Evolution of music

"The way we listen to music has changed drastically throughout the past seventy years. For a very long time records and the radio were the predominant means of listening to your favorite songs. Despite numerous advances in technology, many artists today still release their albums on vinyl records as well as MP3s and CDs because many music fans still believe that vinyl records provide the best musical experience. Throughout the years, musical styles have reflected the society of the time and have evolved with changes in the world. Not only does music change with society but it changes with technological advances as well. As technology changes it can allow new styles to emerge and new ways for people to listen. From radio to television, and records to the internet, music and the way we consume it has dramatically changed in the past seventy years. Even the innovations in the technology used to create musical instruments and recording equipment has effected what styles and songs are made and popular within the music landscape."

In the the article it explains how over the years Genres and artists have increased. The demand for new pop culture music has risen and people are constantly updating along with the technology. Instead of buying CD's people now just download the latest track of the internet with a simple click of a button.

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/music.html

History of Music

"Music is such a driving force in the world that we as human beings, who have grown accustomed to its sounds and daily impression, would be lost and confused if one day music just ceased to exist." Says Lucinda Watrous.
"The development of music begins prior to the written word, and has had influence on man since the dawn of civilization. Though the earliest forms of music have been found in India, many other forms existed worldwide. Different cultures created music with varying methods; and each culture is influenced by music in its own way, primarily based on which instruments were used and in which manner."
Music in this article is explained as being something that has been in our society since as long as man have been on earth. No matter how primitive, any kind of civilization will have some sort of sound with a beat to it. American music began its evolution with the 17^th century Native Americans, and the instruments they played. Native American music was known to be spiritual and often used as a form of worship, or performed in a ritual specific to their religion. The evolution continued when immigrants from the United Kingdom, France and Spain settled in the area, bringing with them new styles and instruments. African music traditions added to the vast mixture of musical culture that shaped America when slaves brought their instruments as well. The Civil War caused American music to become even more complex, when soldiers from opposite areas of the country began mingling with one another in their army units, trading songs, techniques, and even instruments.
Many different versions of this technology were developed using different materials to accomplish the same task. The phonograph evolved into what is known as a "record player" in the 20^th century. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonography
 

http://voices.yahoo.com/music-its-impact-american-society-293077.html

Health Benefits of Music

"There's a very wide range of reactions in the body and mind to music, and brain imaging studies have shown that various parts of the brain may be activated by a piece of music,' says Dr Victoria Williamson, lecturer in psychology at Goldsmith's College, London.
For example, a recent study in Canada showed that there's a real causal relationship between music and the reward system, a core part of the brain that reacts to stimuli, which are good for us – food, light, sex for example – and reinforces these behaviours meaning that we do them more.
Researchers at McGill University in Montreal showed that listening to pleasurable music of any description induced 'musical chills', which triggered the release of the feel-good chemical dopamine.
If we're feeling anxious or stressed, we can encourage our cerebral cortex to produce slow alpha-frequency brain waves, while on the other end of the scale, if we help our cortex to produce faster beta waves, we will be better equipped to concentrate and focus our attention on a fairly lengthy task."
In this article the author explains that music has many health benefits to the human body whether its mental, emotional, or physical. As long as its music that you enjoy your body will react positively to it. He shows many examples of this when he mentions the study done at McGill University and how "pleasurable" music releases a "Feel-Good" Dopamine.

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/wellbeing/health-benefits-of-music.htm

Music and Motivation

Music has a huge roll in motivating people to do or complete certain tasks. 
"The right tunes can be a great aid for those of us who still need a little push to get ourselves moving. "In fact, it is sometimes banned (along with steroids and stimulant drugs) to prevent athletes from gaining an unfair advantage during competitions. Why? Because of its capacity to energize and increase endurance. One of music’s energizing effects comes from its ability to engage the body’s sympathetic nervous system. The activation of this system readies the body for action whenever we face a challenge in our environment."

That is the reason why we tend to listen to music while we workout or when we have to do a tedious task, in order to get our body moving and get a rush of energy when our favorite song plays. "Recent results suggest further that a repetitive beat, such as that in a musical rhythm, synchronizes brainwaves in ways that may be particularly helpful in coupling what you hear with how you move. The co-ordination and execution of repetitive muscle movements may be made more efficient by matching the movements to a musical beat. This may explain why individuals strategically running to a beat run faster and use less oxygen than those who do not pace themselves with music."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/conditions/why-does-music-motivate-us/article542629/

Music and Personality

Depending on what genre of music you listen to can detirmine your personality. People relate a lot on the kind of music they listen to. "Research conducted by psychologists Jason Rentfrow and Sam Gosling suggests that knowing the type of music you listen to can actually lead to surprisingly accurate predictions about your personality."

"Researchers found that people could make accurate judgments about an individual's levels of extraversion, creativity and open-mindedness after listening to ten of their favorite songs. Extraverts tend to seek out songs with heavy bass lines, while those who enjoy more complex styles such as jazz and classical music tend to be more creative and have higher IQ-scores."

According to researcher Adrian North of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK; "The reason people sometimes feel defensive about their taste in music might be related to how much it relates to attitudes and personality." "People do actually define themselves through music and relate to other people through it but we haven’t known in detail how music is connected to identity," North explained.

http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/a/music-and-personality.htm

Physical affects of Music

With different music comes different styles, depending on what the teen listens to determines how he acts, speaks, and dresses. Yearly these styles change along with he music and the artists that create them. For the most part, teenagers like to act upon what they see their favorite artist doing. They play as a roll model for these kids.

In the following article by Kevin C. Liljequist he introduces some research that shows how music affects the body as well as the mind. "We know music by itself has an effect on people. From low chords to high chords, from fast beats to slow beats, music has an impact on behavior. Music in general tends to reduce or delay fatigue (Diserens 260). Music has been proven to increase muscular endurance (Diserens 274). Music has no definite effect on precision or accuracy of movement, if the rhythm is not adapted to the rhythm of the work (Diserens 261). Music has been shown to reduce accuracy in typewriting and handwriting, the results being shown in a increased number of errors (Diserens 262). Music can speed up such voluntary activities as typewriting and handwriting (Diserens 263). Music can accelerate respiration (Diserens 271). Music has also been proven to manipulate electrical conductivity in the human body (Diserens 274)." 
http://www.positivemusicassociation.com/resources/article_lijequist1.htm

Music & Impact on youth

A teenager's preference for certain types of music could correlate on to how the teenager behaves. Through the years lyrics in music have been more and more explicit, particularly in certain genres. These songs could also be found everywhere in our daily lives; from the radio, public gathering areas to advertisements which are everywhere we turn now-a-days. Music has a great impact on the development on adolescents and how they are exposed to certain things. When music is so explicit and is easily presented to the youth it could cause changes in their behavior.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/124/5/1488.full

Music and Learing

The undergraduate students of University of Nebraska at Omaha were exposed to five popular and classical background music listening styles while completing 3 math tests consisting of 16 questions each. The study was conducted to see any effects on performance. While music appears to enhance some students learning, it may be distracting to others. The study also showed that there was no effect of performance in other academic classes.
http://music.arts.usf.edu/rpme/effects.htm

This article offers a different perspective on that music has no significant effect on students test scores. In previous articles it clearly states that music has many different physical, mental and emotional effects on people. I believe this study should have been conducted to each student individually to have better results.

How Music Affects Behavior

Music touches the emotional system in our brains, though slower than other parts of our brains it has an overwhelming power over all of the other parts. Teens sometimes interpret what they hear and act upon it in their daily lives. music catches their emotion thus leading to how they behave.

"Dr. Rich talks about how music can affect the limbic system of the brain, which is the seat of our emotions.  When fully engaged emotions can be very powerful, and can overwhelm the other brain functions such as rational thinking of the neocortex."

Dr. Rich gives the example of how music affected and helped to define a generation and the anti-war movement of the 60′s which shows a clear example on how music can affect our moods and attitudes. There has also been a lot of controversy on how Metal and Gangsta rap has an aggressive attitude effect on kids. 

Teenagers must be able to express their individuality and join in peer activities like they’ve always done. And at the same time adults need to engage with their children and help guide them where needed, in order to make sure their lives and important activities stay in balance.

http://superbrainmusic.com/2011/09/16/how-does-music-affect-the-behavior-of-young-people/

Psychological effects of Music

Music affects the brain in many ways, some of which are just being studied. There have been many clinical research on music and therapeutical benefits. Some studies have shown how music can be effective in treating Alzheimer's disease, autism, post-traumatic stress disorder, dementia, stroke, NICU infants, language acquisition, dyslexia, pain management, stress and anxiety, coma, and more. 

In an article by Scott Severance, he explains some studies conducted to show some of the psychological effects music has on the brain. "Torres and Torres discuss a study by G. M. Schreckenberg and H. H. Bird (1988) on mice that demonstrates the widespread effects of music. At birth, 36 mice were divided into three groups: harmonic, disharmonic, and a control group. Around the clock, the harmonic group was exposed to harmonic music and the control group was kept in a relatively quiet environment at 75 decibels. Two months into the study, four mice from each group were killed and preserved for later study. The remaining mice were given three weeks of maze training followed by three weeks of rest during which no training took place. After the rest period, they were tested for another three weeks to determine how much they remembered, then they, too, were killed and their brains were studied along with the previous twelve mice's brains. The results demonstrate that "disharmonic music causes 1) brain nerve damage and 2) behavior degradation" (p. 27).

Several forms of disharmonic music, Rock being one of them, seem to be addictive. In an interview, Schram (1999), an avid popular music listener, said that he is depressed if he goes too long without his preferred style of music. Numerous others have reported this same phenomenon. However, they deny being negatively affected. The "withdrawal" symptoms, such as depression, are probably due largely to the heightened state of arousal caused by the rhythm and tempo of disharmonic music. When some people have changed from disharmonic music to harmonic music, they report feeling better overall after initial withdrawal symptoms."
http://tdlc.ucsd.edu/research/highlights/rh-music-and-brain-2011.html
http://www.scottseverance.us/music/effects_of_music.htm