Kevin Bray's Essay 'My Students Listen To Music Non-Stop'

What is music? Denotatively speaking, music is sounds combined in such a way to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. Music to me is something that I rely on to get me through everything, it is the thing that has shaped me into the person I am today. But, if I asked you how many symphonies Beethoven had written, could you tell me? To be blunt, probably not. Not only is this a problem with people today, it is a recurring problem with our youth. In Daniel Felsenfeld’s essay “Rebel Music,” he explains the fault in our youth when it comes to being musically cultured. Throughout his essay he acknowledges how he was a stereotypical teenager who just listened to whatever was on KROQ. However, he also talks about how he changed and cultured himself, unlike all of his peers. In his essay, Felsenfeld proves his message that younger generations are musically uncultured through his use of allusions, connotative diction, and critical tone.

Music is part of everyday life and serves as the center of many cultures across the world. Music brings out the best parts of a movie, a car ride, or even a special event. The purpose of music varies from artist to artist and different cultures. Every piece of music carries a unique message, but a song, in particular, carries meaning. “Runaway Love” by Ludacris, featuring Mary J. Blige, exploits the struggles of young girls by using rhetorical techniques, such as pathos, ethos, logos, tone, and visual rhetoric throughout the music video to raise national awareness about youth runaways.

Eberstadt uses Ethos effectively to explain the relationship between the themes found in today’s music and why it is so popular with teenagers. Eberstadt states that, “The odd truth about contemporary teenage music-the

This reference shows how music lays a foundation of teenage values beyond school or parental teaching. A musical artist can influence a young mind by the chosen lyrics with greater effectiveness than formal education. Music can control or enhance moods. A good mood can get better or a bad mood can be worked through with the choice of music. A bad mood can also be enhanced by lyrics about suicide or violent behavior. Teens can also use music to gain information about the adult world, to withdraw from social contact, facilitate friendships and social settings, or to help them create a personal identity. (O'Toole, 1997)

In her essay, Eberstadt reveals the influence of lyrics on teenagers and their relationship with their parents. She took as example famous American rapper Eminem and his music, and she describes the negative attitude of parents to contemporary music. When comparing the impact of music’s lyric on

Most people multitask while listening to music in their everyday life. When people vacuum, they don’t forget to vacuum the other half of the room when a certain song comes on. In Mr.Cutler’s article, he tries to use evidence to support, connect, and persuade his audience that music will affect your academic work. That is why Mr.Cutler called the article “Don't Listen to Music While Studying.”

* ““95% percent of Americans believe that music is a key-component in a child’s well-rounded education, 80% percent of respondents agreed that music makes the participants smarter; 78% believe that learning a musical instrument helps students perform better in other subject areas; and 88% believe participation in music helps teach children discipline” (Hurley 3),” (par 1).

Music is not just music, or just a source of entertainment; rather music is “a major force and presence in contemporary American adolescence” (Christenson and Roberts 11). Besides the belief that music is just music, another popular belief is that, “Nobody pays attention to lyrics” (Christenson and Roberts 7). This assumption is not completely true or false. Lyrics are often learned accidentally during the listening experience, but almost every adolescent has a favorite song that he or she can recite word for word. Therefore, whether the learning of the lyrics is intentional or not, adolescents do learn

A big controversy of our generation today is concerning of a topic that many of us praise and could not live without. In fact, spin.com claims that the average American listens to four hours of music each day. So is music effective or hurtful to our studying? This may be an eternal topic for we don’t truly have one answer. In numerous ways listening to music is beneficial, belie some studies have come to find out it can also be harmful. Students should be given the option to listen to music in class, but whether they choose to take upon this privilege or not is up to them.

In the age of the Internet and social media, current events and pop-culture phenomena’s are literally at our fingertips and because of that the question arises, “Should we include references to pop-culture and current events in the classroom?” More specifically, “should these topics be included in the music classroom?” This has caused some debate between music educators many questioning if there is even a need to include current events in the classroom discussion. In this paper, the author will attempt to shed light on those two viewpoints, as well as discuss the benefits of both the inclusion and exclusion of pop-culture in the music classroom.

Looking back at when I was assigned to write this Rhetorical Analysis, I was excited. I was given the option of picking two articles or two songs to write about. Being a big lover of music, I took the opportunity to analyze and put into conversation two songs of my choosing. After contemplating over which songs I would be analyzing, I finally chose two and began to brainstorm. However, as I was brainstorming, I realized that one of the songs I chose, did not seem to be very fitting for the message I wanted to talk about. So, after a little more contemplating I chose a different one. The two songs that my Rhetorical Analysis introduce are “Roar” by Katy Perry and “Brave” by Sara Bareilles. I chose these songs because they do a fantastic job at sending out a strong message of self-empowerment. This is a topic that I feel strongly about.

Living in a world surrounded by noises and sounds, one cannot deny that music lives all around them. Schools, street corners, sporting events, there is one thing you will always find: music. Music education is quickly becoming defunct in schools, as many try to decry its many benefits. A growing emphasis on the concrete subjects of math and science, whose benefits are more immediate, are pushing the creativity and imagination of music classes to the back of the budget. Music education is no longer described as stimulating and exciting, but rather unnecessary and distracting. But the benefits of having an education in music is undeniable. Simply being around music can have a positive impact on life. Music enables the human race to discover emotions that they have never uncovered before. The human mind is refreshed by music; “our imagination and memories are stimulated by the sounds, and summon feelings and memories associated with the musical sound” (Wingell 15). Without music, the world would be silent. Lifeless. No matter what language one speaks or what culture one is from, music is a universal language, connecting the hearts of people around the entire world. In schools throughout the nation, that connection is being severed because of budget cuts and lack of funding, but the benefits of music education are clear. The benefits of having an education in music are not only present in the classroom; a lasting impact is also left on the social and emotional growth of a person, though the gains may not be evinced immediately. Participating in musical education programs in schools can give students the opportunity to form lasting friendships and to gain skills that will last them their entire lives. Music education can be beneficial to students because it enhances students’ performance in the classroom, aids in improving student’s interest and engagement in school, and advances students’ social and emotional growth.

In recent years it’s become noticeable that students are using all different forms of music to help them while studying or doing homework. When listening to music one may notice how that person may tap their foot or drum their fingers, even though they appear to be focused on the task in front of them. The rhythm of the piece, whether it is fast or slow, causes the listener’s heartbeat to synch with it (How Music Affects Our Mood, 2014). The question however is which music to listen to. In some studies, test subjects show that the louder the music the more distracted the subjects became (Manthei, 2014). Doctor Emma Gray, a clinical psychologist in Britain, says, “If you choose the right music for the topic you are

Cercone goes into detail on how studies have shown that music classes benefit a child’s learning process, test scores, and other areas of academic study. These support her argument and are all facts that her readers cannot properly disagree with. Cercone discusses how attitude and academics depend on one another to enhance a student’s learning and she goes one step further in explaining how this goes on in the music classroom, strengthening her thesis.

Many people believe that the arts, specifically music programs, hold no beneficial value to students other than for an extracurricular activity. Others believe that having these programs within our schools, only takes away from instructional time. However, research has shown that music education, and exposure to music in general, provides great benefits and values to the adolescents that are involved in said programs (“Music Matters”). Participation in music programs promotes the advancement of academic scores and sets students on the path to success later in life. Furthermore, these programs, be it instrumental or vocal, provide an outlet for adolescents to express themselves and have truly lasting implications on their global development. Notwithstanding all of the pleasure and self-confidence gained through participation in music programs, music education may provide important benefits towards students’ academics by improving their concentration levels and cultivating higher order thinking skills that may increase academic achievement.