Music

Music Is All Around Us

To people in many cultures, music is completely

intertwined into their way of life. In small groups, list all
the places and situations that you can think of, where
you are exposed to music of some kind.

You have till the end of the 67 second meditative clip

to list your answers!

From the moment we are born we experience music everywhere it is

all around us and in fact there is even a market for introducing music
to us before we are born!

Baby Music

So we should all have quite a lot to say about a subject that affects us
all so much in our lives! Good for a possible General Studies
question.. so lets now have a more detailed look at the various
functions of music in our lives.

Music Affects Mood

Music can create a strong emotional response and this is exploited in

films / shops / advertising / gyms / shops etc.
It is also often the main reason we all listen to a particular style at a
particular time we like how it enhances our mood!
Listen to the music on the Youtube clips below and decide which ones
create the following emotional responses:

CALM / POWER THEN SUSPENSE /

ENERGY / MOTIVATIONAL / DRAMA AND ANTICIPATION
Try to work out why they make you feel a certain way fast / slow speed
(tempo) or rhythms? High / low pitch? Loud / soft (dynamics)?
Instrumental sound (timbre)?
Extract 1

Extract 2

Extract 3

Extract 4

Extract 5

Music has strong associations

with MEMORY

Music is very powerful in triggering memories we often remember

significant times, places and people from our pasts when we hear certain
songs or musical pieces. This is especially true of the music you listen to
during and after puberty as a teenager, and this is also why compilations
of music from the fifites / sixties / seventies / eighties etc. sell so well!
Can you think of any songs you associate with people or events in your life?
What period of your life might you associate with this song?
What memories are often evoked by older people hearing this clip?

Music is an important part of

many of our cultural RITUALS

Listen to the following extracts and

identify which ritual / event we
associate them with:

Extract 1
Extract 4

Extract 2

Extract 3

Music can help us to IDENTIFY things

Products (used in advertising music and jingles)
Characters (used in films)
Place or location (used in films)
Time or era (used in films and TV)
TV programmes (through title and end credits)
Events (Such as European or World Football, or Comic Relief)

This is achieved through exploiting musical stereotypes we have all

grown up with, and which have become part of our musical history, and
also through repeatedly hearing the music.
Discuss the powerful associations we have with the music in the
following extracts:
Extract 1

Extract 2

Extract 3

Extract 4

Music can help to promote unity

within a social group

Being a small part of a larger musical sound is a very

powerful feeling indeed, and bonds participants together.
As everyone can sing (yes you can!) this is the most
common medium used e.g. congregational hymns in
religious ceremonies; football chants; audience participation
at gigs; community singing / musical singalongs / pub
singalongs / group karaoke etc.
Look / listen at the following two examples, and see if you
can think of any more!
National Anthem

Last Night of the Proms