There is no denying that most people spend their time listening to music. Apparently, music is important to us. According to Neilson, Americans listen to music at least 4.5 hours a day, while for others, it’s two hours. It seems that people spend between 2 to 4 hours listening to any type of music. So, what makes music so important?
Basically, music is something that can energize your hearing nerves. In fact, once this single sense organ perceives music, it can stimulate the entire part of the brain in distinct ways. Within your brain, there is a lot of music that is going on. Knowing the difference between music and noise is essential.
Different people perceive music differently. Based on this, we can say that each person is motivated by music in a unique way. Different people also have different reasons for listening to music. Some of the common reasons are unique emotion, enjoyment, avoiding feeling bored, sensations, preferring to listen to parts of the song, and bonding.
Important Functions of Music
Generally speaking, anyone can listen to any type of music any time of the day, with or without any reason at all. The following are some of the important functions of music in our lives based on the research conducted by Michael J. Hogan and Jenny M. Groarke.
Regulates Anxiety – It is believed that music can help in regulating your anxiety and at the same time it can also comfort you. Most often, this is accomplished by creating distractions to comfort us, boosting positive emotions, relieving anxiety through music, or reconsidering your thoughts.
- Regulates Stress – Sometimes music can help you in distracting yourself, especially during stressful situations. It can help you in escaping a certain situation while comforting you.
- Managing Loneliness – Listening to music can help in reducing your feeling of loneliness.
- Managing Anger – Music can keep you calm down or confirm your emotions. You like to listen to music since it can help you in controlling your anger.
- Recollection – Music can make you remember your past experiences. It will make you relive those moments whether it’s good or bad.
- Reflection – Sometimes you like to dwell on those sad thoughts since music lets you do so in an extraordinary way.
- Appreciation – Oftentimes, you listen to music because you deeply appreciate its beauty.
- Powerful Emotional Experiences – Through music, you can find intense emotional experiences.
- Cognitive Management – Some people use music to help in improving their concentration, so they can focus more on their work or studies.
- Aids in Sleeping – Most people listen to music so they can enjoy a good night’s sleep.
- Identity Recognition – Music can make you express yourself and create an identity. This includes social identity shared by different groups of people such as musicians, fans, etc.
When Should You Listen to Music?
Always. However, there are certain perspectives to this question. Here are some of the common ones:
Traditionally, some music is intended to be heard at certain times of the day. For instance, the Indian Ragas, which is the traditional music of India. Based on tradition, Raag Bhairav should be done during the mornings while Raag Poorvi should be done during the prevening. This should be strictly followed. These Raagas include distinct musical structures and there are certain rules that need to be followed. Hence, the music that is used on these Raagas has a distinct texture or feel.
Several people would listen to music just for passing time. In fact, there are times that they do this unconsciously that sometimes they estimate that by the end of the song they will reach their destination.
Generally, heavy metal music is raw and loud. Think about how you feel during a particular time of the day. Do you like to listen to raw and loud music before you sleep or right after waking up? This will depend on your brain’s chemistry. The level of excitation varies from one person to another in different climates or different times of the day.
Scientifically, your nervous system could feel some excitement even if there are no symptoms and during this time you feel like having strong stimulation. Hence, heavy metal music could work during this situation since you need more excitement.
On the contrary, if you are scientifically excited, then you might not need more excitation anymore. Hence, during these times, it’s best to listen to soothing ambient music. Basically, music is a type of stimulation. The music that you choose could vary from your preferred genre depending on your present social, psychological, and biological needs.
For most people, the best time to listen to music could either be before work or after work or perhaps, during parties. During these times, your psychological and biological state would vary. It is important that you have to identify your level of stimulation or excitation since this could impact your choice of music.
Reasons Why Music Is Important
Let’s start by saying that music has a great influence on everyone. Music is universal. Music has been part of our lives, whether we are happy or sad. Usually, music is also used for cultural bonding. Throughout history, music has been consistent. Nevertheless, there are still some exemptions. Some people are suffering from a condition known as amusia, which means that they cannot understand music.
Still, there are others who have musical anhedonia, wherein they do not feel any pleasure from music. These people have lesser interaction in the two parts of their brain, which are the nucleus accumbens and the auditory cortex. The lower the interaction, the less they can obtain pleasure from music. It is estimated that there are at least 5.5% of people who suffer from musical anhedonia.
Music And Emotions
As humans, we have a variety of emotional experiences. And they direct us how we behave in strange ways. There might be certain types of music that you want to listen to when you are in a particular mood. It seems that your choice of music is greatly affected by your mood. However, it is a two-way mechanism. Your choice of music will depend on your mood or emotional experience, similarly, the music that you listen to can sometimes alter or affect your emotional state. It could even change your mood as well, right?
According to research, music can make people feel better. Even when you are listening to sad music, it could also make you feel better. Usually, there are three types of emotions that could be derived from listening to sad music. These are sweet sorrow, comforting and inspiring sorrow as well as genuine sorrow. Music that is chosen by you can help in regulating your negative emotions brought about by stressful activities. Based on research, one of the healthiest methods of processing your anger is through listening to heavy metal music. Oftentimes, you can use it as a way of regulating your emotions.
Music Aids in Creativity
Sometimes there are instances when you need to think creatively. Although there is some music that can make you feel more relaxed, when it comes to creativity, you can listen to any type of music. This is very helpful when you are trying to figure out some things, like making an architectural floor plan, or if you are trying to solve a difficult math problem. You can solve these problems by letting your brain work at an unconscious level, also known as Incubation.
Listening to music can help you in being more creative since it will activate the different regions of your brain.
Music And Attention
This is quite tricky. Most people reveal that they can focus more with the aid of some music and reveal that it works for them. Instruments such as trumpets, guitars, and violin can be amplified in your ear since they have a frequency range. In some ways, these instruments are similar to speech.
Hence, listening to music having these instruments can create a distraction in your brain. However, your brain prioritizes speech. If you are writing, reading, or memorizing, then you should avoid listening to this music. When you are working, there is some music that can help you. This is a benefit that most people are taking advantage of. Music can even help in increasing your productivity.
Generally, if you are a calm person, then listening to music with more details could distract you. On the other hand, if you are a hyperactive person, your attention could be focused on electronic music and on productivity as well. Some people may prefer music that coincides with their personality or mood. Or sometimes do the exact opposite depending on their psychological needs. This strategy is the same as the emotional management function of music.
Angelus Music is specially created for people who love to listen to sacred music. Here, you can find music that is prayerful, joyful, and entertaining at the same time. You can also consider our site as an online retreat. Be sure to visit our website at https://www.angelusmusic.com/ and we can assure you that you will enjoy our spiritual music.
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