WCR This Week

WINNIPEG – Parents should realize that it's bad decisions, not pop music, that may be causing problems in their children's lives, says a California-based author and speaker.

Anna Scally, president of Cornerstone Media, said parents who fear pop music is having a negative impact on their kids should listen carefully to those tunes and talk to their children about values and making the right decisions.

Scally told a theatre full of students that parents have legitimate concerns about what young people are listening to, but added "there's a way your music can help you grow spiritually, whatever style you listen to."

She was guest speaker at the annual Retrally (a combination of retreat and rally) at St. Mary's Academy Oct. 4.

"I don't agree that music is causing young people's problems," she said. "What causes problems are bad decisions."

Scally said 15 per cent of pop music portrays what she calls a negative value. "It's making something bad look good." Twenty-five per cent or more of what young people listen to conveys a positive attitude. "It's life-giving."

POSITIVE SONGS

"As people of faith, it's inappropriate to dance to a negative song and there are way too many positive songs to have to do that."

Cornerstone's most popular product is an annual CD called The Dirty Dozen and Psalm 151 based on the opinions of thousands of young people who send in their choices for the most negative and positive songs of the year.

According to its website, Cornerstone uses the music that young people listen to everyday "as a tool to spark dialogue about values and relationships."

Scally believes that too often a parent's reaction to negative music is to ban it. But she urges adults to listen carefully and critically to the negative messages and have discussions with their children about the messages in the music.