There are countless benefits to learning music or art.
We talk about many of them in other articles you can find on our website.
Let’s be honest, though: most people don’t choose to paint or play the piano only to sharpen their minds (even if these activities do sharpen the mind).
Most people who want to make music or art—as well as the people who want to experience music and art—want to express themselves. They want to connect to themselves, to other people, and to the world around them.
In this article, we’re leaving the science aside for a moment so that we can look at the most immediate reasons why music and art are still around today.
Connecting With Yourself: Self-Expression
Let’s imagine that something happens to you.
Anything.
You get a good grade on a test.
You make a new friend.
You’re sad it’s raining again.
You’re bored because nothing fun ever seems to happen.
With emotions—any emotion—we naturally want to process it, express it, so that we can savour it better or simply move on to the next thing in our day.
Sitting down at the piano or picking up the paintbrush allows us to reflect our emotions back to ourselves.
The beautiful part about expressing ourselves to ourselves is that any emotion—even the worst emotion possible—can seem beautiful to us in music or in art. Many negative emotions are expressed in art, and we still appreciate the beauty of these works. This is a major gift that music and art give us: it is not so much the quality of what we are feeling that is important, it is that we are feeling. Strong feeling, no matter what it is, rewards us with a sense of our own humanity, lets us process large emotions, and helps us appreciate anything and everything that life puts in our path.
Strong feeling adds depth and value to life.
Connecting With Others: Community Expression
Art helps us reflect our inner lives back to ourselves, as we’ve just said.
It also helps us reflect ourselves to the community that surrounds us.
Let’s go back to the scenario where something happens to you. Anything at all.
It’s natural to want to clarify to yourself what you’re feeling and how to deal with what happened.
The other natural inclination we have is to share what we’re experiencing with others.
Of course, simply talking to a friend or family member is a great way to share experience and emotion. Music and art, however, are designed to be shared with others, and sometimes these art forms can express experiences and emotions that are very difficult to express in conversation.
Music and art are safe ways to express yourself with and for other people. These are time-honoured methods to create deep connections with the people who matter to you most: for them to see you, and for you to see them. Entire cultures, traditions, and even religions have originated from the power of art to connect people and enable them to share experience with each other. This is powerful stuff.
Overall, art and music are all about making connections, and making connections with the community around you is just as important as making connections with yourself. Humans are social beings. We need each other to help us know ourselves, just as others need us to know themselves. Art is the bridge that connects us to each other.
Connecting With The Moment: Focused Expression
Have you ever heard of the expression “being in the zone”? What about “in the flow”?
Whatever image comes to your mind with these expressions, you’re probably thinking of somebody who is deeply focused on the task at hand.
The concept of flow, or a flow state, was popularized by the Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 20th Century. This researcher did not invent the concept of the flow state, however; this has been around for a large part of human history. The meditating monk knows the flow state just as much as the mountain climber
Musicians and artists know the flow state particularly well, and Csikszenmihalyi takes special note of the value of art in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.
Som what is a flow state?
In short, it is a state of complete focus and absorption on the present task of the moment. The person in a flow state has no sense of time, has a pleasant feeling of control and capability, is well balanced between ease and difficulty of the task at hand, and finds the task inherently rewarding. In a word, the person in a flow state is . . . happy.
Art is a natural activity that connects the artist to the present moment. In this present moment, there is nothing else you need: you’ve got all that you want right in front of you. What more can anyone ask for?
It’s no wonder that art and music are so important to human culture.
Connect With Us
Whether it’s visual art and painting or music, the team at MiFa Music & Art School know how to walk the rewarding path of art. They do so in their own lives. Not only do they know how to help you progress—even if it’s your first step—they understand that the values which music and art give to life are as precious as they are unique.
Come explore the connections that art and music are waiting to offer you. Book your complimentary consultation session here.
