Music reaches people at a deep emotional level, enhancing memories, emotions, and human connections. We use music to celebrate holidays and special occasions, to excite crowds at social political and sporting events; to communicate deep emotions to another person, soothe a child. Different styles of music provoke different emotional reactions, in varying circumstances as well as in individuals.
Aristotle said that “Music directly imitates the passions or states of the soul…”, Plato stated “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything; It is the essence of order and lends to all that is good, just, and beautiful.”, and Socrates said that “Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten…” These men, great thinkers of mankind, revered to this day for their innovative philosophies saw the ways in which music affected people, the emotional impact it had. Indeed it was Aristotle himself who developed the term ‘catharsis’ for the ‘purging’ of emotions, and that just what music provides us. Whether as a sympathetic echo of our deepest emotions, love, sorrow, grief, anger, joy, and fear.
Love, the abundance and great variety of love songs that continue to be created and listened to prove the emotional catharsis experienced both by the audience and the creators of love songs. Whether a song of true love, or heartache we feel a release of these emotions when a song echoes a similarity of our own experiences. Cathy Underwood’s ‘Forever Changed’ is imbued with a nostalgic love, as well as the love of an adult child for an aging a slowly fading parent. The melody and rhythm are written in a style like that of a lullaby, soft, slow, and sweet. It’s lyrics tell of a woman remembering falling in love, getting married, and giving birth to a child and how these experiences changed her. It continues with the daughter telling of her sorrow as she must watch her mother’s memories and life fade away. It is a beautiful song, and for anyone with an aging parent or grandparent it can strike a deeply emotional chord, but it isn’t a grieving song though it certainly draws grief into the emotions it evokes, but it is a love song, and draws from one a nostalgic love, and joy of a life well lived.
Forever Changed performed by Carrie Underwood
Album: Blown Away Released: 2012
Written by Tom Douglas, James T. Slater, Hillary Lindsey
“Defining music is no easy task, because its function among different cultures varies greatly. Some cultures have used music as a form of communication, while others have used it as a feature of celebratory events…While the function of music may be different culturally, the most basic definition of music is: noise that has been organized in a specific pattern…It has been shown that in the earliest stages of life we begin to respond differently to…different musical aspects” (Tilocca) The mode in which music is played helps us to determine the intended ‘feel’ of the music. Major mode is mostly associated with positive emotions, while minor mode is usually associated with negative emotions. It is believed that music works on multiple levels to evoke emotions, both physiological as well as psychological. However, there maintains an ongoing debate regarding whether music creates emotion, or simply evokes a catharsis in it’s listeners. “While listening to a piece of music, the listener can experience an abundance of different feelings and emotions. Conversely, a listener may experience no emotions at all… research strongly supports the idea that certain sound components in music dictate our emotional response to them.” (Tilocca) “If a piece of music expresses anger or sadness, we are not angry at the piece nor sad about it. If emotions require both objects and appropriate beliefs about them, and they often are differentiated in these ways, then music does not seem capable of arousing them. Second, it seems puzzling, if music arouses emotions, why listeners would want to hear sad or angry music. If we normally want to avoid sadness, why should we seek to feel sad when listening to music? Why should we not generally prefer cheerful pieces (which many listeners do not)?” (Goldman) So perhaps in this vein of thought, it is not that the emotions are a creation of the music, but that it draws from us a sympathetic resonance, a catharsis. When the music resonates with the emotions in us we are able to momentarily override our social conditioning and feel the emotions in their entirety. This can work as a purging of the negative, a reinforcement of the positive, or even to heighten feelings associated with competitiveness, rebellion, and ambition.
Music can unite, when the English were quelling the Scottish rebels they banned the bagpipes because of their use of the Scottish in heightening their passion for war. While this can be seen as either a positive or negative depending on what side a person is on, there is no denying the rush of adrenaline that can be incited with the beat of a drum. “Drums were the driving force behind the percussive din that characterized the ancient art of war. The goal was to energize your troops while terrifying your enemies with the thunderous noise you could make. Modern armies continue to march to the beat of the drum, though now the purpose of this rhythmic energy is to not only stimulate the body, but also to forge a sense of group unity.” (Folkways) The music of the drums can draw out fear, hope, patriotism, even joy, though it is simple it is powerful.
Music, above all other arts, has a deep abiding connection. From the earliest most primitive forms to the complex modern melodies and rhythms, it is a vital part of all cultures.
Explorations in Music 