"Rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul."... Plato. Greek philosopher. He wrote that before modern music, before experimentation with different musical genres. I'm here today to convince you that music stirs and evokes inside of us powerful emotions, and therefore shapes history.
             Music evokes pleasurable limbic states, which result in emotional responses, the brain having its emotional systems triggered off by pleasurable sounds. That's the physical reason. It's very widely argued. I am not going to drop onto that plain and open that can of worms. I want you all to recall moments in your life where you have been significantly moved by that wonderful media medium known as music.
             Statistically, 96% of the world's youth who can listen to music DO listen to music regularly. That leaves 4% that don't. If we related those statistics to this classroom, that would mean that only one person in here doesn't listen to music regularly. If music didn't do something for us emotionally, would we listen to it?
             A common misconception about music is that it is just notes and lyrics. Charlie Parker, arguably the greatest jazz saxophonist ever, once said, "Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." To live music... an impossible concept if music was just notes. Music stirs emotions in us because the writer used his own emotions when writing the music.
             Movies have the ability to make us laugh and cry and do a variety of other things. Music plays a major part in that emotional manipulation. Fast-paced minor tones under a very dramatic scene builds suspense and drama so that the emotion of the scene is heightened to quite a degree. Music, by itself or coupled with another media medium, can effect human emotions to a great degree.
             All right, I think we're all subsequently convinced that musi
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