What can Music do to You and Your Head?

What’s your favorite genre of music? Why do you like that music? Have you ever thought of music having some sort of effect on us?

There’s a saying that says music moves the soul. There’s a variety of music: Some songs can calm us down, some can make us happier, or wilder! How does music affect us?

As there are many variety of music, there are also a variety of ways it is used: In the medical field, for example, it is used for therapies, to lower blood pressure, to treat mental illness…

Musicologist, Julius Portnoy found that music can change metabolic rates, affect energy levels, even digestion, positively or negatively, depending of the type of music.

It can be said that music is a very powerful and awesome tool that can have positive effects, but equally could have destructive and negative effects.

For example: I like listening to loud music, with a pronounced beat. Some of the people around me do not like the music I listen to, so I believe many of us react differently to music. Maybe music that makes me happy might make someone angry or become disturbed by it. Music has a definite effect on people, making it a powerful influence on our body, mind and emotions.

Now, considering that I am a teenager, Dr. Adam Knieste, a musicologist who studies the effects of music upon people noted:

"It's really a powerful drug. Music can POISON you, lift your spirits, or MAKE YOU SICK without knowing why." (Family Weekly Magazine, January 30, 1983, p. 12, article by David Chagall)

Also, some studies stated that rock, grunge and heavy metal music (Music genres best preferred by so-called “troubled teens”) are not the cause of their problems. For example: Academic performance. Teenagers -of both genders- who listen to heavy metal usually get lower grades in school due to aspects of personality or environment (such as high stress) rather than any direct effects of the music itself.

"Paradoxical as it may seem, music's effect upon the more primitive vegetable kingdom is one of the most convincing methods of all for proving that music does affect life, including human life. If music can be shown to affect plants, then such effects have to be due to the objective influence of the tones directly upon the cells and processes of the life-form." –The Denver Post reported.

I believe it’s all inside the brain, and our likes and dislikes will tell which music has certain effects on us.

Michelle Neri