Music Is Bad For Your Mentality

[TeaDiddy]

@IVONNE As a musician by trade, I am interested in this thread. This is something I've questioned a lot and there are much deeper things to consider here that aren't being said yet. Allow me to elaborate..... this might get a bit lofty and wordy... apologies! But stick with me 

For starters. To say "music is bad for you" is an over generalist and honestly quite a naive statement. The first juvenile retort would be: "Have you heard ALL the music in the world?  And has it all had a bad affect on you?". If you indeed have done this colossal research (congratulations! :-P) or seriously know of any real studies on this matter I'd be very very interested to read them. Please reply and post!

 

For the following I will call "music" how we usually refer to it, and "Music" as that that exists outside of what is commonly called "music". With me?!

You may have all heard the phrase "music is a language" mentioned by musicians and teachers wanting to seem like they know it all. And... It is absolutely true. Music, as we experience it, is a language. As a musician, you learn the mechanics of the harmony, rhythm, and melody which become the palette to express whatever you desire, just as linguistics does as well. As a jazz musician, this is taken to an advanced level where the musical language becomes part of a detailed conversation between improvisers. Which is why improvised music is such a niche, most people don't understand it because it's like listening to Greek or Chinese (if you're not Greek or Chinese!)  Even on this level, is it still conceptual and therefore doesn't exist the way we listen to it. All language, including musical language, is conceptual and doesn't exist in reality.

If you feel it makes you stupid, you're probably right. If you think it makes you smarter, you're also probably right. It's about what you bring to it and the way you react to what you hear with your conceptualization of what you are listening to at each present moment. Here's what happens:

                                    Sounds Heard ---> Emotional Reaction (or not) ---> Internal Conceptualization / Judgement

Also, most of the time follows: ---> External Expression of Judgement / Emotional Reaction (through regular language, some form of dance, or smashing your mate Tim on the arm to make sure he realises how EPIC that bangin' tune you just heard was.

As part of my training, we were taught to recognise Music in nature and reality, the kind that exists outside of the common classical and contemporary conventions of "music" ie, the wind, birds, traffic, the beach. Anywhere you hear sound, there is vibration, collections of which make "Music". You may argue that "the M1 doesn't sound anything like music, dude you're stupid." (the M1 is a big highway in the UK), if you are asking questions like this then you are missing the point. It's a little extreme I'll warrant but if you can listen to a highway from a place of zero concepts, you'll discover that it really can be quite beautiful. We always think the sound of the waves is beautiful because of the labels and emotions we attach to 'knowing' we are hearing that sound.

Without conceptual labels, Music exists in the universe, as in sounds from vibrations. As soon as you bring your conscious awareness into your hearing/listening then you bring all the judgements and distinctions of the ego. All there is, is Music. It doesn't make you dumber or smarter unless you apply some kind of conceptualization to it.

As soon as you call it music (or Hip Hop/Jazz/Blues/whatever) and relate to it from this state, you are making it conceptual. We listen to it from a place of labelling. Music you like is 'Good' and music you don't like is 'Bad'. These are distinctions that don't exist. It's irrelevant. 

They are all labels of language. There is only the organised collection of sounds. We know that prominent beliefs that we hold can have psychosomatic effects. It's no accident that Emos are depressed and fans of Funk are happy. And there are mathematical reasons for our emotional reactions....

Certain styles of music elicit particular emotions. This we know. People who like to be angry listen to Metal, people who like to relax listen to Ambient and easy Classical, people who love adrenaline and partying listen to fast Dance/House and probably cocaine; whatever, we all know this. What we might not know is the reason why.

Firstly, lyrical content. Easy. A song written about a long lost love will elicit in you the same emotions of the writer. Unless you've never experienced it and are a cold, dead, and rock-like inside, if you are, better work on that... So it's pretty easy to see how lyrical content can affect our emotional reaction to music from the way we conceptually relate to what is said. 

Secondly, Consonance and Dissonance! Juicy!

We know that everything in the universe is made up of matter and energy in the form of particles and waves. The entire material world is made up of atoms and particles that are in a constant state of motion. "Everything in life is Vibration" - Albert Einstien 

If you vibrate a string that has certain physical dimensions and tension, it will create a specific tone: that is, the physical movement of the string creates particle fluctuations in the air that pass through the air as sound waves to your ear. Which then become electrical signals from the ear to the brain...blah blah

 ....These waves are what make-up music, it is really just mathematics made physical. When you play two notes together, if the frequencies are related (in a mathematical way which I won't get into here) then you'll either have consonance, which sounds pleasant; or dissonance, which doesn't sound pleasant. Imagine when you hear your niece sing the National Anthem flatter than an English pancake, you can tell It's pretty awful... but you pretend to enjoy it anyway.

Now imagine when you hear an orchestra tuning up, the "amen chords" in classical music or an even better example is the THX sound. Dissonance moving into consonance is EXTREMELY satisfying!

 

 

Using mixtures of dissonance and consonance (light and Dark) with single notes in series is how you get Melody. Using this with a group of notes moving collectively is Harmony, and the repetition of it is Rhythm (There is also rhythmic dissonance, but again not now.... I'm already going off on one).

These devices used in various, possibly limitless ways, are what create the emotional reactions within us. But really, it's all still mathematics. Very basically, happy music uses more consonance and sad music uses more dissonance. Why? Why does dissonance make us uneasy and consonance make us content? Good question... There are some pseudo-scientists who claim that particular frequencies have healing benefits as they are derived from the Universal Frequency of 432Hz. And that these frequencies are in tune with our bodies...

The juries out on that one. What do you think?

Normally, in western music we are tuned to 440Hz so probably miss out on these benefits  or is that where your "music is bad for you" statement comes from?! :-P

For anyone interested in a what the music of an enlightened jazz musician sounds like, check out the pianist Kenny Werner.

Sorry for the long post

Edited June 8, 2016 by TeaDiddy

[Pav]

Music is great. It has the power to elevate your emotions to a blissful state, and evoke energy in your body especially through dancing or singing. A sad song can allow you to accept that emotion, removing your resistance to it.

Listening to music can be a very powerful form of meditation. When listening you may find all of your attention focused entirely of the rhythm, placing you wholly in the present moment, ceasing your thoughts, forcing you to forget yourself for the time being. 

On a related note; I'm not sure why some people on this forum are so content on labelling so many things as a 'distraction', particularly hobbies, friendships and other things which bring joy and passion. Perhaps they haven't experienced the fulfilment and bliss which can come when really actualising these things (from a Being oriented perspective). Actualisation is the easiest path to Transcendence. People will naturally tent to Transcend when fully immersed in what they love.

[governor]

I love all music-of course it affects a person and you need to be aware of that,but I think sometimes people tend to confuse the "music" and the "lyrics".

lyrics pumped into your thinking  is one thing-but music itself is different (even harder style music)-think about it...

the thump in the floor when everyone is tapping a foot to the beat

a long slow sound that drags the note out (like a violin)

my personal favorite-the way a electric guitar can be so soft and pretty,and at the same time can "scream" out so loud it fills the room in a way where nothing could possibly matter outside of this

It's interesting in most scenes if you pick up an acoustic guitar and play one good song that crowd would know,usually that's all it takes for some people to kinda start to be involved,maybe sing along or something

don't even get me started on jazz and swing music

music is all about being "in the moment"

[vizual]

Music is just an expression of reality. An array of high, mid and low notes arising in a joyful rhythm on a cloud of silence. 

[seaneyboyjazz]

@TeaDiddy Your post was absolutely fantastic. You expressed how I felt about this topic better then I could. Effortless Mastery is one of my favourite books of all time. Kenny Werner is a genius  

[Kevin Dunlop]

If you do not play music yourself you are missing a huge, huge aspect of what music is. I am surprised that everyone here talks about music as though that should mean recordings of other people playing music you listened to on magnetic paper speakers, celphones or headphones. From my experience knowing music doesnt come from listening to recordings. I do record music sometimes but I also make my own instruments and play them alone and with others. When I was in West Africs I saw the whole community coming together to dance and play music every night, there were was no TV recordings or radios, just live acoustic music on traditional instruments and everyone knew how to play music and dance. The dancing that made everyone so healthy, expressive, creative, that was the reason for the music. It also takes the musicians to higher levels of consciousness and connection together. The hours of exercise one can do dancing to this music cannot be done without it. Alot of the comercial recordings we have been overexposed to by popular media do not have the energy of a healthy community, alot are the product of hard drud addicts and alcholics etc. I started to wonder about this. I also heard that listening to electronic music makes one tone-deaf. I am not addicted to music but being a musician is really fun. Listening to recordings is not the real experience of music. 

 

[TeaDiddy]

@seaneyboyjazz Thanks  I'm actually re-reading Effortless Mastery at the moment. I agree it's an awesome book, it totally changed my perspective on studying music when I first read it years ago. Kenny is one of the few musicians teaching the real connectivity to creativity, it'd be great to meet him one day!