Around 40,000 BP, using bone flutes and probably a lot of grunting, cavemen created the first song. As humans evolved over thousands of years, music slowly developed with them. Fast forward to the present, with synthesizers and 808’s, the music of the very distant past is not even recognizable. However, as we evolved, surrounded by music, it has become ingrained into our brains and our society. The grasp sound has on the human mind is not as simple as a beat grabbing people’s attention, the construct of the sound itself causes chemical reactions in your brain that help you get in tune with your emotions, improve your focus, and even better your memory.
These reactions can vary based on the genre of music you are listening to. Whether it is rap or classical music, each genre has its own effect on the brain and what emotions you feel. According to National University, “The soothing sounds of classical orchestra music seem to increase mood and productivity, which makes it great for studying,” while “listening to jazz can boost creativity and reduce stress, the arch enemy of memory ability. Try searching for mellow or chill jazz for optimal concentration.” The range of reactions the brain has towards music, however, is heavily dependent on your own feelings and emotions. The genre’s themselves are more helpful for certain emotions over others, but some people do not even need a genre, like freshman Zoe Bloch, who, to relax, does not listen to “any specific, genres but just calmer music.” This could be explained by the way your brain perceives the music you are listening to is determined by your thoughts before you even hear the song, and when you listen to music the way that music makes you feel is based on those feelings. According to PLOS, your mood “has profound effects on the processing of emotional visual stimuli. Humans show a bias towards negative emotional material, the so-called negativity bias. This bias is already evident within the earliest stages of perceptual processing of pictures with emotional content. A positive mood however, induced by a brief music clip played right after presentation of an emotional picture, overcomes this negativity bias, as shown using brain evoked potentials.” A dependence on your own mood and ability to perceive certain emotions at the time you listen to music means that music does not just change your mood, but instead it helps you intensify or overcome certain emotions. Understanding how your own emotions can control how music can affect your brain’s chemical reactions can be very important. It not only, according to senior Ellie Miller, “helps you get in tune of your emotions,” but it is also a very good conduit for improving your focus.
When listening to music your brain becomes more active, which can be linked to an improvement to your focus. This is incredibly useful to increasing productivity in the workplace, or students’ ability to study or learn. Junior Chris Steger states, “It really helps me focus,” while sophomore Luna Mark says that she listens to music “typically when I do homework or other work.” The functional use of music should not be undervalued and can even provide solutions to brain development itself. Pfizer states that, “Listening to music may help brain cells process information more efficiently and may facilitate the brain’s ability to adapt. According to a study published in the scientific journal Brain, adults who suffered a stroke and listened to music daily experienced significantly greater gains in verbal memory and cognition after two months than stroke survivors who listened to audio books and those who didn’t listen to either music or books on a daily basis.” The medical and emotional aspect that music has on the brain is not as simple as sad music making you sad and happy music making you happy, and understanding how their effects can vary depending on the person is important to efficiently use music for a specific goal. This cannot be stressed enough, especially as, according to MedicalNewsToday, “Music generally had a negative effect on performance in complex tasks. However, complex music improved performance in simple tasks. Researchers concluded that the effect of music on cognitive task performance may depend on the type of music, task, and personal preference.” While listening to music is dependent on the person and the circumstances surrounding them, the improvements it can make to your daily life should be learned and used.
While music might not be as prevalent to some compared to others but the influence it has on our everyday lives should not be underestimated. Music is not going anywhere, especially as it evolves and changes with us, so you might as well begin to understand how to properly use music and how its versatility can help you in any situation.
