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Jose D.

Teodoro English Comp 1 Proposal Essay Relax = Music Why do we feel the same way almost every day? We wake up every morning usually at the same time, and then we go about performing the same activities all day, every day. Things appear non-changing and time is just ticking away from our present. Our lives seem to be governed by schedules and routines. There is a problem in our modern society. People are getting more stressed out and unhappiness levels are constantly rising. We are continuously struck with bad news about wars and terrorism, and the definition of "economy" is changing to a negative one. Pretty much anything we listen to is becoming a source of worries and stress. As a consequence, the majority of people live in a state of numbness and stress. So in this world of evil and unhappiness, the universe provides us with There is a source of energy that lets us cope with our daily routines and see them from a different perspective. The source of energy I am talking about is Music. We have all experienced the effects of music. We remember what we felt when we were dancing with the person we love to the sound of a song. We can remember our experience in a concert that gave us a sense of peace and tranquility. But there is something hidden in the art of music that we currently underestimate, mainly because we do not know it. The first thing we have to understand is that Music is nature. Around 600 B.C. Pythagoras discovered a pattern in sound waves that he called Octaves. These patterns represented a set of vibratory waves that produced what we now refer to as music notes. This discovery is important because it was the first scientific proof that music is an inherent element of life itself, because it is a property of reality. According to Dictionary.com, "music" is the "art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color". I am a musician and, as any other musician out there, I know how it feels when music goes through you. Playing music is a different experience than just listening to it. Music is a two part process.

Think about this: A tree is part of nature, and as we learn the science behind a tree we understand the tree gives us oxygen, therefore the tree helps us live. The same idea works with music; as we learn the science behind the wavelengths of music, we understand that they bring properties that stimulate our brain to reach a certain state of mind and happiness. Music is a tool that can be used for many purposes. As it is commonly perceived, metal rock tends to stimulate anger in listeners, as classical music is known for stimulating learning. Music stimulates our minds. Most importantly, we have to know that there is a type of music that stimulates happiness and relaxation. I cannot tell you which band or song to listen to, since it is a personal choice. The important thing is to be aware of the true properties and purpose of music. By doing so, you can discover for yourself which music band or song stimulates you positively, as well as negatively. Now-a-days technology has given musicians the ability to manipulate sound waves electronically. This can be a problem, because producers fabricate sounds that are meant to become commercial successes. Be careful of this, since they are only looking for your money. In exchange they give you a catchy melody with completely pointless and shallow lyrics. If you think about it, the words you listen to in a song will have an effect on your mind. Music is nature's gift to us. If we are aware of this we are likely to discover peace in it. Modern society tells us to live by the clock and routine. This structure has brought economic prosperity and material goods, but also higher levels of unhappiness. We cannot change the structure of the society, but we can use music to help us achieve a happier state of mind and soul.

Often associated with providing pleasure and satisfaction in times of stress and uncertainty, music exists in society as something that has a complex definition. From the salsa sounds of a Caribbean group based in the Habana, Cuba to the contemporary indie bands that are constantly emerging in the United States and Europe, all this seems little to contain the meaning of music. Real music is a source of inspiration, an emotional message transmitted through the air in form of sound waves. Sound waves that reach our auditory sense and suddenly are interpreted by our brain making us feel a certain way. Stress and unhappiness can be successfully treated with appropriate sound waves in our brain. I am a musician and I understand the power of music, mainly because I have experienced the flow of the energy I am referring to while I perform a peaceful loving song. Not all music provide a message needed to success treat unhappiness and unfullfilment successfully; a proper music needs to have certain requirements in order to have a positive effect on someone's mentality and mood. In my opinion, the three characteristics peacefull music should have are 1) unbalance between the distribution of intrument and vocals, in other words there should be much more intrumental and less words in a song; 2) words of the song should have a possitive message towards life, love, and nature; and 3) beat of the music should be down- to mid-tempo, because upbeat

music accelerate your brainwaves into a more stressed state of mind instead of a more peacefull one. In my experience as a music lover and musician, I know first hand the effects of the music I am refering to. When everything else seems to be heading a negative way or the world around us portray a world of dispair and inmorality, I take my ipod and concious of what my "self" needs I play a song that will make me reflect about my situation and the situation around me. I immediately start thinking about the beautiful things that surround me and start appreciating the fact the I have a life. Deadlines, routines, cities, cars, fears, diseases, poverty, hardships, loneliness, stress, and unhapiness suddenly flushed away for the period of time that song last. The only thing that seems important throughout the lenght of the song is the fact of life. It follows that music has an undeniable power in our reality, and however we decide to explore it, music will always bring that unexplainable feeling that we need so much today. Be aware of what you listen to, be aware of how you feel when you listen to music, and be aware of the energy it provides and the fuel it shares. As the famous philosopher Descartes said after months of studying the reality of our "self", "I am a thinking being. I think, therefore I exist." Our thought and our mind is the most powerful tool we posses and our reality is based of what we make of it.

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