The Neuroscience Of Music

Why does music make us feel? On the one hand, music is a purely abstract art form, devoid of language or explicit ideas. The stories it tells are all subtlety and subtext. And yet, even though music says little, it still manages to touch us deep, to tickle some universal nerves. When listening to our favorite songs, our body betrays all the symptoms of emotional arousal. The pupils in our eyes dilate, our pulse and blood pressure rise, the electrical conductance of our skin is lowered, and the cerebellum, a brain region associated with bodily movement, becomes strangely active. Blood is even re-directed to the muscles in our legs. (Some speculate that this is why we begin tapping our feet.) In other words, sound stirs us at our biological roots. As Schopenhauer wrote, “It is we ourselves who are tortured by the strings.”

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While music can often seem (at least to the outsider) like a labyrinth of intricate patterns – it’s art at its most mathematical – it turns out that the most important part of every song or symphony is when the patterns break down, when the sound becomes unpredictable. If the music is too obvious, it is annoyingly boring, like an alarm clock. (Numerous studies, after all, have demonstrated that dopamine neurons quickly adapt to predictable rewards. If we know what’s going to happen next, then we don’t get excited.) This is why composers introduce the tonic note in the beginning of the song and then studiously avoid it until the end. The longer we are denied the pattern we expect, the greater the emotional release when the pattern returns, safe and sound. That is when we get the chills.

Hint: when playing the vid. Go for audio first. You should totally watch the video too eventually but ease into it.

Pretty much what the fussy baby niece did!

That was a fascinating article!

I amused myself by getting chills by thinking about people getting chills listening to music.

What's some rock music to swing dance to? The more unusual (the bigger the hair, maybe?) the better.

What's some rock music to swing dance to? The more unusual (the bigger the hair, maybe?) the better.

Well, there are some swing versions of metal and hard rock songs. Like, the New Morty Show's version of "White Wedding" and the Pat Boone album of metal songs.

But I don't think that's what you're talking about.

Uhm, I think you could swing dance to "Paradise City."

What's some rock music to swing dance to? The more unusual (the bigger the hair, maybe?) the better.

Poison did a cover of "Your Mama Don't Dance" - it is absolutely possible to swing dance to that.

Yeah, nothing that actually sounds like swing. The Poison and Guns N Roses are perfect! I'm not quite sure about the former, but it might be fudgeable. I know that most rock and roll is swingable, just not sure how far that extends into rock mutations.

Actually, thinking about it, you can jive to Motley Crue's "Dr. Feelgood". It's fast as hell, but it could be fun, and it sounds nothing like swing.

Just wanted to make sure everyone saw My Chem's accoustic set. [link]

Oh Helena. Sighh... that song kills me in this arrangement (even though it still makes zero lyrical sense whatsoever).

And, from the Q&A, they are playing off of Bullets for this tour. \\o/

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