[MissBrattified]

You know, I'm not going to take the time to critique this article, because I'm not terribly offended by it.

Just a thought: Sarah did a persuasive essay a couple of weeks ago, and she chose to write about hip-hop lyrics, and how they possibly encourage aggressive, immoral & criminal behavior, in addition to being degrading to women and encouraging disrespect toward women.

I did not shape her outcome beforehand, and allowed her to do deep research, including reading lyrics and watching videos that would normally be off limits. It was carefully supervised for her protection, but she was exposed to some content that she found shocking. We ended up diverging into heavy metal and "horror-core", in addition to hip-hop and rap.

ANYway, in the midst of the research, we came across a study where a researcher had placed 30 boys in three rooms, 10 in each room. (Secular researcher, secular college) She had foosball tables set up in each room. In the first room, the boys played with no music. In the second, there was music playing, but no lyrics. And in the third, there was the same music playing, but with the lyrics. (If I recall correctly, it was heavy metal) Their observations were that in the first room, the behavior was normal, but in the 2nd and 3rd, it was more aggressive and loud. Since the behavior in rooms 2 and 3 were similar, she concluded that it was the music itself that prompted the change in behavior, and not necessarily the lyrics.

We read a report in one of our science magazines about different sounds being used to calm monkeys, and also to get them to behave aggressively or anxiously. The inference was that humans would be affected similarly. We watched a show on the History channel awhile back that showed how drum rhythms were used to bring people into a sort of emotional frenzy during ancient tribal rituals and celebrations.

And, of course, as an Apostolic musician, I KNOW that music can and has been used to manipulate the emotional tone in a church service.

I said all that to say: There is some merit to the idea that certain types of sounds, including in the form of "music" has a direct effect on human behavior. So while older ministers may articulate that point differently, they weren't entirely wrong.