The Influence Music has on Humans
Content:
- Music is a gift
- Music’s Offerings
- The Discovery of Music
- Music for a Purpose
- Music’s Touching Capabilities to Thyself
- Music is medicine
- Music in Greek Philosophy
Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue.
Music is a gift
Music is a gift, Plato has explained in the quote above it allows us to express the feelings we have created within our hearts and souls, which are then projected outward through the creation and movement of sound. There is no emotion on this planet that cannot be conceived within us by the ever-changing vibrations and words that are coerced by music. The souls that each of us carry have the ability to be awakened and enlightened by it’s educational vantages. That which is Music hits the soul of each of its victims, leaving it up to the listener to reap the benefits of music’s ever giving nature. The sender never once asking for anything in return from the receiver, a selfless gift that music gives. It’s timeless abilities of shifting thoughts and feelings from our subconscious to our consciousness minds.
Music’s Offerings
The gifts of calmness, education, therapy and the celebration of life are all but mere examples of what music has the ability to grant us with. It is no wonder why listening to music is one of the most beloved leisure activities. Music is known to bring us together, have positive effects on our mind, mood and body and for being the very catalyst in which can change our lives for the better. The absorption of knowledge is inevitable when we favor certain types of music to fill our mind, body and soul. Here at Radio Art, we give priority to the sounds of music that will leave you feeling relaxed, recharged, and ready to take on the most critical of tasks. Studying for a major test, executing a surgery or simply meditating oneself to greater health, there is no shortage here to the feel good sounds in which we offer.
The Discovery of Music
Our search for when music made it’s debut to Earth dates as far back as 35,000 years ago and beyond when we discovered the first instruments known to have ever been created. The artifacts that were identified as bone and ivory flutes were found in a cave in southwest Germany. “In an article published online by the journal Nature, Nicholas J. Conard of the University of Tübingen, in Germany, and colleagues wrote, “These finds demonstrate the presence of a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe.” Wilford (2020). With music being inherent in nature, it is difficult to place an exact period of time in conjunction with the rise of music being understood by human consciousness. However, with the discovery of these instruments, we understand that our ancestors adopted the sounds that we define as music and used it as a tool in their lives just the same as we use them today.
Music for a Purpose
The benefits of listening to music are boundless. As stated before, our ancestors are known to have given music a purpose. Today, scientists suggest that that purpose is one of the most important attributes that music carries which is its ability to unite people together by forging the feeling of connectedness. “In social creatures like ourselves, whose ancestors lived in arboreal environments where sound was one of the most effective ways to coordinate cohesive group activities, reinforce social bonds, resolve animosities, and to establish stable hierarchies of submission and dominance, there could have been a premium on being able to communicate shades of emotional meaning by the melodic character (prosody) of emitted sounds.” Panksepp and Bernatzky (2002). If you take a look into the past, this quote suggests that much like todays society, our ancestors used music as a way to manage their immediate environment. Much like mothers and their newborn child, nursery rhymes are but one example of the way in which we use music to bond with our loved one. There are many other ways in which we hold high regard to the power music holds over us when connecting not only with one another, but also within ourselves.
Music’s Touching Capabilities to Thyself
While music has it’s way of sparking social togetherness and forging trusted bonds with one another, listening to music is also an important mechanism used to create a loving home within oneself. With this fast paced, trying world we are living in it is easy to get caught up in the rumble of man and it’s unforgiving need to create a life in which seeks perfection, leaving us anxious to fill a mold in which we sometimes feel like we simply cannot fit. Many people are left trying to mend the broken pieces of themselves in order to create an identity that they can be happy with. One of the many beautiful things about music is that it has helped countless people to minimize feelings of depression by way of relating to song. Musical lyrics are one of the easiest ways to realize we are not alone in the challenges we face and that many other people are going through the same complications. This helps ease the pressure off of ones own mind in thinking they should give up, but instead that they can persevere through life’s hardships with the guidance of music. Emotional breakthroughs are the cornerstone in music’s capabilities for the self. Scientific studies conclude that certain types of music can even help your nervous system recover faster after a physically stressful event, also known as stress relief music. It is indicated that nature sounds blended into music is a fantastic way to decrease anxiety, even for people with critical ailments a feature that you can find on Radio Art. “Music is also involved in the regulation and genetic expression of dopamine as well as in the alterations in the levels of serotonin, cortisol, and oxytocin.” Alcântara-Silva, Ruffo de Freitas-Junior, et. (2018).
Music is medicine.
Not only can it positively affect your mood, it has also been proven by studies to have a physical effect on our bodies. It is proven that certain types of music played to cancer patient’s decreased feelings of fatigue, sometimes going as far as being the main aid in the continuing of treatments which were halted due to the outcome of intense fatigue in patients going through said treatments. Fighting the outcome of fatigue comes easier with music, which also gives it the quality of boosting exercise performance, which in turn leads to better overall health. Overall quality of life is enhanced through the projection of sound, one of the most prominent and easily accessible tools that we can use everyday. Whether you’re listening to a Solo Piano piece or Meditation music to guide you through a peaceful ceremony, the outcome will always be a superior self.
Music in Greek Philosophy
“Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the Universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything. It is the essence of order, and leads to all that is good and just and beautiful.” The Late Greek philosopher, Plato, who was the first of his kind to study music and bring awareness around its intrinsic ability to educate, spoke this quote. His belief was that education is at the forefront of what claims a man as his true self, where the body and the soul are the taught as two separate entities. The body is educated through physical movement, yet the soul, Plato believes is taught by music. According to Plato, music has the power to sway us in unimaginable directions, whether it be pleasure or pain, it is our emotions that are not only touched, but moved to places beyond ones own imagination prior to the consumption of such sounds. Music shapes us through it’s compelling pull on our heartstrings, our mind and our body.