- How Music Affects Us - A
Medley
- from "Music Advocacy Action Kit," provided
by The Selmer Company for School Reform sessions
presented by Tim Lautzenheiser and Michael Kumer at
the 1999 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago
-
- * Music can affect body temperature because of its
influence
- on blood circulation, pulse rate, breathing, and
sweating.
- Transcendent music and loud music can raise our body
- heat a few degrees, while soft music with a weak beat can
- lower it.
- - Don Campbell, The Mozart Effect. (New York: Avon
- Books, 1997), 70-71.
-
- * In an aerobics class, researchers reported that music
- increased the subjects' strength and improved their
ability
- to pace their movements, all while enhancing their mood
- and motivation.
- - Kate Gfeller, "Musical Components and Styles
Preferred
- by Young Adults for Aerobic Fitness Activities," Journal
of
- Music Therapy 25 (1988): 28-43.
-
- * The city of Edmonton, Canada, pipes in Mozart string
- quartets in the city squares to calm pedestrian traffic,
and,
- as a result, drug dealings have lessened.
- - "Music--Let's Split," Newsweek, 1990.
-
- * Researchers at John Hopkins have found that rock music
- causes people to eat faster and to eat a larger volume of
- food, while classical music--especially slow string
music--
- makes them eat more slowly and consume less.
- - Don Campbell, Music--Physician for Times to
Come.
- (Wheaton, Illinois: Quest Books, 1991).
-
- * Doctors in the coronary care unit of Saint Agnes
Hospital
- in Baltimore report that a half an hour of listening to
- classical music produced the same effect as ten
milligrams
- of Valium.
- - Sheila Ostrander & Lynn Schroeder with Nancy
Ostrander,
- Superlearning 2000. (New York: Delacorte Press, 1994),
76.
-
- * In recovery wards and rehabilitation clinics, music is
- widely used to restructure and "repattern" repetitive
- movements following accidents and illness.
- - Don Campbell, The Mozart Effect. (New York: Avon
- Books, 1997), 69.
-
- * Researchers at Michigan State University concluded that
- listening to one's "preferred" music may elicit a
profound
- positive emotional experience that can trigger the
release
- of hormones which can contribute to a lessening of those
- factors which enhance the disease process.
- - Dale Bartlett, Donald Kaufman, and Roger
Smeltekop,
- "The Effects of Music Listening and Perceived
Sensory
- Experiences on the Immune System as Measured by
- Interleukin-1 and Cortisol," Journal of Music Therapy
30
- (1993): 194-209.
-
- * Music can help migraine sufferers reduce the intensity,
- frequency, and duration of the headaches.
- - Paul Chance, "Music Hath Charms to Soothe a
Throbbing
- Head," Psychology Today, February 1987, p. 14.
-
- * Music therapists working with Alzheimer's patients have
- found that rhythmic interaction or listening to music has
- resulted in decreased agitation, increased focus and
- concentration, enhanced ability to respond verbally and
- behaviorally, elimination of demented speech, improved
- ability to respond to questions, and better social
interaction.
- - Carol Prickett and Randall Moore, "The Use of Music
to
- Aid Memory of Alzheimer's Patients," Journal of
Music
- Therapy 28 (1991).
-
- * Researchers in Colorado found that stroke patients who
- were given rhythmic auditory stimulation a half hour a
- day for three weeks had improved cadence, stride, and
- foot placement compared with a control group.
- - Marwick, "Leaving Concert Hall for Clinic." In
"The
- Mozart Effect" by Don Campbell. (New York: Avon
Books,
- 1997), 273.
-
- * Music making makes the elderly healthier. There were
- significant decreases in anxiety, depression, and
loneliness
- following keyboard lessons. These are factors that are
- critical in coping with stress, stimulating the immune
- system, and in improved health. Results also show
- significant increases in human growth hormones
- following the same group keyboard lessons. (Human
- growth hormone is implicated in aches and pains.)
- - Dr. Frederick Tims, Michigan State University.
Music Making and Wellness Project, 1999.
-
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