Ancient man has long used music as a transcendental art form, which is why it played a pivotal role in important religious ceremonies and on other occasions. Well, it still remains transcendental today and even though the musical instruments may have evolved since ancient Carthage, it still renders the same effect. It can be a little hard to consider modern music as an ancient art form but all the music that you hear today, are based on the same rules as the earlier variants without much change. And while it is assumed that music has a beneficial effect, it does come with a few negative connotations which are why it is essential that we take a closer look at some of the positive and negative effects of music.
Positive effects of music
- Transcendental: There is a reason that music is often considered a vital part of important religions functions; early communities often considered music to be a divine means of communication. One of the reasons that music was considered to be spiritual is the fact that it often has the power to move you, to cause you to transcend to a whole new level. Music has the power to move you and put you in touch with your inner self, your essence and that’s why it had and would still continue to play a key role in important spiritual occasions.
- Creativity: Various studies have shown that music does help boost creativity; granted that loud music may actually act as an impediment rather than anything else. But playing at the right level, and as part of the ambient background, it can help activate parts of your brain, cause you to think in abstract ways and even help boost your creativity in the process. In fact, some of the top tech companies, often include music as part of the ambient background in the office, as a way to help facilitate the creative process.
- Retention: It has long been thought that listening to music can help you retain facts more. Researchers have long theorized that listening to music helps to fire up certain parts of your cerebral cortex, which in turn has a direct effect on your cognitive functioning. A few studies have identified the close correlation between music and retention; it has been found that musicians often display better retentive skills than others.
- Stress: Stress is a silent killer and listening to some soothing music can help save your life, literally. If your stress levels are too high, then all you need to do is to listen to some soothing music to help calm you down. Music enables you to fine-tune your emotional intelligence and listening to soothing music, can cause your brain to release Dopamine. This feel-good hormone enables you to fight off depression, and generally make you feel better about yourself.
- Blood pressure: listening to the right music can even help lower your blood pressure to more manageable levels; this is not to imply that music is the solution to everything but it does have a beneficial and becalming effect on your brain.
Negative effects of music
- Distraction: One of the cons of music is that it can at times be loud, the notes jarring and this can prove to be quite distracting. It can be hard to multitask especially if the extremely loud music is playing in the background; while it should be pointed out that soothing music can actually help boost your creativity, loud music can have the opposite effect. Loud music can interrupt your thought process, and if you are required to focus on the task at hand, you may find it hard to do so with the current ambient noise in the background.
- Health impact: While listening to music at the right levels can help you lead a more productive life, the fact remains that listening to music round the clock or even listening to loud music for a short while can impair your hearing. The human body, especially the eyes and the ears can only handle a certain amount of stress placed on them. So listening to loud music often is bound to affect your hearing and may even lead to a permanent disability.
These are some of the positive and negative effects of music; there are not too many cons where music is concerned for the effects of music as a whole, is considered to be beneficial.
Alan Behrens is an experienced writer and our editor-in-chief.PNI's goal is to publish high-quality, educational content covering everything from history to current events.
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