How Music Affects The Brain

Damkohler, Katherine. "Bringing Back What Works in Education." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 03 Mar. 2016.

Music causes the brain to become active in the frontal lobe,parietal lobe, temporal lobe and occipital lobe.Music releases a chemical in the brain called dopamine which is found in the pleasure center of your brain. Depending on what is triggering the dopamine, it can motivate a person OR create cravings for sinful pleasures.

An event that occurred in the past could be associated with the music because it was played during that event, the lyrics relate, or a different connection is made. The personality of a person could also change the effects of the music (Vaidya 1). The life that is lived determines the personality traits one might have. One person might enjoy rock music, while another enjoys classical. Since everyone lives a different life, the genres of music listened to are obviously not the same. Rock music could be relaxing to the person who grew up listening solely to rock while another might find rock irritating and relaxes to classical music. Although one can relax to rock music, studies have shown that classical music has more positive effects than any other genre (O’Donnell 1).

Music has been apart of society for thousands of years and an outlet for people's stress and other problems they may be facing. It helps the brain function and understand conditions better by breaking it down and trying to comprehend it. Music has made and is still making an impact on the lives of people all around the world. Because of its impact on peoples lives neuroscientist wanted to get to the source and have been looking at the brain to determine the exact effects of music and they can now answer the question, what effects does music have on the brain? Listening to music can send pleasure to your mind, decide your emotions, lower stress, and improve learning.

People very often describe a stereotype of certain groups of people pertaining to the music they listen to. For example, many people view hip-hop lovers as people who wear backwards hats and gold chains, or heavy-metal lovers as people who grow their hair long and wear gothic clothing. These groups of people do come together because of their common interest in music, but this common interest does not just come from nowhere. According a study conducted by professor Adrian North of Heriot-Watt University, ones taste in a genre of music is due to their personality. This means that what kind of music a person listens to says something about their personality. For example, professor North found that dance fans are creative and not gentle, while rap fans have high

It might not be the factor that fabricates our musical taste; however the latest trends are what most young adults frequently listen due to repetition and conformity. Even in the cases, when an upcoming album is not within the boundaries of our taste, repetition amongst radios and friends increases familiarity, thus increasing the chances of one liking this album later on (Peter J, May 2012). Furthermore, due to the phenomenon of group conformity we tend to listen to the same music as our friends in order not to be ostracized.

Music is often thought of as just a form of entertainment however, scientists are finding that music could be valuable to human health. Music therapy is often used to treat a few minor conditions but the little research that has been done has shown that it can be useful to much more than people originally suspected. It was after World War I and II when music therapy became an occupation. Musicians would go to hospitals and play for the injured veterans that were suffering from physical or emotional harm. Music has been described as a mean for healing in Egyptian, Chinese, Indian, Greek, and Roman historical writings. Currently, music therapy is underused because of the limited amount of research done on how music affects the brain. However,

1. Music can actually affect how we see neutral faces. We can normally tell if a person is happy or sad but when we listen to happy or sad music are perception changes. After one study were people listened to a short clip of a happy or sad song the people where more likely too see happy or sad depending on what short clip of a song they listened too. Something else that is very different is are emotions when we listen to music we have two different types of emotion that are related to music. The two types of emotion are perceived emotion and also felt emotion. This basically means that we can listen to a sad song and understand what the song is saying but not feel the song so it would not make you sad. This

years. Mothers sing lullabies to their babies to help them relax and fall asleep. Teachers

Neuroscientists have studied how playing a musical instrument enhances the neural pathways of the brain. The research demonstrates whether musical education, which involves musical training on a daily basis, affect the brain on musicians compared to non-musicians (Collins, 2014). Musicians have to multitask whenever they perform on a stage. Musicians have to play their instrument, read the sheet music, look at the conductor, and listen to their peers in order to maintain a balance in music. All of this tasks are happening all at once, which makes the brain work twice as hard compared to the average brain. The use of these skills not only during a performance, but also during practice, allow the brain to develop faster as time progress. This is something contradictory because the brain is understood to stop developing at a certain age in adulthood. Musical education allows the brain to maintain healthy no matter the

In The Power of Music, Elena Mannes discovers how music alters variations of people and how listening can differ one's health care.

In Macedonian hills, the music of Orpheus was said to possess certain magical qualities, having powers strong enough to alter the very behavior of people and animals. Among its abilities, the notes of Orpheus' lyre were said to calm the guard-dog of Hades (1), to cause the evil Furies to cry, and to tame the deadly voices of the Sirens (2). Was this power simply a divine and magical gift with no other explanation, or can we explain more specifically the connections between music and behavior?

For many people, listening to music is part of their daily life. There are many different genres and a wide variety of people listening to them. However, what are the other effects of music besides pleasure? Much research has been done on this topic. Numerous people believe that it is beneficial for the human brain. Few believe that it is just a distraction. Much research has been done showing that the effects of music on the developing brain are only positive. Music classes should be mandatory in middle and high school because they can promote better grades, a positive attitude, and are beneficial to the developing brain.

Start by speaking the ABC’s. Within that process I have a decent feeling they were vocalized in song form; more than likely it sounded like Twinkle Twinkle. A well known melody from birth. Hearing music everywhere, tuned into our favorite station on the radio, throughout stores in the mall, or even the drumming to the tempo of the car’s turn signal in front of ours. As individuals, we have developed over time the sense of rhythm and song, integrating it into our society and culture. Music has been revealed to help in the development of early childhood to, the way it affects our brains, and mental health throughout our lives. Affecting humans in unique ways, music tends to shape us from the moment of birth.

What should or not be accepted because of the way it sounds. People who are stuck to one particular sound will judge someone else because they do not like that sound and therefore, it may suck or not sound good to them. They are often lacking the capability to realize that artist create for themselves and often use music to fuel their emotions and energy. It is often taken for granted and we just do not appreciate what the artist does. We typecast music and allow genres to dictate us, so if we hear something of a different “genre,” we may not like it and judge the whole genre because of that one song. One song or sound does not represent a whole genre of music and will not determine if you will or will not a single song of that genre. We live in a generation, a society or in other and more relative words, “a matrix” where we are comfortable with the same sound and same thing over and over. We do not want anything to change about the things we like and do, because that’s what we feel in love with. As a collective, we are often stuck in our ways and become base. People are afraid to try new things and step out their comfort zone. People often do not try to find comfort in other things or something new and we stick to the routine of our matrix and move to the same beat of that drum that we love so much.