When Music Is Your Life.

Interesting take on it:
[ i know most readers wouldn't be able to stand this because of their short attention spans
as a result of being used to Instant Gratification and Impulsivity.]

http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;124/5%20/1488
[...]
In refuting concerns about the effect of lyrics, some have argued that children and adolescents use music only for entertainment, that little or no attention is paid to the words, and if any attention is given, understanding tends to be limited and related to the experiences lived by the listener.32,55 However, other studies have demonstrated the contrary.56 Approximately 17% of male adolescents and 25% of female adolescents expressed that they liked their favorite songs specifically because the lyrics were a reflection of their feelings.2 Also, it has been found that the more importance adolescents give to a certain type of music, the more attention they will pay to the lyrics.2,55,57,58 Furthermore, Knobloch-Westerwick et al have stated that although young listeners might not understand all the details in lyrics, they recognize enough to obtain a general idea of the message they bring.11

Regarding the effects of popular music on behavior, several studies have demonstrated that preference for certain types of music could be correlated or associated with certain behaviors,* such as the association of drug and alcohol use with "rave" music or electronic music dance events.13,50,51,62 Roberts et al39 performed a study in 1997 at an adolescent clinic, and their results suggested that probably the best predictor of risk in adolescents related to music is their self-report of negative feelings or emotions when listening to any type of music. The authors of that study described an association between negative emotional response to music and risk-taking behaviors and even suggested that what triggers risky behavior in some adolescents is the negative emotional response rather than the type of music. Scheel and Westefeld61 supported this suggestion in 1999. Heavy metal and some rock music have been associated in some studies with an increased risk of suicide.17,61,63,66,67 Fans of heavy metal music have been reported in the literature to have more problems with school authorities and teachers than students who are not fans of that type of music.2 Heavy metal music-listening has also been associated with increased depression, delinquency risk behavior,63–65 smoking, and conduct problems.60 Fans of heavy metal and rap music showed a greater tendency to engage in reckless behavior than their peers who were not fans of those types of music.2,14,37,68 A study performed to explore the possible effect of heavy metal music containing either sexually violent or nonviolent lyrics on males' attitudes toward women revealed that those exposed to heavy metal music, with either sexually violent or nonviolent lyrics, showed significantly more negative stereotyped attitudes toward women than those in a group instead exposed to classical music.2,69 Likewise, in a study performed by Fischer and Greitemeyer,42 men who listened to misogynistic lyrics showed increased aggressive responses toward women as well as a more negative perception of them.

In a study in which adolescents who preferred heavy metal and rap music were compared with those who preferred other types of music, results indicated that the former consistently showed below-average current and elementary school grades, with a history of counseling in elementary school for academic problems.14 A study performed in 1999 with a sample of 345 mothers from public schools revealed that 47% of the mothers believed that violent messages in rap music contribute to school violence70; yet, according to a 2007 report from the Kaiser Family Foundation on parents, children, and the media,44 only 9% of parents revealed being concerned about inappropriate content in music.

The preference for heavy metal music, rap, and associated genres among adolescents must alert us to an increased vulnerability and tendency toward risky behaviors. Adolescents at risk and with a feeling of alienation because of previous failures or problems tend to prefer these types of music, which might reflect their pessimistic view of life and the world.2,9,14,17,19,37,71 Correlational studies, however, have inherent limitations and cannot identify cause-and-effect relationships, but the associations reflect the status of the current research.

Research related to music and its effects on children and adolescents has been expanded into another expression of popular music: the music video. Music videos are appealing to children and adolescents. Considering that music videos mix 2 media that are attractive to youth (television and popular music), it is important to study their effects on a young audience and to be concerned about the messages these music videos promote.30,72 Music videos have been widely studied.29,30,55,72–93 They are mainly classified as either performance or concept videos. For a performance video, an artist or a group is filmed during a performance, usually a concert. Concept videos, on the other hand, tell the viewer a story that may or may not evolve from the song. This story may sometimes add content to the lyrics and provide a particular interpretation that is reinforced every time the viewer hears the song.72,73,75 As with popular music, the perception and the effect of music-video messages on children and adolescents is related to the age and developmental and emotional stage of the viewer, as well as the level of exposure.

The prevalence of music-video–watching has been studied in both the United States and Europe.30,79,90,92,94 A study of 100 fourth- to sixth-graders revealed that 75% of them watched music videos, with 60% of them self-describing their frequency of viewing videos as either "pretty much" or "a lot." Of these children, 62% watched music videos either "most days" or "every day," and 7% watched them even before going to school.30 In 2003, a report of the Kaiser Family Foundation90 revealed that 3 of 4 of those in the 16- to 24-year-old group watch MTV, 58% watch it at least once a week, and 20% watch it for an hour or more every day. More recently, a study revealed that a sample of 12- to 15-year-olds watched music videos on an average of 4.3 days per week.92

Research on music videos has been focused mainly on content analyses. A study published in 1997 by DuRant et al76,82 described an analysis of 518 music videos on 4 television networks (MTV, VH1, CMT, and BET). This study revealed that the percentage of violence in music videos ranged from 11.5% to 22.4%, with the most violent videos having been presented on MTV. When analyzed according to type of music, rap videos had the highest portrayal of violence (20.4%), closely followed by rock videos (19.8%). Using the same sample, another study revealed that although the percentage of videos that portrayed alcohol use showed no significant differences among networks, the percentage portrayed was still significant, ranging from 18.7% to 26.9%. Of the networks, MTV had the highest percentage of alcohol representation and also the highest percentage of videos that portrayed smoking behaviors (25.7%). Of these videos, rap music videos showed a higher content of alcohol or tobacco use than did other types of videos.75 In 1998, Rich et al82 reported on the findings of content analyses that looked for gender or race differences in aggressors or victims of acts of violence portrayed in the same sample of 518 music videos. The analyses showed that black individuals were overrepresented as aggressors (25%) and as victims (41%), compared with the percentage of black individuals in the general population (12%). Studies performed by Smith and Boyson in 200293 and Gruber et al in 200591 validated these findings.

Analysis of the content in music videos is important, because research has reported that exposure to violence, sexual messages, sexual stereotypes, and use of substances of abuse in music videos might produce significant changes in behaviors and attitudes of young viewers.{dagger} Frequent watching of music videos has been related to an increased risk of developing beliefs in false stereotypes and an increased perceived importance of appearance and weight in adolescent girls.83 In studies performed to assess the reactions of young males exposed to violent rap music videos or sexist videos, participants reported an increased probability that they would engage in violence, a greater acceptance of the use of violence, and a greater acceptance of the use of violence against women than did participants who were not exposed to these videos.29,35,77,78,92

In 1999 Kalof84 reported that college students who were exposed to videos with stereotyped sexual images showed more acceptance of adversarial relationships than those who were not exposed. Kaestle et al92 reported in 2007 that in a group of seventh- and eighth-grade boys, watching music videos and professional wrestling was associated with an increased acceptance of date rape. A survey performed among 214 adolescents revealed that there was an association between music-video–watching and permissive sexual behaviors.76 It has also been reported that after watching MTV, adolescents' attitudes were more accepting of premarital sex.52,53,80 A survey performed among 2760 American adolescents demonstrated that listening to music and watching television and music videos more frequently was associated with increased risky behaviors68 and alcohol use85,86; these results were validated by vandenBulck and Beullens,94 who demonstrated a longitudinal relationship between adolescents' exposure to music videos and alcohol use while going out to a bar, party, disco, etc. In 2003, Wingwood et al89 reported on a study in which 522 black female adolescents with a median exposure to rap music videos of 14 hours per week were followed for 12 months. After controlling for all the covariates, greater exposure to rap music videos was independently associated with a wide variety of risky behaviors such as increased promiscuity and use of drugs and alcohol, among others. Of importance, a study performed by Austin et al98 in 2000 revealed that the potential risks of exposure to music videos can be moderated by parental reinforcement and counterreinforcement of conducts observed.

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Another one.
http://www.av1611.org/neutral.html

Dr. Sacks explains, "The neurological basis of musical responses is robust and may even survive damage to both hemispheres" ("Music's Surprising Power to Heal," 8/92 Reader's Digest).

"To the question, 'Does music affect man's physical body?' modern research applies in the clear affirmative. There is scarcely a single function of the body which cannot be affected by musical tones. The roots of the auditory nerves are more widely distributed and possess more extensive connections than those of any other nerves in the body. Investigation has shown that music affects digestion, internal secretions, circulation, nutrition and respiration. Even neural networks of the brain have been found to be sensitive to harmonic principles" (Tame, David, The Secret Power of Music, p. 136).

Music can also be dangerous to the body.

Dr. Adam Knieste, a musicologist who studies the effects of music upon people noted:

"It's really a powerful drug. Music can POISON you, lift your spirits, or MAKE YOU SICK without knowing why." (Family Weekly Magazine, January 30, 1983, p. 12, article by David Chagall)

Rock music can literally kill.

The view that music is amoral or neutral with no inherent power to effect is completely proven false by extensive research performed on plant life. Rock music, with it's hard driving beat, played to plants will kill the plants - while soothing classical music causes the plants to grow twice as fast.

"Paradoxical as it may seem, music's effect upon the more primitive vegetable kingdom is one of the most convincing methods of all for proving that music does affect life, including human life. For experiments conducted with humans, and even, to some extent, with animals, have the extra factor of the mind to contend with. This means that while men or animals may be demonstrated to have been affected by tones, the effect may not have been a direct or objective one. Rather, the effect upon the body may have been caused by the mind's subjective reaction to the music heard. In the case of plant-music research, however, psychological factors cannot really be said to be present. If music can be shown to affect plants, then such effects have to be due to the objective influence of the tones directly upon the cells and processes of the life-form."

"An intensive series of studies carried out by Dorothy Retallack of Denver, Colorado, demonstrated the effects of different kinds of music on a variety of household plants. The experiments were controlled under strict scientific conditions, and the plants were kept within large closed cabinets on wheels in which light, temperature and air were automatically regulated. Three hours a day of acid rock, played through a loudspeaker at the side of the cabinet, was found to stunt and damage squash plants, philodendrons and corn in under four weeks. Mrs Retallack played the music of the two different Denver radio stations to two groups of petunias. The radio stations were KIMN (a rock station) and KLIR (a semiclassical station). The Denver Post reported:

`The petunias listening to KIMN refused to bloom. Those on KLIR developed six beautiful blooms. By the end of the second week, the KIMN petunias were LEANING AWAY from the radio and showing very erratic growth. The petunia blooms hearing KLIR were all leaning TOWARD THE SOUND. Within a month all plants exposed to rock music DIED.

In another experiment, conducted over three weeks, Dorothy Retallack played the music of Led Zeppelin and Vanilla Fudge to one group of beans, squash (marrow), corn, morning glory and coleus; she also played contemporary avant-garde atonal music to a second group; and, as a control, played nothing to a third group. Within ten days, the plants exposed to Led Zeppelin and Vanilla Fudge were all LEANING AWAY FROM THE SPEAKER. After three weeks they were stunted and DYING. The beans exposed to the 'new music' leaned 15 degrees from the speaker and were found to have middle-sized roots. The plants left in silence had the longest roots and grew the highest. Further, it was discovered that plants to which placid, devotional music was played not only grew two inches taller than plants left in silence, but also leaned TOWARDS THE SPEAKER. (Tame, David The Secret Power of Music, p. 142 - 144)

All the plants that were next to the rock music - LEANED AWAY FROM THE SPEAKERS - trying to get away from the music! And to show that it was not just the noise itself - the plants next to the classical music - LEANED TOWARD THE SPEAKERS - actually trying to get closer to the music.

In the end - ALL the plants next to the rock music - DIED!

Do you still think music is neutral?

Rock music, not the lyrics - JUST THE MUSIC, has been scientifically proven to literally KILL!

And some Christians actually believe that the giver of LIFE - the Lord Jesus Christ is the author and god of "rock and roll"! The One that made the plants and LIFE itself, is the author of a killer - Rock music! What could be more ridiculous!

Jesus Christ said in John 10:10, ". . . The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to KILL, and to destroy: I am come that they might have LIFE, and that they might have it more abundantly."

John 14:6, says "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the LIFE: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

And Christian rocker Larry Norman expects you to take him seriously when he falsely claims
"rock music comes from God through the church".
(Hart, Lowell Satan's Music Exposed, Salem Kirban Inc., 1980 p.20)

Christian rock band Petra has the gall to sing "God Gave Rock and Roll to You".

If you love the sound
And don't forget the source
...
you can love the rock
and let it free your soul
God gave Rock and roll to you
Gave Rock and Roll to you
Put it in the soul of everyone

Is music neutral - Absolutely Not!

Music by the arrangement of rhythms, tones and harmonics can have deadly effects! David Tame writes in The Secret Power of Music:

"In conclusion, we can say that insofar as the physical body is concerned, the notion that music has no effect upon man, or that all music is harmless, is absolutely in error." (Tame, David The Secret Power of Music, p.141).

Rock music can literally cook an egg!

Drs. Earl W. Flosdorf and Leslie A. Chambers found in a series of experiments that shrill sounds projected into a liquid media coagulated proteins. A recent teenage fad was that of taking soft eggs to rock concerts and placing them at the foot of the stage. Midway through the concert the eggs could be eaten hard-boiled as a result of the music. Amazingly few rock fans wondered what that same music might do to their bodies. (Larson, Bob The Day Music Died, p.116)

If music is neutral - how is it that certain music can literally break glass!

Bob Larson writes in The Day Music Died:

Perhaps you have seen the demonstration of the breaking of a glass by synchronizing high frequency vibrations with the vibrations of the chemical combination of the molecules in the glass. This in a word picture is what may happen physiologically to the human body when dancing frantically to rock music. (Larson, Bob The Day Music Died, p.124)

Music has a profound effect upon the mind. . .

One of the most frightening display of the awesome power of music upon the human brain occurred in the conversion of Patty Hearst. In February, 1974, Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army. But shortly after the kidnapping, Patty is helping the SLA rob banks. You wonder how they converted her? Dr. William Sargant, Britain's foremost expert on brainwashing examined Patty Hearst. Here's his alarming conclusion from Newsweek magazine, February 16, 1976, (p. 24):

". . .she was an unwilling victim of a "FORCED CONVERSION" or brainwashing. According to Sargant, a person whose nervous system is under constant pressure can "inhibit" and "exhibit paradoxical brain activity - bad becomes good and vice versa." And that, Sargant argues, is precisely what happened to Patty. . . .Her nervous system was kept at maximum stress by the continual playing of loud ROCK MUSIC."(Newsweek, February 16, 1976 p.24)

Not the LYRICS! Not the WORDS! But simply the MUSIC!

"Music is used everywhere to condition the human mind. It can be just as powerful as a drug and much more dangerous, because nobody takes musical manipulation very seriously." (Family Weekly, January 30, 1983, p. 15)

". . .music is more than a language. It is the language of languages. It can be said that of all the arts, there is. . . none other that more powerfully moves and changes the consciousness." (Tame, David The Secret Power of Music, p.151)

Dr. Howard Hanson, of the of the famous Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, and one of the greatest authorities on music, stated:

"Music is a curiously subtle art with innumerable, varying emotional connotations. It is made up of many ingredients and according to the proportions of those components, it can be soothing or invigorating, ennobling or vulgarizing, philosophical or orgiastic. It has POWERS FOR EVIL as well as for good." (The American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 99, p.317) [...]

Lowell Hart in his book, Satan's Music Exposed, writes of the following experiment:

"The unsuspecting "guinea- pigs" were a teenage boy and girl. They had never met previously and were completely unaware of any strange happenings. Unfortunately for them, as they sat getting acquainted in a cozy "private" room with soft music playing in the background, their reactions were being observed and recorded. When classical music and soft ballads were piped into the room they talked and were friendly, but somewhat aloof. When pop music and jazz were played they quickly developed a much "friendlier" attitude and began to hold hands and put their arms around each other. When the music changed back to classical and ballads they would again become more formal and reserved. If the music would swing back to the jazz and pop music "their formality would give way to familiarity."(Hart, Lowell Satan' s Music Exposed, p.63)

Highly-respected, Professor Alan Bloom, professor of social thought at the University of Chicago, who has also taught at Yale, the University of Paris, the University of Toronto, Cornell and many other schools, writes in his best-selling book, The Closing of the American Mind:

"Nothing is more singular about this generation than its ADDICTION to music. . . It is their passion; nothing else excites them as it does; they cannot take seriously anything alien to music. . . I suspect that the rock addiction, particularly in the absence of strong counter attractions, has an effect similar to that of drugs." (Bloom, Alan The Closing of the American Mind, pp 68...81)

Another "proof" of the effects of music on a person is the billion dollar industry called Muzak or "moodsongs". Muzak is the "mood music" that is piped into stores, airports, doctor offices, et. al. in order to "create an atmosphere". The book, Elevator Music by Joseph Lanza, tells the history of Muzak and other moodsongs. Lanza describes an episode at the Hilton in Las Vegas when rock music was used as the "moodsong". And because of the rock music customers experienced petit mal seizures! Lanza writes, "A doctor friend, a psychiatrist, later told me that kind of pulsation might create problems. I've gone into markets, telling them they are killing their business with high-speed rock." (Lanza, Joseph Elevator Music, p.142)

Lanza also states, "Some background music has been known to induce musicogenic epilepsy, triggering a chemical brain reaction that elicits thoughts of suicide or murder. . .doctors had documented seventy-six similar cases." (Lanza, Joseph Elevator Music, p.194)

Lanza also makes this startling statement:

". . . music designed to soothe can be altered to TORMENT, . . ."
(Lanza, Joseph Elevator Music, p.196)

It's worth noting, that we are not talking about "lyrics" but simply the instrumental music.

Rock music has been proven to obstruct the brain's ability to think!

In 1978, a California music therapist, investigating the effects of rock music on teenagers, administered to 240 school children aged 10-18 an emotional stability test during which rock . was being played. The results were then examined by a psychologist who was unaware of the experiment. He concluded that the test had been given in a mental institution.(Hart, Lowell Satan's Music Exposed, p.101)

Is this one of the reasons, since the 1960's, when rock music began "taking over", our education system has been a disaster? Despite spending billions and billions of tax payers dollars on our education system - we can no longer teach the average young person even simple reading and arithmetic! [..]

[there is none like You]