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We know music is pleasurable, the question is why?

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Re: We know music is pleasurable, the question is why?

#11

Post by andresgottlieb »

snarf21 wrote: post #4
cryptozeus wrote: post #3

I had similar question few days ago and posted this on HN https://www.quora.com/Why-does-music-make-you-want-to-move-d... "It has been noted that rhythm is a built-in part of every human being so the urge to move is very natural and it comes from deep inside. There has been a lot of suggestions that this would develop during child’s growth in the uterus, since hearing is the sense that develops close to its final sta…

It may be junk science but I remember reading something long ago that said the bpm of a song that is closest to a human heart beat is more pleasing than one much faster or slower. I'm now off to see if I can find the reference...

The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris (page 73)

https://books.google.cl/books?id=FB5Ddqv8nO0C&lpg=PA74&ots=w...

Re: We know music is pleasurable, the question is why?

#12

Post by citation_please »

Hmm, I was hoping for something more contemporary that I could relate to, but was disappointed that it focused on pieces written centuries ago...like most formal musical theory.

Anyway, this passage stuck out to me:

"""There is something that still rings true of Mattheson’s general idea. We do tend to associate some musical features with being uplifted and others with melancholic reflection, both of which might afford a certain subsequent pleasure to listeners. Just think of how we use music in our everyday lives: some tunes help us to work out or to get something done, while others allow us to cry."""

Composers aren't the only ones who have ever tried to manipulate the crowd. I'm not sure how pop stars/rock bands etc. plan out their sets, but one thing that any DJ[0] worth his salt pays attention to is "harmonic mixing"[1]. Taking things "darker", or trying to bring up the energy, are common strategies taken into account when planning a harmonic transition. I've personally bore witness to plenty of incredible sets that take you from the very top to the very bottom, and it's funny to me that the same ideas are masked behind hoighty-toighty music theory terminology that is used almost exclusively in reference to...music that was composed hundreds of years ago.

[0] By DJ I mean someone who does more than weddings, and certainly doesn't take requests.

[1] https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/14291/what-is-harm...

Re: We know music is pleasurable, the question is why?

#13

Post by swaggyBoatswain »

rimunroe wrote: post #10
throwaway8879 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really curious about this. Have you ever fiddled around, learnt or messed about with any musical instrument, and if so, how did you feel? I recall that when I was learning my first instrument, and started learning a lot of songs, a lot of the other instruments didn't really make sense. For instance, if I was learning a guitar part from a rock song, the bass/drums/keys sort of sounded like a background mix that I…

I played the viola and sang in chorus in middle school. I really enjoyed both--especially the viola--but I think my enjoyment was more of the mechanics of it rather than the actual music we were making. I also really enjoyed playing Guitar Hero in college in the same way. I've thought about taking up the guitar or piano since then, but haven't ever gotten around to it.

You sound like me, I get stuff done in dead silence. Music actually distracts me, playing songs in same loop helps out though. I still like practicing singing in the car though on the way to work, and guitar hero is fun to me too. Looking to learn to play the ukelele. I have like almost no musical intelligence, I can't remember song lyrics very well at all

Re: We know music is pleasurable, the question is why?

#14

Post by lbriner »

I find that certain musical expressions invoke the same feeling as something very real like the feeling of seeing the New York skyline for the first time or the feeling of taking off in a light aircraft for the first time, almost as if the music was pressing the same buttons.

The interesting difference is that the music buttons seem to get pressed every time I hear the same music (i.e. I never get tired of certain music) whereas visual stimuli quickly become mundane as we get used to them?

Re: We know music is pleasurable, the question is why?

#15

Post by rimunroe »

swaggyBoatswain wrote: post #13
rimunroe wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I played the viola and sang in chorus in middle school. I really enjoyed both--especially the viola--but I think my enjoyment was more of the mechanics of it rather than the actual music we were making. I also really enjoyed playing Guitar Hero in college in the same way. I've thought about taking up the guitar or piano since then, but haven't ever gotten around to it.

You sound like me, I get stuff done in dead silence. Music actually distracts me, playing songs in same loop helps out though. I still like practicing singing in the car though on the way to work, and guitar hero is fun to me too. Looking to learn to play the ukelele. I have like almost no musical intelligence, I can't remember song lyrics very well at all

Ditto on finding most music distracting! Also, I often sing nonsense songs when I'm doing stuff around the house.

Re: We know music is pleasurable, the question is why?

#16

Post by jamesjyu »

burp3141 wrote: post #9

My father loves music. Famously miserly, he wouldn't mind a monthly paycheck on an audio system. I on the other hand have never enjoyed music. I think it's a rebellion thing. But also that sad music made me despondent but happy music didn't affect me to the same extent. The way my father managed to reel me in was to ask me to predict where the musician would take the song. In things like Jazz or improvised music, thi…

When I was in high school, I spent a lot of time improvising on the piano. I had been taking classical music lessons for years, but always loved to play around on the piano, composing little pieces for myself—mostly they were pop inspired pieces, nothing complicated.

One day, some researchers worked with my school to administer a test to find out if there was a connection between standardized test scores (in our case, the ACT) and musical aptitude. Pattern matching was the way they decided to test this.

They set a tape recorder in the middle of the room and gave us a multiple choice sheet. First, they played the beginning of a melody, which stopped abruptly. Then, they played four different ways the melody could resolve. Our goal was to choose the most likely.

Sometimes, the pieces would be something classic, like Mozart or Beethoven. Other times, they were more contemporary.

I glanced around the room to see the reaction of the other students. The choices all seemed very obvious to me. Afterwards, I asked around and most people said they had to guess on most of them.

The next day, the teacher pulled me aside and told me that I had scored the highest in the school.

I never did follow up to see what the results of the research was, but to this day, I believe I wouldn't have done that well if I had not spent a lot of time listening to music and tinkering with melody lines in my free time.

Re: We know music is pleasurable, the question is why?

#18

Post by phyzome »

mesarvagya wrote: post #17

Its because of Dopamine. I think everyone knows this. The same is true for Social media as well.

Isn't that like saying "because genetics" or "because chemistry" or "because biology"? It doesn't really answer the question that the article is asking.

Re: We know music is pleasurable, the question is why?

#19

Post by martin-adams »

mesarvagya wrote: post #17

Its because of Dopamine. I think everyone knows this. The same is true for Social media as well.

It's a curious question. Here we have music, which produces sound waves, which gets received in our ears and through vibrations on the skin. Specific frequencies of that sound wave can cause dopamine. But other frequencies don't. Why the difference?

Could it be related to memory, having experienced a happy time in your childhood that music brings you back to. What about sad memories? Could it be related to the memories of movies where you had a strong empathy to the emotion of a story and the music was the soundtrack?

And what about music you've never heard before. Is there a mathematical rhythm that creates a pattern in the brain that releases dopamine?

This is how I think of the question. I am not experienced in any of these subjects to really know the answer.

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