Imagine that! (All About Music)

Member Name: zOOm

Product:	All About Music
Date:	10/07/01 (71 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can inspire people, makes you feel good, has no boundaries

Disadvantages: can fuel bad feelings, can make you sad

Moods
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It was one of those days, everything had been going wrong. First, my project wasn't working. Due in within the week and I still couldn't get the damn CPU to read the RAM correctly. Then it was friends! What was wrong this week? Did everyone hate me or was this all in my imagination? Then I had a huge argument with my friends, jumped into the car and drove back home from Uni.

It was a typical Melbourne winter day with very dark clouds and the most awesome thunder storm you can imagine. Got home, slammed the door, ignored my parents and walked straight into my bedroom. Grabbed my Walkman and pressed play.

With the curtains open, I could watch the storm and the lightning filled the room. And then the music started. I put up the volume and the ferocious sounds of an electric guitar screamed in my ears. This was what I needed!

The casette was one I borrowed from a friend filled with Persian Rock music. I could not understand one word they were saying, but the guitar and the beat matched my mood.

Fast forward to 2 years later. I am in my final year in Uiversity and need to write up my thesis. As I start, I play classical music to inspire me and relax me at the same time. As I realise I am not going to finish in time I start playing Rock music to pick up the pace a little.

Imagine this: You get up in the morning, skip breakfast, jump in the car and get stuck in traffic on your way to work. Imagine not having music. How bored would you be? How agitated would you be? But then you hear your favourite song, and you start singing along with it and things seem OK for those 3-4 minutes.

How many of us lose control and start playing "air guitar" when we here a very good song?

That is the power that music has over people! Sometimes, your mood will determine what music you listen to, but sometimes the music will determine your mood, relax you, or even inspire you!

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Movie Soundtracks
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That is why a soundtrack is so important to a movie. I heard "My heart will go on" by Celine Dion about a month before I watched "Titanic" but when I watched it, the song became even more magical.

Watch "Top Gun" (the fighter pilot movie with Tom Cruise) and the music keeps with the pace of the movie, listen to the soundtrack on its own, and you are inspired to do your best.

The them music in "Bad Boys" alone gets you excited. Watch the movie. They play the same music over and over again but do you ever notice? No! Do you think that movie would be just as exciting if they had taken out the music?

What would "Rocky IV" be like with the theme music from "Ghostbusters"? The music has a lot more power than most people realise.


Do you like Beethoven?
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What type of music do you like? Would you ever listen to classical music and like it? I bet some of you are disgusted even at the thought of it! But test yourself. There are lots of classical pieces that are used in movies and TV commercials that we are all familiar with.

My favourite is "Canon" by Pachelbel, never heard of it? I bet you have! You may not know the name, but if you hear the tune you'll know the piece. It was actually used in a lot of movies (one of them is "Father of the Bride") and even Coolio used a modified version of it for his song "See you when you get there".

So, what type of songs do I like. Most music really. I like "Unforgiven" by Metallica, most of the Guns 'n Roses songs, Bon Jovi, Madonna, Michael Jackson (yes, I admit to it!), Phil Collins, Celine Dion, Enrique Iglesias... should I go on? I guess you get my point. There are lots of artists out there with lots of different styles yet we still like them.


Memories & emotions

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Somehow music has the power to connect to a person in ways where no other thing does. We associate songs with emotions, places, and even people.

You might hear a song one day on the radio that will remind you of that first ever dance that you had back in high school. That girl, with the long blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes and braces! You may not be able to remember her name, but you'll remember that dance.

You might have been on a skiing holiday in Switzerland, met someone, had a great time and never saw them again. Ten years later you might hear a song and it will bring all those memories flooding back. It's amazing.

Songs have always had a lot of power over people. That's why we have National Anthems, to remind us of who we are and where we belong to and why we are so lucky to be here! (Although I guess the National Anthem is losing its power a little).


Messages
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Songs have the power to pass on messages, and unite people behind a common theme. Want examples, how about "We are the world", the song, (I believe initiated and written by Michael Jackson), brought together most of the main artists of the day (this is the 80's we're talking about) and raised more than $50 million for Africa. I bet no one believed that one single song would have that much power!

How many of you remember the theme music of FIFA 98? "The Cup of Life" by Ricky Martin had become an instant hit! No matter what team you supported, you were singing this song.

What's another good one? Think back to the 70's and "Give piece a chance". How could we actually end all wars? Hmmm... why do we have wars in the first place, because we want to protect OUR country, OUR religion, OUR way of life:

"Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine a
ll the people
Living life in peace..."

Wow! Imagine that! (I guess you know where those words came from).


Covers
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Most people do not like covers. The idea of their favourite song being "massacered" by a teenage pop artist is just too much to take!

Sometimes I agree with them, for example, someone just did a cover of the Phil Collins song "Paradise" and I think they made a complete mess of it!

Did you know that the Venga Boys' song "We're going to Ibiza" is actually a cover of an old song?

Madonna's cover of "Miss American Pie" was not exactly the best either, but was that a bad thing? I think not.

Covers by some of these new artists (actually I can't even call them artists because all they do is sing old and proven songs in a much glamourised fashion) popularise old songs with a whole new generation. So maybe the tune is now faster, but the words are still there.


What's bad?
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Bad is when people "think" they are singing but really they are making a lot of noise and no music. One of these songs (in my opinion of course and you are very welcome to disagree) is "Do you really like it"! I hate it. I also hate the fact that people copy words from one song to another! How many songs have you heard with the words "Put your hands up in the air, wave 'em like you just don't care"! I am sick of hearing the same old phrases over an over again.

"The Maccarena" with it's equally pathetic dance moves was the most annoying song I had ever heard. I hated the first time I heard it and I can't believe some people still play it!

What else is bad? Music also has the power to fuel bad feelings! Depression can be increased by listening to sad songs, and if you are upset with someone and you listen to hate music then it might just
fire you up enough to actually do something bad!


What's great?
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Well, apart from everything not under the "What's bad" title, what's great is that music itself has no boundries! You can go to anywhere in the world and you'll hear music, it might be different but you'll always find something good.

Examples: How many of you have been to the Middle East and found yourself dancing to the beat of an Arabic music that you never heard before?

How many of you like Ricky Martin? Or Enrique Iglesias? How many heard of Tarkan, the Turkish guy that made it to number one across Europe? How many of you learnt the dance to the dance to "Zorba's song"?

Isn't music great? Language has barriers, movies have barriers (they need to be translated most of the time), but music not.

What about me?
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I have stopped listening to sad music for the past few years now. Why should I? I was already seeing sad situations in everyday life, why add to the bad feeling. So I made a decision to only listen to music that would make me happy.


The end
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Well, that took long enough! Happy listening to all!

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