This is a response to Kyle's question, "Can one force themselves to enjoy music that they originally dislike?" To be honest, I don't think they can, however it does depend on certain situations. For example, I didn't really have a childhood environment around rap music, but some of my friends listened to it, I saw some music videos (which made me dislike it even more), and whenever the radio was on I would just grit my teeth and bear it (especially when listening for a chance to win a contest or something). To this day, I still have no fancy for rap music, and think it a pointless genre. I don't think I can bring myself to listen to rap and try to "force" myself to like it.
I guess it all depends , also, whether or not a person is open minded. I mean don't get me wrong I am open minded, and will listen to something to see if I would one day like it. Though this is the case, once my mind is made up and I know that I wouldn't like it, there is no ands, ifs, or buts about it. I think if a person is open minded enough to try to listen to something new, that is all that matters. I say this because, there are those who just here about a genre and automatically dismisses it. Also, A person makes generalizations (if we want to go into the topic of categories) and only listen to one song or one band and then make a conclusion that they don't like the genre or band as a whole just basing it off of one thing.
I can say that I don't like rap music, because I have heard many songs, many artists, year after year after year. Now that I think about it, I can say that the closest thing that I listen to that can be associated with rap is Christian "rap". So do I think one can force themselves to enjoy music that they originally disliked? I don't think so because if you didn't like it originally then what would make you like it now. However, things change, people change, situations change, so who knows? But I wouldn't use the word "force". I would think about the question can people bring themselves to appreciate music they never did before? The word force makes it sound like they are doing it against their will. However, if one day the radio is on and a song comes on that you never thought you would like, and you find yourself appreciating it I think that could happen. I guess it is all about being open minded and giving things a chance.
My question can be connected to this entry. One of the reasons I don't like rap is that I feel it has a negative influence on society and degrades women. So my question is do you think music affects how we act? Does it affect how we view the world and each other?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Music and Energy
OK, So there I was today at the gym, as usual, running at a moderate pace on the treadmill. I was listening to my music on my new mp3 player so I can have something to jam to so my time on the treadmill would go quickly. I love to run I usually run between 35-45 mins with a 5 min cool down period at the end and afterwards I feel great!! Today, however, was different. As I was running and got 10 mins in, I got really tired. I felt like my body was gonna shut down, maybe its because I haven't hit the gym since Friday and I went home over the weekend and ate more than I usually would, but all factors aside; after 10 mins I was really ready to call it quits.
Then, something weird happened, I switched the music on my mp3 player to a fast paced song, and lo and behold I had energy. I really don't know where it came from, all I know is that the tired heaviness that my body felt a few seconds before was gone with a press of a button. I don't know if it was the song that boosted me up or what. Maybe there is some psychological explanation to this. It could be that the song I was listening to made a patterns of neurons fire, triggering the release of some chemical, which in turn made me feel more energetic?
In Chapter 4 Levitin speaks about music and the emotions briefly. He talks about the chemicals that the brain releases such as dopamine (which is the brains pleasure and reward system) and serotonin which regulates mood and sleep. So is there a way for the music we listen to to aid in the release of an energy hormone? I mean when I listen to certain songs they do drain me of energy and put me to sleep. If some sounds/music can calm and sooth a person, I would think that there is music that can do the opposite and make people get pumped up. This topic never really registered to me until today. I guess that's why people listen to fast paced music when they work out and slow mellow music when they wanna calm down. But can that be a theory or maybe even an experiment? Now that I think about it I think an experiment on this can be done to see how fast paced music affects the brain and the chemicals released versus slow paced music. So, my question to you is , Can music cause a person to feel more energetic?
Then, something weird happened, I switched the music on my mp3 player to a fast paced song, and lo and behold I had energy. I really don't know where it came from, all I know is that the tired heaviness that my body felt a few seconds before was gone with a press of a button. I don't know if it was the song that boosted me up or what. Maybe there is some psychological explanation to this. It could be that the song I was listening to made a patterns of neurons fire, triggering the release of some chemical, which in turn made me feel more energetic?
In Chapter 4 Levitin speaks about music and the emotions briefly. He talks about the chemicals that the brain releases such as dopamine (which is the brains pleasure and reward system) and serotonin which regulates mood and sleep. So is there a way for the music we listen to to aid in the release of an energy hormone? I mean when I listen to certain songs they do drain me of energy and put me to sleep. If some sounds/music can calm and sooth a person, I would think that there is music that can do the opposite and make people get pumped up. This topic never really registered to me until today. I guess that's why people listen to fast paced music when they work out and slow mellow music when they wanna calm down. But can that be a theory or maybe even an experiment? Now that I think about it I think an experiment on this can be done to see how fast paced music affects the brain and the chemicals released versus slow paced music. So, my question to you is , Can music cause a person to feel more energetic?
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