The Many Sides of Music

The Many Sides of Music

Music is the most diverse form of art in existence. In modern days, some may view music as merely a bass heavy atmospheric tool for a night of clubbing and mischief, but despite this minority perspective, music is by no means purely background noise. Music is not only a beat, a rhythm, melody, lyrics, and a voice; it can change lives.

Since what I would say was the early 1990's, music has taken a turn into seemingly meaningless club anthems and repetitive hooks with heavy bass and shallow lyrics. While I can enjoy an upbeat poppy tune, there is no depth present, there is no thought put behind such creations. I have found that culturally underground music is much more poignant, as well as more emotionally relevant and revelatory than your standard Billboard top 100 single, as such is usually produced for financial gain rather than cathartic expression.

Emotional relevance can form in any number of ways, both on a personal level, and on a societal scale. There is something to be said for music that is created as a product of emotion, as it more often than not captures the audiences sympathy. Music that an audience can relate to, and can identify with is more likely to stick with the audience in question. Personal connections transform the way we view music and specific songs, but with the massive exposure to music lacking depth and meaning, we are taking larger and larger cultural steps backwards. Not only in our ability to express personal values, morals, and individualist qualities, but in the way that we interact with each other and construct emotional ties.

Music education has always been an underappreciated concept, but as a future teacher it terrifies me to know that there are children that be...

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...gether, my points on the many dimensions of music stand. Not only does music harbor emotional capacity, potential for empowerment, and uniquely represent self, it does in fact change lives.

Works Cited

"Music Therapy and Social Justice: A Personal Journey" by Sandra Lynn Curtis, from the journal

The Arts in Psychotherapy. Volume 39. 2012. 209–213

This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin, Chapter 8

“My Favorite Things”. Plume (Publishing company), 2006, New York

Kiana Lafleche. Songs That Transcend Boundaries. 2013. Playlist.

"Outline of a Proposed Model of Sources of Variation in Musical Taste." by Albert LeBlanc, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education. No.61. (Winter, 1980): 29-34. Web. 11

Dec. 2013. .