Music = Smarts: The influence of music on society can be clearly seen from modern history. Music helped Thomas Jefferson (the good looking President) write the Declaration of Independence. When he could not figure out the right wording for a certain part, he would play his violin to help him. The music helped him get the words from his brain onto the paper. Also, in case you didn't know, Albert Einstein is recognized as one of the smartest men who has ever lived. A little known fact about Einstein is that when he was young he did extremely poor in school. His grade school teachers told his parents to take him out of school because he was "too stupid to learn" and it would be a waste of resources for the school to invest time and energy in his education. The school suggested that his parents get Albert an easy, manual labor job as soon as they could. His mother did not think that Albert was "stupid". Instead of following the school's advice, Albert's parents bought him a violin. Albert became good at the violin. Music was the key and even Einstein himself said that the reason he was so smart was because he played the violin. He loved the music of Mozart and Bach the most. Also, not to compare myself with Jefferson or Einstein, but when I was an undergraduate at San Francisco State University I learned that if I listened to classical music right after studying for a test and just prior to taking 'said' test that I would retain the lessons learned easier than with 'traditional' methods of studying and I have to say my grades did improve.
Music = Happiness: What is the relationship between music and happiness? You know that feeling when a song that really 'gets you' is played. There is a beautiful passage in a book called "Home of Gentry", by Ivan Turgenev, where the protagonist of the novel listens to a piece of music being played on the piano that touches him to the very depths of his soul. The power that music has over us is so incredible and so facinating... One great problem that arises in trying to study music's emotional power is that the emotional content of music is very subjective. A piece of music may be undeniably emotionally powerful, and at the same time be experienced in very different ways by each person who hears it. The emotion created by a piece of music may be affected by memories associated with the piece, by the environment it is being played in, by the mood of the person listening and their personality, by the culture they were brought up in: by any number of factors both impossible to control and impossible to quantify.
Happiness to me is anytime... anywhere that I hear Eddie Vedder's voice... I'm definitely happier and maybe even smarter too!
Go... Listen ... Be Happy...
Stacey
Music = Happiness: What is the relationship between music and happiness? You know that feeling when a song that really 'gets you' is played. There is a beautiful passage in a book called "Home of Gentry", by Ivan Turgenev, where the protagonist of the novel listens to a piece of music being played on the piano that touches him to the very depths of his soul. The power that music has over us is so incredible and so facinating... One great problem that arises in trying to study music's emotional power is that the emotional content of music is very subjective. A piece of music may be undeniably emotionally powerful, and at the same time be experienced in very different ways by each person who hears it. The emotion created by a piece of music may be affected by memories associated with the piece, by the environment it is being played in, by the mood of the person listening and their personality, by the culture they were brought up in: by any number of factors both impossible to control and impossible to quantify.
Happiness to me is anytime... anywhere that I hear Eddie Vedder's voice... I'm definitely happier and maybe even smarter too!
Go... Listen ... Be Happy...
Stacey
3 comments:
I was just talking with Chris about Pearl Jam and the concert we went to. You and I squeezed through the crowd closer to the stage just in time for the song "Black" which is my absolute fav. That was sooo long ago now!!
Nice post babe!!
That was a great concert... not so long ago though, just what 12 years or so? Anyway, you know I'm in love with Eddie Vedder so all the songs are my favorite...
sta
I've been to three of Mr. Vedder's concerts but none of them was as great as "The Monkee's" concert when I was 8 months pregnant with Ben. I'm still lovin those seats!! Now that was soooo long ago.
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