The value of music in human life is enormous: it inspires us, gives us strength, helps us survive losses and sorrows. Why do we react so emotionally to her sounds? Psychologists have an explanation.
- The strongest impression is made by the music that deceives our expectations, alternates between the expected and the unexpected.
- Strong sensations are caused by the release of dopamine.
- Dopamine is released when we recognize certain structures in music, and whether it is happy or sad is not so important.
How important is music to us? Linguist Steven Pinker believes that the role of music in human life is a kind of dessert, a pleasant side effect of the development of language.
At the same time, research suggests that playing an instrument or just listening to the works of great composers can change the structure of the brain and keep its functions active longer.
And yet, first of all, music in human life is a source of deep emotions. But how exactly does she call them? Why can we listen to some audio recordings while doing other things – like cooking or cleaning – while others thrill us, cut us to the bone and keep us impressed for hours?
If music consisted only of harmonious combinations of sounds and melodies, we would be bored
In the early 1990s, British psychologist John Sloboda conducted a simple experiment. He asked music lovers to identify passages that triggered a physical reaction in them, such as tears or goosebumps. Participants chose 20 clips that made them cry when they listened to them.
The psychologist then analyzed their characteristics and found something in common: 18 of them contained a special element called appoggiatura. This is a note that is out of harmony and creates the effect of dissonance.
“It gives the listener a sense of tension,” says Martin Goon, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia. “When the melody returns to the harmony we expected, the tension is released and we love it.”
“All music is a struggle between tension and relaxation,” explains musicologist Duane Sheen. – If music consisted only of harmonious combinations of sounds and melodies, we would be bored. If tension were present in it all the time, it would be difficult to perceive.
Of course, there are also such types of music: take at least free jazz or special compositions for relaxation. But what makes music so powerful for us is the transitions from one state to another.”
Music that evokes intense emotions has the same effect as chocolate, sex and alcohol.
What kind of music should be to make us tremble or shed tears? Martin Goon names four general properties of such passages.
1. They start out soft, then quickly pick up the volume.
2. They include the introduction of a new instrument, a new voice, a transition to a new harmony.
3. They often include wide frequency intervals: for example, in Mozart’s Concerto No. 23 (K. 488) there is a moment when the melody of the violins suddenly soars up an octave, and the listeners take their breath away.
4. Finally, such passages contain unexpected deviations in melody or harmony.
Another question – why are works that make us sad and cry so popular?
Neuropsychologist Robert Zattore and his colleagues from McGill University (Canada) found that music that evokes intense emotions triggers the production of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain centers associated with pleasure and reward. Chocolate, sex and alcohol have the same effect. We feel that we feel good, and we want to reproduce this state again and again.