Positive Effects of Classical Music

Specific Purpose: To motivate my audience to listen to classical music.

Central idea: Listening to classical music can have a positive effect on mind and soul.

I. Introduction

A. Attention getter: Do you know who are Bach, Mozart and Vivaldi? If you don’t know, it’s time to enhance your knowledge of classical music.
B. Introduce topic and motivate audience: Listening to classical music has a significant effect on all living beings.
C. Preview main points/thesis statement: Today I’d like to talk to you about the effects of classical music on our body, IQ and memory, and finally, how animals and plants react to classical music.

II. Body

A. Music and our body.

Classical music can help not only to unwind after a stressful day at work, but it could also lower heart rate, blood pressure and improve heart rate variability. Scientists have proved that classical music can improve health, decrease pain and accelerate healing. It is also believed that people, who listen to classical music, get sick less and live healthier lives than those who don’t.

Many experiments have confirmed that classical music plays a major role in brain development, the formation of the soul, even the character. These effects are based on the fundamentals of classical music that are generally derived from the human pulse.

B. Influence on memory and intellect.

Scientific research has shown that classical music can affect IQ (Intelligent Quotient) and EQ (Emotional Quotient). If a pregnant woman listens to classical music, she speeds up the development of her baby’s brain. In other studies, newborn babies and young children, who listened to classical music regularly, experienced rapid development and better learning abilities.

The power of classical music has an intriguing effect on memory. Baroque’s and Mozart’s music, which have a 60 beat per minute beat pattern, activate the left and right sides of brain. The simultaneous stimulation of the left and right sides of the brain maximizes retention of information and learning abilities. The information being studied activates the left side of the brain while the music activates the right side. Also, activities which engage both sides of the brain at the same time, such as playing an instrument, or singing, causes the brain to be more capable of processing information.

C. Effects of music on plants and animals.

A biophysicist investigated the effect of music on the survival of living beings. Two plants of same species and age were placed at different places. One was placed close to the speaker with slow rock and heavy rock, while the other plant was placed near the speakers with classical music. A very noticeable difference occurred within a few days. The plant that was near the rock songs had withered and died, while the plant that was near the classical music was fresh and flowering. This is real proof that music really affects our lives.

Tests on the effects of music on living organisms, besides humans, have shown that special pieces of music (including The Blue Danube) aid hens in laying more eggs. Music can also help cows give more milk. Researchers from Canada and the former Soviet Union found that wheat will grow faster when exposed to special ultrasonic and musical sounds. Scientists also tested rats to see how they would react to classical and rock music. The rats were placed into two different boxes. Rock music was played in one of the boxes while classical music was played in the other. The rats could switch boxes through a tunnel that connected both boxes. Almost all the rats chose to go into the box with the classical music. Do you still want to listen to hard rock and metal?

III. Conclusion

A. Signal ending: Even Napoleon understood the power of music. He said, “give me control over he who shapes the music of a nation and I care not who makes the laws”.
B. Re-emphasize the “Call to Action” step: So, add symphonies of Mozart and Beethoven to your player and get ready to feel the positive effects of classical music.

References
1. Trappe HJ. Music and health – what kind of music is helpful for whom? What music not? Dtsch Med WSchr 2009; 134: 2601-2606
2. Antonietti A. Why is music effective in rehabilitation? Stud Health Technol Inform2009; 145: 179-194
3. Gess A. Birds like music, too. Science 2007;317: 1864

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