Life is fast. Sometimes so fast all you can do is just exist until the sun comes up again. Music can slow it down. Many songs sound as if the artist is crying out to someone — and that’s because they are. Music is something all can connect to regardless of differences in culture, language, appearance, preferences, or anything else — because all of those things mean nothing when it comes to enjoying music.
However, society likes to tell people what music to listen to and not, including the current generation. Once a teacher at a vacation station described metal music as “satanic.” This is a sad viewpoint. No one in life will completely understand why you like what you like, no matter how you describe your feelings because most people do not share the level of empathy needed to understand why people enjoy music others find to sound like “shoes in a dryer,” as band director Mr. Griffin once said. Music highlights the beauty of empathy, the ability to relate with anyone regardless of the identifying characteristics listed above. Empathy is powerful and many don’t relate to art and other expressive work as much as others can because they don’t have as much. But after reading this story, hopefully you’ll understand many other ways people can enjoy music, and have a unique outlook on their song choices.
First, since humankind was created, our footsteps have begun our understanding of and fascination with rhythm. Such a beautiful word that most continue to undervalue. Rhythm does not only create musicality, which can be defined as using elements to display emotional sensitivity, control, and passion, but instead initiates the start of a phenomenon that can control the body. Doubtful? Consider dancing. One might say dancing is a mainly physical activity, but it can also catalyze a mental dance. Personally, rhythm initiates a dance inside my head allowing me to stop the flow of my stressful or unhappy thoughts, if I allow myself to be lost in the groove. Is something stressing you, distracting you, detracting your sanity from you, and you still have a test to study for on top of it? Set a timer for five minutes, and pick a song and just get lost in it. Close your eyes and admire everything about it, from the swing of the pitch of the singer’s voice to the basic or polyrhythmic pulse. You’ll be thinking without exploring your thoughts, and you might find yourself captivated, as if in a trance, as if in another world. Until the song is over.
Rhythm is a form of meditation to me. But rhythm is better if personified skillfully in the many other musical elements. Jazz for example takes someone to a whole nother world in so many ways, but rhythm can always be traced no matter what, making it easier to dance. One of my favorite jazz songs is “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City,” by Bobby Blue Bland. It’s a world of relaxation and magic.
Next, think about a hip-hop beat. It’s hypnotic: the eeriness of a melody and chords on the synth, guitar, or piano, the authenticity of a drum kit or electronic drums including the sizzling hi-hat, the sharp clap or snare, the bass suppressing the treble, or anything else comprising a beat — these all put you in a state of hypnosis and pure bliss. And then especially the voice. “Eye,” by Stacy Epps and Madvillian sounds especially angelic along with the hypnotic beat. Primarily, rhythm is what catches my attention, but the beautiful melodies make me truly tranquil, like “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City.” Also, if one listens to Yeat, he morphs his voice into his beats, which I can only sway with it, for it sounds like a cry from a friend, and a voice is sweeter than any song. Music rewrites your perception of reality.
But this is only a fraction of the type of art produced. One of the best parts about Hip-hop is the energy and power of some songs.“Not Like Us,” by Kendrick Lamar is an example of an energetic piece of music. Instead of slipping away, “Not Like Us” is just groovy. Hip-hop is one of the few genres that can energize listeners through a fast and upbeat groove, again relying on rhythm a lot, and literally force them to dance.
People complain of the “predictability,” of some songs and the monotony of listening to a beat for three minutes. Maybe you’re not listening to the right song. Many artists use randomness in their lyrics and rhymes. Hip-hop is very rhythmic, especially the “flow,” another groovy aspect of changing the speed of their speech to fit the beat or particular groove, which can be very creative at times, and rhymes artists use demonstrate a unique understanding of rhythm and the English language, including utilizing alliteration(such as “sentiments symbolic,” from “Like that,” by Future and Metro Boomin’ ft. Kendrick Lamar). Flow is especially powerful because a singer can switch it up really quickly, and throw one off guard, to make a rhythmic masterpiece. The attention to the details is so particular. Even just an accentuation in one’s voice for a millisecond, like they’re spitting when they’re saying it and then returning to flawlessly executed speech, like a waterfall, continuous and magical. MF DOOM utilizes many different types of word play and rhymes, blending his melodic voice with the chorus and strings words together like swiss cheese. Did that make sense? Maybe not, but the simile had lyrical poetry and flow, which makes it more fun.
However, many artists write lyrics with such contemplation and emotional expression that it causes some to cry. Artists, like Linkin Park, who are extremely powerful with the words they use make it easy to understand them- yes, understand, not relate. There are many people who relate to Chester, the lead singer, but above all it’s easy to understand the depth of his pain in his music. That’s what makes it so precious, you can hear the pain. Chester committed suicide in 2017, but above all made people feel like they weren’t alone. Sometimes it is easier to cry for others than it is for yourself. In other songs as well, connection through empathy is so easy with music, to just be lost in their voice, the melody, it makes me sway to the rhythm, so much so I ignore time and focus only on them…
However, with genres such as orchestral music, the progressions and pitch perfection can attach themselves to memories and hold tight. Same with general sound, more than words can. I went without listening to Oliver Queen Suite(for the Arrow)- composed by Blake Neely for a while, and it was attached with a difficult memory of mine, and when I listened to it before a marching band competition, the french horn or trumpet at the end arpeggios made me cry. To the point where I wish for myself to cry while listening to other music because the feeling of being so connected to the melody was so overwhelmingly powerful, it formed a beating anthem, like a second heart pumping every vessel and chamber with pure strength… Yet many times my eyes water when I hear a great piece of music because it’s so powerful.
Anyway, I find the repetition of hip-hop to be comforting. Sometimes I think of it as white noise, but more powerful, and melodious. But not all artists are comforting, and there are so many other elements to appreciate. Vocals: does the artist frequently change how high or low they’re singing? Appreciate their range. Does their voice, both hip-hop and other genres of music, blend with the melody? Electronic sounds and timbre(tahm-berr), the perceived quality of a musical note, or the color of the sound(for instance a piano might sound mellow, and have a smooth and relaxing timbre) from actual instruments allow for the opportunity to blend voice and sound. This can be appreciated. Entrances of drums or bass. The vibrations of bass. ‘Feeling’ the music physically is easier when the bass is so revitalizing. Have you ever heard a beat drop, a chord in a classical piece, or a chorus of a rock song and reacted physically to it? Literally raised your arms and shook in triumph? I do that a lot after a drum solo in jazz played by senior Everett Scott. Don’t think too hard, but be immersed in, hypnotized by the sound, the progressions. Then you might be able to relate.
All these elements create something that can again drown out one’s thoughts. One might ask, why does every Gen-Z person need to drown out their thoughts? That’s a complex question. The future being a question mark? Fewer emotional connections because so many just plug in their music and ignore the world and growing social media usage? Lower attention span? Life is fast, and music can slow it down. And hip-hop accomplishes this through beat changes, as it makes the music sound slower than it actually is.
As a musician, hip-hop is also very metronomic, so it’s helpful to use while practicing because repeating passages in pieces and exercises is much easier while listening to some fire beats. For the uninitiated, fire is a slang term which describes things as flamingly good. It’s so good you’re being burned.
Burned. Unfortunately, music can be negative as well. Repeating music over and over can lead to numbing the sensations experienced while listening, which is why many want to listen to songs for the first time again. Because this isn’t possible, instead try to find something new to focus on. You focused on the bass, vocals, and hi-hat last time. Focus next on the chord progressions, or something that you can distinctly pick out in the sound. Music is also similar to a drug, especially with Spotify nowadays, as continuously playing it is an addiction of the dopamine, emotional feeling, or memories associated with it.
In this era where people can listen to any song on demand and instantly get that feeling of confidence, hope, or any other emotion the listener connected that music to, is dopamine impulse control slowly becoming more of a problem?
After my knee surgery in November of 2023, I listened to two songs over and over again by a rapper named Yeat, and those songs gave me… power. Anytime I listen to it now it charges me with sparking adrenaline. It pushed me through the pain of bending my knee. One might argue I was using the music as a crutch to get through personal adversity – news flash – I couldn’t care less. One might dismiss this guy because he’s a rapper. Another person might dismiss a country singer because they don’t like country. But the music isn’t important — it’s the feelings associated with it.
It seems as though society has fewer emotional connections nowadays. Consider this. Instead of asking someone what their favorite song is, ask why they like their favorite song. If they give the song name, that’s a cherry on top, but it’s truly irrelevant, unless you’re able to listen to it and try to imagine it with their feelings. We all know most high schoolers don’t listen to the songs their friends or people recommend to them. Attempt to empathize with their emotions, instead of the genre. Understand how it’s changed their perspective. I implore you, the reader, to try to understand one person’s — just one — emotions connected to one of their favorite songs. Perspective will change your life, and spread joy. There is no greater joy and level of intimacy than understanding someone’s deepest thoughts and feelings.
Maybe that’s what music means to me. Perspective. It’s a conversation you have with the artist, and it leaves you with feelings that may be impossible to express. That part is the beauty — something unique to every song. Something unique to every person. Music will connect people when there seems to be only separation. So share music with someone you might not even speak the same language with — you’ll make a connection.
