Name: Nordini Fadilla binti Mohd Zaidi (2011829368) Nur Hidayu binti Arisman Susanto (2011603556) Class: AS1203I2

The Influence of Music towards University Students

Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. Plato Plato, who is among the greatest philosopher, gave such opinion into the influence of music. Music or in Greek, mousike, is a form of art that created through sound. Its common elements are pitch, rhythm, dynamics and the sonic qualities of timber and texture (en.wikipedia.org). As centuries pass by, music which is only used as a form of cultures performances however begin to has a strong hold on mankind especially towards our future generation, the university students. As a fairytale composed of good and evil, music also has its own good and evil. Well, it is as a proverb goes, every coin has two sides. Music, therefore, to a great extent, has its own advantages and disadvantages which is help in building a good mood, open a fun and easy way of learning foreign languages and effect the students emotion as well as studies. As Plato said, music wings the mind. This is one of the benefits of music towards university students which music leads university students to a better mood and calmness in an emotional turmoil. Classes, assignments, tutorials, social activities are the food of life for university students. Some of them survive in these situations while others are bringing themselves to a dead road. Most of the students are unable to arrange their timetable capably and be deficient in sleep which leads to stress. In this case, music is very suitable for students to release their stress caused by the tight timetable. How? Usually, a persons mood can be influenced by what he or she has heard. Therefore, it is logic if soft music such as classical music and jazz or happy music able to calm the day of university students. This also proved by

scientific study where listening to music release dopamine, a feel good chemical (Emily Sohn, 2011). However, some cases of stress among university students grown into emotional turmoil. Therefore, a psychologist has come up with the idea of music therapy as method to heal an emotional turmoil patient. This idea also been supported by West, where he said, the music probably existed as a form of healing in the most primitive of societies (West, 2000). Hence, a proper music can lead students to a healthier mood and calmness in an emotional commotion. How many languages are there in the world? It is a very difficult task for linguists to give the correct answer to the question. The Ethnologic organization speaks about approximately 6900 languages, and specialists from the National Virtual Translation Center agree with it. The Linguistic Society of America says that there are about 6800 spoken languages (1howmany.com). For a university student, it is helpful if he or she able to fluently speak many languages. But, learning new language means adding water into a full bottle especially for a student with a full day. So, how can he or she learn new language without adding any slot to their timetable? Susanna Zaraysky in her book; Language is Music, explained how she became inspired to use music as a medium to learn foreign languages. Music presents in every towns, countries and continents. Students may learn foreign languages and other cultures through music. Generally, music is linked to a society by the meaning of a song. For example, a song title as Dead and Gone, which is an Americans song, tells a story about the society in America. It is also cannot be denied that some countries starting to promotes their cultures and languages through music such as South Korea, Japan and many more. By this, it is not only the languages but also the accent of the local also able to be practiced. Well, it is just like killing two birds with one stone. Billy Sheehan said that music is always changing and the changes are unpredictable. The changes of music made it also accompanied with some negative effects towards university students. Nowadays, music begins to grow with many types of genres and some of them are not suitable for the emotions and morals of the undergraduates. The university students yet are matured enough to choose their path of life but the surrounding that they always hear may influence them and they tend to interpret a song immaturely since what we hear is what we believe. An improper genre of music such as Hard Rock Metal, according to Sylvia Gaile, creates hate, distrust, disgust that leads to rebellion, aggressive and self- destructive behavior

especially to young people. We can see the effects of this situation in the morals of some university students. Nowadays there are black metal, punk, skin head and many others type of teenagers societies because the influences of music that their heard every day. These trend of societies also spread among the undergraduates made them starting to socialize with dangerous people and lead them to many destruction such as drug abuse. As an Arabian proverb said, If the camel once gets his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow. In the other hand, some university students abuse the advantages of music that made it become less beneficial to them. It is true that music indeed is a source of calmness but, most of the university students listening to music at the same time they are studying. This can cause the students to be distracted from studies. Hearing to music at the same time of studies make the attention of a student toward his or her studies divides. This can be proved by the scientific study from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) which found that students who listen to music created a distraction in their mind to leave an area not best suited for understanding and long-term memory (www.onegirlandavision.com). As a conclusion, music has some advantages towards students which are a proper music leads students to a healthier mood and calmness in an emotional commotion and foreign languages and other cultures can be learned by students through music. There are some disadvantages too which is students might develop negative emotions by hearing improper music and students attention may be distracted from studies while listening to music.