Music is a major part of just about everyone’s lives. If you're a college student reading this, when you walk around campus, do you notice a large majority of students have airpods or headphones blasting the latest songs? As people in the business world, during your commutes to work and home, do you find yourself listening to music or hear music projecting from other cars? There is much talk about music in general, is it good or bad? Where does it come from? How does it affect us personally? It is evident that (the quality of) music has changed since its emergence in the early Homo Sapiens through ongoing research relating to music.  The powerful impact of historical music on the evolution of today’s music is often overlooked.  

       While music’s notoriety and importance has increased, so has the opinions of the outside world.  According to critics, music released today is flat out bad- in terms of lyricism, tempo, message, and other qualities that have made music of the past great.   Modern-day listeners will argue that their favorite musical artists help make them and the world they live in better. Though this may be true for some, on the other hand, there has been a decrease in the release of beneficial music.  Music’s ability to influence is quite large, larger than people believe and this influence has aided in altering societal cultures. Sex, money, drugs, and violence are at the forefront of today’s musical lyrics.  There are many different musical genres today compared to any time in history, a large majority of people who listen to music listen to rap which is often categorized as derogatory.  When tying in music’s power of influence, the genre of rap and culture- it can be argued that derogatory music, specifically rap has altered societal cultures.

​

    According to Google, music is defined as vocal or instrumental sound (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. People often stake the general claim that music causes emotions.  Often times, people fail to realize that music is very broad and has many different branches.  Within these branches, there are various factors that contribute to the makeup of the songs heard today.  Some of these factors can include, genre, artist, and lyrics all of which can individually have effects on listeners.  There has been much research in regards to what specific musical qualities have an impact on emotions.  Exhibition of emotions while listening to music is genre-based.  

​