Music altering a person's mood

Music altering a person's mood [+ favourites]

How does music can alter a person's mood so quickly?

I want to find the key to this by listening to other songs in the same category. What song/tune makes you cry or feel extreme joy?

Songs that can make me cry- Howie Day, "Collide," Our Lady Peace, "Not Enough," Tracy Chapman, "Change"

They make me feel weak because they talk about what I don't have

Songs that can make me feel joy- Bowling for Soup, "Girl All the Bad Guys Want," "One Week," U2, "Original of the Series," Gavin DeGraw, "Chariot"

These songs emphasize being yourself (except the song by Bowling for Soup. That cracks me up.)

"How can we be just in a world without mercy and merciful in a world without justice?"

Let me restate this then.

How does music alter a person's mood?

"How can we be just in a world without mercy and merciful in a world without justice?"

This is a repeat of my words from an already existing thread.

Music provokes emotions. Music is incredibly powerful- as it can make us happy, excited, sad, relaxed, pumped up, etc.

Humans are sensitive to stimuli- sound, light, air/food particles and touch. Music involves the combination of sound vibrations which stimulates the audiotory centre of the brain via the ear. It is similar to when we see something, our brain is stimulated, or when we smell or taste some nice food. When our brain is stimulated we evoke emotions- which is a natural mechanism to cope with the situation .

Some songs gives us the 'chills' or goose-bumps especially if it is a sad song. When music evokes a past sad emotional experience it can give you the 'chills'. For example remembering a past break-up or death. This has been an evolutionary process. Basically these emotions are caused by the release of chemicals from the brain specifically the hypothalamus region of the brain, which controls responses and changes in the internal environment of the body such as increased heart rate, temperature, sweating, gooes-bumps.

I've heard before that sad music is often in the minor key rather than the major key. It is also usually slow and quiet. Play a sad song you know- you may notice that it mimicks wails or sighs of mourning.

When you can't get a song out of your head it is usually because the song is repetitive or has an unusual time signiture. Also, sometimes the important songs to us were heard in our first 15years of our lives, and then can become annoying if you hear them too much. However for many, the impact of the song can derive from any time of your life.

Songs that get you pumped up usually have a good rythm, tempo and something that is catchy. They can also be exciting and energetic. Music that relaxes you is usually, slow and has a soothing feel to it.

"The summit is just a halfway point"

[i][b]may be i can answer that , well as far as i know music like most other thngs u know {sex, drivin fast....etc etc } is a very powerful stimulant , and it triggers your hormones , that make u either feel good or touched or happy.THE way you feel is how your mind reacts , so jus loose yourself..........

"im the best"

What amazes me is that it does it so fast. I could be having a miserable day, listen to an upbeat song, and in 30 seconds, I'm happy (until the song ends anyway.)

"How can we be just in a world without mercy and merciful in a world without justice?"

I think your main interest in the matter is the psychology of it: Why does it work so fast?

To figure that out we have to address what makes someone unhappy or have a miserable day. My belief is each and every unhappiness can be related in the end to a lack of freedom, be it from external factors or internal factors.

The joy we get from listening to music is not an in-born thing because different individuals from different ages and different backgrounds get moved by entirely different music. This means that music is a powerful stimulant but the method in which it stimulates us is conditioned.

If it is the result of conditioning, then listening to specific types of music awakens certain thought patterns within us which sometimes translates to emotion. This means that certain patterns of music synchronize with certain thought patterns.

Smell can do similar things, but we are not conditioned or trained to associate smell to thought patterns as much as music.

Therefore, the easy answer is certain music is uplifting because the notes relate to conditioned thought patterns within the individual. As they listen to new combinations of different music the thought patterns stimulated can involve a variety of different combinations.

It's like the school bell. You are conditioned to respond favourably to it at the end of the day, and unfavourably during lunch hour.

I would imagine the reason music is so mystical is that the conditioning of these thought patterns are made at such a young age (and highly influenced by the types of music their parents or respected elders listen to) and through reasons that cannot be clearly deconstructed.

A musician is in essence a storyteller then... pushing your buttons through the playing of notes. However, unlike storytelling that passes conscious filters and logical reasoning, music generally reaches our sub-conscious almost immediately. This difference, I believe, exists because we are raised trusting stories less than music.

In fact, if you were as analytical about music as you were stories, you would probably enjoy them 1/4th as much.

But just like stories (and tying this up to the beginning) music provides us with completely arbitrary and un-filtered thought patterns. And just like most of the good stories out there, the music that we enjoy that moves us is generally one that gives us a "free" feeling, thereby contradicting the source of the unhappiness. This free feeling can be brought about by fantasies of freedom, or even unlock emotions that were otherwise innaccessible.

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

Just something interesting I can remember. Once someone did an experiment with a bunch of plants. Every day for about 5 hours a certain genre of music would be played to each of three groups of plants. The category's were classical, heavy metal and pop. The classical plants grew the strongest the pop ones next and the heavy metal ones died. Each of the plants received the same sunlight, water and soil. I understand that genetics probably played a major factor but it's something I thought may be of interest...

"I love to see people struggling for their purpose in life..."