In this issue:  The Joy of Six | Jazz Improvisation: 15 Tips for Successful Jazz Improvisation | 
Music Matters | How To Make Students Practice

Music Matters

by Gail Smith

The music we like varies with age, culture and our personality. There is a time and place for all types of music. The music played at a wedding should be different from what is heard at a birthday party. It goes without saying that music appropriate at a funeral would be out of place at a debutante ball. Listening to the music we like is important, but knowing what happens when we listen to it is just as vital and important! When we understand how the music we listen to affects us, hopefully it will influence WHAT we listen to. Also, it is necessary to know WHEN we should listen to specific types of music so that it can have a positive affect on the quality of our lives.

Music does matter. The nerve in our ear ends in the middle of our tongue. This means that what we listen to while we eat either helps or hinders our digestion. We should never listen to hard rock music while eating or have the television on. The ideal music for dining is gentle waltz music played on the piano or harp. Soothing waltz music is even played at some dairy farms while cows are milked for maximum production. Corn and wheat farmers have been known to pipe classical music into the fields to boost growth. Ancient Indian tribes would sing to their crops. Singing a certain note was even a cure for a headache. The secret note is a G sharp sung below middle C. Try it when needed. It really works!

The rhythm of your favorite popular music may be a bossa nova, samba, rhumba, country ballad, a beguine, mambo, doo- wop, rock & roll, or a tango. Your style of music may be classical, baroque, romantic or contemporary. You may prefer instrumental music such as a violin to a soloist or choir; a chamber orchestra, trumpet duet or piano trio to a banjo or guitar band; or perhaps you prefer a Beethoven symphony to a Mozart concerto or a Bach fugue to a Chopin Nocturne. Whatever your musical choice or style, it is important to understand the power of music and how each type really does effect your mood, feelings and general health.

If we listen to music with a slower progression of chords such as the famous Pachelbel’s Canon in the Key of D, we can experience lower blood pressure. If we listen to fast music, the reverse is true, our heart beat will go faster. If we listen to loud rock music, the louder and longer the thumping beat continues will cause the organs in our body to actually rub against each other.

HIIPPOCRATES (the father of medicine) took his mentally disturbed patients to the Temple of Esculapius to listen to music circa 400 B.C.

According to the Arabs, singing had a beneficial effect on animals. Shepherds sang to their flocks of sheep to make them thrive.

PYTHAGORAS stated that melodies and rhythms exercise a healing, purifying influence on human actions and restore harmony to the soul. According to PLATO, “Rhythm and harmony sink deep into the recesses of the soul and take a strong hold.”

One CHINESE EMPORER took music so seriously he had his assistants go throughout China making sure all the instruments were in tune.

In the 13th century it is reported that the Arabs equipped their hospitals with music rooms.

The OJIBWA Indian tribal medicine men sat near their sick and sang songs to the accompaniment of their gourd rattles.

Fast music accelerates respiration and stimulates the heart beat. Certain music can increase or decrease muscular activity and effect bodily metabolism. There is scarcely any function of the human body which may note be affected by musical tones.

A brisk march can erase fatigue. Work out music is usually a very fast tempo. It is reported that when George Washington’s weary soldiers would sing as they marched, they soon had new energy and revived spirit.

You can relax with slower ballads or mellow simple music while a Gregorian chant can have a hypnotic effect. Chant has no meter. The timing is based on the human breath. It is a very peaceful music to listen to and to sing. Reduction in blood pressure occurs while chanting. It is actually a form of respiratory yoga. The result being that physical and emotional stress evaporates. Music can be restful and refreshing for us. “There is no agent so powerful in giving us real rest as true music, it does for the heart and mind what sleep does for the body” says Father Gratry.

Each note of music is produced by a specific rate of vibration and has a definite physical and psychological effect on us. Sound can cause objects to be shattered. Just think how powerful this force is on our sensitive bodies.

Rhythm seems to contain some general law, possessing power over almost all living things. Rhythm is everywhere, starting with our heart beat. Music is dance for the ears while dance is music for the eyes. Rhythm is the Dance of Sound, as dancing is the rhythm of movement. “The farther we go back into the past, the more marked and dominant rhythm is found in language.” John Stainer

Noise Polution

70 decibels is considered the safe noise level. The hair blower, hand mixer or blender are usually louder than that. Our ears take a beating every day. Our ears are open. . .yet did you realize that alligators have a clamp over their ears and so do the hippipotemus! Seals and sea otters have special muscles that clamp together and close their ears to keep water from getting into them. Our ability to hear is amazing but the well-known chemist from John Hopkins University, Dr. Donald Andrews, wrote, “If we but had the right ears, we could hear the atoms humming and singing.” Everything in nature is vibrating. Sound pollution is a critical problem just as is air and water pollution. Noise pollution causes damage to the ear drum and disrupts the central nervous system. The current noise level in large cities requires police sirens to use a siren that measures 122 dBa – the same as a jet engine or firecrackers can register. . .that reaches the threshold of pain. The burglary alarms in some homes can cause a terrible pain when they go off. During the 19th century the streets in America were so quiet that fire alarms could be given verbally by a shouting watchman. As recently as WW11 the brass bell on top of a fire truck was loud enough to clear traffic. The noise our youth are listening to is destroying their ability to relax or study. The scientist, Dr. Tomatis believes that the brain receives more stimuli from the ears than from any other organ. Experience confirms that lullabies put us to sleep while some sounds like traffic keep us awake. The sound of waterfalls or the ocean waves calm us while fast music forces us to clap or tap our feet and dance all night. Music is a massage to the nerves. Our bodies can experience a disorganizing effect when there is the grind of two different rhythms being heard at the same time. For instance, if two machines are going at different rhythms or two different songs being played near by. The body can only follow one rhythm at a time. Strain is put on our body.

Final Thoughts on Music Matters

Often people are reluctant to listen to music that is new or different. Many don’t like opera music. Often when the audience understands why the music was written, or the story behind the opera, they enjoy the piece more. No one likes things forced on them. Certain foods don’t appeal to me, however, there may be a lot we are missing out on by not trying them once or twice. I’m sure music is the same way. We may not enjoy atonal music or twelve tone-row music, but we can appreciate the form and time gone into the composition. Variety is the spice of life and there sure is a variety of music and food available to us. The more a person is educated in music appreciation, the more possible it is for them to enjoy music they once avoided. Piano students rarely enjoy a new piece until they practice it and really know it. They may like how it sounds and are inspired to practice it till they can play it perfectly. We should appreciate our composers and performers and consider how long they have worked to achieve their level in their field of art. How long does it take for the artists we hear in concerts or CD’s to become world-class experts. Daniel J. Levitin states in his interesting book, ’This Is Your Brain On Music’, “studies have shown that ten thousand hours of practice is what it takes to achieve the level of mastery associated with being an expert - yes, in anything, as a composer or concert pianist. Ten thousand hours is equivalent to roughly three hours a day, or twenty hours a week of practice over ten years.”

In a note-shell, listen to a march in the morning to get up and get going. At lunchtime, listen to a waltz, if stressed out in the afternoon, listen to Pachelbel’s Canon, When packing for a business trip or a vacation, listen to Mozart’s music which helps you be organized. The music of Teleman, Scarlatti, Handel or Bach can be helpful while studying or learning a foreign language. If the rhythm is faster than the heart beat the effect is exhilarating. Music that is slower than the heart beat may induce sleep. J.S. Bach composed music for the Count who had insomnia, so turn on those Goldberg Variations that Bach composed when you want to go to sleep.. By the way, Mr.Goldberg successfully played them for the Count who was then finally able to sleep each night. Bach received fifty gold coins for his masterpiece.

Music Matters! When the right music is played at the right time, everyone benefits!

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