Music and the Brain Essay

Submitted By alexpearsontae
Words: 512
Pages: 3

Alex Pearson Mr. Conrad
Adv. Comp.
24 October 2012

What this essay is about...

Rock and roll is a very influential, and powerful type of music that has changed over the years and has only gotten bigger and bigger. I will explore into how rock and roll affects the mind and what sort of behavior it causes. I'm assuming it causes more wild behavior and rebellion in people because that is the reputation it's had since the fifties and it still holds to this day. This isn't necessarily saying that rock n roll causes bad behavior because it causes a lot of good too. Most rock stars do a lot of charity work and try to prove that they are not bad people. People like Ronnie James dio, the guys from kiss and even from heavier bands like motley Crüe.
Rock and roll has been proven to trigger certain animal like instincts in our mind. The loud screeching vocals and distorted guitars trigger those animal like instincts in our mind and sends adrenaline coursing through our veins. This is the same reason that creepy music behind a scary movie sends chills down our spine and makes the moment more intense. Dr. Blumstein and his team of researchers took 102 film scores and analyzed them. The dramatic sounds had volume swells and moved up and down, while horror film scores had clashing chords, female screams, and sometimes even animal distress calls. They found 10 composers and had each compose a piece of music that lasted just 10 seconds. They then asked the participants to listen to each piece of music and rate how it affected them. When the music became more erie and distorted, the participants seemed to rate it as more arousing. Composers know what sounds scary, but they might not know why. Certain sounds expose our evolved predispositions to get excited when hearing certain sounds and react negatively when we hear other ones. Next, researchers plan on