Ashwin Prasad and Marvin Fan

Blue 3 Streisel

29 September 2018

Rappers

Word Count: 797

Music Mentality: How Students use Music to Affect Their Mood

Every day, rapper and sophomore Isaac Brown tunes in to rap music. At the same time,

Annie Kim, officer in the Share The Music Club and sophomore, can be found listening or

playing classical music, while Sam Chenoweth, associate director of choirs, turns on the musical

theater he enjoys. The three said music is a vital part of their lives.

They are hardly alone. According to Nielsen Music, Americans listened to music for 32

hours per week in 2017. Students at this school create and listen to a wide variety of music,

ranging from cutting-edge electronic to the oldest baroque. But with such a constant presence in

students’ lives, music also has an effect on listeners’ moods.

“Some songs end up being earworms, and those are usually the upbeat ones or a slower

one with a nice melody,” Chenoweth said. He cited the main line of “Great Balls of Fire,” a

song he is teaching the freshman men's choir, as an example.

“It can be something fun to remember throughout the day,” Chenoweth said. “Or it can

even change their mood. If a student comes to choir not having the best day and we do a song

that is fun and exciting and they enjoy, then it can definitely change the way they feel.”
 This effect can go both ways. Kim mentioned the song “1-800-273-8255” by rapper

Logic, which references the phone number of the American National Suicide Prevention

Lifeline. According to Kim, that song may make some people depressed.

She added, “I always listen to music in the morning because I’m too tired to function so it

wakes me up.”

Brown said listening to rap definitely has a positive impact on his life.

“Listening to rap sometimes has kept me from doing things that I know I shouldn’t be

doing, so I think it has helped me on a way more personal level,” Brown said.

However, lyrics of songs can also affect students negatively. There are many popular

songs that cover negative themes such as sex, drugs and money. These themes have come to be

associated with rap in particular.

“Sometimes there’s not really a lot of school appropriate songs with young kids listening

to them, so that kind of speeds up the maturing process,” Kim said.

Lyrics can have different impacts, depending on the person. Chenoweth said he had a

profound experience with the lyrics in the recent fall musical “Edges.”

“The words in that show are about so many different things, but about things that are real

life and that impact people and that don’t necessarily mean the same thing to everyone so it’s

cool to be able to latch on to them in your own way,” Chenoweth said. “In general, I like

anything with a story. Even more than the music, it's the lyrics I get hooked on more.”

Brown said rap lyrics can often have negative connotations, but that’s not for him.

“People think that rappers are very aggressive or violent or all they care about is money, sex, and

drugs,” Brown said. “People think of the artist as bad, and I don’t think that’s great, especially
for me, because if you’re looking at a certain artist and hear those lyrics you associate them with

that bad stuff. So I don’t write about that, I write about my personal feelings.”

He said his music even pokes fun at the negative aspects of his genre. “I kind of joke

about it and put all of that stuff aside, like these rappers talk about this, but I talk about how I

live my life and going through different stages of my life and how difficult it may be or how

great it may be,” Brown said.

Brown brought up the messages of his own music and said how he intends to make an

impact on listeners.

He said, “I want people to know that I am 100 percent honest with not only myself but

with other people,” he said. “I want everyone to know that I put everything in my life into this; I

don’t want anyone to think that I put half-effort.”

“Putting your own emotions behind music is exactly what makes it good music. If you

don’t, then it’s not worth anything.”

In the end, Brown said rap has certainly had a positive impact on his life. He is currently

working on pieces with sophomore and DJ Ethan Meneghini, and puts passion into his work,

with themes mainly from his personal life. “It’s about more than gangs and Compton. It’s an

outlet.”

Chenoweth, too, said music has a larger scope.

“There’s a quote I really like, ‘When words fail, music speaks,’” Chenoweth said. “Music

can touch people in ways that other forms of communication can’t, it’s the most authentic form

of communication.”