Music As Your Personal Energy Drink

You can use music to incite yourself to perform at a high level, using a favorite song to bring your energy and emotions to the front of your mind. You've heard or seen a chant at a sporting event, placing the athletes at a fever pitch, or a political rally bringing the crowd to their feet and clapping, but have you played a favorite song to get ready before embarking on a big project?

One fascinating study demonstrating how music does affect people was planned in response to a pool of office workers requesting a bit of music to make their days on the job more pleasant. Would their claim hold true that they could work better with music than without?

The typing word count of the secretarial pool showed little or no change between sessions with and without music. Pressure sensitive pads were then placed under the keys of their typewriters and it was discovered the keys were struck harder when the music played than when it wasn't. Staff worked harder to get the same job done, concentrating against the background music, and feeling more tired at the end of the day.

Yet a personal favorite song can stimulate your adrenalin and get you going fast. Remember the heroic tunes of composers John Barry and John Williams? Whether it's the theme from Dances With Wolves, Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark, adventure themes provoke powerful responses where we, too, feel like heroes ready to tackle anything. An estimated one-half the world's population has heard Barry's arrangement of the James Bond theme, and listening to it in the car I always drive much faster!

Music can thus lift our spirits as we purposefully alter our state to an alert and excited one. Music may also soothe the savage breast as William Congreve wrote, but it's sometimes too strong medicine. Soft music played in the corridors, like painting walls pink, has been shown to mellow even hardened criminals in prison, but after some duration the incarcerated can become more aggressive than before.

When asking yourself how does music affect people, use melodies for the times of your life but remember familiarity heard may breed contempt.