Have any girls ever experienced a heart break and resorted to Taylor Swift songs? Have guys ever completed the best workout in the world because of the pump up songs blasting through their headphones? Remember the dreadful days when we all played an instrument in elementary school against our will? Music affects each and every one of us on a daily basis, but no one truly knows what occurs in the brain during the event of listening. Music impacts us positively in ways we do not imagine. It improves and benefits individuals and society, it can also positively impact our health, our moods, and our stamina. Any and all music listeners should tune in, as well as those who feel skeptical. I personally have been practicing and trained in vocals since a young age. I have learned so much about who I am, as well as built my character through this art. Singing allows me to release stress and replace it with happiness. If you aspire to improve your health in simple and positive ways, music may be the answer. Both listening and practicing can cause enormous changes in a person that will improve their life forever.
Music truly matters, listening to a song strongly effects various parts of the brain in unique ways. A health journalist, Adam Ramsay, says “There are studies showing that areas responsible for aspects, such as memory and vision, can ‘light up’ in response to music.” The first main impact is this, listening to music proves to change our moods. Music correlates with the reward system of the brain. Two other stimuli, Food and light, cause a reaction in this part of the brain. Listening to pleasurable music, whatever genre it may be, triggers the release of dopamine (researchers at McGill). Our moods vary, but music’s ability to boost our sadness or happiness always remains the same. If one feels sad, a somber song will only increase the level of sadness. If one feels happy, “pump up” music will make them ecstatic. Another impact of music involves endurance, listening to “up beat” music actually increases speed. Music can help increase endurance by as much as 15 percent, the perception of effort during exercise lowers, and energy efficiency increases (Brunel University). If you are looking to gain motivation at the gym, music does the trick. The third impact of listening to music relates to the effect on one’s health. Frequently, studies show that music can help lower heart rate, blood pressure, help relieve pain and anxiety, and improve a person’s quality of life. It also improves the lives of those affected by mental illnesses. As Dr. Williamson says, “’It can give them a sense of control back, as well as creating a calm personal atmosphere and blocking out some of the disturbances around the patient.” The final positive impact I will be mentioning is the ability of music to improve one’s focus. Music allows the cerebral cortex to increase the speed of beta waves therefore, allowing people to be better equipped to concentrate. All should participate musically in society, it brings people together and binds nervous systems. Health, focus, endurance, and moods become positively altered through listening to some tunes.
Practicing music whether you play an instrument or sing, incredibly impacts your mind and body. For example, music possesses the ability to put people in trance states. These “trance states” allow the mind to enter an altered state of consciousness in which ecstatic singing and dancing may be involved. If you ever held the title of a performer or seen an outstanding performance, you should recognize this state. You are transported to a place/ state of mind that allows you to truly feel and perform the music. Some describe it as existing in a trance. Active engagement with music sharpens the brain’s early encoding of linguistic sound. Speech makes use of structural auditory patterns. Musical training develops skills which enhance perception of these patterns. Eight year old children with just eight weeks of musical training showed improvement in perceptual cognition compared with non trained children. For this reason, in elementary school we all took that tedious recorder class, and in middle school the principle forced us to choose an instrument and learn it. Well, we can all thank administration now! Most likely being musically trained aided in our intelligence and brain development. Perceptual cognition holds importance because it is critical in developing successful reading. On top of intellectual development, it also aids in social development and health. Practicing music carries the ability to slow things down for patients with diseases like turrets. If you suffer from a disease such as this, getting caught up in our high speed society and your own personal struggles commonly occurs, music will decrease symptoms and slow things down. Practicing music has major effects on health, social and intellectual development, trance states, and symptoms.
For those of you who completely disagree that music positively impacts society, there is an argument for that as well. Music is a very broad topic, and people question whether or not something such as rap is benefiting our society. While some argue otherwise, some people believe music impacts the youth of our society in a way that causes violence and sadness. If you listen to “happy” music, you easily turn your mood cheerful. It improves brain development, blood pressure, heart, and respiratory rates. This shows true through the effects of Music therapy. If none of this proved true, there would be no reason to build an entire profession around the position. If you think about what kind of music a majority of our youth listens to, the first thing that comes to your mind most likely avoids gospel music or classical music, but you think of rap and pop. Main stream music possesses a history of portraying sex, violence, drugs, and other things that media should not be advocating to teenagers. Just as I said earlier, the words and sounds that you input into your ears have an output much similar. That being said, if a person inputs rough sounds (harsh beats and profound words, curse words) relating to negatively associated topics, they most likely put out similar behavior and/or begin to feel sad. Music decreases academic performance, turns bad moods worse, results in mental disorders, influences vulnerable teenagers’ decisions, and much more. For example, previous studies have shown that teens who listen to heavy metal sometimes show relation to substance abuse, mental disorders, suicide, or risk-taking behaviors during their adolescence. Teens are the future of our society, how they act and feel impacts all of the generations to come.
Music surrounds each and every one of us on a daily basis. Whether we are shopping in a store to some background tunes, or blasting pump up music through our headphones while running on the treadmill, music affects society regularly. While music commonly surrounds us, the question is, does music have a positive or negative impact on humanity? Although music has shown to be harmful in some ways, it shows to be even more beneficial. It makes differences in peoples lives regarding health and much more. All the information proves music helps, so will you turn up the volume for the radio?