Why is Music Important?

Music affects people in different ways. It is like a universal language – you don’t have to understand it to be affected by it. It can boost your mood, connect you with people, help you express your feelings or just have a good time. It can be therapeutic and it can be entertaining.

Here are just a few of the reasons why music is so important.

Note: Links to some studies have been provided at the end of the article.

1. Music Can Improve a Person’s Mood

Dozens of studies all over the world have been done about the importance of music when it comes to a person’s mood. Thousands of participants were asked about music and the answer was unanimous: music definitely has an impact on people’s moods. It’s been proven to help regulate mood, lower stress, reduce anxiety, and help feel better. Sad music can also help lift a person’s spirits depending on the situation.

Overall, when listening to music one enjoys, the body gets a serotonin boost, making them happier and more content. Music has been known to make doing tasks more enjoyable, and there is a very strong possibility that people are more productive when they are listening to music they enjoy. In simple terms, music can be very motivating.

2. Music Has the Power to Unite People

No matter who you are or where you’re from, music has always been a part of human culture, and it doesn’t look like that’s changing anytime soon. Music has its own special way of uniting people, whether you’re marching to a drumbeat or singing your heart out with a group of strangers on the bus to an iconic song.

Rich or poor, whatever your skin color, whatever your country, music has always connected people, whether it’s with lyrics that speak to your experiences or struggles or whether it’s just the enjoyment of the sound and style of another culture’s music. Music has been bringing people together for as long as it has existed.

3. Music Can Help People with Self-Expression and Identity Development

Everyone has their own specific tastes and interests in music and your playlist gives a glimpse of your personality. People who prefer certain styles of music have certain personality traits. Music is a simple, yet extremely strong form of self-expression that allows people to identify with certain styles and ways of life that shape their identity over time.

For some people, the genre of music they listen to becomes a lifestyle and their clothing style can reflect that. Others may find songs across all genres to fit their personal feelings. Music allows you to connect with something you may not be able to verbally express.

4. Music Can Enhance Creativity

Studies have shown listening to music that is happy, or simply just music you enjoy, can stimulate the brain towards productivity and help nudge you to be more creative. People who are known to generate new ideas and have creative solutions when listening to their favorite music. 

5. Music Can Connect You to Your Past

Have you ever put on Disney music and suddenly watched adults turn into children again as they sing along to their favorite melodies from childhood movies they’d long forgotten? The importance of music in regards to the brain has been tested repeatedly and found that it can truly bring back memories you’ve long forgotten and evoke strong nostalgia.

Alzheimer’s patients who’ve been able to listen to their favorite music when they were younger were suddenly singing along and humming the melodies long after the music had stopped.

6. Music Can Improve Focus and Concentration

Music can serve as a welcome break when long hours of studying or working get tedious and boring. If you notice your focus drifting, you can listen to music to get it back on track.  For most people, though not everyone, music has been shown to improve focus and concentration because it activates the same part of your brain that provides reward chemicals.

Research indicates that music can help train your brain to predict what may happen next, which can make it easier to absorb new information or create other solutions. However, not all music will help. The best types of music to improve focus and concentration on whatever project you are undertaking should be music you enjoy, but preferably without lyrics, as they often distract and draw attention away instead.

7. Music Can Provide Entertainment

So much entertainment relies on music in this day and age that it comes as no surprise to find music provides entertainment by itself or accompanying other media formats. So why is music so important in this area? For starters, music itself is an entertainment category on its own and has been listened to for pleasure for as long as humans have been able to. 

Music causes so many emotions and can tell stories with or without lyrics. Music over imagery can create funny or moving scenes that add to the storytelling. It has been so powerful that the practice has continued even when picture media is rife with dialogue. However, that has only made musicians work harder and allowed artists to add dialogue of their own to tell entire stories and sagas in minutes.

8. Music Can Help Overcome Sleeping Difficulties

Humans have been listening to melodies to sleep since they were born, lulled off to sleep by parents who just wanted to sleep themselves. Science has now shown the importance of music in calming the body and providing benefits that can help those with sleeping difficulties.

When listening to the same music every night, the body can then begin to develop a routine that lets it know it’s time to unwind, relax, and go to sleep. It works as a cue to slow things down within your autonomic nervous system, such as your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing, and release chemicals responsible for sleep, like melatonin.

10. Music May Help Stimulate Development in Children’s Brains

While music can greatly affect adults, it should come as no surprise that its effects on a developing brain are even greater. Music activates pretty much every center of the brain, so it’s no surprise it can help with child development as well and is often used in classrooms of small children. There, you are likely to find music associated with quite a few activities. Almost everyone had the experience of singing a ‘clean up’ song to help motivate you to quickly pick up your toys or workstation and put things back where they belong.

Music allows children to quickly make connections to actions they will be performing for a long time to come. There are songs to help remember things and even teach them about their own bodies, such as ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes’ that jumpstart their vocabulary and test their memory.

The ‘Hokey Pokey’ is often used to help develop gross motor skills (moving their arms and legs) while taking turns playing instruments can help them develop fine motor skills (moving fingers and toes) and teach them social skills like sharing and being polite. There are also rhymes and songs to teach manners and how to respond in certain situations when someone has done something they don’t like.

Music has so many advantages and no matter how hard you try, it cannot be ignored. There is something special about music – you can feel its impact all around the world and all throughout the body. There is no stopping music any time soon so start enjoying it!

References

• https://www.healthline.com/health-news/mental-listening-to-music-lifts-or-reinforces-mood-051713
• https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/your-brain-on-music/
• https://www.healthline.com/health/does-music-help-you-study#benefits-of-music-for-studying
• https://www.sleepfoundation.org/noise-and-sleep/music
• https://penfieldbuildingblocks.org/early-education/the-effects-of-music-on-childhood-development/