Think of the last time a song really moved you, or meant something to you. Listening to and playing music stimulates many different sections of the brain, affecting us physically as well. Why are we as humans so connected to music?

Making music is one of our most basic instincts. There's a reason we refer to music as the "universal language"; there has been no known human culture without music. Dancing and music came before agriculture, and possibly even before language. Bone flutes were found in Europe dating back 53,000 years ago. The head of the Biomusic program at the National Academy of the Sciences, Patricia Gray, and her colleagues comment, "The fact that whale and human music have so much in common even though our evolutionary paths have not intersected for 60 million years suggests that music may predate humans-that rather than being the inventors of music, we are latecomers to the musical scene." (Leutwyler)

Music and Childhood

We begin life being affected by music; babies first begin to respond to music while still in the womb. Whether or not it's true, everyone has heard that playing classical music for your baby supposedly helps him or her become smarter. A study done in the United Kingdom concluded that children are able to recognize and even prefer music that they had heard while in the womb up to three months before birth. Although the genera of music made no difference, the babies who were exposed to songs with a faster tempo showed a stronger preference for that song than those who had heard something slower. ("Babies Remember Music Heard in the Womb") Researchers have also found that the playing of soft background music or a mother's humming actually helps premature babies. Those who are subjected to the music tend to gain weight faster and are able to leave hospitals earlier than those who aren't. (Cromie, "Music on the Brain")

However, the study in the UK uncovered no links between babies listening to music and increased intelligence or brain development. Another experiment at the University of California at Irvine compared the puzzle-solving abilities of 3-year-olds who were given piano lessons with the ability of others who sang, used computers, or did nothing. The children studying piano were better at the puzzles. Also, high school students with a musical background seem to do better on their SATs. (Cromie, "How Your Brain Listens to Music") Whether it's natural intelligence that helps the children excel in both music and math, or the music that helps develop other areas, you can't deny the benefits of a musical background.

On the other end of the spectrum, it's possible that some music and/or lyrics could be bad for children and adolescents. The lyrics of today's popular music are increasingly explicit. A study on mass media and adolescents showed that a group of "14- to 16-year olds in 10 different southeastern cities showed that they listened to music an average of 40 hours per week." ("Impact of Music Lyrics...") Obviously, the music they are listening to plays a large part in their lives, especially influencing self-identity. So any bad influences in the music would have a very direct effect on the adolescent.

Several other experiments mentioned in the American Academy of Pediatrics' policy statement on the "Impact of Music Lyrics and Music Videos on Children and Youth" supported this idea. One study from Sweden found that children who developed a preference to rock music were more likely to be influenced by their peers than by their parents. Others showed links between a predilection for heavy metal and detrimental behaviors, including taking drugs, suicide risk, alienation, and other risk-taking habits. The AAP doesn't support the idea of censorship, but strongly encourages parents to monitor what their children are listening to. We have to ask, should we as a society look at the results of these effects on adolescents and call for regulation in the music industry?

Music and the Mind

William J. Cromie, writer for the Harvard Gazette, explains how we our brain listens to music. "Your inner ear contains a spiral sheet that the sounds of music pluck like a guitar string. This plucking triggers the firing of brain cells that make up the hearing parts of your brain. At the highest station, the auditory cortex, just above your ears, these different firing cells create the conscious experience of music. Different patterns...excite other cells, and these associate the sound of music with feelings, thoughts, and past experiences." (Cromie, "How Your Brain Listens to Music") This is just a generalized statement; the actual processes that go on are very complicated, and we don't really know all that much about them.

No single portion of the brain seems completely dedicated to our perception of music. The right side of the brain is generally associated with music and the arts, but studies done on people who have suffered brain damage show that both the right and left side play a part in musical perception. While the right side is crucial for pitch, melody, timbre, and harmony, the left side takes care of changes in intensity and frequency. Both sides need to be working together in order to correctly understand rhythm. Also, sections of the brain relating to music affect other things. For example, the part of the brain having to do with perfect pitch additionally effects speech perception. (Cromie, "Music on the Brain") Interestingly, parts of your motor system react when you are simply thinking about a rhythm, even when you're not moving.

Damage to the temporal lobes, which are part of the cerebrum and lie at the sides of the brain, can cause a disorder referred to as Amusia. People may have trouble with rhythms, recognizing melodies, singing, or playing an instrument. Sometimes the damage can cause little or no problems with hearing speech or other sounds; just music.

Carol Krumhansl of Cornell University found that different types of music directly trigger different emotions. While happiness causes you to breathe faster, sadness causes a rise in blood pressure and temperature and a slower pulse. Faster music played in a major key caused the same physical reactions associated with happiness, and slower music played in a minor key resulted in those associated with sadness. (Leutwyler) This also evokes the question of whether or not minor keys naturally sound "bad" or undesirable to everyone, or if it's simply what we've been socialized to think through the music we're used to in our particular cultures.

Music and Intelligence

Music is often used as a learning tool. If only we could memorize notes for a test as easily as we memorize popular songs on the radio! Music with a tempo of around 60 beats-per-minute can activates both the left and right sides of the brain, which assists in processing more information at once. Singing and playing an instrument also has this effect.

Listening to music that induces relaxation, such as "Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major," before taking a test has been proven to temporarily enhance IQ and improve scores. This has since been named "The Mozart Effect." However, the effects of the music seemed to last only 10 to 15 minutes. The original experiment, published in 1993, has been under scrutiny ever since. Other researchers have tried to repeat similar tests, but have not gotten such positive results. After attempting a complete re-do of the first Mozart Effect test, scientists at Appalachian State University stated, "...there is little evidence to support basing intellectual intervention on the existence of the Mozart effect." (qtd. in Chudler)

Dr. George Lozanov, a psychologist from Bulgaria, used classical music at about 60 beats per minute to devise a better way of learning a foreign language. Using this method, students "could learn up to one half of the vocabulary and phrases for the whole school term (which amounts to almost 1,000 words or phrases) in one day." (O'Donnell) The student's retention rate was an incredible 92%, and he managed to prove that entirelanguages could be learned fairly well within thirty days with this approach!

A separate study performed in Texas tested the effect of music on vocabulary memorization among graduate students. The students were divided into three groups; two groups studied with "Water Music" by Handel playing in the background, one being asked to imagine the words while studying, the other group not. The third group was a control and wasn't asked to do anything. Groups 1 and 2 had consistently better test scores than group 3, and group 1 did better than group 2. (O'Donnell)

Albert Einstein once spoke about his theory of relativity, "It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition." (qtd. in Green) As a child, Einstein did very badly in school, and the teachers recommended that his parents not even take the time to continue teaching him. His parents ignored the teachers and instead bought him a violin. Throughout his life, Einstein improvised on his violin in order to figure out his problems and equations, and music was a key factor helping him become the genius we now know him as. (O'Donnell)

Music and Health

Music also has unending benefits on our health. It has been proven that music reduces blood pressure. Scientists are currently testing the effects of playing music games with dyslexics, and how it may improve their reading ability. Music is used to calm Alzheimer's patients and others with age-related diseases in hospitals and nursing homes, helping to reduce and control conflicts.

Music is commonly used as a form of therapy. According to the American Music Therapy Association, founded in 1998 as a merger between the National Association for Music Therapy and the American Association for Music Therapy, music therapy can be defined as, "the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program." (AMTA Website) This is commonly used to treat everything from physical disabilities to chronic pain to brain injuries. Even healthy people can be benefited through stress reduction or the use of music to aid in childbirth. Nature and other environment sounds can also be therapeutic. Think of how relaxing the sounds of a bubbling stream, crickets chirping, or ocean waves can be. Music Therapy is considered to be one of the "expressive therapies;" others include art, dance, drama, play, writing, and humor therapy.

Although the use of music to benefit health dates back to the days of Aristotle, modern music therapy began shortly after World War II. Hospitals were hiring musicians to play for the hospitalized veterans after seeing the good affect it had on those suffering from war-related mental and emotional problems. Eventually colleges began to implement programs, and Michigan State University began the world's first music therapy program in 1944.

There are many specific reasons why music therapy works. Music with a strong beat can actually cause brainwaves to "resonate in sync with the beat, with faster beats bringing sharper concentration and more alert thinking, and a slower tempo promoting a calm, meditative state." (Scott) This can be good for you even after you stop listening, because it helps the brain in changing brainwave speed by itself later.

Researchers at the University of Toronto are developing "brain wave music" ("Brain Wave Music"), a type of music therapy that involves creating music that imitates the patterns formed by individual brain waves. The people they test the music on are given their own CD, with music made for their specific brain waves. They're hoping that this new approach may help relieve chronic insomnia, anxiety, or depression, even without the additional aid (and risk of dependency) of medication. Could you imagine going to the doctors to get a "prescription CD?"

In addition to causing positive changes in heart and breathing rates, bringing relaxation, and combating stress problems, music also brings a "positive state of mind, helping to keep depression and anxiety at bay." (Scott)

Music and Physical Activity

Mark Tramo, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School, commented on a study which "showed that the heart muscle of people exercising on treadmills didn't work as hard when people listened to music as it did when they exercised in silence." (qtd. in Cromie, "Music on the Brain") Researchers from Ohio State University studied patients with lung disease and found that those who listened to music "walked an average of 19 miles a week - four more miles than the control group who didn't listen to music while walking." (Bumgardner) Music affects us so much that it's being banned from sports-related activities.

Most high schools have banned listening to music while running in both track practices and meets. The body in charge of running in the US, USA Track & Field, has officially banned headphones and any kind of portable music player from all official races. One reason to justify this is the physical protection of the runners; while listening to music, they can't hear directions, and are less aware of the other runners around them. However, this is also meant to protect runners without an audio player from having an unfair disadvantage. But isn't it fair enough for every participant to be allowed to run with an audio player? If everyone has the opportunity to give themselves an advantage through music, then it's not unfair simply because some don't bring an audio player. Not all should be punished.
With today's iPods and Zunes becoming progressively smaller, how can this rule be enforced? Many people ignore the new rules, including Richie Sais, a runner in California's Marine Corps Marathon. "'I dare them to find the iPod on me,' he said, adding that he had clipped his iPod shuffle, which is barely larger than a quarter, under his shirt." (qtd. in Macur)

More and more "regular" people are participating in these types of athletic activities. The more serious and professional runners may actually prefer to run without music, but those running for fun or smaller personal goals might be turned off by these music bans. I know when I was in high school I wouldn't have made it through summer gym without Sean Paul and Aerosmith.

Conclusion

Music is invariably a crucial part of everyone's life, and has shaped the way we all live and develop as humans. If used in the right ways, it can help us learn, heal, or even make it through that last lap around the track. We still have so much to find out about the way our minds interpret music and how if effects us. Hopefully elementary and high schools will continue music programs, and post-secondary institutions will continue to research what else music can do for us.

如果認為有一首歌真的打動了你，或對你來說有某些寓意 ,聽或者彈奏音樂會刺激大腦很多不同部位,同樣影響我們身體，為什么人類同音樂有著如此緊密的聯系呢？

音樂的創作是我們最基本的本能，其中一個原因是音樂是全世界的語言,其實大家都明白，人類文化離不開音樂 , 舞蹈和音樂產生在農業出現以前，甚至早在語言形成之前，追回到53，000年前骨制笛子被發現在歐洲,以生物音樂為首的節目在國際科學院上演, Patricia Gray和她的同伴評論說“ 鯨同人類的音樂事實上是如此相同，即是我們進化的里程沒有分割為60百萬年建議音樂可能居先人類-勝予音樂發明者,音樂先我們人類產生（Leutwyler)

音樂和童年

音樂感染著我們的日常生活; 嬰兒對音樂的反應是他們還在母體中. 無論這點是否正確, 每個人都聽說過為你的嬰兒彈奏古典音樂能使他或她變的更聰明，英國的一項調查結果顯示嬰兒能在他們未出生前的三個月里辨認出音樂甚至喜歡音樂,雖然音樂的種類沒有不同，但比起慢節奏的音樂來快節奏的音樂更受嬰兒們青睞，（嬰兒們記得自己還在母體子宮中聽過的音樂），調查還發現彈奏親切悅耳的輕柔背境音樂或母親的吟唱的搖藍曲可以幫助早產嬰兒,那些常聽音樂的嬰兒比起不常聽的孩子的體重增張更快，同時身體素知更好 .( Cromie 音樂在腦海中）

然而,英國的另一項調查結果顯示嬰兒聽音樂跟腦部的發育或增長智力沒有聯系,加利福尼亞大學的另一個調查結果顯示在三歲孩子中比較解決疑惑問題的能力，那些上過鋼琴課跟那些唱歌，玩電腦，或沒接受任何教育的孩子相比要好些，那些有音樂背境的高年級學生做的要好些.（Cromie 你的大腦怎樣聽音樂）無論它是自然的一種智力幫助孩子善長音樂或數學，或者是音樂幫助發展他們的其它領域，你不能否認音樂背境所帶的好處.

在其它范圍里.一些音樂或歌詞會給孩子或青少年帶來壞處，今天的流行音樂歌詞逐漸的明了化,一個研究顯示在10個不同的東南部城市的大量媒體顯示一組"14 到16歲的青少年平均每星期會花費40個小時聽音樂" (受到歌詞影響...)顯然，音樂占用了他們大部分的時間 ,特別是影響他們的個性，所以說任何不健康的音樂都會直接影響青少年.

美國兒童學會的其它幾項實驗提到<音樂歌詞和音樂視頻對兒童及青少年的影響>，并健議推廣，來自于瑞士一家研究發現那些偏愛搖滾樂的孩子比起他們的父母親來更容易受到同伴的影響.其它研究顯示在偏愛電子搖滾樂和有害行為的聯系，包括吸毒,冒險自殺，發生沖突及其它的一些冒險行為，AAP組織不贊同這種審查結果，但還是鼓勵家長監督他們的孩子聽的是什么內容，我們不得不問，我們是否應從社會角度來觀看這些結果給青少年帶來的影響以及音樂對音樂的需求.

音樂及思維

William j 美國哈佛大學公報作者，解釋說我們的大腦怎樣聽音樂,你的內耳包含一個螺旋型的薄片,音樂的聲音彈撥像吉他的琴弦一樣，這種彈撥能觸發你的腦細胞開始工作并整理你大腦的聽力部分,在最高的位置,耳的皮層就在你的耳朵上部，這些不同的活細胞增加屬于音樂的有意識經歷.(Cromie“ 你的大腦怎樣聽音樂”）這只是一般話的陳述,實際過程其實很復雜，我們真的不知道更多有關它們的細節. William J

大腦看起來沒有單一的部分完全致力于我們對音樂的感知，右腦一般來說負責將音樂同美術聯系起來，但研究顯示出人們如果大腦受到損傷顯示左腦和右腦都具備音樂的感知力,右邊起決定性作用旋律，音色，協調，左腦的任務負責音樂的強度和頻率的，左腦和右腦需要同時工作才能正確判斷旋律和節奏,大腦的另一部分將音樂的感染力同其他事物聯系起來 例如，大腦的另一部分負責將音高與語言的感知完美的結合在一起.( Cromie 音樂在大腦中）有趣的是，當你在腦海中反映一首旋律或節奏時你的大腦的部分發動系統會迅速作出反映，即使你不去刻意的去想它.

若損壞了位于大腦旁邊的屬于大腦的組成部分葉時,會引起我們提及到的失歌癥，這類人有可能在對旋律或節奏，樂曲的辨認，唱歌，或彈奏樂器方面都會有一些困擾或不敏感，又是這種傷害對于聽力或其他聲音的辨別有一些影響或者無影響，只是音樂.

Cornell Carol Krumhansl of Cornell大學發現不同類型的音樂直接觸發不同的感情，當興奮或高興時你的呼吸會加快，傷心時會引起血壓升高,同時會引起體溫降低及脈搏緩慢.快節奏音樂能能使人自然聯想起高興，愉快，同樣，慢節奏的音樂能使人聯想起悲哀，傷感,這種情況引起一個問題就是是否未成年人本身就喜歡聽些不健康的內容或是有些內容壓根就不受每個人的喜歡,或者僅僅因為我們已經將音樂與文化融為一體.

音樂與智力

音樂通常被作為一種學習工具，如果我們背誦考試中的一些內容像記憶收音機上的一些流行歌曲一樣容易的話,音樂的速率和拍子在每分鐘60拍能同時刺激左大腦和右大腦,能幫助立即處理更多的信息,唱歌或是彈奏樂器都能起到這種作用.

聽音樂能使人得到放松，例如‘莫扎特的D大調第二鋼琴曲’.在開始測試前IQ已經得到暫時提高并提高了得分，這種情況被命名為“莫扎特效應”然而這種音樂的影響僅僅只能持續10--15分鐘，最初的試驗被發表在1993年,自從那時至現在沒被關注，其他的一些研究人員已經做了相同的測試，但沒有得到這樣肯定的結果，在企圖從新實驗莫扎特音樂效應測試之后,科學家在Appalachoan State大學決定“有跡象表明存在著莫扎特音樂效應影響人的潛意識的作用”（qtd.in Chudler)

一個來自于保加利亞的 George Lozanov導師，用每分鐘60拍的古典樂為學外語設計一種更好的學習方法，用這種方法，學生“在一天里能學習整個學期的一半單詞和段語”（總數 1000個單詞和短語）難以置信的是學生的單詞保留率在92%，他還設法證明用這種方法學生能在30天內學好全部的語言！

一個抽樣研究小組做了一個實驗，測試音樂對畢業生單詞記憶的影響.學生被分成三組，兩組通過用手感在后臺彈奏水音樂,一個人被要求去想象所學單詞，另一組卻不同，第三組是觀察者，被要求什么也不做，第一組和第二組比起第三組的比分來就好得多，第一組比第二組做的好.(O'Donnell)

阿爾伯特愛因斯坦曾闡述他的相對論,“它發生在我身上是憑直覺，音樂的驅使力在只覺得后邊”（qtd. in Green ) 做為一個孩子，愛因斯坦在學校并不出色，老師甚至建議他的父母親不要再繼續花費時間去教他，他的父母并沒聽取老師的建議，反而給他買了一個小提琴,在他的一生中,愛因斯坦用他的小提琴即興創作以便為了為了解決問題或尋找平衡，就像我們所知道的那樣音樂使得他變得更富有天賦及天才.（O'Donnel)

音樂和健康

音樂同樣會給我們的身體健康帶來無窮的好處，已經證明音樂會降低血壓.科學家最近在不善長朗讀者身上用玩音樂游戲的方法測試音樂的影響力，和音樂是怎樣改善他們的閱讀能力，在一些醫院和養老院里，音樂也用來鎮定老年癡呆的病人和其他一些相關年齡帶來的疾病,幫助控制和減少一些抵逐情緒.

音樂被普遍應用于治療的一種形式，美國音樂治療協會成立于1998年，它將國際音樂治療協會同美國音樂治療協會合并為一體,音樂治療能被定義為 "臨床的和以證據為基礎的音樂治療由已經完成過音樂治療方案的專業人員來完成個性化目標（MATA Website) 這項被普遍用于那些大腦受傷或慢性疼痛引起的身體上不能自理的病人，甚至身體健康的人通過減小壓力受益或者用于孩子的催生，自然和環境的一些聲音也能用與治療學,想起山泉的流水聲是多么令人放松,板球的聲音，海洋里的浪濤聲，音樂治療被認為是“充滿感情和表情的治療”其他還包括藝術，舞蹈，鼓聲，玩，寫和幽默治療.

音樂給人類健康帶來無限好處，追回到亞里斯多德時代，現代音樂療法開始于第二次世界大戰后，當了解到音樂療法的好處后，一些醫院雇傭一些作曲家為那些曾在戰爭中身心深受重創的士兵做心理治療，后來一些學院開始實施這一方案，美國密歇跟州大學在1944年開始了世界上的一個音樂療法計劃.

有很多獨特理由能說明為什么音樂療法如此神奇，音樂有著強烈的沖擊力，事實上能引起大腦的“靈機妙想”，使其與聲音共振，快節奏聲音能集中注意力和激發更靈活的思維，慢節奏能使人冷靜，并進入沉思狀態（Scott)當你停止聽音樂后對你仍會有諸多好處，因為它可以幫助開發大腦想像力，多倫多大學的研究人員研究了一種“靈機妙想音樂”（靈機妙想音樂），它是一種音樂療法，涉及創作音樂，模仿的具有獨特模式的音樂，那些想嘗試這種特殊療法的人都找到了適合自己的音樂并灌制CD片，用音樂來啟動他們的思維，他們希望用這種新的方法能減輕或緩解長期的沮喪，消沉. 甚至沒有其他的醫療幫助（和依賴的風險）你是否想像去醫院得到一張“指定的CD片”

值得補充的是它還能給心臟和呼吸帶來積極的作用，帶來放松，及解決壓力等問題，音樂也能是的大腦處于積極思考狀態，幫助遠離沮喪和焦慮（scott).

音樂和體育運動

Mark.Tramo 美國哈佛大學一名神經系統科學家推薦出了一種研究“關于人們騎健步車練習的心理音樂，無論人們是否聽到音樂都不需要很費力（qtd,音樂在腦海中）來自與美國俄亥俄州大學研究小組對肺病患者進行研究，發現那些聽音樂散步的病人平均每星期散步19英里 ，比起那些受限制的病人多走4英里多，（Bumgarder)音樂給了我們如此大的影響，然而在體育運動方面，它卻受到某些限制.

大部分的高校已經指定運動場地跑步，鍛煉或打見面時禁止聽音樂，身體負責的是協調全身運動，在美國，官方正式禁止在公共運動場地，及比賽中禁用耳機及任何相關的便攜式音樂播放器，有理由足以證明這一措施是對運動員身體的一種保護，當聽音樂時他們就聽不到命令，管理，也聽不到其他隊員的提醒，但對于每個參賽運動員來說不允許帶音樂播放器跑不是足夠公平的事.如果每個人有機會聽著音樂并且真的能從中受益，這是不公平的，因為有一些人并沒帶，不是所有人都應受到懲罰.

今天的ipods和 Zunes進步較小,這條制度怎樣被實施？人們也許會忽略新規則,包括Rchic Sais,一名保加利亞的青年Marine Crops Marathon，“我用激將法告訴他們在我身上找出ipod”他說 他還補充說將他的ipod shuffle 戴在身上，只是一個比硬幣大一點的東西，被在他的襯衣下邊,(qtd.in Macar)

越來越多的正式隊員正踴躍加如這一類體育活動，更多專業長跑運動員事實上更傾向于不聽音樂去跑步，但那些少數將跑步作為一種娛樂的人也許被這一音樂禁令所限制.我知道在我上高校時，在夏令營俱樂部里我無法實現這一計劃(沒有sean paut和AcroSmith)

音樂始終如一的是人類生活的一個重要組成部分，作為人類生活和發展的一種固定模式，如果使用恰當，它可以幫助我學，治愈，甚至跑完跑道的最后一圈，在想象力，思維方面仍有廣闊的領域等待我們去探索，音樂是怎樣影響我們的，希望高校繼續推廣音樂，并宣布中等院校繼續開設其他領域的音樂.繼續研究音樂還能為我們做些什么.