Contents
Music is useful in every way. Singing in a choir, playing musical instruments, and just listening to your favorite songs helps you grow, connect, and heal. Several studies that prove the magical power of music.
1. Development of verbal intelligence
Playing the piano regularly, for example, not only improves musical skills, but also verbal and visual abilities. American scientists came to this conclusion1who compared two groups of children aged 8-11 years. Those who go to music school showed a higher level of verbal intelligence compared to those who do not study music.
Read more:
- What kind of music helps us think?
2. The bonding effect of singing together
Thousands of Finnish students offered to attend additional music lessons2. According to them, they soon began to enjoy going to school much more, and not only because of the music. As Päivi-Sisko Eerola says: “One of the most popular musical activities is singing in a choir or ensemble. Research proves that people really enjoy being in sync with others. This helps them feel better about belonging to a certain group of people and warmer to each other.
Read more:
- What does our favorite music say about us?
3. The effect of music on health
23 studies by Joke Bradt and Cheryl Dileo on nearly 1500 patients with coronary artery disease show that music therapy has a positive effect on heart rate and blood pressure3. They also believe that listening to music is good for people with traumatic brain injury. A group of Taiwanese scientists believe that favorite tunes and songs are essential for the rehabilitation of stroke survivors.4. According to their data, 60% of such patients have impaired vision, and music contributes to its restoration.
Read more:
- Who’s Afraid of Conchita Wurst?
4. Uplifting effect of sad music
Any music lover knows that sometimes she makes you experience something similar to catharsis. Surprisingly, however, some people, under certain circumstances, are cheered up by sad music. Why? According to a study by a group of Japanese psychologists from the University of Tokyo, sad melodies cause an ambiguous reaction in us: on the one hand, we are naturally sad, and on the other hand, experiencing negative emotions while listening to music is much “safer” than their experience in real life – and this pleases5.
5. More happy faces around
Not only does music make us feel different, but just 15 seconds after we start listening, we read the emotions on other people’s faces differently. A study by psychologists from London’s Goddsmith College and the Austrian Academy of Sciences found that abruptly turning on joyful music causes listeners to perceive the facial expressions of others as happier.6. Sad music, respectively, on the contrary. In other words, people project the mood of the music they are listening to at that moment onto those around them. The effect is most pronounced when interpreting people with a neutral facial expression.
See more at publications of PsyBlog.
1 Plos One, October2008.
2 Music Education Research, vol. 16, № 1, 2014.
3 J. Bradt et al. «Music for stress and anxiety reduction in coronary heart disease patients», PubMed, December, 2013.
4 The American Journal of Occupational Therapy Association, May 2013.
5 A. Kawakami et al. «Sad music induces pleasant emotion», Frontiers in Psychology, онлайн-публикация June 2013.
6 Science Direct, vol. 455, № 2, May 2009.