CLASSICAL MUSIC AS THE MOST TIMELESS MUSIC GENRE

Proponents:
Cunanan, Erick Royce
Morales, Alisha Jana
Munoz, Jose Lorenzo
2ELS





Ms. Ingrid Jane Balbines
Research Paper Adviser
Music plays a significant role in peoples daily lives, as it beneficial in various fields,
specifically, psychology. Some utilize it as a way from escaping or coping with the stress and
struggle given by reality. Others apply it as either a motivational boost or something which
people could relate and seek shelter or security in. To verge all these, music is a therapeutic form
of auditory communication that can build or destroy an individual in an amount of different
ways, as music is a gateway to opening doors to a variety of ideas and mindsets that has a
possibility of proceeding to better thoughts and discoveries. America is known for its great
musical industries which are now the most prevalent all around the world. Out of all the popular
genres today, Classical Music remains timeless. The four root genres which America possesses s
incomparable to Classical Music because it shows how a form of music has continually
progressed and stood the test of time.
Music, that is defined as sound that is pleasing to my ear, and sound that you want to
hear as music can be subjective definitions. They are subjective since people have different
tastes in music. Such as rock, is a genre of music but for some it is not music since they may
regard it as noise, or even nonsense. Another reason is such that hearing something pleasing such
as birds chirping or your loved one calling your name can bear the metaphor music to my ears
This chapter provides a general description of music. Music as a science (Willoughby, 2010) is
concerned with acoustics. Acoustics can be defined as science of sound and the physical basis
of music It is also concerned with the design and production of musical instruments/ facilities. It
takes into consideration some principles such as resonance and reverberance. The harder the
materials used, the more lively the acoustics will be and the more porous the materials used, the
less it will be lively and vibrate. Music moves through time(Willoughby, 2010). We must keep
track of the progression and build up of music and having an inkling what would happen next in
order to appreciate music. Music is a changing art (Willoughby, 2010). Throughout the world, be
it in the past or present, people create music that relates to the present time it was created such
that music reflects what the society was like at the time it was composed. Since nothing in this
world is permanent except change so does music. Music may also change because of new or
refined instruments, new musical languages, new ways to create music, and the artists innate
need to grow. Music is universal(Willoughby, 2010). Every culture invents different musical
instruments and improvises their own style of music which are considered beautiful in their own
way by every culture patronizing them. Music is a means of expression (Willoughby, 2010).
People can communicate feelings and images such as joy, love, and sorrow. It can also stimulate
physical/physiological reactions such as weeping or goose bumps. Even it isa part of a ceremony
and ritual and something to march and dance to. It is through music that people truly feel the
essence of a specific ceremony or ritual which makes it functional as well.
As was previously mentioned, Music contributes to a persons daily life, especially
through expression. Music touches a persons emotions. Hence,Music may also affect a persons
behaviour. Through observing a person listening, singing or playing to a piece, one would
perceive the persons emotional responses and/or physical actions done. According to
Thompson, Emotionalitycan be transmitted through a vast range of expressive actions, and
these emotions are associated with differences in timbre, duration, tempo and loudness.
However, individual features of expression such as the loudness, cannot solely determine
emotional meaning because each feature is associated with several possible emotions. Rather,
emotional meaning is detected by the unique combination of expressive features in a
performance. In order to achieve emotional connotations two expressive qualities are used
tempo and loudness. A piece with louder and at a faster tempo is likely to elicit energetic
emotions such as joy and anger, while a piece more mellow and at a lower tempo is likely to
elicit less energetic emotions such as calmness and sadness. Classical Music is one example that
elicits the emotional connotations - calmness and sadness. A popular study in the history of
psychology called the Mozart Effect discovered that college students performance upon
taking certain tests after listening to 10 minutes of a Mozart sonata were better than that ofhaving
listened to instructions for relaxation or seated in silence. Thus, the results were widely depicted
as evidence that it enhances ones spatial-temporal ability, or, to put it simply, music makes you
smarter (2009)
For most people, Classical Music is defined as old music. Others may claim that it is a
form of music which only fits musicians who are trained classically these are choir singers and
members of the orchestra. Some even state that the genre is a progressing and living form, since
it has no specific set of rules or standards that composers abide to. Thus, Classical Music is
continually altered throughout the length of history. To delve further from the interpretations
given by the masses, the genre having no firm definition is the most accurate in its depiction and
searching for it is considered a futile effort. Having no firm definition is useful description, as it
emphasizes that the cultural and historical aspect of Classical Music is what makes it changeable.
Meaning, it exhibits how the genre is framed, thought about and utilized (Johnson, 2009).
Classical Music is timeless for it is is seen as something that brings relaxation,
intellectual transformation, and purity of mind. Relaxation, in the sense that it takes an individual
to another dimension and that the individual desires to play it on repeat. Intellectual
transformation in the sense that the lyrics and the musical composition have an impact to ones
emotion and could even make them relate it to real life. Moreover, it gives purity of mind since
the individual becomes too engrossed and focused in listening to music and that it takes their
mind off anything else. Classical music must invoke a spectrum of emotions when you listen to
the whole piece. For example,Mozart's K. 466 D minor concerto In the beginning it may sound
enticing that would later sound melancholic. The next time they listen to it, it would sound
merry. While listening, the individual may shiver because the individual is overwhelmed by the
music. Hence, it offers something new every time. A music that keeps repeating itself making it
catchy is classified as pop music. Also classical music is not music made for the consumers and
for them to make profit out of it. Rather it reflects the artist himself. It is also something that
makes one think having different interpretations to the piece. Classical Music, just like Mozarts,
can improve ones spatial temporal reasoning. In simpler terms, it makes an individual smarter.
Thus, nowadays, people still utilize Classical Music not only for relaxation, but also for
intellectual-enhancement.
The researchers recommend the next researchers regarding this topic to expand this
argument. The researchers suggest to add detail in the effects of Music to an individual by
including terms for understanding ones behavior towards Music. The researchers recommend
the history of Music, particularly the Western Music since it evolved from a simple form to
something which up until the present day is still greatly appreciated by people.





Bibliographies:
Gracyk, T. &Kanya A. (2011).The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Music.
USA: Routledge
Fulcher, J.F. (2011). The Oxford Handbook of the New Cultural History of Music.
New York, NY: Oxford University Press
Johnson, J. (2009). Classical Music: A Beginners Guide. England: Oneworld Publications
Thompson, W.F. (2009). Music, Thought, and Feeling: Understanding the Psychology of Music
New York, NY: Oxford University Press
Willoughby, D. (2010). The World of Music. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
(2014, June).Jazz Times, America's Jazz Magazine.
(2014). Journal of Musicological Research.
PBS - American Roots Music. (2001). Retrieved August 28, 2014, from PBS: Public
Broadcasting Service:
http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_itc_historical_background.html
The History of American Music Timeline | Timetoast timelines. (n.d.). Retrieved August 28,
2014, from Timetoast: http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/the-history-of-american-
music--2