Response to Krystal's Question

Krystal Maynard asked the question “What elements are occurring in society, in your opinion, that makes it able for what is deemed popular music to shift drastically?”on her blog.

I do not believe the shifts in the styles of music are very drastic, but are instead rather gradual over the course of a few years. Musicians alter existing conventions to a variable degree. If the alteration is too extreme, the music is generally “hard to get used to.” If there is not enough alteration, the music is “unoriginal.” Finding a good medium helps a band grow in popularity. Once a band is in the mainstream, their sound influences the modern conventions of music.

Interestingly, there seems to be many more types of conventions nowadays than ever before. There were certainly not as many genres in the 1950s as there are now. It makes it difficult for someone to have decent overall knowledge of all types of modern music.

I'm sure mass media has a role in spreading music. The internet makes music readily available and helps artists gain popularity. With a more rapid and thorough spread of music, it is no wonder there is so much and so many types of music.

I've always wondered what music will look like in 50 years and how our kids will think of our favorite music.

Plato's claim that "Music is the highest philosophy."

During class I asked professor Johnson where he found Plato's quote “Music is the highest philosophy." This quote intrigued me because of Plato's rather peculiar beliefs about music. He believes that music has the ability to touch the soul directly by creating a sort of raw emotional experience in the listener. Stemming from his Theory of Forms, he also believes music and art are twice removed copies of the truth. For this reason, he believes music and art provide distorted images of the truth. He criticized the poets and musicians (almost one in the same in that time period) to a degree that seems completely ridiculous to us now.

At the same time, Plato seems to believe that music plays an extremely important role in education. When setting up an educational program in the Republic, Socrates (Plato's mouthpiece) asserts that young people must learn music before the more substantive material. He advocates an extreme censorship of certain musical modes and harmonic instruments so that only “good” (i.e. virtuous) music will be taught. Since music has the ability to touch the soul directly, he asserts that being trained in only good music will align the students' souls with “the Good.” They will better be able to judge good and bad, not just in music, but in all aspects of life. While music is only a part of the educational program that allows students to be “good” people, it is a crucial component.

I still struggle to understand why Plato would have made the claim that “music is the highest philosophy.” To me, it seems a misrepresentation of his beliefs. Perhaps he meant that being trained in music (just like being trained in philosophy), will allow the student to make accurate judgments about the most important things: good and bad. This would be more clear if the statement was translated “Music allows for the highest philosophy.”

I am uncertain of the long term effects of music on an individual's soul (or personality). I find worthwhile qualities to literally all genres, depending on the specific artist. Does anyone have any insight on the negative, positive, and neutral effects to listening to certain genres?