Why Music Makes Us Feel The Way It Does.
There’s the science and then the nostalgia, the reminiscing, the thoughts that pull at our heart strings.
The way music works in our brain is the same way language is processed, basically using syntax the same way our brain uses the mirror neurons, this mirror neuron is what fires when animals see other animals do something and then we copy it, so the emotion that connects the song to our brain is the same beat that will follow it, I’m not calling anyone an animal here, unless you purr or growl.. Then you’re on your own.
Then there’s the limbic system which sorts a variety of functions including emotion, behavior and memory. So our brain is literally firing off as music plays no matter what music it is, our brain works on overdrive understanding what music is, better than we can express it. Our responses to music come from expectation and then resolution, by this we have memories attached to different types of music we’ve already heard. It has been proven that people with autism can have their limbic systems activated while listening to music. So even they can feel the emotion music carries. The same as our ancestors have been playing music for more than we have known. In Germany recently they found a flute which is older than 40 000 years old. See, music is a part of us, can’t escape the rhythm!
No matter where we go, there will always be art that resembles music. Now art and music have a high correlation, some would contest that music is art... It may trigger deeply suppressed emotions and grant us the ability to feel those hidden feelings, and achieve an emotional epiphany. Whereas rock music can make us feel haррier inside as we release the anger, we listen to sad music and for whatever reasons, makes us sadder, but it feels really good to let out those emotions that have been built up from inside of us. We don’t want to explode form bottled uр emotions. This is why sometimes we cry when we hear a song not knowingly until afterwards. Some of us even get Goosebumps while listening to music, music resonates within our soul…
If you go to any Jazz club you can’t help but feel a part of the theme and feel as if you’re the bees knees or even better, Frank Sinatra owning the club. We do need to feel at least once in a while, otherwise we may all just be androids and superhuman beings… may sound cool for now but trust me, it’s not. Tried it.
With music we feel connected. On our first date with our first soul mate, there was that one song that came on the radio that you both knew that when it came on again (later in life) it felt either really good or didn’t make us feel too happy. Sadness if it’s gone, happiness if you’re celebrating 40 years or I might-add sadness again! But you certainly resonate with the passion you felt at that time.
What haррens when you meet someone for the first time, we almost judge them by character from the music they listen to. So we find out what they listen and its the oррosite of what you listen to and immediately feel some type of way but that’s because of your individual feelings towards that genre.
There’s the deep seeded love when listening to romantic music… the indie music that makes us what to take a road-trip with our best friends, the rock and roll where we want to jump and down, the jazz for when we are American gangster and hiр hop for when we are actually gangsters (Jokes)and classical for when we study.
There’s no hate on any type of music, but the best music is what makes us feel something we can’t put into words as easy as it is to sing the song at the top of our lungs.
