Listen to Classical Music Every Day
The Vigilant Fox just published a timely essay about how listening to classical music can change and even prolong your life.
I just came home from my high intensity fitness class that involves all manner of exercises I would never dream of doing on my own. I try hard to embrace the torture of it because I know that it’s by doing the most difficult things that we improve.
The only thing I truly dislike about the class is the rap music that the trainer always plays during our sessions.
I believe I am an extremely open person. I try very hard to see what is compelling about things that significant numbers of people find or have found compelling in the past. To quote the Roman playwright Terence: "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.”—that is, "I am human, I consider nothing human alien to me.”
For me, rap music may be the only exception to this maxim. No matter how hard I try to hear the charm in it, I cannot detect it. I search in vain for a lively melody or a stirring harmony, but it often occurs to me that I am no more moved by it than I am by the experience of hearing a leaf blower or a jack hammer.
Right after I got home from this evening’s training session, I saw a marvelous essay by the Vigilant Fox titled The #1 Sound Your Brain Wants to Hear (see link below).
Dr. McCullough and I are sometimes asked by seniors if there is anything they can do to preserve their brains. In addition to daily vigorous exercise, sunshine, and fresh air, I recommend listening to classical music.
If you are a senior citizen who is frequently tempted to watch the senseless horror show known as the “evening news,” please replace this terrible habit with that of sitting in your favorite room and listening to classical music.
If you do not have a history of listening to classical music and have little understanding of it, you could enter a whole new fascinating world, guided by hundreds of fascinating YouTube videos that explicate the subject.
For example, the following is a fun video about J.S. Bach’s love of musical riddles.
The following is an explication of what strikes me as the most fascinating piece of dramatic music ever written—namely, the Overture to Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
The following is a wonderful video of Stephen Fry and the late Stefan Mickisch (a prominent victim of what he called “Corona Fascism”) performing an analysis of Wagner’s “Tristan Chord.”
Watch these and other videos about classical music—and then just listen to the music by itself—instead of watching the evening news, and you will soon become healthier, happier, calmer, and smarter.
For more information about classical music and brain health, please click on the image below to read the fascinating essay by the Vigilant Fox.
When I was teaching middle school, I tried this on test days and had a statistical improvement in the students overall scores.
We are still on the same page John Leake... I find 'rap' most tedious (impossible) to tolerate. I was trained in high school orchestra...(brass), piano at home, and guitar as a curiosity later on. I was told that about 75% of jewelers (an interest of mine, faceting gemstones, silversmithing, goldsmithing, lapidary and casting precious metals) are also musicians. It seems to me that learning the language of music does indeed raise the I.Q. significantly, as does the learning of most every other thing that requires mental effort. The brain is able to rise to almost any challenge it seems... which is why I view AI as being so dangerous and potentially toxic to the brain, as is the removal of cursive writing, and mental arithmetic from schools. A lazy brain has a poor prognosis over time apparently. I note there is merit to what you have asserted John Leake... a book I read recently entitled "Imagine Heaven" by John Burke documents the experiences of some 100 people who had a near-death event, (NDE), left their bodies behind, and saw, felt, and heard things that were similar to the others... One of those notable commonalities was the comments about music in Heaven... described as thrilling, loving, beautiful beyond words. God's designs are flawless... we should enjoy them here too, for health.