The classifications of six periods of music by stylistic differences are:

Before 1400 Medieval or Gregorian chant, mostly religious from the fall of the Roman ... ]]> Can a film score be considered classical music?

First, we have to understand the two definitions of a film score and classical music to determine if classical music can be in film and considered as a film score. A film score is background music in a TV series or film, whereas, classical music is for live performances and listening, but both musical compositions are for entertainment purposes.

Film composers and classical music composers use the same musical building blocks to produce a musical composition. The format, style or genre in film will determine the song’s usage; film music in scenes is to create a mood for the audience. Musical sound effects are an important theory for a composer to master as the music their writing imitates a sound to create the mood in each scene. A film score can be just sounds as each mood in a film changes, therefore, the songs must change for each mood.

Background music and narrative music are the two kinds of music in a scene that has a dialog. Background music heightens the mood of a scene where narrative music tells a story. The underscore is the background music score and makes up the majority of music in the film, such as, dialog, chase scenes and romantic settings throughout the movie.

Classical music refers to music produced or rooted in the tradition of Western art, ecclesiastical or Christian music and concert music from a period around the 9th century to the 21st century and codified between 1550 and 1900. Many musicians today play classical music. Classical music can credit in a film score depending on the format or style and theme of a film project. Thomas Newman a film composer from Los Angeles, CA whose classical compositions scored in films, such as, “American Beauty and “Meet Joe Black” are just one example of today’s film composers who write classical music.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 1827) born in Bonn, Germany and moved to Vienna, Austria in his early twenties was one of the world’s most famous composers of classical music. Beethoven successfully wrote classical music scores from 1794 through 1800 and his music played around the world for over 180 years.

The classifications of six periods of music by stylistic differences are:

Before 1400 Medieval or Gregorian chant, mostly religious from the fall of the Roman Empire (486 AD) to the beginning of Renaissance in 1400, characterizes Medieval.

1400-1600 Renaissance is another word for rebirth referring to restore the philosophical and artistic ideals of classical antiquity

1600-1750 Baroque music is lively and tuneful music that expresses fundamental order of the universe.

1750-1820 Classical music is balance, structure and characterized with structural clarity with intellectual freedom. Classical music is the main principle of new age enlightenment with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart being a well-know famous classical music artists.

1820-1900 Romantic music broke the rules of classical music exploring large ensembles, extreme emotions and wild orchestration

Beyond 1900 20th Century or age of technology does not have rules of the classical time, but has the stylistic freedom to write as they please.

Doctors now believe using music therapy in hospitals and nursing homes not ... ]]> How many times have you turned to music to uplift you even further in happy times, or sought the comfort of music when melancholy strikes?

Music affects us all. But only in recent times have scientists sought to explain and quantify the way music impacts us at an emotional level. Researching the links between melody and the mind indicates that listening to and playing music actually can alter how our brains, and therefore our bodies, function.

It seems that the healing power of music, over body and spirit, is only just starting to be understood, even though music therapy is not new. For many years therapists have been advocating the use of music in both listening and study for the reduction of anxiety and stress, the relief of pain. And music has also been recommended as an aid for positive change in mood and emotional states.

Michael DeBakey, who in 1966 became the first surgeon to successfully implant an artificial heart, is on record saying: “Creating and performing music promotes self-expression and provides self-gratification while giving pleasure to others. In medicine, increasing published reports demonstrate that music has a healing effect on patients.”

Doctors now believe using music therapy in hospitals and nursing homes not only makes people feel better, but also makes them heal faster. And across the nation, medical experts are beginning to apply the new revelations about music’s impact on the brain to treating patients.

In one study, researcher Michael Thaut and his team detailed how victims of stroke, cerebral palsy and Parkinson’s disease who worked to music took bigger, more balanced strides than those whose therapy had no accompaniment.

Other researchers have found the sound of drums may influence how bodies work. Quoted in a 2001 article in USA Today, Suzanne Hasner, chairwoman of the music therapy department at Berklee College of Music in Boston, says even those with dementia or head injuries retain musical ability.

The article reported results of an experiment in which researchers from the Mind-Body Wellness Center in Meadville, Pa., tracked 111 cancer patients who played drums for 30 minutes a day. They found strengthened immune systems and increased levels of cancer-fighting cells in many of the patients.

“Deep in our long-term memory is this rehearsed music,” Hasner says. “It is processed in the emotional part of the brain, the amygdala. Here is where you remember the music played at your wedding, the music of your first love, that first dance. Such things can still be remembered even in people with progressive diseases. It can be a window, a way to reach them.”

The American Music Therapy Organization claims music therapy may allow for “emotional intimacy with families and caregivers, relaxation for the entire family, and meaningful time spent together in a positive, creative way”.

Scientists have been making progress in its exploration into why music should have this effect. In 2001 Dr. Anne Blood and Robert Zatorre of McGill University in Montreal, used positron emission tomography, or PET scans, to find out if particular brain structures were stimulated by music.

In their study, Blood and Zatorre asked 10 musicians, five men and five women, to choose stirring music. The subjects were then given PET scans as they listened to four types of audio stimuli – the selected music, other music, general noise or silence. Each sequence was repeated three times in random order.

Blood said when the subjects heard the music that gave them “chills,” the PET scans detected activity in the portions of the brain that are also stimulated by food and sex.

Just why humans developed such a biologically based appreciation of music is still not clear. The appreciation of food and the drive for sex evolved to help the survival of the species, but “music did not develop strictly for survival purposes,” Blood told Associated Press at the time.

She also believes that because music activates the parts of the brain that make us happy, this suggests it can benefit our physical and mental well being.

This is good news for patients undergoing surgical operations who experience anxiety in anticipation of those procedures.

Polish researcher, Zbigniew Kucharski, at the Medical Academy of Warsaw, studied the effect of acoustic therapy for fear management in dental patients. During the period from October 2001 to May 2002, 38 dental patients aged between 16 and 60 years were observed. The patients received variations of acoustic therapy, a practice where music is received via headphones and also vibrators.

Dr Kucharski discovered the negative feelings decreased five-fold for patients who received 30 minutes of acoustic therapy both before and after their dental procedure. For the group that heard and felt music only prior to the operation, the fearful feelings reduced by a factor of 1.6 only.

For the last group (the control), which received acoustic therapy only during the operation, there was no change in the degree of fear felt.

A 1992 study identified music listening and relaxation instruction as an effective way to reduce pain and anxiety in women undergoing painful gynecological procedures. And other studies have proved music can reduce other ‘negative’ human emotions like fear, distress and depression.

Sheri Robb and a team of researchers published a report in the Journal of Music Therapy in 1992, outlining their findings that music assisted relaxation procedures (music listening, deep breathing and other exercises) effectively reduced anxiety in pediatric surgical patients on a burn unit.

“Music,” says Esther Mok in the AORN Journal in February 2003, “is an easily administered, non-threatening, non-invasive, and inexpensive tool to calm preoperative anxiety.”

So far, according to the same report, researchers cannot be certain why music has a calming affect on many medical patients. One school of thought believes music may reduce stress because it can help patients to relax and also lower blood pressure. Another researcher claims music allows the body’s vibrations to synchronize with the rhythms of those around it. For instance, if an anxious patient with a racing heartbeat listens to slow music, his heart rate will slow down and synchronize with the music’s rhythm.

Such results are still something of a mystery. The incredible ability that music has to affect and manipulate emotions and the brain is undeniable, and yet still largely inexplicable.

Aside from brain activity, the affect of music on hormone levels in the human body can also be quantified, and there is definite evidence that music can lower levels of cortisol in the body (associated with arousal and stress), and raise levels of melatonin (which can induce sleep). It can also precipitate the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkiller.

But how does music succeed in prompting emotions within us? And why are these emotions often so powerful? The simple answer is that no one knows yet. So far we can quantify some of the emotional responses caused by music, but we cannot yet explain them. But that’s OK. I don’t have to understand electricity to benefit from light when I switch on a lamp when I come into a room, and I don’t have to understand why music can make me feel better emotionally. It just does – our Creator made us that way.