Since the beginning of time, music has always been embedded into our lives. It enters into culture and arts, finds its expression in language and has enormous affect on people’s lifestyles. “The idea that music holds influence over the minds, bodies and sound of those who hear it is surely of the universal features of human culture” (Marsh). The origin of music goes back to the earliest of civilizations, thus, making it hard and complicated to identify the exact date whence it started. And perhaps it is precisely this very mystery of the music origins that accounts for the charm of its beauty.
Whether instrumental or vocal, music can be viewed as a unique form of communication, speech or language, possessing sophisticated shades of meaning than the spoken word and yet demonstrating much more emotive force. “The elements of music – time, pitch, and volume – echo our pulse, our breath, our movement, and our vocal range” (Mannes). There appears to be something inherent in human beings that provide them the capacity to appreciate and respond to musical rhythms, tones and patterns.
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Today, music has become so common and widespread with the help of the latest technology and innovations that allow easy acquisition and access. From the almost disappearing walkmans, cassette tapes and CD players to the more contemporary Apple’s iPods and MP3 players, it has become very possible for people to listen to music of any kind conveniently, simultaneously and privately.
Music has been known to possess numerous positive effects on its listeners. It “enters through the ear – the most vulnerable sense organ” (Leppert, McClary). There is a growing and developing branch in medicine called music therapy that is quickly gaining popularity in recent years. This particular therapy aims to speed up the recovery process of the patients, whether for post-operative recuperation or physical therapy. Listening to stimulating or relaxing music has the ability to speed up the process of recovery for the majority of patients, although this effect is mainly dependent on the patient’s personal response to it. Therefore, this kind of therapy is not the principal means for recovery, but simply supplementary.
Apart from music’s health benefits, it also tends to improve and enhance creativity. It has the opportunity to be a unique muse that allows people to get their creative juices going. Since music is administered to both the right and left side of the human brain, it can assist to spark inspiration and motivation. To the majority of artists, listening to music helps them accomplish a certain ingenuity or creativity that they would not be able to do merely on their own.
Music also has an interesting effect in an individual task performance, since it can give more motivation to the listener and adjust moods accordingly. Studies demonstrate that music does not automatically boost positive attitude, for it will eventually depend on the specific manner by which the music is played. It may, nevertheless, decrease the strain of an activity. Generally, it is significant that the listener plays music he or she is comfortable and familiar with, in a volume that is not extremely loud so as not to distract the listener.
There is a number of other variables that contribute to the effects of music, but there is a positive certainty in the fact that music itself has a strong effect on a person and, thus, an effect on his or her task performances. In general, however, the effect of music has typically been more on the positive side rather than the negative. Society and music have always been closely related. Music creates and reflects social conditions including the factors that either impede or facilitate social change. That is why people continue to pop on their earphones, listen to music and observe the world improve.
- Marsh, Christopher. Music and Society in Early Modern England. Campridge
University Press: New York, 2010. Print. - Leppert, Richard and Susan McClary. Music and Society: The Politics of Composition,
Performance and Reception. Cambridge University Press: New York, 1987. Print. - Mannes, Elena. The Power of Music: Pioneering Discoveries in the New Science of
Song. Walker Publishing Company, Inc.: New York, 2011. Print.
