Taylor Swift, Adele, Maroon 5 – they are all successful musicians. Success in this sense cannot only be equated to the number of people screaming their names, buying their records, or watching their live shows and concerts. By success, we mean they are able to reach our deepest desires and speak about it through the music they create when we cannot voice it out ourselves. They create music that heals our soul and music that the world needs.
Ever wonder how music seems to be able to take our problems away? Ever wonder how it can give us strength and makes our future seem so bright?
Every time we listen to a song (listen is the operative word and not watch MTV), our serotonin level or the pleasure hormone increases and takes us away from our depressive state. Perhaps this is the reason why we see so many emotional teens or “Emos” who are garbed in black often seen with their headphones hanging around their head as they need music to take their emotional battle and set them free from their depression.
Music replaces our stress and torment over our future with possibilities and potential because it makes us dream and visualize the kind of future we want to create. We should make it a habit to devote half a day listening to upbeat music or just music we love. Before we take out an anti-anxiety pill, why don’t we learn to pop a song instead? We have become so reliant on pills and medications to relieve us of our discomfort that we neglect to use those that can help us naturally.
Music helps improve our memory. There have been studies made that point music to be the reason why those with Alzheimer’s and dementia were able to recall the words better when they were made into a song compared to those who were just asked to listen to the spoken lyrics of the song. This explains why we tend to remember facts and data when we were kids in school if our teachers made it into a song. It’s like music always knows the way to our hearts and into our minds and makes us remember the lines to Adele’s Rolling in the Deep and forget our brother’s birthday. Additionally, those who stutter seem to have no trouble singing fluently at all, partly because they remember the words and their inhibitions are removed.
Music supports our fitness activity. Danceable, upbeat music is always played in gym not primarily for the benefit of our entertainment but for pumping our energy level, making us exert more effort into our workout. We tend to exercise longer when there is music around especially when doing only one type of fitness like running. This is especially true if we are listening to song lyrics that give us strength and motivation to go further. Take for instance Kelly Clarkson’s Stronger with lines “what doesn’t kill you make you stronger” can definitely psyched us up.
Music and art have always come hand in hand. This is because when we listen to music, our right brain or the side of our brain in charge with creation gets switched on, so we become a little more creative than the usual. It is not so much as music is making us smarter. It’s more like when we listen to music, we relax and let go of the pressure of trying to be someone else. And when we let go of that pressure, we let ideas to come into our mind because our mind is at peace.
Music relieves pain. Apart from serotonin, the pain-reliever endorphin is released as well and alleviates the perception of pain from our brains whenever we pay attention to the music. It distracts us and puts our guard down. When we relax, we give our blood pressure and other chronic illnesses a time to chill as well. And if we can sing along to the tune, the double the effect on our mental health.
To some, music is their career while for others, music is their friend. Music can be a lifeblood, a therapy, a healer. Whatever is music to us is dependent on our character, but we can all agree that life without music is like being confined in a mental institution. It's maddening. This is how important music is and to show our appreciation to the musicians who continue to inspire us, we must listen to their music with our hearts.
As Abba put it - "Thank you for the music."
