From an evolutionary standpoint, we’re still not sure whether our brains evolved specifically to process music, or music happened to make use of neural pathways that had developed for other reasons.
British archaeology professor Steven Mithen theorises in his book The Singing Neanderthals that speech and music developed simultaneously, in a sort of song-speech that later separated into music and language. Whatever its origin, archaeological records show that music has been a rich and powerful part of the human experience for 40,000 years or more. Rudimentary flutes have been found at Neanderthal campsites, and our own Aboriginal rock art depictions attest to the long relationship between music and human gatherings.
That sharing music has been such a potent bonding mechanism in every human culture since time immemorial, is remarkable in itself. More remarkable, perhaps, is that our deep and long-held connection with music shows no sign of diminishing. Indeed, it’s difficult to imagine a birthday, bar mitzvah or barbeque without music.
But it’s not just the communal aspect of music that is so affecting. For French essayist and novelist Marcel Proust, music ‘helped me descend into myself, to discover new things.’ American philosopher Suzanne Langer wrote about music having the power not only to make us recall past emotions, but also to ‘evoke emotions and moods we have not felt, passions we did not know before’. Perhaps Plato says it best when he asserts that music finds its way ‘into the secret places of the soul.’
When musicians started visiting veterans’ hospitals after World War One, patients’ physical and emotional responses turned medical staff on to the link between music and healing. These early forays, and the scientific studies that have followed, support Plato’s observations. Music calls to our inner world. It has positive impacts on the way we learn, relate to ourselves and to others, manage pain, relax and recharge. It can reduce the physical and emotional responses to stress, lowering our blood pressure, bringing down our heart rate, relaxing our body, calming our mind and lifting our mood.
Today, many Australian hospitals routinely make use of the relaxing qualities of listening to music to complement other pain management therapies, lift patients’ mood, help get them moving in physical rehabilitation and help relieve sleeplessness. There has been research that shows playing Beethoven and Bach in Intensive Care Units helps reduce patients’ dependence on medication after surgery, and other studies have found that listening to music helps reduce anxiety and depression in patients after heart bypass operations. Cancer patients have been shown to record improvements in anxiety, fear, fatigue and blood pressure if they listen to music while undergoing chemotherapy.
Associate Professor Nikki Rickard from the School of Psychology and Psychiatry at Melbourne’s Monash University has a longtime interest in the link between music and our emotions. In one study she monitored more than eighty undergraduates as they prepared for a stress-inducing oral exam. Some prepared in silence, others while listening to Pachelbel’s calming Canon in D major. She measured various physiological indicators of anxiety, such as levels of the stress hormone cortisol, blood pressure, heart rate and antibody levels in saliva which would indicate an immune system response. When giving their presentations, the students in the control group, who had prepared in silence, recorded higher stress levels than those who had prepared by listening to the relaxing music. Better still, the calming effects continued in the music-listening students, even after the music ended. A recent Dutch study published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing found that music-assisted relaxation was helpful to adult patients having difficulty sleeping. The study concluded that music could ‘counteract psychological pre-sleep arousal and thus improve the preconditions for sleep.’
Listening to our favourite music rewards us by inducing the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, the ‘feel good’ hormone. We get the immediate reward of improved mood, plus there’s a more lasting benefit to our immune system when we manage the level of stress hormones such as cortisol. The Dutch study confirmed that most people experience slow rhythm music, without a heavy beat, as relaxing. But it also pointed out that individual musical preference has a lot to do with it, too. This is because the way we process and interpret what we hear when we listen to music is deeply personal.
Estonian composer Arvo Pärt understands this, and explains it beautifully when he compares his music to white light which contains all colours: ‘Only a prism can divide the colours and make them appear. This prism could be the spirit of the listener.’
Musician/producer turned neuroscientist Daniel Levitin says music is incomparable as a balm, that its effect on our mood is profound: ‘If you’re feeling really uptight or stressed, you’ve had a bad day, you’ve had a fight with somebody – words sometimes aren’t as soothing as the right piece of music.’
Dr Katrina Skewes McFerran, from the University of Melbourne’s National Music Therapy Research Unit, agrees that the way in which people use music is a highly individualised thing. She also makes the point that, as highlighted in the nursing study, music is most effective in inducing a relaxed state where it is accompanied by relaxation techniques.
‘Make sure you’re comfortable and warm, because your body temperature drops when you are in an altered state,’ she says. ‘Make sure, too, that there are minimal distractions in the background and then clear all other thoughts from your mind. Just focus on the sounds of the music and let it calm and soothe you.’
The simple act of having made time to absorb this music is an important first step in becoming relaxed. Relaxation experts advise that we listen in an otherwise quiet room, at a comfortable volume level. Headphones or earplugs may be used for a more immersive experience. We should gently bring our attention back to the music when our mind starts to meander through our to-do list; it is helpful if we slow down and deepen our breathing; and become conscious of where we’re holding tension, particularly around the jaw and neck.
Relaxing music also makes a perfect mealtime accompaniment, because it is well known that when stress activates the ‘flight or fight’ response in our central nervous system, digestion can be compromised. Playing calming music in the car will help you enjoy the journey, and arrive less stressed and better able to take on what awaits you at your destination.
Wherever you are, use this music to help you recharge, physically and emotionally, perhaps keeping in mind the words of German writer, Berthold Auerbach: ‘Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.’
Listen. Let this music wash over your soul. Relax.
Tina Broad is a consultant in arts education and strategy, working on the APRA AMCOS SongMakers Project, and previously ran Music: Play for Life, the Music Council of Australia’s national campaign to get more Australians making music in schools, communities, everywhere. This article was first published to accompany the album Music to Relax to, released by ABC Classics in 2012.