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THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF MUSIC Introduction Try imagining the annoying ring of your alarm clock in the morning,

the spooky howl of a dog in the middle of the night, the familiar ding of the toaster and the pitter-patter of the rain in a quiet afternoon. All these sounds are just random noises that you have probably heard all the time. But, try putting them all together in a beat - and, you have just created music. By definition, music is the beautiful sounds that you can hear and listen to. It doesnt ne ed to be produced by an instrument; it could be the sound of the nature the sound of a rivers rushing water, the whistling sound of the wind through a crack, or simply the voice of either your loved ones or your significant other. So, now that we have known the beautiful nature of music, what are the positive effects of music?

TOPIC SENTENCES 1 Listening to music or playing a musical instrument gives out great benefits on our psychological faculty. SUPPORTING DETAILS Music can change a persons moods both consciously and unconsciously. According to Clark (2005; as cited in McCaffrey & Locsin, 2002), music can act as a distractor and draw away the persons attention off the cause of stress. Listening to a calming and slow music could help reduce the pressure in an individual and thus helps the person to feel more relaxed and less aggravated. Playing musical instrument can actually help releases endorphins in your body, which will also result in reduced level of stress. Music can create emotional responses and increase motivation. For example, when you are listening to a song with a marching beat, such as the Star Wars theme, you will to feel significantly more energetic, confident and motivated. Music promotes happiness in your life which is true because music will trigger activity in a part of the brain called nucleus accumbens. Nucleus accumbens is the part of the brain that is in charge of releasing the feel-good chemical dopamine. So, no matter how slow your day at the job is, or how dull and monotone your life is, a good pop song or, any song in your funky-town playlist can definitely turn your day around and should get you to immediately start grooving. If not, grab your favourite instrument and jam your heart out.

Music can help transports the mind into tranquil state and this is depending on what you listen to listening to hard rock or screamo will definitely not take you there. Music is a very effective coping mechanism. That is why people who just experience tend to listen to sad songs as it reciprocates their emotions and make them feel like someone out there feels the same way too. Sometimes, when you stumble upon songs with relatable lyrics or a piece that touches every string of your heart, the feeling is priceless. Some of us have a hard time trying to understand their feelings and emotions and cant seem to access their inner -self. Music helps us access parts of ourselves which are usually inaccessible (Feiles, 2012). Music is a form of art that can provide a sense of individuality, freedom and independence. This will lead to the persons self-discovery and their sense of identity. In fact, the more we look into our taste in music, the more we can discover about ourselves. Playing or listening to music can decrease our level of anxiety and nervousness. If you are having a big test, an important presentation or meeting, listening or humming to your favourite happy tunes beforehand could calm down your nerves and helps you perform better and even researchers have found that they could improve ta basketball players percentage if they listen to an upbeat or happy song.

TOPIC SENTENCE 2 Music is also known to help in enhancing learning ability in students. SUPPORTING DETAILS Researchers have reported that students involve in music exhibited higher academic achievement than students that are not involved in music. A study conducted by the University of California had shown that pre-school children who receives daily lessons for either playing a musical instrument or singing were significantly better able to complete a puzzle than those who did not receive the training. Music helps increase the childrens creativity in not only solving problems but also helps to increase their mathematical and numbering abilities. This is probably due to the intensive notes and rhythm counting in music reading, also that learning musical theory is pretty similar to learning mathematical theories. Other than that, it is also said that music can help to improve your reading and comprehension skills. Matthews (2011) states that, playing music needs you to look at the notes and move your fingers to the correct key simultaneously counting the beat, while singing forces you to read the notes and produce the correct tone.

If you learn to play instrument, the parts of brain that control motor skills will become more active (Matthews, 2011). By reading musical notes, your brain must turn it into specific motor movements also while controlling rhythm and breathing. Also for most instruments, you will have your fingers/arms/limbs each performing different task simultaneously. For example, if you play the guitar, you will have to hold the chords with your left hand or right hand, if you are left-handed and you will have to strum/pluck the strings with the other. The same coordination skill can be seen in a drummer. A drummer will play the bass drum using the right foot and play the high hat with his left foot. He will also need to play the drum with both arms and still have to make sure that he does not run off beat. Musicians have skills that are very hard to achieve unless by continuous training, high determination and intense concentration, and, music does help on sharpening an individuals concentration. When playing music, musicians need to focus on things such as the pitch, tempo and the quality of the music he produces. Same goes to singers, theyll have to really listen to their own singing voice to ensure that they produce the correct note and tone each time and sing it in the right pitch and tempo.

TOPIC SENTENCE 3 The parts of brain that control motor skills will become more active (Matthews, 2011). SUPPORTING DETAILS By reading musical notes, your brain must turn it into specific motor movements also while controlling rhythm and breathing. Also for most instruments, you will have your fingers/arms/limbs each performing different task simultaneously. For example, if you play the guitar, you will have to hold the chords with your left hand or right hand, if you are lefthanded and you will have to strum/pluck the strings with the other. The same coordination skill can be seen in a drummer. A drummer will play the bass drum using the right foot and play the high hat with his left foot. He will also need to play the drum with both arms and still have to make sure that he does not run off beat. Musicians have skills that are very hard to achieve unless by continuous training, high determination and intense concentration, and, music does help on sharpening an individuals concentration. When playing music, musicians need to focus on things such as the pitch, tempo and the quality of the music he produces. Same goes to singers, theyll have to really listen to their own singing voice to ensure that they produce the correct note and tone each time and sing it in the right pitch and tempo.

The most amazing thing about music is it can actually act as form of therapy for our health. People actually use music for its healing property, and believe it or not, music therapy has existed way back to the ancient time. Historian had found historical writings of ancient civilizations such as Egypt, China and Rom. Music therapy can actually help to reduce blood pressure level, helps children and teenagers with Attention Deficit Disorder, people with Insomnia and depression. Hearing and feeling vibrations from soothing music helps the heart move into regular rhythm that triggers positive physical effects such as slower breathing and more relaxed brainwave. Any peaceful music can work, but, healing music also known as therapeutic music is specifically designed with certain pulses, rhythms and sound frequencies that are thought to encourage the body to unwind itself. Music can also act as natural pain killer. Researchers found that people complained less pain when they listen to a pleasing music. Other studies suggest that the music had actually interfered the pain signal even before it reaches the brain, when it was still at the level of spinal cord. Listening to upbeat dance music is known to increase the level of antibody in our system, boosting our defences against pathogens. Scientists suggest that, the pleasant state created by music leads to stress reduction or direct immune enhancement.

CONCLUSION Music has become an essential part of our life as it is not just a form of entertainment; it is art and also literature. Music is a tool to express ourselves and to show off our true colours to the world. No matter what you are feeling, or what your mood is, whether youre Walking on Sunshine or falling Accidentally In Love with a random stranger, music will always be there to sing the songs of your heart despite the many differences in the genre of music. Music has very subtle properties that the benefits it has brought to us sometimes passed unnoticed. Music contributes many positive effects to our psychological state, it helps to improve learning ability among students and improve our health aspects. However, as a Muslim, there should be no music more beautiful and perfect than psalmody of our sacred text; the Quran.

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