Can music makes you think?
By codris
@codris (781)
Italy
January 5, 2010 5:21pm CST
hi there people, i'm a strange person, i don't know if there are people like me in hte world, but my mental state is very influenced by music, slow and soft songs can make me think about my life, about my future, and everything about me. I'm listening to Hallelujah, and this song can touch my heart in a strange way, this song makes me, i don't know how to explain...maybe sad but i don't think, this song make me strange. And wha about you? can music influence your emotional and mental state? Thank you foryour responses :)
3 people like this
30 responses
@AndrewFreyne (6281)
• United Kingdom
6 Jan 10
Yes, this is a hot favourite of mine! Music definitely makes you think and it's funny because I'm listening to my favourite music now as I post away on My Lot! I'm listening to the music from the Rocky films! It helps me concentrate and yes, it helps me to think too! That's what I love about music, it can really affect your mental and emotional state! I feel great when I listen to positive, upbeat music! I'm also a keen cyclist and I find that by listening to music from the Rocky films particularly 'Eye of the Tiger' my cycling perfomance increases and I feel terrific mentally and emotionally. Great topic, I can definitely relate to this! Andrew
@jamesibechi (84)
• Lagos, Nigeria
6 Jan 10
go and listen to the song:TRUE COMPANION by MARC COHN and feed me back what it does to you. all of you here will elicit different reactions. but the true is that your reaction depends on the kind of music you listen to. I'm comfortable with soft rock, contemporary gospel, and an admixture of blues and love songs..and i have come to truly agree that what music does is good to the soul, spirit emotion.
@cableman67 (872)
• United States
6 Jan 10
This is a topic that has always interested me a great deal. I used to just ask people "what does this song make you think of?".
I started taking psychology in college so I could better understand how the brain works and what makes our thoughts different. It seem that there is something to the fact that we are what we remember because our senses of smell, sound, touch, etc. can trigger memories and make our mood change sometimes without us even consciously knowing why.
That is what is so great about music is that it can touch so many people and move them inside in a special way that nothing else can. When you can play like that then you are truly a musician!!
@megamatt (14291)
• United States
6 Jan 10
Music does help me think. It gives me ideas, depending on what I am listening to. I also cannot work on something without music in the background. It helps me concentrate in a way. Without it, I can get frustrated, so since it relaxes me, it effects my emotional state just a bit.
@robertflavius (4)
• Romania
6 Jan 10
well i am 100% sure that music affects your emotional state and personally i try not to listen to rock or any other songs that don't boost up my morale when i'm felling down because music can make a huge difference on your state of mind but it's nothing weird,everybody has a song that touches them in a way or the other.
@w1z111 (985)
• United States
6 Jan 10
Music CERTAINLY has almost "magical" influences in many cases. Since music is one of the "universal languages", it can cross cultural, religious, ethnic, and other barriers; where other means of communication would fail.
Music also has the capacity to turn on or off certain sentiments, emotions, and other inner (personal) feelings we all experience. Music can even induce a measure of spiritual enlightenment and can open doors of new understanding and wisdom.
Music also has the ability to energize our physical being; whether through upbeat, uplifting, dance-inducing rhythms and melodies that make us want to move to the music; or through more bittersweet, easy-listening orchestrations that foster relaxation and peacefulness.
Indeed...music just might have the capacity to foster World Peace! Since music can cross barriers, it can reach and influence peoples' souls; their attitudes; their behaviors; their inner sense of connection with all things; their understanding of purpose, place, and importance in the world, and their appreciation for the need to learn how to peacefully co-exist and help each other, instead of attempting to change the world through fear and forces of war, hatred, and other evils. Such inner enlightenment and wisdom can then spread; one soul at a time.
Promote Peace! Share peace-music! http://www.associatedcontent.com/audio/2203/newhope.html
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
6 Jan 10
If music does not stir your emotions, it was badly composed. It is supposed to make you feel something! It usually gets a reaction from me, although some of the pop songs are rather empty of emotion. When I hear one of those, I concentrate on how the music is being played and enjoy each instrument. A lot of music these days, come to think of it, doesn't get an emotional reaction from me.
@MrKennedy (1978)
•
6 Jan 10
Most definitely. I believe that it depends on what piece of music you are listening to on how it changes the way you think, your mindset etc. For example, listening to heavy metal certainly won't soothe you and may give you strong feeling and emotion, whereas if classical is more your thing, you may feel more relaxed and mellow
@didinmahrudin (4)
• Indonesia
6 Jan 10
For a computer's programmer, music makes it as a nuisance. That means it could be our brains can't work optimally. I can conclude that the music matched to feeling, not for the brain. I hope you agree :) Thanks
@samrie29 (112)
• Philippines
6 Jan 10
Hi codris, yep don't worry you're not alone :) I love listening to music. May it be fast or upbeat, slow or even christian music. Any type can actually move me and makes me reflect or sometimes even daydream. Sometimes listening to Christian music makes me emotional and helps me look at things in a bigger picture.
@registeraccnt (57)
• Philippines
6 Jan 10
I'm also influenced by music. Not just my mental state but also my whole being. Music is a very powerful medium for changing what we feel, we do; and even change how we perceive.
There's this band I'm listening for the past years named 'Sigur Ros'. It's an ambient band from Iceland. It makes a lot of heavenly and atmospheric sound that would make you rethink of your whole life here on earth. It has angelic voices and hymns, very spiritual. They call it 'Hopelandic' it's the murmuring of meaningless words. But ironically will capture your heart and soul. Point is, meaning depend on how people interpret what they hear.
Another is the 'Mozart Effect' it's the process of playing Classical music on babies to develop their growth mentally.
How? They sure don't understand what they're hearing. They might even don't not care what music is. But we are created to understand music in a very natural way. The complex structure of Classical music, the arrangement, the notes used are radical it makes the human brain think and analyze it unconsciously. The brain calculates this structure like how the brain perceives colors of light through the eyes. And it gives a great work out for the brain.
Imagine leaning without doing anything, just listening. Even if we're asleep. That's why our head hurts when we try sleeping with the music on. The brain still analyzes what we hear even while sleeping.
Anyway too much for that. For me, music makes us think figuratively and literally speaking.
@bingchen (1119)
• China
6 Jan 10
when i hear the music,i find that this music can influence my emtion,especially i am alone to share music.when i heard the sad love song.it often let me think about my ex-boyfriend who accompany with me come through good time and suffering departing,this sad song easy excited me and stop my mind for a while.when i hear the happy songs and make me feel happy in my heart and often think about happy thing between my husband and me.SO I hear different song and influence different in my mind.
@suprad1 (251)
• India
6 Jan 10
Very true. I get emotional when I listen to some slow sonngs. It brings back memories of my childhood, my teens and the new budding thoughts I had when I just entered my 20s. Since I am a lover of Nature, such slow, soft songs take me to green pastures, forests and mountain tops touching the clouds and me flying free like a bird. Yes, it is a strange and relishing feeling.
@julporps (11)
• Philippines
6 Jan 10
It does, music can affect your mood and emotion, the music you choose reflects the kind of emotions you have, it influences your actions. According to history, Einstein was influenced by music because of his love of it particularly the violin, it makes him think smarter than anybody else.