How Does Music Affect The Brain?

By: Leslie Tartt

The brain is a complex organism with no center for music. However, music seems to have the power to fill the mind with its rhythm, tones, and melodies. No matter personal preference, music seems to have an almost supernatural effect causing individuals to experience uncontrollable movements of the body that we call dancing. I used to think music was just something to listen to while riding in the car with my family or something to play when the house was too quiet. I began to wonder why music was the solution that came to mind when something was too quiet. I wanted to explore why “-music can function to reinforce one’s disposition and self view.” (Oshio 569) I wanted to broaden my search, so I looked at how music directly affects the brain.

Humans have no biological need for music, which is something I never considered before looking into this question. Music is such a common element in our lives that I feel we need it. When I was younger, I would ask my grandma to sing me to sleep. It seemed to soothe me, and I went right to sleep. Although life would be very dull without music, it would not kill us to be without it. According to an article in the book ​Musicphilia​ by Oliver Sacks, the brain has no locations dedicated directly to music. It says, "There is no single "music center" in the human brain." (Sacks) The fact that the brain doesn't have an area dedicated to it is weird to me because, as people, we are continually using music in our daily lives and humans are such musical creatures, but he then goes on to say, “But for virtually all of us, music has great power, whether or not we seek it out or think of ourselves as particularly “musical”.” (Sacks) This line from the

book spoke to me because it made the most sense to me. Music has a way of taking over our senses whether we want it to or not. Also, so many people seem to have a niche for music as though their brains were wired for it. It seems they are musical prodigies whose brain works differently from the average person's, but in reality, this isn't the case. Music comes more naturally to them, and they can comprehend it better. Though in the article ​Are Some People More Musical Than Others? How Musicians' Brains Are Different ​by JR Thrope, it states, "Becoming a musical genius isn't just a matter of raw talent, it comes down to years of ruthless practice and learning that can literally change the shape of your brain." (Thrope) and “Mozart was writing music from the age of four.” (Thrope) I feel as though people can be naturally gifted in a skill, or maybe it is part of their personality. Whatever the case, it seems perhaps their brain understands the actual inner workings of melody.

Music affects our emotions, whether it's in a good or bad way. I wondered if adding music to a situation could change the whole mood. For example, when they add music to scenes in horror movies to create suspense, you feel that anxiety and worry about the character based on how the music sounds. When you're in a good mood and play upbeat music, it seems to be able to escalate your mood. It's the same when you're sad as well. Depressed moods with sad music seem to increase that melancholy feeling. I realized it is hard for your attitude to be opposite from the atmosphere of the music. Different genres of music seem to provoke different emotional reactions. I'm not too fond of country music, and when it's played around me, I get frustrated. Depending on my mood before the music is played, I might even get upset that it's on. If someone doesn't like a particular genre, playing that style of harmony around them will decrease their mood more than you realize. In the article ​Music Affects Productivity ​by Stuart

Feldmen mentions that “-it has been shown in numerous studies that music can impact our mood and create emotional states” (Feldmen) and that “-music genres and styles that speak to different people and affect them in different ways,” (Feldmen) I recognize that silence is also deafening. Sitting in complete silence evokes strong emotions. So not only does music cause emotional reactions, but the lack of music can cause one's feelings to change. Although some people prefer this silence, people with melophobia or the fear of music, cannot listen to music or specific songs because the sound triggers a bad memory that induces a feeling of dread. I would hate to have to live in silence because music brought terrible memories. I think if I had to live in silence, I would be extremely disconsolate.

I was thinking about how music affected me when I realized music affects our memory! I have a countless number of songs memorized. I never took the time out to learn the songs, but over time they just came to me and engraved themselves into my memory. Music stays with us for life. Think about the alphabet song and how you've never forgotten it. Why is that? It can take hours to memorize a mathematical formula, but you can learn the majority of a song the second time you listen to it. We use this easy memorization to our advantage because we utilize music to learn. For some reason, instruction through music seems to stick better than anything else. An example of this is Schoolhouse Rock. The article ​Music and Brain Research: Sweeter Music All the Time ​explains,"The human brain has the ability to respond to and participate in music"(Hodges). This quote means that humans can participate in music and learn from it. That fact is the reason why Schoolhouse Rock also works. They taught us about bills, conjunctions, interjections, and a plethora of other topics through nothing but songs. You probably still know the majority of these songs if you listened to Schoolhouse Rock as a child. I think the fact that

you can teach anyone something through the use of music is impressive. Music stays with us even when nothing else seems to. I was thinking about my great-grandma and how she had Alzheimer's. My grandma was telling me that she couldn't remember which of her daughters she was talking to, but she could sing along to old songs. There are many case studies showing phenomenons like this: marvels like how someone with Alzheimer's can play a full piece of music on the piano, but couldn't tell you their name or where they were. It has been found that "the musical brain operates at birth and persists throughout life," (Hodges) which helps to explain this amazing situation.

Music is a universal language, no matter in what language the lyrics may originate. There might not even be music. Someone that speaks English recognizes the tune Flight of the Bumblebees, and someone that speaks Japanese can also acknowledge the piece of music because music has no language barrier. You can hand an English speaker a piece of music to play and then hand someone that speaks a different language the same piece; both will be able to play it. I thought about how people from all over the world can learn lyrics from a location different from their own, whether they speak the language or not. For example, Michael Jackson did world tours, and people all over the world knew his songs. They could sing his songs along with him and not speak a lick of English. Our brains, when it comes to music, don't need to understand it to learn it.

When I was thinking about this topic, I thought about how, when I'm working on anything, I need music to stay focused. My brain doesn't function as well when it's silent. I know that I'm not the only person who feels this way. Music affects our brain's productivity and how we do tasks. There was a study done on 70 college students completing two tasks while listening

to fast music, slow music, and white noise to see if tempo of music will change their movement speed while walking up some stairs. “-results showed that those in the fast paced condition walked up the stairs significantly faster than those in the slow condition.” (Feldman) There are also studies about how stores will play faster music because though you may not notice it, your brain picks up on this and makes you shop faster. Stores will also play music with subliminal messages to make you buy more items from the store. Once again, you may not notice this, but your brain does. The mind is always picking up on things that you won't see.

Music may not be essential to sustain human life; however, it may be crucial to maintaining a good quality of life. I now believe that music is something to listen to whenever you have the opportunity because it opens doors to different moods, realities, beliefs, locations, cultures, and motivations. Music makes us who we are as people. “Music plays an especially important role in the social and personal lives of adolescents.” (Oshio 567) Music gives you the ability to do more and be more than you ever thought you could be. Music brings people together, whether it's through its lyrics or simply just its melody. “Music, then, is one of the hallmarks of what it means to be a human being.” (Hodges)