How music affects our emotional state
Photo by Steven Guzzardi CC BY-ND
Music occupies an important place in our heart, and many people do not even think about life without it. She is able to cheer us up in difficult times and remind of happy moments. Some people see their personal history in the lyrics, which immediately resonates in their soul.
The feelings that we experience when listening to music, differ from each other.
If we had to answer the question, how does the sound of a tuba differ from the sound of a flute, then we could say something like that: the sound of a flute is high and gentle, and the sound of a tuba is low and coarse. From the point of view of musical theory, we would define these sounds as different in pitch, timbre and volume.
Studies conducted by record companies in the 60s-70s proved that music influences the listener equally from a physical point of view: it is for this reason that crowds of people at festivals react to the same song the same way. However, what about emotional perception?
Rimsky-Korsakov perceived the color of various tonalities in colors characteristic of various natural phenomena. About the tonality of A major, he said: “This is the tonality of youth, spring - and the spring is not early, with ice and puddles, but spring, when lilac blooms, and all the meadows are strewn with flowers; it is the tonality of the morning dawn, when the light is not a little disheartened, the whole east is already purple and golden. ”
The coloring of tonality in E-flat major is “dark, gloomy, gray-bluish; the tone of cities and fortresses. " F major - “clear green, pastoral; color of spring birch trees ". A minor - "pale pink; it is like a reflection of the evening dawn on a winter, white, cold, snowy landscape. ” C major - "gloomy, dark blue, with steel, perhaps, even grayish-lead shimmer, the color of ominous thunderstorm clouds."
G minor - "without a certain color, has the character of an elegant and idyllic." A flat major - "grayish-purple, has a gentle, dreamy character."
Composer Adam Gerow (Adam Gerow) says that music has a special meaning for him: “The feeling that someone feels the same feelings as you, while listening to the same song, cannot be described in words. At such moments a special connection arises between the musician and the listener. ”
“Some people don’t like the songs of Pink Floyd, and I can’t even read the text of“ Wish You Were Here ”and not cry,” Adam says.
So how does music affect us? Bernd Willimek, a music theorist, believes it’s quite difficult to answer this question. “Music cannot convey any emotions,” Willimek explains, “it can only trigger them if the listener has any associations with her.” This happens when watching a movie, when the viewer begins to worry about the main character.
Anneli Haake also notesthat it is important to understand the difference between what feelings the music causes and what emotions it expresses. For example, to make a person sad, sad melodies alone are not enough. The opposite is also true - a person will not begin to rejoice, having barely listened to a cheerful melody, since he may have his own, even negative, associations with this song (for example, breaking up relations with a loved one).
Ethan Hein, a professor of music at the State University of Montclair, says that the perception of music depends entirely on the cultural background of the student. It is unlikely that there will be such a melody that will make the same impression on everyone. As an example, Ethan tells his story: "I really liked the Jewish melody" Der Gasn NigunWhich I thought was a funeral song. Later I found out that this is the wedding hymn. ”
In Western culture, it is believed that if a song sounds in major tones, it means it is cheerful, and if in a minor way it is sad. The same goes for rhythms. Fast pace is associated with some activity - running, jumping, enthusiastic dancing. A slow pace is associated with sleep, rest, or fatigue.
Also the level of "emotionality" depends on the musical intervals. “Happy” intervals are the most consonant and are based on simple proportions - these are octaves (2: 1), quints (3: 2), major third (5: 4). However, all this, again, depends on the cultural identity of the listener.
This is due to the fact that, in general, the musical tastes of different nations of the world were formed independently of each other. “For Western listeners, Korean music sounds sad, although for Koreans it sounds festive and beautiful,” said composer Michael Sidney Timpson.
Claire Elizabeth Carter (Claire Elizabeth Carter) says that the circular model of J. Russell (JA Russell) is well suited to explain the influence of Western music on a person, where the emotions are arranged in the following sequence: pleasure (0 °), arousal (45 °), activation (90 °), distress (135 °), displeasure (180 °), depression (225 °), drowsiness (270 °), relaxation (315 °).
Vertically - this is the scale of "intensity of emotion", horizontally - the scale of "valency"
“It turns out that fast music has a high intensity and slow music has a low one. As for tonalities, the major key is positive valence, and the minor key is negative, ”explains Claire.
Music can take us on an exciting adventure and tell your own story. It can intertwine consonances and rhythmic syncopes, telling about peace and well-being, which will be replaced by various dissonances, expressing a certain conflict.
Music accompanies us all our lives, both in sorrow and in joy. Thanks to her, people for many centuries rejoice, feel sad, have a rest or concentrate their attention on their favorite business.
We decided to ask for comments from experts from various business sectors and asked about their relationship with music - how music helps to tune in to the working mood or to distract from business:
Timofey Shikolenkov , director of marketing and business development at Audiomania , one of the leading companies that provide solutions for home and portable audio and video: Personally, I often use music to tune in a certain way. It often happens that you need to process a large amount of information - this is where rhythmic modern music helps me, usually in the style of House.
The speed of work increases dramatically and it is immediately felt. If I write some comment for the press or work on big lyrics, the 80s disco music helps me. But this is all very individual.
Our office has content department staff who listen to heavy music. I get the feeling that it is “loading”, but they work better under this “gash”, in any case, they say so.
But in the accounting we are always quiet. Financiers say that numbers like silence. I can not agree with this, but they have - so.
Liliana Pertenava , director of marketing communications at New Cloud Technologies , developer of solutions for processing and storing electronic documents: In my student and post-student times, I was good at electronic music - I sometimes DJed at parties and worked at a radio station. I had my own techno and house mixes made to my taste.
Now I just listen to something that invigorates or helps to concentrate. I love classical music, it is ideal for concentration.
The playlist includes both the opera arias of Pavarotti, Bach's organ fugues, and works by Bowie, Guns and Roses, the Kino and Bob Marley groups. From young artists like Iggy Azalea. Daft Punk, like Jamiroquai, often helps to raise your spirits.
Oleg Anisimov , general producer of the financial forum FinNext and a member of the board of directors of My Book’s Internet accounting department . It gives me pleasure to find obscure groups who, however, play interesting music. For example, through the Yandex.Music service, I recently entered the group The Duritti Column, founded in 1978 in Manchester.
Listening to this, you know where your legs grow from, say, our favorite band “Kino”, which has developed post-punk traditions better than many Britons, adding our Soviet-Russian sorrow and hope.
In terms of discharge from work, I love concerts. Of the last ones that I managed to visit, these are two concerts at once: A-ha and Messer Chups.