Beethoven composed some amazing music in his life. The movie about Beethoven (Immortal Beloved) shows how he was deaf when he composed many songs, like Ode to Joy. The effect that song has on a listener, as well as others songs, is something depicted in the movie. Beethoven's music would play, and both married and single women looked like their hearts were about to fall out of their chests with their heavy breathing, as they appeared ready to pounce on Beethoven. The music basically seduced women, at least that's how it was depicted. It pulled on their emotional strings.
The eyes may be the windows to the soul, but I have called music the key to the soul. There is something unique and almost magical about music itself. I can watch a show or movie with a sad scene, but the visuals only carry the emotion so far. It's really when the sad music starts that emotional reactions get amplified -- at least for me. I know it's not real since it's a movie, but the effect music has is undeniable and overriding at times.
I know if I listen to some older music I used to listen to at some point in the past, the music summons feelings from the past, like it's an emotional memory tied to what was listened to in that past time.
Listen to any music and it will be carrying emotional energy with it, from Bach to the Beatles and Justin Beaber. Different music affects different people in different ways. Sometimes the energy of music not only moves us psychologically through our emotions, but it can also get us moving physically.
Music hits us at many levels of being, deep to our core. It breaks past conventions and cultures of any era. But our preferred type of music hits us the most, be it rock or classical. The brain reacts differently to what we dislike, like and even what's a favorite.
In a recent study, 21 people had an fMRI hooked up to look at the brain activity when they listened to five genres of music that they liked or disliked -- classical, country, rap, rock and Chinese opera -- and one song they considered their favorite.
The preferences people had, not the music itself, ended up having the greatest impact on brain connectivity, especially the default mode network for internally focused thought, empathy and self-awareness. Music that was disliked showed a poorly connected default mode network, with liked music having more connectivity, and favorite music having the most connectivity. Favorite music had additional activity in the connectivity between auditory regions and memory and social emotion regions.
In all the studies about how a certain type of music is the "best" for brain activity, it seems this study corrects that misunderstanding. The real activity seem to come from what we enjoy hearing. The preferences we have are uniquely individual, with variations in the acoustic complexity and presence of lyrics. Similar emotional states can be invoked, not by the same music, but by each persons' individual preferences, be it rock or rap.
As I mentioned above about past emotional states arising from hearing music again, the past experiences have an effect on related memories that are tied to music, but there is also the experience of listening to music for the first time. As the author of the study Dr. Jonathan Burdette puts it: "In some cases, you might not even like the particular song, but you like the memories or feelings that you associate with it."
Burdette sings and plays the piano, guitar and viola. Music has been part of his life since childhood. He says "music isn't going to cure anything, but it definitely can play a therapeutic role." Music therapy has now become part of many rehabilitation processes for brain injury such as strokes or brain surgery. Music can help "restore neuroplasticity in the brain" and re-establish connection that existed prior to an injury.
Alzheimer's patients can also reconnect with the world through familiar music, showing again how it's intimately connected to memory. "People who were just sitting there, not engaged in anything, light up when they start hearing music from when they were 25. It's fantastic. What else can do that? I can't think of anything other than music."
Have you experienced emotional memory when listening to music associated to past experiences? What music do you favor the most?
Thank you for your time and attention! I appreciate the knowledge reaching more people. Take care. Peace.
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References:
- Music has powerful (and visible) effects on the brain
- R. W. Wilkins, D. A. Hodges, P. J. Laurienti, M. Steen, J. H. Burdette. Network Science and the Effects of Music Preference on Functional Brain Connectivity: From Beethoven to Eminem. Scientific Reports, 2014; 4: 6130 DOI: 10.1038/srep06130