An Engineering student’s life can get very hectic, tiring and specially frustrating .Eight semesters is a long period of time(4 years).To be stuck in the same college amongst a completely new lot of people, each one of who is focussed and responsible could get really harrowing. Under such circumstances, for loners, the best companion (besides a pet) turns out to be their music play list. Writing the tedious assignments/practicals actually turned out to be quite a fun experience for me. Hours of journey to the college could seem just like a few minutes under the influence of good music. Music tuned out to be the only force that helped me sit through the torturous hours of studying Math-V at home.
Music can compel us to laugh, to cry, and realize various emotions. It can calm us or whip us into an emotional foot-stomping frenzy. Playing "our song" can trigger memories and nostalgic moods. Songs which bring back memories can give us goose bumps. In the Bible, David calmed King Saul's moods by playing the harp. Egyptians used music to calm their insane, and their mighty pyramids were built to the rhythmic beat of it. An 80-year-old lady claims she can walk for miles without getting tired when listening to a music-for-walking tape.
Today programmed music is used to make jogging, walking, and other exercises easier and more fun. In a recent newspaper interview with a top high school runner, the athlete attributed his running success partly to music. According to the article, the runner tunes out distractions and gets the correct mind-set by picking the right mood music and running with it.
Today scientifically planned music greets us everywhere and is used in hospital labor rooms and dentist offices to help keep both doctor and patient calm .And on a lighter note, certain musical tunes help humans urinate well.
Colleges and universities offer degrees in music therapy, and almost every mental hospital has a trained music therapist. Therapists say music often helps bridge the gap between reality and fantasy for mental patients and can be an effective tool in controlling moods. Even when minds are closed to all else, music will often break down barriers.
Nowadays, doctors also recommend the patients to listen to their favorite music half hour a day as part of therapy.
Researchers have also found that lively music can be effective in activating a slow pulse and that smoothing music can sometimes have a calming effect on an overactive heart.
Why do our systems react to music? Researchers believe that music gets to us because we are rhythmic beings, with rhythm in respiration, heartbeats, brain waves, gait, and speech. The impact of music appears to be in the way musical sounds reach and affect the brain.
In 1896 an Italian physician caring for a 13-year-old boy who had a healed skull wound through which brain pulsations could be observed experimented with music. He reported that it did indeed affect the pulsations of the brain. He noted that high notes seemed to produce bigger changes than those of lower pitch.
The mental and spiritual drug of music enters the human being through the thalamus, a part of the brain that is the main relay station for all emotions, sensations, and feelings. Music affects moods.
Scientists who have studied programmed music have found that soft seductive music slows the circulation and reduces the volume of blood that reaches the brain. Australian music researcher Harry Cox says that driven or hyperactive individuals can sometimes be helped by tunes played at a faster tempo and pitch than their own emotional state. Once a person's attention is captured and he or she starts keeping time with the music, patterns can be subtly changed to slower tempos, thus giving a sedative effect. The opposite technique has been used with an apathetic individual. Music therapists have matched a patient's mood with music and then helped the person alter his or her mood by gradual changes in tempo. It is a slow process and must be administered by persons trained not only in music but also in human behavior.
In the everyday working world, scientifically planned background music has been found to increase production and cut down on boredom, fatigue, and tension.
So the next time you get a low grade in your practicals or vivas , make sure you sing a song or hymn a tune for the professor. ;)
As Tiesto rightly says-“Go trust the music.”
