Do you know that Music is one of the best medicine to be ever invented by a man? Throughout the history of man, music has been invented and listened to for various reasons. As per the Bible, King soul requested David to play the harp so that his soul would relax when was troubled. Since time in memorial, music has helped to convey emotions such as sorrow or joy, and it has effectively yielded a positive result. Music has been a communicating tool; it has facilitated people to understand each other well by providing a medium of interconnection. Each society which is known throughout history has had some form of music. In the earliest civilization, humans were already using complex instruments to create music. Instruments such as percussive instruments and jaw harps were used by early civilization to create music. Since time in memorial, Music has been professed to have mystical qualities. Therefore, it has been used prevalently within forms of spiritual reverence. However, music has been used as a therapeutic since time in memorial. Slow music has been recommended to people who are suffering from stress. Also, music has been introduced in hospitals to calm down patients who are about to undergo an operation. In elderly homes, music has been used to make the elders relax and be stress-free. It is important to determine the effect of music on emotions and development throughout people’s lives, from infancy to old age
The Effects of Music on Childhood Development
Music is very crucial in the development of children and infants. Up to the current time researchers, scholars and doctors are still researching about the power of music because music genre is evolving each day. Unlikely many researchers have yielded astonishing revelations; like doctors have realized that babies born prefer music that they heard while in the womb. Studies and research have found out that babies thought and development of information is developed after them being exposed to music while in the womb by building a neural bridge (Nutley, Darki, & Klingberg, 2014) . A baby’s brain can be stimulated by the alpha waves which, usually creates calmness to any listener. Also, researchers have stated that exposing children to music have benefits which include the development of perpetual skills that in turn affects the spatial reasoning, language and literary abilities which helps improve the ability to handle Maths and in the coordination of fine motor ( Solé, Mercadal-Brotons, Galati, & De Castro, 2014) .
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The music therapy mainly the Morden Music therapy grew into popularity after the terrible happening of World War I and II whereby musicians went to hospitals playing music to injured soldiers while receiving treatment as handling their physical trauma and emotional suffering (Nutley, Darki, & Klingberg, 2014. This therapy has been successful in areas of childhood development and assisting in recoveries like dementia, amnesia and depression schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Music therapy can be used when clinical treatment is not working for a child since it helps in the development of a child’s emotional, cognitive and physical abilities within their age. The following are the way in which rhythm and music help children in life development:
Issuing of equipment like bells, maracas, and egg shakers.
When children listen to music, it’s wise to help them move their bodies.
Creation of relations between songs and undertakings, such as “Clean Up.”
Singing is the best way to work on memory and the vocabularies. Also, songs like; “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” Or “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.”
Using voice notes and song to do easy translations to familiar activities like snack-time or nap-time.
The following presents steps outlined in Merry Gordon’s article on how to enhance music which later improves a child’s way of socializing:
Having a partner for your child to play in turns with instrument imitation.
Formulating “yes” or “no” answers to questions asked by a fellow child.
Setting up a circle and assigning children with songs to lead each time their turn reaches.
The only way children can focus on adults is through music which might be the important bridge linking children with adults. Parents need to interact with children while listening to songs to be able to connect with their children; not leaving children to listen to background songs (Nutley, Darki, & Klingberg, 2014) . If the music has learning lesson, it develops a child’s self-perception which is rewarding.
Music for adolescents
Music can be used as a counseling tool if its power effectively depresses or raises moods and emotions. Most of the adolescent group have a susceptible effect towards music. The type of music listened to an adolescent reflect his behavior ( Epstein, 2016) . It found out that those listen to heavy metal and rap music are prone to delinquent habits like arrest, poor school grades, use of drugs, problematic behavior and sexual activity unlike those who listen to another genre of songs (Nutley, Darki, & Klingberg, 2014) . Also, these teenagers are likely to be depressed, they might harm themselves, have thoughts of committing suicide, and when they are fully grown, they might have dysfunctional families. Proper choice of music to listen to might have a positive impact and evoke mood changes to the listeners. ( Furlong, 2016) .
Music for Adulthood
In adulthood, the music constrains the manifestation of tiredness, as well as alters the psychogalvanic effect, external blood pressure levels, respiration and pulse rates. Adults are subjected to various stresses in their daily life especially from work and home. Many adult lives revolve around working to make ends meet and take care of the family ( Furlong, 2016) . At work, the deadline must be a meet, and as a result, a person is subjected to much stress and anxiety to finish the assigned work. Also, at home, the family needs to be taken care off, as a result, a person is subjected to stress on how to make his or her family comfortable. As a result, a person is required to manage the stress and anxiety they experience in their daily routine. Furlong, 2016 observes that music is very crucial in managing stress and it is the best therapy since time in memorial. However, not all music is therapeutic. Melodic pattern, tempo, and pitch all impact music's effect on physical processes and mood ( Furlong, 2016) . For instance, ascending melodic passages, speeding up of rhythm, and the high pitch is entirely usually felt to upsurge tension and anxiety and sometimes even lead to panic and loss of control. Contrariwise, music with low pitch usually produces a calming outcome. Descending melodies and slow tempos frequently cause feelings of depression and sadness. Solé et al. 2014 elucidate this result on the body by likening the music to a mirror of the body's motor retorts. When an individual feels depressed, he locomotes slowly, whereas when he is anxious his heart, respiration rates race ( Furlong, 2016) . Additionally, music has been found to yield a stress reduction and a relaxed mood, making it a reasonable way to house coping with the anxiety and pain.
Music for the elderly
Postoperative music is very beneficial to the elderly. Several elderly patients suffer from delirium and severe confusion while at the postoperative recovery but playing music to them lessens the experience and increases chances of recovery. Decreases in psychological stress indicator have been seen on a human on music therapy with studies indicating that the participant even lacks pain and have manageable stress levels ( Liu, Niu, Feng, & Liu, 2014) . Currently, many adult daycares have incorporated music into their programs at different residential ( Solé et al. 2014) . Also, the palliative care has incorporated music into their programs. This type therapy has proven to be less stressful and intrusive than the other conventional therapies ( Solé et al. 2014) . Many patients from palliative care settings have attested music therapy to have sleep-inducing effects, analgesic, antiemetic and anxiolytic feeling which are very appropriate ( Liu, Niu, Feng, & Liu, 2014) .
Music is an important tool in human beings since time in memorial. Today, the use of music has been diversified from home to hospitals and caregiving homes. Music is one of the best therapeutic medicine that human has ever been invented. Music does wonder in suppressing anxiety and stress from home to hospital, and it should be embraced.
References
Bergman Nutley, S., Darki, F., & Klingberg, T. (2014). Music practice is associated with the development of working memory during childhood and adolescence. Frontiers in human neuroscience , 7 , 926.
Epstein, J. S. (2016). Adolescents and their music: If it's too loud, you're too old . Routledge.
Furlong, A. (Ed.). (2016). Routledge Handbook of Youth and Young Adulthood . Taylor & Francis.
Liu, X., Niu, X., Feng, Q., & Liu, Y. (2014). Effects of five-element music therapy on elderly people with the seasonal affective disorder in a Chinese nursing home. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine , 34 (2), 159-161.
Solé, C., Mercadal-Brotons, M., Galati, A., & De Castro, M. (2014). Effects of group music therapy on quality of life, affect, and participation in people with varying levels of dementia. Journal of music therapy , 51 (1), 103-125.
