Scientists have found that music can help calm nerves, raise spirits and focus people – but how about its ability to bring us all closer?
Neuroscientists have discovered that different areas of the brain decode and interpret different properties of music, including melody (patterns of pitch over time), harmony, and timbre (the sound of individual pitches). Unfortunately, its source and purpose remain elusive.
It Lifts Your Spirits
Music is an universal experience and has an undeniably profound effect on us all. It can uplift spirits, reduce stress, improve sleep quality and promote brain production of dopamine – the feel-good neurotransmitter known to have beneficial effects on blood pressure, heart rate and the body’s ability to cope with pain.
Music’s ability to express emotion has ensured its survival throughout human history. By manipulating pitch (timbre, slide and vibrato), duration (tempo fluctuations, rhythmic changes or changing note duration such as legato or staccato) and intensity (dynamics), music can communicate its emotional content effectively.
Listening to upbeat music can boost your mood, reduce depression and anxiety, stave off fatigue and enhance physical fitness performance. Studies show that music can also help increase memory retention and task endurance while relaxing agitated patients and encouraging communication among family members in hospital settings.
It Helps You Concentrate
No matter if you’re writing an essay or solving an equation, listening to music can help boost concentration and aid task completion. When selecting your genre of choice – songs with lyrics may distract you from what needs to be accomplished while music without lyrics such as that found in video games is ideal.
Finding a quiet and isolated spot where you can listen to music may also prove useful in keeping your focus solely on the task at hand, without being pulled in different directions by outside influences. This way, your efforts won’t be interrupted by anything outside.
Research indicates that music can assist your ability to comprehend complex information, as well as enhance reasoning abilities. If you’re having trouble grasping a subject, try listening to some soothing lo-fi music to ease your mind and increase concentration.
It Helps You Unwind
After an exhausting day, when it’s time to unwind and unwind from stressors at home, switch on your favorite tunes instead. Music has an incredible impact on both emotions and physical wellbeing; fast tempo music can help focus your thoughts and boost productivity while slow tempo tunes provide perfect relaxation and rejuvenation.
One study demonstrated that patients receiving music therapy experienced significantly lower rates of stress and anxiety than those without it, likely because it activates the parasympathetic nervous system to decrease biological stress responses such as blood pressure and cortisol levels.
To optimize your relaxation experience, choose songs with slower beats and a soothing voice, rather than those with lyrics or sudden volume changes that could disrupt sleep or cause stress. Instead, opt for music that features soothing ocean waves or birdsong; music can also serve as an invaluable companion when combined with other relaxing practices such as meditation or yoga.
It Helps You Create
Music derives its name from Latin musicum, which refers to nine muses from Ancient Greek mythology: Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Euterpe (poetry and double pipes), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (love, lyric poetry, Terpsichore (dance) and Urania (astronomy).
Music can be an emotive medium that unites individuals through shared experiences and can bring them closer together.
Musical performance requires considerable creativity and originality. Each new interpretation can add another depth of meaning, altering how listeners interpret it.
While scientific interest in the potential impact of music on cognition has increased rapidly, few studies specifically address creativity through music. Yet what research there is suggests that music may have a beneficial effect on our creative capacities.