Music and the Brain

1312 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The effect of music on our behavior

Music and the Brain

In Macedonian hills, the music of Orpheus was said to possess certain magical qualities, having powers strong enough to alter the very behavior of people and animals. Among its abilities, the notes of Orpheus' lyre were said to calm the guard-dog of Hades (1), to cause the evil Furies to cry, and to tame the deadly voices of the Sirens (2). Was this power simply a divine and magical gift with no other explanation, or can we explain more specifically the connections between music and behavior?

Sound is an important input affecting the nervous system. The brain reacts to sound input because information signals are able to travel from the outside environment, across action potentials and through the neural network into the brain. Such signals, electrical in nature, can be detected by the electroencephalogram, or EEG, which measures the electrical activity of the brain (3). Such electrical activity has been shown to correspond to different states of consciousness within an individual, as the EEG reveals different brain activity depending upon the mental state and the actions of the person being observed. Four different types of brain waves are defined—beta, alpha, theta, and delta—and each corresponds to a different state of activity and consciousness. Beta waves, vibrating at a frequency of 13-50 hertz, are those that are experienced during the normal and alert waking state; alpha waves at 8-13 Hz occur during relaxation; theta waves (4-7 Hz) in the "halfway" moments between waking and sleeping; and delta waves, the slowest at 0.5-4 Hz, during sleep. Interestingly, the brain has been shown to emit the slower theta waves even when in the waking state, when in the undergoing such activities as chant an...

... middle of paper ...

...z/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10846631&dopt=Abstract

5)Website of Shamanism Today, Informational page about native American shamans.

http://www.shamanismtoday.com/nativeamericanpf.html

6)Website for Healing Sounds, Information about chanting and harmonics.

http://www.healingsounds.com/articles/power-harmonics.asp

7) A further discussion of harmonics and chanting.

http://www.peyote.com/jonstef/sacred.htm

8)Website for Yoga Point, Publication of research on Omkar recitation.

http://www.yogapoint.com/info/research.htm

9), Journal article in Nature,Music and spatial task performance. McLachlan, JC.

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro03/web1/Nature.%201993%20Oct%2014;365(6447):611

10)Neuroscience website from the University of Washington,details on tests and results.

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/music.html#lobe

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Unrequited Love In The Great Gatsby

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    To explain the basis behind their relationship; Gatsby first met daisy at a party at her house that her parents were hosting for young army men in hopes that their daughter would find that could be a suitable husband. Soon after they became so close and fell madly in love. Daisy came from old money and gatsby had no money at all which made their relationship come to a halt when Gatsby asked to marry Daisy. With a breaking heart Daisy had to turn him down because she couldn’t marry someone that couldn’t provide what she needed...fabulous wealth. Many years past as Gatsby went to war, came back to war, and got a job helping Dan Cody on his voyages. After Gatsby7 was denied the money that Dan Cody wanted to inherit to him he got into the business of bootlegging which made him filthy rich. Everything he did over the course of the years was for Daisy so he could finally get to be with her. Sadly Gatsby later found out that Daisy had gotten married to a man named Tom Buchanan leaving Gatsby torn that Daisy did not wait for him to get rich. All gatsby had now was hope and a love so strong for Daisy that it made his heart ache. Tom narrates, “But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. The most grotesque and fantastic

    Read More

  • Daisy's Dream In The Great Gatsby

    1208 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fitzgerald, like Jay Gatsby, while enlisted in the army, fell in love with a girl who was enthralled by his newfound wealth. After he was discharged, he devoted himself to a lifestyle of parties and lies in an attempt to win the girl of his dreams back. Daisy, portrayed as Fitzgerald’s dream girl, did not wait for Jay Gatsby; she was consumed by the wealth the Roaring Twenties Era brought at the end of the war. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald presents the themes of wealth, love, memory/past, and lies/deceit through the characters Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom.

    Read More

  • Relationship Between Music And Perception

    1660 Words  | 4 Pages

    Most people are familiar with the word "music", however they barely consider the definition of it. After carefully think, everyone has their own opinions on this term and it is hard to have an uniform criterion of music sounds. According to the text book, Michael B. Bakan states five propositions to define the music. The first one is about the tone and the second one talks about the music is organized in some way. The next two are claims that music is human organized and a product of human intention and perception. The last proposition argues music cannot separate from Western culture. Among these propositions, I think the music is a product of human intention and perception is most interesting and worth to discuss. So I assert that the most

    Read More

  • A Delusional Dream In The Great Gatsby

    1449 Words  | 3 Pages

    These comments from Charles Scribner III describe Cugat’s and Fitzgerald’s use of color imagery to portray the atmosphere of the setting and story. Scribner III states that, “Cugat’s carnival imagery is especially intriguing in view of Fitzgerald’s persuasive use of light motifs throughout his novel.” (“Gatsby Illuminated” 252). This statement is true, but furthermore because of Fitzgerald’s use of green, along with the light motifs, throughout the book. Gatsby sees the “green light” (24) as the final destination of his goal, which is really Daisy, but in a broader sense, Fitzgerald uses it as a way to display his statement on the corruption of the modern world and the delusion, earlier stated by Churchwell, within it. The main character spends so much time dedicated to chasing and achieving this dream of being with Daisy that he loses sight of the real world and true emotion in turn for material things. Due to this, Gatsby develops delusions about the world around him and what seems to be meaningful to him. His delusions about the relationships with the attendees of his parties and the repercussions of his extravagant and dangerous actions show how what seemed to be real, was just a mirage of lies and colors. This ultimately proves to be his fatal quality that because he only cared if Daisy was OK, rather than the people around him. Yet, the color green also

    Read More

  • Gatsby Love

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many ways to define what love is. Depending on who gives the answer, the definition will vary, but most people would agree that one characteristic of love is putting someone else above yourself. The main plotline of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is a love story between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan, if one can accurately call their relationship love. Five years before the novel takes place, Daisy and Gatsby met and fell in love. Gatsby was a soldier and left to fight in World War I. Daisy marries a man by the name of Tom Buchanan after receiving a letter from Gatsby. Mr. Gatsby never stops loving Daisy and spends their five years apart building a future for the two of them to share once he gets her back. Daisy spends those five years very differently. Daisy completely moves on with her life, and though she claims to love Gatsby, her actions do not reflect her words and she actually just uses him for her own personal gain.

    Read More

  • Doctrine of Ethos

    865 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Doctrine of Ethos states that music effects character and emotion of man by way of morals or ethics. It was arranged into certain scales, each with a certain characteristic. Specific scales were said to be able to inspire rage or sadness. Some were said to inspire happiness, and one was even said to weaken the mind due to its simplicity. Greek music, of which the Doctrine of Ethos specifically talked about, wasn’t just solely instrumental. Improvising, they usually incorporated lyrics and even dance. Music was studied by the Greeks on a level that would be considered excessive in our society by all but our musicologists, ethnomusicologist, music theorists, and a small minority that take their love of music to more than just an aesthetic level. In our world, a world of empiricism and skepticism, the Doctrine of Ethos may sound a bit hard to believe. It may even sound magical and mystical, but I feel that it has some deep roots in truth. Philosophers, musicians, and even the layman have all theorized about the effect of music on the mind, body, and soul. After all, as William Congreve said in his The Mourning Bride, “Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.”

    Read More

  • Sleep, Dreams and REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

    1428 Words  | 3 Pages

    In normal sleeping patterns a person usually passes through five phases of sleep, the fifth being REM. The sleeping human passes cyclically through these five phases throughout a night's rest. These phases can be defined in electrical activity of the brain; much like the activity of the heart is often defined. The technique of measuring the electrical activity of the brain is call Electro-encephalogram, or EEG. When the electrical events of a person's brain are graphed on a electrical magnitude versus time axis the graph of a person who is in different stages of being asleep or awake appear to have different levels of electrical activity occurring in the brain. (See (14))

    Read More

  • Music's Relationship to Emotional Cognition

    2107 Words  | 5 Pages

    Also children as young as 3 or 4 years of age are able to recognize basic emotions in music (Cunningham & Sterling 1988). Emotional contagion it has been argued, facilitates the mother-infant bond (Darwin 1872), as well as social interaction in general terms (Preston & de Waal 2002). In support of this, this emotional contagion seems to create liking and affiliation (e.g. Lakin et al. 2003) which is perhaps beneficial for social interaction (Juslin, P.N. and Vastfjall D., 2008, p.565).

    Read More

  • Nick Carraway's Point Of View Of The Great Gatsby

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gatsby can see the green light from his house across the bay. At the beginning of the novel, Nick found Gatsby staring at the green light. The green light represents Gatsby’s longing for Daisy. Gatsby has not seen Daisy for nearly five years, and is very much in love with her. Gatsby has been long waiting to interact with Daisy once again. As Nick mentions, “there must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams… because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time” (Fitzgerald).Gatsby has been dreaming of their reunion for years, and has thought about it endlessly. However, now that Gatsby and Daisy have been reunited, the significance of the light has faded. The light represented Gatsby’s desire to be with the person he loves dearly, but now he is spending a whole afternoon with her. Nick says it is no longer “enchanted” since Gatsby no longer has to gaze at the light to feel a connection to Daisy, because the two have now

    Read More

  • Rbd Research Paper

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    Brain waves are fundamental in that they enable a sleep researcher to understand the process of sleep. The main brain wave considered is referred to as gross brain wave activity which is measured using an electroencephalogram because brain waves vary from one area of the brain to another. There are two types of waves namely beta waves and alpha waves with the former being associated with the state of being wakeful with them having high frequency but low amplitude while alpha waves being associated with not only the state of relaxation but also the state of peacefulness with them being characterized by lower frequency but with increased amplitude. As a result, beta waves are desynchronous while alpha waves are synchronous. Sleep occurs in different stages with these stages exhibiting different forms of alpha and beta waves with stage one and two of sleep being characterized by theta waves while stage three and four of sleep being characterized by delta

    Read More

  • The Effects of Music

    2204 Words  | 5 Pages

    Music is one of the few things that has remained constant through the centuries this world has existed. Not only does music provide entertainment, it also has several effects linked to it. Music allows emotions of happiness and sadness to arise. From those emotions, physical effects, negative or positive, can occur. Music has a profound effect on the emotional, social, intellectual, and physical aspects of a person.

    Read More

  • Theta Healing

    434 Words  | 1 Pages

    We all know that there are basically five types of brain waves that our brain emits namely – alpha, beta, delta, gamma and theta. Each of these brain waves is measured in Hertz or in short Hz. The Hertz represents the actual number of cycles within a second. Beta waves measures in the range of 13 to 40 Hertz and it is emitted during wakefulness of our ordinary and typical day. Theta waves are naturally

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Downfall

    657 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gatsby’s life was forever changed once they met, he recalls, “I can’t describe to you how surprised I was to find out I loved her.... I was, way off my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I didn’t care. What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do?”(Fitzgerald 160). Gatsby life would now and forever be focused on his love for Daisy; sadly that’s what he died trying to do. The memories of Daisy kept Gatsby’s mind filled with possibility of a life with love and passion; however Gatsby was blinded by the fact that Daisy had created a life without him. Gatsby had tunnel vision and never seemed to get his eyes off the prize- Daisy. All Gatsby ever wanted was her love, and when he felt her slipping away he began to close in, until it was too

    Read More

  • The Physics of Basketball

    1941 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...the more energy is lost and the less the ball bounces back. The less denting that occurs, the more energy is kept and the higher the ball bounces back.

    Read More

  • The Effects of Music on the Mind, Brain, and Body

    519 Words  | 2 Pages

    Music has incredible effects on the brain and body! Ever since the beginning of time, music has been around. It can influence the way a person thinks and behaves, and also social interactions. Teens are more susceptible to this (Revatto 1). Music can be used in therapy by helping people with depression, and can even be a more natural way to heal the body (“How Music...” 1). In some cases, songs and melodies can help or make diseases worse. Music is a powerful thing and can affect your brain and many other things in your body in numerous ways.

    Read More

More about Music and the Brain

Open Document