How Does Music Impact Our Brain?

Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the Universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety, and life to everything. It is the essence of order and leads to all that is good and just and beautiful— Plato

Music is believed to be a discovery made ever since humanity existed. The chirping of birds, the rustling of leaves, the sound of a waterfall, and the sound of rain; all these serene sounds of nature that keep your mind in a state of tranquility. Music is so powerful that it conveys and spreads the emotions that actual words cannot do.

Music is one thing that is common among creatures, cultures, religions, and races. The format and delivery of the art might vary, but its soul remains the same. Music has been an integral part of not just human beings but also of animals in bringing down their aggressive behavior and relieving their stress.

The power of music can be felt by understanding its impact on the human brain.

The Science behind the music and our brain

What happens to our brains when we hear music?

The front lobe is the most important part of our brain, which also happens to be bigger in human beings compared to all other animals. This part of the brain helps in planning, reasoning, and decision making; listening to music enhances this part of the brain.

The back part of our brain called the ‘Occipital lobe’ is the one that processes whatever we see. In fact, this part of the brain is used more by musicians because they try to process the music more than a common listener.

The cerebellum is the part of the brain which is like a storage area, basically like muscle memory. When we do something repeatedly, the cerebellum stores it as physical memory and this memory never fades out.

Musicians who played instruments when they were young would never forget how they played in their old age even if their memory fades out because this activity was part of their cerebellum.

How can music do this?

When you hear music, the sound waves strike the eardrum, which produces vibrations on a fluid surrounding the inner ear. Based on these vibration patterns, electric waves are sent to the brain activating the various lobes. Unlike music, other noises do not create a vibration like music and thus do not activate certain parts of the temporal lobes.

So why does some music make us cry while others keep us elated?

This is basically because of the composition of the notes or in Indian music it is termed as “Raga”. Basically, every raga is composed of swaras (7 swaras in total) Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Da Ni; and a combination of these swaras creates unique ragas. Except for Sa and Pa, all the other swaras have variants, and the position of these swara variants in the raga decides the emotion of the song. Similarly, in western music the presence of minor scales makes a song emote sorrow while a major scale signifies a happy song.

Ragas in Indian classical music have hidden mathematics in them. The ragas are classified as Parent (Melakartha) and child (Janya) raga and the name and position of the parent ragas have hidden math involved. For musical instruments, mathematics explains how strings vibrate at certain frequencies, and soundwaves are used to describe these mathematical frequencies.

How does music heal

Music has been regarded as therapy from ancient times. There are documents that prove music was used for healing during World War 2, and the nurses used this as their main therapy. Historians believe that Music used for treatment stimulated the music therapy profession.

Research has proved that music does improve the vitals like blood pressure and heart rates on patients. The study revealed patients who received music therapy was had considerably lower (SBP) as compared to those who did not receive one.

Surgeries performed on patients who had listened to music prior to being operated on seemed more relaxed and their sedation was considerably less than a non-music listener. Studies have proved that surgeons when exposed to music in operation theatres felt more relaxed and experienced lower stress levels while operating the patient.

It is also a known fact that many women prefer to labor with music being played in their room as it keeps them calm and aids in relaxed nerves.

Studies revealed that the possibility of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are very much less for a person exposed to continuous music.

Music has emerged as a complementary therapy believed to have the potential to reduce the severity of symptoms and therefore improve quality of life — says Barber, Jonathan Bruce

Learning or just mere hearing music stimulates the lobes of our brain, thus enhancing our mental health. Not just any chronic disease, but music is a good stress buster too. Fast beat music could uplift our spirit, while a soothing melody could calm you down and helps you get better sleep. This is because the brain releases more dopamine which is essential for our emotional behavior in keeping us relaxed.

Babies and music

It is quite fascinating to know that music has a very positive and strong impact on babies. This is something that I have experienced myself when I was pregnant, their kicks and movements differed based on the genre of music that I was listening to.

I recently listened to a TED talk by Robin Spielberg, where she explained that music had been a lifesaving therapy for her premature baby. Being a musician herself, she played her music CDs in the NICU where her baby was kept to distract from all the unpleasant noises that filled the room. The nurses and doctors observed that whenever the music was playing, that the vitals of all the babies in the NICU was improving significantly. Many years later after this incident studies proved that the positive impact of music on pre-terms.

Music exposure leads to functional brain architectures that are more similar to those of full-term newborns, providing evidence for a beneficial effect of music on the preterm brain — (Lara Lordier et al., 2019)

Music might have evolved over the years, but it never fails to inspire us in every form. All these facts about music make us realize how it is so divine. Just like god, its presence needs to be felt to enhance ourselves as human beings.

Originally published at http://theflipside.me on October 11, 2020.