Music research paper - Grade: A PDF

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This paper discusses various genres of music and the impacts they can have on human beings....

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Topic: Different Genre, Different Impact Music 100

ABSTRACT

“Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound organized in time. In general definitions of music will include common elements such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture.” (Wikipedia). You will find that different styles or genres of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. Music in general, is an essential part of our lives. We listen to it at home, in transit, with our friends and families, at church and various other places. However, it is more than a form of entertainment. Music is considered food for the soul. It is also considered as medicine for a depressing soul or a tensed mind. Music has its different forms suiting different mood. The genres that this paper will be focused on are classical music, hip hop/rap, rock/ pop, and heavy metal. Each of these music types has their own regional and cultural traditions and are associated with different health benefits for the human body.

CLASSICAL MUSIC Every culture and tradition has its own form of classical music that is played with the assistance of different instruments e.g. Indians, Chinese, Arabs and Europeans had their own traditions for classical music. Classical music is a broad, term, referring to music produced, or rooted in the traditions of art, and concert music. A music is classical if it includes some of the following features: a learned tradition, support from the church or government, or greater cultural capital. Classical music is also described as complex, lasting, transcendent, and abstract. The classical music, found in stores and performed regularly by symphonies

around the world, spans a length of time from 1600 up to the present. This time frame includes the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary periods. The classical period of music actually spans from 1750 to 1800. Some people consider classical music as Western Art Music because most of the major composers until the 20th century were European. Vivaldi was Italian, Bach was German, Mozart and Beethoven were Austrian; they were some of the more prominent composers. The instrumentations used for composition of Classical music include both large orchestras and small ensembles. The largest part of the orchestra was the string section consisting of violins, violas, cellos and string basses. These instruments were invented very early in medieval times but really matured into their present form during the late 18th century. According to research from the University of Maryland and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, when baroque music was played in the reading room at hospitals, radiologists reported that their accuracy, productivity, and work satisfaction increase. Studies shows that listening to classical music increases the secretion of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is one of the brain’s many neurotransmitter also known as a chemical that carries information from one neuron to the other. Dopamine helps regulate movement, attention, learning, and emotional responses. It also enables us not only to see rewards, but to act to move toward them. Since dopamine contributes to feelings of pleasures and satisfaction as part of the reward system, the neurotransmitter also plays a part in addiction. In addition, listening to classical music increases the brain’s capacity for both learning and memory. “In a study published in Learning and

Individual Differences, one group of students listened to a one-hour lecture where classical music was played in the background, and the other group heard the lecture with no music. Those in the first group scored significantly higher on a quiz than the second group. Researchers believe that the music made students more receptive to the information, allowing them to store and recall it more efficiently.” (10 Wondrous Things That Happen to Your Body When You Listen to Classical Music, Nelson).

HIP HOP/ RAP Hip hop music, also called hip-hop or rap music, is a music genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: rapping, scratching, break dancing, and graffiti writing. The culture, music, and lifestyle known as hip-hop began in the Bronx in New York City in the years during the 1970’s. At house parties and community centers DJs mixed songs from different records together. They started extending short drum breaks into longer dance mixes by switching between record decks. Bronx DJs experimented with touching and moving vinyl records with their hands. They also used electronic sounds coming from other places, like Europe. Kool Herc, who became known as the father of hip-hop, formed the basis of hip-hop music by experimenting with instrumental breaks of funk, soul, and R&B songs. Originally, rap music was produced with the mouth (beatboxing), drums, a synthesizer and guitars for bass, using more synthetic sounds as it progressed into its

own genre in the eighties. However, today most of the beats used in hip hop music is as a result of a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and a electronic keyboard. The keyboard has become one of the most versatile instruments that literally has all the notes at your fingertips. In a DAW, producers can alter sounds and samples to sound like whatever they want. Strings, horns, drums, electronic sounds, bass, and more can be played on a keyboard, and, thanks to today's technology, sounds realistic as though they were from the actual instrument.

Hip hop has greatly influenced society ranging from the way people dressed to the way people act. Similarly, scientists today are experimenting with hip hop in medicine to find out how it can be used for good in the field. Recent studies show that hip hop and rap music can be a useful tool for treating patients with depression and low self-esteem. (The Lancet).”We’re interested in refining psychoeducation and psychothera pies,” says Dr. Sule in the podcast interview. “When you look at someti mes ethnic minorities, a lot of them don’t [identify with] talking treatm ent. We believe we’ve got a novel, innovative way of working with psyc hologists to refine psychotherapies to make them more user-friendly. W e also believe that we’ve got a tool here where we can do public health education.” According to a study by Cambridge University, the potential for rap music to be used as a form of therapy all depends on positive lyrics. Positive lyrics can serve as a confidence boaster in patients, especially youths, who are now being affected by mental health problems more than ever.

ROCK/ POP Pop music is unarguable the most popular form of music around the world. Songs that become hits always share certain features that are sometimes called the “pop music formula”. They have a good rhythm, a catchy melody, and are easy to remember and sing along to. They usually have a chorus that's repeated several times and two or more verses. Most pop songs are between two and five minutes long, and the lyrics are usually about the joys and problems of love and relationships. Pop songs are produced by groups like the boy band One Direction and the girl group Girls' Generation, and by pop singers like Justin Bieber and Madonna. Rock and roll music was originated in the United States of America. It evolved and became a popular form of music in the 1940’s and 1950’s from a combination of AfroAmerican genres such as jazz, blues, country music, gospel music. Rock and roll music has some elements that are seen in both blues and country music from the 1920’s and is considered a variation of pop music. However, Rock music attained its status and name in 1950’s. Saxophone and Piano were the first instruments to be used in the performance of rock and roll music but were later supplemented by the guitar in the late 1950’s (Marvin and Hermann, p56). The music is comprised of blues rhythm and backbeats as well as background snare drum sounds. On several occasions, rock and roll is played using two electric guitars, one guitar provides the lead and the second one provides the rhythm.

Rock and roll music genre has greatly influenced attitudes, language and the fashion of people who identify with it. For instance, it has influenced the civil rights struggle movements because it was widely enjoyed by African and White American teens. The music has evolved over time and is currently referred to as the rock music. The phrase “rock and roll” was derived from the movement of a ship in the ocean which is described as the “rocking and rolling”. Scientists found that listening to rock music creates abnormal branching and sprouting of the nerve cells and disruptions in the normal amounts of messenger RNA, a chemical crucial to memory storage. “Neurologists and a physicist recently teamed up to put this claim to a test through three groups of mice. One group listened to no music, another to Mozart, and a third to rock music. But first they ran the mice through a maze to establish a base time of 10 minutes. Then they separated the mice in their distinctive groups. After one month, the mice that listened to no musical at all reduced the time taken to navigate the maze by half (five minutes). The mice that listened to Mozart did even better. They navigated the maze in only one-and-a-half minutes. The rock music mice "bumped their way through the maze" taking 30 minutes.” (Effects of rock music on the mind, Mulenga). This clearly shows that although rock music can endurances and physical activity, it can also distract an individual/ organism at work.

FACEBOOK SURVEY FINDINGS BY ASHFORD UNIVERSITY Topic: What Music Does Students Use To Study?

CLOSING THOUGHT Music plays a major role in how our brain functions. It determines our mood, our memories, and our concentration. More and more is being discovered about music

therapy every day, but even now it is already being used in medical fields more than we know or think. To conclude, if you listen to the wrong kind of music, you will become the wrong kind of person.

Works Cited

Akeem Sule, B. I. (2014). A Hip Hop State of Mind. The Lancet Psychiatry, 494-495. AUD70. (2016, June 30). Classical Music and The Brain. Retrieved from Sites at Penn State: https://sites.psu.edu/classicalpassion/2016/06/30/classical-music-and-the-brain/ Dopamine. (2018). Retrieved from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/dopamine Elizabeth West Marvin, R. H. (2014). : Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz Since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies . JSTOR. Mulenga, A. (2011). Effects of rock music on the mind. Retrieved from Mmegi Online: http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=7&aid=44&dir=2008/July/Tuesday15

Dopamine. (2018). Retrieved from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/dopamine...