The history of music is as old as humanity itself. Archaeologists have dug up primitive flutes made of bone and ivory dating back as far as 43.000 years ago. The earliest fragment of musical notation and melody is found on a 4,000-year-old Sumerian clay tablet, which includes instructions and tunings for a hymn honoring the ruler Lipit-Ishtar.The title of the oldest extant song,however, according to historians is the "Hurrian Hymn No 6", an ode to goddess Nikal, composed by the ancient Hurrians around the 14th century B.C.
Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, and life to everything. It is the essence of order, and leads to all that is good, just and beautiful, of which it is the invisible, but nevertheless dazzling, passionate, and eternal form (Plato).
(Wordsworth Dictionary of Musical Quotations, 1991, p. 45).
Plato phrased it so beautifully indeed. Music is spiritual in a sense, a cosmic force that touches the soul. It inspires when one feels drained of ideas. While soothing the soul from sadness, it also allows sadness to be expressed through it and by it.It is a power for good. It is the manifestation in the physical world of the spiritual realm in all its regality, power and beauty. Through it all human emotion can find expression and in this way,either bring about healing, soothe the hurt and broken, be an invitation to dance and rejoice, serve as inspiration or be a call to action.
The people closest to me know full well that I can't live without music, not even for one day. I have always been this way and it's nearly impossible for me to change.Music is in my DNA. Whether with my headphones on or just blaring it out full volume, the music is ever-present. I'm even listening to music as I'm writing this! That's just me....
In the off-chance I don't listen to music, then I am seriously out of sorts or even worse, depressed. One of my earliest -dreamlike almost -memories, is of me demanding my dad put on music- I must have been about two years old, so I could sing along and dance (that's pretty much what I do nowadays, too!).I can listen to almost all sorts of music from heavy metal riffs and growls to baroque or spiritual music. I do have to exclude trap music, modern Greek music and death metal, they are just not for me.
No doubt you also listen to lots of music. I'm pretty sure you also have noticed for yourself or heard the scientints outline the numerous benefits of listening to music on a regular basis. So, without too much delay, let's see what they are:
- Music works out the brain.Science has shown that listening to music is an excellent workout for the brain, actually there are few things that stimulate the brain more than music does. As music is structural, mathematical and architectural and based on relationships between one note and the next, your brain has to do a lot of computing to make sense of it, even if you are not aware of it .
- Music improves your general health. It slows down aging but it also reduces anxiety, blood pressure, and pain but also improves sleep quality, mood, increases mental alertness, and enhances your memory.
“I don’t sing because I’m happy; I’m happy because I sing.” – William James
Music makes you happy. It has been proven that when you listen to music your brain releases dopamine, which is a "feel-good" neurotransmitter. So whenever you need a natural high, just crank up your favourite music, that's all it takes!
- Music enhances your workouts. If you want to give your workouts a boost or scale them up a notch, listen to songs that inspire you or give you what I call "combat vibes" and go slay that dragon!
- Music helps you sleep better. 10% of the world population suffer from insomnia that qualifies as a medical condition. people who suffer from insomnia would benefir immensely from listening to Bach or Mozart before turning in.
- Music reduces the symptoms of depression. A staggering number of more than 350 million people suffer from depression around the world, quite an alarming and scary number.A study by Hans Joachim Trappe in Germany demonstrated that music can benefit patients with depressive symptoms, depending on the type of music. Meditative sounds and classical music lifted people up, but techno and heavy metal brought people down even more.Next time you're feeling down in the dumps, listen to classical or meditative music to lift your spirits.
- Music strengthens learning and memory.There is a scientifically proven relationship between music, memory, and emotion. Since music evokes strong emotions and emotions boost memory processes, we can understand that music is involved in forming memories. This could apply to memories about certain pieces of music or information associated with specific music. Several studies have shown that verbal memory and focused attention can significantly improve by listening to favorite music every day, especially when compared to those who don’t regularly listen to music.Like Jodi Picoult said “Music is the language of memory.”
- Music increases verbal intelligence. A recent study showed that musically trained adult women and musically trained children outperformed those without music training on verbal memory tests.After only one month of music lessons (in rhythm, pitch, melody and voice), a study at York University showed that 90% of children between the ages of 4 and 6 had a significant increase in verbal intelligence. Researcher Sylvain Moreno suggests that the music training had a “transfer effect” which enhanced the children’s ability to understand words and explain their meaning. Sounds like a great replacement for the boring vocabulary lessons at school for sure!
- Music raises IQ and increases academic performance.Research shows that taking music lessons predicts higher academic performance and IQ in young children. In one study, 6-year-olds who took keyboard or singing lessons in small groups for 36 weeks had significantly larger increases in IQ and standardized educational test results than children who took either drama lessons or no lessons. The singing group did the best. As I suggested above, maybe playing music during the lessons or encouraging our kids to take music lessons or learn to play an instrument is to their benefit!
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