The Impact of Music on the Daily Life - Essay Example

Assessment B Introduction Music has impacted the life of every person in a number of ways, either positively or negatively or both. In this article, the impact of music in my daily life is taken into consideration. In a bid to analyse my daily life and the music in it, three days of work interleaving itself with music is presented. Subsequent to this, a reflect on the events that were influenced by music in my life has been presented. Finally, an analysis of events in my life as an autobiography is also presented to judge the extent of influence that music has on our day-to-day work and life. The analysis reveals some of the positive impacts that I have had in my life because of music. All this would through light on the nature of impact that music has on lives and the extent to which our life is influenced by music all through our life. Diary Day 1 10 Oct 2006: I got up in the morning and was feeling still heavy from the sleep. I switched on the Cool FM which I generally listen to. I listen to all kinds of music. Not that I appreciate the nuances of the music but more because it seems to soothe my thoughts. In the morning, it seems to rejuvenate me and I just sing along and get ready for my day. JoJo's 'This Time' was coming over the air and it had its effect on me. I was alone and the music kept company. The music that ran through in the morning on the Radio stayed with me all through the day. I thought I was not listening. But it was there in the back of my mind and I kept singing otherwise humming it for the rest of the day. On the car too I had my car radio pick up Cool FM to give me company for the 45 minutes drive to office. I reached office at 900 hours sharp. Our office has a mild instrumental classic music playing in the background. The music does not interfere with the work but just has its presence all through in the back ground. Though the music may not reflect the mood of the employees with respect to the pressure on the job, it does have an impact on the behaviour. The evening drive back to my home, the song that I heard in the morning was still on me. The evening ended with a candle light dinner with my friend, Benzi, who has come back from a trip to Seoul. There was a band going in the restaurant. They sang the old Abba and Boney M numbers from the days of the yore. I generally admire the lyrics in old songs. As Simon Frith (1998) says, the lyrics in the current day songs do not seem to be poetry to me. The words seem to linger in my mind even today when I hear the old numbers.. Day 2: 11 Oct 2006: The day started as usual. I switched on Cool FM at about 700 hours. Pete Snoddon was on the air and he was playing some interesting music from his Irish hit numbers today. It was Beyonce, 'Irreplaceable' coming on the air. I made my way through the morning jobs and had a breakfast hearing out Pete, one after another. Cool certainly takes care of my loneliness. What makes Pete's breakfast show interesting is that it is not just the music but also the information that comes up. I was out to office and on the car; it was Cool and Pete again. It was the Jump from Madonna rocking the car. I picked up my friend en route; lucky for him, he is a crazy Madonna fan. I hit the express way to my office and for the next 30 minutes we enjoyed Pete's show. My next contact with music was in the office, where they play a mild instrumental in the background. It goes on and on and on most occasions we forget that there is some music on. Today, I became conscious of it because they played the bassoon with lot more prominence. It reminded me of the days when I played bassoon in the school orchestra. Day 3: Woke up as usual and did my aerobics with the Cool FM blaring in my bedroom. It was the new and upcoming Ooh La la from the Kooks. With a hot chocolate rejuvenating me after the cereal breakfast, I ended up in front of my work station immediately after nine. Today I was enjoying my work and I enjoyed the instrumental coming out of the room speakers. My colleagues in the next seats commented that the CD is a new one. It was the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Nice and on going music, instrumental and soothing. The best music to run in the background; it was more like guess the instrument contest and the interest in the fusion music ended up there. My next encounter with the music happened on that day in the evening when me and my friend decided to go for a disco and found ourselves dancing to the band there. The band was playing one of those Brooke Hogan songs, Undiscovered. We danced for it; it starts slow and as you get into it, it speeds up some where in the middle and slows down again. It was nice particularly after a work day. An Autobiographical Recollection When I was young, I liked everything that could make me dance. Even my parents remember how I used to dance for pop and for the rock and roll that rocked the world. I always found that the music had a rejuvenating impact on my mind. Whenever I was down I felt much better after listening to the music. May be it is because of the fact that I forget the problem I am in and start getting into the charms of the music. Some where, I am not sure when it happened, I seem to have developed a liking to the classical music. It was mild and light and it had the crescendo that could roll the thoughts as if you are savouring some sweet with your tongue. Certainly, it was not during my school days; it should be one of those days in the college. Let me be honest. Nobody really listened to these classics these days; none of the younger generation at least. But then, as chance would have it, I ran into it one day when my Dad's friend gave a ticket to the Philharmonic Orchestra of Israel when they visited our city. Zubin Mehta was orchestrating the group and their performance was exhilarating. There were more than 100 players and all working in sync. The effect was stupendous and mind boggling. I took serious interest in Philharmonic performances after that experience. The CDs could bring out the effect and today's home theatres also could reproduce the kind of impact that they produce. I got converted from the pop and rock & rolls to the classical music. When I work I had the habit of playing the track in the back ground. Many people found me playing it on my laptop as I work. It is sensual and sublime. The pianos and the violins still produce an echo in my mind that reverberates through out the day. The next change in my life with music happened when I moved in with my girl friend. She had an absolutely different perception of music. Blaring music is what she likes. Dance to the tunes, hip-hop and the Rk'n'Rl is what she would like to play. This was not really a major conflict for me. Initially I resisted the change. But when I listened to it, I found that this was as interesting and innate as the classical one was. It goes to the very essence of life. The beats make the mind and the bodies sway with it. It is as fundamental to living as possibly the way we talk is. It has evolved out of the very essence of man's behavior. Once this thought crept into me, I continued to enjoy pop as much as classical. The knowledge of classical music that I picked up helps me in appreciating the nuances of the today's rock. They are not very far. Yet they are different. Reflection and Analysis Music was all that we learnt in those child hood days when everything we learnt came in the form of a song. Whether it is on the London Bridge or the rat on the clock, it was always a song that came to our mind. The song has the tendency to stay in the memory of people for a longer duration. That is possibly the reason why poetry was the convenient form in which people memorized ideas and concepts in the olden days before they recorded them on pen and paper. When the childhood soon transcended into the adolescent, we find that it was more of a breach of set rules that was on top of the agenda than any thing else. If music has to be kept mildly, then that is where you would find adolescents use the maximum decibels on the speakers. This age of adolescence in the school was more towards 'freaky' aspect of life and it paved the way for a different approach to music. An approach that is common to most of the young school going 'children'. Today I would call them children but I certainly did not want any body calling me children. 'Young men' was ok! This reflected on the music as well. Music was liberation; Liberating from the rules of the school and the clutches of the parents. Any music and video that was different and particularly those that the parents or the teachers did not approve of, was the one that was liked by us. It was a period of revolutionary culture. Even today I find the youth, particularly in the adolescent period, just want to be different. It is not because we knew anything about music that we make a choice. But that is the one the 'seniors' in school were talking about. You need to do the way the other people did otherwise you are a no-body. Music was not what I liked. Music was what the group I belonged to liked and admired. Anything that did not fit into their bill did not fit into my bill either. Du Gay, et al., point out in their Story of the Sony Walkman (2000) that it is more for the identity that people tend to listen to music. This is particularly true with the young and the adolescent. But that was over after the school. After my short introduction to the classical music, I took to it sincerely though not learning it. There was nothing I had against rock but it is just that I liked the classical music more. I continued listening to classical music which was more of a back ground score for my everyday work. I had most of the Mozart's works on my laptop. The subtle and strong music of the piano invariably reverberated through my mind all through the day and night whenever I worked. This helped me rejuvenate myself from the tiredness that I might otherwise fall into. Music had this effect on people and I have found people who were feeling let down come back and work it out after a short break with music and tea. I have found this happening repeatedly in my case, when I had work that just would not get sorted out. I would take a break; have a cup of tea and listen to some nice soothing music. Fifteen minutes later I would have solved my problem which had been nagging me for more than 10 hours. Music does not give the solution but helps you reach it by calming your thoughts and ideas; puts the stress and strain out of focus. Music seems to hold my mood together. It brings back the spoiled mood and on many occasions I tend to retain and gain my good mood back over a drive when the music is on. As Tia Denora (2000:8) calls it, "Music is the technology of the self". Sometimes people use it to wake them up! Sometimes they use it to go to sleep! It works the either way. While on one side it escalates the spirit in the human to soar; it can also drop it to an abysmal low. I have seen people who listen to music to keep them on while working late nights. They do not sleep when the music is racy and to their liking. The same set of people switches over to melodies that would lull them to sleep. Most often, in line with Michael Bull (2000), I seem to listen to music more for company; less for the music itself. One tends to become lonely even among a large crowd. That is one of the main reasons; I switch on my radio and keep listening to it when I am on the car or at my home. Most often, I switch on the radio when I am at the signals. That is when you realise the loneliness more and not while driving since the concentration is fully on that. Many times I also use to wonder, whether I am doing it to catch attention. I keep the player blaring so that it catches the attention of my neighbour. As Bull says, it is also a demonstrator that one is trendy and fashionable. On many occasions, we find music has become a part of the culture and the effect of culture in pedagogy and in human behaviour is only too well known (Henry A Giroux, 2006). Culture of the society he lives in affects the life of every human being. Music is a reflection of the culture that is prevalent in the society. This comes out in the form of lyrics in the song and in the form of delivery. This is also true about the racism (Simon Frith, 1998). The music as Simon Frith says, reflects the choice of the races and is a symbol of European racism. There is hardly anybody who did not feel a lump in his throat when Frankie's "Daddy's Little Girl" was played for the first time. It takes you back to your own little girl and simulates the scene right in front of you. The love and affection are part of the culture but music and the song is the route that it takes to reach ones heart. Music is but a manifestation of culture and through it men and women exchange it (Hornar, 1999). Whether it is Bobby McFerrin singing 'Don't Worry be Happy' or it is Mozart's 40th Symphony, the effect on the individual is the same; soothes him, cools him and imbibes him with an animated feeling that he can do something more and better than what he has done so far. References: 1. Bull, Michael, 2000, Sounding out the city: personal stereos and the management of everyday life, Oxford: Berg 2. De Nora, T., 2000, Music in everyday life, Cambridge: Cambridge University press 3. Du Gay, p., Hall, S., Janes, L. Mackay, H., Negus, K. (1997) Doing Cultural studies: the story of the Sony walkman, London: stage and the Open University. 4. Henry A Giroux, 2006, Doing Cultural Studies: Youth and the Challenge of Pedagogy, Penn State University, available at: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/Giroux/Giroux1.html 5. Hornar, B. Swiss, T. (1999) key terms in popular music and culture, oxford: Blackwell. 6. Simon Frith, 1998, Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music, Harvard University Press, ISBN: 0674661966 Assessment A TO WHAT EXTENT SHOULD SCHOOLS ENGAGE WITH POPULAR MUSIC AND WHY Introduction Popular Music is defined in a number of ways depending on the approach of the researcher. It is normally accepted to be one of the following four (Frans Birrer, 1985:p104): 1. Popular music is expected to be the natural evolution of music along with civilization. This is expected to be superior to the earlier versions of music that was available, let it be classical or otherwise. Music also evolves. 2. Popular music is not something new. It is old wine in a new bottle. 3. Popular music comes out of specific groups in the society and their music is now becoming popular music. 4. In the new era of mass media, popular music is made possible because of the large reach that the mass media possesses. The definition throws a specific view of the phenomenon in focus. However, it is important to note that popular music is 'popular' and continues to enjoy the support of the public. Popular music continues to influence people and remains the topic of discussion for school going kids as well as for mothers at home. Popular music uses the media to propagate influencing cultures and behaviour of people in their environments. Of the innumerable information that flows through the media, it is the music that gets listened to by more number of people more number of times. The influence that it permeates on the students is documented in a number of research exercises. This documents the influence of the popular music on the youth. Secondly, based on this influence, the extent to which the schools should carry programs to educate the youth to have a positive effect of the music on them. This stems from the fact that it is good to educate with the tool that is most attractive to the youth rather than use any other mode of education. Also it is important that the effect of the music on the youth results in a positive and more vibrant effect rather than leading them to unsocial behaviour. Influence of Popular Music in Culture and Behaviour Popular music has grown from the road side music to a major industry and a part of the trillion dollar entertainment business. "Music matters to adolescents, and they cannot be understood without a serious consideration of how it fits into their lives", says Prof. Roberts et al (1997), Stanford University. The influence of the music is not in encouraging the violence or morbid sexism or racism. As a matter of fact, many of them portray an array of such acts which is not taken by the young people. But what influences them more is the tendency to promote a culture that is shown on the video. The dressing, the behaviour and the love for the songs are all the ones that the young people pick up. The music videos and the lyrics promote a culture that is visualized only by the kids. As the last lines of the 1974 Rolling Stones end, "I know it's only Rock and Roll, but I like it'. Kids know it is only Rock and Roll and they do not like it; they love it. Billboard today has a number of genres and sub genres in the music charts. Now they display as much as 20 music charts where there was only one earlier. The parents or the teachers will not be able to identify the genres that make up the music of the young today; whereas the kids know every genre and sub genre. As a matter of fact, in most of the kid's parties according to Meyer Graig (nd), most of the discussions centre around the music rather than on any other topic. Bubble gum culture was ushered in by popular music among the youth so much so at one point of time, it was almost difficult to find a young school goer who was not gnawing away the gum to his heart's content. How much it improved the dentist business has to be checked out any case. But then, what needs to be considered is the strong and aggressive nature that comes in with the popular music. It is not uncommon to find young men do a waltz right in the middle of the road shocking the old men and women around and making them move off to a safe distance, surprised and grimacing. If you say popular music has influenced youth in tuning their culture, behaviour and in learning things that are extra-curricular, it would be an understatement. Most of the young men and women look at music as the wall papers of their life and provides a deep identity for most teens. It shapes their world-view much more than films, clothes and Television (Gospelcom.net, 2006). As Andy Bennett says, (Sep 2002) the very young listen to music and watch the video. As they grow, they stop watching the video but continue listening to the music. The interest is really in the music alone and not in the video part. Therefore, it implies that the video, the dress, the violence and the rest of the video has little or no major role in the culture of the youth. Though the way the singer dresses and manages himself, does have its impact but only to a certain extent. But what he sings seems to carry the day forward. David Holmes and Glenn Russell (1999) argue that the shift in the youth towards popular music coupled with technology constitutes a major sociological Kuhnian Paradigm shift. The adult finds it difficult to grasp the nature of changes that take place in the adolescent mind because of the dominating influence of popular music. Popular Music and the Young The young start listening to music at around ten years of age. It is only the early adolescent age when they stick to viewing music videos and the MTV. But when they become seniors, they tend to dislike the videos and stick to the music alone. "In one study, a heavy metal devotee reported that he loved the music because it put him in a 'good mood,' by which he meant a mood conducive to smashing mailboxes with bricks," the Prof Roborts et al (1997) reports. "Another said hardcore metal put him in the mood to 'go beat the crap out of someone.' ". While music improves relationships, in cases like this, the music seems to influence the person to the negative. This is particularly true for hardcore metal. Many youngsters pick up music that they want. It is not that the music that they see spoil the kids or gives them negative or positive moods. It is the mental make up of the individual who really goes after it and picks up the kind of music that he wants. Unless he wants to have something like hard core metal, he does not go for it; which primarily means that the person is already influenced and wants music of that kind. This is also true in the case of violence and sex videos too. Even warning labels that are put on top of the video does not seem to deter those people who want them. It of course, puts off people who are not oriented towards such acts and stays out of them either way. The videos and movies reinforce behaviour patterns of people who display similar tendencies. It does not bring in new orientations in people and does not seem to create any such orientation either. But it does reinforce. For instance, in one of the interviews Professor Donald Roberts and Professor Peter Christiansen conducted, they reinforced the idea that it does carry influence. "In one study, a heavy metal devotee reported that he loved the music because it put him in a 'good mood,' by which he meant a mood conducive to smashing mailboxes with bricks," the authors report. "Another said hardcore metal put him in the mood to 'go beat the crap out of someone.' ". As much as the popular music is able to increase the negative mood in people, it is able to improve the positive mood in its listeners in many of the other cases as the same authors report. "Music can make a good mood better and allow us to escape or 'work through' a bad one," he said. Their research has also further concluded that the music seem to encourage people to take better control of their moods. The lyrics that are found in the songs have considerable impact on the work. The young seem to get carried away by the lyrics, the music and by the culture that is permeated by the singers. In most of the cases, it was found that they could not resist the kind of changes ushered in by the popular musicians. There were also instances when young men and women were inspired to commit suicide or crime against women because of the differential lyrics that was found in the music that they heard. There are also instances when the antagonism towards parents increase with specific kind of music being listened to frequently. Young men and women find themselves taking to the culture that music spreads because of the mass psychology that they are forced to follow. Educating the Young Music has the charm of grasping the young people's attention. Foot tapping music has always brought the child out of even the older citizens. It is important therefore, that the children are aware of what is right and what is not in the music world. The young should be taught about music both classical and modern. It is better that they are in a controlled sphere of knowledge on music rather than they form ideas and opinions by themselves. Music, specifically the popular music has an appeal among the youth that is ridiculously large, as seen in the earlier sections. The impact of music is high and has greater control on the methods of working that the kids adopt, it becomes imperative that the education system also takes care of this. It is important that the education covers specific aspects of music and its impact on the youth. The education on music needs to highlight the positive and the negative aspects of music and what the children need to be weary of. It has been noted that music education by itself will enable the child to appreciate music in the right perspective. When children do know about the internal dynamics of the music industry, the positive and the negative aspects of the music, specifically popular music, they will be in a position to appreciate music from the right perspective. Enjoying music and allowing the right type of music to take the right kind of an impact on their lives becomes very pertinent for the young people. Popular music has been employed by many people to take important messages to the youth. This is true for some of the religious groups that use pop music to further their cause. There are numerous other good missions that made use of popular music for the purpose. Conclusion It is true that popular music is specifically impressive to the children from the lower grade to the higher. There are both positive and negative aspects to the popular music. On one side, it is found that popular music motivates youth and enables them to embark on impossible missions. In some cases, these are good missions and on others they are not. While popular music is supposed to encourage working in sync with the community and in producing good citizens to the country and the world at large, there are genres of music that have a different impact on the youth of the country. It is not possible to wean away youth from the popular music. It will be an impossible task and might only aggravate the problem further. If proactive action is to be taken on this issue, it is better that the education system adopts and employs specific information in their program to educate the youth and let them know what is good and what is not. It should be helping young men and women to differentiate among the popular music the ones that would add value to their life and those that would render them meaningless. Education to this extent needs to be planned and employed. Reference: 1. Bennett, A. (2000) Popular Music and Youth Culture: Music, identity and place, Basingstoke: Palgrave 2. Birrer, Frans A. J. (1985). "Definitions and research orientation: do we need a definition of popular music" in D. Horn, ed., Popular Music Perspectives, 2 (Gothenburge, Exeter, Ottawa and Reggio Emilia), p.99-106. 3. Frith, S. (1996) Performing Rites: On the value of popular music, Oxford: Oxford University press 4. Gospelcom.net (2006). The Power of Music, available at: http://guide.gospelcom.net/resources/pop.php 5. Richards, C. (1998) Teen Spirits: Music and identity in media education London: University London press 6. Read More