I came across this article last night titled ‘Neuroscience Says Music Is an Emotion Regulation Machine. Here’s What to Play for Happiness, Productivity, or Deep Thinking.’
https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/the-best-music-for-happiness-productivity-studying/91173726
The stand-first is “Neuroscience shows music has big effects on our productivity, performance, and state of mind. Use that to your advantage.”
No offence to the author but I didn’t need a neuroscientist to tell me that!
A quote from the article states that: “For those looking not just to enjoy music but also use it as a tool to improve their productivity or regulate their emotions, experts have come up with a host of specific (and fun) playlists for nearly every goal you can imagine.”
Thank you to those experts that have created playlists for me, saved me the time and need for emotional attachment and just good old appreciation for specific songs and sounds. I get what they are doing and for some it may work but there are songs where just a bend of a guitar string at the right time can turn your head or for many the timing of a bass drop once in a club will embed a track in your soul for life and a mere hint of it will transport you back in time.
I’m not against this article and research is important. I’m sure the research and findings tick an academic box somewhere.
It also states that “place music on an equal footing with prescription drugs, surgeries, medical procedures, psychotherapy, and various forms of treatment”
Music is a drug, im addicted as are many others. And it is personal to each and every one of us, do you have a guilty playlist?
“It is important that the music is in the range of 50-80 beats per minute as this can help to induce the alpha state where the mind is calm but alert” and “A huge number of songs fall in this range, from “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio to Katy Perry’s “Firework.” Pouring hot sauce in my eyes would make me more calm and alert than ‘Firework’.
I didn’t need a control test on 30,000 people to tell me music affects me, my mood, the time of day, what I’m doing. When I’m working I play different music to when I’m driving or doing the washing up. The article mentions that breakup song, there’s also that ‘our song for relationships. The concept of a mix tape was not for shits and giggles, it was emotional, a set list of songs to elicit a prescribed response.
Music therapy utilizes music and sound to enhance emotional well-being, improve communication, and develop cognitive and physical skills in individuals of all ages. It is a clinical intervention that uses music to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs. It’s a form of psychotherapy where music is used as a tool to facilitate change and promote well-being.
I read “Individuals don’t need any prior musical experience to benefit from music therapy. The focus is on the therapeutic relationship and the use of music as a tool for expression and change”
It’s been this way since I can remember hearing music. I can track my entire life and recall exact years, exact moments in time through my CD and Vinyl collection with encyclopaedia like recall. Music is a soundtrack for our lives and everyone engages with it in their own personal way.
I also assumed these findings, before they were ‘Neuroscience officially’ were just the standard, they are and less productive or happy when the wrong music is playing? Ever taken a long drive with someone who has a different music appreciation to you?
It’s official, it’s science, it’s science for science sake. It’s human nature since the dawn of music.
