About Positive Music
by Don Robertson
Negative Music
We probably wouldn’t use the term positive
music at all except for the fact that negative music has become such an issue.
Traditionally, in most societies, people have played only positive music. What is
negative music? It is music that stimulates the negative
emotions: anger, frustration, depression, hatred and fear.
One form of negative music is music
that is used to express or to stimulate negative emotions. A Viennese classical composer
named Arnold Schönberg--whom I call the father of negative
music--was the first person to openly create negative music early in the twentieth
century. His music was rejected by European concert attendees of the time and sometimes
caused near riots. Based on discords, Schönberg’s music caused listeners to feel
uncomfortable and irritated. However, Schönberg became the pivotal composer of the early
twentieth century and today he is considered one of the greatest composers of that
century. Schönberg’s music ushered in an era of negative music in Western classical
music that lasted for over fifty years. His theory of twelve-tone music, where
all notes assumed an equal identity and the principals of harmony on which the
world’s music were based were rejected, was accepted by composers throughout the
Western world and was taught in the finest music schools. The result of all this was the
incorporation of negative music into TV programs and movies. Negative music is used to
create emotions of suspense, terror, anxiety, and fear. It is the music that accompanies
crime programs and horror films. The same kind of music that concert audiences rejected
because of the feelings that the music invoked became standard TV fare, and for the very
same reasons.
Arnold
Schönberg opened the door to
negative music: music that employed discordant intervals and harmonies. Many composers
during the twentieth century followed in his footsteps and produced a body of music that
was either fully negative, or incorporated negative elements into the music that they
wrote. Any person who is aware of how music effects them, will feel the effects that
negative classical music has upon them when they listen to it.
Western classical music was the first
style of music to incorporate negativity. The next step in the "evolution" of
negative music was its introduction into rock music in the late 1960s. The first hard
rock and heavy metal music was produced by the rock group called Blue
Cheer in about 1967. Their music was angry and had a noticeably
heavy beat. Shortly after this, a group called MC-5 came out with a recording of
early "hard-rock" music. At this time, the music of the Rolling Stones became
harder, angry, with a negative accent. Many other groups sprang up during this period. In
truth, hard drugs, mixed with psychedelics were having an effect. The world was witnessing
a new phenomena: musical groups of young people were using electrified instruments to bring in a new music that was
harmful to the human psyche, destructive, and angry.
The last three decades of the twentieth
century saw negative rock music spread and popularized throughout the entire world. Heavy
metal music became an accepted culture and from it other forms
of negative music, such as punk and 'grunge' emerged.
|
