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Tina Chen

Professor Pierce

Honors 394D

7 March 2018

Final Reflection of the Power of Music

I feel that there are many revelations and thoughts I have gathered throughout this

course—all which I feel should be included in this write up. For this reason, I have

separated each topic and experience into different sections.

The Power of Music in Everyday Life:

I have been surrounded by music all my life—and I have found that many others can

say the same. One of the most interesting experiments was the week we observed music in

our surroundings. This opened my eyes to see that music really is everywhere. It touches

almost all aspects of our life. It’s unavoidable. Even right now, as I write this final reflection

in a casino, I hear the whimsical music playing from the slot machines, I see what a large

role plays in setting a scene and even deeper as a tool to entrain someone to associate such

positive music with slot machines. Clearly, like we have explored in this course, music has

an emotional and social power over our society.

Experiencing Singing in a Community:

One of my favorite experiences in the class was singing in a group of people.

Although I have been involved in music almost all of my life, I never really had the

experience of singing with a group of people. I must say, after all of our chants and hums

together, I would always feel more comfortable around the people in our class. As a

naturally shy individual, I found that music had the power to connect people on a different
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level. I almost feel as if singing with another person opens yourself up to others and makes

(at least me) feel a little vulnerable, ultimately forming some sort of bond between people.

After my experience singing in this class, I feel that I have officially experienced the power

of music in a community! I have played in instrumental bands now for more than 10 years

now, but singing in a group yields a completely different feeling for me than playing an

instrument.

Exploring the Development of Music:

One question I formed at the beginning of this course was whether music had an

evolutionary function. They say that humankind’s functionalities are all there for a reason.

And researchers *believe* it is because recognizing tones of a voice is an important skill to

have and that’s why it evolved. As much as they say so, I still cannot accept this fact. That is

barely close to a skill for survival. I see that there is not any other real explanations to

humankind’s natural attraction to music. I see how music may have developed to tie a

community together, but I disagree with the claim I remember one lady making in a video

we watched in class was that it was developed for us to recognize tone. Sounds like a load

of b.s. to me. I feel that there is just something in our brains that makes us connect to music.

Something that we cannot explain. I feel like it’s just a part of our brain and that there is no

reason for its existence. It just is. Something like how drugs just feel good. There is no

survival skill tied to taking drugs. It simply feels good. And that goes with the saying that

music is a drug. Because it really is.

The Unexplained Power in Music:

What I found the most fascinating in this course was the seemingly magical qualities

of music. Although we answered many questions regarding its place in our lives, I feel like
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there is an unexplainable power of music. One striking moment of this phenomenon was

when the man in the nursing home who wouldn’t ever talk would sing along with songs he

was fond of in his earlier years. What completely blew me away was that afterwards, he

had the temporary ability to hold simple conversations, which is has trouble with on a

typical day. There is something in music that has a natural connection to music, even when

we are broken (maybe even in the brain), we always have that connection to music. I

equate this man’s reaction to music something uncontrollable, similar to unconsciously

bobbing your head to a favorite song. In addition to all of what we have discovered about

the power of music in this course, I also believe there is something more about music that

humans will never understand. Music is a mystery to us, just like the beginnings of this

universe.

The Importance of Passion in Music:

Another reoccurring topic I found in this course was the evident passion people

have for music. And the difference you find in a true musician vs. a non-musician. I

remember watching to Ted Talk of the deaf lady who played percussion. I was truly

inspired by her passion to try to feel the music and play it as your own rather than just

reading straight off the music sheet. I think that doing this could improve my overall

musicianship. I am not going to lie, after being handed many pieces of music, there comes a

point where a sheet of music is only a sheet of music. I have learned that this should not be

a case. Sheet music should be the shape of an idea and a player should take it into their

hands and shape how they feel for it themselves, which is an incredibly powerful idea to

me.