The Power of Music
Everyone knows the story of the Piped Piper of Hamelin. He had the ability to hypnotize people with his flute by playing the most enchanting music. But he's just myth, right? No one has the power to charm people with music. Well, you'd be surprised. Throughout history, music has always been recognized for its calming and almost hypnotic effects on the human mind, and for its ability to rouse and inspire the spirit. Only recently has science uncovered the truth about music. Researchers have long suspected that music affects the brain in the most profound ways, and now they finally have evidence to back up that theory. Such an interesting topic definitely deserves further exploration. Come with me on this
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Music's calming effects can extend to children as well, as directors at Young Imaginations have seen for themselves. Young Imaginations is a private arts agency that provides music programs for 30 California schools. Executive director Marianne Locke speaks of their findings: "When we play traditional Japanese and Chinese music or other slow pieces and pair them with movements, such as yoga and T'ai Chi, the children become calmer and more able to focus their attention." (Cassidy 48) Following up on this observation, the organization is setting up an independent study to determine if children are calmer and perform better on certain learning tasks when exposed to slower and calmer pieces of music. In a separate and totally unrelated study, Harvard researcher Jerome Kagan reported a very interesting finding. "If you present an interesting visual stimulus to a baby, it becomes aroused and begins to move its arms and legs," Kagan noted. "[However,] if you play some music that interests them, they do the opposite - they quiet down. There is a very different psychological reaction to sound." (Knox A6) Music's affect on children have only recently been documented and published. Although the aforementioned calming effects of music have not been explained by scientists, they now know that the brains of infants are capable of extraordinary feats. New research shows that brain development is largely unfinished at birth and that the stimuli a
Music Therapy is used for many reasons and can be helpful in many ways. Music has been proven to be a therapeutic service to people because it’s helped people to contain themselves and even express themselves through the music that they listen to. This treatment is beneficial to many humans because it’s a good way to help one’s emotions without any medication (American Music Therapy Association). For example, music is used to treat pain and reduce stress. In Amy Novotney’s article about music therapy, she says, “The beep of ventilators and infusion pumps, the hiss of oxygen, the whir of carts and the murmur of voices as physicians and nurses make rounds — these are the typical noises a premature infant hears spending the first days of life in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). While the sounds of such life-saving equipment are tough to mute, a new study suggests that some sounds, such as lullabies, may soothe pre-term babies and their parents, and even improve the infants' sleeping and eating patterns, while decreasing parents' stress (Pediatrics, 2013)” (Novotney). Another example of how music is a reliable therapeutic resource is for people with autism. In Catherine Ulbricht’s article, she states that “People who have autism spectrum disorders often show a heightened interest and response to music. This may
This article reveals how Don Campbell, the author of “The Mozart Effect,” believes that listening to music can
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.
Music can be beneficial to people through several ways, but music can also have positive effects on the mind. In the novel, The Mozart Effect for Children, by Don Campbell, music is discussed as being a voice in which someway every child, adult or human being can understand. Music allows people to sing along to the lyrics, move or dance to the beat, and match the melodies. The use of music can often be used to explore and discover the beauty in which music holds. The interaction of music with the mind can be shown through the use of vibrations, patterns, and rhythms (Campbell 8). This shows that music has a way to communicate with everybody and can make people included. Music has the effect of making everybody come together and act like
Did you know that music is one of the few activities that utilizes the whole entire brain? Did you know that music can physically alter your brain structure? Today I am going to be talking about the power of music and its impacts and effects on the brain. Throughout my whole life I have always had a passion for music of all different types and genres. I listen to music wherever I go and during whatever I’m doing. My mom would continually badger me about the music I was listening to and how it was corrupting my brain. After much research and many songs later, I discovered it actually has many positive effects on the brain. In the rest
On this slide we can observe a real brain scan on how does the brain react to music. There are many studies that suggest that music has the power to change people’s emotion and moods, and simultaneously activate several brain areas (Bigliassi, León-Domínguez, & Altimari, 2015; Brown, Martinez, & Parsons, 2004; Mitterschiffthaler, Fu, Dalton, Andrew, & Williams, 2007; Riby,
Music can be encouraged by parents in different ways. Jim McCutcheon says, “We decided to play classical guitar music for him [unborn son] in utero through headphones placed on her abdomen, and he came into the world very familiar with guitar sounds, and this began a lifelong enjoyment of guitar music!” It is very common to hear of mothers playing or listening to music while pregnant and it is evident that the child heard and remembered the music (McCutcheon 2). After birth and through childhood, children can learn musical elements through fingerplays like “eensy weensy spider” and by singing songs and being bounced on a parent’s knee (McCutcheon 2). John Feierabend says, “Over the last 100 years, these two methods of interacting with children have disappeared from our music culture.” During ages 6-18 months, the dendrites in the brain are the most responsive to stimulation (McCutcheon 2). Lee Ann Kinner says, “This is the time when they [children] should be most actively stimulated not just with listening to
The mind is greatly impacted by music by showing healthful changes (www.bellaonline.com/articles/). Doctors now use music for their patients’ treatments in order to help them stay healthy (www.bellaonline.com/articles/). Heart patients acquired the same benefits from listening to classical music for thirty minutes as they did from anti-anxiety medication (www.bellaonline.com/articles/). Musical therapy has been used to help people with heart problems, which worked quite effectively. (www.bellaonline.com/articles/). People who have had migraines frequently, were trained to use music and relaxing procedures to reduce their headaches. Studies have also shown that music helps students with their intelligence levels (www.bellaonline.com/articles/). A majority of students had higher test scores than others because they listened to Mozart before their exam. People who listened to classical music for an hour and a half while revising manuscripts increased their accuracy by 21% (www.bellaonline.com/articles) (Mish 725.).
Musical instruments have played many major roles in helping with the construction of many societies around the world today. Many people do not realize what musical instruments have been responsible for and how they have helped shape the world today. There have been many instruments that have helped create and sculpt the world, but one instrument that I want to inform readers about is the trumpet and where it came from, as well as how it has changed over many years. The point that I am arguing is the fact that many people do not know where the trumpet has come from and how it has affected society.
Dr. Wilson who is another researcher feels these findings are so significant that it will lead to a universal understanding in the next century that music is an absolute necessity for the total development of the brain and individual (6).
Music is arguably one of the world’s most important universal languages. Documentation of music can be found as early as Biblical days and can be heard all around. Think about all the places one is exposed to music: radio, TV, elevator, stores, restaurants etc. Every culture and country has its own style of music and the importance of music is paramount to individuals in many ways. Music is so powerful it can create a visceral response by lowering the heart rate and decreasing stress levels (Wright, 2017). Evidence has also shown music to activate areas of the brain that are engaged during “Other euphoria inducing stimuli such as food, sex, and drugs of abuse” (Wright, 2017, p. 3). Music, sound perception – the most powerful sense, can impact the way one feels and behaves (Wright, 2017). With evidence proving to have an impact on the brain both physically and emotionally, supporting a 5% tax increase to fund both curricular and extracurricular programs will enhance student’s development and provide to them a well-rounded education.
It is no doubt that music has played a vital role in our society. Everything from loud, head-banging concerts to religious ceremonies have utilized the medium of music because of its awe-inspiring qualities. Music is basically the control of sound. We can control this sound by varying the pitch, tempo, octaves, dynamics and so on. There are thousands of ways that we can use music and to shape it to how we want to hear it. But how much has music influenced the way we think today? Why is it so popular?
Although many, one positive way music education is beneficial to students is that it has a large impact on brain stem growth. With the incorporation of music in a student’s daily life, the brain stem’s responses become more robust (Brown). Therefore, the amount of brain stem growth correlates with recent musical training. As stated by Brown, an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore, “student’s that are involved with a large amount of music will see more gains in brain stem growth”. Furthermore, the neural changes that occur in students as adolescents stay with them into adulthood (“Music Matters”). This allows students to be more prepared once they go into the workforce as adults. Along with the brain stem’s responses being more robust, it’s sensitivity to sound increases (“The Benefits” 1). This is abundantly evident from early on, as mother’s sing to their infants to facilitate brain stimulation and development. Enrichment through music, starting at a young age, seems to improve individuals speech sound development and use of more advanced vocabulary. Adolescents’ language also improves with the use of music in a student’s academics (Miller 46). Luehrisen
Aside from emotions, music can also have an impact on mental illnesses like ADHD, depression, and dementia. To combat depression, Cadena states that “music therapy alleviates pain and promotes calmness by slowing the heart rate and other bodily functions” (2). It provides the patient with a means of escape from the stressful and painful ordeals of life, and can even encourage them to recover from depression. To help children with ADHD, music therapy and medications can be used conjointly. Music, Cadena affirms, “can provide a calming, sedative affect and assist a child with focusing on the task at hand” (2). In regards to dementia, a study was done to investigate the effects that music would have on people with the disease. The findings demonstrated that “mean agitation levels were significantly lower while listening to music than before listening to the music” (3).
A song or a piece of music has the power to transform an individual and take them not only to a different state of mind, but quite possibly a different consciousness. Making or singing music also has the power to transform an individual. “There is a resemblance of music in pitch, volume, rhythm, melody and structure to the natural human expression of emotion in voice, demeanor and behavior” (Ushedo, 2006, 1). Making music can create an environment where it indirectly teaches individuals communication and social skills through the emotions brought out by the music. The social interaction between individuals with behavioral problems has been aided by using musical activities. It can “encourage or motivate communication through musical activities, which are responsive to the child to promote eye contact, turn taking, sharing, joint attention” (Stephenson, 2006, 297). While creating a calmer and more relaxed environment with musical activities, behavioral problems can be aided through the use of this form of music therapy.