoning-minds-teens-and-other-youth

"Evil triumphs when good men do nothing"-Edmund Burke

Music is not poisoning the minds of youth if you look for the right kind. I feel like there are certain artists that do have obscene content in their lyrics, but many youth listen to this type of music for other reasons besides the lyrics. I believe there are artists out that there that have something to say that is worth listening to. Many kids listen to the music though and they misinterpret the meanings of the songs which has led kids into do certain things such as commit suicide. People can percieve art in a bad way. I believe that aspect is really cause by other elements besides the art itself though. It really depends upon things that are happening in their lives. And if you are going to blame art for all the problems in the world, then what about sports, politics, and war? People wanted to blame Marilyn Manson for the Columbine Massacre, but at the same time they were accusing him the president was dropping bombs on civilians. It all sums up to one thing...compassion. A reporter once asked Marilyn Manson what he would have said to the two young men responsible for the Columbine Massacre. He said, "I wouldn't have said anything. I would have listened."

Does Music Affect Teens?

Can the Music Youth Listen to Affect Their Behavior?

Jan 26, 2008 Alex Keshen

Music is often blamed for influencing particular behaviors, but does it really do so? Why is music sometimes associated with negative behavior and actions?

With music being such a staple in youth culture, it seems that each teenager has a “soundtrack to their life.” But, are they just innocently listening to their favorite tunes? Or are they in for something more?

In the media it seems that certain groups that are affiliated with particular genres of music, often seen with styles such as rap and hard-rock/heavy metal, are pinpointed when something within their community goes awry, as having been strongly influenced by the music they listen to.

But does it truly work this way? Can the content of a song influence one’s actions and/or behavior? The question remains; is there really a connection?

As the popularity of music among youth grows, the number of teens who are becoming more violent, more sexually active and who are experimenting with drugs is steadily increasing. The parallel seen between the two analyses sparks questions regarding a connection; does music influence potentially harmful behavior?

Well-Known Incidents Where Music Has Been Blamed

One of the most infamous music-influencing-behavior misconceptions is the Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, a town in Jefferson County, Colorado, on Apr. 20, 1999, in which 12 students as well as a teacher were fatally injured, as well as 24 others who were injured.

Upon learning that prior to their suicides, the two shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were heavy metal and Goth music fans, it seemed to be that the media immediately instilled a moral panic about that particular genre of music. More specifically targeted in the Columbine shootings was singer Marilyn Manson.

In filmmaker Michael Moore’s 2002 documentary Bowling for Columbine, Marilyn Manson, after being targeted by the media as an influence in the shootings, said, “I definitely can see why they would pick me. Because I think it's easy to throw my face on the TV, because in the end, I'm a poster boy for fear. Because I represent what everyone is afraid of, because I say and do whatever I want.”

Read on

* Michael Moore's New Doc About Global Economy

* Date Set for Michael Moore's New Doc

* Michael Moore's New Documentary

Similar to, but not to the same extent, the media made a point to mention that Kimveer Gill, the shooter at the more recent Sept. 13, 2006, shooting at Dawson College in Montréal, Que., followed the music and lifestyle of a Goth.

Why Blame Music?

Why would the media have mentioned the type of music that the killers listen to whether or not it was not attributing it to the shooting?

The answer is simple: moral panic. The term, originally coined by sociologist Stanley Cohen, simply means a reaction to something based on a perception, which, in many cases, is highly exaggerated or even bias.

As put by Manson, he believes that he represents what people are afraid of. Moral panics tend to thrive off of this. Often based from stereotypes, panics are spread thus pinpointing a specific group, often unrighteous in doing so. Since panics and fears often tend to be derived from what we are afraid of (and that is often what we’re uncomfortable with), blaming a subgroup often seems like the easiest, but not necessarily the correct, thing to do.

So, Is There A Connection?

In an article appearing in Adolescence Magazine, the author writes that King, a child psychologist, "stops short of suggesting a cause and effect relationship between listening to this music and destructive behavior, he suggests that it is at least a contributing factor."

The answer to whether or not music can affect a person's behavior is not a simple matter of a yes or no answer. While, yes, it is true that the criminals in the cases of Columbine and Dawson College were listeners of genres of music that the media tends to pinpoint, but these are just two people who listen to that style of music. If the music that people listened to had such a strong influence on their behavior, wouldn't the millions of other listeners (considering that Manson is a multi-platinum selling artist) have destructive behaviors as well?

Read more at Suite101: Does Music Affect Teens?: Can the Music Youth Listen to Affect Their Behavior? http://www.suite101.com/content/is-music-for-more-than-your-ears-a42823#ixzz1ERmOuAUr

The negative effect of rock music on youth

BY: adonais | Category: Entertainment | Post Date: 2008-09-22

http://www.saching.com/Article/The-negative-effect-of-rock-music-on-youth/631

Music has an uncanny power to transform the life of people all over the world irrespective of their race, culture or gender. Music unarguably enjoys the position of the most influential universal language. Music forms a separate culture group spread across the world in its variety of forms. The different genres of music constitute these various forms of music. Like any thing in the world, music can also be disastrous if it falls in the hands of the wrong section of the society.

Rock music is a genre of music that uses guitar, drum and bass, which contribute to its noisy music. It was originated in the western world, but took little time to gain fans all over the world. Within a short span of time, youth across the world were madly in love with rock music. In the modern age rock music has turned out into a prominent factor that decides the style of dress, language and fashion of the younger generation. Many studies have proved that rock music negatively affect the mental framework of its listeners quite unconsciously.

The most negative part of rock music is its heavy metallic sound, which unconsciously makes its listeners violent. Rock music can cause a phenomenon called nerve jamming which is similar to hypnosis. It has been pointed out that the younger people who is under the mesmerizing influence of rock music lose conscious control of their mind and succumb themselves to the pessimistic messages conveyed by most music bands. Thus, rock music is spiritually, mentally and physically harmful to the people, especially the youth.

An often-cited example in this case is that of a sixteen-year-old boy in Texas, U.S.A who was taken into a trance like state while listening to rock song that he

became violent and unconsciously murdered his aunt. Thus, music even has the weird power to transform the common person into murderers and social nuisances. Unlike rock music, Classical music has a soothing effect on the mind.

The explicit lyrics of the rock music induce violence in young people. On April 20, 1999, two teenagers killed 12 of their peers, a teacher, and themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. The Littleton killers idolized shock-rocker Marilyn Manson, The facts of these and other instances of youth violence parallel the music these boys consumed. Manson dwells on revenge and violence against the objects of his hatred. In one song, he says, -he will shoot the next bully who bothers him-. Most youngsters are attracted by these violent lyrics that they are transformed into murderers and antagonists.

Many of the adolescent kids show an ability to derive a meaning of their convenience from the lyrics of the rock songs. For example, youth came up with a different interpretation of Madonna's -Papa don't preach-. Some consider this song as related to the theme of ‘true love', while some consider it as talking about the conflicts between parent and child. Majority of modern rock songs are antagonistic, encouraging violence against women.

Most of the younger generation spends their time watching music videos. Studies have shown that most of the modern music videos promote violence and obscenity. This has an adverse effect on the personality of children who listen to it. Drugs and alcohol are an unavoidable element of most of the rock music shows. Music being the language of style of youth, most of the rock stars are their role models. They imitate their heroes' lifestyle and dress. Unfortunately, most of the music stars, hypnotized by their fame and money lead an immoral life of drugs, sex and violence. The adolescents blindly follow the rock stars and worship them as demy gods. Thus, the rock stars negatively influence today's youngsters. Rock music can also be called satanic since it even spreads blasphemy through its lyrics.

Modern world is now facing the disastrous consequences of rock music on society. Banning of this genre of music is not the practical solution to this problem. Enlightening youth and parents about the adverse effects of rock music can solve this problem to a great extent

Article Source: http://www.saching.com

The positive effect of metal music on today's youth

The positive effect of metal music

Metal music especially death, dark and brutal, but sometimes even heavy gothic and melodic are mistakenly confused for "evil music" This article tries to clean up metal's name by explaining some of the most popular misconception, wrong ideas and gross generalizations that are commonly associated with metal music thus giving it its undeserved bad name.

Also in here you can find out about metal's positive effects on its listeners and a few good reasons why metal should not only not be feared but embraced.

Things as they stand

It saddens me to see nowadays, in the dawn of the twenty-first century, when all of today's leaders and role models talk to us about peace, tolerance and mutual understanding, that metal music is still seen as something that is "corrupting the minds of the young"

It's true that this way of seeing things is predominantly adopted by worried parents and you can't blame anyone for worrying about something he or she perceives as "potentially dangerous" and the least of all blame a parent for worrying for the wellbeing of his or hers child.

But what if they're heads are filled with lies, misconceptions, misleading ideas or exaggerations of the truth? What if they worry for nothing or at least way, way more then the actually should? And this is exactly what this is about; opening the people's eyes to the truth. I won't try to make things what they are not, so I won't call metal calm, relaxing, or soothing music that fills the listener with a warm feeling inside...because that it isn't, and no one could believe that, but I'll go on ahead and call it beautiful, because that it is.

For those who love metal, like I do, that is the undeniable truth. But for the rest that watch us from afar in disgust, or disapproval that is a lie.

The big question

So the big question stands: "Metal music is beautiful" true or false?

Let's take a closer look to that. One might say that it's not beautiful because he or she hasn't seen anything beautiful in it. Or it could even be that he or she has tried to find beauty in it but without results. So now, if you are one of those people let me ask you this: just because you haven't seen any beauty in it are you ready to say that none exists?

Look around you, yes right now! Can you see the air surrounding you? No! Can you hear it? Can you smell it? Can you feel it? Can you taste it? The answer to all these questions is "No". But you dare not deny its existence. Now looking back to the beginning of your life, when you were only a little child, you did not know that air existed even though it was all around you, but at some point you bumped into the concept and someone explained it to you and now you fully understand it and you can, in turn, explain it to others.

Now, returning to metal music, things stand exactly the same. As I see it, the reason for so many people not liking metal is that they don't see its beauty and they probably don't see its beauty because they don't know where to look for it. So where should people look for beauty in metal music?

That's simple: IN THE LYRICS

This is not to say that the music itself isn't any good, far from it, metal music not only is great but is very versatile. While some gothic and melodic metal can be characterized by the stillness and calm rhythms nearing classical music, the heavy and the death take a more solid, powerful approach to music and then there's even more, there's the black and the brutal metal that take sound to a level of power that no other musical genre can reach.

I could be exaggerating when I say that "there is something for everyone in metal" but I strongly believe that if people would take the time to find out more, they would find a band or an album or at least a song or two that would fit they're own tastes.

And all of this is about the music itself but there always is going to a concert, and if one of your favorite bands is playing, and if you can get close enough to the stage...that can be a magical night. Going there with a random t-shirt and coming back with one with your favorite band on it...just great, and it's not even about the product, because after all it's just a t-shirt with something drawn on it, but it's something to remind you of that band, of they're performance and of your state of mind that night... But I digress.

Getting back to the problem at hand

I was talking about the beauty of metal music and how it lies in the lyrics. I get the feeling that for the true fans of metal all these words are pointless, because they already know all of these things and understand them way better than my words could ever express them. But for those that don't particularly enjoy metal music something must be pointed out.

What I am getting at is that metal lyrics hold great wisdom within them. Some people are fooled by the fact that at first hearing the vocals can very easily be confused with nothing more then chaotically screams. But they probably haven't heard that a book shouldn't be judged by they're covers. And just a simple reading of the lyrics could prove wrong this misconception; unrevealing the true wisdom of the lyrics. And all of this is as easy as going to DarkLyrics.com (or any of the other sites that host lyrics) and doing a simple search that takes no longer then a few seconds.

Beyond these people there is another category, those that actually know a bit about metal music, the bad bits. I mean yeah let's face it it's true there are some bands out there whose lyrics have no deep meanings, with little to offer to the listener, and that on top of everything else promote racist and discriminating messages as well as pointless violence. I get it, as anyone caring about someone else, but especially as a parent caring about his or hers child's wellbeing seeing them falling into the hands of this "evil music" might be worrying, even painful. But all I am asking is not to cut down an apple tree just because it has a few rotten apples.

Once again I am getting the feeling that my explanations are not good enough...so you know what? I am just going to share with you some of my personal experience and give you some examples. These may not even be the best examples, but they are the first that come to mind.

* Amon Amarth - phenomenal Viking death metal

Fate of norns

This was my first contact with death metal (as previously I was only into heavy metal considering death to be...well: "too much for my taste"). First few times I listened to one of they're tracks I couldn't even understand a word of they're lyrics, not until I looked them up...But when I did...God!...what happened was mind blowing...the yells and the screams quickly became the words to one of the most beautiful poems that I have ever read before in my entire life. A sad poem about a father's greatest loss possible; the death of his only child. You can easily imagine the impact that this music has on the listener's mind and soul with lyrics like:

"His body feels so light in my arms

His skin is pale as snow

Yet his weight feels heavy in my heart

As my sadness continues to grow"

..................................

Not only this but the lyrics of Amon Amarth made me look up all kind of facts related to Norse mythology in wikipedia, but soon enough wikipedia didn't have anymore to offer to me, so I turned to reading the translated versions of old Norse poems (mythology and folklore)...and reading these opened a gateway to a past that I previously knew nothing about, thus changing me forever, in such a deep manner that I can't even describe it.

* Wintersun - another great example

Wintersun

Listening for the first time to this album was mind shattering and nearly brought me to tears. And in the fallowing weeks and months as I listened to it again and again, I kept finding new deaths and meanings to the lyrics. And as I got to understand them deeper and deeper I began to love them more and more. So much more that these days whenever I listen to it I burst into tears. Not tears of sadness or of sorrow but tears of joy, joy coming from appreciating its inner deepest meanings.

The levels of depths to which the lyrics can be interpreted at are phenomenal. So deep that it actually got me to...this might come as a shock... write an entire book on the meanings and interpretation of each of every track, stanza and verse in the "Wintersun" album and seeing how I

consider each and every verse of this album to be sheer poetry I named it "Wintersun - The Poetry Beyond Words".