Everybody loves music. It’s something that everybody has in life. Whether you are rich, poor, musically inclined or not, music has a place. It has many different ways of effecting people. There are health benefits, social benefits, and just the benefit of pure enjoyment. These are the different ways in which music is a valuable part of our world, and how it can be used to unify us.
1. Brain Activity
Music has a way of making our brains act and think. For example, if you were to listen to something like metal, you may feel more aggressive and energetic, but if you were to listen to classical, you may feel relaxed and calm. Music also helps us remember the little things like where we put the keys, what time dinner is, and anniversaries. It helps us pay more attention. A lot of people listen to music when they do homework, study, or work in general. This is because it can help them stay focused and attentive. Many people also listen to music when they work out. People don’t listen to it because it gives them something else to listen to other than the bodybuilder grunting 15 feet away while he lifts 200 pounds. It helps them keep their focus. It gives a beat to work out to, a motivation to keep working, and even a time management system, depending on the duration of the playlist or song.
Playing music also has its benefits. Listening to music helps the memory, but playing does as well. For example, I am a musician, have been for years, and since I started, I have remembered more things and been more attentive. Playing music also helps our multitasking skills grow. Playing instruments like piano, bass, or drums call for multiple movements and for both hands, and even feet, to be doing multiple things at one time. By playing the instrument and practicing the art, we learn how to multitask. For example, if my left hand is playing the lower register on the piano, and my right hand is playing the higher register, and they are both playing two separate things, my multitasking skills have already grown an enormous level.
2. Mental Health
Music is most definitely one thing: constant. Music, unlike people, medication, or other treatments, is always there. Music has a way of touching different people and helping during hard times. After a break up, some people sit on the couch in sweat pants, watch sad movies and eat ice cream by the quart. Other people listen to a song that helps them through that time, whether it be a sad song, or a metal song so it helps them get some pent up anger out. Music is always the one thing that will always be in life. When people feel depressed, angry, or any other way, they may want to listen to music. Listening to or writing music can help a person feel better and have a more positive outlook if they feel depressed. It can help get anger out without the person doing anything they’d regret later.
3. Social Interaction
Music, in some ways, can be like sports. When someone finds out another person likes their favorite band, they get all excited and start talking about their favorite songs, albums, and whatever else is going on with that band. It may even branch out into talking about other bands and interests, and by the end of the conversation, you may have a new bandmate, friend, or concert buddy. Music has a way of bringing people together, but it also has a way of pushing people apart. Especially back in the 50s, if you listened to rock n’ roll, not a lot of people talked to you, except other rock n’ rollers. Now, if one person listens to rock, and another person listens to rap, they may not like each other at first.
Music also has a way of bringing people together in that if a musician sees another musician playing, they may join in, and soon enough, there is a connection. The same can be said for bands. If musicians get together and make a band, they become closer and closer with each practice and with each show. If that band gets together with a few other bands and have a big band night at a local bar or club, they bond because they see each other when they are at their best, on stage.
4. Pure Enjoyment
Aside from music being a way to help people with depression, bringing people together, and increasing memory, music is for pure, unadulterated enjoyment. You can sit and listen to a song and say what it’s about and analyze it, or you can just sit and listen to the chords, the lyrics, and the overall melding of sounds. No matter how you look at it, everybody enjoys some form of music. We read books and watch movies because we enjoy the stories they tell. Music is no different. Every song tells a story. Whether it’s about love or pain, religion or government, heritage or ethnicity, music tells a story.
5. World Unity
Music is one of the few things that can help unify the world. It is a language unto itself. You can tell when someone is angry or happy by the music they’re listening to. Music can be used to speak in a new way, and create a bond between enemies. Through music, people of different countries can communicate, feel the same way, and gain a connection. Even if two people of different cultures suddenly start playing music together, a bond will form, and they will learn different things about each other. Playing together and learning about each other, differences are set aside for the pure enjoyment of playing music.
