My Music Theory

[Druidus]

As some of you may know, I posted here questioning why music was pleasant to us; why we enjoyed it. I am asking that again, but this time, I have a theory. The reason we like music is because of how orderly our brains are. We like, order, and therefore, patterns. Since all music is a function of patterns, we like music. The other facet that is intertwined with pattern theory is mathematics. Our brains like to order things mathematically. We are built that way. Because of the fact that we can express the tune of any song with a mathematical equation, we can say that our brains will be able to unconciously note the order and pattern from within the song, expressing a pleasure in our brains, due to the release of epinephrine (and other chemicals). However, I still have no idea why different tunes can evoke different feelings. Anyone want to help me out? :help:

 

[Lightkeeper]

I think you are at least partly right. I think music evokes different emotions, because a lot of it is written from the emotion of the composer, the emotion he/she was feeling or trying to convey at the time. Also, certain songs spark certain memories. I think music and rhythm speaks to something deep inside of us. It moves us spiritually and is beyond words. I think it goes beyond the brain. I hope Painted Wolf replies to this thread. The Native Americans have different dances for different aspects of life. The drum beat as I recall is the rhythm of the Earth. During their songs and dances you are in sync with the rhythm of the Earth. Music can center you and make you one with all things.

 

[Druidus]

I have heard that music that coincides with the Schumann Resonance (The magnetic "beat" of the earth) is very pleasurable. It's funny to know that music can be expressed by a formula, because no matter how mathemaically inclined you are, the formula won't express the same feelings as the song!

 

[Jaymes]

What about things without a pattern, like rain?

 

[Druidus]

Then our brain tries to make order of it, which may be fun. Or perhaps it is naturally fun to revel in rain, and nature. I love to hear the rain!

 

[cardero]

I get "chils" when I hear certain segments of music. I have been moved to tears to fits of head-bopping euphoria, to playing and writing music, to singing and rejoicing. I think one of the most precious gifts to give someone is to share with them the music you appreceiate. I also am aware of the effects that music has on society. We may not accept other peoples values or morals or beliefs or attitudes but the one thing we can all agree on is the UNIVERSAL effect/response that music has in our lives.

Druidus I should direct you to a book entitled "The Mozart Effect" by Don Campbell. He has done experiments in the type of research that you posted. See if it is something you might BE interested in.

 

[Lightkeeper]

I bought a CD of Buddhist Monk Chants this weekend. In addition to the chants they use gongs, drums, bells, etc. It vibrates your whole being. It's wonderful to hear 50 male voices in low register chanting Om. One of the chants is the mantra Om mani padme hum, which is a mantra for compassion.

 

[standing_on_one_foot]

I think we also like it because we like the rhythms and patterns and sounds that occur in speech (it being so important to our lives), and that carries over into music and whatnot...that's probably a part of it. In many ways, really, music is just another way of communicating, and that sort of thing is deeply wired into us. And, darn it, it's pretty!

 

[cardero]

Lightkeeper writes: I bought a CD of Buddhist Monk Chants this weekend. In addition to the chants they use gongs, drums, bells, etc. It vibrates your whole being. It's wonderful to hear 50 male voices in low register chanting Om. One of the chants is the mantra Om mani padme hum, which is a mantra for compassion.

I REMEMBER reading something about Gregorian chants producing that same effect.

 

[Mystic]

I tend to agree with Lightkeeper that certain types of music trigger memories.

This weekend I was watching a live musical (my hubby's a musician) and one of the songs they sang was Stevie Wonder's "My Cheri Amore" That song took me right back to when I was a kid visiting my Grandma in Montreal.

Then again, there was a particular song which used to make me weep everytime it came on the radio because it was the song my ex husband and I danced to at our wedding.

The song was "IF" by Bread.

http://www.lyricsondemand.com/b/breadlyrics/iflyrics.html

 

[cardero]

Mystic writes: The song was "IF" by Bread.

Alot of great stuff from Bread

 

[martha]

This may sound a little off the wall but when I am playing with my dog sometimes I will start to howl, and he will begin to chime in raising his head skyward. He will howl Wooooo,to beat the band. I know I am only playing with him but I wonder what he is thinking. What is he singing about. Why do birds sing, or whales, or dolphins? To communicate I imagine. Just as we communicate feelings with a great love song, or a wonderful march, or the sound of a waltz, or the beat of a drum that leads us into battle since acient times. Why does it affect us emotionally at different times? You got me! What a wonderful question you have posed. I hope someone finds the definitive answer. Music is truly a beautiful gift to us all. Perhaps we can imagine our bodies like a harp and when our individual nerves are plucked by a certain sound it vibrates in the body. Just like when the doctor hits your knee with the tuning fork it lifts our leg. The tones in music lifts our emotions to joy, or sadness. I don't know I am just grasping. I guess the next question is, what is emotion?

Goodnight beloved

 

[Runt]

I don't know, I hate math and I prefer general chaos to order... for me, music is all about 1 thing: emotion. Emotion is almost the opposite of order... it is certainly never logical, never predictable, never easily controlled.

But that is my experience, not everyone's. I'm definitely a humanities kind of person rather than a math-science.... so I (and people like me) am probably going to see the emotion or something similar, whereas math-science people will appreciate the order.

However, I will admit that it does take a careful arrangement ("ordering") of musical notes, instruments, dynamics, etc, to produce that emotion. So while it is the emotion, and not the order itself, that I enjoy, I am able to recognize and perhaps even appreciate that underlying order.

 

[Lightkeeper]

Music is about vibrations. Different notes have different vibrations. There is high frequency and low frequency. in a song the vibrations are ordered mathematically. When these vibrations are played in a certain order they create certain emotions. That makes one wonder if mathematics can be applied to emotions.

 

[cardero]

Martha writes: Why do birds sing, or whales, or dolphins? To communicate I imagine. Just as we communicate feelings with a great love song, or a wonderful march, or the sound of a waltz, or the beat of a drum that leads us into battle since acient times.

Lightkeeper writes: Music is about vibrations. Different notes have different vibrations. There is high frequency and low frequency.

There was a post about soul-mates and angels awhile back and a discussion about familiar entities that resonate when we are near them. As if their BEings were radiating a type of song. Martha’s description of the whales singing/communicating and Lightkeeper’s comparison to vibrations made me REMEMBER the conversations that GOD and I had about music.



“Vibrations, resonance, and harmony is what makes music “feel” like that. Everything has these qualities, even YOU. You ALL are music. Music is just a method of communicating to other souls. Like your modern day languages, instruments are different means to communicate this language to other souls. Think of instruments as extensions of expression. Music is communication through essence.”



“If you are a deep-feeling individual, you will most likely feel music on deeper levels.”



“Music is a communicative vibration. Everything vibrates. The trees, the animals, the rivers, everything vibrates. Everything is a glorious song.”



“Everything vibrates on a different frequency. In essence, everyONE is his or her own frequency…a song written within. This song, when it resonates, is a way for souls to recognize each other. “

 

[Lightkeeper]

Beautiful post Carrdero. It makes sense.

 

[martha]

If ones soul is attuned to the vibrations of the universe,it will hear music in all things.
When I have gone into what I call the great loud city, Manhattan, New York, I can feel it vibrating within me. Suddenly the jackhammer pounding the pavement has a musical rhythm. The background of the auto horns gives musical punctuations. The hiss of a bus opening it's doors gives a brief pause and the hum of all the hundreds of voices surrounding you lay the foundation. If you are ever in Manhattan, or for that matter any big city, stop for a moment near a building, close your eyes and listen to the music. If you have never done this, I am sure you will be overwhelmed by it and it will evoke a certain melody in your soul. (p.s. If you do stand in a big city against a building with your eyes closed, please be sure to hold onto your wallet! Your soul may not be the only thing that is lifted.)
This reminds me of a story, if you will indulge me a moment. Picture it, Central Park, New York City. I was with a friend. He challenged me to climb up on this big rock that had a plaque on it and he said, "I bet you can't read that plaque with your eyes closed. Close you eyes and read the plaque with your fingers, like braille." I took him up on the challenge. So there I was all proud of myself speaking out loud the words that I was reading letter by letter with my fingers. When I finished I opened my eyes to look at him and say "See I did it.", but he was nowhere to be found. I felt so stupid! But it was the best joke anyone had ever played on me. Sorry for going off thread for a moment.
We are music. The rhythm of our heartbeats, the ebb and flow of our breath, the blink of our eyes, the movement of our bodies, the flow of blood through our veins. It is all rythm and rythm is music. It touches our souls because it is part of our essence.
Listen to your own rythm, take your pulse and see what song it evokes in your mind.

Joyfully,
Martha

 

[martha]

Perhaps someday I will remember how to spell rhythm, not rythm. Oh boy what a dope I am.

 

[martha]

What is it about certain Latin music that makes my body want to move? I can't help myself. The rhythm of the drums gets my hips and sholders moving without thinking about how I should move. The beat envelops my being. Ahh the beat, perhaps that is the thing. The same holds true for some rock music, or certain jazz beats, or African rythms. I don't know what it is but it feels real good!

 

[cardero]

What is it about certain Latin music that makes my body want to move? I can't help myself. The rhythm of the drums gets my hips and sholders moving without thinking about how I should move. The beat envelops my being. Ahh the beat, perhaps that is the thing. The same holds true for some rock music, or certain jazz beats, or African rythms. I don't know what it is but it feels real good!

James Brown does it for me. I would pop in a disc listen to him hitting it "on the ONE" and I'm blasting off. Music that "funked-up" should BE illegal.