MUSIC, MODERN
And the voice of harpers and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee.
—Rev. 18:22
3866 Music-ing The Plants
Over the past two years, Mrs. Dorothy Retallack has carried on a series of experiments in the laboratory of Temple Buell College. The experiments consist of the simple placing of plants before the radio, exposing them to the various types of music. The reactions are almost unbelievable. Three hours of rock music a day shrivelled young squash plants, flattened philodendron and crumpled corn in less than a month. Mrs. Retallack wonders what the same rock music is doing to teenagers.
—Sawdust Trail
3867 Pigs’ Ears “Shriveled Up”
A researcher at the University of Tennessee conducted a study with guinea pigs:
On some days the animals listened to as much as 4 hours of popular teenage music. On other days they heard none. Both ears were exposed for the next 45 hours of listening and after that the left ear plugged.
After 88 hours and 30 minutes of exposure to this hard- sounding music, the cochlear cells were photographed. Cells in the left ear were normal. But many of those in the right ear had collapsed and “shriveled up like peas.” This study was prompted when screening of freshmen at the University of Knoxville revealed a high proportion of students with a measurable hearing loss. University authorities were shocked to find that the hearing of many students had already deteriorated to a level of the average 65-year-old person.
3868 Savage Reaction To Rock
Bob Larson, in his book, Rock and Roll, the Devil’s Diversion, relates concerning a missionary in an uncivilized part of Africa. He took tape recordings of music to a remote tribe. One recording was of a wholesome semi-classical nature. When it was played, the natives smiled and indicated in their language that they wished to hear more. Then the missionary played a tape of rock-and-roll music. The natives grabbed their spears as if they were going to fight, and picked up stones to smash the recording and destroy the music.
3869 As Loud As Saturn Rocket
In front of the bandstand at a Gainesville club for teenagers, a University of Florida researcher team found the noise measured 120 decibels—as loud as the Saturn 5 moon rocket measured from the press site at Cape Kennedy.
Dr. Kenneth C. Pollock said his associates at the audilogy laboratory were forty feet outside the club before the sound dropped below ninety decibels, which the American Medical Association says is the threshold above which damage is caused.
By the time they are twenty-five years old, the youngsters will have the problems of the aged as sounds of consonants become hard to hear.
3870 No Pay For Loudness
Fullerton, Calif., High School has a new provision in contracts with rock bands that play at school dances. A decibel meter will be used during a performance, and if the sound level goes over 92 decibels, the band doesn’t get paid. Good idea.
—Selected
3871 Victory In Vienna
Austrian pop stars Waterloo and Robinson have a complaint about the city of Vienna. It won’t surrender to pop, country, and rock rhythms. So enshrined in the hearts of the citizens are Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Hayden, Schubert, Mahler, Bruckner, and Johann Strauss that they will not compromise their music standards. Vienna is the only city where the Beatles had to cancel a scheduled appearance because advance ticket sales were disastrous.
—Prairie Overcomer
3872 Rock Music Builds Tension
In the Western world, Laszlo Gati, conductor of the Victoria (BC) Symphony, charged music has been taken over by people who are shrewd manipulators, using music to appeal to the emotions in advertisements and for other commercial purposes.
“I am really worried that 100 or 300 years from now when they try to analyze why the rest of civilization has demised, the reason will not be the atomic bomb, but the kind of music we have been exposed to.”
According to the conductor, rock music builds tensions, while classical strains like Mozart and Beethoven relax the listener, removing tension.
3873 Louder Than Loudest Classical Music
Knieste, 58, is a choirmaster, organist and music therapist. He has studied the effects of rock music for the past 10 years.
Mr. Knieste and an audio technician evaluated a Hendrix record and found that it contained three times as much noise as Tschaikowsky’s 1812 Overture, the loudest piece they could find in classical music.
—The Sawdust Trail
3874 Depends On Stimulation Needs
A student cannot study well while listening to a blaring radio. Right? Don’t tell the kids, but that’s not necessarily true.
Dr. Raymond M. Guydosh, professor at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, U. S. A., says, “Our research has shown that some persons require a high level of distraction to increase their mental performance.”
The university psychologist points out that there are two types of people: high stimulation and low stimulation.
Those who have a high need for stimulation actually performed better under noisy conditions. Those with a low stimulation level worked far better in a no-noise atmosphere.
3875 Epigram On Music (Modern)
• Today it isn’t facing the music that hurts, it’s listening to it.
See also: Art World ; Pollution—Noise.
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