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Key points
- Music has several qualities that lend themselves to various psychological and behavioral functions.
- It is all too easy to get stuck in habits as to the what, when, and where of listening to music.
- Expanding one's listening habits is among the easiest ways to enhance one's quality of life and productivity.
"Let your life be music" was one of the more memorable things a classmate wrote in my high school yearbook. I am only now starting to appreciate this advice. Some of us may fail to fully appreciate the benefits of music because they seem obvious and not in need of scientific research, a common misconception I wrote about recently.
Below I discuss some of the many ways we can benefit more from music, a subject that psychologists are actively investigating. You are likely familiar with only some of them.
Take Control of Your Emotional Life
Music is not a living thing. Yet it expresses emotion. What other non-living things express emotion? Not many. Words do. But then, words are so much more expressive when set to music.
Music expresses emotion very effectively and in a highly contagious manner. Paintings express emotion, too, but compare the crowds at concerts to those at art museums. Music does not merely cause emotional feelings. It creates full-blown emotional responses: feelings, motivation, behavior, physiologic arousal.
Many of us take advantage of music's ability to change how we feel. But we can probably go further. Popular platforms for collecting and listening to music allow you to create playlists. Create a few specifically for occasions when you would like to regulate your mood: relaxing, calming, peaceful music for when you are anxious or angry; happy, joyful, upbeat music for when you are sad; lively, energetic music for when you are tired.
Listening habits are just that—habits. By breaking out of our routines, we can make greater use of music's mood-enhancing effects, as well as the other non-emotional effects outlined below. The next time you sit down to a meal, kick back and relax, or perform a household chore, rather than scrolling through social media or putting on a TV show, do it to music.
Do That Again, This Time, With Feeling and Rhythm
Music moves us literally as well as emotionally. Often this is an indirect effect due to the emotions it causes. Examples include the use of songs like this to get the crowd on its feet and cheering at sporting events:
At times, the effects on behavior may be directly connected to sensing the music itself rather than to its emotional effects. "Entrainment" refers to the ability of the tempo (fast or slow) or rhythm (pattern over time) of a musical piece to get us to synchronize our movements with it. From finger-snapping to toe-tapping to exercising.
If music is not already part of your exercise routine, try it out. If your exercise routine is somewhat irregular, adding music or being more deliberate in your selection of exercise music may increase how much you exercise.
In another example of entrainment, made famous by its use in a film, this composition became closely associated with the act of love-making.
Of course, in every era and music genre, there are musical pieces that, whether intended or not, lend themselves to seduction and sex.
Create Your Own Private Cinema
Music moves us not only emotionally and physically but also mentally. Even music without lyrics.
What does this piece make you think about? What do you see in your mind as it plays?
Or this piece?
Or this one?
If you are not already familiar with them, look up their backstories and see if you think the composers accomplished what they set out to do. Do the thoughts and images you experience match their intentions?
Play Your Soundtrack
The ability of music to generate emotion, influence behavior, and create mental imagery is due, in part, to the activation of memories. What songs form the "soundtrack of your life"? Many movies make excellent use of this phenomenon with literal soundtracks that capture a particular time period. Here is just one of many websites you can visit to find examples.
But you can create your own personal life soundtrack. Search for songs from certain time periods, say, childhood and adolescence. Select those that elicit memories that capture those parts of your life and use them to populate appropriately titled playlists.
Learn to Play an Instrument
For all of you non-musicians, why haven't you learned to play an instrument? Did you suffer through unwanted piano or violin lessons as a child before quitting? Or plan to learn without ever getting around to it? Have you dabbled on and off for years without making much progress? Whichever it is, there is no time like the present to learn to play an instrument.
As a dabbler, I have owned a guitar most of my life without getting very far with it. When I was about 10, I took free lessons at a community center using a guitar my parents got with green stamps (a grocery store precursor to various "rewards" programs we now have). I got to where I was able to play the melody to "Blue Danube" by reading musical notation. Then we moved to a new neighborhood.
Many years later, some marked by formal lessons or self-teaching, and many only by a guitar standing in a corner gathering dust, I am at it again. What I have found, and you may be interested to know, is that there are now many resources that make it easier than ever to learn to play guitar and other instruments.
Free lessons can be found on YouTube. There are also websites and apps that provide chords, lyrics, and tablature for countless songs in all genres from all eras. What is freely available will keep you quite busy for some time. And there is even software that slows down digital recordings, making it even easier to hear and duplicate what exactly the artist is doing.
Let Your Life Be Music
There's a lot more that music can do for you. The sources listed below provide a sampling of research and applications in which music is being examined for its effects on the brain and possible psychological and health-related benefits.
As Plato is said to have written: "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything."
Copyright 2024 Richard J. Contrada
References
Chaddock-Heyman, L., Loui, P., Weng, T. B., Weisshappel, R., McAuley, E., & Kramer, A. F. (2021). Musical training and brain volume in older adults. Brain sciences, 11(1), 50.
de Witte, M., Pinho, A. D. S., Stams, G. J., Moonen, X., Bos, A. E., & van Hooren, S. (2022). Music therapy for stress reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Psychology Review, 16(1), 134-159.
Juslin, P. N., & Sloboda, J. (2011). Handbook of music and emotion: Theory, research, applications. Oxford University Press.
Pile, V., Williamson, G., Saunders, A., Holmes, E. A., & Lau, J. Y. (2021). Harnessing emotional mental imagery to reduce anxiety and depression in young people: an integrative review of progress and promise. The Lancet Psychiatry, 8(9), 836-852.
Sihvonen, A. J., Leo, V., Ripollés, P., Lehtovaara, T., Ylönen, A., Rajanaro, P., ... & Särkämö, T. (2020). Vocal music enhances memory and language recovery after stroke: pooled results from two RCTs. Annals of clinical and translational neurology, 7(11), 2272-2287.
Thaut, M. H., McIntosh, G. C., & Hoemberg, V. (2015). Neurobiological foundations of neurologic music therapy: rhythmic entrainment and the motor system. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 1185.
