The preface tells some myths and legends about music and nature, reflecting reality in a unique way. It can enlighten our minds, enlighten us to understand the close relationship between music and provide some clues between them. However, if you really want to explore how music originated from nature, you can't rely on legends, but you must seriously examine the history of music's occurrence and development.

The word "music" is a very common word, and it is also a word that is very familiar to men, women and children, and needs no further explanation. However, if we really want to understand the relationship between music and nature, we need to start with the word music and understand its meaning. Open the dictionary and find the item "Music", and we will see the explanation under this item:

"Music is an art, which expresses people's thoughts and feelings and reflects real life through the artistic image formed by organized music. The basic elements of music are melody and rhythm, and other important means of expression are harmony, polyphony and orchestra. Music is the art of time, and only by playing and singing can the audience feel it and produce artistic effects? 6? 8? 6? 8"

Needless to say, from this passage, we can not only understand the meaning of the word music, but also understand the composition and basic elements of music, what it wants to express, and how its artistic appeal or artistic effect is produced. As you will see from the following description, all this is related to "nature".

(1) Music originates from nature.

As we all know, everything has its basic building blocks. Elements are made up of atoms, compounds are molecules, and organisms are cells. Music, like it, has its own "atom" or "cell", which is music.

Music refers to a relatively harmonious and pleasant sound, which originally exists in nature. When people walk into the forest, they will hear birds singing and sing together; When people walk to the water's edge, they will hear the water gurgling and the waves splashing. When people walk into the cave and knock on the white stalactite column, they will hear the tinkling sound echoing in the cave. Su Dongpo recorded this kind of music in nature in his Shi Zhongshan Collection. There are many "gaps" under Shi Zhongshan. When water sets off a shock wave, it will arouse the music like a bell and drum.

Between the two mountains, near the harbor, there is a big stone flowing in the middle, which can seat 100 people, and there are many tricks in the air. When it is mixed with geomantic omen, it will also sound the bells and drums of "Gu (653)".

Coincidentally, there is also a spring in Tunisia, which is called "Music Spring". The place where the music spring flows out is very similar to the terrain of Shi Zhongshan. And a hollow rock. When the water flows through here, it will be divided into thousands of streams, colliding with each other, singing to each other and making ever-changing sounds.

Nature's music is far more than that. Birds in spring, frogs in summer and cicadas in autumn are all music. Inspired by these music, our ancestors will naturally sing with the voice endowed by nature.

Different from the manual control of sounds by modern music synthesizers, the synthesis of these natural sounds, including human voices, follows natural laws (physical laws) independent of human voices. Its pitch is determined by pitch, and its timbre depends on the composition of harmony. The frequency and pitch of overtones form a certain proportional relationship. The intensity of pitch is the largest, while the intensity of harmonics decreases with the increase of the ratio of its frequency to the fundamental frequency. The frequency of fundamental frequency and the composition of harmonics are not determined by human beings, but are controlled by the physics of vibration and wave, that is, human voice. Singers only control the vocal methods and cannot change the physical laws. This variety of music reaches people's ears, and through the natural reaction of people's hearing organs, people "listen" to all kinds of pleasant sounds. This kind of natural music, as Su Dongpo said in his "Thousand Red Cliffs Fu", is "the voice of the ear", "inexhaustible, is the creator's infinite treasure." (1) However, can human beings only "passively" enjoy it forever?

What about the natural music generously given by this natural creation? Whatever the reason, in short, our ancestors did not make such a choice, but gave full play to people's unique creativity. While making various labor tools, they also made their own "playing music" tools-musical instruments.

However, is the "musical sound" produced by people through musical instruments completely isolated from nature?

Of course not. Many musical instruments are accompanied by touching legends closely related to natural music. In previous Greek mythology, the flute was caused by the natural ringing of reeds, while in China, there was a story that the flute was caused by the natural ringing of bamboo flute. Legend has it that there is a place called Ghost Country in Jiushi Mountain, Miao Ling. All the children of the Shui nationality here have a good voice and often sing loudly. The old emperor of Ghost Country was named Ben. Because he was born hoarse, he was very jealous of other people's beautiful singing. He ordered all singers to be beheaded. There is a stockade called Nanzhuzhai in the rock head of Jiushishan Mountain. There is a young craftsman named Zhulang in Nanzhuzhai, and there is also a beautiful one.

The country girl's name is Yamei. Both Zhulang and Yamei love singing. They sang wherever they went, regardless of the emperor's ban. One day, Zhulang and Yamei were singing on the slope when they suddenly heard a pleasant noise. Then follow the sound.

Looking around, I found that it was the sound of the wind blowing diabolo. Bamboo waves thought of a fresh way. He took a piece of bamboo, hollowed it out and dug seven holes in it. Bamboo waves play with their mouths and have a nice voice. He can also play different tunes. At Yamei's strong request, Zhu Lang named this instrument the flute.

Although Zhu Lang was later poisoned by the vicious emperor with poisoned wine, Yamei was also killed in the Golden Temple in order to resist the emperor's proposal. The musical instrument "bamboo flute" inspired by natural music has been preserved to this day.

Legend never needs to verify its authenticity, but it always has its "real" core. When we hear the unique, rich and moving bells of the great creative bells of our ancestors, who can draw an insurmountable gap between the craftsman's creation and the miracle produced by "nature" by comparing Su Dongpo's Shi Zhongshan? When listening to folk artists playing all kinds of birdsong in Birds of the Phoenix, who can argue that this music is not from the singing of birds in nature? Ji Kang's Fu Qin once wrote:

Remember those towering trees,

Backed by a towering hill;

Including the alcohol of heaven and earth,

Absorb the light from the sun and the moon

With the harmony between heaven and earth,

This is how music is closely linked with nature.

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Why listen to music?

1. Music is closely related to human evolution;

Recently, some scientists have suggested that music, like walking upright and language function, is an ability gradually formed by human beings in the process of evolution. It appeared in the early history of mankind and helped people to survive in harsh environment.

First of all, music is everywhere. From the three-step dance in the Amazon River to the hot dance in Amsterdam, music is regarded as an important and indispensable part no matter where the world is or what culture it is.

In fact, the "Divjebabeflute" carved on bones discovered by Slovenian scientists is the oldest musical instrument. This instrument can be traced back to 40,000 years ago. At that time, people all over Europe and North America were still covered with ice and snow.

If this oldest musical instrument has existed for 40 thousand years, then vocal music may have existed twice or more. Professor Harry estimates that there may have been music when the race was just formed.

Another fact that supports the biological basis of music is that some people can't distinguish tones after hearing loss in their brains, but when they see the lyrics of the corresponding songs, they can hear them in nine cases out of ten.

Of course, there are not a few people who are skeptical about this statement. Steven Pinker wrote a book entitled "How the Brain Works" in 1997. He said that compared with language, vision, social skills and physical strength, without music, human life style would not change fundamentally. Pinker thinks that music is something invented by people. Because it can make people's body and mind get great pleasure, it has been continuously continued and developed. In other words, people invent music because they like it.

Sandro Toja of the University of Toronto in the United States commented on Pinker's point of view, saying that his statement is very clever, but it is not correct. Toja Bo once traveled around the world, and she found that no matter where she was, her mother sang to her baby in almost the same way: high-pitched, slow and full of emotion. Although each culture has its own lullaby, they are so similar that even if you don't know the language at all, you won't miss it.

This gave her a revelation: music is not an invention of human beings. If we all use music to communicate with our baby, it is an instinctive way of mother-to-child communication.

Therefore, if music genes appeared in the early days of human beings, people with these music genes are more likely to have healthy offspring, and each generation will enjoy the benefits of music as a gift. Music makes everyone more attractive to the opposite sex. Even Darwin himself was satisfied with this explanation of music, but many scholars disagreed with this view, because from many situations in the biological world, peacocks attract the opposite sex with their tail feathers, moose attract the opposite sex with their antlers, and larks attract the opposite sex with their songs, but these phenomena are all manifested in male animals. For human beings, music is owned by both sexes.

Maybe we will never know how music developed in the long river of history, but in any case, music is our extremely precious wealth.

Music is also related to human health.

In recent years, many scientists have confirmed through scientific research that music has a positive effect on people's physical and mental health, and music has many wonderful functions.

An American medical scientist once counted the ages of 35 famous American music directors who died. Their average life expectancy is 73.4 years, five years higher than that of American men. According to surveys in Germany, Italy and other countries, people who often listen to music usually live 5~ 10 years longer than those who don't listen to music.

Music therapy has been popular in many countries, and the medical community has confirmed through clinical experiments that music is very effective in relaxing the body and mind, refreshing the mind and inducing sleep. Physiologically, music can cause changes in breathing, blood pressure, heart beating and blood flow. Some types of music can also stimulate the body to release a natural opium called endorphin, which can relax the body and mind and relieve pain.

From 65438 to 0972, the Polish government, at the suggestion of several pathologists and musicians, established the first "Music Therapy Institute", which was quite effective. Soon, state-owned hospitals such as Britain, America and Japan also adopted the method of music therapy. For example, listening to music three times a day after meals can treat neurogastritis; Listening to lyric music to hypertensive patients can lower blood pressure; Listening to soft and relaxing music to frightened people can make patients calm down and even return to normal.

Why does the human body react in a specific musical environment? Medical researchers believe that this is closely related to the rhythm of human cells themselves. When the vibration of human cells is in harmony with the external rhythm, people feel comfortable.

Westerners believe that listening to western music, especially classical music, has the best effect. Some experts pointed out that Schubert's music can help insomnia patients fall asleep, Bach's music can relieve indigestion, and Mozart's music can relieve the pain of rheumatoid arthritis. It is also said that Mozart's music can relieve fatigue and cheer up the spirit.

Medical circles in China have also conducted extensive research on the health-preserving function of music. According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, China's five tones (Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng and Yu) are consistent with the five elements (gold, wood, water, fire and earth). For example, Gong Yin is magnificent and broad, has the characteristics of "earth" and can enter the "spleen" in the five internal organs; Shang yin is pure and solemn, has the characteristics of "gold" and can enter the "lungs"; Horn sound belongs to "wood" and can enter "liver"; The phonetic symbol belongs to "fire" and can enter "heart"; Feather sound belongs to "water" and can enter "kidney" and five internal organs. Two seemingly different concepts interact through "five elements".

The so-called "suitable music environment" in the West is chosen according to the individual's physique in the East. For example, the "fire" type people should choose the music of "water" to reduce their impetuous emotions, the "water" type people should listen to the music of "fire" to enhance the function of kidneys, and the "wood" type people are indecisive and can listen to the music of "gold" to motivate themselves.

However, not all music is beneficial to people's physical and mental health. A foreign psychologist once analyzed 208 members of three different symphony orchestras. The results show that most band members who mainly play classical music are emotionally stable and happy. More than 70% of the members who play or mainly play modern music are nervous, more than 60% are impatient and more than 22% are depressed. Some people often suffer from insomnia, headache, earache and diarrhea. Others made a survey of some music lovers and found that people get along well with each other in families that often enjoy classical music; People who often enjoy romantic music are cheerful and positive; In a family keen on noisy modernist music, members often quarrel with each other. It is said that listening to this kind of concert for a long time strongly stimulates the nervous system and even destroys the normal function of the heart and vascular system.

Music is also closely related to children.

Listening to music can enhance memory.

A study by the Chinese University of Hong Kong shows that music training can not only improve Zhi Tao's temperament, but also enhance his memory of language.

Among the 60 female students in China University who were tested, the girls who had received music training as children could remember more written materials 17% than the girls who had not received music training.

Chen, a professor of psychology at the Chinese University who is in charge of this research, said that previous studies on brain intelligence found that musicians' left brains are larger than the average person, and their left brains may be more developed than the average person, and their left brains are also mainly responsible for language memory. Therefore, receiving formal music training is likely to make people's left brain develop better; Even the language forgetting ability controlled by the left brain has been improved together.

This study is also good news for some amnesia patients whose language ability is affected. Because learning music does not require language skills, if patients have the opportunity to learn and enjoy music, their memory may gradually improve.

Developing children's musical memory

Cultivating children's musical memory is an important part of intellectual development and the basis of creating musical activities.

How to cultivate children's musical memory?

1, review in time and repeat the memory method. When cultivating children's musical memory, children should be required to sing some songs or dance every day. Generally repeated 3 ~ 4 times, most children can remember. However, because children begin to forget quickly, especially a lot in a short time, and then gradually decrease, the principle of "keeping secrets first and then sparse" should be adopted in repeated practice to avoid forgetting.

2. Image Intuition Method Because children are young, their thinking methods are mainly image and intuition, and their feelings are quick, adults should use image intuition method to develop children's musical memory.

3. In music activities, adults should mobilize children's various senses and conduct memory training through various forms and channels.

4. Integrate memory training into children's daily activities. Imagination is extremely active and rich in the game, and memory develops in repeated activities. Adults should let children have fun in the game and develop their memory.

Music can make children look beautiful.

According to the research of American scientific research department, listening to music often can change children's appearance and make them beautiful.

From a genetic point of view, a person's facial appearance is determined by genetic genes. If you want to fundamentally change your appearance, you must go to the hospital for plastic surgery. However, experts point out that using music can change the appearance of young children.

Often let children listen to some cheerful music and stimulate their nerves with music, which will make children grow up healthily physically and mentally. Japan Early Childhood Development Association has tried this method and achieved good results. They gathered dozens of newborn children and took photos and videos one by one as the original material. Then Mozart's serenade is played three times a day, morning, afternoon and evening. It didn't cause any changes at first, but after four months, these children's faces have changed a lot, their expressions are more lively and coordinated than ordinary children, and even their eyes are fundamentally different from ordinary children.

It can be seen that letting children listen to beautiful music in early childhood can not only develop their intelligence, but also make their faces beautiful. It can be seen that the charm of music is endless.

How does music promote children's intellectual development

At present, the popular prenatal education music is very popular. Those melodious, gentle and euphemistic tunes can not only make the mother feel relaxed and happy, but also infect the fetus in the mother's body, so that the "intrauterine world" in which they live is as full of sunshine as that outside the mother's body, thus making them healthy, beautiful and intelligent. Why can music promote children's intellectual development?

When people enjoy music, adults and children will feel intoxicated. Music can make you forget the world around you and enter a fairy-tale world. No wonder psychologists often call for making good use of beautiful music to adjust mood and cultivate sentiment. For children, they have a good impression on music from before birth and continue to develop their love for music after birth. At the age of 3 or 4, they have initially acquired the ability to appreciate music. Music can make children enjoy a deep love and make their mood full of joy. This kind of emotion will promote the development of the nervous system, regulate the blood flow and the activity function of the nervous system, and is conducive to the development of children's memory, understanding, imagination and thinking ability.

Many scholars have studied music and found that different timbre, tone, rhythm, melody and sound quality of music will have different effects on human body, such as sedation, analgesia and mood regulation. Human emotion is a complex activity, which is closely related to hypothalamus and limbic lobe of cerebral cortex. Therefore, wonderful music can make children feel happy. This happy mood can effectively improve and adjust the physiological functions of cerebral cortex and limbic lobe, thus making the child's nervous system develop more perfectly. This role is incomparable to other education, which is also the reason why the works of those music masters have been spread all over the world and lasted for a long time.

Children's musical activities include singing, music appreciation, rhythm instruments, music games and dancing. Through these activities, children have enhanced their ability to appreciate music and broadened their knowledge horizons, which has amazing effects not only on ordinary children, but also on children with mental retardation. There was once a child with "mental retardation". Under the training of the school music teacher, from listening to music to participating in percussion performances, my intelligence has been greatly improved by dancing with music. This cannot but explain the great role of music in children's intellectual enlightenment.

Some families have prepared musical instruments for their children so that they can learn music from an early age. This kind of play makes children's hands more coordinated. As Atlas, a professor of medicine at the University of California, pointed out after years of research: "People who learn to play musical instruments can promote the development of the two hemispheres of the brain because of the frequent movements of the nerve endings of their left and right fingers." Because when playing, vision, hearing, touch and the whole body must be in a coordinated and positive state, which can train children's thinking, attention and memory and stimulate imagination and creativity. Experiments show that children who study music learn other courses faster.

Therefore, parents should not ignore the power of music. This power may not be obvious for a short time, and finally, the hidden ability will eventually emerge.

Music is the unity of physical and psychological feelings.

Music has the function of treating diseases because it can play a special role in people's psychological state and physical condition. This effect is achieved through psychological and physiological effects.

Psychologically, music can directly affect people's emotions and behaviors. We know that music has various beats and rhythms, and the human body also has various physiological rhythms, such as pulse and breathing. If well coordinated, music can adjust the physiological rhythm. Because the human body has an obvious instinct to follow the rhythm of music, the speed of music rhythm can also drive the rhythm of body movements, and the "chant" in folk songs can reflect this effect. As a therapeutic method, the function of music can act on psychology through artistic appeal, which can not only enhance the disease resistance of human body, but also eliminate mental retardation. Rhythmic music can stimulate people's emotions, such as military music and March music, which can make people excited, excited and excited; Melodious music can make people feel quiet and relaxed. In addition, music can also affect people's mood through tone. This phenomenon was noticed as early as ancient Greece. They think that E is stable, D is warm, C is slow, B is sad and A is high.

We know that people's emotional activities are closely related not only to the cerebral cortex, but also to the endocrine system, autonomic nervous system, hypothalamus and limbic system. The limbic system of the brain is the highest center that regulates and dominates the activities of human internal organs. In this way, relaxing, pleasant, comfortable and pleasant music can improve and strengthen the functions of cerebral cortex, cerebral limbic system and autonomic nervous system, so as to better control and enhance the normal activities of various internal organs of human body. However, music therapy is not simply to get curative effect from appreciation, but as an activity to achieve therapeutic effect. Because music itself is a kind of structure, it is a practical and regular organization composed of various notes. Patients who want to participate in music therapy activities should learn and pay attention to the whole picture of music from beginning to end. In this way, patients must concentrate and make some efforts, that is, train their concentration and concentration ability through music activities, which many patients, especially those with mental illness and mental illness, just lack. At the same time, music activities can also cultivate patients to master or restore some new skills, such as mastering the melody, tone, rhythm and harmony of various music through singing, and the ability to coordinate with others. Through the performance of musical instruments, master the performance, playing methods and mutual cooperation ability of various musical instruments; This can encourage patients to increase the fun of life and understand the meaning of life, thus enhancing the initiative and self-confidence of life, which is conducive to physical and mental health.

In terms of physiological function, music can affect the physiological function of human body through sound. Sound is the vibration of sound waves and a kind of physical energy. Music, on the other hand, is a sound wave vibration with a certain frequency, which acts on various vibration systems in human body to produce beneficial vibration and coordinate the rhythm of various organs. This harmony is an important factor beneficial to physical and mental health. On the other hand, beautiful musical sound waves act on the brain to improve the excitability of nerves, and through the regulation of neurohumors, promote the human body to secrete some substances beneficial to health, such as hormones, enzymes, acetylcholine, etc., and play a role in regulating blood flow, promoting blood circulation, gastrointestinal peristalsis and saliva secretion, and strengthening metabolism, thus making people energetic and full of youthful vitality. In foreign countries, using music instead of narcotic drugs for caesarean section and tooth extraction is by no means simply relying on diverting patients' attention or implying the effect. Like acupuncture, it has a physiological and biochemical basis. The mechanism of acupuncture analgesia is not completely clear, but it has been found to be related to the increase of endorphins in human body. Therefore, different rhythm, melody, speed and coordination of music can show different effects such as sedation, excitement, analgesia, blood pressure reduction and mood regulation.

Because music can affect people's physiological activities, psychological activities, especially emotional activities, people can use music to improve and adjust the physiological and psychological functions of the human body, so as to achieve the purpose of treating diseases, strengthening the body and promoting health.