The Oboe is a double-reed wind instrument with a wooden body and narrow conical bore.
In French the oboe is called hautbois which means 'high, or loud, wood'. The oboe has a body in three sections. It has a tiny double reed, through which the musician must force air at a very high pressure. It is traditionally made from Blackwood, also called grenadille. The instrument has up to 23 holes. The double reed is fashioned from cane which is usually dried and aged for several years. The oboe encompasses two octaves.The oboe was invented in the 17th century by the French musicians Jean Hotteterre and Michel Danican Philidor, who modified the louder shawm (the prevailing double-reed instrument). The instrument's scuccess was established at the court of Louis XIV and spread rapidly all over Europe. By 1700 most orchestras included oboes. In 1700 the French instrumentalist Jean-Pierre Freillon published the first method for the instrument: 'Véritable manière d'apprendre à jouer du hautbois'. The next important development came in the 1800's and was the use of key mechanisms. There was no single outline for the key sytems. Generally, the Germans created simpler systems, and the French more complicated ones. Still today, the key systems do vary from oboes of one manufacturer to another. Early oboes had seven finger-holes and two keys; by the 1700s four-keyed models were also in use. In the 1800s additional keys were added, reaching 15 or more, and the bore and sound holes were redesigned. Oboes of the French school (played in most countries today) have a very narrow bore and a penetrating, focused sound. Those of the German school have a wider bore and a more easily blending sound. After Theobald Boehm invented his key mechanism for the flute, it was French builders who applied the system to the oboe. The oboe is the smallest orchestral double-reed instrument and very important in the orchestra. Because the oboe's pitch varies little with temperature, the oboe will play the A-note to which all other instruments in the orchestra will tune to. The oboe also is an important soloist. THE ENGLISH HORN The English horn uses the same keywork as the oboe but it plays at a lower pitch. This wooden instrument is incorrectly named because it is neither English, nor a horn! It is taller than the oboe. It is considered to be the alto auf the oboe family. THE OBOE D'AMORE The oboe d'amore was at the first time used around 1720. Bach was among the first composers to make use of this instrument which is the mezzosoprano member of the oboe family. It sounds also smoother than the oboe. Read Article: http://www.dupin-oboe.com/oboe-story.php I’m a big fan of music, and use it a lot when working, but I had no idea about how it reallyaffects our brains and bodies. Since music is such a big part of our lives, I thought it would be interesting and useful to have a look at some of the ways we react to it without even realizing.
“Without music, life would be a mistake” – Friedrich Nietzsche Of course, music affects many different areas of the brain, as you can see in the image below, so we’re only scratching the surface with this post, but let’s jump in. Share stories like this to your social media followers when they’re most likely to click, favorite, and reply! Schedule your first post with Buffer. 1. Happy/sad music affects how we see neutral faces:We can usually pick if a piece of music is particularly happy or sad, but this isn’t just a subjective idea that comes from how it makes us feel. In fact, our brains actually respond differently to happy and sad music. Even short pieces of happy or sad music can affect us. One study showed that after hearing a short piece of music, participants were more likely to interpret a neutral expression as happy or sad, to match the tone of the music they heard. This also happened with other facial expressions, but was most notable for those that were close to neutral. Something else that’s really interesting about how our emotions are affected by music is thatthere are two kind of emotions related to music: perceived emotions and felt emotions. This means that sometimes we can understand the emotions of a piece of music without actually feeling them, which explains why some of us find listening to sad music enjoyable, rather than depressing. Unlike in real life situations, we don’t feel any real threat or danger when listening to music, so we can perceive the related emotions without truly feeling them—almost like vicarious emotions. 2. Ambient noise can improve creativity We all like to pump up the tunes when we’re powering through our to-do lists, right? But when it comes to creative work, loud music may not be the best option. It turns out that a moderate noise level is the sweet spot for creativity. Even more than low noise levels, ambient noise apparently gets our creative juices flowing, and doesn’t put us off the way high levels of noise do. The way this works is that moderate noise levels increase processing difficulty which promotes abstract processing, leading to higher creativity. In other words, when we struggle (just enough) to process things as we normally would, we resort to more creative approaches. In high noise levels, however, our creative thinking is impaired because we’re overwhelmed and struggle to process information efficiently. This is very similar to how temperature and lighting can affect our productivity, where paradoxically a slightly more crowded place can be beneficial. 3. Our music choices can predict our personality Enjoying this post? Share it with your followers at the exact right time with Buffer! Take this one with a grain of salt, because it’s only been tested on young adults (that I know of), but it’s still really interesting. In a study of couples who spent time getting to know each other, looking at each other’s top ten favorite songs actually provided fairly reliable predictions as to the listener’s personality traits. The study used five personality traits for the test: openness to experience, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability. Interestingly, some traits were more accurately predicted based on the person’s listening habits than others. For instance, openness to experience, extraversion and emotional stability were the easiest to guess correctly. Conscientiousness, on the other hand, wasn’t obvious based on musical taste. Here is also a break-down of how the different genres correspond to our personality, according to a study conducted at Heriot-Watt University: To break it down, here is the connection they have found:
Of course, generalizing based on this study is very hard. However looking at the science of introverts and extroverts, there is some clear overlap. 4.Music can significantly distract us while driving (contrary to common belief)Another study done on teenagers and young adults focused on how their driving is affected by music. Drivers were tested while listening to their own choice of music, silence or “safe” music choices provided by the researchers. Of course, their own music was preferred, but it also proved to be more distracting: drivers made more mistakes and drove more aggressively when listening to their own choice of music. Even more surprising: music provided by the researchers proved to be more beneficial than no music at all. It seems that unfamiliar, or uninteresting, music is best for safe driving. 5. Music training can significantly improve our motor and reasoning skills We generally assume that learning a musical instrument can be beneficial for kids, but it’s actually useful in more ways than we might expect. One study showed that children who had three years or more musical instrument training performed better than those who didn’t learn an instrument in auditory discrimination abilities and fine motor skills. They also tested better on vocabulary and nonverbal reasoning skills, which involve understanding and analyzing visual information, such as identifying relationships, similarities and differences between shapes and patterns. These two areas in particular are quite removed from musical training as we imagine it, so it’s fascinating to see how learning to play an instrument can help kids develop such a wide variety of important skills. Similar research shows this correlation for exercise and motor skills in the same way, which is also fascinating. 6. Classical music can improve visual attention It’s not just kids that can benefit from musical training or exposure. Stroke patients in one small study showed improved visual attention while listening to classical music. The study also tried white noise and silence to compare the results, and found that, like the driving study mentioned earlier, silence resulted in the worst scores. Because this study was so small, the conclusions need to be explored further for validation, but I find it really interesting how music and noise can affect our other senses and abilities—in this case, vision. 7. One-sided phone calls are more distracting than normal conversations Another study focused on noise, rather than music, showed that when it comes to being distracted by the conversations of others, phone calls where we can only hear one side of the conversation are the worst offenders. After a survey showed that up to 82% of people find overhearing cellphone conversations annoying, Veronica Galván, a cognitive psychologist at the University of San Diego, decided to study why these are such a pain. In the study, participants completed word puzzles while one half of them overheard one side of a mundane phone conversation in the background. The other half of the volunteers heard the entire conversation as it took place between two people in the room. Those who heard the one-sided phone conversation found it more distracting than those who heard both people speaking. They also remembered more of the conversation, showing that it had grabbed their attention more than those who heard both sides and didn’t remember as much of the discussion. The unpredictability of a one-sided conversation seems to be the cause of it grabbing our attention more. Hearing both sides of a conversation, on the other hand, gives us more context which makes it easier to tune out the distraction. Then again, as we’ve explored before, getting distracted is often not such a bad things for various reasons. 8. Music helps us exercise Back to music again, and we can see that just like silence doesn’t help us to be more creative or better drivers, it’s not much use when we’re exercising, either. Research on the effects of music during exercise has been done for years. In 1911, an American researcher, Leonard Ayres, found that cyclists pedaled faster while listening to music than they did in silence. This happens because listening to music can drown out our brain’s cries of fatigue. As our body realizes we’re tired and wants to stop exercising, it sends signals to the brain to stop for a break. Listening to music competes for our brain’s attention, and can help us to override those signals of fatigue, though this is mostly beneficial for low- and moderate-intensity exercise. During high-intensity exercise, music isn’t as powerful at pulling our brain’s attention away from the pain of the workout. Not only can we push through the pain to exercise longer and harder when we listen to music, but it can actually help us to use our energy more efficiently. A 2012 study showed that cyclists who listened to music required 7% less oxygen to do the same work as those who cycled in silence. Some recent research has shown that there’s a ceiling effect on music at around 145 bpm, where anything higher doesn’t seem to add much motivation, so keep that in mind when choosing your workout playlist. Here is how this breaks down for different genres: Now if we team up these different “tempos” with the actual work-out we’re doing, we can be in much better sync and find the right beat for our exercise. If you match up the above with the graphic below it should be super easy to get into a good groove: So in the same way that exercising makes us happier, it’s not surprising that music adds significantly to our work-out success. What have you noticed about how music affects you? Let us know in the comments. Read Article: https://blog.bufferapp.com/music-and-the-brain David Binanay started playing the violin when he was five. By age twelve, he performed at the world famous Carnegie Hall in New York City and, soon after, at the White House.
In 2006, fresh off graduation from Villanova University, Binanay was positioned perfectly to build his life around music. He had just moved into his own place and started a job at a high-end violin shop. That’s when he noticed the bleeding. Music and The MindIt was a gastrointestinal bleed. Binanay had experienced one before and he called his mom to let her know what was happening. She wanted to help, but David stopped her. “Don’t worry about it. I’m going to handle it myself,” he said. This was the first time Binanay tried to handle a serious health issue on his own. When he arrived at the hospital, things began to spiral out of control. His hands started shaking and his mind began to separate from reality. “It was my first psychotic episode,” David recalls. The situation went downhill fast. After resolving the bleeding issue and leaving the hospital, Binanay’s psychosis continued. He started having delusions and became fearful of everything. “I couldn’t even walk into a grocery store because of the fear,” he says. “I didn’t really know what I was afraid of, but I feared for my life. In the span of one week I went from being normal to having a complete psychotic breakdown.” This was the peak of David’s psychosis, but his battle was just beginning. He would struggle with schizophrenia for the next five years. His medications worked, but David had trouble sticking to them. There was one thing, however, that always seemed to help. “My dad would look at me and say, ‘Dave, go get your violin.'” The Healing Power of MusicMusic stopped the pain. “Every time I played, I noticed a change,” David said. “I would channel my emotions through my music. The fear would turn to music. It would turn to sound.” A new medication schedule helped too. David found it much easier to stick to his medication when he switched from pills to injections, which he only needed once per month. Today, after a five year battle, Binanay has made a full recovery. He plays his violin up to 10 hours per day and runs a non-profit, Music Over Mind, that performs free music shows at hospitals for people suffering from mental illness. “Music has been my catalyst for recovery,” Binanay says. “It has been a 180 degree turnaround. From complete loss to total re-birth. I recently got married. I have my own place with my wife. I feel like I’m a better person than before my illness.” David Binanay’s story raises an interesting series of questions. Can music help heal us? What role does music play in our health and happiness? Can music be a form of medicine? Let me share what I’ve learned about the health benefits of music. The Stroke Victim Who Was Healed by MusicIn her book The Power of Music, author Elena Mannes shares the story of a stroke patient who has lost the ability to speak. After struggling to re-learn normal speech patterns, the patient makes a breakthrough by singing her words rather than saying them. This approach is known as melodic intonation therapy and it engages the right side of the brain more than normal speech. As a result, this different section of the brain can stand in as a replacement for the normal language area and be used to communicate through song. At first glance, this story may seem like a very specific way to combine music and health, but it actually provides a good indication of the state of music therapy. There are many stories about music being used to help Parkinson’s patients move, autistic children focus and learn, or multiple sclerosis patients reduce spasms. These stories, however, have no research studies supporting them. My guess is that these are individualized results which, although true, are difficult to extrapolate to the entire population. That said, there are a handful of health benefits of music that are well-accepted and scientifically proven. The Research: Music as MedicineFirst, music can be used to relieve pain in patients. For example, surgery patients at the Cleveland Clinic that listened to recorded music saw a 4x decrease in post-surgical pain. Music has also been shown to reduce the amount of anesthesia needed during operations. Second, music can be used to relieve stress and anxiety. Calming music decreases blood pressure, steadies the heart rate, and eases stress. Research has shown that music can reduce stress for patients undergoing surgeries and colonoscopies, for children undergoing medical procedures, and for patients with coronary heart disease. There is also preliminary evidence showing that listening to music can boost immune system function by decreasing stress hormones and increasing growth hormones. These changes should prime the body to be in a better state for recovering from and resisting illnesses, but the research is weak thus far and needs further investigation. Finally, there are a range of studies that link music to happiness and pleasure in different ways. Despite the differences in the individual studies, the scientific consensus on the topic is that music does stimulate the same areas of the brain that trigger pleasure in other activities. A range of studies have found that listening to pleasurable music stimulates the mesocorticolimbic system in the brain, which is the same “pleasure center” that is triggered by humor, tasty food, and even cocaine. In this way, you could say that music is like a drug. If music makes you happy, then it might be possible that it is good for your health. These benefits sound great, but is music unique in providing these benefits? Not really. Given the current state of the research, it is not known if music is any better at healing than other alternatives. Music is not the only way to relieve pain or reduce stress. Music might work well for Person A while meditation is better for Person B and deep breathing or exercise help Person C. If nothing else, however, music is another tool at your disposal when you want to relieve pain, reduce stress, and promote healing. The Limitations of Music TherapyYou can summarize the current state of research on the connection between music and health by saying that we know music impacts our brains and bodies, but we don’t quite understand exactly why or how music does this. And because we don’t understand the details, it can be hard to use music for healing. To be honest, part of these issues could be solved if researchers performed better studies. Right now, researchers aren’t doing themselves any favors because musical research rarely follows a typical format. Here are a few common errors (and solutions).
The Health Benefits of MusicWhether it is a pick-me-up song that brightens your mood or a live-saving violin practice like that of David Binanay, we have all felt the healing power of music. From a research standpoint, the health benefits of music are unproven. However, I have always said that I try to balance being a scientist with being a practitioner and, from a practical standpoint, there are very few reasons to avoid music as a way to improve your health and happiness. Music therapy is noninvasive, inexpensive, and convenient. And music is one of the lifestyle choices we can make that relieves stress and anxiety, decreases pain, and protects against disease. Stefan Koelsch, a senior research fellow in neurocognition at the University of Sussex in Brighton, summarizes the healing effects of music by saying, “I can’t say music is a pill to abolish diseases. But … So many pills have horrible side effects, both physiological and psychological. Music has no side effects, or no harmful ones.” Read Entire Article: http://jamesclear.com/music-therapy Although it is believed that the Italian luthier Andrea Amati created the modern violin family around the year 1555, bowed stringed instruments were invented long before this date. For this reason, it can be helpful to think of the violin as an instrument that has evolved over time, rather than as a perfected product that was instantaneously invented.
While there are records of stringed instruments existing in Europe in the Middle Ages, it is thought that the first bowed, stringed instruments may have originated in Central Asia with instruments such as the morin khuur from Mongolia. These Central Asian instruments then travelled via trade routes to other parts of the world. Once instrument craftsmen in Europe became aware of these instruments and how they were made, they then created their own take on them, using traditional European crafting techniques. Many different kinds of stringed, bowed instruments evolved in the 16th century in Europe, which has caused some contention about certain aspects of the violin family's history. It is thought that perhaps Andrea Amati did not create the first modern violin, and that it was instead created in Brescia earlier in the 16th century. One thing we can be certain about however is that there were a wide variety of different stringed instruments around in the 16th century that the modern violin and its family eventually evolved from - including the lira da braccio, a bowed stringed instrument much like the violin that was popular in the Renaissance period. The oldest surviving violin is named Charles IX, which was made by Andrea Amati in 1564, which in some respects supports the theory that Amati did indeed create the first standard modern violins, or at least provides physical evidence to justify this claim. The violin became a popular instrument in Europe with both low class and high class instrumentalists due to its small size, versatility, and its sweet, melodic tone. The violin family eventually became more popular than its close rivals the viol family because the violin instruments had an increased sound projection that was better suited to larger concert venues. During the late 18th and early 19th Century, the violin underwent some significant technical changes. The fingerboard of the violin was made longer, and it was also set at more of an angle to support the tension of the strings being increased. The increased tension of the strings, coupled with the change in the fingerboard, resulted in the violin having an increased range and sound projection. Older violins were adapted to these new specifications by luthiers (sometimes using techniques that significantly impaired the original instrument), and newly made violins were crafted using this new style. It is unknown exactly when and by whom these changes were initially made. As the popularity of the violin grew, more violins were produced and the violin was adopted into many different styles of music. Violin players developed new playing techniques to complement new genres, and the violin was sometimes modified slightly to fit the needs of the new genre. The violin became a key instrument used to play traditional songs in Celtic, Irish, gypsy, and Hungarian music, and was later used to play country/western, bluegrass, blues and jazz as these genres emerged over time. The Violin Today The violin is now one of the most popular instruments in the world. Old violins tend to be sought after over mass produced factory violins by intermediate and advanced players because of their superior craftsmanship, resonance, and because the tone and timbre of the violin is thought to mature over the lifetime of the instrument. The most famous violin maker is the 'Golden Age' luthier Antonio Stradivari, whose violins now sell for millions of dollars. Violins that are made today can produce sound electronically by using amplifiers and microphones, eliminating the need for a sound box. Fully electric sound produced by violins can be distorted through amplifier settings to create different tonal qualities altogether - further diversifying the capabilities of the instrument. The violin has ultimately evolved to be a very versatile instrument, and a violinist now has numerous career options and genres to explore. While violins may be famed for their classical origins, there are many amazing blues, Celtic, country, bluegrass and popular violin players flourishing in these different musical environments- which is one of the many reasons why the violin is such an exciting instrument to learn! Read Article: http://www.get-tuned.com/history-of-the-violin.php In 1885, Thomas Edison wrote, "I have not heard a bird sing since I was twelve." No one is really sure just how Edison lost most of his hearing. Yet this man invented the first machine that could capture sound and play it back. In fact, the phonograph was his favorite invention. The first phonograph was invented in 1877 at the Menlo Park lab. A piece of tin-foil was wrapped around the cylinder in the middle. You shouted a short message into the piece on one side of the cylinder while you turned the handle. Inside this piece was a needle. Your voice would make the needle shake, or vibrate. The sound vibrations would go through the needle and make a line, or groove, into the tin-foil. A needle on the other side could play back what you had just recorded. After just a few plays, the tin-foil would tear up and the message could no longer be played. That is why the tin-foil recordings cannot be played anymore. Later phonographs played records. The first ones were in the shape of a cylinder, with the music on the outside. Later records were shaped like discs, or large CDs. Edison loved the phonograph so much that he called it his "baby". He improved it over and over for the next fifty years.
Read Article: https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/kidsyouth/the-phonograph.htm Music is a fundamental attribute of the human species. Virtually all cultures, from the most primitive to the most advanced, make music. It's been true through history, and it's true throughout an individual's lifespan. In tune or not, we humans sing and hum; in time or not, we clap and sway; in step or not, we dance and bounce. The human brain and nervous system are hard-wired to distinguish music from noise and to respond to rhythm and repetition, tones and tunes. Is this a biologic accident, or does it serve a purpose? It's not possible to say. Still, a varied group of studies suggests that music may enhance human health and performance. Music and the brain Like any sound, music arrives at the ear in the form of sound waves. The external ear collects sound waves, and the ear canal funnels them to the eardrum. As the waves strike the eardrum, they cause it to vibrate. The vibrations are relayed along the chain of tiny bones in the middle ear until they reach the third bone, the stapes, which connects to the cochlea. The cochlea is a busy little world of its own. It is filled with fluid that surrounds some 10,000 to 15,000 tiny hair cells, or cilia. Vibrations of the stapes send fluid waves through the spiral-shaped cochlea. The fluid waves produce swaying movements of the hair cells. In turn, these cells release chemical neurotransmitters that activate the auditory nerve, sending miniature electric currents to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe of the brain. From there, things get even more complicated. Studies using MRI and positron emission tomography (PET) scans suggest that nerve networks in different parts of the brain bear primary responsibility for decoding and interpreting various properties of music. For example, a small area in the right temporal lobe is essential to perceive pitch, which forms the basis of melody (patterns of pitch over time), chords (several pitches that sound at the same time), and harmony (two or more melodies at the same time). Another nearby center is responsible for decoding timbre, the quality that allows the brain to distinguish between different instruments that are playing the same note. A different part of the brain, the cerebellum, processes rhythm, and the frontal lobes interpret the emotional content of music. And music that's powerful enough to be "spine-tingling" can light up the brain's "reward center," much like pleasurable stimuli ranging from alcohol to chocolate. Although every healthy human brain can perform all the complex tasks needed to perceive music, musicians' brains are, so to speak, more finely attuned to these tasks. At the other end of the spectrum, patients with brain damage may display remarkable defects in musicality; the noted neurologist and writer Dr. Oliver Sacks discusses many fascinating varieties of amusia in his book Musicophilia. The neurobiology of music is a highly specialized field. But music also has major effects on many aspects of health, ranging from memory and mood to cardiovascular function and athletic performance. Music and the mind The most highly publicized mental influence of music is the "Mozart effect." Struck by the observation that many musicians have unusual mathematical ability, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, investigated how listening to music affects cognitive function in general, and spatial-temporal reasoning in particular. In their first study, they administered standard IQ test questions to three groups of college students, comparing those who had spent 10 minutes listening to a Mozart piano sonata with a group that had been listening to a relaxation tape and one that had been waiting in silence. Mozart was the winner, consistently boosting test scores. Next, the investigators checked to see if the effect was specific to classical music or if any form of music would enhance mental performance. They compared Mozart's music with repetitive music by Philip Glass; again, Mozart seemed to help, improving spatial reasoning as measured by complex paper cutting and folding tasks and short-term memory as measured by a 16-item test. How might music enhance cognitive performance? It's not clear, but the researchers speculated that listening to music helps organize the firing of nerve cells in the right half of the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain responsible for higher functions. According to this construct, music — or at least some forms of music — acts as an "exercise" that warms up selected brain cells, allowing them to process information more efficiently. It's an interesting theory, but before you rush out to stock up on recordings of Mozart's music, you should know that even in the original research, the "Mozart effect" was modest (8 to 9 IQ points) and temporary (15 minutes). And in reviewing 16 studies of Mozart's music and human cognitive function, a Harvard psychologist concluded that the effect was even smaller, amounting to no more than 2.1 IQ points. It's a sour note, but it's hardly a requiem for the theory that music may boost cognitive function. In fact, the divergent results should serve as a prelude to additional research. And even if listening to music turns out to have little long-term effect on cognition, a 2010 review reported that learning to play an instrument may enhance the brain's ability to master tasks involving language skills, memory, and attention. Music and stress In every era of human history and in every society around the globe, music has allowed people to express their feelings and communicate with others. More than simply expressing emotions, music can alter them; as British dramatist William Congreve put it in 1697, "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast." Few things are more stressful than illness and surgery. Can music reduce stress in these difficult circumstances? Several trials show it can. A study from New York examined how music affects surgical patients. Forty cataract patients with an average age of 74 volunteered for the trial. Half were randomly assigned to receive ordinary care; the others got the same care but also listened to music of their choice through headphones before, during, and immediately after the operations. Before surgery, the patients in both groups had similar blood pressures; a week before the operations, the average was 129/82 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). The average blood pressure in both groups rose to 159/92 just before surgery, and in both groups, the average heart rate jumped by 17 beats per minute. But the patients surrounded by silence remained hypertensive throughout the operation, while the pressures of those who listened to music came down rapidly and stayed down into the recovery room, where the average reduction was an impressive 35 mm Hg systolic (the top number) and 24 mm Hg diastolic (the bottom number). The listeners also reported that they felt calmer and better during the operation. The ophthalmologic surgeons had no problems communicating with their patients over the sound of the music, but the researchers didn't ask the doctors if their patients' improved blood pressure readings made them more relaxed as they did their work. Earlier research, though, found that surgeons showed fewer signs of stress and demonstrated improved performance while listening to self-selected music. A study of 80 patients undergoing urologic surgery under spinal anesthesia found that music can decrease the need for supplementary intravenous sedation. In this trial, patients were able to control the amount of sedative they received during their operation. Patients who were randomly assigned to listen to music needed less calming medication than those assigned to listen to white noise or to the chatter and clatter of the operating room itself. In the cataract and urologic surgery studies, the patients were awake during their operations. But a study of 10 critically ill postoperative patients reported that music can reduce the stress response even when patients are not conscious. All the patients were receiving the powerful intravenous sedative propofol, so they could be maintained on breathing machines in the intensive care unit (ICU). Half the patients were randomly assigned to wear headphones that played slow movements from Mozart piano sonatas, while the other half wore headphones that did not play music. Nurses who didn't know which patients were hearing music reported that those who heard music required significantly less propofol to maintain deep sedation than those patients wearing silent headphones. The music recipients also had lower blood pressures and heart rates as well as lower blood levels of the stress hormone adrenaline and the inflammation-promoting cytokine interleukin-6. Neither of the operating room studies specified the type of music used, while the ICU trial used slow classical music. An Italian study of 24 healthy volunteers, half of whom were proficient musicians, found that tempo is important. Slow or meditative music produced a relaxing effect; faster tempos produced arousal, but immediately after the upbeat music stopped, the subjects' heart rates and blood pressures came down to below their usual levels, indicating relaxation. Musical medics Is there a doctor in the house? According to Arnold Steinhardt, a founding member and first violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet, chamber music audiences nearly always include many health care practitioners, "everything from podiatrists to psychiatrists, since there seems to be a mysterious and powerful underground railroad linking medicine and music. Perhaps music is an equally effective agent of healing, and doctors and musicians are part of a larger order serving the needs of mankind. Perhaps they recognize each other as brothers and sisters." Many doctors love music, and many are fine musicians in their own right, playing everything from Dixieland to rock. There are classical orchestras composed entirely of doctors and medical students in Boston, New York, L.A., Philadelphia, and Houston, to say nothing of similar ensembles abroad. It's not just a question of education or income; apart from a lawyer's orchestra in Atlanta, there are no orchestras composed of attorneys, engineers, computer scientists, or bankers. And several medical schools have started courses that use music to shape future physicians' listening skills. Music and mood Soothing jangled nerves is one thing; raising sagging spirits, another. Bright, cheerful music can make people of all ages feel happy, energetic, and alert, and music even has a role in lifting the mood of people with depressive illnesses. An authoritative review of research performed between 1994 and 1999 reported that in four trials, music therapy reduced symptoms of depression, while a fifth study found no benefit. A 2006 study of 60 adults with chronic pain found that music was able to reduce pain, depression, and disability. And a 2009 meta-analysis found that music-assisted relaxation can improve the quality of sleep in patients with sleep disorders. Bach may never replace Prozac, but when it comes to depression, even a little help strikes a welcome chord. Music and movement Falling is a serious medical problem, particularly for people over 65; in fact, one of every three senior citizens suffers at least one fall during the course of a year. Can music help? A 2011 study says it can. The subjects were 134 men and women 65 and older who were at risk of falling but who were free of major neurologic and orthopedic problems that would limit walking. Half the volunteers were randomly assigned to a program that trained them to walk and perform various movements in time to music, while the other people continued their usual activities. At the end of six months, the "dancers" exhibited better gait and balance than their peers — and they also experienced 54% fewer falls. Similar programs of movement to music appear to improve the mobility of patients with Parkinson's disease. Music and stroke recovery Few things are more depressing than strokes, and since stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, few things are more important. Music cannot solve a problem this large, but a 2008 study suggests it can help. Sixty patients were enrolled in the study soon after they were hospitalized for major strokes. All received standard stroke care; in addition, a third of the patients were randomly assigned to listen to recorded music for at least one hour a day, another third listened to audiobooks, and the final group did not receive auditory stimulation. After three months, verbal memory improved 60% in the music listeners, as compared with 18% in the audiobook group and 29% in the patients who did not receive auditory stimulation. In addition, the music listeners' ability to perform and control mental operations — a skill called focused attention — improved by 17%, while the other patients did not improve at all. The research was not able to determine whether music acted directly on injured brain tissues, if it improved the function of other brain structures, or if it simply boosted patient morale and motivation. But other studies suggest that music may promote the brain's plasticity, its ability to make new connections between nerve cells. More research is needed; meanwhile, it seems that a little Beethoven may be good for the brain. Heart beats You don't have to be a neurophysiologist to understand that music can affect the brain and at least a few of its many functions. And even if you're not a cardiologist, you may be interested to learn that music can also help the heart and circulation. One way is by reducing stress. A study from Wisconsin evaluated 45 patients who had suffered heart attacks within the previous 72 hours. All the patients were still in an intensive care unit but were clinically stable. The subjects were randomly assigned to listen to classical music or simply continue with routine care. All were closely monitored during the 20-minute trial. Almost as soon as the music began, the patients who were listening showed a drop in their heart rates, breathing rates, and their hearts' oxygen demands. Music had no effect on their blood pressure; however, nearly all heart attack patients are given beta blockers and ACE inhibitors, both of which lower blood pressure on their own. The cardiovascular improvements linked to music lasted for at least an hour after the music stopped, and psychological testing also demonstrated lower levels of anxiety. For heart attack victims, even short-term improvements are welcome. But music may also have long-lasting benefits. A team of scientists at nine American medical centers randomly assigned 748 patients who were scheduled for cardiac catheterization to receive standard care or standard care plus intercessory prayer (prayer on behalf of others); prayer plus music, imaging, and touch (MIT) therapy; or just MIT therapy. The researchers tracked each patient for six months. During that time, there were no differences in the risk of major cardiac events; because these were the primary endpoints of the study, the investigators concluded that neither prayer nor MIT therapy was beneficial. But they also noted that while MIT therapy did not achieve any of the pre-selected goals, patients who received it experienced a clear decrease in anxiety and emotional distress — and they were also 65% less likely to die during the six-month study; prayer was not associated with any potential benefit. MIT therapy had three components: music, imaging, and touch. It's impossible to know if music was the key component, but that possibility would be in tune with other research. Without offering final proof, these studies suggest that music may help the heart and circulation as well as the brain and mind. But how? Slowing the heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and reducing levels of stress hormones are likely explanations, and research presents another possibility. Scientists studied arterial function and blood flow in 10 healthy volunteers before, during, and after the subjects listened to various types of music, watched humorous videos, or listened to relaxation tapes. Joyful music produced a 26% increase in blood flow, a benefit similar to aerobic exercise or statin therapy and well ahead of laughter (19% increase) and relaxation (11%). But the power of music can work both ways; selections that triggered anxiety in the listeners produced a 6% decrease in blood flow. Men with teenaged children, take note. Maladies of musicians If there is a link between musicians and medics, perhaps musicians should be able to heal themselves. Many could use the help. The most common problems stem from the repetitive motion of playing, often in combination with an awkward body position and the weight or pressure of the musical instrument. A Canadian study found that 39% to 47% of adult musicians suffer from overuse injuries; most involve the arms. The report suggests that musicians are as vulnerable to repetitive-use injury as newspaper workers (41% incidence) and that their risk is only slightly below that of assembly line food packers (56%). And since the survey included only classical musicians, it may underestimate the risk in the world of rock and pop. Even if music is good for the mind, it may not be so good for the wrist. A particularly disabling ailment of highly trained musicians is focal dystonia, a movement disorder that may be caused by overuse of parts of the nervous system. Another hazard is hearing loss caused by prolonged exposure to loud music. Brass and wind players may develop skin rashes triggered by allergies to the metal in their instruments. And the list includes disorders ranging from fiddler's neck to Satchmo's syndrome (rupture of a muscle that encircles the mouth). One reassuring note: "cello scrotum," first reported in the British Medical Journal in 1974, was revealed to be a hoax 34 years later. Concerts, too? Most of the studies on music and health rely on individual listening, typically through headphones. That fits right in with the iPod generation's approach — but what about old-fashioned concert going? To find out, scientists in Sweden evaluated the habits of 12,982 people, recording their previous health, social networks, attendance at concerts and plays, education and income levels, and smoking and exercise patterns. As expected, smoking and previous illness predicted early death; exercise, higher education, and financial security predicted long life. But there was also an unexpected finding: attendance at cultural events had a surprisingly powerful effect on mortality. In all, people who attended concerts and plays rarely or never were 1.57 times more likely to die during the study period than people who attended frequently. Occasional concertgoers were in between. The apparent protection conferred by cultural events was not explained by differences in income, social networks, or education. The investigators speculate that music may stimulate specific regions of the brain, causing favorable changes in hormone levels or immune function. Or perhaps concertgoers have their own version of a religious experience as they take in what Shakespeare called "music from the spheres." It's only one study, and it should be confirmed before concert tickets take their place in the medicine cabinet. Even now, however, people who like to go to cultural events may get a little extra pleasure from the hope that something enjoyable may actually be healthful. Music and muscles Although iPods are perfectly capable of playing relaxing, stress-relieving, blood pressure–lowering classical music, they are more often used to blast up-tempo pop music, especially during workouts. Many athletes are hooked on their music — but does their performance actually benefit? Perhaps. A British study compared the way rock, dance, inspirational music, and no music influenced the performance of runners. Many of the athletes thought the music was helpful, but it did not appear to increase their endurance. On the other hand, another investigation from the U.K. found that music increased treadmill-walking endurance. Israeli investigators reported that music boosted peak anaerobic power on a bike ergometer, but the benefit was very brief. American research found that music improved weight lifting, but a British trial reported that while energizing music boosted strength, relaxing music had the opposite effect. The Boston Marathon has struggled to ban iPods and other personal listening devices. There may be a legitimate safety issue, but there is little reason to fret about an unfair competitive edge. The science of art The ancient Greeks put one god, Apollo, in charge of both medicine and music. Today's doctors tell us that music can enhance the function of neural networks, slow the heart rate, lower blood pressure, reduce levels of stress hormones and inflammatory cytokines, and provide some relief to patients undergoing surgery, as well as heart attack and stroke victims. But these biological explanations and clinical observations may not do full justice to the effect music has on man and his world. Fortunately, poets and philosophers can fill in the gaps. Doctors tell us that social isolation is a cardiac risk factor, and Robert Browning wrote that "He who hears music feels his solitude peopled all at once." Psychologists tell us that expressing emotions is healthful, and Tolstoy explained that "Music is the shorthand of emotion." Clinicians teach that human warmth can blunt many woes, and Shakespeare proclaimed, "If music be the food of love, play on." And in the days when Apollo reigned, Plato explained that "Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything else." Read Article: http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/music-and-health Facebook:
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November 2016
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