Blog prompt option B

The story of Igor Stravinsky’s  Rite of Spring ballet has always fascinated me because it provoked such an intense and emotional reaction. I believe that music is the most effective art form to affect the passions of humanity. This is because music makes us feel our emotions much more intensely, revealing emotions that otherwise may have remained hidden, or maybe even emotions we wish to suppress. Music not only has an affect on our emotional state, it also has many physical affects. Music can send shivers down our spines, raise our heart rates and even raise our blood pressure. Most composers before Stravinsky aimed to tug the listeners heart strings, with songs conveying love or sadness, however rarely did composers infuse chaos into their musical compositions. Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring was one of the first compositions to completely abandon traditional conventions of composition and introduce anarchy to the ears of listeners. The way that the infamous premier is described makes it seem as though the audience was overcome with a delusional violence. People were screaming,  breaking out into fights, there are even stories of people ripping out the seats of the concert hall and throwing them. It was almost as if the entire audience was dosed with an intense stimulant. This always made me curious as to why the human brain reacts in such an intense way to this jarring percussive style of music. The reason is because when listening to music the brain releases Endorphins such as dopamine, the same chemicals released in the brain when we have sex or consume food or drugs. 

When a musical composition presents unfamiliar and shocking techniques our brains are much more active and release higher quantities of dopamine. Stravinsky’s Rite of spring used many techniques to achieve this overload of endorphins in his audience. Stravinsky frequently used irregular time signatures as well as polyrhythmic sections (where instruments are playing in different time signatures simultaneously) This makes listeners feel uneasy because there the piece is all tension and very little release. The brain has difficulty following and understanding the musical intention without knowing where the beat is. Many of us when we are unable to understand something we become frustrated, like a baby toddler having a temper tantrum banging his hand on the floor. Stravinsky emphasizes this feeling of frustration in his listeners by making the main focus of the ballet percussion as opposed to melody. There are 4 tympani’s  and numerous other percussion instruments and even the strings are asked to play percussively. The irregular and loud percussion ensued chaos in the listeners which was emphasized by the primal and aggressive movements of the dancers. Stravinsky’s goal was to create something that no one had ever imagined before, and in doing so he paved the way for countless future musicians who would lean into this idea of participatory discrepancy. It also gave rise to a new purpose for music; to provoke. 

Throughout the 20th century musicians took after Stravinsky and started to take more chances with the subject matter and composition style of their works in order to provoke their listeners to have a more visceral  or perhaps even primal reaction. One of the most influential and controversial songs of this time was a Beatles song entitled ‘Helter Skelter’ . The song was written by Paul McCartney and was written in an effort to be ‘the loudest dirtiest song ever written’. Paul wrote the song with the intention of shocking the world with his aggressive style that many say birthed the metal movement.  Paul was often criticized for being the ‘soft’ one of the group, only capable of writing love songs and ballads. In order to show he had more musical depth, the piece goes against Paul’s typical writings style.  Although the song is in E major it never features the dominant and little tonal function, the piece is also played at a very high pace with echoing and detuning effects on the instruments and wailing vocals. Paul demonstrates a shrieking style of singing that causes the listeners emotions to rise and the brain to produce more dopamine creating a similar feeling as listening to the Rite of Spring. The piece also plays with your emotions as the piece fades out in a mash of noises and screeching vocals to nothing, however this is to create a false sense of security. Just when you think this intense piece must be over, the soundscape of terrifying sounds slowly fades back in, placing you back in the chaotic soundscape. Although there was not a riot in a concert hall when the Beatles performed the song live, people did react strongly to the piece including one of the scariest minds of our time—Charles Mason. Charles Mason interpreted the Beatles ‘white’ Album as a encrypted prophecy about an apocolyptic racial war. Charles Manson started a cult following which lead to the murder of at least 9 people. 

Although the Beatles never intended influencing anyone in this way, and Stravinsky probably didn’t imagine fist fights would break out due to his Rite of Spring. These composers set out to test the boundaries of music and see the effect on the listener. I think both composers probably realized that their compositions could affect their listeners much more profoundly than they had anticipated. It seems as though music is capable of producing the most profound feelings of joy and love as well cause feelings of anger and outrage. These pieces paved the way for Metal, Grunge and Rap genres which encourage audiences to release their pent up emotions and aggression through crowd diving and Mosh pits. These heart pumping audience behaviours are a big part of live performance experience when it comes to these genres. Some still argue that music that causes these aggressive behaviours is harmful and only encourages violence and conflict. However others argue that it is a healthy way to relieve ourselves of our pent up feelings of anger. It is very possible that both views are true, but what is undeniable is the powerful affect music has on our behaviour and emotions, it is a power that must be wielded with care and intention. 

 

Ted talk on the effects of music on the brain and body.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZFFwy5fwYI&t=40s

Link on anger in music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK29G9XbWrA&t=350s

Article on how the Rite of Spring shaped music over the next 100 years.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/may/29/stravinsky-rite-of-spring

Article describing benfits of listening to Heavy Metal music.

https://interestingengineering.com/7-amazing-mental-benefits-of-listening-to-heavy-metal