You may not notice it, but music heavily influences literature. When you go to watch a play or watch a movie, you may notice the music that they’re playing with it. What you don’t notice is the importance of the music that’s playing.

Music has been used in many different forms of literature, all the way as far back as Shakespeare. In many of his plays, he used background music to set the tone and feeling of a part of the play. That is just one of the many ways music influences literature.

Music, if written right, can help tell a story. In the plays of the Jacobean and the Elizabethan era, the use of different instruments such as woodwinds and stringed instruments were representative of different kinds of emotions. Typically, when something bad is about to happen, they’ll have the oboe play. For other times, certain instruments would be used just for comedic effect in a play, or when the characters’ emotions are sad.

In a play when the character is sad you can see, but it doesn’t really feel like it. By adding music or instruments, you can really feel what the character is feeling. Music and sounds don’t apply to just your hearing, they can apply to other senses, such as taste and sight, and with this it helps the viewer better understand the character and makes their emotions more understandable.

Music not only helps with plays, but it can help with reading as well. According to a study by Belmont University, for some people, listening to music acts a lot like a stimulus and usually enhances the productivity of people. When listening to music while reading, it usually helps you feel more relaxed and helps you get into whatever you’re reading better.

It can also enhance your cognitive performance. Research shows that when listening to music, it can help you comprehend what you are reading better, and helps you develop reading patterns as you continue reading. Music can also help if you are in a noisy environment. Typically people have difficulty trying to read in a noisy environment, like a subway, a restaurant, even at the park. Music can help you tune out everyone around you and therefore you can read better.

In conclusion, music can really complement and heavily influence all different kinds of literature, ranging from plays, to just a book. When reading this, there is probably some sort of music playing around you and you don’t even notice it. A lot of the music goes unnoticed because when you hear it, usually you’re there for the play or just for reading. While such a small detail, it can greatly affect and impact whatever you’re doing.