Music Soothes The Soul
by Linda Weaver Clarke
May 15, 2006
"Do I really have to practice?" came
the disgruntled voice of a teenager.
How many times have we heard this? I remember when
my mother encouraged me to practice my instrument and
how I tried to find one excuse after another to get
out of it. Soon, she was sitting at the piano, willing
to help me practice. I reluctantly began playing, not
putting my heart into it, feeling a bit rebellious.
But it did not take long until I began to feel the
soothing notes of the music and my soul began to relinquish
the unruly attitude within me. Why did this music soothe
my rebellious soul?
Music has changed throughout the years, but its purpose
is the same. The type of music we listen to affects
the brain. Some music has been proven to help memorization,
to help us retain information we have learned. It has
to do with order, symmetry, rhythmic patterns, repetition,
ideal mathematical form, and harmony.
A study was done to test whether or not music can help
in retaining information. White mice were taught to
go through a maze to find food. One group listened
to no music, the second group listened to Strauss waltzes,
and the third group listened to hard rock music. After
eight weeks, the mice were tested to see if they had
improved. The mice with no music had improved but the
mice that listened to Strauss waltzes made it through
much faster. When the scientists checked the rock mice,
they were not prepared for what they found. The mice
did not get better in finding the food, but had gotten
worse, becoming disoriented. The scientists waited
a few weeks to see if the results were the same. The
Strauss mice had retained their memory while the rock
mice had lost their memory of the whole thing.
The American Psychological Association wrote, "Those
dreaded piano lessons pay off in unexpected ways: According
to a new study, children with music training had significantly
better verbal memory than their counterparts without
such training, plus, the longer the training, the better
the verbal memory. Psychologists at the Chinese University
of Hong Kong studied 90 boys between age six and fifteen.
Half had musical training as members of their school´s
string orchestra program. The other 45 participants
were schoolmates with no musical training. The researchers,
led by Agnes S. Chan, Ph.D., gave the children verbal
memory tests, to see how many words they recalled from
a list, and a comparable visual memory test for images.
Students with musical training recalled significantly
more words than the untrained students. There were
no such differences for visual memory." ("Music Training
Improves Verbal but Not Visual Memory," American Psychological
Association, Neuropsychology, Vol. 17, No. 3.)
C. A. Harding did brain studies in 1982 at the University
of North Texas. They brought in 300 people. They wanted
approximately the same kind of learning abilities,
so everyone they chose had Phd´s. These people
were separated into two groups and taught 300 vocabulary
words. The first group listened to Handel´s Water
Music as they learned the words and definitions. The
second group learned their words without music. To
the surprise of the scientists, there was a big difference
in the test scores. The group with the music scored
much higher. Two weeks later, the groups were brought
back in and checked to see if they had retained the
words, and there was a much bigger difference in the
scores. The group without music had forgotten half
the words. In the first group, the brain must have
felt the orderly manner of the music and was able to
retain the vocabulary words.
I read an article in the TIME MAGAZINE from July 5,
1999 titled "Fingers, Brains, and Mozart." It said, "Mozart´s
music has intrigued researchers since 1993, when scientists
at the University of California at Irvine found that
college students who heard 10 minutes of the composer´s
Sonata for Two Pianos in D major raised their IQ scores
on tests of spatial-temporal reasoning—a skill
related to math. Mozart appears to strengthen the neural
connections that underlie mathematical thought. Other
researchers have used the two-piano sonata to improve
the spatial-temporal reasoning of an Alzheimer´s
patient and to reduce the number of seizures in epileptics."
It has been found that music can change behavior. The
right kind can turn depression into joy, anger to calmness,
hate to love, and fear to courage. Beautiful music
has an effect on people and it can soothe and take
away feelings of frustration and anger. Music definitely
makes a difference in alleviating tension.
Professor Vladamir Conechne tested this theory. He
paid actors to antagonize a group of people, making
them angry and hateful. After the actors left, he turned
on gentle soothing music and watched the people carefully
as he took notes. He noticed that their behavior and
attitude began to change and their hatred left.
In another part of the country, this theory was proved
once again. At the Soviet Union, the Soviets used music
to rescue 3,000 Beluga Whales trapped in the Narrow
Strait off the Bering Sea. Icebreakers had cleared
an escape path for the whales, but they were confused
and frightened by the noise of engines and propellers
that had chopped the ice away. It finally dawned on
the captain to pipe music through the loud speakers.
When the whales heard Beethoven´s music, they
began to calm down and after a while followed the sound,
swimming through the narrow channel to freedom. The
music seemed to calm them down.
One time our little family traveled many hours to see
our folks up north for Christmas. It was an eight-hour
drive. The children were tired, crowded, and miserable
from the long drive. We were traveling through a beautiful
canyon and only had a half an hour left to arrive at
our destination. I started singing some Christmas songs,
and then my husband joined in. Soon the rest of the
family joined in singing and the contention gradually
left and we were laughing and having fun as we joyfully
sang Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and many Christmas
Carols. Music does make a difference.
David O. McKay said, "Music is truly the universal
language, and when it is excellently expressed how
deeply it moves our souls!"
In 1865, during the Civil War in Atlanta, Georgia,
General Sherman had his army ready and prepared for
a battle. It was recorded that while they waited, a
young man began to sing American Songs, beloved songs
that were familiar to both sides. The music was soothing
and nostalgic, and it floated across the field for
everyone to hear. The soldiers on both sides heard
the songs that were sung. The hearts of everyone were
touched, and the battle that was supposed to be, did
not occur that day. No one felt like fighting. It had
deeply moved their souls.
It is vitally important to listen to music that uplifts
us. When words and music are combined, I believe it
expresses our deepest thoughts and feelings. What we
can´t understand in words, we can understand
with music. Words alone, many times, can´t express
the true feelings that are meant, but music and words
put together can touch the hearts and souls of people.
When music is added to sacred words, it helps us to
understand the simple love of God and feel the spirit
of reverence. Isaac Watts described it best.
With all the power of heart and tongue,
I´ll praise my Maker in my song.
Angels shall hear the notes I´ll raise,
Approve the song, and join the praise.
Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Copyright 2006 – Reproduction of this article
may only be used with the author´s byline intact.
Written by Linda Weaver Clarke, author of the historical/fiction/romance
series: "A Family Saga in Bear Lake Valley." To learn
more, visit www.lindaweaverclarke.com.
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