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AREYOUAWARE?
Appleton, Wisconsin February 2016 Vol. XXI
Issue I
Page 9
By Jack Russell
Pop goes the world: Music returns to its roots
In the 20th and 21st centu-
ries alone, pop music has un-
dergone massively significant
stylistic shifts, mainly due to
the compelling societal and
cultural changes our nation
has experienced. The classic
country of Marty Robbins and
Johnny Cash paved the way
for Fleetwood Mac and The
Jackson Five. Guns N’ Roses
led the scene to leave room for
Oasis and Sunny Day Real Es-
tate. Even Britney Spears left
the limelight; the likes of Katy
Perry (and yes, Fetty Wap)
took focus.
However, something quite
peculiar is happening in today’s
music world. We’re repeating
ourselves. The cycling genres
of yesterday are now coming
full circle. Hozier. Adele. Sam
Smith. Notice the homages
paid to Billy Joel. Sinatra. Tom
Waits. Popular music has al-
ways been an evolutionary art
and we as a culture evolve with
it, but strangely enough, we’re
reverting back to a better time,
a simpler time. We’ve been
taking a closer look back at our
past. And here’s why.
The world is still changing,
but we’re seeing some patterns.
“Those who fail to learn from
history are doomed to repeat
it.” In almost every case, this
phrase has irrefutable weight
to it. Y2K spawned a techno-
logical revolution with the ex-
pansion of the Internet, much
like the industrial revolution of
1900 onward. The recession of
2008 reminded us of the Great
Depression. Even the supreme
court decision of June 25th,
2015, to legalize homosexual
marriage had roots in the de-
segregation of the south in the
1960s: freeing a social minority
from abuse and torment.
Moon - and pretty soon that
genre will be exhausted.
The reason we are going
back to our roots with more
traditional pop instruments, is
because we’re rebooting a little
bit from exhaustion. We build
up a sound, and build up an-
other, and keep increasing the
arrangements of electronics
and different layers until we’ve
created something unlisten-
able: dubstep and trap. This is
a theory I like to call “Rev The-
ory.” We rev up new sounds
and styles over the years, like a
manual gear on a car, until that
genre gets exhausted (or gear).
We then shift gears, and we start
anew, evolving more sounds
along the way after we’ve re-
turned to our roots for a bit.
We are currently in the fraction
of time between the peak of a
“gear” and the next rev state,
where we need to bring back
traditional pop, piano, guitar,
and the human voice.
Pop music isn’t just affected
by the world around us, it also
has to do with us becoming too
musically comfortable with
ourselves. And we’re not quite
sure if we like that. So it may
be time to switch our gears and
start fresh.
Many events in our current
generation have roots, similari-
ties, or even carbon copies of
events that happened in the past
century. With that, we’re seeing
resurgences in cultural breaks.
Political activism is at a record
high.
Therefore, music, art, and
general media is starting to
browse through the past; mu-
sic is starting to strip down its
sound, abandoning the electric
instruments of two decades
ago, the synths and breakbeats
of yesterday, and choosing to
strike up the piano, acoustic
guitar, and soulful voice. Sam
Smith and Adele’s new hit
singles of the past year hear-
ken back to a simpler time
when we sang about what re-
ally mattered, and didn’t need
all of the fluff of shiny, chrome
studio magic. Hozier reminds
us of our beloved gospel sing-
ers from the 60’s south, albeit
with an Irish and very much in-
the-present-day twinge. We’ve
entered a time where, it is my
great pleasure to announce,
we’ve started to use real instru-
ments to write and record real
music again.
We’ve exhausted our instru-
ments, and it’s time to start
fresh.
When it comes to pop mu-
sic, genres change not only
because of society, culture, and
significant current events; our
music world exhausts certain
instruments and styles. We go
from jazz, to rock and roll, to
proggy stuff, grunge, and now
indie pop/indie rock. The way
it works, is that once we’ve
realized that anyone can play
jazz or grunge, it’s time to
move on. It’s only a matter of
time that the underground folks
at school realize that just about
anyone can become the Foals,
or Wavves, or even Walk The
Why do we like music? For
most people, the first answers
that comes to mind may in-
clude “it motivates me,” “it’s
a great distraction when I’m
bored,” or a straightforward, “I
just do.” However, some might
say that the simple plucking,
crooning, banging out of notes
helps them get through the day,
makes them happy, and pro-
vides them with an inexplica-
ble sense of relaxation.
Across the board, research
in music stimulation has dem-
onstrated that the human brain
responds resoundingly well to
any activity relating to or in-
volving music; it is proven to
Musical therapy improves personal wellness
By Maeve Salm and
Maddy Schilling
be an effective and positive
supplement for accomplishing
a variety of tasks, whether it
be improving cognitive ability,
regulating emotions, or coping
with specific gene irregulari-
ties.
Because of the many com-
pelling connections humans
have with music, musical ther-
apy has provided an alterna-
tive, positive method of healing
for individuals of all ages and
backgrounds.
But how can music therapy,
something seemingly so com-
plex, be confined to a single
definition? According to the
American Music Therapy
Association website, music
therapy is the use of music to
Pop artist Sam Smith, pictured above, is an example
of the recycled genres of today.
Photo Courtesy of Purple
PR.
improve personal wellness, re-
lieve stress and pain, regulate
emotions, improve memory,
enhance communication skills
and increase physical mobility,
among other things.
Expressive Therapies, LLC
of Appleton, owned and oper-
ated by Sara Devine MT-BC,
LCSW with the assistance
of Maly Massot MT-BC, has
provided such therapy for in-
dividuals of all ages and back-
grounds. Devine has treated a
multitude of issues, including
but not limited to depression
and anxiety, cancer, neurologi-
cal disorders and NICU (neo-
natal intensive care unit) infant
complications.
To optimize the effective-
ness of treatments, Devine con-
ducts an evaluation process for
each individual. She helps her
clientele form attainable goals
and typically asks their reasons
for enjoying music. “Usually
my analysis extends for six to
seven pages...but the most im-
portant thing is getting to know
the individual well.” Once the
evaluation has been completed,
sessions are scheduled one to
two times a week, depending
on an individual’s availability
and situation. Since people and
their lives vary from day to day,
a very adaptive and knowl-
edgeable person is required to
help with treatments.
Jacie Jones, a current Ap-
pleton North senior, volun-
teered for two years assisting
Devine within several large
group therapy sessions, primar-
ily working with children. “We
just had the kids practice com-
municating with each other by
singing, talking, and playing
instruments.” Regarding the
general impact musical therapy
had on the children she worked
with, Jones says, “[These ses-
sions] have all sorts of positive
impacts…[they] help individu-
als become better versions of
themselves.”
As Devine mentioned, “...
each case is diverse and unique
to each person. Every session is
different, as well, depending on
circumstantial occurrences.”
To treat depression, for in-
stance, Ms. Devine utilizes
lyric composition and analysis
techniques to find the complex
relationship of emotions and
words; for kids with certain
special abilities, she provides
them with memory recall exer-
cises in addition to information
for playing two-handed instru-
ments in order to improve mo-
tor skills. Once an individual
begins to improve, Ms. Devine
schedules sessions on a less fre-
quent basis. “We discuss [treat-
ment termination] much; the
termination process is impor-
tant to talk over several times.
At the final session, we have a
big hoorah to celebrate such a
significant accomplishment.”
Ultimately, healing through
musical therapy encourages
self-improvement but does
so in an easily-connectable,
largely personalized manner.
It perpetuates that music, more
than being a mere source of
entertainment, has the capacity
to effect the human brain in in-
credibly positive ways.
Appleton North senior
Jacie Jones volunteered
with Expressive Thera-
pies.
Photo by Maddy Schil-
ling.
Music therapist Maly Massot (pictured above)
works at Expressive Therapies in Appleton.
Photo
Courtesy of Expressive Therapies, LLC.