Power Of Music

Billy Joel once said, “I think music in itself is healing. It 's an explosive expression of humanity. It 's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we 're from, everyone loves music.” In many ways this quote is very accurate both socially and scientifically. Music is a vital part of almost every culture and serves many purposes culturally as a means of self expression and communication within a culture and the world at large. While music does serve several external purposes, perhaps its most important and fascinating functions happen within the brain when its making or listening to music. Over the years there have been countless studies on music 's effect on the human brain and body and many have concluded that music positively affects the brain by doing things like relieving stress and improving cognitive function, and the body as well, by relieving pain and muscular and cardio vascular tension. Music is an important part of the human experience and affects our brain, bodies and emotions in both abstract and physical ways, making it vital to many facets our well being.

It was a chilly 35 degrees fahrenheit, a fairly cold temperature for the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina. The moon and the stars shone brightly, or as brightly as they could through all the light pollution in the area. There were about 20 of us there, all bundled up in fuzzy blankets, and thick jackets as we walked down the crowded neighborhood sidewalk towards the houses of friends, family members, and even strangers from our community. We were an all female choir of high school students from 9th to 12th grade, the Marvin Ridge Women’s Ensemble, and we had decided to spread a little joy in our community by going christmas caroling. We only sung one song at each door, but it was a marvelous 3 part medley of classic christmas songs including

Daryl Yasay, my old high school chorus director, has helped me to become the music lover I am today. Mr.Yasay is an awesome chorus director as expected from someone with a Master’s degree from FSU in choral conducting. But instead of just focusing on the technique of music he also would teach his students to focus on the emotion and message of the music. I remember once after an after school rehearsal I was waiting for my mom to come pick me up and we were talking about the new song he had gave us. I was explaining to him how I was annoyed at the thought of singing the song because it was a love song and at the time I was going through a heartbreak and did not want to sing about love. He then told me a story about how when he was in high school

Many studies have been completed showing how much music can help students in listening, memorization, other areas academically, and social skills. Since one of the outstanding things about VCMS is our choir, it is very important to see Mrs. Grizzle’s--the choir director here--perspective. It is also important to see how the 8th grade chorus members think that choir has affected them throughout their middle school choir experience.

It is late November, the week before the first performance for our choir. Even though we’ve had our music since June, we were woefully unprepared. Each section, including mine, was wrought with apathy. Choir wasn’t fun anymore.

On March 4th I went back home for the beginning of spring break to visit my high school, Smyrna High School. That weekend was I Love Smyrna School District Day where multiple events of all categories took place. I went there to see the performance of the music ensembles, but in particular to see my previous choir and how they were progressing. The choir was under its second year of instruction from one of the states most renowned instructors and the evolution of the choirs sound made that evident. Back when I was a senior the guys were vastly outnumbered so the female voice parts had to reduce their sound in order to create balance, but that wasn't enough since we only had roughly 5 tenors in an 80 person choir. This year was different though

Music is the only medium that blesses both man and God at the same time and as such to see it as an entertainment factor within our worship services is a gross misunderstanding of its purpose. Music is made up of three elements: melody, harmony, and rhythm. Mankind is also made up of three parts: spirit, soul and body (1 Thess 5:23). It can be argued that music and the triune, or trichotomy, of mankind are intrinsically linked i.e. melody is likened to the spirit, harmony to the soul and rhythm to the body.

The choir was composed of 7th and 8th graders, totaling just over 20. They sang classic Christmas music, and I must admit, I was very unimpressed. Yet, I remembered what it was like to be a middle schooler. At the height of awkwardness and anxiety in a person’s young life, it took some courage to stand in front of all these people and sing. As to the lack of complete amalgamation of their voices, I recalled (without much fondness) the terrible voice cracks that prevail in a young pubescent boy’s life which made me respect these middle schoolers more. They did have several moments where I caught myself tapping my foot to the beat of the song, so the choir definitely wasn’t terrible, they simply needed some more practice, (and maybe a tad bit more testosterone for the male baritones.)

When conversation with the older teenage boys I found it hard to ask them questions or to receive answers since not all of them knew English and I did not understand Creole. Two young boys I met surprised me with the fact that they spoke Spanish. It was fun to be able to engage in a conversation for more than a couple of minutes, but it was something I had done many times before. There was one boy in specific that knew very little English. I didn’t want anyone to be marginalized by me because they couldn’t speak my language and I theirs and so I had to figure out a way to communicate with him. I heard him humming at home point and I asked him, “Do you sing?” Another boy kindly translated, and he answered, “Yes.” I smiled, because I knew that this was the beginning to a new and stronger friendship. The next few days I spent singing to them or having them sing to me or singing together a English song they had learned in church or a popular Spanish song they didn’t understand, but knew the lyrics of. From that day I began to ask all those who I had more trouble communicating with if they wanted to sing and luckily they did. An exchange of songs, or a duet is another form of communication without words. Song can express emotions, singing them together is creating harmony, working together to sound as good as possible. Now, I don’t have the best singing voice at all but

As I entered the room I felt a cold chill; my whole body began to shake. As I stood up,  I felt like running out of the room. Something stopped me from running away from my performance. Of course I did not want to let my team down. It was me recalling the first time I sang to Mr. Blanton. He had spoken to me and said “ You are too shy, it’s going to be difficult to work with you as a vocalist. If this is what you want to do you need to step  up your game”. That stuck with me for a while, because I tried so hard to be confident and  to lose my stage fright. Before I could even think  of putting positive thoughts in my head, I heard my teacher announcing that my group was about to perform.

In a furious hurry after my ride dropped me off at the front of Irondequoit High School with minutes to spare, I sped walked through the doors, into the commons, and straight towards the PAC. I planned to meet two close friends, Claire and Emily. Relieved to arrive with a seat already reserved, I sat down and settled in for a great performance of Christmas Belles. With my expectations set high from the spring comedy I saw earlier this year, I waited anxiously and passed the time by chatting with my friends. People, old and young, packed the seats, which surprised me. I guess I never realized how popular the comedies at IHS were. The lights dimmed. A smooth wave of silence came over the audience. Suddenly, Texas bluegrass Christmas music, or

While sitting between two of the best speech coaches in Northwest Iowa, I felt my heart race as they began announcing the Critic’s Choice Award for the ten different areas of large group speech. The atmosphere was that of the Academy Awards in CY Stephens Auditorium at Iowa State University for the 31st IHSSA All-State Large Group Speech Festival on Saturday, February 18. Students sat on the main level of the packed auditorium while family and friends filled the balcony. As I glanced over at Joel Stauffer and Todd McDonald, I realized there was no other place I would rather be. Our choral reading, “Wild at Heart” earned a chance to perform at the festival. The only times our school has won a banner was in 1991 for the ensemble, “’Night Mother” under the direction of Mr. McDonald and in 1981 for duet acting.

I was three years old standing in front of over two hundred people in my church, about to sing “Go Tell It on The Mountain” for our yearly Christmas extravaganza. I remember being paralyzed with fear and running off stage crying into my mother’s arms. Two years later, I refused to let fear get to me, and I was determined to get back on stage and sing. My five-year-old self was very proud of finally getting to perform my favorite Christmas Hymn, and I fell in love with being able to sing in front of others. If there is one thing that has shaped me who I am today: it would be music.

Music is arguably one of the world’s most important universal languages. Documentation of music can be found as early as Biblical days and can be heard all around. Think about all the places one is exposed to music: radio, TV, elevator, stores, restaurants etc. Every culture and country has its own style of music and the importance of music is paramount to individuals in many ways. Music is so powerful it can create a visceral response by lowering the heart rate and decreasing stress levels (Wright, 2017). Evidence has also shown music to activate areas of the brain that are engaged during “Other euphoria inducing stimuli such as food, sex, and drugs of abuse” (Wright, 2017, p. 3). Music, sound perception – the most powerful sense, can impact the way one feels and behaves (Wright, 2017). With evidence proving to have an impact on the brain both physically and emotionally, supporting a 5% tax increase to fund both curricular and extracurricular programs will enhance student’s development and provide to them a well-rounded education.

Music has always been an influence in the evolution of world civilizations and is still an important form of art and entertainment that humans find great pleasure in listening to today. There are multitudinous types and genres of music from all over the world, varying from classical, jazz, hip-hop, reggae, country, rock, and even rap. Despite these numerous amounts of genres, music can be found from all over the world residing in different parts of the world, and essentially, in different cultures around the globe. Presently, popular music and their lyrics are identified as a factor that influences and shapes location while at the same time, is shaped by the location itself. Specific locales such as cities, neighborhoods, landmarks and/or natural factors are locations where music like rap can be entrenched and thus give a sense of strong geographic orientation. In other words, location is intently related to rap, and rap is intently tied to location, as evident in Kendrick Lamar’s album, “Good Kid, M.A.A.D city”. Kendrick Lamar presents themes of gang/region affiliation, peer pressure, and influences of community within Compton, California through lyrics, grounded in narrative, by drawing a clear connection between a place and the culture within and around the city. In this essay, the definition of cultural geography and how culture and place are linked together will be discussed, then in regards to local musical spaces, describe why music has a strong sense of geographic