Why Music Affects Us
MUSIC and language are uniquely human. A world without either would be hard to imagine. “Both language and music are characteristics of the human species that seem to be universal,” says the book The Musical Mind. They are aspects of our need to communicate. So it could be said that, as is true of language, when music “speaks” our emotions “listen.”
Why and how does music speak to our emotions? To answer that, we need to consider: (1) the musical elements themselves and the way that our brains process them; (2) our emotional makeup and cultural backgrounds, which influence our reaction to music; and (3) language, which can also affect our reaction.
The Musical Elements
The characteristics of music are often referred to as “musical elements.” These elements include the tone, or timbre, of an instrument. For example, the French horn has been described as “portentous,” or heavy, and its sound as quite different from the “haughty” trumpet. Although both belong to the same family, or group, of wind instruments, each of them produces overtones, or harmonics, of varying strength. This is what gives each instrument its unique “voice.” Composers use these qualities to create certain sonic effects to stir the emotions of the listener.
Probably one of the first elements we become familiar with is rhythm—perhaps while we are still in the womb, listening to our mother’s heartbeat. It has been said that response to musical rhythm may be subconsciously influenced by our heartbeat or even our breathing. Hence, it may be no coincidence that most people appear to prefer musical tempo ranges between 70 and 100 beats per minute—the same range as the average heart rate of a healthy adult. At least this is what is suggested in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills.
The great musical variety that these elements can produce becomes evident when a range of instruments and the sounds and melodies they produce are considered. The haunting voice of the bassoon in the second movement of Mozart’s concerto for bassoon may evoke deep emotions and feelings. The plaintive sound of a Japanese shakuhachi flute may delicately touch the heart. The husky sound of the tenor saxophone makes a blues melody linger in the minds of many. The oompah of a tuba in a German band usually stirs up feelings of exuberance. The lilting strains of violins playing a Strauss waltz move many listeners to want to get onto the dance floor. Such effects are produced because “music speaks to the entire human being,” according to Clive E. Robbins, of the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Center, in New York.
Harmony, Discord, and Melody
Harmony produces pleasing sounds, while discord produces harsh ones. But did you know that these elements complement each other in some music? A piece of music that sounds harmonious probably has more discord in it than you would imagine. The constant interaction of harmony and discord provides a vacillating, though mostly imperceptible, rise of tension, which finds its release in our emotions. This gentle emotional rocking is soothing, whereas discordant music alone can grate on the nerves and evoke unpleasant feelings—much as scraping fingernails on a slate or chalkboard would. On the other hand, if music is based only on harmony, it can be boring.
Melody is the tuneful arrangement of single notes in succession. According to some authorities, the word is derived from the Greek word meʹlos, meaning “song.” Melody, according to dictionaries, is sweet music, any sweet sound.
However, it is not just any succession of sounds that makes a sweet melody. For example, large intervals occurring frequently between successive notes may make a melody dramatic but not sweet. On the other hand, notes flowing by with few big intervals can make a pleasant melody. The different arrangements of notes and intervals give a melody a sad or happy character. As with harmony, a melody creates its own tension and release, affecting our emotions because of the rise and fall of the pitch—that is, how high or low a note sounds.
When combined, all these elements create powerful forces that can stimulate or soothe our emotions. This is because of the various ways our brains perceive and process the music.
Music and the Brain
Some suggest that language and logic are predominantly functions of the left side of the brain, while music is processed in the right side of the brain, which deals largely with feelings and emotions. Whether this is so or not, it is obvious that music evokes spontaneous reactions from listeners. The journal Perceptual and Motor Skills expresses it this way: “Music has the power to create feelings and emotions in a quick and effective manner. What in a book would require many sentences for description . . . , in music can often be conveyed by just one measure or one chord.”
As to the interaction between seeing and hearing and the responses to each of these, the book Music and the Mind makes this interesting observation: “There is a closer relation between hearing and emotional arousal than there is between seeing and emotional arousal. . . . Seeing a wounded animal or suffering person who is silent may produce little emotional response in the observer. But once they start to scream, the onlooker is usually powerfully moved.”
Music, Lyrics, and You
One school of thought maintains that a given piece of music has a similar effect on all listeners. However, another says that reaction to a melody or song reflects an individual’s present state of mind or previous experience. An example of this might be when someone who has lost a loved one in death hears a certain song, perhaps at a place of worship. The song may bring back memories and cause sadness or even cause tears to well up in the bereaved person’s eyes. Others who are not in that situation may sing that same song with a joyful heart.
Also consider the descriptions of the French horn and the trumpet given earlier. You may not agree that a French horn sounds portentous. To you it may sound boisterous or playful, whereas the trumpet may seem more soulful. Within each of us, there is a unique fountain of feelings that music can cause to well up—thus, we respond in our own way.
Music helps to connect words or ideas with emotions. Hence, few television or radio advertisements are presented without musical accompaniment. Often the words do not make much sense. However, if the right background music is used, the advertisement will play on the listeners’ emotions. How true it is that the aim of most advertising is to make buying an emotional response rather than a logical one!
Whereas advertising may have an undesirable effect on the public’s pocket, there is a much more serious downside to the power of lyrics and music. The Journal of Youth and Adolescence suggests that through lyrics repeated over and over again, songwriters teach adolescents to disregard others’ opinions and to “hang tough.” According to another source, the messages conveyed by “controversial rap lyrics . . . , more graphic than their heavy metal counterparts,” can permeate the emotional makeup of the listener and result in antisocial behavior.
Could negative reactions be prevented if a person just listened to the music and ignored the lyrics? Well, it has to be acknowledged that to a great extent, the words in heavy metal and rap music are difficult to hear. In fact, they often become almost unintelligible above the extraordinarily loud volume of the music. Yet, words or no words, the message is still there in the pulsating rhythm and the repeated melody!
How so? Well, some of the titles alone create images. Further, the kind of music itself is often the message. What message is being conveyed? One youth journal says: “It appears to be an imagery of power, potency, and sexual conquest.” Another says: “The basic themes . . . are extreme rebellion, violence, substance abuse, sexual promiscuity, perversion, and Satanism.”
Some youths claim that while this may be true, it does not affect them negatively. They will argue that such music is beneficial because it helps them to ‘find themselves’ as individuals. Does it? The Journal of Youth and Adolescence notes: “The anger, oppositional themes, and power some boys identify with in heavy metal may be especially welcome at the end of the day for low achieving boys after enduring a day in school of being told one does not measure up.” It then adds: “The irony or puzzle is that adolescents’ quest for a more secure and authentic self involves use of a public, shared medium. Rather than seeking truly unique experiences in their solitude, adolescents reach out to packaged images provided by a commercial industry.” In other words, someone else is telling these young people what to think and how to feel.
Let us look at rock concerts. What effect do they have on the throngs who attend them? The book Music and the Mind answers: “There can be no doubt that, by heightening crowd emotions and by ensuring that those emotions peak together rather than separately, music can powerfully contribute to the loss of critical judgement, the blind surrender to the feelings of the moment, which is so dangerously characteristic of crowd behaviour.” Some of the scenes of wild abandon at rock concerts demonstrate the truthfulness of that statement.
So, to avoid contamination of the mind and the heart, we must be very selective in our choice of music. How can we do that? Our concluding article will answer this question.
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Music often makes listeners want to dance