Assessing the impact of Indian classical music and ragas on an individual

By Siddhi Jain

New Delhi, Dec 23 (SocialNews.XYZ) Music is one of the best, greatest and purist form creation by mankind. Music plays a more important role in our life than just being a source of entertainment as it can express our feelings as well as emotions which is of course connected to our daily life.

Music has the power to reduce stress, to calm one down and also to make you happy, cheerful and relaxed. Especially, Indian classical music is rich in terms of ragas which contain different rasas or bhaavas or emotions. But it is a fact that for a normal listener, the acceptance or interest is less in classical music, as compared to the light music genre. The reason behind is that in order to understand Indian classical genre, it is important to know the technicalities, system and style of presentation, says Dr Rejisurendran, Vocal Coach at Furtados School of music, Mumbai.

Unfortunately, now a days people don't have much time to spend for such things as it is time consuming process to understand the very concept of music. Everyone around is looking for capsule sized solutions for each and everything. Still there is a positive part that we have for light music genres like bollywood songs, ghazals, bhajans, etc. is that all these genres are successfully following the concept of raga and its emotions, and thus is connected to our daily life.

"Music is a subject where lots of research is happening continuously regarding how music affects the human mind, why do different people like different kinds of music, what part of brain are activated, how neuroscience is reinvesting through music therapy, effect of Music on the Production of Neurotransmitters, Hormones, Cytokines, and Peptidases. In fact, in a study, after hearing of Indian classical music, a positive effect on brain is shown in the EEG signals, as compared to the other forms of music," Dr. Rejisurendran told IANSlife.

The fact we are supposed to accept is that Indian music, which is based on the concept of ragas, has the power to control our emotions in a positive way. One may get into any public transport or even in any public area and will find people standing around listening to music through their headphones from mobile devices. Running and jogging, a routine sport that has become very popular amongst the general population is incomplete without a proper playlist. There are plenty of people who swear that listening to music helps them concentrate on what they are doing and help them focus in a much better way.

While commenting on this, the vocal coach at Furtados School of Music said,"Listening to the right kind of music brings out the best in an individual, helping him reach to the fullest of his potential. As a result, it is becoming a fundamental need similar to food, air and water to human life as it gives new meaning to life. The therapeutic effects can be used in people suffering from insomnia, depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, developmental delays, and other childhood psychiatric conditions. Scope of music therapy is undeniably bright however; efforts must go into popularizing it by emphasizing the scientific basis of its benefits, which can be established by more clinical trials in this area. More research on classical as well as traditional genres of music from India can bring about a great change on the way how music is perceived."

(Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in)

Source: IANS