How Music Affects The Brain Essay

Music is something that a lot of people may listen to in their everyday life. The reasoning behind it is because it can make them feel happy and at equanimity. Dopamine is a part of the reason behind why this happens. Any time someone listens to music, the chemical from the brain, dopamine, is released. This chemical is a part of the brain that enhances motivation and addiction. Not only can music make people happy, but it also facilitates parts of the brain that help with functioning in everyday life and learning. Recent studies have shown that “Children who had 3 years or more musical instrument training performed better than those who didn’t learn...in auditory discrimination and fine motor skills. They also tested higher in vocabulary

Neural connections are important in learning because as aging starts to take place, neural connections deteriorate in the brain. By listening to music, it helps strengthen those connections (“ACDA: How Music affects the Brain”). One of these neural connections in the brain that is stimulated is creativity. When listening to music, the brain produces alpha and theta waves. Alpha waves are neurological waves in the brain that "program the mind for success and heightens your imagination, visualization, memory, learning and concentration"(FinerMinds). Also, when listening to music, theta brain waves are produced/stimulated as well which are associated with dreaming, learning, and relaxation.Therefore, if music stimulates theta waves in the brain to be produced, then creativity is also stimulated.. Music has also been shown to help those diagnosed with Autism. According to a medical school professor at Harvard, Dr. Martha R. Herbert, “Brain cells need to follow a regular rhythm to produce a response in the brain. For people with autism, there is less coordination of this rhythm from one point to another. Music helps by creating an organized and regular stimulus to the brain that helps the brain get organized to keep track of rhythm.”. Music has also been shown to improve the social behaviors of children with Autism by relaxing the mind and the body to natural rhythmic patterns(“Natural Health