AIM1227_InsightintoMusic_AA1766

1.
a. People around the world listen to music because of various reasons. It can be for
pleasure, to lift their spirits, to meditate, for medicinal purposes, to be focused
etc.. music finds a way to relate to different scenarios at different times. Music
has a way to reach an individual in a way that no other form of entertainment or
medication can.
I listen to music when i first get up in the morning. I try to put on some calming
acoustic type songs to begin the day. I mostly listen to Beethoven's piano sonata
No.08 in Cminor, or a modern piece done by a famous composer John Rutter.
The composition “dormi Jesu” is a favorite to start the day. When I listen to these
genres in the morning, it helps me meditate and relax to start the day. These
types of music gives me a sense of devotion and helps me get relaxed.
Then I start my day with a little exercise. Here, I listen to some upbeat songs to
get my heartbeat risen which will help my blood flow and keep my mind
focussed.
Like this, my day goes by and music is an integral part of it. I listen to music for
various reasons.
● To discover various styles in it
○ When you listen to new and exciting music, you come across
different, new and exciting styles. This will make you more curious
about the music world. And it will suck you into this world full of
possibilities and creation. The creativity of your mind will increase
when you find out various styles in music.

● To release stress and anxiety

○ I have a routine where I usually play basketball with my team
against other teams. When i go out into the court i usually feel
anxious and stressed out. One day I realised that the only thing
that kept me focussed during this time was pop music. So before
every game, I used to put on my headphones and listen to ed
sheeran, michael buble, John mayer and other artists to calm my
nerves. So I can tell for a fact that music can be used as an
anecdote for stress.

● To relax on a busy day

○ Even though i am still a student, i can have pretty rough days as a
human being where i am required to do many physically, mentally
challenging things. And to get a break from that, i love to listen to
music. It helps me chill and relax and center myself.

This is how music influences me in my daily activities.

AIM1227_InsightintoMusic_AA1766

b.
● Music affects me in various ways. During my workout, music helps me
focus and get into my rhythm when I'm working out. When I put on a song
with a higher bpm, it helps me workout more and focus more on the song
rather than focussing on the remaining time limit of my set which can
make me lose interest in my workout. So music helps me physically.
● Music helps me mentally as well. When I’m feeling down about
something, Music helps me focus on other things and lose focus on the
thing that is keeping me down in the dumps. But it helps me get over
things because some songs are meant for uplifting spirits and cheering.
Those types of music helps me get on with my life. There are instances
where i'm overjoyed and the only way i can express it is through singing
or playing an instrument. Listening to music is not the only way music can
affect a person's life. Playing music and singing a song can also have a
huge impact on an individual.
● The effects of music have had a hold on me since I was a little boy. My
mother used to sing to me when I was a baby and I have fallen asleep
quicker than ever according to my mother. All of us have been influenced
by music in some form when we were little. All of us who are lucky to
have had mothers will tell that their voice and song always had a special
place in their heart because my mother was a major influence on why I
chose to do music as a career. Because I fell in love with music and its
power because of the effect music had on me as a child.

2.

a. Music is a force where it can be used to comfort people or to hurt people.

There are some instances where world governments use music or
sounds o torture people and deprive them of sleep and food. There are
instances where governments use music to interrogate people to get
national secrets out in the open. I say this is not ethical at all.

Using music to destroy a person's life is not ethical at all. That person
might get scarred for life because of what will happen to him. In that
instance, music is not the only thing that's going to affect him/her. The
mental torture that follows may be unbearable and even lead to clinical
depression. If it is the case of national security and the person is guilty of
mass crimes against one's nation, then, it would be logical to get answers
using serious means. But, for simple crimes and if the person is trying to
atone for their crimes, then, serious action against that person shouldnt
be taken. Because who knows what that person has gone through to do
whatever he has done. Tortue music is used these days with oversight
and without oversight. To those instances where it is used without
AIM1227_InsightintoMusic_AA1766

oversight, I say it is highly unethical. But, if oversight is used and it is fair

to do that, then i say it is ethical.

b. I haven't experienced tourture music in its true form. But in our daily lives,
we sort of hear many sounds that can be considered as torture which will
increase anxierty and depression. When we hear a loud horn on a public
bus, it creates a certain discomfort and some people feel anxiou and
irritated because of it. When we hear forks being scratched against a
plate, it creates anxiety in our brains and makes us feel paranoid and
uneasy. Any sound that makes us feel uneasy in our daily lives, oi
considered to be torture music. But when in fact the real torture music is
far painful than the ones mentioned above. The continuous irritating
sounds one hears will drive them crazy. I am just thankful that I have not
undergone such scenarios in my life.
3.
When we take the given arguments separately, “Art/Music is for the sheer
enjoyment of the people” and “Music/Art is solely responsible to make the world a better
place”, both these ideas are partially true. But music or art is not solely for those
individual purposes, collectively it can do both. If music was just for enjoyment, never will
composers like Mozart or Beethoven have been born, if music was just for enjoyment,
never will the instruments we see today be made. If it was just for enjoyment, many
composers wouldn't strive so hard to produce tear jerking performances. Music wouldn't
be taken seriously if it was just for enjoyment. It would be like a soda bottle for example.
Drinking sodas like coca cola is just for enjoyment. It doesn't have any nutritional value
to it. People just drink it because they want to. But music cannot be categorized as “just
for enjoyment”. Music is so much more than that. It has been used to change people’s
views on certain subjects. Music is used currently for people who are undergoing cancer
as a relief system. Music is used as a health development alternative. So therefore,
music cannot be classified as”just for sheer enjoyment”.
If music was solely used for the purpose of making the world a better place,
composers would strive to do that and lose their spark in their pieces and the mental
pressure to do so will rush them and their creativity. If world peace was the only thing
music was allowed to talk about, Many composers would write songs only about racial
discriminaion, mental health and the poor etc… in conclusion, only topics that will strive
to make people think about the world. But, who will be there to write songs about basic
human emotions like, love, happiness, sadness etc… composers will be wrecking their
minds trying to compete for the best song that will reach the world about its peace, and
the music that is important to an individual will never be written .
AIM1227_InsightintoMusic_AA1766

Many artists try to find a connection between their songs and their audience, to keep that
connection, artists must deliver according to his/her audience's taste. If the song
released was of a different taste, the listeners of that producer may drop out. So these
things must be in the mind of every songwriter and producer. To put out a song where
the audience will like and appreciate the work that had been put into the song.

Music can be used to spread joy to the world. But it also can bring happiness to different
individuals. That is because of all these different genres that are being introduced.
These different genres affect various groups of people. If every composer, singer and
producer wanted to produce one genre for the entire world, the power of music would
have no effect on a huge proportion of the population. So, diversity in each composition
is important.

My point of view is that both these topics have some value to them. But if they focus on
both these things simultaneously, it would benefit a whole lot more to human kind. If both
these points became one “Music/Art is responsible for both enjoyment and to make the
world a better place”, then, I would totally agree with it. Because there must be balance
to everything and anything we do as people. Extremism to one side is never good. But,
keeping the balance in one's field is highly remarkable.
AIM1227_InsightintoMusic_AA1766

4.
In the modern world, access to technology has created lives easy for humans. Now, with a click
of a simple button, we can get instant access to the high speed of the internet, whereas in the
past, with the development of technology, people had to go to internet parlours and pay for the
internet. Likewise, to create a song, people had to spend hours on end inside studios. But, with
the development of technology, that time has also been cut short as well as the power needed
to create one song. Therefore, many songs are being produced in this day and age. The
popular music app spotify has mentioned that upto 40,000 tracks are being uploaded to Spotify
everyday.
When one song finds its recognition, many other producers try to mimic that style and try to
create another song with the same texture. This will create similar chord progressions and
similar patterns when we analyse 2 songs in the same genre. For example, if we look at the sri
lankan songs, “Sandanaari” and “Kuweni”, from the melodic analysis to the lyrical analysis, the
resemblance will be uncanny.
● They have used the same sounds
● They have used the same pattern and in the choruses,
● They have used the same chord progressions but in a different key.
● The synth pulse with the panning from left to right consistently in both songs are identical
to each other.
And to certain listeners, it will give an moression like” eh!! What else is new”. Many producers
try to follow and mimic a single producer that they lose their creativity in the process. This will
create repetition of songs over and over again, and probably create writer's block but for
producers( this is where many novelists experience a block in their ideas and they find it hard to
produce new ideas). If this continues, the only music that will remain is a set of songs which are
similar to each other and unique songs will never be composed ever again. One way to stop this
is to come out of the norm and to compose something new, actively trying to avoid the
similarities of those songs by avoiding similar patterns and similar instruments too.

If this is avoided in the future, local musicians will have an arsenal of different songs without
repetitive patterns in each song.
Because when a listener hears the same melodies and chord progressions in a song, they are
led to believe that the producer and musician have become lazy when it comes to producing
that song. So to avoid those accusations, it would be best to create new pieces of music.

Many artists try to gain popularity by adjusting to the current norm of the people. For example, if
most people listen to “Zed”, people from other countries will try to produce like him. Some traits
of Zedd's music is
● Using vocode to add depth to a vocal
● Usage of saw waves in the drops of the songs.
So, producers try to copy this trait and they try to replicate it in the same way. They don't even
try to make it their own. But they always end up not succeeding. This is because the originality
of the song cannot be seen or heard. There must be originality in each song that a producer
makes. That is the key to a lot of famous producer’s success.
AIM1227_InsightintoMusic_AA1766

So keeping the originality of a song is really important. That is my opinion on the matter
presented.