The Group 'Yes' Under Fire From An Opera Buff !

"No? YES!"

What makes music appealing? Can a person find a piece of sound that is known as music appealing without any reference to the cultural laden baggage that accompanies it? Is it possible ? Can a person find a series of sounds appealing in one cultural context but when listened in another cultural context quite appalling ?

These are some of the questions that the 'Psychology of Music' attempts to grapple with. 'The Music Digest' blog among other things is an attempt to tackle some of the areas that are highlighted by studies in the 'Psychology of Music".

A good example of listening to music laden with cultural baggage is an article by Joe Maurone in which he describes how James Kilbourne, an opera buff, took on Maurone's challenge to listen and review the album "Going for the One" by the band 'Yes'. Kilbourne said he would give the album a listen and then post a review describing his listening experience. He ended up saying after that he

".......... pretty much did what he said he woudn't do. He did say that IF he LIKED it, he would carry back the message if he was 'converted,' but for whatever reason, felt compelled enough to write about his dislike." ........ MORE

The Great Color Music Debate

Color Music: The Art of Light

Painting music by colors is a subject which has occupied many a great mind down the centuries. The pondering goes along these lines. When one hears a particular musical sound one is drawn to a particular color or a particular sound is associated with a particular color or a color with a sound. Whether this is only a subjective experience on the part of the listener or whether we can draw a wider correlation between certain musical sounds and certain colors is open to debate.

“So let us then clear our own path through the jungle of untried possibilities, which prevents our seeing clearly how to use the attributes of color in a mobile color art somewhat resembling music.” ………. MORE

The Impact That Miles Davis's album ‘Bitches Brew’ Made

"Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Verizon Wireless Theater”

Miles Davis's album 'Bitches Brew' became one of the most important and influential albums to be created in the last fifty years. Released back in those revolutionary heady days of 1968 which saw …. “street battles in Paris, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy's assassinations". It became to be seen as a the “….. seminal jazz-rock recording”…… that….. “attracted more rock fans and open-minded hippies than it did jazz aficionados,….”.

"Two of the key cogs in Davis's new sound were guitarist John McLaughlin and pianist Chick Corea." ........ MORE

Can Music Education Help Children In Their Reading ?

"Music Education Can Help Children Improve Reading Skills"

Can music education help children in their reading ? Well a study has suggested that there may be a correlation between music education and an improvement in non-musical areas of a child’s life. This is particularly noticeable in the linguistic, mathematical and spatial spheres.

“Children exposed to a multi-year programme of music tuition involving training in increasingly complex rhythmic, tonal, and practical skills display superior cognitive performance in reading skills compared with their non-musically trained peers, according to a study published in the journal Psychology of Music" .......... MORE

Can Listening To Music Enhance Mental And Physical Well Being ?

"Music’s positive effects"

Can listening to music enhances mental and physical wellbeing.  Well, a recent collection of studies has looked at how music developed over the centuries and how humans have responded to it. The studies also consider that the sounds that animals make are analogous to music in their desire to copy or act like each other.

“Other studies look at music’s positive effects on health and immunity, how music is processed in the brain, the interplay between language and music, and the relationship between our emotions and music” ........ MORE

Popular Music And The Recession

“The Recession's in Every Refrain As Pop Music Reflects on Hard Times”Neil Young has just released a new concept album ‘Fork in the Road’ on the "the cratering economy". The present global financial crisis has provided material for "….all manner of musicians, from rock legends and country singers to folkies and rappers… ". In the USA one really needs to go back as far as to the Great Depression to recall a repertoire of this sort. Try to listen to the songs of Woody Guthrie, Blind Alfred Reed, Yip Harburg to get a flavour of this period.

"Although record sales weren't exactly thriving during the period, Harburg's song became a hit for both Rudy Vallee and Bing Crosby. The work resonated because it served as a musical mirror, reflecting people's experiences and sentiments " ...……. MORE

It really leaves us to ask. Are these economic cycles inevitable? Is there any escape from them? And do we need a new economic order?

Has Scientism Sidelined Our Emotions ?

" Scientism is the belief that the sciences have no boundaries"

Has scientism like religious literalism become its own ideology?

Where does scientism leave the likes of literature, psychology, music, arts, philosophy, dreams, the emotions or spirituality in its quest for supreme knowledge? It begs the question of what sort of role literature, psychology, music, arts, philosophy, dreams, emotions, or spirituality have played in human evolution? Are they being sidelined or even ignored by scientism?

"……… it’s our study of human evolution that bring fantastic insight into why we have art, dreams, and mythology in the first place. What a strange notion, that science plays no role in those fields or our understanding of them! .........." MORE