Piggybacking on music week in November, I'm going to use this article to summarize a talk I've been giving on the theme: “Music, Body, Mind and Soul”.
I've always had a fascination and curiosity about the enormous influence that music has on our lives. Where does the power that a certain song has, instantly, to refer us to incredible moments lived in the past, or put us in the cesspool or raise our astral?
Since I was young, I've had piano, guitar, keyboard lessons and I even participated, for a short time and without success, in a ballad band as a teenager. But it was at the age of 50, at the height of my executive career, that I realized I needed a musical activity to balance the challenges of an insane executive work schedule, which could lead to an emotional, physical and mental breakdown. It was then that I decided to go back to studying music at a Music Conservatory and chose the Saxophone as my main instrument, forcing myself to play with sheet music and thus exercising other parts of my brain that were little used, which brought me an exceptional quality of life gain.
But it was after the beginning of a new phase in my professional life, which some used to call retirement, that I decided to investigate further the cause of the influence of music on our lives, when I decided to take a postgraduate course in Music Therapy .
In the specialized literature, there is a wide variety of articles on the subject, clearly indicating that music, or sound effects, accompany human beings since the beginning of their primitivism, with the drums that were used for communication and also in rituals of dance and heal. It is said that King Saul, considered the first king of the ancient kingdom of Israel, around 1.000 years BC, already used the music of the harp to cure his headaches. Passing through ancient Greece, Rome, Renaissance, World Wars and reaching the present day, music is an integral part of our moments of life, whether in social parties, religions, sports, in moments of joy or sadness, it is always there.
Through advanced studies in the area of ​​Neuroscience and modern equipment such as Computed Tomography, Electroencephalogram, Magnetic Resonance, among others, it is possible to scientifically prove today the effects that music has on our brain, showing us which parts are emotionally affected when we listen certain types of music.
The World Health Organization itself has already identified that Music Therapy is closely linked to the sciences that study the human being in its biopsychosocial-spiritual aspects.
Music Therapy is currently widely used in Clinics and Hospitals to relieve various pathologies, and has scientifically proven effects on our physical and mental bodies, such as changes in body temperature, endorphin levels, stress hormones, stimulation of immune activity. , perception of time, memory and learning reinforcement, productivity at work, muscle performance and various internal rhythms (breathing, heartbeat, etc.)
All this without mentioning the effects that music has on our soul. Regardless of religion, anyone who believes that we have a soul or spirit that transcends our physical body is certain that we are affected by musical effects.
In one of his books, LĂ©on Denis quotes the following sentence:
“Sound, rhythm and harmony are creative forces. If we could calculate the power of sound vibrations, evaluate their action on fluidic matter, we would arrive at one of the secrets of spiritual energy. When music is supported by noble words, musical harmony can lift souls to heavenly regions. However, together with immoral words, music becomes an instrument of perversion that plunges the soul into low sensuality and is one of the causes of the corruption of the customs of our time”.
Simple as that, it's up to each of us to learn how to use music favorably in our lives, and, taking the opportunity, congratulations to the musicians.
