January 14th, 2011 by Conor

We are having some debate here on the graveyard shift. We got word that it is ok to play music for Danny. MIchelle suggested that we play him classical music. Her argument:

“Classical music affects the brain’s organization and abilities, through its melody and rhythm. The rhythm raises the level of serotonin produced in your brain. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, involved in the transmission of nerve impulses that helps maintaining joyous feelings. When the brain produces serotonin, tension is eased. In fact depression is a consequence of the scarce production of this hormone. Serotonin is released when the brain is “positively shocked”. For instance: if we look at a splendid painting, smell a delicious scent, feel an extraordinary sensation, eat something delicious or listen to some charming music, then the brain lets off a certain amount of serotonin which arouses and maximizes pleasant feelings. Music’s rhythm can also stimulate other natural cadences of the body, resembling the heartbeat, or the Alfarhythm of the brain, and this effect is used to counter the development of clinical depression. The melody instead, is the “sparkle” that catalyses the creative process in our minds. The commonly known “Mozart effect” is a phenomena that suggests the improvement on the performance of spatio-temporal reasoning and short-term memory through the listening of complex music, such as Mozart’s two-piano concertos.” -Classicalforums.com

I plan on diving deeper for further knowledge. In the meantime, feel free to chime in with your thoughts on the matter.
-Michelle

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I think that we should listen to good music. I realize that “good” music for a lot of people is in fact classical music, however, not for Danny. Danny can’t really stand classical music. My dad happens to love classical. On a long car ride with Dad you can actually watch Danny’s mood quickly decline. My suggestion is that we listen to the type of music that Danny loves. He digs a good snowboard sound track or even a rare hot off of pimp mix 1-17. Now my inclination is that Notorious BIG might not be quite so appropriate in this situation but I still think he would rather hear that then classical. My suggestion is that we listen to a mellow collection of artsists such as Mumford and Sons, Empire of the Sun, Ghostland Observatory, Passion Pit, Ghostland Observatory, Bon Iver, etc.

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So what should we do? We need your help. Do we stick with classical or is everything fair game?

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On the music tip BIG thank you to Jason Stevens for fixing my Pandora problem. Danny and I are both stoked about that.