Music Lyric’s Interactions with a Strong Positive Chord

Riley DeLong

Ms. Peters

5th Period

4 January 2016

Music Lyric’s Interactions with a Strong Positive Chord

        Music is everywhere in today’s society, ranging from a dozen different genres. Music flows from rap to country and then back to classical. Most songs are written to convey a message, or just to express the writer’s emotions. There are negative songs, but their message is not as strong as positive songs and lyrics. Songs with a positive message influence their listener more than negative songs do, and most songs are written to be upbeat with words that the listener will enjoy. A song with a strong message that makes the listener feel better, or is greatly enjoyable, is what will be played across the country. Song lyrics are made to be sung by thousands, and enjoyed by millions, so in turn the lyrics are something positive that people will want to sing about. If people are under the impression that negative lyrics have the strongest effect on teens, they are wrong because the positive effect on teens is the strongest: negative lyrics do not influence negative behavior but have a positive message, positive lyrics improves a teen’s mood and can help with disorders like depression, and it helps them to grow in life and perform better in school. The positive results of music and its lyrics are so much stronger than the negative effects of lyrics.

         Negative lyrics do not influence violent or aggressive behavior. Music is the reflection of the writer’s life. Billy Joel had many different songs, all with different topics. He had a few that were written for his first wife; those songs were love songs for her. If in the creator of the song life has been filled with tragedy due to violence, then they will put that in a song. Those lyrics do not influence negative behavior though. It is simply the reflection on the ills of society. Philadelphia is a very violent city, but for many reasons. “In Philly, the violence that gets discussed in music is rooted in the lack of educational opportunities, family structure and overall frustration about employment prospects…” (Geo). The lives of those people are terrible, and the music there reflects that. It is not only for that city but anywhere people are going through difficult times. Poverty can even cause people to go out and cause violence, but music does not. The lyrics can tell a negative story, but it can have a peaceful message. The underlying message is to say to stop the madness, the violence. Violent music can actually be an outlet for those with aggressive behavior. It can allow people to get out their anger without actually committing a violent action. Negative songs can have a positive influence. Besides being an outlet for aggression or a call for peace, they can make people think. The topic of the violence in a song can inspire people to go out and solve that problem in order to stop the violence. Music does not influence negative behavior, and it will in the end have a positive impact on its listeners.

        Lyrics can also have a positive effect on one’s character and mental health. A vehement person could be calmed with just one listen to Pharell William’s song “Happy.” Music conveys certain ideas to listeners, and this song is all about being happy. Positive lyrics are more infectious than negative ones are. Fast, up-beat songs can be found anywhere, but the most listened to are those with a positive message because most people want to be more positive in their life, or they want to get rid of those negative feelings. In this song there are the lyrics saying “clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth… clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do.”(Williams). The words are written to lift someone up, not to bring them down. Music makes people happy, and the lyrics of that song can greatly increase a person’s mood. It can help people handle their emotional status. Relaxing music with up lifting words can help people who have depression, or are just stressed. “Teens who choose music with positive messages or soothing sounds can help themselves relax and to feel better.”(Norman). A basketball player who has a championship game coming up can get rid of his stress by listening to relaxing music with calming or positive lyrics. Music helps heal or help people deal with pain. Negative lyrics are damaging, but the healing powers of an up-lifting song and its lyrics are much stronger than the darker words. Positive words directly increase mood and help with the improvement of mental health, and do more to fix a broken person than negative words do.

        It is incontrovertible to say that music helps children develop superior cognitive functions. The most stimulating genre of music would be that from the baroque era, or that of Mozart’s. “Bach’s music was found to make the ‘brain work in a [more] balanced way,” and positively affect how they think and act. (Norman).  That is not to say that lyrics do not take away from that stimulus though. Music is music, and the reason that certain genre of music was the most helpful with child development was due to the pace and movement of the music. The easy measure with no distractors greatly enhanced the learning ability of children, but lyrics can also help. Look back at the alphabet. Everyone learns that at first, and it is a song. The pacing of the music is why everyone was able to retain that information so easily. Early learning is taught through and with song because it is the most efficient way to help with memorization. Yes, memory is highly affected by music. The lyrics can be simple, and even ridiculous to a few, but it helps children to learn and progress quicker than they normally would. Music progresses the development of a child’s brain and cognitive functions. A study by E. Glen Schellenberg was done to it prove that kids develop a higher IQ and test scores that are above average when they had taken music courses. In another study, children who had taken several years in a music course had their test scores compared with other students. “The mean grades of the students that had chosen a music source in their curriculum were higher than those of students that had not.” (Jacobs pg 1). Music helps children perform better in math, science, and language, and their reasoning and problem-solving skills are improved. This is due to the fact that math, language, and music are all processed in the same part of the brain. The longer music is an influence in a child’s life, the higher cognitive functions they will have; or in lay-man’s terms, the smarter they will be. There is no negative to this side of music. Music continuously makes each generation more efficient and smarter, and helps to progress even further than the last generation.