Why do we like music?

Ok, a bit philosophical I guess, but I have a very analytical mind and I can't fathom this one.

For as long as we can figure out, people have liked music. Its in every culture, in every part of the world. Some cultures have recognised its power to the extent that they've tried to declare it a sin.

So what's so good about it?

When I listen to a piece of music I've heard a thousand times before, each time I hear something I didn't notice before (commercial pop doesn't seem to have that effect on me, perhaps that's why it does nothing for me, I don't know).

So if we take my two favourite genres as an example. I like thrash metal, and what used to be called 'hardcore techno' before someone renamed the genre to things like 'old skool', or 'happy hardcore' etc.

These two genres are like chalk and cheese. One is created by a group of pseudo-angry people playing real instruments, the other is usually created by a geek with a computer and a sequencer. But at the same time, they have things in common. Both are typically high tempo, very percussive, and with lots of discord. But even in the discord, there is order. The percussion is usually fairly consistent and rhythmic, with all the random 'noise' and chaos and discord coordinated (if you can coordinate chaos) among it. Then there are many, many different layers. The baseline might be 90 or 120 bpm, but then there'll be a sort of second baseline and 2 or 3 or more times that, while the melody might seem to be at a different tempo again, and lots different layers in there.

So why do we like it?

I used to have a theory that if the baseline is just slightly higher than your heart rate, then it will energise you, while if its much higher than you're heart rate, then it will just grate on you and do your head in. Conversely if its lower than your heart rate then it will either chill you out or bore you. I'm not entirely sure that's it though. Seems to simplistic. It can't be familiarity, otherwise we'd never like anything new.

Just thought I'd share some random thought that plagues me every time I listen to some music that I really like.

 

Hmmmm, that's VERY analytical indeed
I think I need to read that again a few times

 

You also need to take in to account the frequencies. I think 9.5 Hz or something like that engages your Alpha brain waves...or something like that. It engages emotions, memories, makes you want to dance and move - can't beeat it.

But why? Good question.

 

I like breakbeat hardcore and Jungle and Drum N Bass music. I DJ too.

Music is a way of life for me. As soon as I get up I am constantly listening to music when alone.

 

For me, it's mostly the way it conveys emotion, how it makes me feel. I can't think of anything else that can do that. Sure, you could read a book, watch a film, but what if it's in the wrong language? Music is universal.

 

It's so true that music crosses language barriers, it also crosses cultural barriers.
In the 1970's I spent some time in Nigeria and in my first few weeks there I was fortunate enough to be taken to an open air club called The Shrine in Ikeja, Lagos State. It was here that I first heard Fela Kuti in what was a most wonderful night for me. I had never experienced music like it and over the next few months I was a regular visitor to listen to Fela and the Afrika. In those days Fela always sang in Pidgin English so that his words could be understood by the masses but later he sang in tribal dialects such as Yoruba but the music never changed.
Great memories.

 

Maybe. A thought occurs to me. Us human sorts are not exactly unique in our drive to create music, or if we remove the label of 'music', rhythmic and or melodic sounds as a way of communication and identification.

Lots of birds do it, wales and dolphins do it, wolves do it. Maybe its not so much about 'music' as a human invention, but just an extension of some built in animal instinct to identify with a group or communicate in some way without the complexities, inconsistencies, incompatibilities and tedium of language.

I agree, but why? Its easy to pick out the easy cases. Songs that were being played all the time when you were on your best ever holiday, or songs played at major events etc, but you get a similar effect with music you've never heard before. I mentioned that regular pop doesn't really do it for me. One possible exception would be St Ettienne. Their songs always sound really jolly and light hearted, but the lyrics are usually quite miserable and depression, so in that case, why should the music sound cheerful, even when the subject is dark? I.e. there is clearly something in the actual sound that evokes the emotion, and not the lyrics themselves.

Another example, my favourite thrash metal song, Angel of Death by Slayer, just sounds like a powerful wall of sound. Exciting perhaps, energising, it never makes me feel aggressive even though the sound could be described as aggressive, and yet when I read the lyrics for the first time I got an entirely different emotional reaction. The song tells the tale of what the nazis did to jews in WW2, and its pretty horrific and difficult to read. It put me off the song for a while. Now I can only enjoy it if I don't think about the story its telling.

You're right about African sounds. I have a few African albums kicking about. I find them very good, even though in many cases (where they are not sung in English, or where there is no singing at all) I'm not entirely sure what they're trying to convey.

That said, wife and I once went to see a show by some African folk, doing all tribal dances and music (mostly percussion). It was a proper theatre show, and we were told in the blurb that it tells a story but wouldn't tell us what the story was, but by the end of the show there'd be leaflets out telling what it was about, in case we hadn't figured it out. Through the different natures of the various musical pieces, and the dances, we figured that it was a story of the struggles of life in general, from childhood, with bullying and the struggle for acceptance, to adolescence, to the trials and tribulations of finding a husband or wife, to being married, complete with lover's tiffs etc (seeing a 5ft tall young woman of very slight build push a 6ft+ bag of muscle right across the stage and onto his behind was very funny and telling, even if it was rehearsed and choreographed). Turns out we'd pretty much got it right. The story would have been incredibly tedious and mind numbingly dull if it had been done in a 'conventional' way, but put to music and dance, both done the extreme (imagine about 20 people all drumming at the same time, and dance moves/stunts that no human should be able to achieve without breaking themselves). It was most excellent.

 

I think, that when a musician, or group of musicians make music, they are conveying something. Sometimes it 'connects', sometimes it doesn't. Of course, what they convey might not be what we perceive, but still some connection can be made that appeals to our senses. Generally speaking, it's the 'tune' that attracts me. Unless there's a powerful message/sentiment in the lyrics, to me they're just 'the words'
I remember one saturday morning on the way home from work, I was listening to Classic FM. They were playing that weeks top 20 Classical albums. I'd turned it on when they had just started to play the No1, Symphony No3 by Gorecki. It was still playing when I got home, and I just couldn't turn it off, and had to sit in the drive to hear it out. I was totally spellbound! Such sadness in a tune I've never heard, and yet, so moving. I bought the CD. Turns out it's a depiction of a mother mourning the loss of her son, taken to a concentration camp during the war. Although there's limited vocal sections, it's in Italian(?), so all of the emotion is perceived.
AC/DC, on the other hand, puts a big grin on my face

 

Parrots love music!!!

 

Music provides experiences of unity and resolution that we rarely have in day-to-day life. Its expressive qualities are existentially absolute.

I don't pay much mind to the content of lyrics any more, only to good musicianship and the effect of the sound. Always up for something that's new to me.

 

I listened to some music once. It was by a band called Genesis? ??
I got completely confused by the lyrics. I will follow you, if you follow me. Huh???
How's that possible? Unless they were walking around in circles? Very strange .
Or maybe they meant on twitter or FB.

 

Reminds me of a joke I know. Perfect for the philosophical theme too.

Do not lead, for I will not follow.
Do not follow, for I will not lead.
Do not walk beside me, for the path is narrow.

Spoiler: Punchline

In fact, why don't you just flop off and leave me alone

But yes, back on topic, it seems for some of us (myself included) the lyrics are secondary, almost to the extent that they are insignificant.

 

Having said that, it can be very important, in that it allows us to join in. Back last year, I saw the Wurzels, you may remember. Anyway, what can be better than singing along to 'Where Be That Blackbird To'