Taylor Robert's Final REflections

Taylor Roberts

Int’l Stds 501

1:30-3:18

Beats to Pump up the Volume To

As has been mentioned by everyone, all of the presentations presented a plethora of interesting topics that it was hard to focus and pick only a few to discuss. I found Brian’s discussion on heavy metal and gangster rap in pumping up combat troops in Iraq’s presentation along with John’s discussion on Nordish black metal and Donny’s discussion on techno music particularly interesting. What I found most fascinating was the psychological aspects involved with these presentations. The mental space within the psyche that the music inspires and how it manifests itself in the physical world is the most telling of the effects of music within our lives.

When Donny first mentioned the effects of trance music as being hypnotic and inducing the state of its namesake (a trance) through the 125-150 bpm, it reminded me of a discussion on music therapy I had with my freshman year roommate. She had explained to me that the succession of beats within music can permeate the mind and then in turn have a physiological effect on the human body due to the cadence and wavelength of the sound. Faster beats tend to induce more so feelings of anxiety, excitement, aggression, essentially mimicking the flight or fight response the body goes through when adrenaline pumps into the system. When the body’s heart rate picks up, one tends to be in the aforementioned emotional states versus when the heart rate is slow in a more tranquil state of stasis.

I had this thought again when Brian was talking about Jennifer Atkinson listening to Lil Jon’s “I Don’t Give a F*%$” on repeat as her ‘getting krunked’ music. The music that inspires feelings of aggression and invincibility to the point where one feels that they are on top of the world. What struck me most was the distinction between Metal= Power and Rap= Violence. Brian’s point had me thinking about the perpetuation of violence in rap music within the inner city. This plays itself out in my home city of St. Louis where in listening to some of the local music detailing the horrors and glorification of the ‘ghetto’ a lot of my friends will get themselves get psyched into committing crime. I once had a friend who had come to me stressed about how his friends were pressuring him to steal a car. He initially did not want to do it, but in the aftermath (he was arrested and sent to juvenile detention center for the act) he said that he had blared music for hours to ‘get himself in the mood.’

I know that for myself personally, rap and heavy metal, and techno, and any type of music with a heavy beat and a fast tempo will get me pumped up. As I mentioned in class, my introduction to heavy metal was through this same ‘pumping up’ process. Heavy metal became my ‘krunk’ music when I was the only girl in a kickboxing gym. Not only was I the only girl, but I was the only person under 5’5”, the only person under 150lbs and just about the tiniest, wafer of a person in that gym. I most definitely needed something to give me the mentality that I was ‘bigger’ than I am. With heavy metal, I found a genre of music that made me feel psychologically bigger than I was and allowed me the feeling of power that I could conquer anything in that instance.

This same feeling of power seems to be demonstrated in the early 90’s era of black metal that John presented to the class. They were a highly inclusive group and the music helped to solidify that group mentality, as in the case of me with the heavy metal at the gym. Not only does music help peak the physical state to one of extreme excitement and aggression, but it is also a point of bonding where one can become a part of an in-group through ones immersion in that music. I bonded with my fellow fighters that way and in a warped sort of sense, the black metal scene of Norway in the early 90’s was the same way. These sentiments are demonstrated through the feelings of this community on the new wave of black metal music as not being authentic to the scene. Even with all of the craziness and mass hysteria surrounding this group they are still just that-a group, a community of people participating in this musical movement of rebellion and caustic energy.

All in all, I (especially on account of this class) am continually amazed by the mental, emotional, psychological, cultural, as well as physical ramifications of music.