Music Will Heal
Sound is what makes everything come alive. From when an infant in the womb becomes familiar to their mother’s voice. Noise can have a great effect on humans, especially music. Music can speak louder than words, particularly in certain situations where they may not be able to express what they are feeling. It is incredible how many sounds and voices put together can have a special connection to emotions, and bring back memories. Music is a language everyone can understand and relate to. Poet Rachel M. Harper, uses the idea of music to let readers into her childhood. Harper dedicated the poem to her father, who has a significant part in her life, since he is the only parent she has left.
In the beginning, she compares music to her characteristics passed on from her father. “If music can be passed on like brown eyes or a strong left hook this melody is my inheritance” (Harper, 1-4). Music can easily be passed along just as her eyes, it seems like she is using metaphors to compare music to memories. Meaning she can easily pass along her memories she and her father have created. She then brings back a memory of a November day when she recalls her “brother dealing cards from an incomplete deck” (Harper, 14-15). She seemed to not care if the cards were incomplete, however, it
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Harper’s mother has left her family behind, without an explanation. I can imagine how terrible it must have been for her to lose her mother. Her mother was not taken away, she had chosen to leave. Usually a child needs their mother, for warmth and comfort, and Harper lost the feeling of security she had with her mother around, all she has left is her memories. “Songs without lyrics can still be sung” (Harper, 25-26). Her memories with her mother can still be remembered, without her there. With her mother gone, the only parent figure she has is her
The Myth of Music Analysis The poem, “The Myth of Music,” was written to show people the value of family and paternal love, through Rachel M. Harper’s point of view of music. She employs imagery by describing the people and music in her family, form by using run on sentences as syntax, and tone of reminiscence to convey the relationship between music and her complex memories of her family. Her effective use of diction, shifts, structure, and details is weaved through the poem and, they strengthen her message. Harper’s word choice shows music was an important part of her memories of her family.
In the essay "The Science of Heartbreak and How Music Heals", Christie Wilcox explains the science behind being emotionally hurt and how it turns into physical pain. It also explains how music and writing help heal that pain. Wilcox says that the rush of dopamine she gets from music and writing helps relieve the pain she has. Music and writing has the same effect on me as while.
From the creation of harmonies to singing to instruments, music has been an abstract form of human expression. Although an auditory collection of pitches and volumes, musicians can manipulate the same notes and bring them alive for their audiences. The true emotion and energy that’s felt in music really comes from the player as feelings are transferred to and through the listener. This interaction between performer and the house is catharsis, the complete release of strong repressed emotions. Thanks to the musician, music has the ability to grasp people and cause them to sense emotions and feelings without lyrics or images even being necessary. Although it’s believed we can only hear with our ears, something about music makes it emotionally if not physically tangible. In James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues,” a narrator certainly unaware of the impact of music invites himself to experience jazz for the first time. Baldwin uses the final scene of his story to argue that music has an effect on those who are able to experience it. Baldwin does this in one single moment by letting the fixed, practical minded, “well-intentioned” narrator experience catharsis from jazz as his growing, free-spirited brother communicates with him through jazz.
One of the greatest examples of Harper’s works is “The Slave Mother.” The poem gives the reader a first hand experience of the devastating effects of slavery on the enslaved mothers. According to Janet Gray, “Harper aims to transform the listening subject not only by arousing sympathy but also by striking terror”(76). Harper does a great job of accomplishing this task. Throughout the poem she uses words and phrases that evoke powerful images in the readers’ mind and moves them emotionally. For example, “They tear him from her
In "Can Music Save Your Life," researcher Mark Edmundson, described his study of music by saying "Does music save your life? No, it preserves them, much as it did mine. Music allows you to tolerate dullness, muted, icy boredom. Music is a balm a cortisone spread." And conclude that the disparity between the wildness and freedom of the music and the lives of his students live and want to live.
The novel is able to share how music is of great importance and is able to affect people’s moods and thoughts.
While a man and his son are on a journey to find the good people who are still alive, they realize a lack of music in the world and a prominent amount of silence. Having years without music and the simple pleasures of it can cause a loss of memory when it’s yeared once again. The man has been living his last several years without those beautiful and simple sounds. He realizes that hearing these sounds
As a child I frequently made up little songs, and there seemed to be a constant stream of music in my head. I could see myself in the children she was observing and like them I didn’t have a framework for my experience – it was just my life. Whether it was singing while playing, tapping out some rhythm, singing at the top of my lungs to a favorite song, or goosebumps from hearing “Hall of the Mountain King”, it all felt familiar and warming. It has also made me aware of the musicking I continue to make every day in small ways here and
There are many different views and approaches used in therapy and in society in general. These views include: cognitive, behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, biological, and humanistic (Comer, 2014). Some of the approaches used include the Orff approach, Dalcroze approach, Kodaly approach, Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music, and Nordoff-Robbins approach (Darrow, 2008). Darrow explained the different philosophies, populations, and applications of these diverse approaches. In music therapy, the theory that is practiced by a music therapist will determine the types of approaches and terms used and how they use them. The approaches used will also affect how they interact with clients. The different approaches can elicit very different interactions with clients (Darrow). There are three main theories used in therapy. These three main theories are known as psychodynamic, behavioral, and humanistic. The psychodynamic view is based on repressed thoughts and feelings, the behavioral view is based on behaviors, and the humanistic view is based on self-actualization (Comer, 2014). Each of these views will be further explored as I piece together my own personal philosophy and views on each main theory.
Music is composed of sounds intertwined with melody and rhythm that can have powerful effects on a person. It can help people focus on tasks or calm the mind. Research has shown that music has beneficial effects on the mind, body, and health of a person. A journal article by Rastogi, Solanki, and Zafar (2013) refers, on the contrary, to:
It is a tough time in our country. Violence, which is taking place within our own borders, appears to be the norm. It seems like every day, there’s news about another shooting, another riot, and the two political sides growing even further apart over something as precious as human life. But how do we cope? How do we move on from this time of hurt? As Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelly, also known as the progressive country duo Florida Georgia Line, sing “love is the answer and music is healing” they attempt to show the world that. Written and produced after the tragic police shooting in Dallas, where five police officers were slain and nine more were injured, their new song, “Music is Healing” uses well-fluctuating tone, tempo of instrumentals, and rhyme schemes to narrate to the country that we need to move on from violence, love one another, and use music as a way of healing.
French Poet Victor Hugo once said, “music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.” We already know the saying a picture is worth a thousand words, but music plays an important role in further expressing our feelings embedded in a picture. Music has the ability to convey the feelings one would like to express but is unable to do so through pictures and words. Our feelings often come from memories; American musician Stevie Wonder (2004) mentioned, “music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it.” For someone like me that loves listening to music, we almost always try to picture the scene the song is describing while
I believe in music easing the mind of stress. Many people have a coping mechanism for stress, mine is through music. Some people stop at just listening to music, but I expand even further than that. I will play it, write it, and listen to it. I can even hear Bach and Mozart begging me for me to rehearse them as I come home from a long day of school, work, and band.
Alternative methods of healing have been utilized by non-western medicine for generations. The use of acupuncture to heal everything from seasickness to muscle soreness is well documented and widely used. Physical therapy is often a precursor to surgery and many times will prevent the need to undergo a more invasive procedure. A lesser-known form of alternative healing but becoming more popular is music therapy. In the late 18th century, scientists began to investigate the effects of music on the human body; however, using music as a healing medium dates back to ancient times. There are many forms and techniques of music therapy that aid a variety of disabilities having to do with communication, behavioral issues, the autism spectrum,
Usually, when one considers what they can do to fight off a cold, relieve pain, or alleviate mental illness, the first things that comes to mind may be to take over-the-counter drugs or prescribed medications. However, the cure to these and many other infirmities may be found within your own ipod. Music, in its many forms, can and should be used as a healing instrument. While it may not completely alleviate the need for drugs, it's possible that music therapy could accompany medical drug use in order to lessen the amount of potentially harmful medications often consumed by patients.