What would people do without music?  Everywhere we go music is there to brighten our day.  Occasionally it gets stuck on a song we despise and cannot stop thinking about how much we want to switch the song.  But when we hear a song that we really like sometimes our actions are uncontrollable.  We feel delighted and free.  We might even bob our heads or tap our feet. Music has been defining people for generations, allowing emotional release that can be mental, physical or spiritual.

There have been countless cases throughout history where music has been used to calm a persons mind.  “Egyptians used music to calm their insane,” and in the Bible story of David and King Saul, David controlled the Kings emotions by playing the different notes on a harp.  In the present day, 2009, we use music for just about everything.  We use music when we are exercising, driving or going on a trip, relaxing, and partying.   However, is this all we use music for?  Absolutely not, we use music for plenty of other things.  Music is everywhere we go.  Music is in all different types of stores, from clothing stores to car lots.  It is in hospitals, dentist offices, workplaces, restaurants, movie theaters and movies themselves, and religious buildings.  There is no mandate that companies must play music at all times and yet they do.  Music makes people more comfortable.

Music can always calm me down after an extremely stressful day full of homework, and apparently music is known to have calming affects on the majority of all people.  Now people have jobs dedicated to music therapy, because science has proven that music can change our blood volume, blood pressure, circulation, pulse, and even our metabolism.  It is hard to believe that music could have anything to do with our metabolism, but truth of the matter is that a human beings metabolism can be related to music.  Researchers have theorized that music affects us in such ways because our bodies and organs work in a rhythmic way.  Rhythm can be found in a persons respiration, heartbeats, brain waves, and speech patterns.  If you think about it, the way that we talk and form sentences is very rhythmic, with our long or brief pauses and the stress that we put on individual words.   Each individual can be found to have a unique speech pattern, but our speech is in fact a pattern.

If a person is musically active than their life and body will be most likely to be affected in a positive way.  For example, researchers have noticed that those who play the piano are benefited not only mentally, but physically as well.  People who play the piano are less likely to develop arthritis in their hands.   I wonder if typing helps to stop arthritis in a person’s hand, because in a certain sense it is the same thing.  Of course piano is more pleasant to the ears, but nonetheless it is the same motions.  Active participation in music can also eliminate stress.  Eliminating stress is very import to both a person’s physical health and mental health.  Stress affects a person’s body in horrible ways.  Sometimes it causes little things like gaining weight, and other times it causes depression.  I am sure we have all heard the commercials, “Depression can hurt.” And depression does hurt.  It lowers self-esteem and makes a person feel alone. Stress is not beneficial to our bodies, and the sooner we get rid of it the better we feel.  Musical experts say that singers rarely develop any sort of chest pains, but this is not unheard of.  As much as music can help a person physically, a person still has to have genetics in which they would never develop any sort of problems to have a completely accurate survey.

Music’s impact has been known for generations and I am so glad that many of my peers openly embrace the musical side of themselves.  Unfortunately for some there is no musical side.  I like to say that I am not musically inclined, which is sad when my father can pick up just about any stringed instrument and make it sound good.  He likes to say that I can play lots of things, like the radio and the I-pod.  However, I can listen to music and appreciate it.  I can also use music to melt away my stress and so can you.

Let me know how music does or does not affect your lives.

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