People seem to be hard-wired for music. We can’t get enough of it. In fact, with all the new options available, people are now listening to 32 hours of music every week on average! Music clearly plays a big role in our everyday lives, even if we don’t realize it. Because of this, many questions about music may come to mind, like how does music affect your mood, and why? Well, to put it simply, in a lot of ways. Let’s find out how.
Why Do We Love Music?
Can you imagine a life without music? For many of us, the answer is a flat no. We spend so much of our time listening to music, we find songs getting stuck in our heads throughout the day, and we can’t get enough of it.
This raises the simple question: Why?
Well, there are many definitive reasons, as well as several theories and hypotheses as to why we love music. Mainly, it comes down to the idea that humans’ defining characteristic is their cognitive capacity for language. Basically, we love music because we speak.
Let’s get philosophical for a second. Language is arguably the main aspect of humanity that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. It’s how we communicate, collect knowledge, and build our understanding of the world over time.
As the “father of modern linguistics”, Noam Chomsky, argues, language is primarily internal. We constantly have language running through our heads, and it’s almost impossible to stop, which shows a true need for language in our lives. Like other human contact and basic biological needs.
Music replicates this and fills this need in a way that regular conversation can’t. Since we’re used to hearing language, then hearing rhythmic sounds, varying pitches, familiar tones, and relatable notes is pleasurable. Not to mention that language is often used in the form of singing.
Singing brings in a whole other domain for our love of music. Namely, lyrics. We find interpreting lyrics, like poetry, to be challenging, interesting, and even pleasurable. Whether it be a happy, upbeat pop song or a sad ballad, we can often find some relatability in the lyrics we hear.
How Does Music Affect Your Mood?
Music does a lot for our moods. It can build us up or tear us down rather easily. This is important to know whether you’re casually listening or if you’re trying to add the right music to your content.
Everybody has heard some happy songs off The Beatles “One” album, and they know how a song can put you in the right mood.
If you’re listening to a sad song about mortality, like My Chemical Romance‘s ballad “Cancer”, your happy day could easily be clouded by a dwelling existential crisis. While those are just a couple of examples, we all likely have experience with different mood music that suits our ears.
Memory
Songs trigger memories. We all have that one throwback song from high school that will get us jamming louder than your car speakers can go the second we hear it.
Songs can transport us back to a period of our lives. If you were obsessed with a song back in one particular summer, listening to that song years later in the middle of January can give you flashbacks to some moments of that period, and give you a great sense of nostalgia.
It can also have the opposite effect. People who have experienced depression, trauma, or even a short rough patch in their lives might have a song they avoid because it reminds them of that period. It has different effects on everyone!
Chords, Keys, and Patterns
Any musician can tell you that there are easy tricks you can use to control the mood of a song. If you use a major key and an upbeat strumming pattern on the guitar, it will likely have a very happy register to your ear.
Alternatively, if you play in a minor key and use a slow, solemn fingerstyle pattern, it can sound very dark, serious, or even depressing.
Slower tempos are generally used for sadder songs, while faster tempos are generallyused for happier songs. This is far from the case for every song. A major key and positive tone can make the slowest of songs sound happy, so this is a very general rule of thumb. The tempo can, however, make a huge difference in the depth of a song, which has a huge impact on the mood.
Lyrics
If it’s true that we love language, we of course love lyrics. We want to search for meaning in them. There are websites dedicated to the meanings of songs, filled with thousands of listeners’ various interpretations of each of them.
The way you listen to a song and interpret the lyrics may be completely different from the way your sibling does, and that’s the best part about it! It’s up to interpretation.
This creates endless possibilities for the way a song can affect your mood. It’s what youwant to get out of the song. Some are obviously more open to interpretation than others, but your experiences and hopes can totally change the interpretation of just about any song.
Use Music To Your Advantage
So how does music affect your mood? Well, any way you want it to.
If you want to set the right tone or ambiance to your website, business, video, shop, or even your home, finding the right music to do so makes a world of difference!