Music Psychology And The Music

Everyday music engulfs us whether we are watching a show, listening to the radio, or shopping at a grocery store. Music gives humans the ability to express oneself when there is no other way. Music sparks more creativity, emotions and brain function than any other activity.

Without the human intention, perception, and interpretation of sound, then the existence of music would be imaginary. Music includes talking words in a way that the person creates a sound that is made with the intention of being music (Deutsch, Diana 10-13, Justus & Timothy., 33-40). Besides, people can perceive silence and sound and put them together so as to call the outcome music. In Bakan’s fourth proposition, he identifies the approach as the Human Intention and Perception (HIP) approach (Resnicow, Joel E., 10-22). In other words, the proposition tries to suggest that music is inseparable from the makers; or more specifically the people who perceive and experience it. Bakan gives numerous examples to show that music is a product of human intention and perception. This paper conducts research and gives appropriate examples to show that music is only identified as music if the person is making it has the intention for their words to be music.

Scholars and artists commonly describe music as a reflection of the human condition. The period in history from the mid-1930s onward marked a tragic phase in twentieth century music and this reflection: the total politicizing of the art by totalitarianism means. Dictators, including Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, were manipulating popular culture to take control of their people. Stalin supported the idea of a “Soviet modernism,” a school of art that would embody the power of the new proletarian state. He monitored every recording made in the country, writing judgments of “good,” “so-so,” and “bad” on their sleeves. Stalin believed music to be the engineer of the human souls, and hoped to use this as a way to influence his people that Soviet life was improving. Fearing a phone call from the dictator or being arrested in the night, Soviet composers such as Dmitri Shostakovich wrote music with chained hands in an effort to please their leader. A study of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and Symphony No. 7 will reveal the influence of communism in the Soviet Union on his music as well as his dynamic relationship with Joseph Stalin.

Pythagoras, friend of Thales and famed mathematician, was a lover of music. He discovered that the tones in music are connected to ratios. By shortening or lengthening a string on an instrument, one could produce higher or lower pitched tones. To Pythagoras, every aspect of life was founded upon science and mathematics. Once again, the idea of Cosmos, beauty and order, shines through. The order of music tempos and tones are what differentiates generic sounds from music.

For years, music has been an important part of the lives of millions of people all over the world. Music is one of the earliest forms of expressive art and is part of many cultures. It is used by all people of different ages, ethnicities, and gender for many purposes. For many, music is a part of everyday life, being used in social situations. For others, it may be used just as a way to unwind after a long, stressful day, but can it be used to as a predictor for personality? Do people who experience high/low levels of aggression and self-esteem listen to particular genres? Psychologists have started to study how music exactly can lead to an understanding on human behavior.

My interest in music theory began with a small change of perspective: viewing music theory as a study of human cognitive processes. This speaks to the idea of how we as people think about music, whether analyzing large forms and internal structures or simply engaging in active listening. When I first came across this idea in my readings I was skeptical and excited; I was skeptical because of how radical the idea was for me at the time and I was excited because of the interdisciplinary opportunities that opened up. Interdisciplinary in the sense that work in this area could involve and benefit from referencing information present in the field of philosophy, linguistics, and some sciences.

Philosophers such as Boethius, Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle and Socrates were very important to the development of music. Pythagoras is credited to having discovered the rations between certain intervals: the octave (2:1), the fifth (3:2) and the fourth (4:3), just by having walked by a blacksmiths shop and noticing the difference and beauty in sound when multiple hammers hit the anvil. He was so curious was to what made these intervals sound harmonious, he realized that the difference in the weight of the hammer is what caused these intervals to sound that way, because they were simple ratios of each other, therefore they were called “perfect” intervals. To Pythagoras, music was the mathematical basis of sound, a law which fundamentally governed the relationship of all physical bodies and the

Radcoy, R., & Boyle, J. (1997). Psychological Foundations of Musical Behavior (3rd ed.). Springfield: Charles C. Thomas.

Unlike many forms of art, music and the human condition have a unique relationship which is tethered together by a universal language connected and understood by all of mankind. Through the creation and engagement with music, individuals are able to discover, share, and express aspects of the human experience that they would not be able to experience through other forms of art. Often, music has the ability to influence and amplify the message, such as lyrics, that the artist is attempting to convey to an individual or audience through means of rhythm and tone. The rhythm and tone produced in a work of music is formed by a numerical pattern that appeals to the human condition. Pythagoras, a 6th century BC philosopher, argued that numbers and or numerical patterns are the basis and universal language of reality because forms,

A commonality among all civilizations and cultures has been, and will always be, music. Throughout the Middle, Baroque, Romantic, and Modern ages of music, these civilizations’ varied widely in music type and in the way it sounded. With music in the present-day, pop and rap have taken a higher stance among genres of music. Psychology applies heavily to the topic of music. Especially today, scientists, psychologists and psychiatrists are attempting now to better understand how our brain works while people listen to music. Studies are conducted among teens and adolescents to learn how they perceive the music they listen to, and analyses of brain waves and other activity is conducted. Some psychologists have suggested that today’s music - rap,

The sound of my favorite childhood song, “Higher” by Creed brings back a plethora of pleasant memories. As I close my eyes to enjoy the sounds of the instruments and vocals, I begin thinking about the complex process working behind the scenes in my brain enabling me to perceive music. This process starts with environmental stimuli and ends with action, in a circular fashion as we shift between perception, recognition, and action. Knowledge acquired throughout life along with our experiences shape our every perception. Perception plays an important role in the life of all organisms.

In Macedonian hills, the music of Orpheus was said to possess certain magical qualities, having powers strong enough to alter the very behavior of people and animals. Among its abilities, the notes of Orpheus' lyre were said to calm the guard-dog of Hades (1), to cause the evil Furies to cry, and to tame the deadly voices of the Sirens (2). Was this power simply a divine and magical gift with no other explanation, or can we explain more specifically the connections between music and behavior?

The impact of music on positive psychology and emotion is a well known fact. Music has an extraordinary ability to change people’s emotions. In humans, music has the ability to invoke emotions of sadness, happiness and even fear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the casual relationship between music practice and participation on the emotions and well-being of male and female adults. The hypotheses for this study were as follows; Hypothesis 1: Music practice and participation has an emotional impact on individuals under study; Hypothesis 2: Preference of more music genres is positively correlated with higher levels of happiness among the population under study; Hypothesis 3: Preference of more music genres is positively correlated with emotional response among the population under study. Results of the study indicated that both age groups had a positive emotional response to music.

“Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends.” French writer Alphonse de Lamartine immaculately summarized society’s preconceptions and widely accepted notions about music. Music is often incorporated in daily life, fluctuating from being used as a tool to combat silence and boredom, to acting as a method of expression for emotions, and events. However, the power of music is monumental, and the idea that it is so greatly entwined with numerous aspects of life serves to make music a volatile authority, acting as either a weapon, or a cure. Because music has such influence upon perception, emotion, and the brain itself, it can be used as therapy, or used to completely dismember the

El). ” It was determined that cells may shift as a response when a certain tone is determined as important. This is noted as Training Frequency, where cells will shift and expand in response to a certain tone. This perception and response to music has been said to have started in infancy. Even before babies have acquired language, they begin to react to music. This is why parents and other people communicate with infants in a musical manner by using wide ranges of pitch and melodies. This “Musical learning ability” in infants improves cognitive ability and communication that can help later on in a lifetime of a human. Overall these studies reveal that music has a biological basis more than anything. It has been revealed that the brain specifically has a functional organization for music such that certain regions may light up and respond to certain frequencies. Some other studies may be opposed to this theory.