First of two parts
I CAME across an old script of mine intended for an audiovisual presentation for the Miriam higher middle school children upon the invitation of my daughter, then-vice principal Kristine Marie Lesaca-Saludez and now principal of the same after earning her PhD last year (please forgive the proud father, dear readers). Allow me to share it with you (sans the slides), and I leave it to our much-gifted graphic artist to complement this article with his artwork. I updated it as well...
“Get one-fourth sheet of paper. In 5 minutes, list down the 5 senses of the human body. [After they give their answers]; from smell, touch, sight, hearing and taste, let us talk about hearing and the main organ for hearing, the ear.”
If the ear doesn’t work, one will have difficulty learning how to talk. When there are no communication skills, the frustrated brain has difficulty processing all data and information it receives from its environment.
When someone plays the piano, these hits on the piano strings create sound waves. These disturbances in air pressure travel outward as vibrations. Only when the vibrations hit a receiver or hearing source, like an ear, will these vibrations register as sound. A piano or even a person can be what is known as a “medium.” In physics, the medium is really considered a material substance — the way the music travels will have a lot to do with what type of substance it chooses to travel through. Music will sound different in water as opposed to air, for example. For music to happen, a generating source makes a vibration or causes a wave of high pressure to disburse. Music can also be thought of as a way of formally interpreting sound like a “sine wave,” for example.
Like ripples in the water, waves move and look just the same way. The thing is, people cannot see this when it happens. Sound waves are created when in a “pressure equilibrium position,” a person or piano, creates a disturbance.
A disturbance is sent or “propagated” from one area to another. The wave travels up and down, causing crests and troughs along a wavelength.
Simply put, to make a sound, you have to create a circumstance in which air molecules move back and forth. You can make music by using sound acoustics (or vibrations) in an enclosed space, like a piano or guitar.
Certain frequencies are very readily heard by the human ear, others are not. “Threshold of Hearing” is a physics concept that involves music, sound and human hearing.
The term “absolute threshold of hearing” (ATH) generally refers to the lowest frequency level a person is able to hear under “normal” circumstances — listening to a bird close by, for example. This point is between about 2,000 and 3,000 Hertz at about -5 decibels. A decibel has to do with the intensity of a given portion of sound — how loud it might be. If you increase the decibel level, you will reach what is known as the “threshold of pain.” In contrast to ATH, the threshold of pain is reached at approximately 20,000 decibels.
The frequency with which these sounds travel determines pitch and auditory elements like loudness, softness or even tone.
A good way to visualize this is to imagine a person dropping a stone in the water. The stone sends waves outward until they disappear. This is similar to what happens when you try to listen to music from too far away — the sound waves or music, in this circumstance, literally dissipate into nothingness.
Some interesting music tidbits:
– Stress hormones that weaken the immune system decrease after being exposed to music.
– Volunteers playing a percussion instrument accompanying music increased body immunity levels.
– Music helps patients recover quickly while hospitalized.
– The pleasurable state which music induces to us can lead to changes in the body in terms of reducing stress and enhancing immunity.
– Different types of music have different effects. Researchers tested 300 people who listened for 50 minutes of happy dance music and music of other genres. The levels of stress hormones decreased significantly for those who listened to happy music than those in the control group. In the first group, the levels of the antibody immunoglobulin A (the first line of defense of the human immune system) increased significantly as well.
– Music preferred by the patient appears to have a greater impact on his health.
– It was noted that music therapy can be successfully used in patients with: Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease; autism; attention deficit disorder; insomnia; phobias; depression; and cancer.
But perhaps the most enjoyable music we hear is that from Mother Nature. Birds singing, the voice of the wind, the murmur of leaves, the ripples of rivers. Nature’s music is what heals and inspires us.
Music improves test results, shortens learning time, helps one focus, reduces human errors and enhances creativity, yet all music genres aren’t created equal. Loud and more abrasive genres like rock and metal might only distract you. My psychiatrist-brother told me years ago, “never play loud rock and heavy metal in the psychiatric ward.”
Makes sense, no?
Reminded me of the Senate situation some time ago...
To be concluded on June 19, 2026