Why Does Music Move Us?

Following the developing of social sciences, everybody has started to get concerned about the issue if music is good for healthy body and mental recently. This phenomenon makes the music therapy becomes popular. Music therapy is defined as “ the therapeutic use of music as to reduce anxiety, improve cognitive functioning, promote physical rehabilitation, or enhance interpersonal communication that typically involves listening to music, singing, playing musical instruments, or composing music “ in the Merriam-Webster.com. In other words, through the activity of music people can improve physical or psychological disease that achieves cure and health.

There are many different ways that we benefit from music. Music can inspire better self-esteem, and confidence. It’s a great way to set the mood, and a wonderful tool. Music therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program (Gram, 2005). Music therapy can reach out to anyone, age, race, gender it doesn’t matter. Children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly with mental health needs can benefit from music therapy. As well as, those who have developmental and learning disabilities, those who suffer from Alzheimer's

Music therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by an accredited professional who as completed an approved music therapy program. “Music therapists hope that scientific research continues to define how their work differs from entertainment, and how it benefits patients as much as other more familiar complementary therapies such as art therapy.” (Mellskog) This shows how even though there is little research and evidence on music therapy, it is still very effective and a

As shown in Henry’s case, music therapy has significant benefits for dementia patients, with regard to both physiological and intellectual perspectives. Following his case, the author goes on to discuss music therapy from general viewpoint. According to the American Music Therapy Association, “Music therapy is the planned and creative use of music to attain and maintain health and well being” (Mattews, 2015). This definition is open ended, which illustrates that music therapy is not only restricted for treating dementia, but also designed for variety range of population, including autism, anxiety disorder, and mental disorder patients. Furthermore, Matthews says that music has four aspects which contributed to music therapy: “communal nature of its delivery, the rhythmic quality of composition, the entrancing effect of music’s mood, and the physiological arousal accompanying listening” (Matthews, 2015). Especially, people with dementia more likely to recall the rhythm, melody of music that they used to listen when younger. Thereupon, the power of music plays meaningful role to health care setting.

I have this theory that when it comes to music there is an unseen power which transforms. In in my life I have felt the influence of this power but it wasn't until the other day that I witnessed this power in action. It was through a procedure called Music Therapy where the method of treatment involves the patient listening to music. The element of music has a history of an intuitive connection that has psychologically been beneficial. Music therapy bands together the concept of music, mental health, psychological, and physiological benefits. With more examinations to estimate the advantages for this procedure more debate arises. Many are eager to

Music is composed of sounds intertwined with melody and rhythm that can have powerful effects on a person. It can help people focus on tasks or calm the mind. Research has shown that music has beneficial effects on the mind, body, and health of a person. A journal article by Rastogi, Solanki, and Zafar (2013) refers, on the contrary, to:

Some people think that music can positively influence the listener while others disagree and argue that it has a negative impact. Mark Edmundson, the author of “Can Music Save Your Life?,” asserts through his own experience and the research of others that music solely “preserves” the listener’s life as a “balm—cortisone spread” (paragraph 25). His use of a well-known medical supplement makes it more relatable and believable to the reader. The authors of “Feeling the Beat” support Edmundson by stating that they observed an increased sense of confidence in oneself and one’s beliefs in the people they interviewed(Iwamoto, Creswell, & Caldwell 346). Their main support is the quote from one of their interviewee’s who said, “We can identify what they are talking about” (Iwamoto, Creswell, & Caldwell 343). This not only explains why students listen to certain types of music, but also why it can have such an impact on them. Derek Iwamoto, John Creswell, and Leon Caldwell declare their statement that positive influence of music by stating that the majority of the students they observed used their music as a way to

Although some may suggest music can only serve for entertainment, music imposes a direct impact on the ideals and actions of today’s culture. In the past, the music of a culture greatly impacts the people and speaks what the people felt afraid to express. Different types of music reach different areas of the human brain, thus affecting the way people act in various ways. Music possesses such a deep impact on human brains it affects the way we act and process different situations we go through. Although music can serve entertainment purposes it affects our brains and actions deeply.

In today’s world we have many forms of treatments and therapies that are administered to us in the hopes of helping us. In the act of helping we function better as humans we are given medication, counseling, and once upon a time things like shock therapy. But, what if there was a way, a way that we do not to have medications every day? We do not need to do anything extreme in the hopes that it will help us get through our everyday lives? In the early 1800s we began to ask those questions more in depth. In a time where the smallest mental illness could land you in the hospital for the mentally insane, we as humans began to see the benefits that music could have on the human body. Journals, articles, and

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.).

Needle pricks, medicine, exhaustion, sickness, pain, feeling different ‒ these are just a few of the things that people with mental disabilities and serious diseases have to go through on a daily basis. But what if there was a different kind of treatment that could comfort them or reduce their pain even a little bit? Fortunately, for the people facing these issues, there is. Music therapy is a relatively new approach that doctors, teachers, and many others are taking to help heal and improve the quality of life for their patients and students. It’s starting to become more common around the United States and is expected to become even more popular in the future. Books like Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart support the idea of music therapy by demonstrating how music can be used to soothe and improve the moods of individuals regardless of what they may be going through. Music therapy is an effective way to speed up the healing process and improve the emotional state of a wide range of people facing different obstacles in life.

The impact of music on positive psychology and emotion is a well known fact. Music has an extraordinary ability to change people’s emotions. In humans, music has the ability to invoke emotions of sadness, happiness and even fear (Goycoolea, Levy & Ramirez, 2013). The ability of music to alter human mood makes it one of the greatest subjects of positive psychology. Seligman (2011) argued that even though a lot of effort has been spent on psychotherapy and pharmacology, such interventions are not

Music therapy, a clinical use of music interventions to accomplish therapeutic goals, involves a broad range of activities including playing an instrument, singing, or listening to music. Similar to occupational and physical therapy, this expressive arts therapy remedies psychological conditions, such as depression, anxiety, or hypertension to maintain the well-being of an individual. Likewise, music has been a therapeutic tool that has shown positive effects to parts of the brain including regions involved in emotion, sensation, movement, and cognition. Although music therapy is a somewhat new-found treatment, it is used prominently today. Administered by a trained therapist, this type of therapy is used in correctional facilities, nursing homes, hospices, and special education schools.

Music, along with Communication, is something that can be studied in various different ways. They are similar concepts in that people use music to communicate with their peers, elders, and anyone willing to listen. Researching how music effects the way we communicate is an interesting phenomenon. It can be researched through the use of qualitative and quantitative research. Both are an effective means of research and provide numerous different methods to gain knowledge and information regarding the topic.

Music elicits an emotional and cognitive response in all who listen to it. It is powerful at the individual level because “it can induce multiple responses – physiological, movement, mood, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral” (Francis, 2008,