Why play music?
23 May 2007We spoke in our previous post of some of the benefits of studying and playing music. We are going to focus on some of those benefits in the next few posts. Music will reward us with less stress in our lives, with satisfying expression of our emotions, with the fulfillment of our need for creative expression. We will speak in later posts of the benefits of music and the development of the brain. We will also examine how music can keep our minds active as we age, helping to prevent brain cell and memory loss.
Music can be inspiring to the soul, relaxing to the body and therapeutic to the mind. Many people at all levels of musical training can find soothing stress relief for the problems of daily life. Playing music requires us to place all our focus and attention on the music we are playing. With this intense focus, we tend to forget our worries and stress from our daily lives and let the mind go. It is much like meditation.
We can soothe our souls by expressing our emotions through music. If you are angry or upset at situations out of your control, playing music will help you release those emotions and give you relief. You will feel better after spending a short time focusing on your music. If you are happy and content, playing music will be exhilarating and you will feel even better after a music session. This is equally true for a beginning student in music as it is for a professional musician…
