Ambient Noise Makes You Creative.
Music is a creative backdrop. Studies in sound have shown that a moderate noise level actually helps us to focus and unleash creativity. Too soft and we block it out, too loud and it’s distracting.
A Personality is Drawn to Particular Kind of Music.
In one study, subjects were randomly paired and asked to get to know each other over a 6-week period. Well over half of the couples talked about music within the first week—by far the most common of all other topics of conversation combined. Why? The assumed premise is that our taste in music reflects our personalities.
Using a standard personality test, participants rated their partners’ traits, then the test results were compared to the individuals’ tastes in music. A pattern emerged to show that their “music preferences were reasonably accurate in conveying aspects of personality”.
Music Training is Great for Motor and Reasoning Skills
Learning to play a musical instrument is great for our brains in several ways. Children with three or more years of training have shown sharper fine motor skills, auditory discrimination, vocabulary, and reasoning. Adults who take up a musical instrument are less likely to suffer from dementia as they age. Classical music has improved visual attention in stroke patients.
The right kind of music, i.e., of a particular tempo—somewhere between 100 and 175 beats per minute—inspires us to exercise and improves our performance, especially in paced exercise like running. This works on several levels:
“Music distracts people from pain and fatigue, elevates mood, increases endurance, reduces perceived effort and may even promote metabolic efficiency. When listening to music, people run farther, bike longer and swim faster than usual—often without realizing it.”
We all know the picture of our brain on drugs—this is your brain on music:
No fried egg here.
