Music As A Form Of Self-Expression. You Would Be Hard Pressed

In Stephen Dobyns’s “Loud Music,” the speaker describes the differences between him and his step-daughter’s thoughts on loud music, which shows that music really describes a person’s personality. Throughout the poem the speaker explains how his step-daughter likes soft and more meaningful music more than loud music and their different music types shows in their difference in personalities and the way they see things. People all over the world let the music they listen to describe their personalities.

Music has played a major role as an agent of socialization in each of my 4 decades. I know and hope that it will continue to do so. During each period music has affected my personality, shown my personality, affected my perceptions and helped me to cope with growing and changing as a person. My Looking Glass Self has compared the person in song and possibly the singer themselves to myself to gain perspective of who I was at each time. I am going to discuss each decade with the thought of how music was an agent of socialization in each.

For as long as mankind has walked on this earth, music has been an important part of our culture and lifestyles. Each walk of life beats to a different drum. Different cultures use music for many aspects of their lives; for religious purposes, for celebrations, for comfort, for sorrow, for relaxation, for sports, for dances, for energy, for learning, for sleeping, and for sexual experiences. Everyone uses music for something. Music connects with people and reaches them in ways that words simply cannot. Music is a representation of what feelings sound like. It expresses emotion and brings that characteristic out from within us; it tells us a story. Every generation has its’ own sound and different music styles have emerged and become

Music is an extremely important part of human life and has been part of human life for thousands of years. Music can be linked with many different art forms such as art and language; these too are distinct expressions of humans. This particular expression has survived and outlived ancient languages and could possibly be older than any form of language we know. It also serves the same purpose as language, to convey meaning. Music is a way of bringing people together, and is used as a social ritual. In human life music is part of culture and it is also important historically. Music also contributes to the economy, as it is a means of making money as well as part of human leisure.

Yet with all the wonderful things that music can do for human beings, could it possibly be responsible for them committing suicide, or murder? In this paper I am going to explore the chaos that occurred in the 80’s and 90’s when heavy metal music faced accusations that the music and lyrical content was driving adolescent and young adults to commit suicide and murder. I will argue that it is not the music or the lyrics that result in such violent behaviors; rather, individuals with underlying psychological issues such as depression, or anger disorders tend to be more attracted to heavy metal music.

Music is important to everybody, we all have that one song that makes us happy or sad just from listening to one line in the song, but what if the song made you violent. Lyrics in music could be the reason for violent tendencies in people’s behavior. There have been studies shown that lyrics in some music promote violence and crimes started because of musical influence. Through all genres of music, if closely inspected, the lyrics show a hint of violence.

Some may say music is just music; a song is just a song. However, music plays an enormous role in our psychology, because a single song has the ability to bring about many kinds of thoughts and emotions in the listener. Music is subtly one of the main factors in which people identify with certain groups and establish their belonging in society. It shapes people’s perspectives on how the world functions and the roles they play within it. Music can function the same way in a culture; it can reflect many of the culture’s values and ideologies. Music can have many effects on culture and the people’s idea of who they think they are within that culture. Music can serve in a way that promotes cultural identity and pride, yet it could also play a

Jimi Hendrix summed up the meaning of life with his quote, “Music is my religion.” With this, every person can recognize the experience that music gives them. Music is a sense of entertainment that brings feelings that listeners know to the table. Each aspect of the listener’s favorite song brings emotions that they can relate to and know. Over the generations, music has evolved into what we wanted it to be. Now, society has conformed to the effects of different types of music and how it has transformed the world of entertainment. Yet, the beauty of metal music can appeal to traditional music listeners by the creation of both sounds, by the sense of feeling that both types of music arise, and by having the same similarity of influence that

Music is a significant element in most lives it takes a role in most cultures people believe in. Music contains a variety of elements within different genres such as the pitch, rhythm, dynamics, timbre and the texture. Different voices and different kinds of instruments produce a variety of frequent

“Heavy metal music has been a source of criticism ever since its’ birth in the late nineteen eighties” (Coss). Many people criticize this type of music because there is anger shown in the lyrics. Although the lyrics can be controversial at times, there is no evidence saying that heavy metal music causes violence. “Its’ controversial lyrics and harsh sounds have made it the target of much blame for psychological and behavioral problems in teenagers” (Coss). Parents of teenagers now and in past decades have worried about their kids listening to this kind of music. Most parents do not want their kids to listen to this kind of music; they are afraid that the music will lead to devastating effects in society. Another reason why parents do not like heavy metal music is that the music is extremely loud and ear shattering. Most people over

In life, music affects everything many people look at all the different stories of teenagers committing violent acts and have begun to wonder can violent songs make teens violent? With all the violent acts that music glorifies as of recently many psychologists and parents alike have begun to wonder why certain types of music cause their children and teenagers to become so violent. Because of the questions that violent songs raise and why teenagers have started to gravitate towards violent songs more than ever before. Some factors that could be reasons as to why violent songs have such a powerful effect on teenagers could be that: teenagers learn violence from their surroundings, teenagers can have a history of violence, and violent songs give teens a place to vent their frustrations at,

The first point is definitely true, as mentioned above, I will listen to different music depending on my mood based on how it makes me feel. I believe this to be true for most people that we will all perceive a piece of music differently. The second point makes a good claim that moderate levels of music increases a person’s creativity, but this could also be tied into the first point as people perceive things differently. Personally, I enjoy listening to my music at a high level in my ear buds while painting, this allows all other distractions to be at a minimum and I can paint freely. Additionally, I agree with the third point to an extent. I have listened to almost every different genre of music at one time or another throughout my life, I have been known to listen to multiple genera’s in the same day. Trying to label a persons’ personality type with the music they listen to can be controversial and a bias opinion. Point four makes a great statement that listening to music can be dangerous while driving depending on a persons’ enthusiasm. I personally rock out to music while driving; singing on top of my lungs and using my steering wheel as a drum is typical for me while I drive alone. However, this has caused slight yet unnecessary swerving at times so I try to keep my excitement down to a reasonable level. I feel that point five is extremely important. There have been a multitude of studies done reflecting the impact that music training is beneficial to children. I never had the availability to learn a musical instrument as a child, where my sister who is fourteen years younger than me is currently learning the piano. I see a significant difference in our creativity and learning habits. I agree with what point six mentions that music has a strong connection to our brains, studies have proved that classical music improves the synapses in our brain which I suppose can improve our

In the study completed by Fiona Malpass, David Havard, Karis Benford, Ana Costescu, Angeliki Sofitiki, and Donna Taylor of the University of Westminster, results show personality outcome of heavy metal listening to be “…stronger composite preference for the heavy metal tracks was associated with higher Openness to Experience, more negative attitudes toward authority, lower self-esteem, greater need for uniqueness, and lower religiosity” (377). They also state that “In addition, men showed a significantly stronger preference for the tracks than women. These results are discussed in terms of the psychological needs that contemporary heavy metal fills for some individuals” (377). This shows that music can also effect personality differently based upon gender. Further research was completed just on women with the genre of heavy metal by Milton Becknell, Michael Firmin, Chi-En Hwang, David Fleetwood, Kristie Tate, and Gregory Schwab who are college student researchers from Cedarville University, Cedarville, OH. They state that “More recent research, however, suggests that Arnett's position is more representative of females than males (Lacourse, Claes, & Villeneuve, 2001). The general assumption is that heavy metal music listeners release or unload their pent-up frustrations into the loud and intense sounds which they

Music is one of the greatest human creations (DeNora, 2000). It plays an integral role in human society worldwide irrelevant of race, gender, age, wealth or well-being (Kemper & Danhauer, 2005). Indeed according to Batt-Rawden (2010), playing different music in diverse situations can introduce listeners to the desired and relevant atmosphere. In most circumstances, music is played to entertain people, but it can also form part of an accompaniment in sad situations. Music is often the fulcrum that influences the listener by creating a unique ambience and atmosphere (Bernatzky, Presh, Anderson, & Panksepp, 2011). Chamorro-Premuzic and Furnham, (2007) adds that music can be a medium to enhance communication,

Music elicits an emotional and cognitive response in all who listen to it. It is powerful at the individual level because “it can induce multiple responses – physiological, movement, mood, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral” (Francis, 2008,