Society Soundtrack

By Joana Estevao

March 2012

University of the Arts, London

London College of Communication

BA Sound Arts and Design

 

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Abstract

“Music is the universal language of mankind”. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Music besides its entertainment quality is capable of carrying deep meaning and

emotional character. For thousands of years music has been used as a medium to

express emotions, life experiences and even to transmit knowledge or information. We

can barely imagine a world without music and I believe this is not only true in modern

society. Music has been part of mankind’s history and traditions for thousands of years

and its importance has been considered ever since. Because of its versatile applications

and its innumerable genres and themes, music turns out to be one of the most flexible,

useful and accessible art forms of all.

Music is highly connected with our emotions and memories. Everyone relates to at

least one particular song. All of us have a special refrain that makes us feel good,

nostalgic, happy or sad. Music, which makes people remember their childhood or

someone they love or loved.

There are various musical genres that I could specify and relate my research to.

However, it is the perception and reaction to music in which I am interested in and this

will be the main focus of my dissertation.

I will try to find out why music is so universal. Why is music so connected to

mankind? And why is society capable of feeling united while listening to the same

music?

Nowadays people, especially in big capital cities, tend to lose their sense of society

and community by being focused on themselves. Amazingly, when it comes to musical

appreciation people feel very connected to each other when they find out that someone

else shares their musical taste. We share emotions through music, even though we each

perceive it differently.

Obviously variants such as culture, age, lifestyle and personality influence our musical

preferences, although, for some reason, we can easily find groups of people for whom

the only thing in common is their musical taste. Even if they don’t share any other

characteristics they will reveal similar feelings for certain music or musical genre. It is

this feeling that brings people together: the sense of common ground, the sense of

similarity, which links one person to another.

 

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Considering the hard times that people are facing nowadays it is beautiful to analyze

how music has the power to lift people’s mood and awaken the sense of community

when groups of different people get together in order to experience the same music.

Music is everywhere in our daily lives, from movies, theatres, television, general

entertainment, religious meetings and buildings, shopping areas, arts exhibitions and so

on.

Everyone somehow consumes music and everyone has the ability to appreciate it to

greater or lesser degree. Music is like food. When we try certain food for the very first

time, we immediately know if we like it or not. The same applies to music: even if our

musical taste changes over time, we have an immediate perception when listening to

music which defines whether we like it or not. It seems that we are all born with

sensorial music awareness, which we cannot explain it but only feel.

What I will try to find out with this research is why all cultures have music and why

do people have such a strong and close relationship with music?

There will be an overview of music origins in order to understand its connection with

culture, history and humankind. I will analyze people’s perception of music and how

the brain processes it.

Finally, I will discuss the importance of music in our society and how it can shape

people and cultures.

Sound and Music

What is the difference between sound and music?

Sound can refer to anything you hear: talking, whispering, noise from the air

conditioner, traffic, etc.

Music is a meaningful assembly of sound and is generally, but not always, played with

manufactured instruments. Music is organized sound. Sound alone does not imply

music or organized sound.

Sound is to paint as music is to artwork. In this paper I will focus mainly in the musical

character that sound has.

 

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A definition of sound is:

· Vibrations transmitted through an elastic solid or a liquid or gas, with

frequencies in the approximate range of 20 to 20,000 hertz, capable of being detected

by human organs of hearing; Transmitted vibrations of any frequency; The sensation

stimulated in the organs of hearing by such vibrations in the air or other medium.

(2012 Answers Corporation, 2012)

A definition of music is:

The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and

evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre; Vocal or

instrumental sounds possessing a degree of melody, harmony, or rhythm; Organized

sound.

(2012 Answers Corporation, 2012)

 

 

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Table of Contents.

1. Abstract…………………………………………………………………….. 2-4

1.1 Definitions of Sound and Music………………………………... 4

Table of contents……………………………………………………………… 5

2. Chapter One: The Origins ………………………………………………... 6-11

2.1 Possible origins………………………………………………... 8-11

2.1.1 Bird-Song/ Natural sounds ………………………………7

2.1.2 Music and Primates ……………………………….………7-8

2.1.3 Language ………………………………………………….8-9

2.1.4 Speaking and Singing voice ………………………………9-10

2.1.5 Song and Memory ………………………………………...10-11

2.1.6 Connection with the inner ………………………………...11

3. Chapter Two: How People Perceive Music…………………….………… 12-18

3.1 Music and emotions………………………………………….12 -13

3.2 Brain processing and Music Perception……………………...13-17

3.1 Super Learning ……………………………………………… 17-18

4. Chapter Three: Music and Society……………………………………….. 19-24

4.1 Different approaches to the use and perception of music in different

cultures……………………………………………………………………. 19-21

4.2 Music and Social Behavior…………………………………..21-24

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….. 24-25

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………... 26

 

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Chapter One: The Origins Music somehow reflects our world and this fact raises the question of how long have

we been using music?

“ No culture so far discovered lacks music, making music appears to be one of the

fundamental activities of mankind.” (Storr, 1997) p.1

Even with the impossibility of defining a precise time or year when music started

being part of human life, Steve Mithen claim that music may have been made since

palaeolithic times. Archaeologists found flutes made of bones, in a cave in south

Germany, dating from thirty five thousand years ago. During the Ice Age this place

would be perfect not only to get shelter, but, considering its acoustics, would be a

perfect place to play the flute.

“Flutes made of bones found in these caves suggest that they danced to some form of

music. But, because music itself only survives when the invention of a system of

notation has made written recorded possible...we have no information about prehistoric

music.”(Storr, 1997) p.1

Although the information about prehistoric arts is limited, music is so connected to

humans that most probably it had a greater influence on their lives and development

than can ever been known. The curiosity of why music is such a powerful tool and why

it generates a connection with people is a subject that has been studied throughout the

years. Despite the different opinions and approaches to the question, still the origins of

music are unknown.

Various theories and studies trying to examine the heritage of music have been

made. Anthony Storr, author of Music and the Mind argues that there “are two

conventional ways in which one can approach the problem of the significance of music

in human life. One is to examine its origins.....the second way is to examine how music

has actually been used. What functions has music served in different societies

throughout history?” (Storr, 1997) p.2

To answer this question, various hypothesis and theories have emerged from different

researches. Ranging from psychotherapists, anthropologists, biologists, archaeologists

to ethnomusicologists, several studies have shown numerous perspectives related to the

 

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subject. Still none offers the certain answer; only speculation and hypothesis are

discussed.

What we can all agree on is that music has a powerful impact in all cultures and

human beings and has the capability of changing one’s perspective and mood.

Some Possible origins

Bird-Song/ Natural sounds

Even without any certitude about the origins of music, there is a general agreement

about music and it’s relationship with the rhythm and sounds of the natural world.

“Absence of external association makes music unique amongst the arts, but, since

music is closely linked with human emotions, it cannot be regarded as no more than a

disembodied system of relationship between sounds”(Storr, 1997).p 3

Many propose bird-song as a possible source for the origin of music, but the

majority opinion is that there is no relation between the two. “Stravinsky points out

that natural sounds...suggest music to us but are not themselves music.” (Storr,

1997) p.6

Tonal sounds become music only when they are organized, and this arrangement

requests human consciousness and input, setting up a distance between natural sounds

and music origins. Bird-song can have some type of musicality in it and sometimes

contains quite complex melodies. Nevertheless its predictability and the template

structure on which it is based make it is too obvious to be related to human music.

“There is so much music in the world that it is reasonable to suppose that music, like

language and possibly religion, is a species-specific trait of man. Essential

physiological and cognitive processes that generate musical composition and

performance may even be genetically inherited, and therefore present in almost every

human being.” (Blacking,1976) p.7

Music and Primates

Primatologists in studies of the sounds produced by primates found interesting parallels

with human music. The gelada (Theropithecus gelada), sometimes called the gelada

baboon, is a species of Old World monkey found only in the Ethiopian Highlands.

Geladas use a sort of music to solve emotional issues, similar to human groups when

singing along with others, sharing emotional responses to the same music cadences

 

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during the course of the music. Even for a short period of time, people’s emotions and

minds focus in synchrony and coherency. Mitchen amongst others believes that music

is related to emotions. Therefore if a group of people are singing at the same time, the

same music their emotions are being touched in similar ways, promoting so the

resolution of certain emotional problems. “It also seems likely that geladas singing

their sound sequences together synchronously and harmoniously also perhaps

experience such a temporary physiological synchrony.” (Richman, 1987), 28 (2) 199-

223

Language

Many researchers believe that human language is the origin of music. In the

beginning, before language, were the sounds of nature, of the animals and sounds that

human produced in their daily lives. It does not seem logical to assume that language

emerged from one location at one specific time or from a single innovator: “rather,

they were shaped by a large number of refinements contributed to by legions of

developers over many millennia and in many different locations.” (Levitin, 2008) p. 15

Daniel Levitin, author of the book The World in Six Songs, believes that at some

point in history there was a development in the brain mechanism that was responsible

for three cognitive abilities related to the same part of the musical brain. He describes

these characteristics as :

First: Perspective-taking, which relates do the ability of thinking by ourselves and

realizing that others may have different beliefs or thoughts.

The second one the author calls Representation, which refers to the ability of thinking

about something that “is not right in front of us”, but an abstraction from our

surroundings.

The third characteristic is the Rearrangement, the capability to integrate, reintegrate,

and dictate hierarchical organization to essential features in the world.

“The combination of these three faculties gave early humans the ability to create their

own depictions of the world... that preserved the essential feature of things though not

necessarily the distracting details. These three abilities, alone and in combination, are

the common foundation of language and art.” (Levitin, 2008) p.15

Arts and language are tools that we use to express inner realities that are not visible on

the real world. We can talk about feelings and ideas that are based on concepts and on

non-materialized elements.

 

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One of the explanations of why music origins probably did not emerge from natural

sounds or bird singing is because of our capability of abstraction and association that

animals lack. We do, very much, use this cognitive capability to produce and perceive

musical experiences.

This understanding of relations between sounds turns out to be fundamental in music

appreciation. It is this capability that allows people to understand and process certain

music sequences, even if they are sung in a different language, a process called

transposition.

Speaking and Singing voice

“The earliest form of music probably arose out from the natural inflections of the

voice speaking”

(Pole, 1924) p.10

Some believe that even before language itself existed, already some sort of vocal

musicality was conceived. Géza Révész, author of the book Introduction to the

Psychology of Music, argues that the origin of music is detached from language but is

closely related to the singing voice. Révész assumes that the singing voice has greater

carrying power than the speaking voice. According to the author, the first humans

realized that the projection of their singing voice to communicate over long distances

produced a pleasant signal which “call can pass over into song quite easily.”

(Levitin,2008) p.11. In other words, he suggests all music derives from yodel or other

distance calling.

When a calling is made, the nature of the yelling is associated with certain loudness

and timbre. “This loudness and volume can only be achieved with the singing voice,

and never with the speaking voice. Only the singing voice has carrying power.” (

Révész, 2011) p.231

As a matter of fact, several ethnic groups in Africa and the Amazon region use the

singing projection voice to communicate. However, according to ethnomusicologists, it

cannot be considered as music in view of the lack of tempo in those communications

and the association with music is diminished, as rhythm is an essential element of

music, according to ethnomusicologists.

Psychoanalyst Anton Ehrenzweig, argues that it “is not unreasonable to speculate that

speech and music have descended from a common origin, a primitive language which

was neither speaking nor singing but something of both” (Storr, 1997) p.16 Anton

 

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believes that language has split into different directions. Music would have kept the

articulation in pitch and the duration as in rhythm, while language the articulation

mainly by tone colors (vowels and consonants). Later language became the medium for

rational thought and music the “symbolic language of the unconscious mind

whose symbolism we shall never be able to fathom.” (Storr, 1997) p.16

Another assumption related to the origins of music and voice is that of the inbred

ability common to all babies: babbling. Even a deaf or blind baby babbles. This

vocalization is tonal and sometimes similar to words, which gives the impression that

musical or sound reproduction is something encoded within humankind. It has been

proved that hearing is the first sense we have and the last we lose when we die and a

fetus in its mother’s womb can start hearing from seventeen to nineteen weeks and can

recognize sounds and music. “It will never be possible to establish the origins of

human music with any certainty; however, it seems probable that music developed

from prosodic exchanges between mother and infant which fosters the bound between

them.” (Storr, 1997) p.23

Song and Memory

“Music is a memory bank for finding one's way about the world” (Storr, 1997) p.20

Another interesting fact that has been revealed by many studies is the facility that

words and messages can be memorized more easily by singing them than by reading

them. John A. Slobada, a psychologist, found that “songs and rhythmically organized

poems and sayings form the major repository of knowledge in non-literate cultures.

This seems to be because such organized sequences are much easier to remember than

the type of prose which literate societies use in books.” (Storr, 1997) p.19

This can explain why sometimes people are disturbed by their ability to recall lyrics

from popular songs more easily than music that is more meaningful to them. Popular

music is based on repetitive elements and any type of repetitive music becomes

memorable. Music facilitates memory as proved by David Aldridge on his studies on

mentally retarded children which show those children can retain more information

from a song than from a story.

Bruce Chatwin while writing his book The Songlines, realized that aboriginals utilize

songs as birds do, in order to define boundaries, after close observation.” Each

individual inherited some verses of the ancestor's song, which also determined the

limits of a particular area.” (Storr,1997 )p.20 Analyzing the above information, music

 

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may have emerged as a formula for documenting and transmitting knowledge. If

singing music has the power to facilitate memorization, it can be an efficient way of

retaining important information before paper or any sort of technology could be

accessed. Besides that, what better way do we have to carry information than in our

own brain?

Connection with the inner

Johann Gottfried Herder affirms “All unpolished peoples sing and act; they sing

about what they do and thus sing histories. Their songs are the archives of their people,

the treasury of their science and religion.” (Storr, 1997) p.19

Besides the fact of music being a social glue between people, some anthropologists

have considered that the origin of music arose from the need for communication with

the supernatural. Stravinsky in his Charles Eliot Norton lectures delivered at Harvard

in 1930-40 had unequivocally affirmed that “the profound meaning of music and its

essential aims...is to promote a communication, a union of man with his fellow man

and the Supreme Being.” (Storr, 1997) p.17

The origins of music are lost in the obscurity of the past. Still a great certainty about

its power is revealed on the everyday life of every single human being living on earth.

 

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Chapter two: How People Perceive Music

Music and Emotions

Somehow music is related to our emotions. Various studies try to understand why

music is such a powerful tool and why has the capability of driving us into our deep

emotions and subconscious states of mind. Music in its complexity of rhythm,

loudness, timbre, melody and tempo, makes our brain work as no other activity does,

affecting our moods, feelings and even touching us physically. Melody is a strong

element of all styles of music and in my opinion, melody characterizes and defines the

mood of a song.

” Melody is the essence of music. I compare a good melodist to a fine racer, and

counterpoints to hack post-horses.” Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. (Demuth, 1947),

p.143

Music's mood can change with the beat or speed at which is being played. For

example drum and bass music creates the beat, although is the bass melody that sets

the mood. Music in which only a drumbeat is heard can provoke a sense of rhythm and

appreciation for the performer, although the emotion evoked will not be as strong as

that of a piano or violin solo.

The complex organization of musical notes somehow affects our emotions. It might be

because of the ability to sing it. We might be able to connect more with a melody

which we can actually memorize and sing back rather than sounds we only hear and we

are not capable of singing. It is quite difficult to sing a drum reef but we can usually

easily sing piano music. For example when we hear a song in a public space and this

same song unconsciously gets stuck in our mind; it is usually the melody we recall.

The recognition we have towards music is often provoked by the melody of the song.

Nevertheless studies have shown that our heartbeat often matches the music we are

hearing. If we hear high speed music, our heart beat tends to speed up, making us feel

happy and euphoric. On the other hand slow tempo music makes us feel relaxed or sad,

and the melody will decide which emotion will predominate.

Obviously all depends of our inner mood too and, although some music is intended to

provoke certain emotions, it will be our perception that will determine and allow this

 

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emotion to emerge. Our predisposition to do whatever we want applies to all things in

life, including appreciation of music. Therefore the mood that one feels while listening

to certain music will define the message that one will experience, regardless of the

artist’s intention.

Brain Processing and Music Perception

Independent from the emotional input we have towards everything we experience,

there is always the biological factor that we cannot deny.

In any brain activity which involves perception, we use brain patterns of association in

order to perceive a sensorial experience. There are certain patterns which make sense

to us, and others that we don’t feel connected with. “Even the humblest being is

performing a creative act when he interprets sensory input” (Storr, 1997) p.169

Unlike classical tonal music, serial music is sometimes difficult to perceive and

appreciate because of its atonal and dissonant use of musical notes. As well, serial

music composers tend to abolish repetition, which is one of the characteristics in music

that makes us feel comfortable while we listen to it. It seems that human beings have

certain sequences of notes encoded, which they can even predict and this may be why

serial music sequences can become hard to perceive.

Elena Mannes’ research revealed that babies cry in musical intervals and the sounds

they emit are closely related to musical notes. In this same study she found that babies

cannot distinguish between consonant or dissonant notes, although if you play both

styles it is the tonal music they spend more time listening to. Mannes believes that the

auditory system is designed to be consonant.

In a report published in Public Library of Science (PLoS) ONE, the scientists from the

University’s School of Medicine and the National Institute on Deafness and Other

Communications Disorders proved by their Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

studies that not only one part of the brain is active while we listen to music but various,

making the perception of music a complex process.” Unlike language, say, music has

no dedicated mental circuitry localized...it is a whole brain phenomenon...this makes it

immensely challenging to understand what is going on. On the other hand it shows

why music is so fundamentally important. No other stimulus comparably engages all

aspects of our mental apparatus, and compels them to speak with one another: left to

 

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right hemisphere, logic to emotion.” (Ball, 2010) p. 241

It might be another reason of why music is such a powerful tool. “When we hear

music, information is sent from the cochlea in the ear, via the brain stem, where some

initial pitch processing seems to take place both in music and in speech, to the primary

auditory cortex. From there it is sent out for processing to many different regions of the

brain, some of them performing overlapping tasks”. (Ball, 2010) p.245. Clearly, just a

simple activity like listening to music is translated into a complex brain task, making it

one of the most complete mental exercises.

Studies have shown that if a child learns a musical instrument they not only develop

the musical skill but also other cognitive abilities. For example, the brain uses the same

parts for learning to speak languages as for learning a musical instrument or listening

to music. Therefore if a child learns a musical instrument from a young age the

chances are that they will have facility in learning a foreign language. Considering this,

music is therefore a gym for the brain and is important for cognition, education as well

as for social development.

Most people are mesmerized by the talent of jazz players, sometimes even think they

are ‘alien beings’ when they start improvising. In fact, Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis

(Margulis, 2008) studies have shown that the brain of a musician who starts learning an

instrument from a young age is ‘wired’ differently from people who never had musical

training. The question that always arises is: is this a genetic predisposition or the effect

of practicing an instrument for so long? Margulis conducted MRI tests that revealed

that it is a matter of practice. She tested 12 flute players and 12 violin players and the

results were that the parts of the brain that are excited while listening to the instrument

that they play are exactly the same, getting the conclusion that it is not a matter of

genetics but the practice itself. Another interesting fact that she found while scanning

the brain of jazz musicians while they were improvising was that they do switch off the

part of the brain that is connected to inhibitors and switch on the parts that are related

to creativity. Therefore what they do is removing self-judgment and letting creativity

flow. “When you’re masterful at what you’re doing, it becomes second nature (and the

self-censoring part of the brain can switch off). Then you can focus on

ideas.” http://www.miller-mccune.com/science-environment/the-musician-s-brain-

4698/

Studies have found that we are all musical beings and somehow we have music

encoded in our DNA. This may explain why people who have suffered brain injury

 

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might not be able to recognize their family or even them own house but “many of these

patients can still recite poetry by heart, and sing music they knew as children.”

(Levitin, 2008) p.21/22

When a mother sings to her child, it tends to become calm. This phenomenon can be

explained by the strong link between music and emotions. All lullabies share a tranquil

melody regardless of culture and country and all are built of consonant musical

intervals which give a sense of musical comfort by default. Some say that no-one is

tone deaf. If you sing a major scale start off with C D E F and stop, everyone will

instinctively know that the next sound will be the note G, even if they don't know what

notes they are singing, making the musical phenomenon either an encoded feature of

human beings or a need.

Our craving for art is so ingrained in us, that famous artists have created masterpieces

under a state of emotional depression. Equally, as people in concentration camps

during the Second World War have composed, spontaneously, music and poetry as a

need. Not a conscious decision, but almost a biological need, as essential as sleeping or

eating.

“ Music can trigger physiological processes apparently far removed from purely

cognitive. It can for example, affect the immune system, boosting levels of proteins

that combat microbial infection. Both performing and listening can also regulate the

body's production of mood-influencing hormones such as cortisol, showing that there

is a sound biochemical basis for the use of music in therapy.” (Ball, 2010). p. 245

When we hear rhythmic music our rhythm-processors tend to fire up, which may

explain why is so difficult to stand still while listening to Stevie Wonder or Curtis

Mayfield. Analyzing the relation between brain processing and music perception, it is

not surprising that music accompanies most social events in the world, as we tend to

associate music with our memories and moods. Identical to any other form of art,

music aims always to portrait something related to human life, either in feelings, facts

or imagination. There is music of love, happiness, about how God is great, about of

how there is no God, about revolution, about nostalgia, music of sadness, music of

findings, music of loss, music for performers, music for city and country people...

There is music for all tastes and shapes, like people. Music is the reflex of the world in

each culture, belief system, geography and relationship.

“Music is so naturally united with us that we cannot be free from it if we so desired.”

(Boethius, 1989) p.8

 

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Boethius’ statement reflects the pure reality within all cultures, that even if we are not

able to explain it, the truth is that we cannot refuse music in our lives. Everywhere you

go and within our surroundings we all have or consume music.

There are various theories on why music is so powerful but I believe we all have to

realize its potential and work out which suits us better. The universal language of

music is a mystery which moves people to experiment with assorted tests in order to

understand it. In Europe we all know when we hear a summer up-beat tune. We all

recognize it as happy and uplifting, maybe because we associate summer with happy

emotions, but what about in the rest of the world? Recent studies have shown that, just

as facial expression has an emotional character, music equally has sort of universal

emotion related to it.

“Thomas Fritz and colleagues played samples of computer-generated piano music to

members of the culturally isolated Mafa tribe of Cameroon as well as to Western

participants. The music had been specifically designed to convey happiness, sadness or

fear by careful manipulation of mode, tempo, pitch range, tone density and rhythmic

regularity, according to Western conventions.

The tribes-people had never before heard Western music and yet they matched the

musical samples to the appropriate (according to Western convention) pictures of facial

emotional expressions, with accuracy significantly above chance performance.

Analysis of their ratings showed that both they and Western participants relied on the

same cues to make their judgments: for example, pieces with higher tempo were more

likely to be rated as happy, whereas lower tempo prompted ratings of fear.

A second experiment provided evidence for the universality of musical enjoyment.

This time the researchers played either Western or traditional Mafa music to Mafa

tribes-people and Westerners. Crucially, they played either unaltered versions of the

music or "spectrally manipulated" versions. This manipulation altered the timing of the

music to make it sound more dissonant or lacking in harmony. The tribes-people and

the Westerners both preferred the unaltered versions of both the Mafa and Western

music.

Does the universality of musical emotional recognition mean that music acts as a

universal language of human emotion? Not so fast. In a supplementary discussion

available free online, the researchers pointed out that Mafa music doesn't convey as

many different emotions as Western music, thus undermining the idea of music as a

universal language. "Despite the observed universals of emotional expression

 

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recognition, one should thus be cautious in conjuring the idea of music as a universal

language of emotion, which is partly a legacy of the period of romanticism," they said.

http://www.bps.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/rd_141.pdf

Super Learning

Dr Roy J. Paget, a neuro-psychologist who dedicated most of his life to studying the

human brain to see how people could find balanced lives and improvement in their

performance capability. Paget affirms that both sides of the brain are in activity while

listening to music.

Neuro-psychologists concur that music arouses emotional responses, receptive or

aggressive states and stimulates the limbic system and sub-cortical regions of the brain,

which correspond to musical engagement and emotional reaction centers. “More

importantly, research has proven that the limbic part of the brain is responsible for

long-term memory. This means that when information is imbued with music, there’s a

greater likelihood that the brain will encode it in long-term memory.” (Paget, 2006)

This it might explain why people with brain damage are capable of recalling songs

they used to hear as children and why we can recall past situations in our lives while

listening to certain music. Going even further in the analysis, considering the link

between music and long-term memory, I believe that this offers an explanation of

registered cases of people who have awakened from comas through listening to music.

Dr. Paget believes that the effects of music in the brain and body can be summarized in

eight areas:

“• The effects on muscular energy tones and scales

• An increase in molecular energy

• The influence of rhythm on the heartbeat

• Changes in metabolism that affect physical energy

• A reduction in stress levels

• Relief from fatigue and low energy

 

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• The release of emotions, feelings and character

• The stimulation of creativity, sensitivity and thinking “

(Paget, 2006)

After such pin-pointing we can now realize the potential of music listening and

benefits we can take from it.

There are certain brain wave frequencies which favor the ability to learn. In this state

we are relaxed but awake and aware. At this point the brainwaves run at about 8 to 12

cycles per second hertz, a condition known as the alpha state.

Paget affirms that is a great consistency in the body's pulse response to classical

music. “In other words, you get more predictable, safer and more consistent responses

because the pitch and rhythm is compatible with the cyclic wave patterns of the brain.

It has also been established that music containing the sounds of nature and the wild,

such as lapping waves and running water or the chants of whales and dolphins, can

have a very soothing effect.”

Because our heart beat tends to match the speed of the music beat we listen to, it

makes sense that classical music is more appropriate to learning while rock music to

dance.

Studies made on students about reasoning and intelligence at the Centre for the

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at California’s UC Irvine Campus, revealed

that participants who had listened to ten minutes of Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in

D Major, raised their test scores in spatial and abstract reasoning and gained nine

points more on an intelligence test. The ones who listened to relaxation music or stayed

in silence either improved only slightly or stayed the same.

 

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Chapter three: Music and Society

" If you want to measure the spiritual depth of society, make sure to mark its music." -

Plato

Music is a key art in the world. From indigenous tribal villages to big cities, music is a

strong artistic presence within society.

The act of singing a song can trigger various emotions and these feelings when shared

by a number of people can even lead to the generation of social movements. Trough

the power of music, the first campaign against racial conflict called Rock Against

Racism (RAR) was founded in 1976. This movement involved concerts of pop, rock,

reggae and punk rock bands playing music with anti-racism themes, to promote the

equal sense of community on young people and to awe youngsters from racist

behaviour.

Music can define the way we feel, dance and even dress. Music can raise feelings of

love and hate, happiness and relaxation in people. Therefore music can be considered

one of the most influential and universal arts in society.

Many people in many societies use music as a form of entertainment and as an escape

from daily problems and routines. In big cities you can see many people listening to

music on their portable music devices. The reasons they listen to music are various. I

believe music is a mood stimulator which people use to create a comfort place that they

can rely on. Through music you can connect to an inner self and create a bubble around

you. No wonder concert halls are always full, regardless of a country's economic

issues. We can observe the power of music for example in cultures such as in Africa

and Brazil. Here people suffer dramatic economic and social issues. Nevertheless it is

on music that their happiness relies. In many ghettos in Brazil music is a constant

presence in every corner. Recently I spoke to a native Brazilian and asked her how

music influences Brazilian people. Her answer was that the effect was beyond mere

‘influence’, when she stated: ”Music saves Brazilian people!!!” For them music is

almost the reason why they wake up every day and for them a day isn't complete if

they don't get to listen to music. Brazil is famous worldwide for many reasons and

 

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most of them relate to music. The samba, the carnival, the contagious energy that they

have, all of it have the same source: They share an unconditional love of music. I

would even go further and affirm that they need music to survive.

Nevertheless it is not only in Brazil that music is an important medium for living; the

whole world has a deep connection with and need for music.

Various examples from different cultures, given by Philip Ball in his book The Music

Instinct- How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It (2010) are given below.

He shows their different approaches to the use and perception of music in order to give

a wider picture of its possible applications:

– For the Kaluli culture of Papua New Guinea, music is a medium of communion

with the dead;

– For the Venda culture in South Africa, music is used to define social relations;

– For the Igbos of Nigeria, dance and music are synonymous. They do not

associate music with organized sound as we do in the west, but associate music with

sounds that replicate their native language patterns.

– In parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, music that has no rhythm and is therefore not

danceable is not considered music but a form of lamentation;

– In some African cultures the “ protest song” is accepted as a form of political

disagreement that cannot otherwise be voiced;

– Bali musicians and dancers may use music in a way that provoke disturbing

feelings in people, although in a way that is useful to the community;

– In Senegal music is used as a connector and emotion stimulator for the nobles

who are considered cold and apathetic people. The low cast griots, who are allowed to

be emotional and excitable people, play and dance music to their nobles in order to

give some emotion to them without them having to show it;

– The famous African “ talking drums” are used to transmit information in a very

precise way like Morse code. The sound of drums when played seems to be very

similar to the tone of African languages;

– The Shamans in South America utilize music in their Ayahuasca ceremonies as

a tool for shifting energy and conducting the shamanic practice. Music becomes the

channel or intermediary for the healing energies that are invoked into the ritualistic

area. It is through the music that a correlation is conceived between the two cosmoses;

– The aboriginals in Australia and Canada use music to transmit knowledge and

information about their culture;

 

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– In Guinea some tribes sell their dances to other villages;

– Yirkalla aborigines in Australia can perceive sacred words from babies

babbling; They believe songs are not composed but discovered- all songs are already

made;

– Egyptians and Hebrews used an early form of music therapy, as did Greeks

who used music to cure anxiety and other mental disturbances;

The list is endless, considering the diversity of the innumerable cultures existing on

earth. Furthermore every individual within his own culture has a personal and specific

relationship with music.

Amazingly, certain tribes do not distinguish music performance from hunger. It is a

need like any other biological one and the use of it is not something that is thoughtful

or studied, it is part of their culture, like drinking water or hunting animals to eat. Colin

McPhee , a Canadian ethnomusicologist “ claimed in 1935 that Balinese music is

utilitarian – not to be listened to in itself- and containing no emotion” ( cited by Ball,

2010) p.13 He compared music to flowers or incense, a element needed for a

ceremony, like the space where it is performed. Later, Margaret Mead affirmed that,

even if the purpose of Balinese music is not to portray emotion, it does not mean that

the musicians do not have feelings when performing it. She claims that the enjoyment

comes from the performance itself. The medium in this case is more important than the

result. All energy is focused on how they play the instruments and not in the music.

These observations were made by Westerners, people who don't share the Balinese

culture, and because we are all so attached to emotions when talking about music,

sometimes is hard to judge the emotions and aesthetics of other cultures. “Javanese

people don't necessarily recognize the same categories of musical affect (happy/ sad,

say) as those in the West.”(Ball, 2010) p.13

Music and Social Behaviour

In the West we consider music as an art and I believe we do not explore its potential

fully. Some people do not even realize how music affects them and has the power of

changing their emotions, even if for a short period of time.

Some cultures, like the Basongye people, only recognise the feeling of happiness in

relation to music. To them music and happiness are indivisible. They believe that

 

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“when you are happy you sing...when you are sad you shout” and “ When one shouts,

he is not thinking; when he sings, he is thinking” (Ball, 2010) p.13 This statements is

almost like saying the emotion defines the music and not the reverse. The

rationalization of the feelings in comparison with music makes music “a subtle and

sophisticated social function that can't easily be described by analogies with the

West.”(Ball, 2010) p.13

Music in the West has been linked more with aesthetics and emotional response to it.

We hardly hear music on the radio which is not devoid of emotional content. The

tendency for labelling music in our society is similar to the judgements we make about

people: relying on their appearance and the way they dress. In developed countries

music seems to be a medium for creating urban tribes, people who listen to specific

types of music tend to wear the same style of clothes. For example, Hip hop music is a

great influence amongst a certain sector of our society, who all tend to share the same

dress style and even attitude towards life. This influence obviously came from the

artists who composed this musical genre and the message they send through the music.

Clearly this genre has a great impact in our society and shapes it, either in a good and

bad way.

Music appears to shape society in different ways.

Some lyricists have peaceful messages and others violent, and their influence on

listeners is such that the people who listen tend to adopt the lifestyle that the musicians

have.

The same happens in reggae music, for example and reggae lovers tend to imitate the

considered father of reggae music, Bob Marley, by wearing dreadlocks and smoking

marijuana.

In the west, even music seems to follow the economic classes. You can observe this if

you compare a classical music concert or an opera to a rock and roll gig. In this sense

music can have a controversial function. It brings people together at the same time as it

defines the social imbalances that exist within a society.

Music spaces can define dress code too. High class society enjoys to show off their

expensive clothes and believe that only well educated people go to an opera, ballet or

classical music concert.

You rarely see anyone wearing nine hundred pound shoes at a hip hop concert.

In the Middle Ages music had specific purposes: religious, civic and social. Nowadays

the fashionable approach to our lives is of major importance of everything that is done.

 

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Then, music was used as guide for the soul and not for merely enjoyment. “ For Plato

and Aristotle, this made music a tool that could either promote social harmony or, if

improperly used, discord.” (Ball, 2010) p.14

Music, both past and present, can be seen as a medium for revolution in society.

Nowadays there are artists trying to appeal to revolution through their lyrics and in the

past music has been used as code for starting a revolution. The Portuguese revolution

on April 25th in 1974 was planned and set off by two radio broadcasted songs, the

warning signals for the military to start moving into their strategic positions to start the

revolution against the dictatorship. The first song “ Depois do Adeus” a popular song at

the time by Paulo de Carvalho was transmitted at 22:55 of April 24rd. This music was

the first sign previously agreed by the coup leaders, who began taking positions for the

first phase of the coup.

The second signal was given at 0h20 of April's 25th, when the song “Grândola, Vila

Morena” by Jose Afonso was transmitted by the program limit of Radio Renaissance,

which confirmed the coup and set the beginning of the operations. At this time

“Grândola, Vila Morena “had been outlawed because, according to the government, it

alluded to communism.

The Multifunctionality of music in our society is beyond our perception. In western

and non-western societies there is an abundance of religion, in fact no culture exists

without religion. Music and religion have a very tight relationship. It is through music

that the connection of the believers and their gods is made. Some religions use the

chant, or musical forms of praying to connect with their inner selves and therefore their

beloved god. Even the spaces where ceremonies are made have a specific shape and

acoustics. For example, churches have a very special reverberation when music is

played or sung inside of the space. Because of the amplitude and tone created by the

reverberation of the space, the music is transformed into a sacred angelic like sound,

which emphasises the connection between humans and god. The functionally of music

in religion is a key point even if the believers cannot realize it.

Ethnomusicology is defined as the study “of social and cultural aspects of music and

dance in a local and global context” (Ball, 2010) p.17. However, there is a genre called

‘world music’ which does not seem to be receiving the same degree of analysis in

terms of its musical content.

Western music is subdivided in too many genres and labelled with highly specific

 

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names that correspond to certain musical styles. World Music doesn’t receive this level

of focus and is labelled as world music regardless of the many different techniques and

approaches contained within this genre.

In the west most people can qualify the different genres of electronic music and

distinguish minimal electro from house music, why does the same not happen between

Zydeco and Lhamo music (Tibetan Folk Opera)?

Amazingly, in the present time we know more about how music is perceived and its

functions in non- western cultures than we do about the purpose of music in western

society, despite ethnomusicologists’ efforts. It is a curious paradox which minimizes

the awareness of music as a medium for well-being, social awareness and social

development in advanced societies.

Conclusion

“Through melody, harmony and rhythm, we enter a world where others exists besides

the self, a world that is full of feeling but also ordered, disciplined but free. That is why

music is a character-forming force” (Neil and Ridley, 2002) p.131

This paper has taken a general, wide view of music and therefore lacks reference to

important music genres, such as the avant-garde , an intentional decision.

My interest in this research was to acknowledge an overall view covering themes like

perception and behavioural aspects of our relation with music. I realized that we are all

musical beings, either performers or consumers, but we all share this ability inside us.

Some decide to develop it, others only ignore it. Music can be found everywhere, in a

variety of forms. Some are tied to conventional music composition, others to complex

musical intervals and musical scales.

Some can feel music while listening to loud white noise and others finds unpredictable

traffic noise more interesting and musical than Mozart’s compositions, as John Cage

observed. The fact is every culture in their own way has some sorts of musical

connection, and its use is usually on a social context.

Murray Schafer defends awareness of our surrounding soundscape and sound ecology

 

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and I also believe our society would gain a lot from musical awareness and its

potentialities.

Considering the complex and intense experience that music is, if people looked on

music as a medium to connect with the inner self and even as a healing tool, I believe

humankind certainly would be more conscious of a range of issues that are damaging

our societies.

Music has the inherent quality of bringing people together, and giving groups a sense

of community. Why does this happen only in the place where the music is being played

and only while the music lasts? Why do people not keep with these feelings and allow

them to fade away? If everyone were more conscious of the power of music and

would try to increase this feeling, they could use music on daily basis as a self-therapy.

Sometimes diseases can be cured by our inner knowledge about ourselves and if we

awaken tools, such as music, for this to happen, we can improve our lives greatly.

Although, as in any other sensorial experience, music is a personal experience and no

studies can precise what one person feels about it. What one feels while listening to

music cannot be translated into words. We can try to describe feelings within our

limited form of communication, language, although emotions are beyond vocabulary,

but not beyond the power of music.

 

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