Sound is the way humans perceive changes in air pressure, and music is the way our brains understand the ratios of frequencies of sound waves. Imagine playing a G2 (for those of us without perfect pitch this is the first note of rock epic ‘Smoke on the Water’), the frequency of this note is 98Hz (98 waves per second) and the frequency of G3, an octave up, is 196Hz, a ratio of 1:2. The second note of the riff is a minor third higher (Bb2) with a frequency of 116.5Hz, a ratio of 5:6, and the third note is a fifth higher than the G (D3) with a ratio of 2:3. These are the magical ratios around which all western music is based, from Deep Purple to the Beach Boys, and our brain understands them as being harmonious. Somehow, this maths vibrating in our ears can create in us extremely complex feelings that logically and evolutionarily make little sense.
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Have you ever heard a piece of music that makes your hair stand up on end? Gives you goosebumps? There are a few theories as to why this happens; one is that, knowing that that key change or bass drop or drum solo (my personal favourite) is coming, your brain begins to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked to pleasure, into a critical part of the rewards system called the striatum. Dopamine builds up before the climax of the music because the brain is very good at anticipating; this gives us an evolutionary advantage as we can be more prepared in the event of a dangerous situation. Another theory is that sad music triggers a kind of distress pathway involved in the fear response, causing us to subconsciously puff up our hairs to make ourselves bigger seem bigger to the threat our brain thinks is there. Why do these goosebumps feel good rather than scary? Well it’s possible that this vestigial response is balanced by our enjoyment of the music, giving us the excitement of a fight-or-flight response but, fortunately, not the fear. Unless it’s Slipknot.
Listening to music has other immediate effects on the brain. Despite it being abstract, it activates the same pleasure and reward centres as tangible stimuli such as food, sex, and drugs. Rock n Roll is a natural high! No wonder Reverend Shaw Moore was so worried about Kevin Bacon. Blood flow to the amygdala, part of the ‘animal brain’ that deals with emotion, increases when we listen to certain kinds of music, showing that the area becomes more active. Studies have also shown that listening to some kinds of music, for example symphonies, not only activates areas of the brain linked with sound, but also attention, memory, and movement, something which doesn’t happen when you’re listening to background noise. This explains why music has been linked to better concentration, conjures up very specific memories, and makes you tap your feet.
We’ve all heard the myth that listening to Mozart can make young children smarter. Though this has since been debunked, we find that playing music does have long-term effects on the brain. The playing of an instrument requires well honed motor and auditory skills, as well as a good mind for languages for the translation of musical symbols into movements that create sound. Musicians typically have very good spacial awareness and well-developed muscle memory; it has been observed that while beginners make mistakes on their instruments by hitting a wrong note close to the one they were aiming for, professionals hit a wrong note that is still in the same key, often even in the same chord. They are so familiar with the scales that their brain knows implicitly that the note could never be one outside of that set of notes, so makes an educated guess rather than a blind one.
Playing music is also found to improve the brain’s capacity for memory and decision-making. One study in 2014 found that musicians’ long term memory for pictures was better than that of non-musicians, and that their neural responses were between 1/3 and 1 second faster across a range of areas in the brain associated with decision-making, senses, memory, and attention. Maybe you shouldn’t have given up on those hurdy gurdy lessons.
Although the full effects of music on the brain are not known, we know that culturally, music is one of the things that defines us as a species, and has been incalculably important in the development of the human race. Music unites us in a way that few things do. We may have come a long way from dancing around a fire to the beating of drums, but I bet it would have felt very similar to thrashing and dancing, listening to Muse or Royal Blood live in a swampy field, alongside 20000 other people doing the exact same thing.
Words by Campbell Brooks