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Music

StephieDanielle
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Posted 04/13/09 - 06:55 PM: Subject: Music	#1
I absolutely love music. I love all genres, artists, and tempos. I have come to realize that when I am sad, or when I feel that I should be sad I have a tendency of listening to music with a lower and softer beat, or tempo. In addition, when I am happy, I tend to listen to music with a "happier" sound. Although, I also have also come across the idea, that when I am not feeling emotion, it is up to the music that plays that determines my mood. Does music really have this much of an impact on one's mood? Also, I have heard that when one learns to play a musical instrument, there are certain neurons in the brain that connect the left and right side and allow them to work together. Is this true? Is there really this much science involved with the beauty of music? It is astonishing to me. I am sorry I do not feel very literate in the language of music but I have tried my best to ask this question in the best way possible because this topic really intrigues me.

J. Random Hacker
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Posted 04/13/09 - 07:04 PM:	#2
I recommend the book "This Is Your Brain On Music". It answers a lot of your questions. I got it for a present and I enjoyed it.

ying
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Posted 04/15/09 - 06:54 PM:	#3
By mapping the brain activity of a group of subjects while they listened to music, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, now thinks he has the answer: The region of the brain where memories of our past are supported and retrieved also serves as a hub that links familiar music, memories and emotion. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090223221230.htm Same post as the one I made in the "Is music part of human nature" thread.
*"I determined nothing."* -Sceptical expression

X is10 cellist
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Posted 09/19/09 - 10:32 PM:	#4
I wish the beauty of music was as mysterious as we'd like it to be, but there are a number of books that explain it in scientific and neurological terms . J Random Hacker mentioned one, another I'd recommend is "Music, The Brain, and Ecstasy".

Makarismos
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Posted 09/20/09 - 05:02 AM:	#5
Is that about the early nineties in Manchester

keefm2005
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Posted 10/29/09 - 02:31 PM:	#6
Music, like the beautiful sound of a flowing river, can make the thought processes in the brain 'ease up.' Maybe look up some works by Mark Kingwell, I recall a friend telling me about a couple of his lectures in Toronto University on the effect of music on the brain.

CalicoCat
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Posted 11/02/09 - 04:35 PM:	#7
Personally, yes music has a huge impact on my mood as well. It affects me greatly and I often think that it is somewhat addictive. It has the power to move my mood sometimes 180 degrees in some moments. There have been many times that I have told myself "I am going to swear off music forever" because I am sometimes frightened by the large impact it can have on me, however it is too addictive, and I always go back to it. As I very well should. Because music is definitely not the worst "addiction" to find yourself with, right? If it helps to carry you through tough times and helps to enhance good times, it is a wonderful thing! However, when it does have such a great impact on you, you must just be aware, and not listen to negative music, because then it will impact you in a negative way.

Desidude666
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Posted 11/03/09 - 11:58 PM:	#8
Yes, music is one of the mechanisms that will have a direct short-term effect on one's mood. I personally prefer symphonies, so it invigourates me when I am working. I tend to listen to Holst when I am in a mood worse off, particularly Mars. So it tends to cool my own cognitive state of mind. It's just a reflection of your emotions, that's what I think. If you listen to music as much, it tends to reflect your mood and thus help you realise yourself better.
What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven. - Ludwig van Beethoven

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