The Power of Music

The Power of Music

Hal A. Lingerman once said, “Just as certain selections of music will nourish your physical body and your emotional layer, so other musical works will bring greater health to your mind.” The truth is when considering the different parts of a human beings development, music is one of the areas where there is a great deal of unknowns. Some people believe that music can actually affect the organization and arrangement of stimuli into different patterns which create an ability for deeper understanding. These stimuli stand at or near the apex of human development. While no one is sure where the limitation of the power of music lays we do know that there is a strong link between a persons mood or mind set and music which may contribute to development.

The idea has been presented that music may be an evolutionary contributor to human beings. For example, crude tools found in Eastern Africa dating back over 1.7 million years ago are said to have been used by Zinjanthropus ( an early progenitor of man) to create music during ceremonies. Music is not only a part of our culture but we have began to understand that it may be part of our biology. Music stems from a need for expression and communication which is deeply embedded in humans. We know that sound waves have extraordinary power and at certain frequencies can shatter objects and even harm or impair a persons ability to process information so why would its helpful effects be such a stretch. The answer is it not, in fact music therapy is now being used all over the world. Music has shown to benefit handicapped and ill persons by helping them change their state of mind becoming more positive and actually making their bodies more receptive to treatments. There are also various physiologic effects of music that can be measured. Changing the pitches of music make a tremendous difference when it comes to human behavior. High or low pitches can produce nervous tension or relaxation. Speed and volume have also been shown to produce a physically painful state. Recent evidence suggests that a melody can improve myocardial Ischemia ( blood flow ). Studies have found that when cardiac patients listen to soothing music, heart rate, blood pressure, mean cardial pressure, cardiac complication, and