I am aware that driving with or without music in the car does affect the way a person
drives. To me, music has its good and bad. The good is that it does relax me when I am in a
tense situation, like driving in traffic or driving at night in unknown places. When I do drive in
traffic, I am more tolerated of others mistakes. The bad thing is that sometimes music is a
distraction.
Especially, when a favorite song of mine comes up. I will listen more to the music than paying
attention to the roads. I remember there are a couple of times that I was so absorbed into the
music that I missed my turn. This is an example of careless mistakes that I've made while
listening to music.
I feel that when I listen to upbeat type of music, I have more energy and feel more excited.
Sometimes, I even feel restless that I begin to speed. I am aware that I am less tolerated of bad
driving behaviors. I would get mad faster and I am in less control of my own behaviors. When I
do listen to mellow types of music, I am more relaxed. I am more in control with my behaviors.
Therefore, I pay more attention to the road. I usually don't have the impulse to drive faster but
it's the opposite, I drive slower. How weird. I feel that I drive more aggressively with upbeat
type of music than to melodious music.
I feel that music does have an impact on life one way or another. If not driving, it has impact
on our daily life. I feel that music are a way to enrich someone's life and reduce the stress we
encounter daily. For driving, it would have profound effect if people steer away from listening to
the type of music that promotes bad driving behaviors. Listening to mellow type of music, such
as instrumental is a good stress releaser and it does not give someone a rush of adrenaline to do
something risky.
How does music affect me when I am driving? Let's take a step back and look at the past. Dr.
James wants us to review our own history of relationship with music in cars, starting with
childhood as a passenger and ending with today. When I was a child riding in the car as a
passenger, I did not realized that music can affect the behavior of a driver. I used to love
changing station on the driver, especially to my dad. When I did not like a song on a certain
station, I would just reach out and change the station. A lot of people get annoyed and I didn't
understand why. Until I started driving and other people do it to me. Sometimes, this changing
station, makes me lose my concentration on the road. It is because I get annoyed and I would
have to listen to their music. Now, I learn to keep my hands to myself and listen to whatever
music the driver's listen to. Being a passenger in a car does not give you the rights to mess
around in other people's car and distract them from the road.
For many, being a teenager is the toughest time in a person's life. That is when peers matter the
most and they have many influences over a teenager's life. Many teens like to take risk and have
fun. Especially, driving on the road. I remembered how fun it was when a group of my friends
would go cruising and do some wild things. Like racing, playing chicken, having fun in the car
and not paying attention on the road. I remembered that music had a great influence on our
reckless driving. We used to love listening to heart-pounding type of music. When upbeat type
of music comes on, we become a little more reckless and we take a little more risk. That was a
way of having fun. Now, I don't see that as a mean of having fun anymore. When I looked back,
there were so many incidents where someone could have gotten hurt or even die. Worst of all,
we didn't think about other people. We only thought about ourselves and how we believed that it
couldn't have to us. But, now I know, it could happen.
After taking this class, I began to learn more about the actions we take. How our surrounding
and the music we listen to can affect of driving behaviors. I am more aware of the music I listen
to and try not to listen to heart-pounding type of music when I am angry. I used to always listen
to upbeat type of music and it would make me more angry. Nowadays, I would listen to more
mellow music and it does calm me down a little, especially when I am angry. Hopefully, I can
learn to listen to any type of music and not affect my driving behavior. I would try to learn more
about how I drive to different type of music and be more aware of it. This way I can learn to
control my behavior. Eventually, good behavior will be an unconscious thing. Doing it without
realizing that I am doing it.
Subject: Re: To Rich: Bad? A Feel Good Song?
Well, music is surely open to a lot of interpretation and affects
different people in different ways - especially considering the ideas
behind many songs aren't always clear at first, or possible ever even
known to some people. The upshot is that a song - such as Bad - can make
evoke different reactions to different people. Personally I can think of
quite a few songs - U2 and non-U2 - that sound serious or hearbreaking,
but make me feel good, and others which are upbeat but make me
meloncholy. Maybe a lot of it depends on when you first hear the
song...or what it reminds you of...
For me, Bad can go a lot of different ways depending on the situation I
hear it in. Sometimes it lifts me up - sometimes it brings me crashing
to earth. Music, esp. U2, is funny like that...
..:: stigge ::..
In my opinion, I think that that Stigge is right. Certain song evokes certain memory for a person
depending on what the song reminds you of. Like Stigge said, songs that sound serious or
heartbreaking, may make him feel good and songs that are upbeat may make him feel sad.
Therefore, it depends on the situation you're in or you've had that make people react to different
songs differently.
Music has always been a "companion" for me. It talks and
expects nothing in return. I control what it says. It can
cheer me or soothe me. Due to depression, I have spent
a great deal of my life alone. Music fills a void. Music is
like another life form. I can't explain why but I love music.
Any kind , except opera. Be well . Bob
In this case, music is a way to help someone that are having problem. Music helps this
person Bob to find something to fill the void in his life. Music affects me when I am sad.
Sometimes, it cheers me up because what I feel are put into words. Hearing the lyrics of certain
songs can release the emotion you feel inside.
Subject: Re: What does music mean????
Dear Michelle,
Thank you for posting your question!
Music is a very personal experience for everyone. It evokes memories of every
kind in a different way to every person who hears it. The same piece of music
may mean something entirely different to you as it does to me. And that's OK.
We all use music to help us through our various phases of life, for example,
when you're sad you will usually listen to something matching your sadness.
(the loss of a boyfriend/girlfriend, the loss of a loved one, even the loss
of a pet). On the other hand, we have a tendency to listen to uplifting music when we are
happy or in a "party mood". Just as when you were sad, you'll match your mood
when you are happy too, etc.
Music is meant to allow us, as human beings, to express ourselves and release
the emotions God gave us.
Music is also the vehicle we use to try to express our emotions when words
simply don't work. Have you ever found something so incredibly moving that
words just can't do it justice? That's the point at which music becomes the
emotion for us. The music IS our emotion. Through it, we have the ability
to come to terms with our circumstances, for whatever reason. (happy or sad or
calm)
Music is also an art form and sometimes doesn't have any meaning other than
existing for the sake of being the "art form" itself. (i.e. "Industrial") I'm
not saying that any particular style is wrong, I'm just trying to point out
that they are all serving a different purpose in the whole gamut of the musical
world.
Music is totally a personal expression of the artists. Each artist
has what they perceive to be their "mission" in life. To evaluate and put a
definition to the phrase "what is music", may cause us to intellectually
sabotage our enjoyment of a truly individual experience.
If you really need a definition, here it is .......
In my training at music school, we were taught that music is made up of the
following: 1. rhythm
2. melody
3. harmony
Do you think we should be accepting of any "music" that does not fit into this
mold???????????
Thanks for posing an age-old, thought provoking, question!
Sincerely,
Virginia
Music is an expression, an emotion, an art, an experience and a vehicle for expression
when words don't work. Music is anything you want it to be. Music is mainly a form of
enjoyment. Without music, life would be so different.
I found an article by Byron Friesen on How
Music Affects Us. His article talks about how different type of music affects us. He also
looked into some pro's and con's of the different type of music and lyrics. He talked about three
different type of music: Gangsta Rap, Country and Rock. He talked a lot about the first type of
music which is Gangsta Rap. Gangsta Rap is very popular and it's still growing. But many see
that this type of music as a cause to violence in the community. Rap produce feelings in listeners
that increased their aggressive behaviors. Therefore, many blame Rap for the increase in crime in
America's youth and the decrease of family value. Next, he talked about Country music. These
are more of a mellow type of music about life. He finds that sometime its meanings are deep and
depressing. Sometimes, it's known to have caused teenage suicide because of it's depressing
lyrics. But once in a while it's a nice change to be able to get away from those meaningless type
of music to something that express quite a bit of emotions. The last type of music he talked about
is Rock. This is an in-between type of music. He called it an in-between because sometimes, it's
soft like Country and sometimes, it hard hitting like Rap. In a way, it has its own unique style.
But it also has its bad side, Rock music does talk about killing, crime and death. Sometimes, it
also contributed to teenage deaths. As you see, different type of music does affect the way how
one feels and behaves.
The first report that I found was a report done by Canaan Machida on Mini Self-Witnessing Experiment. What she
did in this experiment was to observe her behavior and thoughts while she was driving on the
road. She picked two different Saturdays to observed her behaviors. The first day, she
experienced a lot of negative driving behaviors and got mad quite often. In this experiment she
learned that listening to certain type of music helps in releasing some stress. Therefore, on the
second day of the experiment she learned to change her driving behaviors. When she realized that
she is becoming impatient, all she had to do was to sing along with the CD or any type of music
she was listening to. This helped to calm her down and not to get mad at the other driver.
Overall, in her experiment music does play a part in controlling her feelings and instead of getting
mad at the other drivers, she just sang. La De Da!!
Looking through the Rothe book, it was hard to find specific things that deals with music and
driving. The closest thing that I could find was in chapter 3. In one section the author expressed
his concerns about accidents and accidents on the road. The author suggested that accidents can
be related to "sound". "Sound is a disturbance that propagates in an elastic medium. Sound can
be described objectively by frequency and amplitude. Related to sound is the concept of noise.
Noise is an unwanted sound" (Rothe, p.46). Music is sound and sound is the concept of noise.
Many people abused the use of music as an entertainment. Music is for people to enjoy when
they are at home or driving in the car. Some people listen to music at such a high frequency and
amplitude that it is a disturbance to the driver as well as other drivers.
In chapter 7, the author stressed that education is important in traffic safety. There were four
points and one of the point was that " so often, traffic safety educators look upon young driver
accidents in a linear, causal way. For many crashes this approach has merit. However, a large
number of crashes result from in-car activities or driver mood. A theme worth stressing is that
inattention to the road arising from passengers, loud music, mental pressure or
psychological escape, can lead to serious mishaps" (Rothe, p.146).
Searching through the ERIC and UnCover database, I found some articles that are related to
music.
Took, K.J. and Weiss, D.S. The Relationship between Heavy Metal and Rap Music and
Adolescent Turmoil: Real or Artifact? Adolescence, 1994, 29, 613-21.
Arnett, J. The Soundtrack of Recklessness: Musical Preferences among Adolescents. Journal
of
Adolescents Research, 1992, 7, 313-31.
Lester, D. and Whipple, M. Music Preference, Depression, Suicidal Preoccupation, and
Personality: Comment on Stack and Gundlach's Papers. Suicide and Life-Threatening
Behavior, 1996, 26, 68-70.
Lehtonen, K. and Shaughnessy, M. Music as a Treatment Channel of Adolescent Destructivity,
1994.
Edwards, E.D. and Singletary, M.W. Life's Soundtracks: Relationships between Radio Music
Subcultures and Listeners' Belief Systems. Southern Speech Communication Journal,
1989, 54, 144-58.
Well, the report is almost done. All I have to do is to look at the other student's report and state
my opinions of it. It's either good or bad. I first looked at Grace Lumabao's report. I found the presentation was
nicely displayed. The background was nice except for the part that I can't read because it's white
on white. Don't worry, I will tell her. Overall, she did a good report. She presented good datas
that relates to music and driving. I like the comments she made of the different type of music can
affect driving behaviors. I also like to drive with music on because it makes the time go by faster
when you are in traffic.
In some ways we are practically writing the same things about music and driving but with our
opinions and different ways of seeing a certain situation. In Ryan Shintani's report he started by asking the question
of "are you tuning in or tuning out?" He expressed that sometimes music helps a person drives
but some people might drive better without music. It all depends on the individual and the moods
that they are in.
After doing this report and taking this psychology class, I've learned a lot about the effects of
music on individual. Don't you ever wonder why places like the mall or stores play music? At
first, I thought it was purely for enjoyment purposes but now I could see that there might be
another reason. A lot of the music we hear in the stores and the mall are purely classicals or slow
rock. What I have learned is that these types of music have calming effects on the individual.
Maybe, you'll buy more things. But, let's get back to how music affects driving behaviors. Like I
mentioned earlier that classical music and slow rock music have calming effects on the individual,
it would be the same when you are driving. Don't you noticed that those people who likes to
speed and drive recklessly are listening to heart-pounding musics. They would turn the volume
up high. These people do not realize that listening to heart-pounding music will increase your
heartbeat, therefore, increasing the adrenaline. This rush of energy gives the people an excuse to
speed. One of the way to release it is to drive really fast. What a thrill you can have, but what
about the risk that you are taking?
Many people don't realize that music can be a distraction. It can cause you to lose your
concentration. In Ryan's report, he mentioned
the lost of concentration when you are changing your radio station or changing your CD's. Those
couple of seconds you take your eyes off the road could be the most crucial seconds of your life.
Anything can happen. For example, my brother only took his eyes off the road for a couple of
seconds to change the station when he got into an accident. I prefer listening to tapes because I
don't have to change station and it replays itself.
It's hard to say what the future is going to bring. It's hard to say what kind of improvement the
future is going to bring. But for now, all we can do is to educate the people on the effects of
driving with and without music. We can also let people know the types of music they listen to can
affect their driving behaviors. Maybe a QDC or Self Witnessing will make people see and learn
more about their behavior while driving on the road.
Table of Contents
Summaries
of Student's Postings
Where to
Begin?
Usenet
Web
What Next: Searching
through the Generational Curriculum
Where to: Searching
through Literatures
The Next Step:
Searching through the Databases
My Final
Reaction
Conclusion
Mr. Sasabe wrote: on a different day, I was driving
and realized that the music was off. It was a big surprise because I was so calm and relaxed that it
was almost like meditating. So I recommend that you should sometimes stop listening to the
music in your car. It's really different!
Mr. Miyoshi wrote: once in a while someone turns off
the music in my car before I get in and when I realize that it is off it surprises me. I find myself
almost in a meditative state when the radio is off. I am more calm and am able to control my
feelings more!
Mr. Miyoshi wrote: it is interesting because rock
music makes our hearts beat faster and that might get our adrenaline flowing and made us lose
some of our senses.
Mr. Shintani wrote: when I want to drive fast, I play a CD that has a
powerful or fast beat. My favorite is the Top Gun soundtrack. If I want to relax while driving I
would put in mellow CD like Kalapana or some type of soft rock.
Mr. Shintani wrote: it has been proven in studies that
playing of classical music in malls helps to reduce the amount to violence in these malls. It is done
in two ways by mellowing or relaxing people and by staying away from a certain section of the
community that causes a lot of the crimes.
Ms. Ford wrote: I was aware of my tension in the car,
so for several years now, I've used a melodious tape to mellow myself out when I am
driving?Rain Melody, beautiful flute music, Ghandharva Veda music (supposed to bring harmony
into the atmosphere). It seems to work for me.
Mr. Lee wrote: slow music relaxes you and you get
more mellow. If you don't believe it, then ever tried driving really fast with classical music. I did
hear an interesting fact, babies in the womb become more calm children when mothers listen to
classical music. Maybe classical music is the solution???
Ms. Hashimoto wrote: when I am driving, music
makes me relaxed and calm. I feel that when I am driving in traffic the music that I listen to helps
me to feel less anxious and frustrated. I'm able to tolerate more unsafe drivers by letting them get
a head of me. Music is an awesome way to relax when I'm driving.
Where to Begin?
Usenet
Let's talk about what type of Usenet I used. I used the newsgroup called Dejanews.
There wasn't any information on driving and music so I had to go another way. I had to search
for just music alone and how it affects us in general. Here are some of the information I found
regarding music and the affects of music on different people.
From: "..:: stigge ::.."
Date: 1998/03/09
Message-ID: <3504B342.27A0161@fnord.net>
Newsgroups: alt.music.u2
Subject: Re: Dark/melancholic music
From: scrmnjay@aol.com (Scrmnjay)
Date: 1998/03/09
Message-ID: <19980309202500.PAA06858@ladder03.news.aol.com>
Newsgroups: alt.support.depression
From: virgsings@aol.com (Virgsings)
Date: 1998/03/10
Message-ID: <19980310034700.WAA25760@ladder03.news.aol.com>
Newsgroups: k12.ed.music
Web
The other way I used was the Web. I used the search engine Yahoo. It was also very
hard trying to find topics related to driving and music. Even on the Web, this subject wasn't
talked about much. I typed in the search words driving and music and I come up with nothing. It
mostly deal with music alone or driving alone. It does not have information on the combination of
both topics together. Therefore, I resort to just searching for how music affects our daily life in
general.
What next?:
Searching through the
Generational
Curriculum
Where to?:
Searching through
Literatures
The Next Step:
Searching through the
Journal
Database
My Final Reaction
Conclusion