What kind of music did they hear?
In the Jazz Age, the 1920s, Jazz was called “the devil’s music.” And later, people would refer to Rock’s Heavy Metal sub-genre as “satanic.” Who started that talk? And where did people find evidence for such pronouncements?
Could it be that some Jazz Age plant nursery had a player-piano among its blooms that played only what was perceived then as “wicked hot jazz,” while another nursery played only Classical music rolls in its automatic pianos? And did some astute observers notice that the roses from grower A were not as healthy as the roses from grower B?
For generations, scientists have conducted controlled studies of the effects of music on seeds that grow to be rose bushes and other kinds of plants. What’s important to know is that the sound frequencies on our planet, both natural and produced by man, have been proven to affect the growth and health of all living things, including you and me.
I’ll spare you the technical and scientific aspects of one particular rose bush study and give you only the results. If you want to know more about it, you can find it in the International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 5, No. 5, October 2014.
In one experiment, groups of plants were exposed to “Vedic (Asian Indian) Chants and Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major”--- both, soothing music. Other groups of plants were exposed to Rock music’s “Hate, Eternal Bringer of Storms,” that is as non-soothing as the title suggests, for 60 minutes in the morning and 60 minutes after sunrise for 62 days.
The photos below show the rose plants exposed to the soothing music growing in a thick bushy fashion, bending toward and around the source of the music. These rose bushes were in every aspect healthier than the Rocker plants, and had more and larger flowers.
The plants exposed to Rock sounds bent away from the source of the music, and the number of leaves decreased. The plants seemed dull after only three weeks, and produced fewer and smaller flowers. And dig this: The plants in the Rock group were the first to sprout thorns…as early as the end of the first week!
(Some of you, will go spiritual on the implications here…the “good music” drawing… connecting the plants to the loving source; the “bad music” drawing the plants away from the source and having to grow thorns as a defense against evil. Yikes!)
Everything, except the genre of source music, was exactly the same in four groups of plants arranged in a circle and exposed to four kinds of music. The greatest contrast is shown in the photos below, between Classical and Rock-fed plants.
A personal reflection here. On my recent birthday a dear musician friend, a spiritual man, gave me a garden-in-a-dish. There are several kinds and shades of green plants in the dish. I imagine the music coming from my friend’s horn as good and positive vibrations for the plant, as were his own vibrations. I often talk and sing to the little garden. It’s thriving.
In contrast, my office plant that was beautiful, coming from Longwood Gardens, PA, is now in crisis. It has “felt” a lot of sadness in the two years it’s been sitting in the room in which I counsel and facilitate healings for people suffering physically and emotionally. I recently took cuttings from the plant. I dismembered it. I gave another musician friend the second generation of the plant for Christmas. The pianist tells me the plant is thriving. In his home, it is surrounded by great, life-giving musical frequencies. (I should put the Mother plant in a different room.)
Musicians can be the source of health-giving, nurturing vibrations. Some people refer to that vibratory state as Heaven. The absence of such energy can be profoundly negative, and some refer to that absence as Hell.
We are as plants; connected to and influenced by all forms of energy. There is but one difference; we can choose how to be.
Rosemary Conte is a singer, voice teacher and clinical hypnotist in Matawan. She welcomes questions and comments at [email protected]
Join us for McCarter at the Museum - renowned performing artists in one-night only events at the Princeton University Art Museum.
Jason Robert Brown is a four-time Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs for a New World, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon In Vegas and The Connector, has performed as a soloist or with his band in venues around the world, including sold-out shows at the London Palladium and Carnegie Hall. His albums as a singer-songwriter include Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes and How We React and How We Recover on Ghostlight, and Coming From Inside the House and Live In Concert with Stephen Sondheim on Concord.
With Special Guest Tony nominee Betsy Wolfe. Tony Award-nominated actress Betsy Wolfe is currently starring as Audrey in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, following her recent Broadway run as Madeline Ashton in the hit musical Death Becomes Her. She previously originated the title role in Joy, the new musical inspired by inventor Joy Mangano, and earned a 2023 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her celebrated performance as Anne Hathaway in & Juliet. Other Broadway credits include starring as Jenna in Waitress, Cordelia in the acclaimed revival of Falsettos, Bullets Over Broadway, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture, and 110 in the Shade, as well as her critically acclaimed performance as Cathy in the Off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Die Fledermaus and has appeared as a guest artist with more than 65 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra, with performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Her screen credits include First One In, Estella Scrooge, CBS’s Instinct, and the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. Wolfe is also the co-founder of BroadwayEvolved, the acclaimed musical theatre training program she launched in 2018 to train and mentor the next generation of theatre artists.
A limited number of early access tickets for McCarter Director’s Circle members and members of the Museum’s Partner Circle are available, on sale Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM. General public on sale begins Friday, September 18, 2026 at 12:00 PM.
Please be aware there is no public drop-off or parking at the Museum. For visitors with mobility needs, please contact the Museum at least three business days in advance of your visit to request special access to the Museum via Elm Drive. Call 609-258-3788 and select option 1 to speak to a visitor services staff member, or email Louise Barrett at [email protected].
