What is it about music that conjures up such strong emotions?
It ignites hearts and imaginations, inspiring joy and feelings of excitement. Music reanimates colorful memories of things long forgotten and instant transports you to places you've never been. Experiencing thoughts, feelings and pictures in one's mind could be thought of was the world's first video game. And still one of the best.
Listen to Sinatra and in your mind you're suddenly a tuxedo clad sophisticate sipping late night martinis with the jet set. Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" takes you skipping and hopping through sunlit meadows to reconnect with your first love. "What A Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong warms your heart and renews your faith in the basic goodness of people.
In the span of three minutes your stress can be lessened considerably simply by listening and connecting to the right song. Science still hasn't explained how this happens. It is known that listening to music releases endorphins (opiate like substances) in your brain. Music can relax tension- even lessen migrains.
Centuries before newspapers, television or the internet, music was used to bond people together by sharing common ideas and feelings. Evidence of music dates back 3,400 years in the form of clay tablets with musical notation from the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit.
Music is a bringer of hope and a soother of pain. It commiserates with the downtrodden and lifts the spirits of the hopeless. It's mystical power may never be fully explained or understood.
In a world bombarded by a barrage of external messages fighting for your attention, music is the channel to reconnect with yourself and your place in the universe. It is a personal message sent from beyond that which we can consciously comprehend.
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