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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