Julia Baker

English 1102

Professor Bell

8 September, 2019

Research Proposal

I began taking piano lessons when I was five years old. When I was fifteen, I started

teaching to my amazing students. Just last Christmas, I began teaching myself guitar. The

journey I have gone through with music from learning to teaching has made me into the person I

am today. Music is my life. It is how I express myself. When I’m not playing, teaching, or

doing a show, I’m writing and thinking of melodies. It is what gets me through every day.

Honestly, I do not know how people live without it. There are also health benefits that come

along with studying an instruments (and even just listening to certain types of music). Also, the

different types of music we listen to (and when we listen to them) affects us more than we know.

It is not just a coincidence that most commercials have music in the background and almost

every movie or television show you watch has music accompanies it. If we only knew how

much music impacts us and our emotions/decisions, we could use it to help us and others

throughout life.

We all have a different relationship with music. For me, it is taking part of making it for

myself and others to enjoy. It speaks to me and inspires me in every area of my life. However,

for others, it is listening and being spoke to by the lyrics and melodies. That’s the magic of it.

You do not have to know how to play an instrument to be encouraged by it. We do not realize

what music does for each of us individually and most people would be shocked at all the

research done on how it really affects us.

 My research topic is “How does music affect and influence our lives?” I feel that this is a

topic that we are not educated on today and do not know much about. It is so fascinating to learn

about something that every person uses in their day-to-day life and how it affects each person the

same but also differently. I find it crazy that we don’t already know all about this topic.

Before researching this topic, I already know that each style of music impacts our mood

and decision making differently. I also know that learning an instrument is very good for

developing necessary skills in life and that beginning from a young age has many health benefits.

This is a big reason I encourage people to take lessons and to have their kids learn as well (not

just to get more students, but because I know how important it is). I believe that music is the

most powerful thing in our culture today and we don’t even realize it. It shapes who we are and

our personality as well as sway our moods and emotions.

I hope to learn a lot through this project. First of all, a big debate is whether it is helpful

or distracting to listen to music while doing homework and other tasks. My personal belief is

that it is helpful. However, I have heard a lot of arguments coming from the other side and I am

very interested to research and find out what is the proven answer. I also want to learn what

different types of music do to our behaviors and personalities. In general, I just want to get as

much as possible out of this research project as I can really use all of the information in my

music career and everyday life.