How music affects consciousness.

[Jitendra Hydonus]

Cosmicgoat, yes, there might be explanations, your reply just inspired me.

I might have liked classic music or just have been a classical musician and get fed with its rigidity and repetition and enjoy the pure creativity yielded by such a music, or just enjoying the novel sounds and emotions provided by these novel harmonies. Some melodic and harmonic lines from the recently deceased pianist Mulgrew Miller, also follower of Paramhansa Yogananda, just impinge on my brain stimulating mental alertness and efficiency. My likings may reflect my love for interesting complexity in God's creation.
People who like rock music might like to have their basic intincts roused, the music is often pretty simple and leveraging on simple and fleshly emotions, sort of the tribal music of the past. Also, rock music is tribal, people turn up very numerous to listen to their favourite rockstars and the event looks pretty much like a meeting of a stone-age large tribe, with wide use of narcotic compounds like booze and drugs.
Of course generalization should be avoided but from the POW of an appreciator of music that's one truth, sorry, not being snubby but simply matter-of-fact, these are the vibrations I get. Whosoever is karmically stimulated by basic, earthly, fleshly, tribal emotions finds that novel rock music appealing.

R&R is such a large venue that it is difficult to put it in just the one category. In many ways it addresses the issues of our time... that is peace love meditation gurus etc. Sure there is that primal element but many R&R musicians came out of a classical or jazz background. R&R provides an outlet for dancing also. It may be strange to many people. But i have always liked many types of music and have played various types. Yes i have played in many Rock & Roll bands but never had much interest in drugs, narcotics and alcohol. It just never fit in with the whole meditation and spiritual thing.

[mccoy]

I agree that R&R has many variations, some of which I do not dislike. Also, drugs have been used by jazz musicians as well and have also been fatal, as it is well known. Never the less, the popular rock music which developed in the 70s and became the most popular in the world tended to take on some characteristics of the contemporary hippie culture if I'm not wrong: drugs, free sex, and similar. Today it's of course more sophisticated although noise (high volume and distorted pitches) tends to prevail with respect to other musics. Let's say rock music in the majority of cases is not at all a spiritual music. Brother Anandamoy answered to the Young devotee who complained that he was not being successfull in calming his breath that he had to stop listening to rock music.

[Jitendra Hydonus]

Mccoy i have done many performances for SRF and Amma's groups. The music I played at these ooccasions might be classified as spiritual in nature. However I also have done many performances at nite clubs, dinner clubs, festivals, funerals, colleges and weddings. I  am not sure what this man was listening to but there is much rock in roll that i do not listen to nor play. I do believe that music and sound have a power to affect our chakras, our spiritual life and all aspects of social life. I have also not played music for long periods of time while living in monasteries and around them. Personally I have found no noticeable difference in meditation. But perhaps I also need to be more sensitive about the music I play and listen to.... not sure about this.

There are many things people say, including Brother Anandamoy, that we reserve our opinions about because we are not sure of the reasons such comments were made or the circimstances. i have found, as a musician, that people who listen to music often put music into rigid categories. Musicians, on the other hand, realize much more how music overlaps and is often difficult to classify into for instance classical, jazz, rock in roll, blues, folk, new age etc. We as musicians often draw from many sources.

i will venture to say this though. I have seen very 'dark' elements in music of all classifications as well as uplifting qualities in all areas. So i would be hesitant to make sweeping statements about any type of music. However the advice given in your story was for an isolated situation and given to one person.

It may seem ironical to you but I found just as much or perhaps more immorality among classical musicians (when I taught music at colleges and had an education there.) then the contemporary social scene that surrounded the late 60 ' s and early 70's. What i noticed is that classical musicians hid these behaviors whereas the hippies and jazz beatnik and jazz hipster crowds openly addressed them. There is good and bad to be found in all social surroundings. i suspect all young generations are influenced by raging harmones.

The openess of the hippies led to a surge in interest in meditation and spirituality. In that sense i was fortunate to be a part of that generation and I am grateful to have grown up in a period when India's culture and various other spiritual cultures affected the youth so strongly.