Music Can Change the World

This past weekend, my wife and I, along with four other friends, attended a Rock Festival in a nearby city. There is nothing I love to do more than to sit outside on a sunny, hot day and listen to the rock music I grew up on. This festival had rock icons like Randy Bachman, the cofounder of two great Canadian rock bands, The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO). I could have listened to Bachman for several more hours. There were others like Lou Gramm, lead singer for the 70’s and 80’s band Foreigner. It is always fun to sing along with the many hits he sang such as, “Cold as Ice” and “Hot Blooded”.  A surprise to me was the band 54-40, a Canadian alternative rock group from Vancouver, British Columbia, who took their name from the slogan Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!, a slogan coined during a contested U.S.-Canada border dispute. Even though I wasn’t familiar with their music, I enjoyed every one of their songs. I have since purchased some of their music. All in all, it was a great weekend of music. My wife and I have attended rock festivals in the past as well as attended the local music festival at a nearby ski hill. My son sometimes attends the annual Country Music Festival. We go to these events whenever we can. Why? Music feeds the soul. It touches people at a spiritual level. At least that is true for me. Martin Luther, a German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk and best known for his role in the Protestant Reformation once said,

“Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world”.

I believe Martin Luther was correct. Music is a treasure. It is something that needs to be promoted and valued. Music has the ability to unite people, put people in a happy state, has a calming effect on people and generally makes the world a better place to be in. Paul David Hewson, better known by his stage name Bono, the lead vocalist of the rock band U2, is quoted as saying,

“Music can change the world because it can change people”.

Bono is right! Music can change the world and change it for the better. The article, 11 Powerful Images That Prove How Music Really Can Change the World, reports eleven events that used music to bring change in our world. One particular event that caught my eye was the 600 guitarists who fought the rape culture in India by paying tribute to a 23-year-old who died after being gang raped on a bus. This action triggered other protests in the country.

One music project that is trying to change the world was initiated from the belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. The project is called, Playing For Change.  This movement is trying to inspire and connect the world through music. They’ve created many music videos by traveling the world and uniting musicians to create, Songs Around the World. Here is one of my favourites, “Stand by Me”.

Not only can music bring about positive change, it has health benefits. According to a Hufflington Post article, 5 Ways Music Improves our Health, Neuroscientists have discovered that listening to music heightens positive emotion through the reward centres of our brain, by stimulating dopamine, a neurotransmitter that typically makes us feel good or even elated. The article reports listening to music stimulates other areas of the brain suggesting more widespread effects and potential uses for music. This article resolves that music reduces stress and anxiety, that music decreases pain, that music may improve immune functioning, that music may aid memory, and that music helps people exercise.

According to the McGill University Newsroom article, Major health benefits of music uncovered, a large-scale review of 400 research papers in the neurochemistry of music was carried out by the McGill University’s Psychology Department.  It discovered that playing and listening to music has clear benefits for both mental and physical health. The article says music was found both to improve the body’s immune system function and to reduce levels of stress. It even suggests listening to music was found to be more effective than prescription drugs in reducing anxiety prior to surgery.

In another article by the New York Times, Is Music the Key to Success? the article claims, multiple studies link music study to academic achievement.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) News in Health’s article, Music Matters for Body and Mind, says:

Several well-controlled studies have found that listening to music can alleviate pain or reduce the need for pain medications. Other research suggests that music can benefit heart disease patients by reducing their blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety. Music therapy has also been shown to lift the spirits of patients with depression. Making music yourself, either playing instruments or singing, can have therapeutic effects as well.

Over the past decade, new brain imaging techniques have shown that music activates many unexpected brain regions. It can turn on areas involved in emotion and memory. It can also activate the brain’s motor regions, which prepare for and coordinate physical movement.

The sentence,“It can turn on areas involved in emotion and memory” is very true. How often has a song come on the radio that immediately brings you back to a time in your past? It happens to me all the time and most often it is a happy time in my life.

Clearly scientific research is showing that music has health benefits. I’ve just quoted from four of the thousands of articles related to the benefits of music. The articles I drew upon were ones that caught my attention. There is no doubt in my mind that music is beneficial. I don’t need research to convince me. Just being at a music event such at the Rock Festival proves that for me. The people at these events are happy, having fun and very friendly. It can only be the music that does that. So, I encourage you to listen to music, no matter what style of music you like, as much as you can and if you are able to go to music festivals. Why? It’s good for you.