Bust out your guitar and warm up your vocal cords – May 7th marks the start of National Wanna Play Music Week, and Monday will be quite the kick-off!
This year, NAMM has teamed up with the Coalition of Music Education in Canada for the eighth annual Music Monday event, in which students across North America will be encouraged to all play the same song, at the same time. According to NAMM’s website, last year the event inspired more than 700,000 students to participate in the simultaneous concert and celebrate music education in schools. If you’d like to join in, head on over to the Wanna Play Music website to learn more.
We love seeing students so excited about music – it’s what we’re all about! And if you’re reading this blog, we’re guessing you’re right there with us and that you already know all of the benefits of playing music. In fact, some might go so far as to say music has some pretty cool super powers. Don’t believe us? Check out these weird ways music messes with the human brain…
1) It Changes Your Ability to Perceive Time
Hold music – the stuff you hear on the line when you call everyone from the bank to your local bail bond agency — didn’t fall into America’s phone lines by accident. It’s designed specifically to reduce the amount of time you think you’re waiting, so that you’re less likely to hang up in anger. Other places that involve waiting, such as doctors’ offices, use a similar trick.
To understand why exactly music makes it seem like less time has passed, think of the human brain as a mountain lion that is eating a bag of money. It doesn’t matter what the zookeepers distract it with – food, shiny objects or just shouting and yelling. All that matters is that they give another zookeeper the chance to sneak up and retrieve the money while the lion is busy deciding which one of them to eat.
Similarly, when your brain is steadily distracted, you’ll be less likely to notice things around you in detail, and this includes the passage of time.
2) It Taps Into Primal Fear
OK, imagine how you would sound for a second if you saw your friend Jason across the street and wanted to get his attention by yelling his name. Now imagine you see your friend Jason across the street, suddenly realize a car is careening down the road about to hit him, and shout his name to warn him.
Despite the fact that you are yelling the same thing both times, even in your head you can hear how the two sound different. Human beings have a very good, very nuanced sense of what kind of noise indicates a greeting and what kind of noise indicates you are about to be mauled by a honey badger.
There are certain sounds that humans will automatically associate with sudden and painful death because they tap into our evolutionary fear of the screams of other animals (and other human beings). Screams of fear in almost any animal are made up of what scientists have dubbed “discordant noises.” Any noise that makes you feel very unpleasant falls into this category. Movie directors know this too and make good use of it when deciding on the score for a film.
3) It Makes You Stronger
Similar to the time-perception effect we referenced above, one element is just plain old distraction. Obviously, if your mind is listening to music, it’s not thinking about how much your legs hurt or how much longer you’ve got to run before the treadmill makes that final beeping noise. But there’s much more to it than that – such as synchronicity. When you match your movements to a steady musical tempo, you spend less time and effort on the inefficient slowing down and speeding up that happens when you’re going by your own rhythm.
So there you have it – the power of music in all its weird, wonderful ways. Do you believe it? Stop by our Facebook page and let us know your thoughts!
Suzy S.