The Effects of Music on Teenagers’ Emotions

When teenagers listen to music, does it make them depressed? Does listening to music make them happy? Some people think it does affect them and others do not. Regardless if the person likes music or not it is involved some way in that person’s life; whether it’s by playing an instrument, listening to songs on the radio, studying music, or even by hearing a song being played in a store. When listening to music teenagers are effected by it, and music can help to change a teen’s emotions, both positively and negatively. In the human brain there is a chemical called EEG when activated, changes a person’s emotions. According to a recent study, “the positive affect is associated with greater relative left frontal EEG activation and negative affect is associated with greater relative right frontal EEG activation” (Field and others 109). In that study they took fourteen chronically depressed female adolescents and played rock music to them for twenty-one minute sessions. Then they took another fourteen chronically depressed female adolescents and had them sit and relax their minds and muscles for the same time period (Field and others 109). “EEG was recorded during baseline, music, and post-music for three minut

The results were that cortisol levels decreased and the relative right frontal activation was significantly attenuated during and after the music procedure. The results showed that listening to the Mozart sonata produced no differential improvement in spatial reasoning (Scheel and Westefeld 243). Whether it"tms by the lyrical content, the shifting of chemicals in the brain, or just by the mood of the song. Which proves that music did have an effect on the emotions of the female adolescents. "For example, they gave three-year-old children ten minutes of singing lessons every day. Rauscher thinks that music builds strong minds just as exercise builds strong muscles" (Scheel and Westefeld 243). He also thinks that playing a musical instrument is good for teenagers. Especially with today"tms music scene, lyrics have become a very sensitive subject with parents. (Scheel and Westefeld 243)One of the reasons music has an impact on people is through the lyrics of the songs. (Brynie 38)There are some studies that show listening to classical music increases a person"tms IQ level by eight or nine points. "She never claimed that Mozart increases intelligence, Rauscher insists. Later, however, Rauscher and Shaw said the effect was limited to the paper-folding measures. In 1999, Kenneth Steele and a team at Appalachian State University tried again, following directions from Rauscher and Shaw. This improvement is so small that statistical tests say it is just as likely a chance effect as a real one.