By Jack Robert Stacey | Editor-in-Chief
Music is an artform that has been at the cornerstone of life and culture throughout human history. The world’s oldest melody, ‘Hurrain Hymn No. 6’, was inscribed on a clay tablet that dates back 4,000 years to the Sumerian Empire. Even earlier still, archaeologists have discovered primitive instruments composed of bone and ivory that may have been used by neanderthal tribes up to 60,000 years ago.
With such a broad range of different artists, genres, moods, and styles to choose from, music is perhaps one of the most personal and experiential artforms.
On its most base level, as the Encyclopaedia Britannica notes, ‘music’ can be understood as the combination of ‘vocal or instrumental sounds for beauty of form or emotional expression’ – For many people, however, it is so much more than this.
The significant, yet little understood role that music plays was echoed by the late Aretha Franklin, who recognised that, “music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It’s transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It’s uplifting, it’s encouraging, it’s strengthening.”
Rather interestingly, recent studies into the mental and physical health benefits of music have indicated that there might actually be something more behind the so-called ‘power’ of music.
As part of a 2001 study by McGill University in Montreal, researchers discovered that listening to music increases the amount of dopamine produced in the brain and, therefore, may prove to be a suitable treatment for some forms of depression in the future – a significant finding behind the continued growth of the so-called ‘music therapy’ movement.
Alongside these mental benefits, listening to music can reportedly ease physical pain and, as demonstrated in a study into those recovering from operations, may make patients likely to request pain medication.
With these recent scientific findings, we are coming closer to understanding the possible future applications of ‘music therapy’ and, perhaps more critically, the positive influence or ‘power’ that music holds.
Mae cerddoriaeth yn ffurf ar gelf sydd wedi bod yng nghonglfaen bywyd a diwylliant trwy gydol hanes dyn. Alaw hynaf y byd, ‘Hurrain Hymn Na. Cafodd 6 ’, ei arysgrifio ar dabled clai sy’n dyddio’n ôl 4, 000 o flynyddoedd i’r Ymerodraeth Sumerian. Hyd yn oed yn gynharach fyth, mae archeolegwyr wedi darganfod offerynnau cyntefig sy’n cynnwys asgwrn ac ifori a allai fod wedi cael eu defnyddio gan lwythau neanderthalaidd hyd at 60,000 o flynyddoedd yn ôl.
Gydag ystod mor eang o wahanol artistiaid, genres, hwyliau, ac arddulliau i ddewis ohonynt, efallai mai cerddoriaeth yw un o’r ffurfiau celf mwyaf personol a phrofiadol.
Ar ei lefel fwyaf sylfaenol, fel y noda’r Gwyddoniadur Britannica, gellir deall ‘cerddoriaeth’ fel y cyfuniad o ‘synau lleisiol neu offerynnol ar gyfer harddwch ffurf neu fynegiant emosiynol’ – I lawer o bobl, fodd bynnag, mae cymaint yn fwy na hyn.
Adleisiwyd y rôl arwyddocaol, ond ychydig yn ddealladwy y mae cerddoriaeth yn ei chwarae gan y diweddar Aretha Franklin, a oedd yn cydnabod bod “cerddoriaeth yn gwneud llawer o bethau i lawer o bobl. Mae’n cludo, yn sicr. Gall fynd â chi reit yn ôl, flynyddoedd yn ôl, i’r eiliad iawn y digwyddodd rhai pethau yn eich bywyd. Mae’n ddyrchafol, mae’n galonogol, mae’n cryfhau.”
Yn ddiddorol iawn, mae astudiaethau diweddar i fuddion meddyliol a chorfforol cerddoriaeth wedi nodi y gallai fod rhywbeth mwy y tu ôl i’r hyn a elwir yn ‘bwer’ cerddoriaeth.
Fel rhan o astudiaeth yn 2001 gan Brifysgol McGill ym Montreal, darganfu ymchwilwyr fod gwrando ar gerddoriaeth yn cynyddu faint o dopamin a gynhyrchir yn yr ymennydd a, felly, efallai y bydd yn driniaeth addas ar gyfer rhai mathau o iselder yn y dyfodol – canfyddiad sylweddol y tu ôl i dwf parhaus y mudiad ‘therapi cerdd’ fel y’i gelwir.
Ochr yn ochr â’r buddion meddyliol hyn, gall gwrando ar gerddoriaeth leddfu poen corfforol ac, fel y dangosir mewn astudiaeth i’r rhai sy’n gwella ar ôl llawdriniaethau, gall wneud cleifion yn debygol o ofyn am feddyginiaeth poen.
With these recent scientific findings, we are coming closer to understanding the possible future applications of ‘music therapy’ and, perhaps more critically, the positive influence or ‘power’ that music holds.
Add Comment