By Mariam Feleyeh, Sophia Lim and Alana Tutasi
Staff Writers
A teen girl had lost herself in a dark time in her life. She turned to music, which brought her joy during that time, and found herself again. She used music as an outlet for her emotions and started a club at Summit Shasta, Music Club, for teens like her to do the same.
“I remember I was going through a really depressing, hard time,” recalls Chloe Abinanti, founder of Music Club at Summit Shasta. “The only thing that seemed to get me through at the moment was music.”
Music is used as a place of escape for many people. In fact, many people claim that music has saved their life. Several musical artists have recognized that and written songs about suicide prevention in order to help even more people through that time. Twenty One Pilots, Sia and Logic have all written songs to help people deal with depression and suicidal thoughts. If you or anyone you know has suicidal thoughts, call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text the Crisis Text Line at 741741.
Music Saves Lives is an organization devoted to using music to educate people about suicide prevention. Music is an outlet for people suffering; it brings people together and helps people get through tough times in their life. Without music, how knows how many people would have died?
Many people are even able to make a living out of music therapy, which is an evidence-based use of music that helps improve people’s mental health. In her article “How Music Saved My Life,” a women depicts the time her brother committed suicide. She had been seeing how music helps her patients through traumatic experiences for years, so she turned to song writing to help herself do the same. “When all I felt was numb, rhythms and chords helped me feel something again.”
Not only can music help to brighten your life, but it can also help you to brighten others. According to greatergood.berkeley.edu, music can actually make you a better person. Listening to certain types of music can make you more generous and more cooperative. It can also change your attitude toward people who are different from you. “The love of music that I share with my friends is something that’s a big impact. The love of music and the same music brought us together,” Onosa’i Tafilele, a Shasta senior, said.
Many people have a similar experience to Tafilele. Music has created bonds of people who would’ve never expected to be friends. Music can also change people’s emotions. Just reading the lyrics of their favorite song can put people in a good mood. “Music has a really big influence on me, and it makes me feel really good,” Aaliyah Aumavae, a Shasta sophomore, said.
One of the main reasons why music can help so many people through awful times is that it changes people’s perspective on life. “I know a lot of artists have made music because of certain disasters in their lives, and something that is perceived as negative could also be seen as something positive and a place of development and growth,” Abinanti said.
Another positive effect of music is that it increases your productivity. According to mission.org, “In 1972, a study published in Applied Ergonomics suggested that people doing repetitive tasks worked more efficiently when background music was played.” There are several other instances where people have performed better when listening to music.
While music can and has changed many people’s lives for the better, it can have negative effects as well. “Music can make us do a lot of things. People hear stuff in songs, and they decided that they want to do it; for example, drugs, alcohol and things like that,” Tafilele said. Moana Mau, a sophomore at Summit Shasta, also believes that songs can make people feel the need for unhealthy things. “A lot of songs nowadays are talking about money, and people want to get their money, but they’re not really focusing on the true meaning of life, which is really just happiness,” Mau said.
Music has a powerful impact on everyone, especially today’s younger generation. It can bring out the worst or the best in people, but it is always a major part of our life.
See below for a video about music’s influence on today’s younger generation:
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