Many musical styles have been invented that mix Western and Non-Western traditions. Perhaps the oldest and most widely popular of these styles are the ones that join European and African musical traditions. In July 2008 the Guardian published an article in which an eye surgeon in Hawaii reported the results of a study where live music was played to patients in the “preoperative holding area”. Their heart rates, blood pressure and respiratory rates were measured against a control group of patients that were not played any music. The results were compelling – those in the non-music group showed an increase in heart rate and other signs of anxiety while patients exposed to music exhibited beneficial decreases.
A study was conducted at Tzu-Chi General Hospital in Taiwan showing scientific evidences. With sixty people aged 60 to 83 that all suffered sleeping difficulties, study lasted three weeks and researchers reported a 35% improvement in length of sleep, sleep quality, sleep disturbances, and daytime dysfunction in those subjects who listened to soft, slow piano music at night. Piano versions of popular “oldies,” New Age, harp, classical and slow jazz proved to be the most effective types of music used in the study. We’re so used to having music in our lives that we may not always notice how it affects us. In this lilting tribute, Lloyd Moss and Philippe Petit-Roulet lead us to think about how different the world would be if we didn’t have music. Music helps businesses grow and keeps customers coming back, even in a downturn. For example the pub industry is getting all the benefit it can from using background music in that sort of public area. Also, human beings have an innate tendency to co-ordinate movement and rhythm – this is final piece in the exercise and sports music puzzle. Performance can be greatly improved by choosing sports music with the right tempo for the right exercise. That is yet very interesting to know.
Music is important because it appears in all aspects of our lives, from the mundane. Music is an elevator, sometimes music “on the phone” to the exciting “Brass or strings, when played with brio, lift our spirits to the sky. Music has great power to impact the human body emotionally, and the pros use it all the time to add zing to a video scene. Just listen carefully to the music tracks that accompany the programs that you watch on TV tonight. Music often creeps in quietly-unnoticed by the viewer-then builds as emotions heighten.
Teresa Lesiuk, in a five week study on software developers at the University of Windsor CA, observed that “positive affect and quality-of-work were lowest with no music, while time-on-task was longest when music was removed.” Furthermore, “positive mood change and enhanced perception of design” were recorded with the addition of music.
