December 2025

Musick Hath Charms.... 
Why you really need your home audio sound system.
Article By Roger Skoff

  Did you ever hear a quotation like "Music has power to charm the savage beast"? Although practically everybody has, and practically everybody guesses it to be by William Shakespeare, the real quote is actually "Musick hath charms to soothe a savage breast" and it was written (originally as "Musick has Charms to soothe a savage Breast, To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.") by William Congreve as part of his tragic play The Mourning Bride, first performed in 1697.

Although most people seem to get just about everything about the quotation (date, source, words) wrong, the fact is that it's far truer than many may think, and music may actually have real benefits for us as audiophiles.

Besides just its hobby value, listening to music has actual physical benefits. Scientific research increasingly supports the idea that music has measurable healing effects—physically, emotionally, and neurologically. One example that immediately comes to mind is the music played while we're in the chair at a dentist's office. It's not just Muzak, but actually one of the ways the dentist relaxes us and reduces our perception of pain.

And the effect comes not just from distraction. An analysis in 2016 of 97 randomized controlled trials including over 9,000 participants found that treatment involving music significantly reduced acute and chronic pain across a variety of medical conditions and procedures. This is not just psychological or diversion, either. Listening to music actually lowers the perception of pain by releasing dopamine to activate the brain's reward centers or acts to reduce stress hormones. Clinically applied music therapy has been successfully used to treat depression, anxiety, PTSD, and trauma, and has been found to help patients express emotions nonverbally and reframe negative experiences.

Although it will be no surprise to those of us who find ourselves remembering past times and feelings—or even tapping our toes or wanting to get up and dance when we hear a favorite piece of music—sophisticated testing with the very latest electronic devices and techniques (I personally prefer a good High‑End system) has confirmed that music can stimulate multiple regions of the brain at once, including those for memory, emotion, and motor control. Listening to music has even helped patients with Alzheimer's disease or dementia to regain memories thought to have been lost permanently.

And, regardless of age or health, this applies to everyone: Listening to calming music can lower blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate, promoting relaxation and recovery from illness. Some studies even suggest that listening to music enhances our health by improving immune function, reducing stress-induced inflammation, and improving sleep quality. (Even though my bedroom system isn't remarkable, it's good enough, and I always leave it playing at bedtime.)

Experts say music's curative power derives from its ability to synchronize brainwave activity, modulate the autonomic nervous system, reduce emotional stress, create a feeling of emotional well-being, and foster social connection and the creation of meaning, especially in group settings like choirs or drum circles. That's the clinical side, but the story goes deeper. In hospitals, music therapy is used to reduce post‑operative pain, labor pain, and chronic conditions like fibromyalgia. Stroke patients relearn motor function by walking to a musical beat; cancer patients find relief from anxiety and nausea, and, even in a hospice setting, music can bring emotional closure and spiritual peace.

Neurologically, music has been shown to preserve memory even when other faculties decline. Familiar songs can trigger autobiographical recall, reduce agitation, and improve social interaction. Singing therapies help aphasia patients recover speech by engaging both hemispheres of the brain. Neurochemically, music increases dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin—the neurotransmitters linked to pleasure, bonding, and mood regulation—while reducing cortisol, the stress hormone that undermines immunity and fuels inflammation.

Psychologically, music provides a safe way to process trauma. For those with difficulty articulating pain, drum circles or musical "jam" sessions can help regulate arousal and reconnect fragmented identity. Structured activities like songwriting or guided imagery with music improve mood and reduce mental wandering. Group singing fosters belonging and shared resonance. And beyond therapy, music helps people reframe suffering, find coherence in chaos, and connect to transcendent narratives. If Viktor Frankl's writings about healing coming from meaning (logotherapy) were correct, music is one of the most immediate ways to find it.

Music has always been closely tied with spirituality and religion, too, and we now know that its effects can be physical: Chanting, hymns, and sacred songs have all been proven to have the ability to induce altered states, to facilitate prayer, and to enact communal healing. Gregorian chants, for example, synchronize the breathing and heart rates of the participants, inducing meditative calm. Music may be seen as a divine language—nonverbal, universal, and emotionally direct. A way of reaching our souls and harmonizing our bodies through our ears.

So what does all this mean for us, as audiophiles and music lovers? It means that, even beyond the joy we know ourselves to have in our systems and the music we listen to on them, there are other aspects to our hobby that we may never even have considered. One of those is, of course, that listening to music is actually good for us—not just in terms of the entertainment, intellectual expansion, and cultural broadening it provides, but actually in terms of our physical and emotional health. And, having said that, this now seems to be the ideal time to bring up another quote from Congreve—also usually misquoted and mis-attributed: "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" (actually, "Heav'n has no rage like love to hatred turn'd, nor Hell a fury like a woman scorn'd." – which explains why it may be so often misquoted.)

That was written for the same play, The Mourning Bride, and it may very well apply to our own bride or significant other, if we have one. When she says you're spending more time with your system than with her, or that those speakers are ugly; that preamp is too expensive; or simply that "You're not putting that stuff in my living room", just say to her that music is healthy and that you're only doing or buying whatever it is to make her live longer and healthier. That might be the ultimate defense against problems of W.A.F. (Wife Acceptance Factor).

So the next time someone questions your system, remember: It's not indulgence—it's medicine. And the prescription is simple: play it loud, play it clear, play it often. 

Now, go put a disc on your ‘table, lean back, close your eyes and... 

Enjoy the music!

 

Roger Skoff