THE MAGIC OF MUSIC!!

July 03, 2021

Hola guys!! Welcome to the armour of Aletheia.

Each and every one of us have heard some sort of music while spending our lives on earth. So today I Curiman will be diving into the world of music and try to understand the magical powers music possess.

Kahlil Gibran once said, “Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.” And you know what he was right. Today researchers have found that music is just not sounds that are pleasing to our ears but are more than that, music has a very strong impact on a person who listens to it. Music has been part of human culture for a very long time and by very long time I mean… even before proper language was invented. Archaeologists have found a bone flute that is around 40,000 years old, believed to be made by Neanderthals our human cousins. Many ancient civilizations believed that music was not earthly but heavenly creation. This proves music has been with man for a very long time and still exists and flourishes at its full glory. If the man still makes and enjoys music then definitely it's very important to man.

This universal connection of man with music had encouraged researchers to understand music and its impact on man and the results were quite astonishing. It was found that Children trained in music and playing musical instruments could cope with their day-to-day life problems in a better way and they also turned out to be better listeners. Researchers today undoubtedly say that music has a huge impact on our mental health and wellbeing.

A 2011 study stated that music enhances the production of dopamine a mood-enhancing hormone, making music a treatment for depression. Even patients suffering from the last stage of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s would start moving\ dancing or even remember the lyrics when their favourite song was played. Many Alzheimer’s patients could even recall a few of their memories.

The following videos show how effective music therapy is in Alzheimer’s patients.

Music has also been very effective in healing brain injuries and has also proved effective among people with attention deficit disorders. Music is rhythm, rhythm is structure, and structure is soothing to an ADHD brain struggling to regulate itself to stay on a linear path, that structure helps a child with ADHD plan, anticipate, and react. “Nothing activates the brain so extensively as music,” said the late Oliver Sacks, M.D., neurologist.

*If you have ADHD, here’s a doctors approved music therapy audio.*

Music not just has healing powers but as we all know it also has communicating powers. Music is a great medium for conveying information. It allows people to exchange feelings, intents, and meanings even if their spoken languages are incomprehensible to each other. Music can have a strong bodily effect on us as well as elicit deep and profound emotions. Songs have the power to convey emotions which may have been difficult to convey otherwise else. Human emotions are very complex yet Music conveys and responds to what is deep inside the human soul. The musician conveys emotions and innermost feelings, which are universal and are experienced by all in one way or the other.

Now if you don’t believe me, here’s a female cover of the Hindi song “yeh pal”.

You can thank me in the comment box for recommending you this amazing cover later.

So, moving on Music also created a sense of unity among people, Music has long been used by movements seeking social change. ... In fact, music long assisted those working to win civil rights for African Americans. Freedom songs, often adapted from the music of the black church, played an essential role bolstering courage, inspiring participation, and fostering a sense of community. Freedom struggles all across the world had some kind of music involved. From “Bella ciao” in Italy to "We Shall Overcome" in American civil rights were historic songs that encouraged people to unite and fight for their rights.

Richard Wagner once said, “Music is the universal language.” and you may already know about this. We humans don’t need to know a language to enjoy a song in a language we may be alien to. The best example of this is the song “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi- “Despacito” is one of the most successful Latin songs in history, The song was on a number-one hit for 16 weeks in 2017. MUSIC IS NOT BOUND BY LANGUAGE, it’s like a pleasant wind, blows everywhere freely.

Along with all these powers music also has the power to show what is the mentality of the people in a particular community. Since music has a huge impact on culture, the culture also has a huge impact on music. The particular music a community makes or listens helps us to know a lot about the people from that community. Music has been used by various communities to show how unique they are- for example, “Jazz” was a core part of African American community, For some African Americans, jazz has drawn attention to African-American contributions to culture and history. For others, jazz is a reminder of an oppressive and racist society and restrictions on their artistic visions. Similarly, music also shows what people in a particular community wants or thinks- for example, most of the Bollywood movies today have the so-called “item number” which degrade and objectify women, and these songs are super hit even though the particular movie is a huge box office flop. This clearly shows the mentality of the majority in a particular society. I am not here to insult someone or a society but just pointing out certain facts.

See, no matter what, each and every one of us is connected to the universal truth of music. Music is proved to be powerful and life-changing for thousands of people. Now all I want to ask from you is to listen to your favourite songs every day because Music is structural, mathematical and architectural. It’s based on relationships between one note and the next. You may not be aware of it, but your brain has to do a lot of computing to make sense of it. Music can do wonders in your life, and as BOB MARLEY said, “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain”.

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