How Music is Around Us

Have you ever wondered how music affects you in everyday life?

Many+people+gathering+together+for+peace+at+Woodstock+69

Mark Goff, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Many people gathering together for peace at Woodstock ’69

Student listening to her favorite song before class.

Do you like to listen to music when you’re doing work or chores? Did you know that music actually affects our daily life. Whether you like Hip Hop, RNB, Rock’n’Roll, Country, or Classical , your music affects you. Your brain is technically getting a workout from processing all the different parts of a song. Music directly affects you and your mood. Everything has sound frequencies and hertz (Hz,) which is the unit of frequency per one cycle per second. There are many different levels.  Hip hop, whether it’s hard-core rap, rnb, west or east side rap, all have a similar frequency. Low frequency waves are linked to relaxation and sleeping. The higher waves are able to help with focus, help you recall memories, and make you more alert. While mid range frequencies help you pay attention.

Music also can be a big part of somebody’s identity. Let’s say you’re a metal head, you’ll usually listen to a lot of different types of metal. They may have their Mega Death or Black Sabbath band tees. People will be able to identify each other by those shirts and know they’ll have a similar music taste. Another example is a classic rock kid. They normally have that older vibe to them and may dress differently than a kid who listens to hip hop or country for example. People who share similar music tend to find that common ground and share music. I know the majority of my friends and I share similar music, we’ll all blast our favorite songs together. When we find new music, we make sure to share it so we can all enjoy it. Music is also a big factor in many different cultures. Many different cultures have their own festivals or celebrations, for maybe holidays, that involve music. Usually the cultures traditional music.

People playing music on the side of the street for people passing by.

Another thing music does is help bring people together, regardless of their background. There’s so many different types of music festivals, a local one being Something In The Water. Last years lineup, which took place in Washington D.C., had some major hip hop names like Tyler, The Creator, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Baby, Moneybagg Yo, and others like Jeremy Zucker, Quinn XCII, and Denzel Curry. Even though it is mainly hip hop, there is more artists from different genres. These types of festivals bring many people together. There’s so many different types of people here. Then you’ll get the day pass, which means you can go see anybody performing that day. Not only now are you meeting more and different people from different backgrounds, but you’re also enjoying, listening, and finding new artists and types of music.

Kids enjoying music at Lafayette High School after doing their work.

Since we talked about the good to these festivals, I have to also show the bad. Even though these do bring people together, sometimes it can be for the worst. Let’s take Woodstock ’99 for example, the original festival, Woodstock ’69, was all about three days of peace and music. It was almost that, it brought people together but was very dirty and overcrowded. Their were cars left on the interstate because they weren’t able to park at Woodstock itself. Now ’99 was a complete train-wreck. All different groups of music have positive and negative people, but here the negative outran the positive. Instead of it being three days 0f peace and music, it was three days of violence, riots, and hatred. With the majority of the people put at victim being women. With bands playing like Limp Bizkit, Korn, Rage Against The Machine, and Metallica just to name a few. Now even though these bands necessarily don’t want violence, some

of the fans are very violent people. They had all these people put together in one place, which only caused chaos. Another prominent things in festivals like these are drugs and alcohol, once you add all this together some stuff may be broken and they’ll try to justify ripping someone’s head off. After this terrible and tragic event, they stopped Woodstock, this only inspired so many to start even more festivals, which is why their so big now. They’ve most definitely reevaluated them and made them much safer so more people can enjoy them, safely.

Music is such an important thing in our everyday life because it can help bring so many different people together, it can help boost your mood, and it can bring positivity. Most music also has deeper meanings than meet the eye. Artists tend to write about things that have happened to them, either with relationships, family life, and feelings. Like Eminem, he pertains to a lot of people who may have grown up in abusive or toxic households. To understand the positives, you have to know the negatives. Music is something that means something different to everybody, but the average person can respect and enjoy music. It’s good when its positive and brings positive groups of people together, but you have to be careful when it can bring those hateful groups together. At the end of the day you have to remember to stay positive and rock on.