Careful with the Music

CEBU, Philippines - Once I again, I say treat music with care. Music can eat you alive.

Many of us may not know it but music can weaken your muscles or cause cancer cells to be activated in your body. We like to hum, sing or render songs like Abba’s “Thank You For the Music,” Ryan Cayabyab’s “Kay Ganda Ng Ating Musika,” or Gary Granada’s “Salamat, Salamat Musika” but then these songs don’t explain or warn what kind of music to listen to.

Not all music is worth enjoying and not all music is worth thanking. When a person is afflicted with disease, a physician looks into the food he is eating, his lifestyle, his work and maybe family background, to name some standard checklist. What physicians often don’t ask is what music the patient listens to.

There are at least three elements in music that can potentially and literally eat you alive – rhythm, dynamics and lyrics. Because we don’t think of music as anything but harmful, we often take music for granted even as it has the potential of devouring the human body alive with no marks, no blows, no wounds and no weapons.

Switching the Rhythm

Music is not music unless there is rhythm. Rhythm is the orderly movement of music through time – it is the sound and silence of music. Rhythm is literally the life, heartbeat and energy of the music. All life forms have rhythm. Music rhythm that does not harmonize with the rhythm of the body can have detrimental effects on the body and its vital organs. The rhythm of a healthy musical performance does not dominate, wreak havoc or overshadow melody and harmony.

Researchers have found that rhythmic patterns in rock music can decrease muscle strength in the body and become addictive to the listener. Studies found that a certain rhythm actually enfeebles the body. The culprit was found in rhythm patterns involving three-beat figure where the accent appears on the third instead of the first. The human body is such that the heart and blood have strong first-beat rhythm patterns. What happens is that “switching” takes place in three-beat patterns or patterns that do not harmonize with the rhythm of the body. Switching is a phenomenon in adult schizophrenics that produces regression to infantile stage. Studies have found that millions exposed to rock music hour after hour are continually being switched or regressed to infantile behavior.

History records that the classical music of Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” created a massive riot resulting in the destruction of the concert hall especially when the finale was performed. Rock beat or any other music including classical music where the accent or beat is syncopated or not on the first beat triggers or wreaks the rhythm of the body, causing disease. Aerobics instructors or fitness trainers may not be aware that the music used in the workout can do more harm than good.

Silent Attacker

The other element is dynamics of the music. Dynamics includes the tempo and the loudness and softness of music. Scientists have linked music and the chemistry of genes. By translating the chemistry of DNA into musical notes, it was found that certain pitches, tempo, and loudness and softness of music tends to activate cancer-causing genes called oncogenes.

Although lyrics are usually not considered one of the basic elements of music, still its subliminal messages affect well-being. Lyrics that speak of depression, deceit, sensuality are not good for the health because it gets into the soul and subconscious of a person and eventually radiates to the physical self.

Music is a silent attacker, a silent rapist. It gets into the ears first, then the mind, the heart, then other organs of the body and eventually raping genes and cells affecting muscles and the functions of the body. This attacker does not have to pin you down by force. You consent and submit not knowing you have already been subdued.