The Incredible Influential Power of Music

What is it about music that moves us in so many different ways? The rhythm begins and we slide onto the dance floor, gyrating to the beats; a guitar strikes a chord and we throw ourselves into the crowd, surfing across a sea of hands; a favourite song comes on the radio and we sing along at the top of our voices, oblivious to the looks of bemusement coming from other drivers stuck in the traffic jam.

The right songs can change the way we feel in an instant, as effective as the mood pills consumed in Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

I had the good fortune to attend a live performance of Beethoven's legendary 9th Symphony. While it is something of a cliché - and perhaps exaggeration - to call this "the greatest music ever written" it's certainly an intensely powerful experience which has endured the test of time, remaining one of the most popular pieces on the classical repertoire....<<<Read More>>>...