In 2009, archaeologists excavating a cave in southern Germany discovered a flute carved from a vulture’s wing bone. The delicate artifact is the oldest known musical instrument on earth which indicates that people have been making music for over 40,000 years. Research proves making music is a universal human trait that dates back 35, 000 to 40,000 years.  Although we can’t be sure exactly when human beings began listening to music. Scientists have proved listening to music benefits all living beings – human, plants, birds, and animals.

Most people get tears, chills, tingles while hearing music. These are physiological responses which activates the parasympathetic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system occurs in quiet “rest and digest” conditions. Studies have shown that around 25% of the population experience this reaction to music.

Music activates many parts of our brain, including the so-called limbic system of the brain. It is the part of the brain involved in our behavioural and emotional responses to world around us. Limbic system is involved in motivation, passion, learning, and memory. In fact, music is known to stimulate almost every part of the brain. One of the most important functions of music is to create a feeling of organization or social connectedness.

Evolutionary scientists say human beings may have developed a dependence on music as a communication tool because our ancestors descended from the stone age. Music remains a powerful way of uniting people. Neanderthals (an extinct species of human who lived in ice-age) probably didn’t have the vocal cords or cognitive capacity for complex verbal communication. That’s something that developed with humans, and researchers think music is a direct product of this cognitive development. In fact, music is even seen as a form of language by many anthropologists.

Rhythmic entrainment: This refers to a process whereby an emotion is evoked by a piece of music because a powerful, external rhythm in the music influences some internal bodily rhythm of the listener e.g. heart rate. For example, the National Anthem connects us with our nationality, we love our country, therefore we feel proud that we are the people of this country. Our National Anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ infuses pride and patriotism in us. The anthem highlights India’s national heritage and demonstrates patriotism and loyalty to one’s country.

Protest songs stir a sense of shared purpose during marches. Protest songs are often situational, having been associated with a social movement through context.  For example, in Dileep Kumar starrer movie Shaheed (1948) “Watan ki raah me, watan ke naujawan shaheed ho” song motivated the independence movement in hearts of thousands of youngsters.  

Hymns build group identity in houses and worship in social gatherings of worship. For example, ‘Bhaj Govindam’ which defines the composition and gives it its name invokes the almighty in the aspect of supreme god Shree Krishna; it is therefore very popular not only with Sri Adi Shankaracharya’s immediate followers but all Hindus.

Love songs help prospective partners bond during courtship. For example, ‘pal pal dil ke paas’ sung by Kishore Kumar from film Blackmail (1973) lifts the soul and many listeners get goosebumps while listening to the song.  The picturisation, the lyrics, the tune everything   is superb. Music has a powerful way of evoking emotions and connecting with our feelings. The theme of love, longing, and relationships are universal, and listeners find comfort or enjoyment in exploring these emotions through music, even if they are not currently experiencing them in their personal lives. Music allows you to connect with the universal human experience of love and emotions.

Lullabies enable parents and infants to develop secure attachments. Lullabies calm down babies and put them to sleep. It is a soothing song with the perfect balance of rocking music that lures the baby into sleep. Nursery rhymes have been a time-tested bedtime routine by parents over the years. Babies respond to lullabies; they calm down because they feel secured. “Surmai akhiyon me” from film Sadma (1983) is a beautiful lullaby sung by K.J.Yesudas is evergreen song today after 4 decades.

Doctors at Johns Hopkins suggest listening to music to stimulate our brain. Scientists know that listening to music engages our brain; they can see the active areas light up in MRI scans. Researchers have proved that listening to music can motivate people wanting to learn more. A 2019 study has proved that people were more motivated to learn when they were told that they would listen to a song as their reward. Music improves memory.  Music memory is one of the brain functions most resistant to dementia. That’s why some caregivers have had success using music to calm dementia patients and build trusting connections with them.

Conclusion

Music is universal.  It is considered the universal language. The reason is that it exists in every society, with and without words. 

Music is universal without any boundary; it influences people emotionally and physically in various ways. It helps the cognitive development of infants and children, it helps provide self-expression. Musical education has been shown to help improve intellectual development and ability. Numerous studies have been conducted to show that individual personality can have an effect on musical preference. These studies are concluded mostly using meta-analytics (the statistical procedure for combining data from multiple studies) they have shown that personality in itself explains little discrepancy in music preferences. These studies are not limited to Western or American culture, as they have been conducted with significant results in countries all over the world, including Japan, Germany, and Spain. We play a song, listen it, start over, listen and repeat: there are some songs you can listen to over and over again. Why? There are no perfect answers, but we all know that some musical pieces make us feel explicit, there are gushing feelings coming up which take us to a higher plane, it elicits certain memories that transport us back in time, it gushes back some nostalgia. And sometimes, a song is just plain catchy. Some songs remain immortal because of their catchy tunes or catchy lyrics. Some songs have remained immortal despite their age. The fact is that certain songs are part of our identity. I never feel satisfied listening to few songs; one of them is this song ‘Mera man tera pyasa….’ I can’t listen to it just once; I play this song again and again. This is a magical number to me; the lyrics are amazingly penned by Neeraj, melody is awesome and Mohammed Rafi touches the heart. I listen to it whenever I feel low.

Certain songs resonate with us; Kenneth Aigen, an associate professor in music therapy at New York University says that “Music is the way that we create our personal identity, its part of our identity construction. Some people say you are what you eat. In a lot of ways, you are what you play or you are what you listen to.” Aigen explained that a song’s lyrics, its orchestra, beats and other characteristics can personify different feelings and attitudes that develop our sense of identity. He further said that each time we re-experience our favorite music, we’re sort of reinforcing our sense of who we are, where we belong, what we value. This is a profound truth.

Certain songs can connect us to a time in our past because they carry a certain sentiment; for example, let’s say you liked a song at your age of twelve for it gave you adrenalin boost to study and score highest marks, and you achieved it, whenever you listen to a song, that feeling of that period in your life comes back intact. The sound is abstract enough to go directly to the part of your brain that governs the feeling.

My favorite genre in music is romantic classical music, because the singers express their feelings. The songs consist of rich lyrics. I hold Mohammed Rafisab in high esteem, for me, he is not less than ‘God’ when it comes to Hindi film songs. I love Mohammed Rafi’s few songs, because they are so classy, and I feel very nostalgic listening to them. In my opinion, in certain movies for songs when he lent his voice, even ordinary lyricists came across as poets because of his divine voice. He gave an identity to their work. He boosted the image of average actors. Rafi’s singing added to the success of many films.  I give here below some very classy songs of Rafisab:

Baar baar dekho, Movie Chaina Town (1962)
Singer: Mohammed Rafi, Lyricist: Majrooh Sultanpuri, Music Director: Ravi

Pukarata chala hoon mein, Movie: Mere Sanam (1965)
Singer: Mohammed Rafi, Lyricist: Mahrooh Sultanpuri, Music Director: O.P.Nayyar

Ek haseen sham ko dil mera
Movie: Dulhan ek raat ki (1966) Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Lyricist: Raja Mehadi Ali Khan, Music Director: Madan Mohan

Chale the saath milkar
Movie: Haseena maan jayegi (1968) Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Lyricist:  Akhtar Romani, Music Director: Kalyanji-Ananadji

Mera man tera pyasa, Movie: Gambler (1971)
Singer: Mohammed Rafi, Lyricist: Neeraj, Music Director: S.D.Burman