Personal Essay: From World War I Listen To Music

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

From the beginning of time, music has always been about emotion, whether it’s making me

Music and the sounds that surround us have a way of affecting us before we even enter this world. David Burrows, a music teacher at New York University explains this concept by saying “An unborn child may startle in the womb at the sound of a door slamming shut. The rich, warm cacophony of the womb has been recorded: the mother’s heartbeat and breathing are among the earliest indicators babies have the existence of a world beyond their own skin.” (Storr). This is something a person never outgrows. Whether we intend on it happening or not, the sounds by which we are surrounded affect our mental patterns. Nevertheless, music has the ability to help us heal emotionally and combat our current mental state.

“Higgins outlines three predominant historical Western explanations of the relationship between music and emotion: that music imitates or represents emotions, that is arouses them, and that it expresses them” (Hesmondhalgh 12). Personally, watching this video clip, it brought up quite a few emotions in me to see this separation take place. The instruments and the music in general are very soft and heartfelt. There is simplicity of instruments being used such as keyboard, acoustic guitar, keyboard and drums. Unlike today’s music which contains a whole lot of beat, bass, electronic sounds and horrendous lyrics.

Music is another language people use whenever they want to express their feelings. Whether they are angry or passionate, there is always a melody for that emotion. It is universal and it brings people together. There are so many amazing artists that have a substantial influence on this generation and past generations.

Music is another language people use when they want to express their feelings. Whether they are angry or passionate, there is always a melody for that emotion. It is universal and it brings people together. There are so many amazing artists that have a real influence on this generation and past generations.

Music has always been emotionally evocative to me since I was young. I am always able to recall just how extreme the atmosphere and mood can be enhanced by music. Whether at a bitter-sweet moment in a TV show or at a heroic moment in a video game music is always there to multiply the emotions of the scene tenfold. Even today I find myself recalling emotions and feeling them all over again whenever I listen to a particular piece of music, especially so for ones that went along with a highly memorable scene in a show or game. I wind up pumping my fist in the air all over again if inspiring, or fighting back tears if morose. I never knew why music affected me so or how, and so after learning of this assignment I decided it was time I looked into it. Why this story matters is simple. It is simply the reason I ever asked this question. I wanted to know why music could affect emotions to such an extent, and why it could leave such lasting impacts.

Music played a major role in the way people lived during the World War II era. It affected the way people coped and the way people grieved. While this era was a very serious and bleak time, people still found joy in music. World War II was the first war to happen in the age of electronically mass distributed music. The role of music during this time helped keep positive spirits among people all around the world. On a different note, the Germans played music to their soldiers to motivate them to continue to fight. Music was used as propaganda throughout the countries involved to gain public support.

Music, “…one of the most widely used and appealing forms of communication…”, is universal and used for different purposes (Root, 2005, p. 7). Among the uses are “…play or entertainment, which humans of all ages engage in to stimulate feelings of joy, tension, and interaction, and enrich their experiences by adding mental complexity, counteracting boredom and lethargy” (Root, 2005, p. 7). In addition, music expresses “…emotions such as love, sentiment, or anger” (Root, 2005, p. 7). Ultimately, it communicates values showing the reality of society and culture. Anyone listening to “a few records [helps] enrich [their] feelings, extend [their] sense of love or despair, and feed [their] fantasies or fire some real relationship” (Cooper & Haverkos,

Throughout history, music has always played a large part in military actions. Sometime the music was pro-war directed, but most of the time, it was directed to the ending of war. It is also interesting to note, that until the early 1960’s, most of the wartime music was up-beat and offered encouragement to our troops. Enter the Vietnam War, or conflict as it has been called, and everything changed Starting as early as the Civil War, music was used to influence the war. In fact, one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorite pro-war songs was “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, which would be countered by “Dixie” from the confederate states.

It can bring an astounding amount of emotions. It can bring happiness, sadness, frustration, you name them. From instrumentals to lyrics, music can give you vivid details of events going through someone’s head. Nevertheless, music could have a deep meaning to it, or it could just be for enjoyment. There are no boundaries. I have been wanting to create music for a tedious amount of time, and I have been making instrumentals based on how I’m feeling. An amount of songs that I compose can be dark, or they could also be contented and silly. Sometimes it’s challenging to assemble the instruments that you crave though. A vast chunk of the time, you would have an idea of how the sounds would emerge in your head, but afterwards, it’d turn out to sound completely different from what it was originally. That’s the fascinating characteristic about music; it can lift you into such a breathtaking supply of different emotional

Popular patriotic music and newspapers influenced many Americans in the home front during World War One. President Woodrow Wilson used periodicals and patriotic music to his advantage because it helped him in his reelection for a second term in office. During World War One, many citizens of the United States read newspapers, and those who read the newspapers became persuaded into believing whatever the newspapers said. Most of the popular patriotic music written during World War One contained some form of nationalism because the patriotic music’s purpose was to make Americans want to join the war cause and support the Allies. Since the newspapers were only written in the Allies’ point of view, many Americans were influenced to help the Allies’ cause and fight the Central Powers.

I grew up listening to music everyday not knowing it would save my life in the end... the words that I would listen to would somehow connect with how I was feeling or what I was going through. Music truly soothes the soul and just somehow gives you hope to continue on or to stop something. I think I related my problems to the songs, it would give me comfort knowing I wasn't the only one who was feeling the way I once was. It showed me life was worth living and fighting for. Take Demi Lovato for instant, she was going through major depression and found herself through the music she would produce. A lot of artist are actually like this and only some really come out and tell their true story on how music saved them. It's incredible to know that no matter what you're going through someone, somewhere has gone through it too.

If music reveals emotions, it is not a normal emotion like any other (Stecker 273). The expression in music can be considered a traditionalized phenomenon (Stecker 273). There are common questions about

Music has undoubtedly changed over the years and most people have a persona definition of what music is to them. The simple definition of music according to author, David Ludden, (2015) “Music is a universal language.” (par. 1). People use music to tell stories and communicate. Much like Taylor Swift writes songs about her past relationships, I personally see music as a detour to get things out in the open without having a personal confrontation. I see music as stress reliever, especially when writing; it’s a way to say what needs said but with the soothing sounds of a guitar or piano in the background of your thoughts. Like the diary 2.0.