Noah Eskew

Humans are blessed with five senses that elicit responses and connect the external world with the soul. Sight, taste, touch, smell, and sound are the ways by which we can interact with the world around us. When a person taps in to any of these senses, various reactions will occur with endorphins inside the brain. Sound, however, regularly causes a visible physical stream of responses. Rare is it to see a painting that inspires a flash mob, or a candle that brings you to tears, but that’s part of the magical spiritual force music does. That’s why I’d like to talk about the importance of music. Music has the immense power to incite a fire within an individual, a group, a nation, or the world. Music is utilized alongside other senses to generate greater responses. It can completely change a person. All these things together make music one of the most powerful and important aspects of the universe.

This thesis and subject matter is interesting due to its distinct nature. This assertion has the potential to last long after my time. Arguments surrounding music have distinguished themselves beyond those of science and numbers because of their inherent subjectivity. Because of this, this thesis will be addressing a bit of a “Cold War.” Not too many people are adamantly vocal against the importance of music. However, not enough people are vocalizing positivity for music. Instead, each side expresses their stance through their actions and attitude. The historical background involved with this subject played a major role in my choosing to address this topic. For years, the arts have been looked upon as just another piece of culture often left for the weaker members of society to experiment with (take the times of Shakespeare for instance). Now, all over the country, many adults have forgotten the major role music can play in a child’s life. This forgetfulness appears in various forms: a neighbor complaining a drummer in the neighborhood is too much of a nuisance or overly strict noise ordinances put upon neighborhoods. In a letter to a city council about absurd noise regulations, Dave Grohl, award-winning musician, had this to say:

Music is not only a healthy pastime, it is a wonderful, creative outlet for kids, and fosters a sense of community necessary to the emotional and social development of any child…. It is crucial that children have a place to explore their creativity and establish a sense of self through song. The preservation of such is paramount to the future of art and music. Without them, where would we be?

My goal with dissecting this subject is to further display the power of music and to discover what good things can come from properly harnessing said power. Through this I plan to replace the negative attitude toward the power of music some still harbor, with a highly appreciative attitude toward the art form and the heavy experimentation, patience, and practice it entails. I plan to make clear valuing musical things should not be dismissed as frivolous or “just a hobby,” but, instead, are meaningful things with unmatched purposefulness and possibilities. Lastly, one of the primary reasons why I chose such a topic was to cease the view music’s influence is inherently bad; secular music doesn’t have to dishonor God.

I would like to define three terms. First, “music” is the organization of melody, harmony, and rhythm in the name of human expression. Second, “influence” is music’s ability to create changes, and its absence is obvious. Third, “participation” in music and the arts means to enjoy, practice, or to have a thorough respect for the importance of such.

This thesis should be important to you because you may be missing out on one of the most beautiful parts of creation. Your lives, your children’s lives, and your communities’ lives will be enhanced if these beliefs are put into practice.

In order to prove music is one of the most powerful and important aspects of life, I will confirm six arguments: 1) Music has displayed power through shaping history. 2) Music is powerful because of its widespread dominion. 3) Music is a powerful social force, which encourages communication beyond words. 4) Music clearly shapes people’s attitudes, appearances, philosophies, and being. 5) Music is important because of its therapeutic benefits. 6) Music is vital to a child’s development. In order to further prove my thesis, I will refute four counterarguments: 1) Music only affects those who actively participate in it. 2) Due to improvements in technology, music is being taken for granted. 3) music’s influence on society is mostly negative. 4) Music is only important because of its benevolent side effects.

My first argument is music has demonstrated its power through shaping and developing the stories of history. Music has been around since God made it. And once bestowed to the human race, music has been stirring the cultural pot, promoting ideas, telling stories, providing encouragement, etc. For the sake of time, I will begin by addressing some ways music shaped things within the 1800s. A good chunk of this century, and seemingly most of history, is spent during times of war. And in war, there isn’t a lot of time or room for arts and the appreciation of them, yet music found a way to fit in and shake things up. This quotation from civilwar.org nicely sums up the ways music was used in wartime:

Music was played on the march, in camp, even in battle; armies marched to the heroic rhythms of drums and often of brass bands. The fear and tedium of sieges was eased by nightly band concerts, which often featured requests shouted from both sides of the lines. Around camp there was usually a fiddler or guitarist or banjo player at work, and voices to sing the favorite songs of the era. In fact, Confederate General Robert E. Lee once remarked, “I don’t believe we can have an army without music.”

It’s interesting to note how the ways a soldier might have used music, such as to psych himself up for battle, are similar to a modern-day athlete listening to a pre-game playlist. But, in the context of the Civil War, both the Union and the Confederacy had songs that demonstrated their loyalty and pride such as “May God Save The Union” and “Dixie.”

During that time, and still today, songs have been used to promote political campaigns. For instance, the song “One Hundred Years Hence,” written by Civil War-era actor Tony Pastor, expresses a feeling of readiness toward Lincoln’s departure from the presidency. The song expresses a belief Lincoln was forgettable and how his political opponent, George McClellan, would outlast Abe in terms of historical relevancy. In a more modern example, Joan Baez, a 1960s folk singer, advocated for civil rights, most notably in the song “We Shall Overcome.” Rage Against the Machine is another example of musicians with a clear goal of spreading their ideologies through melody. Tom Morello, the band’s guitarist, said in an interview with MTV, “I think that one of the important things about Rage [Against the Machine] is that we are able to seduce some people in with the music, who then are introduced to a different political message. That’s kind of why we play music.” The band knew they could begin to influence people’s thoughts if they could first draw attention with their sound.

My second argument is music is so powerful because of its widespread dominion. People can use music in their lives to manipulate their moods, alleviate the boredom of tedious tasks, and create environments appropriate for particular social events. Due to advances in technology, just about every kind of music out there is available to a great portion of the world at any time. This gives society even more exposure to music, and when humans have this kind of exposure to anything, it is bound to affect their way of life. Human exposure to music is at an all-time high, and the numbers show no signs of letting up. Forbes magazine did a study on human interaction with music and concluded,

On average, Americans now spend just slightly more than 32 hours a week listening to music. That’s an incredible figure, and it shows significant growth from even just the past two years. In 2016, Americans listened to an average of 26.6 hours of music per week, while the year prior, it was just 23.5 hours.

The trend shows massive gains from year to year, with the average expanding by several hours every 12 months. While some interactions with forms of media are measured in minutes, Americans now listen to almost a day and a half of music every week, which shows that they have songs, albums and playlists streaming throughout the day, and that they now incorporate music in many different parts of their life. 

Americans, on average, are listening to 32 hours of music per week. Now, the average American sleeps for about seven hours a night. This means we sleep through about 48 of 168 total hours in a week, and are left with 120 active hours. The 32 hours of music we partake in now account for 27% of our life. That means almost a third of the week involves some sort of music! Think of all the things people count on music to get them through: yardwork, schoolwork, driving, hosting a party, religious services, and more. One thing particularly interesting that sets music apart from other art forms is the number of things within society that rely on music to keep them relevant. And that quotation from General Lee, used in my first argument, makes me think of what sporting events would be without music. Just imagine: you’re at the ballpark, no organ, no walk-up music, no fun. The crowd would be less involved in between plays. The teams would storm on the field to silence. The quality of the sporting event experience as a whole would just seem incomplete. Many times, movies count on a riveting score or soundtrack to draw lasting interest. What’s Gilligan’s Island without the opening verse, “Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale,” or Seinfeld without the famous “sitcom bass”? What is Dirty Dancing without the song “The Time of My Life,” or even movies like the Star Wars prequels, which are shunned by some of the series’ true fans, still included an amazing score of music. Restaurants will even play music to soothe the impatience of waiting for a table or food, and hopefully put consumers in a nice mood suitable for spending. Because of its widespread dominion, music can change things ranging from major events or Joe Random’s Thursday morning.

In the past, music has appeared so powerful it has been mistaken for a plot of world domination. Hitler suspected the growing popularity of jazz in the 1940s was being fueled by a conjoined effort of blacks and Jews to infiltrate society with their promiscuous ideas. He realized the music began to soften the tension between different races, and immediately banned “negro” music from the airwaves. Says Chris Trueman, “Jazz music was banned as it was considered to be ‘black music’ with origins from the southern states of America. The Nazis associated jazz music with Black Americans and as a result it was labeled ‘degenerate.’” Hitler recognized the people like the black and Jewish music from America enough to where he could probably benefit for making Nazi-friendly counterparts. Joseph Goebbels assembled the group “Charlie and His Orchestra” in order to begin spreading anti-Allied propaganda.

There is even a conspiracy theory which holds all of the Beatles discography was too good to just be rock ‘n’ roll. Instead, it must be some kind of Marxist plot against America. The music was too compelling, it had to be using some sort of mind control in order to spread propaganda. Joseph Noebel wrote a book Communism, Hypnotism, and the Beatles to promote the idea. In many ways, this is the ultimate praise for a musical group. These aren’t necessarily the prettiest conclusions to draw from history, but its history. Music has been through a lot of pressure, but its impact lives on. This just goes to show, when humans interact with the force of music, the influence is undeniable.

My third argument is music is a powerful social force, which encourages and inspires communication beyond words and causes emotional reactions and supports the development of group identity. Music can communicate with words but also avoid words entirely and still evoke an emotional response. First, you must understand two listeners can experience two separate emotions from the same piece. As Dave Grohl explains, “That’s one of the great things about music. You can sing a song to 85,000 people and they’ll sing it back for 85,000 different reasons.” So, in a sense, the audience is never wrong in drawing a particular emotion from a song. But, in many cases an artist will communicate specific feelings to the audience. For example, the opening to “Ride of the Valkyries” conveys the feeling of an army entering an epic battle, or at least something very similar to that sentiment. Or in a song such as “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac, where there is a clear theme of remorseful melancholic feelings within the chords alone. In other words, you don’t have to speak French to understand the feelings represented in a Debussy piece.

My fourth argument is music displays its power through the impact it has on an individual’s physiological, movement, mood, emotional, cognitive and behavioral responses. Playwright William Congreve wrote, “Music has the charm to soothe the savage breast, to soften rocks, or to bend a knotted oak.” Music makes people physically move. Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin suspects this about the interactions between music and the brain:

Music stimulates the cerebellum, a region of the brain crucial to motor control. Connections between the cerebellum and the limbic system (which is associated with emotion), may explain why movement, emotion, and music are tied together. Music is more than entertainment: It is a regulating force for our moods. Because of its strong ties to our emotions, we rely on music to wake us up, calm us down, entertain us, and motivate us — something a balanced checkbook can’t quite match.

Music has different effects on different individuals. It can make some people’s cognitive processes improve, but it may cause others to stop everything and listen. In fact, while compiling this paper, some days were spent writing while listening. But other days the music would have me too enthralled to buckle down and work. The brain’s multiple processing of music makes it difficult to predict the particular effect of any piece of music on any individual.

My fifth argument is listening and playing music have powerful therapeutic effects. Music can promote relaxation, alleviate anxiety and pain, and enhance the quality of life of those beyond medical help. One fascinating example of such uses for music is through the journey of pregnancy. Therapist Dr. Ginger Garner analyzed the findings of researchers on this theory and noted,

Music can be an effective means for managing both pain and stress during labor. A study showed that using music during childbirth has a significant effect on mother’s perception of pain. Another second study in 2000 revealed perinatal physicians, nurses, and caregivers became more relaxed, slowed their activities, and demonstrated increased respect for laboring mothers when music was used. Music was also found in a study, when combined with progressive relaxation, to be more effective in inducing relaxation in laboring mothers.

This is yet another way music is at your service. It’s amazing that such a powerful thing in its own right has these other positive “side effects.”

My sixth argument is music can play an important part in enhancing human development in the early years. Active involvement in music making in children may increase self-esteem and promote the development of a range of social and transferable skills. I have experienced this benefit of music full well. When I was about six years old, my cousin Sarah came to live with us as a foster child. She began attending Summit. She was a handful. Sarah was too much of a disturbance to our house and to our school. Along with her aunt, we decided to enroll her into piano lessons, which yielded great results. Rather quickly, she became quite good at the instrument, and the skills of patience and grace she had learned from piano became paralleled in other aspects of her life.

The first counterargument against my thesis is music only affects the lives of those who actively participate in it. The biggest problem with this argument lies within overlooking the effects of music on culture. In history, events happen on a cause and effect basis. Take, for example, the Boston Tea Party: George III raised the taxes until the colonists got fed up. But, in terms more related to our argument, the cultural changes that occurred in the 1960s weren’t just coincidences. For instance, as mentioned earlier, the groups of the British Invasion came over and immediately influenced fashion and especially hair. However, The Beatles managed to change far more than style. After the Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan Show, an initiative of starting a band swept across the youth of the nation. The Beatles soon became the first real celebrities to be asked about political and social issues. Their presence in popular culture was a boon to the Civil Rights movement in the ’60s. In the thick of American society, they had their fair share of interactions with segregation. In their tours, if a venue was segregated between colored and white, the Beatles would only agree to play if the rule was done away with. This excerpt from the BBC’s Web site outlines the band’s feelings on segregation: “The Beatles showed their support for the U.S. civil rights movement by refusing to play in front of segregated audiences, a contact shows. Signed by manager Brian Epstein, it specifies that The Beatles ‘not be required to perform in front of a segregated audience.’” These big statements by the Beatles got the music business behind racial equality. Without the support of pop culture to this degree, who knows how long of a delay the movement would have lasted. These moral decisions groups and artists like the Beatles made affected the world as a whole, not just the music industry.

The second counterargument against my thesis is due to improvements in technology, music is being taken for granted. This can lead to neglect in considering how the infrastructure supporting music and musicians is resourced, maintained, and developed. Some fear the process behind the making of popular music is becoming too factory produced, robotic, and digital. They think if all music becomes computerized it will all begin to sound alike and there will be no emotional attachment without the human element. It is true: we are currently in an era of music where “perfection” in the sense of sound and image are glorified. Anybody can make a hit record with the help of computer software. This is why parents and teachers must not suppress their child/pupil’s interest into learning an instrument. This world needs real musicians playing and dedicating themselves to real instruments through which they can distinguish their sound from everyone else’s.

The third counterargument against my thesis is music’s influence on society is mostly negative. First, like most things, we tend to focus on the negatives in society. If the positive things music accomplishes everyday were to go missing, we might begin to understand its true value to society. Is some music out there providing incorrect moral standards? Yes. This tells us if music has the ability to influence for bad, it also has the inverse ability. We’ve seen in the past with music for charities, churches, and other things have influenced culture for the better. Music’s influence on society can be good. For evidence of this, I will look to an unlikely example: Punk Rock. In the ’80s, punk rock band Minor Threat started a movement called “straight-edge.” Dictionay.com defines straight-edge as “advocating abstinence from alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, and sex.” Minor Threat became incredibly influential to the punk music scene, and many of their fans followed suit with the anti-drug, anti-alcohol lifestyle. In-fact, there are still people who cling to the straight-edge lifestyle.

Finally, the fourth argument against my thesis is music is only important because of its benevolent side effects. Peter Greene explains why music education is important due to music’s inherent importance,

Music is universal. It’s a gabillion dollar industry, and it is omnipresent. How many hours in a row do you ever go without listening to music? Everywhere you go, everything you watch — music. Always music. We are surrounded in it, bathe in it, soak in it. Why would we not want to know more about something constantly present in our lives? Would you want to live in a world without music? Then why would you want to have a school without music?

One of the biggest issues I wanted to conquer with this thesis was music being important because it helps with other things. Music is so heavily involved in our everyday lives that studying it, participating in its production, and listening to music are worthwhile causes of their own. Don’t get me wrong, all of the benefits mentioned in this paper are incredible bonuses included in the enjoyment of music. However, that is what they are: bonuses. There’s no need to wait around for a scientific study to prove music improves SAT scores before you listen to it.

After hearing more about the subject, there are a number of ways to utilize the new information. First, know the pursuit of musical excellence is not a dead end journey, but instead leads to a purposeful life. Encourage the next generation to value music, and to choose what they listen to carefully because it will have a big impact on who they become. Finally, do not rule different styles of music out of your life based on prejudices. Experiment with new sounds; chances are that something is out there, and you’re missing it. Don’t let this gift from God pass you by!

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