Think of the last time a song really moved you, or meant something to you. Listening to and playing music stimulates many different sections of the brain, affecting us physically as well. Why are we as humans so connected to music?

Making music is one of our most basic instincts. There's a reason we refer to music as the "universal language"; there has been no known human culture without music. Dancing and music came before agriculture, and possibly even before language. Bone flutes were found in Europe dating back 53,000 years ago. The head of the Biomusic program at the National Academy of the Sciences, Patricia Gray, and her colleagues comment, "The fact that whale and human music have so much in common even though our evolutionary paths have not intersected for 60 million years suggests that music may predate humans-that rather than being the inventors of music, we are latecomers to the musical scene." (Leutwyler)

Music and Childhood

We begin life being affected by music; babies first begin to respond to music while still in the womb. Whether or not it's true, everyone has heard that playing classical music for your baby supposedly helps him or her become smarter. A study done in the United Kingdom concluded that children are able to recognize and even prefer music that they had heard while in the womb up to three months before birth. Although the genera of music made no difference, the babies who were exposed to songs with a faster tempo showed a stronger preference for that song than those who had heard something slower. ("Babies Remember Music Heard in the Womb") Researchers have also found that the playing of soft background music or a mother's humming actually helps premature babies. Those who are subjected to the music tend to gain weight faster and are able to leave hospitals earlier than those who aren't. (Cromie, "Music on the Brain")

However, the study in the UK uncovered no links between babies listening to music and increased intelligence or brain development. Another experiment at the University of California at Irvine compared the puzzle-solving abilities of 3-year-olds who were given piano lessons with the ability of others who sang, used computers, or did nothing. The children studying piano were better at the puzzles. Also, high school students with a musical background seem to do better on their SATs. (Cromie, "How Your Brain Listens to Music") Whether it's natural intelligence that helps the children excel in both music and math, or the music that helps develop other areas, you can't deny the benefits of a musical background.

On the other end of the spectrum, it's possible that some music and/or lyrics could be bad for children and adolescents. The lyrics of today's popular music are increasingly explicit. A study on mass media and adolescents showed that a group of "14- to 16-year olds in 10 different southeastern cities showed that they listened to music an average of 40 hours per week." ("Impact of Music Lyrics...") Obviously, the music they are listening to plays a large part in their lives, especially influencing self-identity. So any bad influences in the music would have a very direct effect on the adolescent.

Several other experiments mentioned in the American Academy of Pediatrics' policy statement on the "Impact of Music Lyrics and Music Videos on Children and Youth" supported this idea. One study from Sweden found that children who developed a preference to rock music were more likely to be influenced by their peers than by their parents. Others showed links between a predilection for heavy metal and detrimental behaviors, including taking drugs, suicide risk, alienation, and other risk-taking habits. The AAP doesn't support the idea of censorship, but strongly encourages parents to monitor what their children are listening to. We have to ask, should we as a society look at the results of these effects on adolescents and call for regulation in the music industry?

Music and the Mind

William J. Cromie, writer for the Harvard Gazette, explains how we our brain listens to music. "Your inner ear contains a spiral sheet that the sounds of music pluck like a guitar string. This plucking triggers the firing of brain cells that make up the hearing parts of your brain. At the highest station, the auditory cortex, just above your ears, these different firing cells create the conscious experience of music. Different patterns...excite other cells, and these associate the sound of music with feelings, thoughts, and past experiences." (Cromie, "How Your Brain Listens to Music") This is just a generalized statement; the actual processes that go on are very complicated, and we don't really know all that much about them.

No single portion of the brain seems completely dedicated to our perception of music. The right side of the brain is generally associated with music and the arts, but studies done on people who have suffered brain damage show that both the right and left side play a part in musical perception. While the right side is crucial for pitch, melody, timbre, and harmony, the left side takes care of changes in intensity and frequency. Both sides need to be working together in order to correctly understand rhythm. Also, sections of the brain relating to music affect other things. For example, the part of the brain having to do with perfect pitch additionally effects speech perception. (Cromie, "Music on the Brain") Interestingly, parts of your motor system react when you are simply thinking about a rhythm, even when you're not moving.

Damage to the temporal lobes, which are part of the cerebrum and lie at the sides of the brain, can cause a disorder referred to as Amusia. People may have trouble with rhythms, recognizing melodies, singing, or playing an instrument. Sometimes the damage can cause little or no problems with hearing speech or other sounds; just music.

Carol Krumhansl of Cornell University found that different types of music directly trigger different emotions. While happiness causes you to breathe faster, sadness causes a rise in blood pressure and temperature and a slower pulse. Faster music played in a major key caused the same physical reactions associated with happiness, and slower music played in a minor key resulted in those associated with sadness. (Leutwyler) This also evokes the question of whether or not minor keys naturally sound "bad" or undesirable to everyone, or if it's simply what we've been socialized to think through the music we're used to in our particular cultures.

Music and Intelligence

Music is often used as a learning tool. If only we could memorize notes for a test as easily as we memorize popular songs on the radio! Music with a tempo of around 60 beats-per-minute can activates both the left and right sides of the brain, which assists in processing more information at once. Singing and playing an instrument also has this effect.

Listening to music that induces relaxation, such as "Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major," before taking a test has been proven to temporarily enhance IQ and improve scores. This has since been named "The Mozart Effect." However, the effects of the music seemed to last only 10 to 15 minutes. The original experiment, published in 1993, has been under scrutiny ever since. Other researchers have tried to repeat similar tests, but have not gotten such positive results. After attempting a complete re-do of the first Mozart Effect test, scientists at Appalachian State University stated, "...there is little evidence to support basing intellectual intervention on the existence of the Mozart effect." (qtd. in Chudler)

Dr. George Lozanov, a psychologist from Bulgaria, used classical music at about 60 beats per minute to devise a better way of learning a foreign language. Using this method, students "could learn up to one half of the vocabulary and phrases for the whole school term (which amounts to almost 1,000 words or phrases) in one day." (O'Donnell) The student's retention rate was an incredible 92%, and he managed to prove that entirelanguages could be learned fairly well within thirty days with this approach!

A separate study performed in Texas tested the effect of music on vocabulary memorization among graduate students. The students were divided into three groups; two groups studied with "Water Music" by Handel playing in the background, one being asked to imagine the words while studying, the other group not. The third group was a control and wasn't asked to do anything. Groups 1 and 2 had consistently better test scores than group 3, and group 1 did better than group 2. (O'Donnell)

Albert Einstein once spoke about his theory of relativity, "It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition." (qtd. in Green) As a child, Einstein did very badly in school, and the teachers recommended that his parents not even take the time to continue teaching him. His parents ignored the teachers and instead bought him a violin. Throughout his life, Einstein improvised on his violin in order to figure out his problems and equations, and music was a key factor helping him become the genius we now know him as. (O'Donnell)

Music and Health

Music also has unending benefits on our health. It has been proven that music reduces blood pressure. Scientists are currently testing the effects of playing music games with dyslexics, and how it may improve their reading ability. Music is used to calm Alzheimer's patients and others with age-related diseases in hospitals and nursing homes, helping to reduce and control conflicts.

Music is commonly used as a form of therapy. According to the American Music Therapy Association, founded in 1998 as a merger between the National Association for Music Therapy and the American Association for Music Therapy, music therapy can be defined as, "the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program." (AMTA Website) This is commonly used to treat everything from physical disabilities to chronic pain to brain injuries. Even healthy people can be benefited through stress reduction or the use of music to aid in childbirth. Nature and other environment sounds can also be therapeutic. Think of how relaxing the sounds of a bubbling stream, crickets chirping, or ocean waves can be. Music Therapy is considered to be one of the "expressive therapies;" others include art, dance, drama, play, writing, and humor therapy.

Although the use of music to benefit health dates back to the days of Aristotle, modern music therapy began shortly after World War II. Hospitals were hiring musicians to play for the hospitalized veterans after seeing the good affect it had on those suffering from war-related mental and emotional problems. Eventually colleges began to implement programs, and Michigan State University began the world's first music therapy program in 1944.

There are many specific reasons why music therapy works. Music with a strong beat can actually cause brainwaves to "resonate in sync with the beat, with faster beats bringing sharper concentration and more alert thinking, and a slower tempo promoting a calm, meditative state." (Scott) This can be good for you even after you stop listening, because it helps the brain in changing brainwave speed by itself later.

Researchers at the University of Toronto are developing "brain wave music" ("Brain Wave Music"), a type of music therapy that involves creating music that imitates the patterns formed by individual brain waves. The people they test the music on are given their own CD, with music made for their specific brain waves. They're hoping that this new approach may help relieve chronic insomnia, anxiety, or depression, even without the additional aid (and risk of dependency) of medication. Could you imagine going to the doctors to get a "prescription CD?"

In addition to causing positive changes in heart and breathing rates, bringing relaxation, and combating stress problems, music also brings a "positive state of mind, helping to keep depression and anxiety at bay." (Scott)

Music and Physical Activity

Mark Tramo, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School, commented on a study which "showed that the heart muscle of people exercising on treadmills didn't work as hard when people listened to music as it did when they exercised in silence." (qtd. in Cromie, "Music on the Brain") Researchers from Ohio State University studied patients with lung disease and found that those who listened to music "walked an average of 19 miles a week - four more miles than the control group who didn't listen to music while walking." (Bumgardner) Music affects us so much that it's being banned from sports-related activities.

Most high schools have banned listening to music while running in both track practices and meets. The body in charge of running in the US, USA Track & Field, has officially banned headphones and any kind of portable music player from all official races. One reason to justify this is the physical protection of the runners; while listening to music, they can't hear directions, and are less aware of the other runners around them. However, this is also meant to protect runners without an audio player from having an unfair disadvantage. But isn't it fair enough for every participant to be allowed to run with an audio player? If everyone has the opportunity to give themselves an advantage through music, then it's not unfair simply because some don't bring an audio player. Not all should be punished.
With today's iPods and Zunes becoming progressively smaller, how can this rule be enforced? Many people ignore the new rules, including Richie Sais, a runner in California's Marine Corps Marathon. "'I dare them to find the iPod on me,' he said, adding that he had clipped his iPod shuffle, which is barely larger than a quarter, under his shirt." (qtd. in Macur)

More and more "regular" people are participating in these types of athletic activities. The more serious and professional runners may actually prefer to run without music, but those running for fun or smaller personal goals might be turned off by these music bans. I know when I was in high school I wouldn't have made it through summer gym without Sean Paul and Aerosmith.

Conclusion

Music is invariably a crucial part of everyone's life, and has shaped the way we all live and develop as humans. If used in the right ways, it can help us learn, heal, or even make it through that last lap around the track. We still have so much to find out about the way our minds interpret music and how if effects us. Hopefully elementary and high schools will continue music programs, and post-secondary institutions will continue to research what else music can do for us.

如果认为有一首歌真的打动了你，或对你来说有某些寓意 ,听或者弹奏音乐会刺激大脑很多不同部位,同样影响我们身体，为什么人类同音乐有着如此紧密的联系呢？

音乐的创作是我们最基本的本能，其中一个原因是音乐是全世界的语言,其实大家都明白，人类文化离不开音乐 , 舞蹈和音乐产生在农业出现以前，甚至早在语言形成之前，追回到53，000年前骨制笛子被发现在欧洲,以生物音乐为首的节目在国际科学院上演, Patricia Gray和她的同伴评论说“ 鲸同人类的音乐事实上是如此相同，即是我们进化的里程没有分割为60百万年建议音乐可能居先人类-胜予音乐发明者,音乐先我们人类产生（Leutwyler)

音乐和童年

音乐感染着我们的日常生活; 婴儿对音乐的反应是他们还在母体中. 无论这点是否正确, 每个人都听说过为你的婴儿弹奏古典音乐能使他或她变的更聪明，英国的一项调查结果显示婴儿能在他们未出生前的三个月里辨认出音乐甚至喜欢音乐,虽然音乐的种类没有不同，但比起慢节奏的音乐来快节奏的音乐更受婴儿们青睐，（婴儿们记得自己还在母体子宫中听过的音乐），调查还发现弹奏亲切悦耳的轻柔背境音乐或母亲的吟唱的摇蓝曲可以帮助早产婴儿,那些常听音乐的婴儿比起不常听的孩子的体重增张更快，同时身体素知更好 .( Cromie 音乐在脑海中）

然而,英国的另一项调查结果显示婴儿听音乐跟脑部的发育或增长智力没有联系,加利福尼亚大学的另一个调查结果显示在三岁孩子中比较解决疑惑问题的能力，那些上过钢琴课跟那些唱歌，玩电脑，或没接受任何教育的孩子相比要好些，那些有音乐背境的高年级学生做的要好些.（Cromie 你的大脑怎样听音乐）无论它是自然的一种智力帮助孩子善长音乐或数学，或者是音乐帮助发展他们的其它领域，你不能否认音乐背境所带的好处.

在其它范围里.一些音乐或歌词会给孩子或青少年带来坏处，今天的流行音乐歌词逐渐的明了化,一个研究显示在10个不同的东南部城市的大量媒体显示一组"14 到16岁的青少年平均每星期会花费40个小时听音乐" (受到歌词影响...)显然，音乐占用了他们大部分的时间 ,特别是影响他们的个性，所以说任何不健康的音乐都会直接影响青少年.

美国儿童学会的其它几项实验提到<音乐歌词和音乐视频对儿童及青少年的影响>，并健议推广，来自于瑞士一家研究发现那些偏爱摇滚乐的孩子比起他们的父母亲来更容易受到同伴的影响.其它研究显示在偏爱电子摇滚乐和有害行为的联系，包括吸毒,冒险自杀，发生冲突及其它的一些冒险行为，AAP组织不赞同这种审查结果，但还是鼓励家长监督他们的孩子听的是什么内容，我们不得不问，我们是否应从社会角度来观看这些结果给青少年带来的影响以及音乐对音乐的需求.

音乐及思维

William j 美国哈佛大学公报作者，解释说我们的大脑怎样听音乐,你的内耳包含一个螺旋型的薄片,音乐的声音弹拨像吉他的琴弦一样，这种弹拨能触发你的脑细胞开始工作并整理你大脑的听力部分,在最高的位置,耳的皮层就在你的耳朵上部，这些不同的活细胞增加属于音乐的有意识经历.(Cromie“ 你的大脑怎样听音乐”）这只是一般话的陈述,实际过程其实很复杂，我们真的不知道更多有关它们的细节. William J

大脑看起来没有单一的部分完全致力于我们对音乐的感知，右脑一般来说负责将音乐同美术联系起来，但研究显示出人们如果大脑受到损伤显示左脑和右脑都具备音乐的感知力,右边起决定性作用旋律，音色，协调，左脑的任务负责音乐的强度和频率的，左脑和右脑需要同时工作才能正确判断旋律和节奏,大脑的另一部分将音乐的感染力同其他事物联系起来 例如，大脑的另一部分负责将音高与语言的感知完美的结合在一起.( Cromie 音乐在大脑中）有趣的是，当你在脑海中反映一首旋律或节奏时你的大脑的部分发动系统会迅速作出反映，即使你不去刻意的去想它.

若损坏了位于大脑旁边的属于大脑的组成部分叶时,会引起我们提及到的失歌症，这类人有可能在对旋律或节奏，乐曲的辨认，唱歌，或弹奏乐器方面都会有一些困扰或不敏感，又是这种伤害对于听力或其他声音的辨别有一些影响或者无影响，只是音乐.

Cornell Carol Krumhansl of Cornell大学发现不同类型的音乐直接触发不同的感情，当兴奋或高兴时你的呼吸会加快，伤心时会引起血压升高,同时会引起体温降低及脉搏缓慢.快节奏音乐能能使人自然联想起高兴，愉快，同样，慢节奏的音乐能使人联想起悲哀，伤感,这种情况引起一个问题就是是否未成年人本身就喜欢听些不健康的内容或是有些内容压根就不受每个人的喜欢,或者仅仅因为我们已经将音乐与文化融为一体.

音乐与智力

音乐通常被作为一种学习工具，如果我们背诵考试中的一些内容像记忆收音机上的一些流行歌曲一样容易的话,音乐的速率和拍子在每分钟60拍能同时刺激左大脑和右大脑,能帮助立即处理更多的信息,唱歌或是弹奏乐器都能起到这种作用.

听音乐能使人得到放松，例如‘莫扎特的D大调第二钢琴曲’.在开始测试前IQ已经得到暂时提高并提高了得分，这种情况被命名为“莫扎特效应”然而这种音乐的影响仅仅只能持续10--15分钟，最初的试验被发表在1993年,自从那时至现在没被关注，其他的一些研究人员已经做了相同的测试，但没有得到这样肯定的结果，在企图从新实验莫扎特音乐效应测试之后,科学家在Appalachoan State大学决定“有迹象表明存在着莫扎特音乐效应影响人的潜意识的作用”（qtd.in Chudler)

一个来自于保加利亚的 George Lozanov导师，用每分钟60拍的古典乐为学外语设计一种更好的学习方法，用这种方法，学生“在一天里能学习整个学期的一半单词和段语”（总数 1000个单词和短语）难以置信的是学生的单词保留率在92%，他还设法证明用这种方法学生能在30天内学好全部的语言！

一个抽样研究小组做了一个实验，测试音乐对毕业生单词记忆的影响.学生被分成三组，两组通过用手感在后台弹奏水音乐,一个人被要求去想象所学单词，另一组却不同，第三组是观察者，被要求什么也不做，第一组和第二组比起第三组的比分来就好得多，第一组比第二组做的好.(O'Donnell)

阿尔伯特爱因斯坦曾阐述他的相对论,“它发生在我身上是凭直觉，音乐的驱使力在只觉得后边”（qtd. in Green ) 做为一个孩子，爱因斯坦在学校并不出色，老师甚至建议他的父母亲不要再继续花费时间去教他，他的父母并没听取老师的建议，反而给他买了一个小提琴,在他的一生中,爱因斯坦用他的小提琴即兴创作以便为了为了解决问题或寻找平衡，就像我们所知道的那样音乐使得他变得更富有天赋及天才.（O'Donnel)

音乐和健康

音乐同样会给我们的身体健康带来无穷的好处，已经证明音乐会降低血压.科学家最近在不善长朗读者身上用玩音乐游戏的方法测试音乐的影响力，和音乐是怎样改善他们的阅读能力，在一些医院和养老院里，音乐也用来镇定老年痴呆的病人和其他一些相关年龄带来的疾病,帮助控制和减少一些抵逐情绪.

音乐被普遍应用于治疗的一种形式，美国音乐治疗协会成立于1998年，它将国际音乐治疗协会同美国音乐治疗协会合并为一体,音乐治疗能被定义为 "临床的和以证据为基础的音乐治疗由已经完成过音乐治疗方案的专业人员来完成个性化目标（MATA Website) 这项被普遍用于那些大脑受伤或慢性疼痛引起的身体上不能自理的病人，甚至身体健康的人通过减小压力受益或者用于孩子的催生，自然和环境的一些声音也能用与治疗学,想起山泉的流水声是多么令人放松,板球的声音，海洋里的浪涛声，音乐治疗被认为是“充满感情和表情的治疗”其他还包括艺术，舞蹈，鼓声，玩，写和幽默治疗.

音乐给人类健康带来无限好处，追回到亚里斯多德时代，现代音乐疗法开始于第二次世界大战后，当了解到音乐疗法的好处后，一些医院雇佣一些作曲家为那些曾在战争中身心深受重创的士兵做心理治疗，后来一些学院开始实施这一方案，美国密歇跟州大学在1944年开始了世界上的一个音乐疗法计划.

有很多独特理由能说明为什么音乐疗法如此神奇，音乐有着强烈的冲击力，事实上能引起大脑的“灵机妙想”，使其与声音共振，快节奏声音能集中注意力和激发更灵活的思维，慢节奏能使人冷静，并进入沉思状态（Scott)当你停止听音乐后对你仍会有诸多好处，因为它可以帮助开发大脑想像力，多伦多大学的研究人员研究了一种“灵机妙想音乐”（灵机妙想音乐），它是一种音乐疗法，涉及创作音乐，模仿的具有独特模式的音乐，那些想尝试这种特殊疗法的人都找到了适合自己的音乐并灌制CD片，用音乐来启动他们的思维，他们希望用这种新的方法能减轻或缓解长期的沮丧，消沉. 甚至没有其他的医疗帮助（和依赖的风险）你是否想像去医院得到一张“指定的CD片”

值得补充的是它还能给心脏和呼吸带来积极的作用，带来放松，及解决压力等问题，音乐也能是的大脑处于积极思考状态，帮助远离沮丧和焦虑（scott).

音乐和体育运动

Mark.Tramo 美国哈佛大学一名神经系统科学家推荐出了一种研究“关于人们骑健步车练习的心理音乐，无论人们是否听到音乐都不需要很费力（qtd,音乐在脑海中）来自与美国俄亥俄州大学研究小组对肺病患者进行研究，发现那些听音乐散步的病人平均每星期散步19英里 ，比起那些受限制的病人多走4英里多，（Bumgarder)音乐给了我们如此大的影响，然而在体育运动方面，它却受到某些限制.

大部分的高校已经指定运动场地跑步，锻炼或打见面时禁止听音乐，身体负责的是协调全身运动，在美国，官方正式禁止在公共运动场地，及比赛中禁用耳机及任何相关的便携式音乐播放器，有理由足以证明这一措施是对运动员身体的一种保护，当听音乐时他们就听不到命令，管理，也听不到其他队员的提醒，但对于每个参赛运动员来说不允许带音乐播放器跑不是足够公平的事.如果每个人有机会听着音乐并且真的能从中受益，这是不公平的，因为有一些人并没带，不是所有人都应受到惩罚.

今天的ipods和 Zunes进步较小,这条制度怎样被实施？人们也许会忽略新规则,包括Rchic Sais,一名保加利亚的青年Marine Crops Marathon，“我用激将法告诉他们在我身上找出ipod”他说 他还补充说将他的ipod shuffle 戴在身上，只是一个比硬币大一点的东西，被在他的衬衣下边,(qtd.in Macar)

越来越多的正式队员正踊跃加如这一类体育活动，更多专业长跑运动员事实上更倾向于不听音乐去跑步，但那些少数将跑步作为一种娱乐的人也许被这一音乐禁令所限制.我知道在我上高校时，在夏令营俱乐部里我无法实现这一计划(没有sean paut和AcroSmith)

音乐始终如一的是人类生活的一个重要组成部分，作为人类生活和发展的一种固定模式，如果使用恰当，它可以帮助我学，治愈，甚至跑完跑道的最后一圈，在想象力，思维方面仍有广阔的领域等待我们去探索，音乐是怎样影响我们的，希望高校继续推广音乐，并宣布中等院校继续开设其他领域的音乐.继续研究音乐还能为我们做些什么.