Aristotle thus believes music to be a part of the two above mentioned things, namely amusement, and leisure in pastime. But he goes on further to discuss whether or not music is pursued for only these or if it could not also be pursued for the sake of something above and beyond these, for something nobler. We saw above that because music was for the sake of leisure that is spent in pastime it was thus included in education. Therefore another purpose of music is for the sake of education. More reasons for why another one of music’s purposes is education will be seen from the following consideration of the effects music has on people’s characters.

Aristotle gives some examples of how people can be moved to certain emotions through music imitating those emotions; how people’s characters can be affected by music. These imitations are very close to the things they imitate, Aristotle says, and we know this from the experiencing of them in ourselves. But why is this important: that music affects people’s characters? It is because our state of character determines whether we are vicious or virtuous. And since music really does have an effect on people’s characters what could be more important or noble than the use of music in order to form good and moral characters in people? Also since music gives us pleasure, and virtue deals with being pained and pleased at the right things, in the right degree, and at the right time, we should therefore form correct judgments on these things (on what music should give us pleasure and which pain, i.e. should one get pleasure from listening to Manson or be pained by it?). These two things are also all the more reason to include music in education, since the end of education is to make virtuous citizens, thus a moral state, and thus happiness which is the sake for which we do everything else.

Speaking of the effect music has on our characters, one last important thing to recognize is that of our five senses, our hearing is the one that most of all affects us morally. Sight does so only to a much lesser degree. For colors and figures do not affect us at all in the same way that sound does. A visual representation (a painting for example) of a vicious act (rage) does not affect us in anywhere near the same degree as a representation of the same act through sound. The former is only a sign, while the latter is an actual imitation, the emotion of which is felt in the soul of the listener.

Let us turn then to imitations and see what Aristotle says about them. All of the arts have the job of imitating, but still they differ in some way from each other. Aristotle speaks of three ways in which the arts can differ from one another, and these are the modes of imitating. The first is the means of imitation, second is the object of imitation, and last is the manner of imitation. We will speak of the first mode at a later time. We will not speak of the third at all for it pertains more to poetry in the narrow sense of the term (verse) than it does music. About the second (speaking on poetry) Aristotle says,

The objects the imitator represents are actions, with agents who are necessarily either good or bad — the diversities of the human character being nearly always derivative from this primary distinction, since the line between virtue and vice is one dividing the whole of mankind.2

Aristotle says that the reason we have the arts is due to two conditions in our nature, both having to do with imitation. One is that imitation is natural to man. Man is the most imitative creature in the world. We begin to imitate at a very young age, and our imitations go far beyond any of those of the lower animals. The other condition in our nature is that we take delight in imitation. Delight is even seen to be found in the imitations of things that are painful. This leads us to the topic of catharsis.

Catharsis is the purging of an emotion within us when we hear (or see) the corresponding imitation of that emotion. Thus when one is sorrowing one does not listen to happy, bubbly music, but rather music that suits his mood. (Boethius says that people of certain characters delight in music that is like their own character) This creates in him a likeness to the emotion he is feeling and somehow purges him of his sorrow (to a certain degree, depending on how intense the imitated emotion is). It is like an outlet, a ventilation system. I do not in this essay intend to prove that the theory of catharsis is a correct one, but only wish to point out that people do experience purgation through music and that this is evidence enough for our intentions here. Catharsis is important to us because this is yet another purpose that music has—i.e. the use of music to purge the soul. And again because this also plays a big part in the connection of music to morals and people’s characters which will become clearer as we go along.

From the above we can conclude that imitation deals with virtue and vice, that it is natural to man, and that he delights in it. Because of these things the utmost care should be taken with regard to what type of imitations one delights in and to what degree. More will be spoken of about this later.

Let us see what another authority has to say about music, its effects on men and its purpose. Boethius in his Five Books on Music says,

The association of music with man is a natural one; music can, moreover, both establish and destroy morality. 3

And also,

For no path is more open to the soul for the formation thereof than through the ears.4

Of course it is common knowledge how often a melody has suppressed anger and how many wonders it has accomplished in altering conditions of bodies both corporeal and emotional.5

Thus from all these it is thus clearly and indubitably apparent indeed that music is joined to us by nature so that we cannot be free from it even if we wish.6

For the souls of the hearers will suffer the same, And will yield little by little, and will retain no trace of what is honest and right . . .7

But if they imitate they should from childhood up imitate what is appropriate to them — men, that is, who are brave, sober, pious, free, and all things of that kind — but things unbecoming the free man they should neither do nor be clever at imitating, nor yet any other shameful thing, lest from the imitation they imbibe the reality. Or have you not observed that imitations, if continued from youth far into life, settle down into habits and second nature in the body, the speech, and the thought?8

What, then, is our education? Or is it hard to find a better than that which long time has discovered — which is, I suppose, gymnastics for the body, and for the soul, music?9

And is it not for this reason that . . . education in music is most sovereign, because more than anything else rhythm and harmony find their way to the inmost soul and take strongest hold upon it, bringing with them and imparting grace, if one is rightly trained, and otherwise the contrary? And further, because omissions and the failure of beauty in things badly made or grown would be most quickly perceived by one who was properly educated in music, and so, feeling distaste rightly, he would praise beautiful things and take delight in them and receive them into his soul to foster its growth and become himself beautiful and good. The ugly he would rightly disapprove of and hate while still young and yet unable to apprehend the reason, but when the reason came the man thus nurtured would be the first to give her welcome, for by this affinity he would know her.10

For a change to a new type of music is something to beware of as a hazard of all our fortunes. For the modes of music are never disturbed without unsettling of the most fundamental political and social conventions . . . It is certain, he said, that this is the kind of lawlessness that easily insinuates itself unobserved.

Yes, said I, because it is supposed to be only a form of play and to work no harm.

Nor does it work any, he said, except that by gradual infiltration it softly overflows upon the characters and pursuits of men and from these issues forth grown greater to attack their business dealings, and from these relations it proceeds against the laws and constitution with wanton license, Socrates, till finally it overthrows all things public and private.11

We have now taken a look at what our predecessors thought the purpose of music was. They believed music to be something noble and good one did in one’s leisure time, they also believed that it was meant for relaxation, but primarily they believed it to be an important part of education. This last purpose was such because they saw that music did in fact have moral qualities which greatly affected people’s characters.

Since argument from authority is the weakest form of argument more reasons shall be given to attest to the fact that there exists morality in music. From our own experiences we can see how music affects people’s moods. If it did not, why would certain types of music be used to cause a desired effect on people’s emotions such as in movies? Would you be scared at seeing a scary movie if there were not also scary music being played? For the same reason then we use certain types of music appropriate to certain places and times. When in church, music conducive to worship should be heard, arousing in us holy piety and love of God. I have seen people who were totally calm driven to a wild frenzy from the music of Gustav Holtz. Take a look at what happened at Woodstock 99. The people became like animals without reason. They got so violent that they went so far as to burn down the stage and destroy everything in sight.

Research and tests have been done with different types of music, demonstrating its power and its connection with morality. Two identical stores with the same hours and in the same location were given different types of music to play during business hours. In the one classical music was played, and in the other rock. The one which had rock playing was robbed and stolen from, while the store which played the classical music not only had no problems with theft but also had an increase in sales. Music also affects the animal and plant world. Tests have been done on rats, where two different sets of rats were exposed to different types of music; one classical and the other rock. The rats which were exposed to hard rock began killing and eating each other. It also took them a great amount of time to get through simple mazes. The classical rats on the other hand got along well with each other and also could find their way through the same mazes in record time. Plants thrive and grow when exposed to classical music, while plants exposed to certain kinds of rock music wither and die.

Similar studies have been done with humans. It is a fact that students do better academically when they listen to the right type of music. They learn quicker and retain more when listening to classical, well-ordered music. Disordered music shortens the attention span of children. This fits exactly with our impatient, I want to be satisfied right now, entertainment-centered society. Not only does music affect the soul, it also affects the body by affecting the soul. Plato says,

For I, for my part, do not believe that a sound body by its excellence makes the soul good, but on the contrary that a good soul by its virtue renders the body the best that is possible.12

I believe sensuality to be one of the greatest problems with music today. No one can argue the fact that music can be sensual. I have seen its effects on very small children — one, two, and three years old. They begin doing things with their bodies that you wouldn’t have dreamt possible for them to do or even consider. It’s almost as if they learned it somewhere. Look at the music that’s played in certain places for dancing. How does it affect the ways in which one uses one’s body to dance. This happens primarily because of the rhythms of the music.

What is the matter with all this, you say? When we are constantly exposed to all these vicious emotions, the passions they imitate are aroused in us over and over again. We are slowly open to lust, gluttony, and all other types of sins of the flesh. Our reason gets weaker and weaker, while we experience all sorts of harmful emotions. (Why in the world would anyone want their kids to experience these types of imitations?) In short we become slaves to our lower passions, creatures whose main purpose is to get as much pleasure as possible in this life.

One might ask — what makes music disordered? One thing we have already seen is that when music imitates an emotion which is a vice it is disordering, for it does not place the passions in their proper place. But how about the music itself (its essence, i.e. the parts that make it up), can they be disordered?

Music is made up of basically four things — rhythm, pitch, harmony, and melody. Rhythm is the principle of the other three, for pitches are just pulsations in the air, and harmony and melody are made up of pitches. It will be shown that when these parts of music do not follow the rules set out for us by nature, the music will be disordered and immoral. This will be argued through consonance, root strength, and the overtone series.

The consonance of two tones can be determined psychologically. If the notes sound good together they are consonant. The problem with this is that consonance then becomes relative to each individual’s take on it. A person with a harsh spirit might enjoy the sound of seconds and sevenths, while a gentler spirit will be repulsed. If we determine the consonance mathematically though, we can find a definite, scientific answer. According to Dr. Molly Gustin, consonance is determined mathematically by the set’s (tones) position in the overtone series from its fundamental, and also by the long wave pattern’s inner complexity. Because of our conditioning to the overtone series we can say absolutely if one set of tones is more or less consonant than another. Consonance is of degrees. If we look now at the kind of music that inspires vicious emotions we can see that they are the ones with less absolute consonance (compare Metallica with Pachebell). Less consonance equals harsher sounds equals disorder equals immoral music.

Music can also be more or less rooted. A root is either the fundamental or octave transposition of the fundamental. It is the ordering principle of the music. A tone, interval, scale, and even a song can be rooted. Again, according to Dr. Gustin, root strength is determined through the powers of two (the octave transposition) in the whole number ratios of the intervals. Root strength then is of degrees. If we look at the kinds of emotions that arise from music that does not have roots (such as twelve tone, atonal music) we can see that they are those of chaos, disorder, destruction, anxiety, and despair. Less rootness equals harsher sounds equals disorder equals immoral music. It is in this way that even classical atonal music can be said to be much more disordering and immoral than most modern rock songs. (I speak here generally of the amount of disorder not taking in to account the types of emotions imitated.)

This takes care then of pitch and harmony; but what of rhythm and melody? These are a bit more difficult to explain. First of all, if a melody is made up from notes consonant with one another and strongly rooted, then we can judge it. But there are other things that are involved besides consonance and rootness. Chromatics in a melodic line can create a sensual effect, the same note emphasized over and over again can sound like anger or frustration, the speed of the passage, the dynamics, and many other things all go in to determining what emotions arise. These are the physical causes. Although they are not always easy to judge, the simplest way is to go by what type of emotions and passions the melody inspires in us.

With rhythm it is the same way. One should first determine the emotions and then see if they always match up with the same physical elements (effect to cause; more known to less known). A very strong beat gives rise to sensuality. The more complicated and busy rhythms are inducive of harsher sounding imitations. The ratios of complicated rhythms are as the higher number ratios in the overtone series. In other words, since tones that are dissonant are made up from rhythm (air pulsations), we can also in some sense call the rhythms dissonant. 7 against 5 is less pleasing than 3 against 2, while 3 against 2 is less pleasing than a steady 2 against 1. Remember that those whole number ratios came from the overtone series, which we are programmed by nature to hear. Thus rhythms are more or less moral in the same way we found harmonies to be more or less moral.

Another possible component of music is the lyrics to a sung song. Since my thesis is primarily dealing with music itself and not words I have decided to leave the topic of whether words can be moral or immoral alone. In passing though, I believe the words of a song play a great part in determining its morality and in how it affects the listener. For who can deny that words affect us since they convey the concepts and ideas of one person to another.

During the course of this essay, while investigating whether music could be moral we also partially found that morality existed in degrees. Let us look at that more fully now. One thing we found was that if the parts of music were disordered so were the emotions they imitated. And so the more disordered the more immoral. This was seen especially through consonance and rootness. Degrees of morality are not only seen from the mathematical standpoint (physical causes) but also from our own experiences (the effects). Music can be more or less moral by the intensity and type of passions that it arouses. For example, music that causes major depression and makes one want to commit suicide (studies have shown that there is a very high suicide rate among those who listen to heavy metal and the more intense rock and roll) is obviously more immoral than music that causes apathy. And music that imitates a high degree of anger is more immoral than that which imitates a small degree of anger. Degree is then of intensity and kind. Again, this can sometimes be a delicate thing to discover, especially if one is already accustomed to harsher music (or his character is harsher, and so he can stand a higher level of intensity without being affected or harmed by it). The best thing to do in these cases is to look back to the physical causes. In any case, the passions that music imitates should always lie in the mean since virtue is found in the mean. They should be passions that the wise man would want to imitate. This does not mean that the harmful imitations don’t have their place. Plato believes that one should only imitate the good, but there are times and places for even the lower imitations. If one has a reason for it (like pointing out a lesson or moral in a story, contrasting evil with good, or purging your soul from a harmful emotion) and is not just imitating vice for the heck of it, then it can be used for good.

Lastly, how often we listen to certain types of music can be more or less good for us. This does not change the absolute morality of the music, but its morality with respect to us. This was spoken of when we talked about habit.