Reflection- social music experience

One of this week's assignments is directly related to how music is tied to social function and interaction.   I am to describe a social event within the past year in which music was involved.  This will not prove to be very difficult for I am just going to describe a performance I was part of yesterday evening. 

First, here is a little background on myself.  I am a professional clarinetist with the US Army, and every one to three years or so I move to a new duty station.  I have the pleasure of currently being stationed on the island of Oahu in Hawai'i.  One of the many functions of Army bands is to play for the public, instilling both American pride through entertainment, but to also help run public relations portraying the US Army in a favorable light.  As such, we often get to perform at local community events, as was the case with this performance I shall speak about.  We performed at an event called Eat the Street in Honolulu, which is a monthly "Taste of Honolulu" type event where local food vendors and food trucks (which are extremely prevalent on the island) come out to one central location for the community to sample their items all in one place.  Every month there is a new theme; this month was garlic, yum!  Food trucks and tents were set up all around an outdoor parking lot in nice 80-degree weather, with a number of tables in the middle, and on one end was a small stage/performing area.  The music was meant purely for the entertainment of the considerable crowd of a few thousand as they ate and enjoyed the social time with friends and family.  

As performers it was our job to choose music carefully, and we brought our rock band and jazz combo, which at times even performed jointly.  The music was a mix of current pop covers, island themed "happy" music, and Mardi Gras style jazz music, all meant to be fun, upbeat, and crowd pleasing.  We performed a collective set of about two hours near the beginning of the event in the early evening (4:30-6:30 p.m.) and though certain families or groups may have stopped for awhile to listen to the "show" it was designed more to be background music and not carefully listened to.  Though for many events we wear our uniforms, as this was a social informal event, we happily wore Hawaiian shirts, shorts, and flip-flops to fit in and have the audience be more comfortable with us and help us to appear more approachable.   Other than the drummer, the bass player, keyboardist, guitar player, vocalists, trumpet, clarinet (me), and sax players all stood and used minimal stands with music.  We interacted with the audience to the extent that we could, which usually meant the front man (guitarist) talking to the crowd, trying to ask them questions and get them to raise their hands to questions or shout out some of the favorite food they had been sampling.  Other times we interacted musically, with call and response sections they were easy and ripe for audience participation, indicating their moment to sing easy phrases through both verbal cues and physical gesturing.  Amplification was used, and there were two individuals from the unit running sound for us, pumping our music through two area speakers to reach a larger portion of the parking lot above the rumble of the crowd.  The front man often acknowledged soloists during the show, and vocalists frequently danced during their tunes.  

The audience was mostly the general public of huge age differences and social and economic backgrounds, of which only a few actually stayed for any length of time during the performance.  The people who hung out to catch the majority of the show were mostly associated with the unit in some way like: family, friends, and our command team.  Of the people not associated with the band that stayed, a large portion were family units with children.  They either stayed because the children were obviously enjoying the music through excited gesturing and dancing, or because the parents seemed it important for their children to catch a glimpse of "live" music.  There were exceptions, like a few groups of adults that would stay and mouth along the words to familiar songs, but they were rare.  Applause was rare, but then again many people had their hands full with food so it was not entirely expected.  As with all Army and military performances, we already get paid with tax-payer money to do our jobs, so though they had to pay for the food they were partaking in, the entertainment was completely free, and no tickets were required to attend the event either. 

This is one of my favorite types of musical performance events.  It is casual, fun, low-pressure, and we received some free food vouchers to eat at some vendors when our show was complete (a DJ took over after we packed up).  I like it not only as a performer, but it is fun as an audience member too, because they can come and go as they please, enjoy however much of the music they like, be able to talk with the group they are with, eat drink, and move on without any prescribed formal cultural expectations.  The music did not "make" the event but it certainly "enhanced" it by accentuating the atmosphere of a fun and casual social event, with all attendees being able to soak up as much or as little of what the event had to offer as they chose.  It was almost like having a radio on or having a DJ the whole time as background music, except that it gave the opportunity for those who wanted it to experience something more, giving maximum freedom. 

This was also a very new experience for me personally, as this was my first gig with the jazz combo both in this unit, and with any jazz combo in my almost nine years in the Army.  I am a classically trained clarinetist, and have always been assigned to "classical" woodwind quintets or similar ensembles, so this was a distinct change from the usual venue of playing at schools, small formal military ceremonies, and balls/breakfasts that were social but want, desire, and require a more sophisticated style of music to be played.  I had a lot of fun (especially since this was the first time in nine years that I have played a military gig in civilian clothes) and look forward to more in the future, but this event also demonstrates how the social function of live music in society today is most accepted in this type of social scenario.  I cannot imagine many other types/styles of music being regarded better for the eclectic group of people that showed up, and in fact I could easily see how classical music would have been: not heard well enough for people to hear, gotten bad and confused looks from event attendees, and just been inappropriate for the event actually bringing the success of the total event down.  

The Landfill Harmonic Orchestra

This week, one of our tasks in class was to watch this video about the Landfill Harmonic Orchestra.  The girls' statements with the video, such as one girl speaking about the music giving her "butterflies in her stomach," and another girl saying, "My life without music would be worthless" speak volumes about the value of music in people's lives.  In this particular case, music has helped give them something to live for, something beyond the squalor of their lot in life, and a reason to strive for more.  It has enabled them to see the beauty in life while living in a slum built on a landfill.  It allows them to love life while living quite literally in a dump.  These girls, these children, have virtually nothing going for them, and yet music has instilled in them hope, joy, and meaning, allowing them to become something far more than just animals trying to survive day to day.  In this video music was demonstrated as the one thing, above all others, that helped them to feel this way.  Granted, with this mindset music is a choice, but it is one that will not help you only to exist, but to live.  If music can be such a profound influence in the lives of these children, how can it not be important in all of our lives?  If it can give meaning to an otherwise meaningless life, could it not also help enhance the life of someone who has been afforded more benefits to even greater heights?  The power of it is so great, that by this example, to ignore the implications of an education in and a life with knowledge of music is to let our children, our schools, and our society fall short of what it could be otherwise.  To me it is fairly obvious that music is important, as both a professional musician and music educator, but for others it is not quite so clear. 

To make this fact better known in my community and school district needs to be a multifaceted approach.  One of the suggestions for this part of the reflection assignment (think of at least three ways in which you might educate people who are not musicians about the importance of music) was to incorporate a student essay on the topic "Why music is important in my life."  Most of the students I teach are in upper middle school/high school, so an essay is an appropriate way to get them to critically think and organize their thoughts on such a topic, but though I think this approach could work, it does not have as much potential as flipping the topic into "What Would My Life Be Without Music?"  To have students truly explore the ways in which music enhances their lives and what it would be missing if they did not have it, without having to rely on non-musical reasoning to prove the value of music, would be both more introspective and revealing.  This could be given to many types of both music appreciate and performance based classes.  Quotes could be taken from these essays and included within the music classroom/school hallways, in newsletters, within course listings (especially for high school), and within programs for school concerts to demonstrate not only to students, but to parents, administrations, and the larger community how much of an impact music makes on their children's lives.  An offshoot of this project could be to have students perform at homes for the elderly or disabled, and write about how they believe the music impacted both the lives of their audiences and themselves, distributing it in the ways previously described. 


Another idea was for parents to attend a rehearsal for their children, and really learn firsthand exactly the type of information being presented to their students.  Once again, I concur that this idea would work, but with a number of additions.  Not that I go into rehearsals without a plan, but the rehearsal that parents would be viewing should be one that would emphasis the concepts of learning aesthetics and humanization that other subjects do not cover possibly more than a normal lesson, so special care would need to be taken in lesson plan construction.  Rather than just holding a rehearsal like any other school day, I think it would be most beneficial for this scenario to become more interactive, allowing parents to ask why I am doing the things I am doing, which could result in me giving them an answer to me having the students give the answer (for many times they would already know!)  Also allowing for group discussion to take place after the rehearsal among the parents, the students, and myself for the same purpose.  Though many parents would be in attendance since their child is there, some might not be, so recording the rehearsal and distributing it to those who could not be there would help produce maximum exposure in this scenario.  This direct experience has the ability to provide a much deeper connection to the concepts of music's importance being presented. 

Finally, there are so many great presenters that give sessions to schools, children, and music classrooms for free from the US military to local private instructors, theorists, and professors, in addition to the many resources of the Internet.  The more an "outside source" begins to talk about the validity of music's importance in helping to enhance and shape our lives in relation to enriching our spirit and give it meaning beyond just living, the more the masses will tend to believe.  It's one thing for me the teacher, or even the students to try and drive the point home.  It's quite another to have multiple others do it as well.  I love having presenters/performers come into my classrooms, and each time they come in, I record the session to post it on the class website later.  These videos/recordings get added to ones found on YouTube from a great variety of different sources (like the one that prompted this reflection and some others from this class so far) that are never meant to actively try and convince anyone to think as I, or these presenters do, but to show how prevalent the ideas are, in hopes that it may eventually sway some through gentle persuasion of exposure.  This website is public and made available to the school district and promoted on the music newsletter and occasionally to local publications, expanding its reach to the community.  Though I rarely get many non-music parents/individuals to visit the site, when I do the comments left by them are profound and/or moving and get shared quickly with students, parents, and administrations. 

One of the great concepts I am starting to take away from this class is how to present my arguments on the validity of music and music education to the non-musical segment of the population, which often includes the same parents, administrations, and communities of the students I teach.  Having these skills ready are going to prove very useful.

A debate with myself... why music education is important.

To discover both my own views on the benefits of music education and in an attempt to sort out and organize my own thoughts on both the non-musical benefits of music education and the respective reasons why those may reasons may not be the best course of action when attempting to advocate for the inclusion of music education programs.

 Non-musical benefits of music education are relatively easy to find and prove with impressive studies on the matter.  When sifting through these different resources, some studies seem to indicate a general trend as to certain areas in which music education can benefit education in general in ways that go beyond music.  These trends include: increased reading/language/vocabulary development, academic achievement (especially on test scores), increased success in society/life, and to a lessor degree social development.  

Take the increased reading/language/vocabulary development.  This is one of the most common citations of non-musical benefits.  Several studies from multiple sources (Abeles, Hoffer, & Klotman, 1995; Standley, 2008; Forgeard, Winner, Norton, & Schlaug, 2008; Wong, Skoe, Russo, & Kraus, 2007) all give similar testimony stating reading skills, auditory discrimination improvement in relation to language (such as sensitivity to speech sounds), and memory in context of both reading and language significantly increase when enrolled in the study of music.

Academic achievement also appears to increase when studying music.  Studies (Johnson, C., Memmott, 2007) and reports in numerous neuroscience publications, collegiate statistics, and music professors all provide the overwhelming proof that those who are in music have markedly better test scores in multiple subject areas than those that are not involved in music classes.

With society, life implications, and social skills I can attest they improve as evidenced through my own experience as music was the one realm in school that I felt most comfortable, and therefore was able to express myself to others with more confidence.  Studies and reports also show that being in music class can improve teamwork, and especially increase performance in school just by keeping students from dropping out by providing them a different activity to participate in while in school than most of the offerings provide (Abeles et al., 2008; Benefits of Music Education; Kelly, 2012).  Other studies show how many “successful” people in business and society had music as a background in school.

Unfortunately, it is not always a good idea to base all arguments to support a case for music education on reasoning that is divergent from the inherent properties that are unique to music education itself. 
First having to prove one’s point that music is viable and important in schools based on a slew of reasons that could be covered by just about any other subject or activity in school hardly seems to be a worthy rationale.  No other “legitimate” or “core” subject has to make such a claim, and for music educators to feel they must do so appears somewhat demeaning to both the educator and the subject itself if that is the sole reason for inclusion.

Secondly, Abeles states very succinctly that many of these “studies” have very little true proof to indicate that music is the cause as opposed to the result of many of these claimed improvements in student ability and success (1995, p.87).  Data is presented in very lofty fashion, but rarely are the results so startling and irrefutable that many cannot immediately poke holes in the both the reliability and validity of the research.  Part of the issue is that it is very difficult to definitively prove that just being around sounds while in a music class could magically confer all of the aforementioned improvements.  

Thirdly, music is something that everyone experiences on an almost daily basis; there is not need for multiple studies to prove this point.  If music is such a central aspect of our lives, why is it given such a low priority in many school systems?  From the time of the Greeks, it has been recognized that music is essential to our existence, and though the exact reasons for why and how it should be approached have differed and evolved over time, universally it has been accepted that the more individuals become learned in music, the better of they, and all of us will be.  

Finally, and probably most importantly, music does not need to stand on the shoulders of other subjects or benefits to be considered worthwhile.  There are enough documents (Abeles et al., 1995, Daugherty, 1996) that connect music to the human condition.  It is one of the unique ways that separate us from animals.  Unlike other arts, being trained in the study of “art” music helps teach concepts like delayed gratification and feeling/emotion (that can be individualized to each student) that are not adequately learned in any other subject area, including other arts.

I have always hated having to rely on research to prove why music is important.  I have known it for quite some time, though I lacked the skills to verbalize why.  This week’s reading and assignment have helped put these reasons into perspective, and help prove to myself what I already know.  The difference is that now I will be able to communicate my reasoning in a much more intelligent and hopefully convincing way!

References

Abeles, H., Hoffer, C., and Klotman, R.  (1995)  Foundations of Music Education (2^nd Ed.). Belmont, CA: Schirmer Cemgage Learning.

Benefits of Music Education.  Children’s Music Workshop.  Retrieved online on May 16, 2014 from:  http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/benefits.html

Daugherty, J.  (1996).  Why Music Matters: The Cognitive Personalism of Reimer and Elliot.  Australian Journal of Music Education.  1, 29-37

Forgeard, M., Winner, E., Norton, A., and Schlaug, G. (2008). Practicing a musical instrument in childhood is associated with enhanced verbal ability and nonverbal reasoning. PloS One, 3(10), e3566.

Johnson, C. M. and Memmott, J. E. (2007). Examination of relationships between participation in school music programs of differing quality and standardized test results. Journal of Research in Music Education, 54(4), 293-307.

Kelly, S. N.  (October, 2012).  Fine Arts-Related Instruction’s Influence on Academic Success.  Florida Music Director.  Retrieved from https://cfaefl.org/dnn/Portals/cfae/advocacy/2010-2011%20Cohort%20Study.pdf

Standley, J. M.  (2008).  Does music instruction help children learn to read?  Evidence of a meta-analysis.  Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 27(1), 17-32.

Wong, P. Skoe, E., Russo, N., & Kraus. N. (2007). Musical experience shapes human brainstem encoding of linguistic pitch patterns. Nature Neuroscience.  10(4), 420-422.

 

Teaching towards aesthetics

To continue with this week's theme of learning about teaching aesthetic experiences in music, our second assignment in class this week was to come up with a way in how I would teach Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36, Second Movement- Andantino in modo di canzona up to about 2:40 into the work to a sixth-grade class or a high school music appreciation class so that the students would become more aware of its aesthetic qualities with an emphasis on the effect the music has on listeners’ feelings and emotions.  Another large topic to tackle!  Yet again, with the aid of the text statement "ask yourself, 'What about this piece make it interesting and attractive to listen to?'"  (Abeles Hoffer, & Klotman, 1995, p. 84) it somehow becomes very easy.  It is similar to how many of us as music educators teach anyway, just transferring the focus onto feelings and emotions.  The tricky part about this is that the text also mentions how it may be dangerous to try and insert a label, or verbalized word to describe the emotion or feeling being conveyed, because it may be different to each student, and that is perfect o.k. and acceptable.  The emotions and feeling will be different to the entire class, but the musical qualities that elicit those feelings remain unchanged, and those are the areas that should be taught.  

In a classroom setting I would probably just let the students hear the selection first and then ask them what they heard that was interesting, a very vague and ambiguous question to begin the sparks of thought.  I would then start analyzing the piece with them as the piece played, stopping at opportune sections to point out especially interesting things that are happening.  

I would begin with pointing out how the piece begins with the oboe timbre all by itself, and this sound continues with the melody going up and down, spending time to rest on certain pitches along the way that are also slightly accented.  The oboe plays with vibrato, especially on notes held out longer.  As the lines move up and down they also crescendo and decrescendo with the melodic line.  Articulation is smooth and tenuto.  While all this is going on there is a dichotomy with the accompaniment in the strings that is very staccato and sparse with the plucking technique, staying out of the way of the oboe.  Between :19 and :21 some rubato time is taken, as it is about to repeat its melodic theme.  As it begins to change both melodically and harmonically at :36 more time is taken to let listeners experience the "moment".  At :52 I would point out how the low strings move to using the bow, with a very different timbre and articulation than before, and take over the melody, while low brass (and woodwinds) play a new accompaniment that is played with long held out chordal changes.  This time there is less of an ebb and flow with the melody but more dynamic changes in the spots that when the oboe had played them were rubato.  At about 1:25 the oboe comes back in with a subtle harmony played softly to not intrude on the melody of the low strings.  A shift happens in texture and dynamic at about 1:36 as the upper strings enter in the middle of the phrase and the dynamic is significantly louder.  When this happens a bit of the rubato that was heard earlier when the oboe had the melody is repeated though not quite as drastically.  At 2:06 there is clear separation between notes with accents that become stronger and stronger that are reinforced by the winds.  The melodic line continues to go further and further up, with the constant emphasis on the repeated notes/chords that get slight more accented and louder each time.  Finally at 2:26 the line starts to move in a rhythmic pattern that is completely new.  

After pointing out all these points I would have them listen to the selection again and see if they can point out any spots within the music that are interesting that have not been covered.  

With all these nuances in mind, I would play short snippets of the selection at a time, having the student listen with their eyes closed and to create a picture/scene/feeling (the choices would be left up to them) in their mind.  Each time I stop I would have the students write down what they were experiencing in their mind to the best of their ability.  Then I would go on to the next short snippet (each time roughly 30 seconds or so) until the exercise was completed.  I would then take an informal poll asking the student to raise their hand if they believed that the selection was personally more interesting now than it was the very first time they heard it (fully expecting the majority to answer "yes").  Going beyond this though I would ask them why they believed this to be the case, when the music was no different than it was the first time.  After all, it was a recording, and had not changed.  Discussion would follow where some student might share a little of what they had written, but it would all focus on how attention to the detail and investment into noticing the things that made the music more interesting would give it "life".  

I would collect the written reflections each student, mostly for the purpose of getting to see if the students who might not have wanted to share in class connected with the music in any way, assimilating the concepts of the lesson.  As this exercise would be completed, I would point out that sometimes the music will not become interesting until you know what to listen for, but all "art" music in particular requires this type of listening for it to become interesting, and that even though they might not always know everything they should be listening for, using the example of the exercise they had just completed could give them a very good starting point.

I have never done anything on this level with my students before.  I had used small snapshots perhaps, but nothing on this grand a scale.  It has a lot of potential, and I believe it would greatly help music appreciation students not only understand what "art" music is trying to "say", but also how composers, conductors, and especially performers themselves work to try and tell audiences the story of the written notes. 

References

Abeles, H., Hoffer, C., and Klotman, R.  (1995)  Foundations of Music Education (2^nd Ed.). Belmont, CA: Schirmer Cemgage Learning.

My aesthetic experience

In this week of class we reviewed and helped to define the "aesthetic experience" and not only why it's important in music but also how we as music educators can go about teaching it.  Your thoughts are probably the same as mine; this was quite a topic to cover in just one week of class!  As ominous as it may have appeared at first, it wound up being (once again) quite interesting.  The way this class delves into philosophical points that music educators are contending with on a regular basis is quite interesting.  

One of the first assignments for this week is to self-reflect on an aesthetic experience that I have had recently.  Something that met the following criteria: the event had little or no practical purpose, and that it and similar experiences have provided something better and different from ordinary living.  In addition, I am required to tell you: how it made me feel, as best that can be described in words, what I thought about at the time, and maybe afterwards as well, and what I focused my attention on during the experience.

After spending some time trying to sift through my recent memories for an event that did not meet all the cliché type responses that could be considered obvious like deaths of friends/family, joyous experiences such as a recent promotion, and the most obvious event of them all; moving experiences during musical performances, I settled on an event that I believe is sufficient to describe to you.  A few months ago, I picked up and read the book A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan (and Brandon Sanderson, though his job functioned more as a ghost writer).  This was the fourteenth and FINAL volume of the epic fantasy series by Robert Jordan, The Wheel of Time.  I started on this series when I was younger, more than a decade ago, and more than two decades later, the final volume was finally published.  Before I even began, the anticipation of this event was monumental for me, which bears great similarities to art music as described in our text, in which one of the great functions of music is described to be helping to teach individuals to delay instant gratification, an experience that is both more fulfilling than instant gratification and is uniquely human in that we as a species do not need to lower ourselves toward operating as purely animals that cannot use complex thought and do not ever deny themselves of taking what they want immediately (Abeles Hoffer, & Klotman, 1995).  For years I waited as the story developed, evolved, and eventually was completed, but not without many pauses that included: not having the funds to buy the next book in the series right away, not having time to read the book I was currently on do to many of life's interruptions, and the most unnerving predicament of them all; the death of the author himself!  Years later it was revealed that Jordan had divulged all the details of the remains of this epic to his wife and brother, who both had copious amounts of notes written and dictated.  What followed was the hiring of Sanderson, to complete the series with a trilogy written by his hand in the style (as closely as possible) of Jordan's.  

Needless to say, I was antsy and filled with excitement and trepidation as I began the journey of reading the last title of this series.  Excitement because I would finally know how it all ends, and trepidation for I was worried both for it to end, if it would live up to expectation, if Sanderson would do a decent job, and also to a somewhat lessor degree I was concerned for the outcomes of the characters themselves.  I became so involved in the reading that I finished 909 pages in mere days.  Though this would seem to contradict my earlier statement of delaying gratification, I think in this case it still is a valid point because I did not purchase the book right away, nor did I begin reading the book right away either once I had it in hand.  I waited until an opportune moment to finish this literary journey.  I read and read, and was filled with a myriad of emotions as I flipped pages immersing myself in the story from joy to despair, confusion to clarity, all the while being filled with the sense of nervous anticipation until I reached the end.  I felt what the characters felt, and was with them until it was over.  Did it all turned out how I expected and hoped?  Yes and no.  The feelings I was flooded with initially at the end were of disbelief that it was over and emptiness from the same, knowing there would be no more of this great series.  To a lessor degree I felt accomplishment at reaching that moment, but it was a bittersweet accomplishment.  My eyes teared up both during and after, for all these reasons and more, and it was quite a few days until I felt normal again, especially each time I saw the book resting on my bookshelf.  

This by no means helped me in any practical way, except to serve as an escape from reality for me and to serve as entertainment.  This was entertainment with value though.  It did not help me become a better person, or be more productive at work or with social interactions with family and friends.  I did not learn anything enduring or anything that changed my life.  Regardless of this, my life feels more complete having made the journey, and I look forward to more experiences like this in the future. 

This is how I know I agree that "aesthetic experiences" help us to connect with our humanity, by connecting us with feeling.  Feelings make us more than animals.  Coupled with our capacity for more complex thought and delaying gratification, it is important for us all to experience our humanity individually through aesthetic experiences, otherwise risk becoming something that is not complete and consummated.


References

Abeles, H., Hoffer, C., and Klotman, R.  (1995)  Foundations of Music Education (2^nd Ed.). Belmont, CA: Schirmer Cemgage Learning.

Module One Reflection

This week's topic of reflection was to research and review two articles of our own choosing that delve into comparing some modern takes on issues like music and morality to the views of Plato in the early Greek era.  This proved to be quite an interesting subject that helped to solidify how the discussion of music's importance to culture and character is time-tested and probably destined to continue with similar arguments being made.  That is the part that truly surprises me; the discussion of music's connection and importance to cultural and character development does not seem to have fundamentally changed in any significant way.  It seems to just rehash old points of view, without any real proof to valid claims on either side (entertainment vs. educationally important).

The first article that I explored was Roger Scruton's Music and Morailty (2010).  I was amazed that even beyond the scope of this class there are individuals making these same comparisons, and even putting their views in print. Scruton's article seems to mostly revolve around the concept of today's popular music, and if it can or should be analyzed for it's quality, or if it should be only seen as an entertainment product that is more about rhythm than about the music.  Interesting points he makes center on music that is considered for dancing very well may have extreme implications to how we as a culture see ourselves, when to properly dance with the music, one must conform and remove one's own identity to a certain degree.  It must be experienced as a collective, and one needs to meld with the music as opposed to letting it flow over themselves.  He contends that melodic content and form are almost non-existant in modern popular music, and thus the music is more about the rhythm.  He compares this directly to classical music, with evolves over time, and for audiences to appreciate it they must be mature enough to delay gratification as the music flows.  

His exploration of our culture is hard to argue, in that we are a non-judgemental culture.  The cycle of "who are you to criticize?" coupled with the industries marketing towards the younger generations, who are in turn less educated on the formal practice and structure of music, make it hard to ever begin music criticism of the elements that make up the content much less start to evaluate its moral quality.  Add in that so many experience music in such vastly different ways as depicted in the above paragraph, and we have a complicated discourse to pursue.  He states that regardless of all of these factors, students must be trained to hear the music, and not just feel it, so that they can begin to assimilate what the music is really trying to say and do, for if this does not happen, then culture will effect changes in our laws, something the Plato himself discusses.  

In addition to the writer's own comparisons to Plato, it is easy to see how Plato's views of music effecting morality and character can be seen through these main points Scruton reviews.  If one does not understand the music they listen to, and they dance to it in suggestive manners that the music promotes, then it could be argued that over time, such actions could in turn effect the propensity of an individual's beliefs and other actions, thus changing their character.  So in turn the study of music and combating the "regression of listening" as Structon implies (2010) is essential to turn the trend of non-judgemental attitudes in the direction of appropriate analysis that will ultimately cause students to pass judgement on both quality and appropriateness of the music and the culture represented by the music, which is something I believe Plato was advocating when purusing improvement of the "soul" through music.

The next article I looked at concerned Tipper Gore and her work with the Parents' Music Resource Center, which in 1985 led the charge for albums to be voluntarily released included labels indicating graphic/adult lyrics and themes.  The writer takes a reflective stance a few years later on how he was approached by anti-censorship groups to join their cause, in which they believed she and her group were on a rampage to hinder their right to free speech within their given art.  They believed he would join them, as a writer for a newspaper, in that cause. 

He then takes them on a question and answer session in which he (in my opinion) proves many of Plato's tenants that good music can help make people good and bad music (or music with questionable moral conviction) could in turn change people in negative ways.  He argued that music and any art for that matter helps shape social forces, enriches the human spirit, and that though they believed government did not have the right to keep consumers from purchasing either spectrum of influential music, he compared to it to government and societies' successful attempts to put warning labels on food that is ingested and keeping toxic waste from being put in areas that could contaminate us.  The choice still exists, but just as Plato stated that it is more than just an avenue of entertainment but something that can effect us all in profound ways, society should make it a priority for its instruction to as many as possible to help create better, more productive members of our society.

This was a much more interesting topic than I originally believed it would be, and look forward to the future assignments in this class if they promote similar thought and historical comparisons!

References

Royko, Mike.  (July 24, 1992).  Tipper Gore Gets Bad Rap on Labeling.  Chicago Tribune. 
Retrieved from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-07-24/news/9203060597_1_warp-attitudes-powerful-art-form-the-music-tipper-gore




Scruton, Roger.  (2010).  Music and morality: Plato remains our finest rock critic. The American Spectator.  Feb.  Retrieved from http://spectator.org/articles/40193/music-and-morality