Reflection About Music

Some people listen to music to shift their mood, while others do so to help alleviate feelings of unhappiness, or emotional discomfort. In the article “Music Evokes Vicarious Emotions in Listeners” published in 2014 by Ai Kawakami, Kiyoshi Furukawa, and Kazuo Okanoya, proposes that “we listen to sad music because it is possible to distinguish perceived emotions from those that are experienced”. (Kawakami, Kiyoshi, Okanoya) Therefore, even though sad music is usually perceived as something negative, listeners actually feel pleasant emotions while listening to sad music.

Music Evaluation: “All About That Bass” Sitting at the top of several music charts, including Billboard’s “Hot 100,” is Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass.” Although it is technically in the genre of pop, this song holds a 1960’s doo-wop feel. The music itself is upbeat, positive, and is seen as “feel good” music. As said by Bennett Reimer in “Why Do Humans Value Music,” “Music creates possibilities of feeling available only from music.”

When I was in fifth grade, I was caught between two worlds, playing a woodwind or string instrument. If I played a woodwind instrument I would have to blow in it to make music, but string instruments are played with a bow to make music. After much thought, I decided that the violin was the best instrument for me, because it has a beautiful, unique sound, plus the possibilities are never-ending. I could receive a compliment from a teacher, or even get accepted to the symphony.

From the creation of harmonies to singing to instruments, music has been an abstract form of human expression. Although an auditory collection of pitches and volumes, musicians can manipulate the same notes and bring them alive for their audiences. The true emotion and energy that’s felt in music really comes from the player as feelings are transferred to and through the listener. This interaction between performer and the house is catharsis, the complete release of strong repressed emotions. Thanks to the musician, music has the ability to grasp people and cause them to sense emotions and feelings without lyrics or images even being necessary. Although it’s believed we can only hear with our ears, something about music makes it emotionally if not physically tangible. In James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues,” a narrator certainly unaware of the impact of music invites himself to experience jazz for the first time. Baldwin uses the final scene of his story to argue that music has an effect on those who are able to experience it. Baldwin does this in one single moment by letting the fixed, practical minded, “well-intentioned” narrator experience catharsis from jazz as his growing, free-spirited brother communicates with him through jazz.

Music has always been a thing that has interested me. The idea of people putting their talents together to create something has always amazed me. Being in a discourse community like music is always going to be difficult starting out. Working with others was never my strong suit, and all of the preparation and studying stressed me out. It sucks to try very hard and have it all result in nothing. It is the idea of perfection that everyone strives for. In my case, it is a group effort of the people involved in my discourse community to achieve our shared goal. We strive to please ourselves and others listening by giving a solid performance. My music class is a discourse community that shares a passion of music and a similar goal. We assist

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.

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

Music has been the backbone of our society since the dawn of human intelligence. It has always been with us from celebrating a merry occasion to commemorating a sad event, and from venting off a day’s stress to healing emotional wounds. Victor Hugo, the famous author of the book Les Misérables, says that “music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent”. I feel that this quote perfectly describes the feeling that I had when I was little. Of course, I was only seven at the time so I could not express such thought as poetically like Mr. Hugo did right here, but I felt inexplicably drawn to the abstractly emotional aspect of music. I was sensitive to the subtle modulations of a music changing from major

The enriching experience of listening to live music has been a pleasurable pastime for many individuals since the creation of music itself. The ability for musicians to provoke profound emotions in others is a form of social communication that is unmatched by any other type of human connection which allowed music to retain its popularity throughout history. Without an artistic mode of expression for humans to communicate what can’t be directly spoken, life becomes dull and devoid of emotion where the only clear method left of expression is through verbal and linguistic communication. Music, in general, acts as a unifying intermediate where both the historical tales of the era coincide with the rhythmic stylings of the composers to evoke compelling

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

Thesis: Music is a unique form of sound powerful enough to manipulate mood, feelings, and cognition.

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,

One thing that over the years I’ve become very good at is learning how to play many musical instruments. The different factors and components of this learning process include learning music theory, learning the basics of an instrument and how to apply different skills to various types of instruments such as string, brass, percussion and wind. Some of the instruments that I have learned are piano, organ, harpsichord, keyboard, guitar, bass, mandolin, trombone, cello, banjo, harmonica and soon the fiddle. Each of these different types of instruments required a different basic skill set.

So, the Element of culture that I find myself the most passionate about is Music. I say music because music I found in every culture. Music is what I believe in being part of human. There are literally hundreds different types of genres of music people listen to and millions of songs to listen to. A little about me, I personally find myself listen to rap music and old Rhythm and Blues. I come for a strong African American background family, where we have family get together, cookouts and just being close to your family. Most of the R&B songs tell a story. They talk about the black culture in good and also in bad ways. The R&B music I find myself listen to is more from my parent’s time. The music back during my parent’s child hood is a lot different than music today. One Major different is music back then had people playing the real instruments and sounds. I hear lectures from people from my parents’ generation how music today is terrible compared to their upcoming music. I personally feel music just changes because it adapts to people’s lifestyle and what they are going through. The Music Industry have always been dominant in society. If you think about every generation can remember listen to their favorite song growing up, and music can sometimes tell you all about yourself.

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,