Wow thats good; thats a real good question. Being a musicohlic, I'm also strung out on DVD's. Thats another story. Anyway, I was watching a movie the other night by myself from my collection. I wont tell you what it is was, but I will say this. I love Drama. I was watching the scene between two people. I was really caught up in the acting. Then all of sudden with the musical score of strings playing in the backdrop of these two lovers.I started sobbing real bad, my heart was so touched. After I relized I was getting my air-popped popcorn wet. No Micro-wave pop for this chap. I said to myself; "Self, play that scene again and this time with out the music." So I back tracked to the scene with my remote. I love technology and I put the movie on mute. This the same just didnt have the impact with out the symphonic music. As I sit here and write this from my desk at work. I'm listening to my Pandora station through my head phones called Lights, Action, Camera, Music which is mostly movie scores. I relize just how emotional and passinate music can be with and with out words. Its sometimes can take your breath away or sometimes can make you anxious.

that's a great topic too - I was watching a documentary on akira kurosawa's yojimbo, and the score really caught my ear. unlike your scenario, though, it made me want to seek out the recording of the score to hear it without the film...
interesting how music can integrate so easily with so many other forms: drama, film, poetry (sometimes); and how music can integrate with oour everyday doings as well...
cheers,
mz

This a great question to ponder. I really like this and hope the blog will continue to have more posts like this in the future. Thanks.

Zappa and Varese felt that music has no intrinsic emotional value or "feeling" than what is attached to it by the listener.

thanks eric -
and jeffrey, varese/zappa's opinions certainly seem true to me as well, in an ultimate sense, but isn't that also sort of like saying that the word "music" has no intrinsic value? it is true in a literal, existential sense, but once you know english, "music" becomes a vessel to carry the meaning of the word. I'm not saying that the brahms piece has sadness in it (though it might), and I'm definitely not saying that music is a universal language (I don't think that's true). also, it might be that the composition as it is on paper has no emotion, but a particular recording of that composition might...
hard to be sure.

I know if I'm listening to a song that I normally like, but I'm in a bad mood, sometimes it makes it worse. I think music sort of enhances our moods depending on what it is. If I'm in a really peacful almost lethargic mood my normal upbeat music is nood good. Classical is better than. ANd when I'm uptight classical will in no way make me unwind. Is that understandable?

Hum? Great guestion!! I think music sets the tone to create a mood if our soul is at peace and nothings bothering us. If were upset, I think, at least with me, Im more apt to listen to a certain type of music to try and help my mood.
Music has always been my salvation!!! Ive used it for years to drive away depression. If it wernt for music, Id be dead by now!! The two times I tried to kill myself, my stereos had been stolen! Hahahhaha
I also use music to help relieve pain! How it works for me is, while Im listening to music I like, it gets my mind off my pain. Next thing you know, Im up dancing around the floor or outside!! Yipeeeeeee
Music is my LIFE!!! If I had no ears, Id really kill myself!
So my opinion, in case you missed it, I think music sets the mood!
Was that the question? Hahahhahah....

And by the way....I want to take this time to say, how thrilled I am to enjoy Pandora! I love it!!
Even better than XM Radio I have. Im tripping over
all my sterios and speakers everywhere! Soon Ill be adding Pandora to the mix.
Life Is Great!!!!!!!

Can music impose a feeling upon you that you don't really have?

Ok, this time, Ill answer the question.
NO!
Why you ask... Well, first off, if we have a feeling, its REAL isnt it? If we have it, than how can you say, we dont really have it???

Maybe Im not getting the question??

Music can impose or cause a feeling and even change a bad mood to good, or a good mood to bad, depending on how much were paying attention to it.

Can it introduce you to a feeling that you've never had (if there is such a thing)?

That might depend on how old you are Dear!
Most of us old farts have had about every feeling
there is at one time or another in our lives.
I usually like a song or dont. If I dont, I change it. If I cant change it, then Ill ignore best I can. But if I dont like it, and cant ignore it, then it can upset me. Have I been upset before,
Oh dear, let me count the ways!!!
If youve never been in love, maybe some feelings
havnt hit you yet? But music can evoke every feeling we have I think.

Okay stop the press! I've got to comment to Bluesrains last comment. I've been on all mighty blue for awhile too 50 plus years. I'm not quite a old fart yet. But anyway; Yes all feelings are real with out a doubt. Love, like, dislike, hate,(I hope no one uses that four letter word anymore)joy, sorrow, and blah,blah, woof, woof. Where I'm going with this, even though all feelings are real or conscience. Sometimes we have them stored away, and when that melody vibrates through debts of our water layers into our souls. They call upon these feelings that are in there in sleep mode. I mutiple stations with Pandora. I just love this place, its the best radio ever invented so far. Sorry; I had to throw in the commercial acknowledgement. Each one of my stations are designed to bring out a different emotions. Here try this experiment if you will and see if it works for. I give you permission to check out my stations. Trust me their good, It nurture them like my children 1) Behind The Quiet Station: This station was designed for the feeling of love and lust. If you like R&B this station is better than Viagra. LOL! 2)If you like songs of women like I do, check out my station Flowers In The Vase, it will make you feel warm and fuzzy. Last but not least. If you want to harness the right side of your brain. This is my song writing station. Folk Singers and Acoustic Stories. And if you're a regular blogger here. I want you to do a rain caheck and get back to me and see if you feel the same way.

I think it does indeed have to do with the type of music -

IE - Brahams, or as I have a station dedicated to "piano music" simply titled "simply piano"
http://pandora.com/stations/ee5929e1482cbaa3ffa0df609a00cc66425ba2910f7abf8b#

...and though I play it at work when I need to concentrate when a paper needs to be written or an analysis performed, it does occasionally remind me of feelings or thoughts that are on my mind or what are important to [ME] not the guy working or the work he is doing. As thoughts or feelings lie dormant, music will bring them back to the surface.

Now, if I were playing Rage or Tool, my feelings would evoke aggression and I wouldn't necessarily be in a position that I was trying to concentrate on a paper :)

-just some thoughts

Music of the Brahms-Bach-Beethoven-Mahler-Wagner-Mozart-Puccini etc sort is the kind of thing that, if you put it into words, that's not it.

Best I can say is its a gift from Universal Higher Powers channeled through connected mortals. As such, it can do just about anything. It can connect to what you already experience, it can awaken other elements. The more open, conscious, and awake you are, the more you will get it. Your ear is the key. All you have to do is listen.

hey thanks for the comments all - definitely seems like there's a clear connection between mood and the use of music. not a new observation of course, but still something worth investigating further...

Music can be composed to convey building emotional tension and resolution... to create moods. So yes, it can, *if you let it*, change or create your mood. Your emotions will interpret the music through your experience of life and culture.

More important, I think, is the beat - no one's mentioned that. If you let it, it can reset your heartbeat, and for sure that'll affect your mood. Listen to some ABBA when you need energy or cheer. Piaf for introspection. Artists have characteristic tempos. As you said, so do composers.

Great Blog and some great responses. I won't answer the direct question, but I will speak to my common experience with music.

I find that music is the ultimate tool for unlocknig my mind and my potential. Music, unlike anything else, has the power to evoke emotion, passion, motivation, fear and courage. However, I find that it is entirely a matter of context. It plays off my own experiences and soul.

Music is both a conduit and a powerful energy. It both expresses our existence and fuels an amazing process by which we recognize and remember ourselves. It sometimes appears to create by virtue of its ability to synthesize our lives into a series of chords, beats and tones. It speaks only to the individual - it does not broadcast its meaning outside the bounds of our own ears and minds.

Music is magic!

Excellent question! I find that for me music can be like a time warp. Sometimes I will hear a song and have a memory flash of what I was doing or a friend or a season. Music really is the soundtrack for our lives.

I have noticed in my love affair with music that mood can be a fickle thing. I can fall deeply in love with a song for days or weeks at a time and then after this obsession is over I loss interest completely. In fact upon hearing the song afterward I'm almost annoyed.

I think memories can become deeply attached to the music I listen to at the time. Sometimes when hearing music I feel such a deep sense of nostalgia I can almost smell the cologne of an old flame or clearly see the face of an old friend in my minds eye, all inspired by the song!

Is this the same for everyone?

hey meg - good point about the beat - muzak uses that power to great (if somewhat loathsome) effect... seems like maybe pandora is a better alternative, since generally the music is good, but listeners can modify the beat and energy level etc to fit their needs (another subject I want to explore - obviously people use music to help them work, but what about other kinds of listening?...)

"Music is both a conduit and a powerful energy. It both expresses our existence and fuels an amazing process by which we recognize and remember ourselves." very well-put, Bug, and I also agree that the effect of context on our experience of music is inescapable.

deannek - indeed...

"I have noticed in my love affair with music that mood can be a fickle thing. I can fall deeply in love with a song for days or weeks at a time and then after this obsession is over I loss interest completely. In fact upon hearing the song afterward I'm almost annoyed."

maybe you need to listen to better music, maureen! :) I kid. I definitely know that feeling, too. it's a mystery....

I suspect it's the musical equivalent of Physics and the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle. You can't enjoy it and understand it at the same time.

I'm not sure about that, dan, at least not as a universal principle - I think it's more of a personal thing. what do you think about this quote from evan eisenberg's 'the recording angel':

"Beauty has its intellectual side, which is the more beautiful the better it's understood."

I agree with Philip K. Dick that what it is to be human is to have empathy, the ability to put yourself in another's shoes and feel their pain, joy, fear, etc. This relates to music because, to me, music is a form of communication between a musician and the listener. The musician manipulates media to communicate what they sense and think about themselves, and the world they live in. How we react to music depends in part on how clearly the musician communicates their ideas and feelings, and how highly developed is our empathetic ability. In that light, it seems to me that a highly sensitive individual listening to well-crafted piece of music could be transported temporarily into the musician's shoes and see and feel something similar, even for the first time.

As for what makes a song seductive and/or addictive that probably depends on what gives a person a high degree of pleasure, and that varies with the individual, and their state of mind at any given point in time. Sometimes what gives me pleasure is to feel really sad and have a good cry, so repeatedly listening to a song like Sinead O'Connor's "You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart" or Yazoo's "It's Over" really hits the spot. Other times I really like highly-ordered, repetitive electronic patterns like those found in Kraftwerk songs ("It's More Fun To Compute"). Other times I get pleasure out of music that causes me to uncontrollably move and throw a fist in the air, like much of industrial music (Nitzer Ebb's "Join In The Chant").

Interesting and provocative questions (as the many comments show). Here's an attempt to answer them.

First: Though some musical qualities such as tempo and strong rhythm may have some effects that are independent of individual biology, culture, psychology, and musical and life experience, many other effects of music seem to depend on who you are.

So: Does music create the feelings or does it lure them out of you? Both at once. Can it introduce you to a feeling that you've never had? I don't see why not. The feeling may depend in part on who you are, but that isn't to say the music can't make you experience something new. Can music impose a feeling upon you that you don't really have? Lots of things impose feelings on us. But that isn't to say we don't really have the feelings. Also, "impose" doesn't mean "impose independently individual biology, culture, psychology, and musical and life experience." Our involuntary emotional responses to events generally depend on who we are.

Like I said earlier, for me my mood/feelings determine what I listen to. But there is the occasional "feel good" song that just makes me feel better no matter what life throws at me.

Maureen, It would take hours to explain all the songs on my iPod, most of which i have on there because of a nostalgic reason, not necessarily because I love the song.

WOW THIS IS REALLY INTERESTING I THINK, BUT HOWEVER I REALLY DONT CARE ALL THAT MUCH ABOUT MUSIC SOME DAYS AND THEN OTHERS I CRAVE IT, BUT THAT DOSENT MATTER RIGHT NOW NOE DOSE IT ..... ALL WELLS TTYL BYE ALL WHO READ THIS IM OUTE

I suspect it's the musical equivalent of Physics and the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle. You can't enjoy it and understand it at the same time.

Michael,

You confess a lack of credentials to analyze and comment on music and emotions but you entice the rest of us to tread where you don't dare. I appreciate your senses of humility and humor. It's tempting to follow your advice, but it would be rude to refuse your invitation.

You mention the steps of discovery, appreciation, study, fixation and gratification from a previously unheard piece. It is an amazing process and I can remember a few instances.

The most memorable was finding Mendelssohn's Octet. I'm sure I was doing something else when it came over the radio, but I remember stopping to listen. The feeling started out as "I think I know this piece." But after a while I realized that it was the opposite: The piece seemed to know me. Every turn, exchange, attack and retreat seemed to be in anticipation of what I wanted at a very non-verbal level.

It was as if I walked into a restaurant and a waiter brought me beverages and food in perfect accordance of my tastes at the moment -- even those desires I couldn't identify or verbalize.

The octet (ok, mainly the first movement) left me totally smitten and I pursued it in the style you mentioned. That was 20 years ago and it's still one of my 10 favorites. If I hear it on a radio, I have to stop what I'm doing and pay attention.

I think that certain music put us in touch with part of ourselves that we can't (or don't) express with language. We might not even appreciate these personal aspects. Or we might overtly repudiate them. But the music reaches through our ignorance, unexpressiveness, and self-renunciation and triggers the irrestisible response we're talking about (aren't we?).

Fun, idle musing on a Tuesday afternoon in an boisterous Caribou coffee shop on a frigid Midwest day. Thanks for the topic!

Joe

I always wonder if we didn't have music. This world we live in, it wouldn't be exciting at all. I love that we can shed our pain by the simpliest words in song. That's how i get through the day of my life.