What if we liked the same kind of music?

Music is the universal language, and we all participate in it to some degree from the cradle to the grave. It starts with our Mothers’ lullaby, ends with our funeral song, with a zillion other stops along the way. 

If we all liked the same kind of music, there just wouldn’t be the variety that is available to us now. We can choose from musical styles ranging from heavy classical and opera to rock to children’s songs to Broadway musicals to gospel music to the blues. 

Each has its place, and each seems on the surface to be drastically different than another form of music. The key word is “on the surface.” But beneath the surface of all music is a commonality that is organic to all forms and styles of music. 

There are at least three components in music, but never less

1. Melody – The melody is the part of a song or composition that you whistle or hum – in other words, the tune of the song. In one sense, it is the most visible of the 3 elements, because melody is what identifies a song. Without melody, it would be difficult to even conceive of a song or piece. 

In musical notation, the melody is almost always written in the treble clef – also known as the treble staff. It consists of a horizontal line of notes that move up and down on the clef as the tune moves higher or lower. 

2. Rhythm – Rhythm is the beat – the swing – the throb of the music. It happens in repeating patterns, depending upon the type of music. It is like a horizontal line of beats which occur at regular or semi-regular intervals. A waltz, for example, basically consists of a heavy beat followed by two lighter beats. So we say that a waltz is in triple meter – one strong beat followed by two weak beats, then repeated. 

3. Harmony – Without harmony, a song sounds empty – like a vocalist singing without an accompanist – or accapella. Music doesn’t have to have harmony to function, but in actual practice it almost always does, even if it is just the interplay of two melodies, as in counterpoint. 

You could spend a lifetime learning all the nuances of music, but it its most basic form, it is these 3 elements combined together; melody, rhythm, and harmony.

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Now there's fresh evidence on the power of music to affect our health

We've known for some time that music is a powerful relaxation tool. Music can decrease anxiety levels, lower blood pressure and heart rate, and change stress hormone levels. 

It affects your respiration, reduces muscle tension, increases endorphin levels, and boosts your immune system. The effect of music is so powerful, hospitals around the world use music to reduce stress in patients waiting for surgery. 

Now there's fresh evidence on the power of music to affect our health. Researchers at Italy's University of Pavia recently confirmed that music changes your heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure. 

But as they analyzed their data, they found something new, something no one had expected to find.

Dr. Bernardi and his colleagues were interested in expanding the use of music to reduce stress in medical patients. Here's how their experiment worked: the docs recorded the vital signs of 24 test volunteers (12 musicians and 12 non-musicians) for five minutes. Then the volunteers listened to six different styles of music in random order. Random two-minute pauses were inserted in each piece of music. 

" Twenty-four young, healthy test subjects lay quietly in a university lab, listening to carefully chosen music through headphones, as doctors and technicians hovered around them meticulously measuring their vital signs. "

" The study concluded quickly and the subjects returned to their normal everyday lives. But as the researchers began sifting through the data, something new and interesting began to emerge. "

Here's what they found: fast musical tempos increased heart rate, blood pressure and respiration. Slow tempos reduced them. Pretty standard stuff. But then the shocker: the style of music and the volunteers' personal musical preferences made no difference at all. The only thing that mattered was the tempo. 

It didn't matter if the music was classical, rap, techno, romantic or an Indian raga. Only one thing made a difference to their cardiovascular systems--whether the music was fast or slow. This means that the music you hear, whether you've chosen it or not, whether you like it or not, is going to affect your health. 

There's more: during the silent pauses between musical selections, the test subjects' vital signs returned to normal, in some cases stabilizing at healthier levels than before the music. The researchers say this suggests that listening to any kind of music--fast or slow--could benefit your heart. 

Finally, the study found that musicians were more sensitive to the effect than non-musicians. Musicians may have learned to breathe in time to the music, to become more alert during fast passages, and to relax when the music slows down. Whatever the reason, a good prescription for helping maintain your cardiovascular health could be to take music lessons.

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