How Does Music Affect Us?
“The Power of Music in Everyday Life”
How Music Makes us Feel
If you think about the many ways music makes us feel, it’s complex. Music can affect our mood in so many ways just by the beat of the rhythm and tone that we hear when we listen to music.
When we listen to rhythm our heart begins to synchronise with it. Whether it’s a fast or slow piece of music this can affect our emotions — A slow heartbeat and musical rhythm send a message to our brain that something sad is happening. Very fast-beating sounds have more to do with excitement, while a gentle and dreamlike rhythm with occasional upbeats can usually be a sign of love or joy.
Music is a big part of my life, I enjoy listening to all kinds of music genres. I find it inspires me to write new songs of my own.
I like to hear light and shade throughout a piece of music, these are qualities in music that give a certain tone or mood and are just as important as the rhythm.
If we take a look at a “major key” piece of music, it will usually be a happy communication to our brain, while a “minor key” piece would feel sadder to us. Although, minor music can be happy even if people do not understand the lyrics, such as in Van Morrison’s ‘Moondance’ for example.
There are many examples of minor-happy and major-sad musical pairings. Just for a bit of fun, check out this version of R.E.M.’s famously gloomy song ‘Losing My Religion’ on YouTube, It’s been digitally shifted to a major key. You’ll notice how it has a different emotional effect on the original.
These are all the type of areas that have a very strong effect on us, which makes our brain feel what’s being communicated to us through music.
Research by Dr. Jason Rentfrow from The University of Cambridge shows that, ‘’even though our assumptions may not be accurate, we get a very strong impression about someone when we ask them what music they like’’.
Looking at some scientific research on how a piece of music is considered rewarding to an individual when it is heard for the first time, it shows the strength of certain neural connections can predict how much you like the music and the decision to purchase music and that these preferences are guided by what you’ve heard and enjoyed in the past.
When we listen to joyful music, our brains usually produce chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine, which make us feel happy. The same happens when we listen to relaxing, soothing music or hard, loud, angry, darker music that can also cause several different emotions.
Music is a really special thing, it may cause you to feel joyful, sad, angry, uptight, excited and hyped up, relaxed etc and sometimes you can feel lot’s of different emotions during a particular song.
I have found it interesting to delve into the scientific research available online, as research shows music not only affects what kind of mood we may be in, but we also seem to have a habit of choosing music based on the moods we are already feeling and we will generally end up wanting to listen to that type of music.
If you do feel like you’re picking certain music that makes a negative mood worse for example — try to turn this around by choosing a piece of music that can help reverse the feeling to a happier and positive vibe.
Looking after our mental health and well-being
Recently music has been seen as beneficial for depression recovery, however, according to research it does depend on the type of music we listen to — Classical and meditative sounds seem to be uplifting for people, while heavy metal and techno have been known to make depressive symptoms worse in some cases.
Whilst we’re living under social distancing rules and lockdown due to the current health crisis of 2020 with Covid-19, many of us are turning to our favourite tunes for comfort which is understandable at this time. Music is helping us to relax, reflect, grieve, keep fit and even dance around while we follow the orders to stay at home and keep safe.
Hope you enjoy creating your favourite playlists.
Written By Becky Gregory.
