Why Do Humans Like Music?

[TheBeast17]

What makes us like certain pieces of music?

I was watching TV last night and an advert came on for some kind of shower gel. You've probably seen it;

Voice over tells you that showering can actually take moisture away from skin, then plugs product. The whole advert is played in reverse so the water goes into the shower head etc. In the background there is music playing backwards, and I actually like it. It's wierd, slow, odd sounding, but I like it. Why?

It doesn't remind me of anything, it doesn't have any lyrics, it's not chart worthy (at least not in that form) but I still enjoy hearing it. So much so that I find myself whistling it at work.

I enjoy good rock music, and new punk stuff, so why does this quirky, odd tune appeal?

What mechanism inside our heads makes us like the music we like and why?

 

[ninja_cat]

It varies from culture to culture. I think it's about the musical scales having an effect. There is probably a mathmatical formula for the ultimate in Lift music for the western world?

In the orient they use different scales which can be jarring to us but pleasant to them, so I'm led presume it's just programmed into us.

Could be that I've just written aload of BS though.

 

[monster_magnet]

hmmmmm I must have thought about this for a lengthy 5 mins and here's my theory:

I think that over the course of our lives we develop a musical 'fingerprint', if you like, that can be layed over any peice of music/song and if those indentifying factors that go to make up our fingerprint are present then CHOOON!!

At one end of the scale I enjoy heavy guitar based tunes with melodic and powerful vocals written in minor keys but then one of my favourite tunes ever is Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell, Go Figure!

I think, as in most things, you are a product of your environment and your tastes musical or otherwise are influenced by it.

Anyway that's my theory, come one, come all and knock me down.

 

[Anonymous]

Remember reading somewhere an essay on this subject.
Stating that different cultures even hear a little differnt to others.An example given was the tinny radio,s that came from the far east in the 70,s.It said that eastern cultures would rather hear the top end(treble).And the fact there is not bass on Japaness heavy metal(not that i,d listen to it)
Where in Africa its the bass that is dominant.(think deep drums).

Also i,d like to know how differnt stimulants effect how we hear music.Classic case is cannabis and "dub reggae".
All bass slow moving grooves.
While the average beer drinker would rather have the dirt and grunge of guitar music(everything from blues to oasis).
ft153 had some info about how different frequency,s affect the human body in the article about sound as a weapon.

 

[monster_magnet]

Personally I can't stand 'Dub Reggae' stoned or not.

As i mentioned before i think its a very personal musical fingerprint that denotes which music you dig or not. The choice of music people listen to at home or in the car has very different 'enjoyment criteria' than if you are at a club or live music event.

For instance whilst i enjoy 'avin it large' listening and dancing to Underworld, Roni Size, Chemical Brothers in a Club environment I won't stick them on my stereo at home, yet i can be equally 'moved' in either environment with or without the use of narcotics.

I can remember being moved to tears during a live performace of 'Handels Messiah', that massive choral thing gets me every time, I also saw 'Tool' at Brixton academy earlier this year and literally couldn't speak for a couple of hours afterwards - the closest i have come to witnessing god (or higher power). These two experiences are unique and very personal and i doubt others would be so effected.

My point? oh yeh, i don't think there is one mechanism that identifies the music that we enjoy, i think that your own personal preference 'fingerprint', your state of mind and physical environment all 'by the power of greyskull' combine their powers and dictate which music floats your boat at that specific time.

A GAME IF YOUR BORED: Combat DJing (best if your pissed or stoned)
Ingredients: 2-6 people, Comprehensive record collection, Good stereo
How to play: Choose an 'apt' tune to start and take it in turns to 'continue the vibe' by choosing and playing more tunes. Simple, but can result in some awsome 'sets', it can also result in some horrific arguements about the suitability of a record. - Have Fun

 

[mikelegs]

I'd just like to say that I believe different people have different thresholds for repetition. Most of the 'popular' radio music is very highly repetetive. I can't stand it. All 'music' is repetetive to some extent - that's part of what makes it music. But some people would rather hear a long movement with more subtle repeat patterns than hear the same several-note line played 100 times in three minutes. And vice-versa. But there are many facets to music, so we're bound to like a number of things we wouldn't normally think we would.

 

[carole]

The Indonesian gamelan music is very soothing. There is no particular melody to it, just a succession of soft, percussion notes, but pleasant and relaxing.

Carole

 

[Anonymous]

My musical tastes have always been rather strange for someone of my generation.I was raised around top 40 pop/rock and country,but I've never really cared overly much for it.I like classical,especially early Richard Strauss,Wagner,and Tchaikovsky.When driving,I like to listen to light music(waltzes,marches,Viennese music generally).I also enjoy 19th and early 20th Century popular music and ragtime and early jazz.

Most folks around here find me somewhat eccentric anyway.

 

[NilesCalder]

I like classical,especially early Richard Strauss,Wagner,and Tchaikovsky.When driving,I like to listen to light music(waltzes,marches,Viennese music generally).I also enjoy 19th and early 20th Century popular music and ragtime and early jazz.

Most folks around here find me somewhat eccentric anyway.

Ah, just ignore them Major! Sounds like a perfectly reasonable taste in music to me... I'm a little more eclectic in my tastes, although my digital radio tends to be set to either Planet Rock or Classic Fm... most of my CD's are Soundtracks...

Niles "can't think of a snappy nickname" Calder

 

[zygmunt_rocks_on]

And why was it that after thinking all day of the songs i would download from Napster (RIP) when I got home, I could never think of a single one of them when I got the computer running?

 

[madmath]

My musical tastes have always been rather strange for someone of my generation.I was raised around top 40 pop/rock and country,but I've never really cared overly much for it.I like classical,especially early Richard Strauss,Wagner,and Tchaikovsky.When driving,I like to listen to light music(waltzes,marches,Viennese music generally).I also enjoy 19th and early 20th Century popular music and ragtime and early jazz.

Most folks around here find me somewhat eccentric anyway.

I have finally, after 36 years, decided to listen to whatever music I blessed well please, and screw what others think. They're my ears, I'll fill them with what pleases me.

 

[Anonymous]

I have finally, after 36 years, decided to listen to whatever music I blessed well please, and screw what others think. They're my ears, I'll fill them with what pleases me.

I quite agree.

I like a range of music, from classical, all the way through to some modern day stuff ('though not a great deal of what passes for 'music' today). I think consistent features in my taste are with regard to concordance and complexity. I cannot stand highly repetitive beat music, or that which jangles the nerve-endings in discordant fashion. It has to have a structure that integrates with my mood in a coherent, controlled manner, so that it is uplifting rather than stress-inducing, as much manic disco-kind of beat or heavy metal does to me. I select music for my moods - sometimes quiet and soothing, other times for energy and alertness, still others for bouts of melancholy - whatever frame of mind I'm in. If I play something without being in a sympathetic frame, it just doesn't work.

 

[carole]

I once received a market research phone call, wanting to know what sort of radio music I listened to. When I replied 'ClassicFM', there was a slight pause and the caller told me that I wasn't the sort of person they wanted to talk to!

Carole

 

[carole]

Just for the record, my musical tastes include: Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention, Gilbert&Sullivan, Gershwin, Tom Petty, Kirsty McColl, Kate Bush, lots of classical music and any modern music as long as it ain't rap.

Carole

 

[Anonymous]

If you're female and under 18 years old then it's quite likely you enjoy a certian type of music 'cos you fancy the lead singer!

 

[Anonymous]

The Indonesian gamelan music is very soothing. There is no particular melody to it, just a succession of soft, percussion notes, but pleasant and relaxing.

Carole

...which to me, after witnessing a performance in Bali, sounds like stones in dustbins being rolled down hills...Still, the more music the better - it seems pretty universal that wherever people are, they get great enjoyment out of making sounds together, and that can't be a bad thing...

 

[intaglio]

I find I enjoy so much music I find it embarrassing. From mediaeval thru to Ligetti by way of Johann Sebastian (Mighty) Bach, Delibes, Ma Rainey, Cole Porter, Stones and Shania Twain with detours through folk and Japanese percussion. There are still some pieces that can wring very strong emotional responses.

Kathleen Ferrier singing Che faró senza Euridice (What is life to be without thee?) reduces me to tears, Beethovens Seventh cheers me out of all but the deepest glooms and much of Mozart makes me laugh.

On a similar note what about those tunes that stick in your head and won't move?

 

[Pete Younger]

Originally posted by intaglio


On a similar note what about those tunes that stick in your head and won't move?

And why is it that the tunes that irritate the most, are the ones that stick the fastest?

 

[Anonymous]

....coz they are the most repetitious...??? I always find that albums/tracks I warm to immediately have a shortest life on my CD player. But I still haven't got my head around "Kid A" yet.....

 

[Hospitaller]

The pleasure of listening to music is in that you are counting subconsciously, or so some academic type said in a documentary on C4 (or was it BBC2) a couple of years back. I forget what it was called, but the most fascinating part was that the Catholic Church banned augmented chords as they were considered diabolic!

 

[gyrtrash]

Originally posted by intaglio
[.

On a similar note what about those tunes that stick in your head and won't move?

It's always the very last song I hear on the radio before I go to work, be it Led Zeppelin, Steps, or Klaus Wunderlich and his Amazing Organ..

 

[Anonymous]

Remember reading somewhere an essay on this subject.
Stating that different cultures even hear a little differnt to others.An example given was the tinny radio,s that came from the far east in the 70,s.It said that eastern cultures would rather hear the top end(treble).And the fact there is not bass on Japaness heavy metal(not that i,d listen to it)
Where in Africa its the bass that is dominant.(think deep drums).

Also i,d like to know how differnt stimulants effect how we hear music.Classic case is cannabis and "dub reggae".
All bass slow moving grooves.
While the average beer drinker would rather have the dirt and grunge of guitar music(everything from blues to oasis).
ft153 had some info about how different frequency,s affect the human body in the article about sound as a weapon.
[/B
]

No bass in Japanese heavy metal? Thats just wrong. I'm a Japanese-American bass player....a walking contridiction possibly? I dislike hearing anything without a distinct bassline in it, it puts people like me out of work. Playing music under the influence of cannabis for me can be fun and often inspires me to play things I've never concieved of before, but on the other hand the paranoidal thing jumps on me at the same time and can make me fumble the simplest parts that I've played for years. I read once of a study done on the healing properties of lower frequencies.......yes, I'm the groove doctor!

 

[Anonymous]

I like Mozart and Guns 'n' Roses and everything in between. I do NOT do hip-hop or rap (with a silent 'c').
Folk music, I like. Especially in Gaelic. Don't speak a word of it, so I have no idea what they are on about. Could be a recipe for broth, for all I know, but I like the music.
English folk music is quite good. Don't tell anyone I said that.
I find very loud bass, like in house or garage or shed or whatever you call it, rather painful. That it has healing qualities, I doubt.

 

[Anonymous]

I like Mozart and Guns 'n' Roses and everything in between. I do NOT do hip-hop or rap (with a silent 'c').
Folk music, I like. Especially in Gaelic. Don't speak a word of it, so I have no idea what they are on about. Could be a recipe for broth, for all I know, but I like the music.
English folk music is quite good. Don't tell anyone I said that.
I find very loud bass, like in house or garage or shed or whatever you call it, rather painful. That it has healing qualities, I doubt.

The study dealt with droning tones in the 30 hertz range(about the range of the low b string on a 5 string bass). I agree with you, I don't care for a very loud bass or a very loud any instrument, there's a delicate balance one strives for in playing live music.

 

[Anonymous]

No bass in Japanese heavy metal? Thats just wrong. I'm a Japanese-American bass player....a walking contridiction possibly? I dislike hearing anything without a distinct bassline in it, it puts people like me out of work. Playing music under the influence of cannabis for me can be fun and often inspires me to play things I've never concieved of before, but on the other hand the paranoidal thing jumps on me at the same time and can make me fumble the simplest parts that I've played for years. I read once of a study done on the healing properties of lower frequencies.......yes, I'm the groove doctor!

i remember reading the stuff about Japanese bass from a article in a recording journal.Sounds like they didnt do there research.
Also have had a few frieinds that have played the dijerdoo (not sure on the spelling).This instrument is known to be used for its healing properties.

 

[carole]

It's always the very last song I hear on the radio before I go to work, be it Led Zeppelin, Steps, or Klaus Wunderlich and his Amazing Organ..

Yes, I find that too, David Raven! If it's a particularly noxious tune, I take delight in 'sharing' it with my work colleagues until they either tell me to belt up or are humming the tune themselves.

Carole

 

[Anonymous]

i remember reading the stuff about Japanese bass from a article in a recording journal.Sounds like they didnt do there research.
Also have had a few frieinds that have played the dijerdoo (not sure on the spelling).This instrument is known to be used for its healing properties.

Especially in veterinary circles!

 

[Anonymous]

Every dog has its day.

 

[intaglio]

An article on stuck tunes in "Breaking News"
What causes some tunes to get stuck in the mind, and how do you turn off the music?

Roy Rivenburg

the link is here

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers for the link intaglio, it's very interesting...

A GAME IF YOUR BORED: Combat DJing (best if your pissed or stoned)
Ingredients: 2-6 people, Comprehensive record collection, Good stereo
How to play: Choose an 'apt' tune to start and take it in turns to 'continue the vibe' by choosing and playing more tunes. Simple, but can result in some awsome 'sets', it can also result in some horrific arguements about the suitability of a record. - Have Fun

Owning an expensive record / cd collection and expensive audio gear, there is no way I'd let anyone on my decks when pissed or stoned! :eek!!!!: