Music magnifies emotion.
Notice how music is used in films to enhance the drama, horror, or comedy in a story. It might be tragic enough to see a dog die in a film, but if the death is accompanied by the right music, the film can make you sob until you are honking like a goose.
In the ancient world the Greeks believed music had a magical power to speak directly to human emotion. In what has come to be known as the doctrine of ethos, the Greeks believed that the right kind of music had the power to heal the sick and shape personal character in a positive way. The Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that when music was designed to imitate a certain emotion, a person listening to the music would have that emotion.
"We accept the division of melodies proposed by certain philosophers into ethical melodies, melodies of action, and passionate or inspiring melodies, each having, as they say, a mode corresponding to it".
– Aristotle, Politics, Bk 8, Pt 7
In Aristotle’s mind, someone listening to the wrong type of music would become the wrong type of person. Certain instruments and modes would take one toward either the logos (rational) or pathos (emotional), and it was essential to raise children with the right kind of music.
"Shall we argue that music conduces to virtue, on the ground that it can form our minds and habituate us to true pleasures as our bodies are made by gymnastics to be of a certain character?"
– Aristotle, Politics, Bk. 8, Pt. 5
In a similar manner, many people today believe music can be used to help educate children and promote good health.
According to the American Music Therapy Association, music can be used to "promote wellness, manage stress, alleviate pain, express feelings, enhance memory, improve communication, and promote physical rehabilitation."
In an article posted on the Huffington Post," Therese J. Borchard, who is the author of the Beyond Blue, writes that music can be used as therapy. “Everything with a beat moves my spirit,” writes Ms. Borchard. “I can't get enough of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, because I think so much better when these guys are playing in the background.”
Listen to the pieces I have embedded below to get a sense of what Ms. Borchard is saying. Both pieces are referenced by Ms. Bochard in her article "Music Therapy: Got the Blues? Play Them."
Whether we call it music therapy or the doctrine of ethos, the concept is simple to grasp. At its best, music has the potential to affect our emotions so deeply that it can cleanse our soul and connect us with something that might best be described as “spiritual.”
Sarah Bightman singing “Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera
Rachmaninoff, Prelude in C-sharp minor (Ruslan Sviridov, piano)
© 2014 James L. Smith
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