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What is the relationship between music and emotion?
As a songwriter, I believe that a song was an emotion caught in a bottle. Listening to a song or playing one I've written while feeling a certain way has always been a sort of emotional time travel for me. Music for me is the most intimate form of expression.
Others might argue that music is a fabrication using the mathematical manipulation of sounds put together in a way that provokes a specific emotional response.
I'd like to hear what others think:
-What is music?
-How does music express emotion?
-What scientific effect does music have on emotions?
-and more?
Topics:
creativity culture emotion expression music
Jared Warsoff
Jeniffer kanini
Gerald O'brian 50+
Scott Armstrong 50+
the relationship between audience and live performer is pretty awesome when everyone is into it.
i think it's the combination of lyric and melody that create the emotional impact in a song.
evaluating the scientific effect of music on emotions kind of misses the point. it's a bit like reading about the sun while missing a gorgeous sunset..
Shawn Jones
Feyisayo Anjorin 50+
Pain, hope,pleasure, desire sadness,hate, joy, disappointment, love, faith, and other emotions and feelings are experiences we can all relate to as human beings.
So when someone creates a piece of art that touches us, we can say "Yes, I've been there before".
Shawn Jones
Ken brown 30+
It has none, we've been singing to each other since before we had tools,all animal life sing to each other,it's the absence of song that is disturbing,we cannot live without it.A lot of people will say that they can but the actual fact is, that as they walk out the door of their houses they are hit with birds singing,get rid of the birds then you are left with just the sound of the machine,if you are out in the country during spring and there is no sound then something is wrong,if you don't think this is wrong then this tells you a lot about where your mind is.
I have walked in our native bush areas and have walked into bubbles of pure silence,no wind,no sound what so ever,it dosen't hit straight away but when it does register you stop and look around,it's not nice to feel a forest around you and it feels dead.
We sing because we need to,not because we want to,life has been singing on land since the first insect chirped a long time ago.Song is the written language of the heart,the love,the beast,the tribe and life.Keep writing and singing,it's something that will never go out of fashion,it will survive economies,countries,empires,corporations,religions,democracy and technology,it was here before us and i hope it will here after us.
Just privately between us,a great writer writes cheesy pop songs for his bread.
Shawn Jones
I read something that said music allows us to change how we experience the world. It allows us to associate certain kinds of music with certain emotions. Like when I run, I like listening to the Prodigy and Porter Robinson. Whenever I hear them now, I get pumped to run!
And as far as cheesy pop songs go, I definitely agree. The formula seems quite simple. Maybe that's why many bands go in different directions after they establish their careers?
Ken brown 30+
Yes,we are,in song we become a part of the human murmuration,in song we move as one.
"I must agree that those moments of pure silence are beauty"
For me it is the time between 4.45 am to 5.30ish am depending what season you are experiencing and where in the world you are,this special time is when a lot of life is awakening but is still quiescent,waiting,it is the time when i like to listen to the sound of nothing and strangely enough i think the life that is awake, is listening to it as well.
Scott Armstrong 50+
don't interpret that as implying that a great writer cannot be a popular writer, though.
these days, the formula for pop music success has more to do with video of women in underwear synchronised dancing (this also works with fully clothed males with girls hair-dos dancing in synch) and very little to do with the music.
for a great treatise on (the decline of quality in) pop music since the '50's see "Revolution In The Head" by Ian MacDonald. A thought provoking read and an excellent break-down of the songs of the Beatles set against the social and political upheaval of the '60's.
Ken brown 30+
but in earnest i couldn't agree with you more.I might have a look at that book,it's up on amazon but i'm finding reading Ebooks has lost it's novelty,i never seem to finish them.
Scott Armstrong 50+
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Shawn Jones
Henry Woeltjen 10+
Shawn Jones