Last update: June 21, 2016
Music is defined as "the art of combining the sounds of the human voice or of instruments, or of both at the same time, so that they produce a melody to move the sensibility, be it with joy or sadness." Singing, the sound of a guitar, a violin, a music orchestra or a rock group… everything is music.
Considered an art since ancient times, it is a code, a universal language, present in all cultures of the history of humanity. Curiously, the hieroglyphic signs that represented the word "music" were identical to those that represented the states of "cheerfulness" and "well-being". In China, the two ideograms that represent it mean “have fun with the sound”. For this reason, there is a great coincidence in relation to the connotations, which have remained such over time, concerning the concept of music in which the pleasant sensations it produces predominate.
music therapy
The origins of the therapeutic use of sound and music date back to the dawn of humanity. Already Plato argued that "music was for the soul what gymnastics was for the body", recognizing that it has certain quality or property that affect ours emotionality and / or spirituality.
The American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) defines music therapy as “a profession in the health field that uses music and musical activities to care for the physical, psychological and social needs of people of all ages. There Music therapy improves the quality of life healthy people and responds to the needs of children and adults with disabilities and diseases. It could be used to improve well-being, control stress, decrease pain, express feelings, enhance memory, improve communication and facilitate physical rehabilitation ”.
For this reason, if we consider diseases as a defect, an imbalance or a lack of communication, it is legitimate to think that music can help build the necessary bridges for blocked communication skills to begin to flow; contributing to the improvement or regaining of health.
Nowadays, music therapy is widely applied in relation to different ailments and is aimed at people of all ages. Applications are frequent in education (autism, hyperactivity, Down syndrome), mental health (depression, anxiety, stress ...), medicine (oncology, pain, people in ICU) and geriatrics (senile dementia).
Thanks to the ability of musical art to act on different levels, with music therapy, some objectives can be achieved such as:
-Improve the level of affectivity and behavior.
-Develop communication and means of expression.
-Release pent-up energies.
-Develop affective-emotional awareness.
-To equip people with musical life experiences that enrich them and help them motivate themselves.
-Strengthen self-esteem and personality.
-Rehabilitate, socialize and educate.
Does music affect emotionality?
Who has never lived an experience of true emotion while listening to music? Sound and music make us feel emotions and these modify our physiology, hormones, alternate our heart rhythm and our pulse. We resort to music in countless moments, whether it is in a conscious or unconscious form.
Music has been used since ancient times to incite warriors and hunters. Also in the cinema it is used as a means to multiply the effects of certain scenes, becoming an indispensable code for the emotional characterization of the script and the scenes on the screen (Cohen, 2011).
Our mood is often reflected in the songs we listen to or sing. A sad song can lead us to a state of melancholy, while a cheerful song more excite us and give us a few minutes of happiness. Similarly, a light and harmonic song accompanies us in moments of relaxation and study and rhythmic music stimulates us while we exercise.
It also affects many of our important memories. Who has never associated a situation with a soundtrack?
The areas of the brain that are activated with emotions and music are practically the same. When the brain perceives sound waves, certain psycho-physiological reactions are produced. For this reason, we respond with emotions and these cause physiological alterations such as the increased secretion of neurotransmitters and other hormones that act on the central nervous system.
Music can change our physiological rhythms, alter our emotional state and be able to change our mental attitude, bringing peace and harmony to our spirit. Music exerts a powerful influence on the human being at all levels.
Music is the art that is closest to tears and memory. (Oscar Wilde)
And you, do you think you can live without music?
