Music and Emotion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Music and Emotion - Research Paper Example In the "Music and Emotion" essay author describes the effect that music has on our brain and how it manipulates our emotions. The association between music, emotion and brain is an interesting topic which provoked the attention of music lovers, psychologists and medical experts. Music can touch the emotions of all kinds of people like introverts, extroverts, simple or tough people. Music has no languages or it has its own language which is understandable only to the music lovers. It is quite possible that a westerner may infatuate by the Indian classical music and an Indian may love the western music. In other words, music is all about the rhythm, composing styles, lyrics etc rather than the normal languages. Emotional association of music is highly subjective. For example, a group of people who hear the same music in the same environment may develop different emotions. One of them may develop happiness because of the fast rhythm and another may become sad because of the lyrics. A th ird person in that group may focus more on the singing style or the voice of the singer while a fourth person may give more importance to the composing of the music. These differences happen because of the individual differences. In other words, the development of emotion as a result of music listening depends on the nature of the individual. Music is effective in the treatment of psychological disorders like autism because of its ability to touch the emotions of the patient. It is difficult to treat psychological problems like autism with the help of any medicines. In the study of how music therapy improves behavioral abnormalities of autism, Griggs-Drane and Wheeler, a music therapist and educational consultant, respectively, in the Richmond Hospital Education Program, performed a study in 1997 with a blind, female adolescent with autism. The client was asked to listen to music, sing with music, and play instruments to decrease her self-destructive behavior. The study did show a decrease in her destructive behavior (Aguila, p.7) The above findings clearly show that music can affect even abnormal people. Music can be used as an effective communication device between an autistic patient and the therapist. The therapist can cultivate many desired feelings in the minds of the patient after recognizing the specific tastes of the patient. It is not necessary that two autistic patients may react in the same manner to a particular music. In other words, the music which was used by the therapist to cultivate a particular behavior in an autistic patien t need not be successful on another patient. The therapist should vary the music to see the effects and to decide which music is suitable for a particular patient. â€Å"Leanne Belasco, a music therapist at the Kennedy Krieger School's Montgomery County campus in Rockville, says music gives structure and a predictable rhythm to verbal directions† (Hwang). Apart from autism, music therapy can be effective in treating some of the phobias. Some people have the habit of developing unintentional negative feelings. Such people often worried about unnecessary things because