Why do we like music?
- Thread starter milkman
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AsModEe
also known as ass-mode
Some people, with an anomalie in their brain (which I forgot the name) can't understand and enjoy any music. So, maybe it's only physiologic (does that word even exist in english?)
Intoxicator
Hell On Earth
There is pretty much a genetic disorder for any aspect about us since everything about us is coded in our genes and can unfortunately fuck up once in a while. I'm just curious as to why we evolved such an ability (being able to perceive music). I'm guessing that evolution selected individuals that were better at pattern recognition etc etc.. but it's still kind of strange to me.
Etaoin
:<>:<>:<>:
close enough - physiologicalAsModEe said:
I wasn't aware of this anomaly either, but it doesn't surprise me.
I remember listening to the radio compulsively from about age 8 or 9. We didn't have any tape or vinyl or other music device in my home growing up other than the radio. Once I got my own radio, around 9 or 10, and if I was home, I was in my room and it was on...constantly...especially at night, all night long, while I slept. I have a friend who remembers from the age 4 or 5 sitting and watching the 45's go round and round while listening to music over and over. In me, it triggers such strong emotions - joy, grief, anger, contentedness, rage, regret, sadness, excitedeness, happiness - that I'm thinking maybe it connects somewhere in the limbic region of the brain, where our emotions and memory are stored. Some songs still make me hop up & down, and others make me cry, just by hearing them, no matter where I am, like Pavlov's dog. Music was my escape from the unsane world my childhood was.
AsModEe
also known as ass-mode
Yes, there was an american president who suffered from this. There's also that south american revolutionary who we can see his face on a lot of t-shirts that suffered from this anomalie..Scissors. said:
Etaoin
:<>:<>:<>:
AsModEe
also known as ass-mode
I don't remember the name of the president, but I know someone had to warn him when the american anthem was playing, otherwise he wouldn't know.Smarkum said:
And yes, it was Che.
anonymousnick2001
World's Greatest Vocalist
the composer ravel suffered from a neurological injury that left him curiously able to compose music in his head but unable to write it down. people who have suffered from strokes that injured the part of the brain cheifly responsible for music recognition have had interesting inabilities with music.
Kenneth R.
Cináed
why do we like music?
musical construction is that of time dependent variation. as time passes, tonal harmony changes. we learn to anticipate this change and as with other changes in our lives, we are curious of the unknown that will next occur.
asking why we like music is asking why we like movies, or books. the tonal changes unfold like words in a book, evoking emotions that we like to experience. it is a journey through dissonance and consonance, tension and resolution, that makes us feel as though we have experienced what the writer has depicted.
the inability to recognize music likely comes from an inability (as said above) to recognize patterns, and anticipate the next state. understanding the entire set of states together as a song would be as understanding all the letters to be a word, all the words to be a book, a book as a story. if you can't "read", it's just a lot of sound to you.
musical construction is that of time dependent variation. as time passes, tonal harmony changes. we learn to anticipate this change and as with other changes in our lives, we are curious of the unknown that will next occur.
asking why we like music is asking why we like movies, or books. the tonal changes unfold like words in a book, evoking emotions that we like to experience. it is a journey through dissonance and consonance, tension and resolution, that makes us feel as though we have experienced what the writer has depicted.
the inability to recognize music likely comes from an inability (as said above) to recognize patterns, and anticipate the next state. understanding the entire set of states together as a song would be as understanding all the letters to be a word, all the words to be a book, a book as a story. if you can't "read", it's just a lot of sound to you.
Etaoin
:<>:<>:<>:
NeverIsForever
Member
For me, music is an escape of sorts from the real world. Part of my interest in metal stems from the almost 'epic' feel to many of the songs, as though they are part of the soundtrack to some dream or fantasy world (like the one inside my head...)
Maybe this is a tiny-bit off-topic, but I also read somewhere that scientists did a study and listening to music helps people transcend pain. They had people submerge their hands in very cold water and then gave them a choice of things to do while their hands were in the water, to see how long they could stand it. I don't remember what the other choices were, but those who chose to listen to music were able to stand the pain the longest. (I'll try to find the article...)
This makes a lot of sense to me, actually. I do a lot of running, and I've found that it's easier to ignore discomfort when I'm either actually listening to music, or have a song stuck in my head. I guess because it's something else to think about?
Maybe this is a tiny-bit off-topic, but I also read somewhere that scientists did a study and listening to music helps people transcend pain. They had people submerge their hands in very cold water and then gave them a choice of things to do while their hands were in the water, to see how long they could stand it. I don't remember what the other choices were, but those who chose to listen to music were able to stand the pain the longest. (I'll try to find the article...)
This makes a lot of sense to me, actually. I do a lot of running, and I've found that it's easier to ignore discomfort when I'm either actually listening to music, or have a song stuck in my head. I guess because it's something else to think about?
AsModEe
also known as ass-mode
The anomalie I was referring to is called Amusie in french (I haven't found the translation yet) and I think the president in question was Lincoln, but I have no confirmation of this ( but I'm sure about Che ).
Kenneth R.
Cináed
the transcending pain thing i agree with as well.
when i was on the track team (back in teh day ) i would either get a song in my head intentionally and focus on that, or the idiotic girl who left me as a way to force thought that physical pain is nothing compared to the psychological, and it worked.
when i was on the track team (back in teh day
) i would either get a song in my head intentionally and focus on that, or the idiotic girl who left me as a way to force thought that physical pain is nothing compared to the psychological, and it worked.Silent Song said:
When I'm listening to a song I'm not curious or eager to find out what happens at the end - it just feels good for whatever reason (intellectual and emotional aspects aside). But I'm not too concerned with what's physically happening in our brains when we're listening - it's just that with a book you are curious to find out the ending and that's entertaining. That makes sense though, since as competing animals we need curiosity to surivive or else we'd never solve problems. This isn't quite the case with music. I'm wondering why we have it - what point does music serve?
Unless I already answered my own question with the pattern recognition stuff and it's simply a nice byproduct of our intellect : /
Kenneth R.
Cináed
not necessarily the ending, but you anticipate if i start playing a series of notes in succession 1...2...3...4...1...2...3...? as you hear the "3" for the second time you anticipate "4" again, like you said - pattern recognition. its anticipation and as such it is expectation of what is to come. given that expectation, we like to guess, wonder, and "find out" what is next. even if you've heard it before (or read it before).
like you said. curiosity.
like you said. curiosity.
Huan
Wolf of Valinor
marduk1507
Member
This is a platonic question. Platos early Dialogues are concerned with the nature of many phenomena and one of them is beauty (I think its dealt with in Symposion and Phaedros). Aristotle also wrote a whole book on this, Poetics. Other suggestion could be Kants Critique of Judgement, which contains his thoughts on aesthetics. Then (and here I am on Silent Songs side) its also a problem of analytical philosophy and semiotics - music is a code, like language - you have notions and words, statements and sentences, logic and grammar, so then you can have sounds, notes and whole themes and compositions. But then, what is music? (Ill end here, cause I could go on and on)
(Ill end here, cause I could go on and on)My mother sort of has this problem. She can remember and recognize some patterns in music, but she finds no enjoyment or emotion in it, it's just patterned noise to her.
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