Preview

Music for the Mind Analysis and Response

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
928 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Music for the Mind Analysis and Response
Music for the Mind The purpose of this essay was to inform and explain to individuals all of the several ways for people to enjoy music as well as to explicate that the readers should strive for a more active type of listening. It showed the impact music can have on the lives of people. Aaron Copland said that even “One note is enough to change the atmosphere of the room” (599). This essay was written for just about everybody, with hearing of course, because most everyone listens to music. Even for the few that do not listen to music often, this could perhaps persuade them to listen to music . This was presented in a creative essay type format. The different types of music and conclusion of this essay are examples of evidence to support the purpose. Copland mentioned “We all listen to music on three separate planes… (1) the sensuous plane, (2) the expressive plane, (3) the sheerly musical plane” (599). Copland also says that the reader should strive for a more active kind of listening regardless of what type of music you listen to (603). However, the author also mentioned that many people who would normally consider themselves qualified music lovers abuse the first plane when listening. This author effectively uses these appeals very effectively with logic. This author used a more objective type of language in his essay. The evidence in this essay supports the claims through practices people experience while listening, writing, or performing music. The evidence covers the perspectives associated with the 3 planes, but nothing else. I felt this article was very well written. I enjoyed the essay, as I was engaged during it. Anyone who listens or performs music can very easily relate to this essay and become engaged into it. The organization of this essay also helps people to be absorbed by this essay. The language throughout this article is not too formal, but not terribly informal. It was the perfect median in which you could read through and easily relate to


Cited: Copland, Aaron. The Norton Reader. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. Print.
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    John Powell's Why You Love Music
    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages

    John Powell's Why You Love Music

    John Powell’s captivating book, Why You Love Music, digs deep into the minds of all to uncover why some musical elements make us cry, laugh, and love. This book promises to strengthen our knowledge on music, and focuses on the big question: Why? Why does a certain beat make us feel nostalgic, or why are we more focused under the influence of different styles of music. Powell’s intent is to inform readers of musical elements we would never even know to think of, and how those elements affect our lives. For example, who would have thought that repeating the chorus in songs trains our minds to get those top charts tunes stuck in our heads? I can gladly say that the author accomplishes what he set out to accomplish through this book. After reading, I…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    My Musical Identity
    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages

    My Musical Identity

    Music, in all its complexity can be seen as a living, breathing mechanism that has the ability to sink deep down into one’s soul and create feelings of awe, excitement and wonder. Music speaks to and connects people of all cultures, backgrounds and ideologies, creating a common bond between various members of the human species. When listening to a beautifully composed piece of music, I myself cannot help but feel connected to the instruments, the artists and the composer. It has been my experience that music not only helps me learn, but also helps me grow.…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    How We Listen Aaron Copland Analysis
    • 1480 Words
    • 6 Pages

    How We Listen Aaron Copland Analysis

    Copland makes remarks such as “simplest”, “absentmindedly”, “without thinking”, and even “brainless” to describe how most people listen to music. (Copland, 1-2) He accuses them of using and abusing music to escape to a place “where one doesn’t have to think about the realities of everyday life” so of course they “aren’t thinking about the music either”. (Copland, 2) Though I agree that music can be used as an escape and people do hear without really listening, the chosen language shows a disregard, almost contempt, for the average person and causes one to wonder if being a professional musician might constitute a more polite dialogue. Moving into the next, deeper, level of listening the author tends to draw lines between what he views as “qualified music listeners” and “simple minded souls” deemed incapable of listening to music without trying to attach meaning to it. (Copland, 3) He even goes so far as to demand that those who do find an expressivity they can familiarize with be immediately discouraged “wherever and whenever they are met.” (Copland, 3) The plane Copland discusses here is all about the meaning of music and how very subjective it is, yet he ostracizes the habit of looking for said meaning. On the other hand, his tone changes to one of praise when mentioning “professional musicians” who “do not feel the need of finding it.” (Copland, 3)…

    • 1480 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Compare Sacks's Musicophili Tales Of Music And The Brain
    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Compare Sacks's Musicophili Tales Of Music And The Brain

    Listening to music is what most people do to entertain themselves or simply because it’s their passion. Others don’t like listening to music as much but Oliver Sacks writes about how a few people began to appreciate music after experiencing…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Summary on "Living With Music" by Ralph Ellison.
    • 290 Words
    • 1 Page

    Summary on "Living With Music" by Ralph Ellison.

    In this essay, Living With Music, Ralph Ellison speaks of the importance of music in a person's life. He presents the contributions that it offers, such as giving people understanding, order, and meaning, while it also helps us shape our own unique social and cultural identity.…

    • 290 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Maya's Influence On America
    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Maya's Influence On America

    Music has always been a part of us ever since the begging of time. It’s been with us threw the happy, great times and also for the not so happy bad times. We can express ourselves with music by telling a story with in the lyrics and even with the beat showing, telling how we are feeling. It can be a cheerful, carefree, joyful beat, to gloomy, mournful, blue beat, but not everyone has the same taste in music. Music it’s self is unbelievably stunning and so breathtaking.…

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Can Music Save Your Life Analysis
    • 1535 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Can Music Save Your Life Analysis

    Music is used to help people of every ethnicity, religion, and lifestyle, cope with different struggles, times of enjoyment, and life itself. But, what is it about music that makes it so therapeutic? It’s the fact that no matter what the genre of music is, it’s what message that artist is putting out into the world. It’s the beat, the tone, and the emotion behind the lyrics is what makes listeners feel the way they do because it speaks on a specific aspect of life and what someone can be going through.…

    • 1535 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Kanye West: How To Be A Successful Music Producer
    • 1521 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Kanye West: How To Be A Successful Music Producer

    Music in this generation has been deprived. This has been said because in the time this generation lives in; music has lost its meaning and the real sound of soul. Through long research these facts can be found that proves so and can also teach, the new generation about the history of music. One important thing these books, websites and many other sources teach is that music is more then just a sound; it is more then just notes. “To some, music is a way of life”- Sound of Soul, music is all they know. To them, music is how they express their feelings and thoughts.…

    • 1521 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Music Test Score Paper
    • 2181 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Music Test Score Paper

    Although many research findings can be confusing or contradictory (Yehuda, 2011), it has been shown many ways and in many times that music affects the brain psychologically. Elliot, Polman, & McGregor (2011) found that music only has the desired psychological effect 50% of the time. Musical activity requires the use of most regions of your brain and almost every neural subsystem (Levitin, 2006). Hoffman & Lamme (1989) found that it is more helpful to learn with music and information is picked up more easily by the brain. Most times when background music is playing, people hear, but do not listen (Jourdaid, 1997). It is also shown by Jourdaid (1997) that while we hear with our brain stems, we listen with our cerebral cortex. When music is put in the background and we only hear it, the brain doesn’t meet or overcome new perceptual challenges, therefore nothing new is learned (Jourdaid, 1997).…

    • 2181 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Persuasive speech outline
    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Persuasive speech outline

    It’s a well-known fact that one of the primary hobbies of humanity from the medieval times to now, is listening to music. Therefore, we can say music has become such an intricate part in our daily lives. Why has the art of playing of sounds and instruments become so alluring? According to most avid listeners of music in general, music provides enjoyment, satisfaction, or invokes a strong deep feeling in their hearts also known as ‘emo’.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Way
    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Way

    Cited: Forney, Kristine, and Joseph Machlis. The Enjoyment of Music. New York: W.W. Norton &…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Music Medium: Songs And The Civil Rights Movement
    • 1843 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Music Medium: Songs And The Civil Rights Movement

    Music carries a deeper message and meaning that lives outside the realm of entertainment. It has a way of capturing the predominant mood that reflects the time of its creation, seizing and sometimes prolonging the emotions surrounding the events and occurrences within each decade. What was occurring in the world at the time a musician wrote a song frequently had an enormous influence and impact on the music produced. The love of music seems to be the common thread that creates a bond throughout every generation, and in turn, music is attached to and is frequently used to define an era. “The impact of music is impossible to measure” (Vivian, pg. 254). A musical timeline…

    • 1843 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How Does Music Influence People
    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How Does Music Influence People

    Selwyn Duke describes on his periodical about the power of the music influence people. He states that if individual can be taught to read with rhymes and songs, then he or she can also learn the same way what is wrong and right. He mentions how music can be used to provide a positive education, such teaching kids on healthy eating habits. But, the most intriguing is how music and culture has impacted the people. How it intrigues kids from sounds that they have never hear and from things that they have never seen, such as a young girl might get a maternal instinct when she hears the sound of a baby crying. As the culture changes, so does the music because each generation finds the last generation music unappealing. The author also describes how each style…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why Is Music Important?
    • 293 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Why Is Music Important?

    Obviously music has inspired a seemingly endless stream of fantasticproductions such as CD, MTV, broadcasting, concerts and so on, whichwe just cannot live without. Today music is not just something for funat all. It springs out general human feelings, needs and desires atevery level.Music can brings us information about cultures, history, science, andreligion all over the world. It is like the vase that can collect everylittle dew in every corner in the world and then pure it to irrigatepeople’s hearts and allow people to understand each other betterregardless of different languages, ages, and races.Music provides an opportunity to reduce stress and help us walkfearlessly towards difficulties. “Never give up never give in. There canbe miracles when you believe through hope is fragile it is hard to kill.“In this rush world it is inevitably that we sometimes feel so tired andfrustrated and even are going to lose our hope. When our favoritetunes start playing filled with magic and power, they are like thecatalyst to refresh our heart and to enable us to think on the righttrack In stead of beaten by adversities, we can feel so optimistic thatwe will continue being the truth seekers and rule our domainwhatever how hard it is.Answered without hesitation, music is an exploration of our deepestfeelings and motivations and one of the greatest of human treasure.Not only is it hard to measure how much those musicians’masterpieces bring into our society but also it is also difficult to…

    • 293 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Informative Speech Outline About Music
    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Informative Speech Outline About Music

    IV. Thesis: Music has existed since the beginning of human civilization and It will be around as long as we are. It has the power to effect your mood, stimulate your brain cells, reduce stress and its even powerful enough to be used to heal and can be therapeutic. Music has so many physical benefits it should be considered an essential element of life. Listening to music is important to your brain development and has been known to enhance your intellect. It also has many emotional benefits to your body. Music is often referred to as a drug, mostly because it has more than just the ability to make you happy it can provoke almost any emotion and unlike recreational drugs music causes people to do things that are beneficial to themselves.…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics