The Benefits of Listening to Classical Music

836 Words4 Pages
Music has been a part of our lives since ancient times, where it was already recognized as being beneficial to our well-being. Even in the Bible it is written, that David played the Harp to help King Saul ease his severe depression (Bible, I Samuel 16:23). A Turco-Persian music theorist, al-Farabi, already wrote about the benefits of listening to music to the soul back in the 10th century, and in the 17th century Robert Burton wrote about music to help with melancholia (Lillias, 2001). According to cancer.org (2008), music has been used in medicine for thousands of years. Ancient Greek believed music could heal both body and soul. All ancient human cultures have used music as part of a healing ritual, from Native Americans to the ancient Chinese and Priests of ancient Egypt. During first and second world wars it was used to help soldiers through pain and shock. Today much research has been done and is being done to prove the benefits of listening to instrumental music. It is also being used during many medical treatments to help accelerate healing of patients in many different medical fields, like cancer and mental illness. As a result, the following sections will highlight three reasons you should start listening to Classical music, which are: benefits in animals, in humans, and in taking music lessons. First, research has proven that music can even benefit animals. BBC news (2001) reported about a study in Europe, which proved that dairy cows produced 3% more milk listening to slow music in contrast to less production with fast music or no music. Studies have shown, that even the behavior of dogs can be affected by the type of music they are hearing. When listening to classical pieces the dogs became calm and laid down, but when listening to heavy metal bands they became agitated and started barking, whereas pop music had little effect on them (Kindel, 2003).

More about The Benefits of Listening to Classical Music

Open Document