How Music Affects the Brain and Body

HOW MUSIC AFFECTS THE BRAIN AND BODY
Warning: The devil does not want you to read this: he did everything he could to stop it.

Dr Bacchiocchi states: "Satan knows that rock music is a most effective device that he can use effectively to lead millions to worship him rather than God. He wants worship, and this is exactly what he is receiving through the medium of rock music." - The Christian and Rock Music p. 89

"Rock music is a revolutionary “religious” countercultural and anti-Christian movement, which uses its, rhythm, melodies, and lyrics to promote, among other things, a pantheistic/hedonistic worldview, an open rejection of the Christian faith and values, sexual perversion, civil disobedience, violence, Satanism, occultism, homosexuality, and masochism." - The Christian and Rock Music p. 73

Mrs White also warns about it: "There will be shouting, with drums, music, and dancing. The senses of rational beings will become so confused that they cannot be trusted to make right decisions. And this is called the moving of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit never reveals itself in such methods, in such a bedlam of noise." - ll Selected Messages p. 36

Music consists of: (The Christian and Rock Music p. 240 by Tore Sognefes)

Melody - tones arranged to make a tune; when you sing the words of a song, you are singing the melody.
Harmony - the accompanying chords
Rhythm - The beat or pattern of the music, similar to reading a poem out loud
Tempo - The speed at which the piece is played or sung

These elements combine to set the tone of the music; music is a very effective way of communicating emotions, including happiness, melancholy, grandness etc.

Christian, Classical and many other types of Music	Rock Music
Most music starts with words and a melody, then harmony/chords and rhythm are added	Rock music composers start with the rhythm, then they will add some chord progressions which is their harmony then they add a melody. Rock singers rather than singing melodically actually wail and shout their lyrics. - The Christian and Rock Music p. 130-132
Good rhythm will have groups of two, three or four beats, with the emphasis on the first beat and third beats. Strong beat - weak beat - medium beat - weak beat... . This fits in with the body’s natural rhythms, (heartbeat, respiration, and speech). - The Christian and Rock Music p. 134, 240 Tore Songefest.	"In Rock Music the accent pattern is reversed," (weak beat - medium beat - weak beat - strong beat...) "This off beat stops at the end of each bar or measure as if the music stops and then starts again." This goes against the body’s natural rhythm and causes the body to become stressed, releasing adrenaline into the body. This anapaestic or break beat causes an addictive high and as in all addictions the person becomes tolerant and so requires the music to be more jarring, louder, discordant. - The Christian and Rock Music p. 134, 240, 241, 244-248 by Tore Songefest.

The Power of Music: Communicating emotions such as happiness and sadness is not the only thing that music can do; in fact studies have shown that music can affect all of the following: (The Christian and Rock Music p 135, 140, 330)

Mood
Attitudes
Emotions
Stress levels
Self-esteem
Concentration
Performance
Morals/inhibitions
Addictive behaviours

Physical strength
The connection between the brain hemispheres
Blood sugar
Blood pressure
Heart beat
Breathing
Digestion
Hormone balance
Brain structure

The greatest danger from music is that it can bypass the frontal lobe where moral decisions are made. (Depression the Way Out p. 180) Studies over the last 50 years have shown that music enters through the thalamus, the centre for emotions, sensation, and feeling; bypassing the part of the brain which interprets and censures spoken words. "Music, which does not rely on the master-brain to gain entrance into the organism, can still arouse by way of the thalamus—the relay station of all emotions, sensations, and feeling. Once a stimulus has been able to reach the thalamus, the master brain is automatically invaded." The Christian and Rock Music p. 139

Christian and Traditional Classical Music	Rock Music
Traditional classical music such as Mozart's symphonies can help the hemispheres of the brain to work together.	Rock music works to destroy the connection between the two hemispheres.
Stimulates brain function: can be used to improve mood, emotions, stress, self-esteem, concentration, performance and health. "Harmonious hymns and symphonies produce beneficial frontal lobe responses." (Depression the Way Out p.211)	"Certain types of music, such as rock with its syncopated rhythm, bypass the frontal lobe and our ability to reason and make judgements about it... Schreckenberg and Bird's research linked rock-like music to hippocampal damage, they also found it caused frontal lobe shrinkage." Depression the Way Out p. 209, 210 "The avalanche of decibels, especially of hard rock, is designed to blast the emotions and control the mind…" The Christian and Rock Music p. 100, 101
Can increase attention and concentration	Bob Larson explains that rock music "is written to be felt rather than heard. It is performed to dull the attention of the listener." The Christian and Rock Music p. 142
Can be used to help improve physical and mental health	Because volume, as much as 100-135 decibels, is a most important element in rock music these noise levels are capable of producing both temporary and permanent inner ear damage in both the musicians and the audience - the thresh hold for damage is 85 decibels. The noise level is often at the same frequency of a jet taking off. Noise level damage is accumulative – the longer you are exposed to it the more damage there is. (The Christian and Rock Music p. 249-253 by Tore Sognefest)
God has given us the power of choice; He never forces His will on us.	The human mind shuts down after three or four repetitions of a rhythm, or a melody, or a harmonic progression, resulting in either a state of subconscious thinking or a state of anger. Excessive rhythmic repetition is used by people who are trying to push certain ethics in their music. Malcolm McLaren of the Rock Group the Sex Pistols says "Rock and Roll is not just music, You’re selling an attitude too." The Christian and Rock Music p. 90, 91

Rock/Pop Music Vs Christianity and Christian Music:
"Rock music is a revolutionary “religious” countercultural and anti-Christian movement, which uses its, rhythm, melodies, and lyrics to promote, among other things, a pantheistic/hedonistic worldview, an open rejection of the Christian faith and values, sexual perversion, civil disobedience, violence, Satanism, occultism, homosexuality, and masochism." - The Christian and Rock Music p. 73

Sacred Music / Christian Music	Secular Music / Rock Music
Reinforces the messages of the Bible	"Rock Music Distorts the Message of the Bible"
"Music about God should be like God... suitable to praise God in Heaven" The Christian and Rock Music p.338, 339, 341 Eurydice V. Osterman	"The biblical call to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” Ps 96:9; Rom 12:2; Col 3:10; is compromised by using combinations of sounds which are violent, mind-numbing, vulgar, raw, mesmerizing, rebellious, grossly repetitive, uncreative, undisciplined, and chaotic sounding. If listeners do not hear these things it is because rock has dulled their aesthetic sensibilities."
The Bible, Samuele Bacchiocchi in The Christian and Rock Music, The SDA Philosophy of Music, R R Breitigam in The Challenge of Child Evangelism and Kathleen Meyers in Teaching Tiny Tots all warn about this mixing of secular with sacred. Both the music and the words should be sacred.	The music is more important than the words since it is the music itself that makes (negative) physical changes to the body, "The rock beat impacts on the mind and body whether the lyrics are sacred or secular.” The Christian and Rock Music p. 144
As E. G. White says, "There are few means more effective for fixing His words in the memory than repeating them in song. And such song has wonderful power... It is one of the most effective means of impressing the heart with spiritual truth." Education p. 167, 168	Rock Music Embodies the Spirit of Rebellion. No other music has appeared during the past twenty centuries which so blatantly rejects all the moral values and beliefs espoused by Christianity.
Dedicated to God	In her book Numerology, Sybil Leek, a British witch claims that "Many of the rock stars have dedicated their songs to the devil and use satanic symbols in their actions and pictured on the covers of their albums. Signs include crystal balls, goats’ heads, upside down crosses, tarot card characters, pyramids, 2/4, palmistry signs of the Zodiac, the satanic ass, a five-pointed star in a circle, the extended tongue, and the ‘Il Cornuto’ which is a traditional Sicilian sign consisting of the forefinger and the little finger extended, while the other fingers are curled in a fist. Used to ward off the evil eye." The Christian and Rock Music p. 88
Christian music culture: Edification Creativity Delayed Gratification High Standards Objective Worldview Non-Commercial Disciplined Beauty/Truth Gospel Balance	Secular music culture: Entertainment Novelty Immediate Gratification Low Standards Subjective Worldview Commercial Indulgent Pretty/Grotesque Aesthetic Imbalance

"A humorous story may serve to illustrate the difference between hymns and (secular style) praise songs. A farmer attended a city church one weekend. Upon returning home his wife asked him, “How was the service?” “Well,” said the farmer, “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns. “Praise choruses?” said his wife, “What are those?” “They’re sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer. “Well, what’s the difference?” “Well, it’s its like this. If I were to say to you ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well that would be a hymn. If on the other hand I said to you, ‘Martha, Martha, Oh Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn,’ well, that would be a praise chorus." The Christian and Rock Music p. 342

Rock Music in Evangelism: Many believe we should use rock/pop music to reach people where they are. However when this happens rather than raising the person up to God’s standard the church is lowered to the world's standard.

Churches get caught up in the never ending race to keep up with the latest music fad; music becomes more important than Biblical issues. The Christian and Rock Music p. 308
"The use of rock music in evangelism should be avoided because it reminds young people of their rebellious past." The Christian and Rock Music p. 311 Guenter Preuss
Calvin Johansson in a later chapter of the Christian and Rock Music p. 296 "Because the power of music is so strong, worship music which is consistently entertaining, novel, immediately gratifying, standard-less, subjective, commercially-driven, undisciplined, pretty or grotesque, and unbalanced, plants the idea in the Christian that faith is like these things. One cannot go to church week after week and be fed religious pop without being negatively affected."
He also goes on to say "To assume that music that promotes perversion can be made into a medium that proclaims salvation just by changing its label and lyrics is like believing that the devil can be made into a Saviour just by changing his job description….God never has nor will He ever use the devil’s tools to attract sinners unto Himself." The Christian and Rock Music p. 339
Eurydice V. Osterman in The Christian and Rock Music p. 336 states "When leaders are weak or afraid to take a stand, they tend to yield to the whims and desires of the parishioners. Instead of leading, they are led, causing their own eternal loss as well as that of the people entrusted to them. …When leaders fail to lead the people into paths of righteousness, they allow them to follow the path to self-destruction... Often in Contemporary Christian music, the holy is mixed with the profane, because the ultimate concern is to make sales, rather than to save lost sinners."

Conclusion:
I feel that we have a similar situation to that which occurred at the end of the dark ages when as Mrs White says in Great Controversy p 42-43 "Now the church was in fearful peril. Prison, torture, fire, and sword were blessings in comparison with this. Some of the Christians stood firm, declaring that they could make no compromise. Others were in favor of yielding or modifying some features of their faith and uniting with those who had accepted a part of Christianity, urging that this might be the means of their full conversion. That was a time of deep anguish to the followers of Christ. Under a cloak of pretended Christianity, Satan was insinuating himself in to the church, to corrupt their faith and turn their minds from the word of truth." Great Controversy p. 42 & 43. At this time many Christians came to accept various pagan customs and practices; when out and out torture had failed, Satan moved to more subtle means. I feel that this is what is happening to our church today and music is one of the main avenues. Let us constantly be on guard to identify and withstand the attack. By being fully aware of the music we are exposed to, and expose others to, we can employ music to its full and proper potential in the spread of the Gospel.

Bibliography:
Bacchiocchi, Samuele. The Christian and Rock Music. Biblical Perspectives. 2000.
Bretigam, R.R. The Challenge of Child Evangelism. Southern Publishing Association. 1950.
Beaty, J.J. Observing the Development of Young Children. Charles E Merrill Publishing Co. 1990
Bell, Norma June. Recipe for Little Christians.   Sabbath School Productions. 1976.
Bell, Anne. & Habenicht, Donna. How to Teach Children in Sabbath School.   Review & Herald. 1983
Kaplan, Paul S. A child's Odyssey. West Publishing Company. 1991.
Lowe, Alice. Building Little Christians. Review & Herald. 1981.
Meyer, Kathleen Louise. Teaching Tiny Tots.    Pacific Press. 1967.
Nedley, Neil, MD. Depression the Way Out. Nedley Publishing. 2009
Sage, Janet. Little Sabbath Songs. Sabbath School Productions. 1977
White E.G.  Child Guidance, Southern Publishing Association.
White E.G.  Education, Pacific Press
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White E.G.  Great Controversy,   Pacific Press.
White E.G.  Messages to young People, Southern Publishing Association
White E.G.  Testimonies Vol 1 & 9, Pacific Press.
White E.G.  Selected Messages Book 2, Review and Herald.
Internet:
Ballam, Michael. Music and the Mind.
O’Donnell Laurence. Music and the Brain. 1999   Music Power,
https://users.characterlink.net;odonnell/report.html