The Power of Music (Extra Credit)

The Power of Music

Music and Religion

What are the two biggest uses of music in the modern world today? Entertainment and advertising. However, before CDs as well as mass production and marketing, the biggest use of music in cultures around the world was for religion. Like God, music is non tangible, something that cannot be seen, but can still be sensed. Often times, sacred music tries to evoke the qualities of God and lift practioners out of the mundane, bringing them spiritually closer to God. For that reason, the Church views music and chant not as music, but as prayer. Whereas, music connotes sensual enjoyment that benefits the individual, music as prayer functions to bring people closer to God.

Biggest Church Organ In Austria

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jd_scape/with/4157186837/

The Good in Secular Music

I assume most of you would agree that good music can alter a person's mood, perhaps uplifting the spirit or relieving the tensions of a bad day. In that sense, music demonstrates power, something that affects our lives. I can forward several more examples of the beneficial power of musi. A few years back a student told me about her husband who went into a coma after a traffic accident. The doctors said that if he came out of the coma, the chances were likely that he would be a vegetable. Unwilling to go along with that, this student brought her husband's favorite CD's into his hospital room and played them for hours on a boom box. A few weeks later he came out of the coma with all his faculties in tact. She swears it was the music, while the doctors scratched their heads, unable to take credit.

Now for the Bad

If you agree that music wields power, then ask yourself if it can also work in negative ways? We touched upon music as sound, and loud volumes of sound can damage hearing. Just ask Pete Townsend who suffers from tinnitus. Hitler skillfully used music to prime large crowds of people about to hear his oratory. He knew how to incorporate music to help sell hate. Can listening to Ozzy Osbourne turn a normal, healthy kid into a depressed, anti-social psychotic who plans suicide or bites the head off of bats (or was it a pigeon?). Probably not. However, I would go as far as to say that if someone is already predisposed toward violence, depression or suicide, music could reinforce these tendencies. It makes simple sense. However, I am certain that some of you will argue that you listen to music with negative lyrics or anti-social messages but do not go around bashing in car windows with a baseball bat. My point is that some people are more vulnerable, more at risk. For them, music becomes the straw the breaks the camel’s back, normalizing negative or violent attitudes that may ultimately lead to violent acts.

Music in Advertising

Then there is advertising, a 500 billion dollar industry in this country alone. Advertising folk do not make products, such as automobiles, furniture or electronics. They simply want to step inside your head and plant a little voice that says, “buy this product. It will make you sexy, important, happy, fulfilled, cool or meaningful.” Their methodology is simple genius mixed with a touch of insidious psychology. Attach a simple, catchy little jingle to a product, and people will remember it. It works. If I were to play the McDonald’s five-note jingle at this moment, it would be instantly recognizable, causing some to think big mac, hunger, lunch, fast, cheap, now.

That’s a powerful message, and music becomes a powerful tool. I worry a bit about music used in this way. It is like fishing for a hungry trout in a small aquarium. Things get too boring, too quickly; and I walk away with a sense that billion dollar corporations want to manipulate me, the poor consumer who likes “good” music. Also, I could argue that all the music used in advertising simply clutters the environment, making it more difficult to find good music. I could certainly go on, but you probably get a pretty good sense of where this thread leads.