Welcome to Classical Music Guide
NEW! Classical Music Videos
Classical Music For Lovers Article
The Heart Effect: Startling New Information About How Music Affects Your Health
Art Turner
Twenty-four young, healthy test subjects lay quietly in a university lab, listening to carefully chosen music through headphones, as doctors and technicians hovered around them meticulously measuring their vital signs. The study concluded quickly and the subjects returned to their normal everyday lives. But as the researchers began sifting through the data, something new and interesting began to emerge.
We've known for some time that music is a powerful relaxation tool. Music can decrease anxiety levels, lower blood pressure and heart rate, and change stress hormone levels. It affects your respiration, reduces muscle tension, increases endorphin levels, and boosts your immune system. The effect of music is so powerful, hospitals around the world use music to reduce stress in patients waiting for surgery.
Now there's fresh evidence on the power of music to affect our health. Researchers at Italy's University of Pavia recently confirmed that music changes your heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure. But as they analyzed their data, they found something new, something no one had expected to find.
Dr. Bernardi and his colleagues were interested in expanding the use of music to reduce stress in medical patients. Here's how their experiment worked: the docs recorded the vital signs of 24 test volunteers (12 musicians and 12 non-musicians) for five minutes. Then the volunteers listened to six different styles of music in random order. Random two-minute pauses were inserted in each piece of music.
Here's what they found: fast musical tempos increased heart rate, blood pressure and respiration. Slow tempos reduced them. Pretty standard stuff. But then the shocker: the style of music and the volunteers' personal musical preferences made no difference at all. The only thing that mattered was the tempo.
It didn't matter if the music was classical, rap, techno, romantic or an Indian raga. Only one thing made a difference to their cardiovascular systems--whether the music was fast or slow. This means that the music you hear, whether you've chosen it or not, whether you like it or not, is going to affect your health.
There's more: during the silent pauses between musical selections, the test subjects' vital signs returned to normal, in some cases stabilizing at healthier levels than before the music. The researchers say this suggests that listening to any kind of music--fast or slow--could benefit your heart.
Finally, the study found that musicians were more sensitive to the effect than non-musicians. Musicians may have learned to breathe in time to the music, to become more alert during fast passages, and to relax when the music slows down. Whatever the reason, a good prescription for helping maintain your cardiovascular health could be to take music lessons.
About the Author
Art Turner is a musician and the creator of Relaxation Emporium. Want to conduct your own experiment? Head over to http://www.relaxationemporium.com/music.html. If you join our mailing list, you'll get immediate access to two free song downloads--one slow (60 beats per minute) and one faster (100 beats per minute). Find out how your body responds to the beat.
Classical Music For Lovers News
Alagna, Gheorghiu ring in the new year at the Met - Boston Globe
NEW YORK— At the end of Giacomo Puccini's "La Rondine," an enamored woman jilts her ardent but poor lover, saying she can't give up her old life as a rich man's mistress. And, she says, she doesn't want to financially ruin her soulmate. But on New ...
Read more...Holiday Gift Guide 2008: Gifts for little music lovers - San Francisco Examiner
Little music lovers can have the best day just singing and dancing around the house. But these ideas for gifts will surely increase the joy this holiday season... Yo Gabba Gabba! Has several products for little music lovers. All of these are made for ...
Read more...MUSIC DANCE REVIEWS - Deccan Herald
The Karnataka Nrityakala Parishat conducted the annual Nrithyotsava, last week. Dance performances, lectures, interaction with artists marked the event. Senior artists, including Leela Ramanathan, M R Rangaswamy and Dwaraki Krishna Swamy, were ...
Read more...SITAR CONCERT: A REAL TREAT TO MUSIC-LOVERS - Star of Mysore
It was a very nice way to bid farewell to 2008 and welcome the new year through the music and dance programme organised by Vasundhara Performing Arts Centre in connection with their annual calendar of festivals. The month of December is reserved for ...
Read more...2009 arts: Classical music's hot in the cold - Cincinnati.com
Few regions have the depth and diversity of classical music that music lovers enjoy, week after week, in Greater Cincinnati. You'll be astonished at the choices this winter, from weekly concerts at the Cincinnati Symphony to a special vocal recital ...
Read more...Classic collaboration - South China Morning Post
A social-networking initiative that aims to create the world's first collaborative online orchestra may well serve as the most extensive outreach programme for classical music enthusiasts in Greater China. Video-sharing website YouTube, a subsidiary ...
Read more...