Reflecting on my childhood, I think my parents did an above-average job of exposing me to various music genres. Of course, their musical tastes were played a majority of the time. However, I can distinctly remember various occasions where our old conversion van was playing Broadway showtunes one day and jazz the next. Now, as I'm an adult that spends 5 days a week with children, I'm surprised and slightly appalled at what students are (or are not) listening to.
I'll say that my parents only played lyrically-appropriate music for me when I was a child. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be taken into consideration anymore. When I read the article, " Is Mainstream Music culture Affecting Our Morality System?" I found myself shaking my head in agreement. The article gives examples on how many times we just subconsciously sing along to songs without really thinking about how degrading the lyrics are. The example given was referencing using a date-rape drug on a woman and taking advantage of her. We try to justify these lyrics by telling ourselves, "oh it's just a song." But then we, as a society, are surprised when this happens in real life.
In this week's reading, Plato gives a direct correlation with the music you listen to and your morality compass. Essentially, if you listen to good music you are a good person; if you listen to bad music then you don't have very good morals. In regards to this first article, I think Plato hit the nail on the head. If you are constantly listening to music with lyrics that objectifies women, degrades another race or religion, or talks about immoral things (ex. adultery, murder, theft, etc.) sooner or later you will be influenced by those things.
Prior to doing some article searching for this week, I had no idea how the idea of warning labels on records came about. When I read about Tipper Gore's experience on buying her child music and being appalled at the sexually explicit lyrics that Prince is now known for, I was surprised that it had taken that long for someone to raise awareness on music. The NPR article goes on with an excerpt from a book, insisting that the sexually explicit and violent lyrics need to stop. I definitely think that Plato is turning over in his grave if he's hearing some of the music being released today.
While I know I can't control what my students listen to outside of school, I think it's my job to at least expose kids to as much "good" music as possible. Who knows, perhaps my influence will inspire one of my students to stop listening to gangsta rap.
References
"Is Mainstream Music Culture Affecting Our Morality System" by Zelena Williams at uptownmagazine.com
"Tipper Gore and Family Values" by Robert Siegel on npr.org
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