Musician Reveals 5 Ways How Music Changes Your Life

“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.”

― Albert Einstein

I’m going to be that guy by telling you there was an amazing video I watched online the other day about a man playing a piano in the middle of the airport. And without a single ounce of communication, another guy randomly sits next to him and starts playing along.

Before you know it, the two are creating some beautiful music together that attracted everyone to the scene in awe. And yes, the video is below for anyone interested in watching it.

That’s what I love about music. It doesn’t matter what language you speak. One woman from China and one man from Africa could love the same piano music being played in the background.

Everyone listens to music and it impacts our lives in a variety of ways. You listen to music to dance, to deal with breakups, and to study. Music itself is a drug because we grow addicted to it to perform particular tasks.

It’s practically impossible for me to exercise if I don’t have any music to listen to.

But have you ever wondered how music can impact your life? Studies established at Northwestern’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory had already revealed that people who played instruments had improved their neural processing compared to those who only listened to it.

And there have been studies that showed music has the capability to bring back lost memories, assisting anyone who suffer from memory problems.

Music shift our thoughts, emotions, and energy at every given beat and melody. It sharpens our concentrations when we’re studying or reading.

But in what personal ways can music transform your life?

After contacting a musician named Katherine, she was kind enough to share her personal thoughts and experiences about the major ways she noticed music has impacted people lives.

Whether you’re an inspiring musician or someone who enjoys understanding it on a deeper level, these are her thoughts….

Music has been a part of me and my life even before I was born. According to my mom, my dad would have the stereo on, and I would kick to the beat, early proof that babies can hear music from inside the womb.

But for those who come to music after they’re born, and people wonder why a person would want to get involved in music, here are five reasons you can give the ones who raise their eyebrow at you.

1. Music Helps Us Give Expression to Feelings That are Hard to Put into Words

“In other words: Music can give you inspiration and ideas at a given notice.”

There’s an old pop song from the 1970s that goes by, “I’d like to tell you what I’m feeling, but the words would come out wrong, so I’ll have to say ‘I Love You’ in a song.”

I know precisely what that feels like.

Inspiration can come from anything, but music operates in a way that makes the process easier to grasp. Most of my writer friends need to listen to music while writing because it conjures their willpower to continue writing for hours.

My friend who’s a self-made entrepreneur needs music while meditating because it gives him the chance to focus on what he’s working on.

All ideas and motivations originate from your head, which is why spending time alone helps people make big discoveries.

And by adapting music into that time zone, it removes the blank canvas in your head and replace it with memories of your past and any precious moments you may have forgotten. Your imaginations increase and your motivation to take action gets stronger.

I have a strong admiration for a particular singer, one I’ve adored since childhood, and he’s been one of my biggest sources of spiritual inspiration.

I don’t mean the saccharine sort of spiritual inspiration that elderly ladies from church talk about. I mean a spiritual inspiration that makes a person want to abandon church dogma altogether and go talk with the Creator deep in a forest, surrounded by the music of the wind, the trees, the birds and so on.

I’ve often daydreamed of meeting this man and telling him precisely how his music has helped me cope with certain things in my life. But the moment I think I could get up the courage to say something in words, I think, “No. The words don’t do my feelings justice.”

Of course, there’s also writing music for someone you’re in love with, and that’s extremely powerful too, especially when you’re feeling these big emotions and they’ve got to go somewhere.

If you manage to win that person through your music, that’s transformative in its own right, especially if you never thought you would meet anyone who would “get” you. Trust me, there are plenty of us musicians who feel that way. Music is often our best friend in those moments.

2. Music Has The Uncanny Ability to Heal You

“In other words: Music Can Heal those depressing thoughts or feelings.”

It’s not just about cathartic tears that cleanse the soul. Music is not just pretty melodies. We respond to music the way we do, because musical notes are truly frequencies of sound.

Einstein said that nothing is truly solid. Our physical bodies are made of atoms and molecules that simply vibrate at a certain rate in order to be manifested in the third dimension of height, width and depth.

But here’s the thing: we are also not our bodies either. We are pure Spirit enmeshed with a physical form. We are pure frequency, pure light, in all truth.

It stands to reason, therefore, that musical frequencies would have an effect on both our physical form and our subtle energy bodies. Steven Halpern, a noted musician for his healing music work, has put this knowledge to work on many CDs, especially his crystal bowl healing CD, where he takes the pure tones of crystal singing bowls and matches them up with his synthesizer work for healing purposes.

I have healed many headaches using this CD, especially through my head phones, and quite often, it works faster than ibuprofen or aspirin.

I know this sounds is strange to many, but I am very sensitive to subtle energies like this, which makes me a prime candidate for being a musician in the first place.

Studies have shown that having music on in a medical environment can help lower blood pressure and reduce the patient’s stress. Otherwise known as music therapy, music can be used to elevate your moods and counteract against depression or fear.

A key note I’ve taken while either playing an instrument or listening to someone play theirs is that the melodies and beats are what helps regulate your heart rate. Which is why listening to classical or soft music can lower people anxieties and calm their nerves.

Your brain responds to music by releasing the chemical dopamine, which is associated with pleasure and relief. Though food and sex can provide you with those benefits, music is a health medium everyone can repeatedly use to remedy negative emotions.

3. Music Helps You Gain Friends

“In other words: Music can somehow bring other people into your life.”

I’m certain there was at least one moment where you saw a musician playing an instrument on the street corner for tips. You may have tipped them, ignored them, or stood to watch, but I’m fairly certain you at least appreciated what they did.

Their music softened your thoughts, emotions, and feelings as you were walking by. And without the awkward obligation of listening without tipping, you would have most likely stayed until they finished.

Unlike those strange moments you’ve seen on the streets, a similar occurrence I’ve noticed is that music brings people into your life. Whether they were friends or strangers, music has always attracted people into an area as long as they found it somewhat entertaining to listen to.

It didn’t matter who the people were, where they belonged to, or what their appearances were, the music that was being played had united them all.

Even musicians who barely know one another have moments where they get together and bond through music. After all, a common feeling that musicians feel is that it’s difficult finding anyone who “gets” them. Sure, we love our fans and would play for them all night but to share that bond with another musician gives us a feeling I can’t simply put into words.

The first time I realized this powerful effect of being around other musicians was when I attended an itty-bitty High School, where the main focus was sports, and the arts were looked upon as “fluff.”

But luckily for me, my High School took a stand to support the kids in the music program. There, I bonded with people who enjoyed playing the piano, the flute, the saxophone, and the guitar.

We all had our many, many differences and personal interests, but the one channel that bonded us all together was music. It connected us to an emotional and spiritual level while we performed in class together.

Occasionally, I like to visit many High Schools popular plays that represents big operatic musicals.

The most recent one was a version of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” and when I went to greet the cast after the show, there was a camaraderie there that was nearly tangible. I didn’t have this in High School, so to see this kind of friendship between the kids was rather bittersweet for me.

In one of the High Schools I visited, I met a girl who was in a very similar position that I was in, and I offered her words of encouragement and empathy.

I didn’t know much about her, but from the way she played her instrument, there was an instant connection to her soul. There was a hunger in her that I remembered having when I was younger. There was a sense of loneliness she had and music was her outlet to release it.

If possible, I would have taken her under my wing and help her out.

Which leads into my fourth reason:

4. Music Helps You Find Out Who You Are and What You’re Meant To Do

“In other words: Music can help you discover yourself.”

Because I didn’t have much support in school—beyond my dad—that I wished I had, I often felt rather alone. Without music to stir my thoughts and dig deep into my emotions, discovering what my passions were would have been nearly impossible.

Sure, there was the music teacher at school, but even with him I didn’t feel like I could open up and trust him. As a human, before we can learn to trust the world we have to trust ourselves first. Or else, we would always question our abilities, our choices, and our actions.

But after beginning my life as a musician, it suddenly made life clearer. My decisions and thoughts became easier to understand and who I was began standing out. You see, when you play an instrument for a given time period, you stop questioning what keys you have to stroke next. Your fingers and hands are guided by your emotions and natural instincts.

The longer you maintain this mentality, the easier it gets shifting that mindset into your daily life. You see life as a musical note. You see your ideas as natural keys and you stop questioning your destiny so often because you already know what you want and if you want to change it, you can simply do so. When you play any instrument, you know the song you want to play, but you also know it’s okay to make changes to it because it’s your choice. Your freewill.

Now that I am older, I think back to those dark days, and it suddenly hit me: why not find a way to give socially disadvantaged kids what I didn’t have? It’s a strong idea I’ve been building in my head, because I know what those kinds of kids feel.

That’s what fuels my passion as a musician. Some people may not have the ability to play an instrument because of major obstacles, but it still gives birth to motivation and inspiration. They pick up the motivation to want to pick up an instrument and play one for themselves. They think of ideas they’ve never had before because my musical notes had unlocked something in their soul.

5. Music connects us all

“In other words: I can’t make that any simpler…”

Trite-sounding, I know, but this is the honest truth. If you’re in a foreign country and you don’t know their native language very well, get a musical instrument and start busking on the street corner. Play something that will provide a soundtrack for a lazy Sunday in the park, and you just might find a friend or two who might help you out.

Music has penetrated everyone lives throughout history in every part of the world. Whether you live in the United States, Europe, Asia, or Africa, music has shaped societies and histories.

As mysterious as music is, the rhythm and melodies are what moves our souls. Despite the amount of research science has gone into music, there is still an underlying effect that music has in our emotions we simply can’t explain.

The common phrase goes by, “Music is the language of emotion.” No mater what language you speaks, music bypasses those barriers and connects to our hearts.

Throughout the years I’ve listened to music and played it, one clear fact remains with me. Whether you’re searching for inspiration, motivation, guidance, or a medium to express your inner thoughts, music has the ability to assist you.

People don’t listen to music after experiencing a breakup out of boredom or habit. They use it for comfort and healing. People don’t dance to silence because there is no connection to make it naturally possible.

But once a song plays, they connect their body to the frequency of the music being played and move along with it.

This is one of the greatest gifts that being a musician has done for me. Where there are Doctors who heal the flesh and psychologists who heal the mind, musicians acts as the healers of the soul.

We aim to help people cope with emotional problems, happiness, and depression. We ignite, stir, and release any emotions people want to feel or release. We enjoy bonding friends, strangers, and enemies together through concerts as a way to create a peaceful world.