I am sitting here commenting on posts , listening to music , and trying to think of two more possible topics to cover before this blog period ends on Friday. Suddenly, my favorite song comes on , and I get super hype singing and dancing along. It got me thinking THIS is what I should write about , the effects on music on your mood. I don’t know about you , but whenever my SONG comes on while I’m doing homework, I get excited and it helps me get through my work a lot faster.! I decided to share my favorite song  here incase you were interested in what caused my burst of energy.

But, really.. why does music effect our mood? What is the science behind that?

Music has the power to change your mood from happy to sad all within a couple shuffles. Why is that? Research says its the rhythm and tone of the music. First off , let me give you the definition of rhythm in music: “it is a pattern of regular or irregular pulses caused by the occurrence of strong and harmonic beats” So it’s basically the sound that you will most likely find yourself bobbing your head to. As for the definition of tone: “it’s a vocal sound made by vibrating muscular bands in the larynx”. In lay mans terms the actual voice you hear singing the song.

Now were going to talk about the effects that the aforementioned terms have on our moods/ emotion. Starting with rhythm. The way that rhythm affects your mood is through your heart beat. The heart  gets in tune with whatever rhythm is playing , and starts beating accordingly. For example if a sad slow song such as this one here starts playing , your heart starts beating slow and relaxes , this sends a signal to the brain saying that something “sad or depressing” is happening. Once your brain gets that signal, which takes less then a second, you start feeling down. Even though sad music may leave you down in the dumps, it can also help sort through your emotions. The meaningful words in some sad songs may give you something to relate to. I know for me whenever something is making me blue or heartbroken I turn on some slow R&B music and that helps me sort through my feelings. Ok we’ve established how rhythm effects your mood. Let’s move on to tone. The term tonality is the word that tells us why music “evokes emotion” . Tonality ” is the character of the tones and harmonies of a piece.” This is what tells us whether we’re listening to upbeat , lively music  or dark, depressing music. The different keys that send the actual signals to our brain are the major and minor keys. The major key tells us when the song that’s playing is cheerful and happy. Whereas the minor key tells us when it’s sad and depressing. I’ve given all these definitions , but I know you guys are waiting for some proof. Well here it comes…

The University of Missouri conducted two studies on this topic. Both of these studies measured the brains activity as the participants listened to one of the two genres of music that was provided. In the first study , participants brains were scanned as they listened to classic music, and in the following study the participants brains were scanned as they listened to a more upbeat type of music. They were required to listen to the music for a duration of two weeks. The results showed that participants in the group of upbeat music , had a rush of dopamine (feel good hormone) to their pleasure spot in their brain. This proved that music does in fact biologically increases your mood. It’s not make-believe. You see how upbeat music has been proven to elevate your mood, but what about sad music?

Well, in regards to sad music, a University in Berlin , Germany, conducted an observational study where they surveyed 772 “multi-ethnic” people around the world. In the survey they had participants listening to a variety of sad music , and getting their take on it. They discovered that listening to sad music is rewarding. One of the researchers, Liila Taruffi, was even quoted in an article on Today.com saying “People turn to sad music for comfort, and to deal with bad feelings, but also simply for pleasure”. The comfort it provides is the ability to really think through the emotions you are feeling by listening to the words of the artist who seems to really understand.  Taruffi  backs this up with something she calls “emotion regulation” she noted that most participants said that” when they were in a bad mood, experiencing sadness through music made them feel better afterwards and provided an emotional boost” The reason for this is the songs allow you to release the pain you are feeling by expressing it through singing along either out loud or in your head. We all know the famous saying “Misery love company” that saying really ties into this study because listening to depressing music while your sad, is fulfilling that need for company. At least that is the conclusion that I have come to.

The take away from this is certain tough situations in life that cause pain or stress can be eased by singing to a particular song that may relate to the position you’re in. For example if you had a loved one that just passed away and you are having a hard time dealing with their passing, try playing Bye Bye by Mariah Carey, Or maybe you just caught your stupid boyfriend/ girlfriend in a lie, listen to Rihanna Take a Bow to raise you morale and to get you to stop thinking EVERYTHING is your fault. Maybe, you’re Drunk in Love like Beyonce (the Queen). Whatever it is that you’re feeling MUSIC CAN GET YOU THROUGH IT. You are never alone.