Music is such an integral part of most people’s lives, whether that be listening to it on the way to school, hearing it in a piece of media, linking certain songs with certain emotions or people, or just about anything. Music is what binds our emotions together. However, the question that gets asked a lot is what is the best genre of music? Things get thrown around like pop, country or rock. Something that is not thrown around as much anymore is classical music.
Hopefully, the words that you read today convince you to look up some Mozart when you get home.
Pianist and music educator Saide Hoyt says that by leaving the title essentially blank, the composer is honoring one of music’s greatest gifts, its ability to become something new in the minds of each listener. Classical music is essentially human emotion itself in the form of notation and harmonies. For hundreds of years, classical music has been the cornerstone of entertainment. The excitement that you can get from classical music is like no other. While there are no words to help you understand the emotion, the music itself binds together what words cannot tell.
Why should you listen to classical music? The answer is plain and simple: why not? Without it, what gave the basis for such popular songs like “All By Myself” by Eric Carmen? Carmen used the second movement of Sergi Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto as the basis for his song. So why not use it as the basis for your emotions in your life?
Enough of emotions and questioning. Now we move on to the science and benefits of this archaic form of music.
Ancient Baths state that classical music and relaxation are almost like a form of meditation, due to all these positive effects, and can even make someone more empathetic and emotionally intelligent, because their body and mind are at peace. Classical music and its unmistakable melodies and harmonies can be intertwined through your brain to make you a better person. Let me explain to you the Mozart effect.
The Mozart effect is essentially the effect of Mozart’s music, or classical music, on a person’s spatial reasoning skills. According to J.S. Jenkins in the National Library of Medicine, animal experiments in which separate groups of rats were exposed, in utero followed by a postpartum period of 60 days, to Mozart’s piano sonata K448, to minimalist music by the composer Philip Glass, to white noise or to silence and then tested for their ability to negotiate a maze. The group of rats that were exposed to Mozart completed the maze faster and with fewer errors than the other three groups.
This experiment proves that classical music has benefits that should not be ignored. There are also many health benefits to this style of music. The Healthy says that those who listened to Mozart and Strauss had markedly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure, as well as lower heart rates. The effect of classical music on the body is remarkable, and everyone should be listening to it.
You may be thinking, “Who does this bum think he is trying to tell me what music to listen to?” Well, I have written two symphonies as well as piano music, and I can tell you that I am never more calm, focused, and ready for life than when listening to classical music. Getting to listen to the intricate notation of a single composer manipulating piano keys, a string instrument’s bow, a wind instrument, or a brass instrument is an out-of-body experience. It is also not like there is one genre of classical music. There are periods of time in the overall umbrella of classical music that define what type of instruments are used, what melodies are created and what harmonies are produced.
For example, there are three big-time periods in classical music. They are baroque, classical and romantic. Within these periods, there is a universe of sound that could change your life forever.
Classical music has been a pivotal part of my life, and it can be a pivotal part of your life too. You may be thinking, “Are there any downsides to classical music?” I found one. According to Starkey.com, when comparing the effects of rock music to classical music said that, while rock music may be played at a higher intensity—it’s the longer duration of noise that is more damaging to hearing, in this case. There are no other downsides to it. Classical music should not be ignored or disregarded as an old form of music. It is the musical version of a human’s intricate emotions, and you should listen to it.
