Music

From a chemical standpoint I often wonder how music affects the body and how it affects the mind. I am personally a firm believer that with the proper personal subjective mood that music can sway any attitude and action. I think first we need an example to really prove this point. Go to the following video and listen to this music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75hvC506VYI

Yep, the music is from a video game (art and music + video games more to come in a later post). The music is calming, soothing, relaxing... if you are open to the theme of the music you will probably be soothed by it. The music is steady and sorrowful so it imparts a certain mood.

Now please follow me into my brain... and I realize this is a scary endeavor I ask but do not fear. I am going to a complex musical theory place that involves chemistry and neuroscience. I'll try to explain as my thoughts come.

First, sound is produced by atomic masses colliding, which cause disturbances in nearby atomic masses such as air through which sound waves travel. When atomics collide they make a sound, which then releases the wave in which we audibly detect. So my initial question is: how does sound affect carbon-based biological forms such as ourselves? None, really. The sound waves and vibrating gaseous particles affect us only in the sense that our bodies stop the wave.

I guess to jump forward I'd like to discuss dancing and rhythmic movements. Why do people dance and what causes action through music? I really do believe that atomic particles moving around our persons in certain ways do actually affect our mood, our movements, and our attitudes. Of course we have that pesky "human will' that was given to us so we really can control how we feel at a particular moment regardless of music. However, as I mentioned before, what if our composure were different? What if I were ready to relax and felt the need to put on some music to adjoin my mood. If I listen to the previously posted clip of music I may be more interested in actually reaching relaxation.

So to the next point, which is actually prior to the previous paragraph (I know, confusing huh... going all Tarantino on you...). Sound waves collide and affect our sound receptors, which are transmitted via electrical signal to our brain that interprets what we hear. As we understand chemical/electrical transmissions is as the following: sound waves affect our ear drum, which is picked up through internal ear processes and transmitted as signals via chemical transmissions that is in turn passed on via neural pathways. The auditory portion of the brain must then make sense of these sounds but how and why exactly does it process music? Why do somber tunes make me somber in attitude and mood or relaxed?

I'm going to be blunt and bold I suppose in this next statement. As a forewarning, I am not a doctor and am not credible as any source for this statement: this is only my opinion. Specific tones of sound waves affect our auditory processes differently causing the release of various chemicals based on the sound tone. Somber tones and music quality relate directly to brain patterns and my change in mood. If I am ready and willing for these tones I am essentially telling my body "hey, its totally okay to let your guard down so please release X chemicals in addition to what you hear." So to put it scientifically (hey, piss off by the way, I'm a science major!) being receptive to certain moods allows for the chemical processes to be strengthened based upon the individual sound wave patterns through interception via atomic collisions.

Woah... I heard it. I am actually posing the theory that sound wave structure affects the way that chemicals are thrown across the synapses and in specific quantities. I don't have a way to prove this... I can only state a hypothesis. However, I'm right (at least I'm convinced). Listen to this clip (another video game, piss off).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jCvfEYHLVQ&feature=related

How does it make you feel? Probably not energized and amped up to participate in a triathlon. At a complex theory, each and every note even down to per millisecond directly changes our mood. Our brain is constantly making adjustments to decide "what the fuck is going on here." We're constantly assaulted by noise and music, at times, which affect us at all times. Go to a screamo show and you'll probably leave all amped up and/or angry (for whatever reason, it works).

So I suppose I digress slightly. When it comes down to it what I am really trying to say is that every tone changes how we feel whether we resist it or not. The physical transactions between colliding atomic particles and our person, which affects chemical interactions and electrical signals ultimately changes our atomic disposition towards how we are. Yep. I have arrived at this point. Music changes who we are.