Welch 1 Jordan Welch 1103-10 Mrs. Thomas 4/22/2013 Can Music Cure Autism? Music.

How does it affect you? How does it change you? How does it help/hurt you? In many ways people can tell that music has some sort of effect on them. Whether it be making them happy, sad, angry, relaxed, or even depressed. I would venture to say that music has an effect on everyone. Even those people who suffer from mental illnesses. You wouldnt suspect that a mental illness could be cured with music. but I believe not only that it can be cured but that it can also be triggered. As a musician, I understand the concept of how music can change the way you feel. Every chord has a distinct sound. Most major chords sound happy, and most minor chords sound dark and depressing. This is why music could change your current mood. Music almost seems to change the way you think when you hear certain chords. Some chords have an almost healing effect. These chords, the ones that seem to heal, I will refer to as cures. As for the minor chords, some of these can put you into a state of sadness or bring back memories that are usually dreary. These chords will be referred to as triggers. The cures are the healing chords, the chords that can turn that frown upside down. The triggers are the chords that can trigger a mental illness such as depression, schizophrenia or bipolar.

Welch 2 Now just because I have separated the chords does not mean that each set of chords can only function under my predetermined groups. If a song is written in all cure chords it can still be a trigger in some peoples minds. This is why it is tough for science to grasp the mental affect of music. Everyone reacts to music in a different manner. Everyone hears something in a song that speaks to them personally. Even the writer of the song cannot grasp every meaning that people will take from their song. People have different reactions, everyone knows this. Even if a songwriter tries to write a song to have a certain emotion triggered, while it may trigger that emotion for one person on one day, it could have a completely different emotion triggered on the next day. Musical emotions are hard to predict because they are determined by mood. Now is where it gets a little tricky. Those people who suffer from autism and several other mental illnesses have a lack of emotions. Now, if they have a lack of emotions how can music affect them since music relies on the emotions to trigger feelings?