Medical Applications for Music

When someone mentions the word 'music' what the first thing that pops you're your mind? Is it the subtle relaxing classical organ that blows through your mind or the hard grunge sound of a modern double bass drum? Everyone in the world, no matter what corner of the world people reside, listens to some sort of music or another. Be it rock, classical, rap, hip-hop, country, electronic or any of the other of the hundreds of classifications for music. Music is a natural intuitive phenomenon operating in the three worlds of time, pitch, energy, and under the three distinct and interrelated organization structures of rhythm, harmony, and melody.

Since the music phenomenon is natural and intuitive, humans can also virtually perform and hear music in their minds, without even learning or understanding it. Traditionally, one of the major difficulties in defining music has been to use the word to try to describe all activities and things related to music and sound . For example, scores only become music through performance, or when recorded performances are replayed. While music is a natural intuitive phenomenon, composing, improvising and performing it are art forms. Also, listening to it can be a source of entertainment, while learning and understanding it are disciplines. Music develops day by day, there are also various factors that may help or force it to change. It common knowledge that both religion and politics have a profound effect on the development of music throughout history but how so? What else has had an effect on the development of music? With a major in medicine were can you find music in the world of medicine?

Man has allowed religion to control and influence his life in many different ways, affecting both his behavior and his actions . So its not surprising that music, one of man's earliest expressive forms, has also been influenced by religion. Religion has had an effect on man's music all throughout history, from the early Egyptians to even now . So it is only natural that Western music should also have been affected by religion. For example this can be seen by all the "Christian" worship and rock albums. Western music, and its development by composers, has been strongly influenced by the Christian religion, especially in the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. With the church under control for the early periods, music that man developed was only allowed to be favorable and directed toward the church. The church stopped all other types of musical forms of expression and this lasted for thousands of years. While religion never let go of its grip of personal musical expression in the early ages it did loosed up as people developed and the Baroque period offered new forms of expression that separated that periods music from the gorgon chant. This is also interconnected to political influences on music development.

There has always been an account of political expression in music. Music has played the role of pretest, support and sometimes pro-establishment . One good example the ties back to religion was Classical music. Classical music is music considered classical, generally thought of as sophisticated and refined; it may stem from a regional tradition, but aspires to universal form of communication. Classical music is sometimes defined as music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of art, ecclesiastical, and concert music . Classical music is contrasted with popular or folk music. In the English language, the term "classical music" is a homophoric reference to European classical music, such as Beethoven's symphonies, and its derivative styles, and rarely used to refer to traditional musical styles of other regions.

Classical music was mainly written for those of power such as kings, queens and high priests. Since those with power controlled the economy of the world at the time, songs where written in order to honor their name and memories. Nowadays it has become less common and you can see in later pieces of classical music that it's not all glorifications and at times questions higher rule.

Folk music is another form of music that has a large impact on music with its political impact. Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. Folk music arose, and best survives, in societies not yet affected by mass communication and the commercialization of culture. It normally was shared and performed by the entire community and not by a special class of expert performers . This type of music was primarily transmitted by word of mouth.

During the 20th century, the term folk music took on a second meaning. It describes a particular kind of popular music which is culturally descended from or otherwise influenced by traditional folk music. Like other popular music, this kind of folk music is most often performed by experts and is transmitted in organized performances and commercially distributed recordings. However, popular music has filled some of the roles and purposes of the folk music it has replaced.

Folk music is more or less synonymous with traditional music. Some would use either term with a more specific meaning, restricted to just popularized-folk/traditional music or just not-popularized ; however, both terms are used interchangeably among the general population and are not strictly defined. Fold music tends to contain history of the culture, for example strikes, uprisings, war and protest.

Popular 20th century music has had a large boom in political inspired lyrics and undertone like no other musical period. Music in this period was often used to express anti and pro war views. A classical rock band by the name of "Pink Floyd" released an album (The Wall) in the early 80's which was apposed to the Berlin wall in Germany. Bands such as this recoded many different albums and Pink Floyd remains to be one of the highest selling bands of all time. The majority of political popular music has an anti-establishment or left wing perspective; right-wing musicians have had a history of being over patriotic and at times racist which does not go well for general audiences. A good example of a left wig perspective would have been the famous Woodstock festival. The Woodstock Music and Art Festival was the most famous rock festival of its era. It was held at Max Yasgur's 600 acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York, on 15, 16, and 17 August, 1969. The festival bears the name "Woodstock" because it was originally scheduled to take place in the town of Woodstock, in Ulster County; local opposition arose, however, and the event was almost cancelled altogether .

Now around the mid 70's the new genre called punk rock evolved and this form of music was overly political. The lyrics of most of the punk bands revolved around the destruction of all rule and the start of a revolution.