The study of psychoacoustics, however, spans more than just the study of how our brains respond when we hear a song that we like. It includes the brain's responses to all sound, and not just music. Experts in this field of research may, for example, study the way a human brain responds to the sound of a baby crying, or someone saying "I love you", or the fact that the sound of other people laughing can cause you to laugh also. From what I've gathered, sound seems to be deeply connected to triggers of human emotions.
There's more to it than just a reaction in your brain
I don't pretend by any means to have an authority when it comes to science, nor am I an expert on the human brain. I just look stuff up because I'm bored, or because I'm putting something off that's way more important but it's crap I don't really want to do. So I found out while browsing around that, apparently, our appreciation of music is not just a result of hearing a collection of sounds, but also a result of a cultural influence. Even more so, it's a result of the culture we were raised in. The interesting part about this is that when it comes to people's favorite music, they often can't explain why they like it, other than saying "because it's just awesome." I once asked a friend of mine why she liked country music, and this was her response:
"Because, it just... it's just awesome, that's why. It's country. It's just awesome."
Here are other common answers to the question, "Why do you like this type of music?"
"Because it just rocks. I love it!"
"Because you can totally dance to it, that's why!"
"Because I can just, ya know, let my hair down and rock out, you know?"
"Because, everything, it's just like rich, you know?"
"Because it's the Beatles, that's why!"
"How could you not like this music?"
"Because it's ________________!" (insert name of band here)
"Because, I could just listen to it all day."
"Because I just feel so relaxed when I hear it."
"Because it just, like, puts me in the zone, you know?"
"Because it makes me want to cry."
From a completely objective and logical point of view, while I thoroughly understand and respect the feelings these people are experiencing, none of these responses really answer the question. Before going into the cultural aspects of it, I want to mention again that there are reasons why these people love certain types of music, and that a lot of it still does have to do with the brain. If you understand music theory, and you understand certain things about the brain's responses to anticipation, surprise, subtlety, key changes, and sound perception, then you can start to understand why. I can very easily sum up, for example, why Adele's new song "Hello" is so popular. It has partly to do with the primary beats in the rhythm starting out as tied notes with different time values, partly with the chord progressions, partly the timbre in Adele's voice (as well as her range), and partly the melodic contours in the second part of the verse and in the chorus. So a lot of it is the brain. But enough about that -- we're here to talk about cultural influences. So let's talked about my favorite stir fry.
Beef: it's what's for dinner!
Depending on your age, you may or may not remember a commercial back in the 90's that was funded by the Beef Checkoff Program, where they showed people cooking a bunch of beef-related dishes (you know, stir fries, stews, soups, kebobs, steaks, etc.), and there's this music in the background that's very fast and upbeat. In the end of the commercial, a man's voice comes on and says "Beef: it's what's for dinner!" followed by three loud, punchy notes (with the orchestra and kettle drum) - boom, boom, boom! If you've never seen the commercial, you can watch it below.
The reason I bring this up (yes, there's a reason) is because of the music that was used in this commercial. The music is from a classical piece called Rodeo, by a 20th-century American composer named Aaron Copland. He was very popular, successful, and wrote hundreds of pieces, including soundtracks for films that came out in the 90's. Chances are, you've heard some of his music and don't even know it. I admire this composer a lot, but when I listen to this selection from Rodeo I have trouble taking the piece seriously, because all I can think of is steak. You can watch a live performance of it below, and if you are one of those people who was exposed to this commercial as a kid, it might be hard to watch it without thinking about that same beef commercial.
This is a great example of how culture can shape our perception and our appreciation of music. Food is obviously a big part of any culture (and for the American culture, TV advertising is too) and instead of just hearing an upbeat tune by Aaron Copland, whenever I hear this piece I just want to go out and have a barbecue.
Oh, the good old days...
Keeping in mind this cultural influence on musical taste, you can find more examples of it by asking people in their 50's and 60's to talk about the music they liked when they were kids. I guarantee that you will run into at least a few who get nostalgic and smile. Some people will not only describe the music they liked but they will tell you little stories about what they did while they were listening to it. You know, something like this...
"Oh yes, I remember listening to Simon and Garfunkel. I must've been 23, 24. I was with my
buddy Hank, and his girlfriend, and we were sprawled in the back of a Chevy when we watched
them live. It was awesome. Everybody cheered and sang along. They played 'Homeward Bound,'
one of my favorite songs, and my friends and I were completely hopped up on acid. Great times!"
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| Simon and Garfunkel in concert |
You will hear this kind of rhetoric quite frequently when you ask people of the older generation about their musical tastes. This is because our tastes in musical genres are heavily influenced by our upbringing. Not only does music stimulate certain parts of the brain that make you enjoy it, but your brain is "molded" and formed in such a way that you will end up liking the type of music you were exposed to when you were young. People overwhelmingly love the types of music they do because it's nostalgic and it reminds them of a "different time". Almost everyone I know that likes country music likes it because they listened to it (and their parents listened to it) growing up. I never listened to country music as a child, so I don't happen to care for it. From a strictly music theory perspective, I have an idea as to why people enjoy most country songs (aside from their upbringing) but listening to it does nothing for me.
I like Pink Floyd, and it's all my dad's fault...
It's fairly easy for me to come up with anecdotal evidence for this argument. I was exposed to certain types of classical music as a child, which explains both why I get into a "trance" whenever I hear certain types of classical, and why I get enormously (and delightfully) distracted during movies because of the soundtracks in the background, and why a lot of the music I write on the piano has heavy classical undertones. But I also love Pink Floyd, as well as the progressive rock group The Alan Parson's Project (which are both very similar). Also, I absolutely love Steve Winwood. The question is, why do I like these groups so much? Well, here's a hunch: my father listened to these groups a lot in the house when I was growing up. I was exposed to them early on, so now when I listen to these bands I get nostalgic, and sometimes even homesick for the town in Iceland where I grew up. I also found The Alan Parson's Project to be a great band because they incorporate some features of classical music into their songs (The Moody Blues does this also), and a lot of their songs are purely instrumental.
When I listen to Steve Winwood, the music triggers something in my brain that instantly makes me feel nostalgic, energetic, happy, and blissful -- the same way a country music lover feels when he or she hears some sappy song by Garth Brooks. People's brains develop differently, and it's clearly a part of the exposure they had when they were kids. My appreciation for this particular artist, however, has caused me some embarrassment. My brother once caught me dancing to Steve Winwood's music when he walked into my bedroom. He said that I looked like a turkey on hot coals. I mean, I was thirteen -- I do not do this anymore and you can't prove it. And, more recently (I won't specify when) a roommate of mine came home one day and heard me singing to the song "Don't You Know What the Night Can Do" while I was in the shower. Even more embarrassingly, I was singing it loudly, and the frightening part is that I can't sing very well. To be fair, I thought I was alone. My roommate is now traumatized for life.
I tried to listen to Tchaikovsky, but all I could think of was the Roadrunner from the Looney Tunes
I won't say that this has "ruined" some people's perception of classical music, but children's cartoons have definitely shaped some people's reaction to it. First and foremost, I need to clarify something that many don't seem to realize: "classical music" is not just one type of music. A few people seem to think that you either love classical music or you don't, and I completely disagree. There are some types of classical music that I can't stand. Saying "I like classical music" is kind of like saying "I like rock and roll." It's not very specific. There are many different types of "rock and roll" (pop, classic rock, blues, punk rock, metal, soft rock, etc.), many of which a person can love while that same person can dislike another type. The same is true with classical music. Opera, for instance, is a type of classical music, and there are people who can't stand opera but love Beethoven. Johann Strauss' waltzes are a part of classical music too, and many people don't like those pieces but they love Mozart. There is a huge variety of classical music that many people in the modern age don't seem to think about. Also, the span of time that classical music takes up historically is far, far greater than that of rock and roll. When you really look at it, classical music is not so much a "genre" of music, but more of a historical time period in which a whole bunch of music was written. To be more specific, music from the Rennaisance era (15th-17th century) sounds very different from the music in the Baroque period. There's lots of music from the Baroque period that I also don't particularly care for.
Some of the music that I do absolutely love comes from the Romantic era. Compared to music from the other "periods," this music is more dramatic, more dynamic, more daring, has more variety (the piano has been introduced, there are more brass instruments, more percussion, cymbal crashes, etc.,) and more like the kind of music you might hear in a movie soundtrack. Some of the earlier stuff has less variety. You have to realize, for example, that the music of Antonio Vivaldi (famous for composing The Four Seasons) was all written before the piano was even invented.
John William's music, on the other hand, whose work includes the soundtracks for films like Star Wars and Jurassic Park, writes pieces that are much more in the style of Romantic-era classical music. Some of my favorite composers from this era include Sergei Rachmaninoff and Modest Mussorgsky. So keep in mind that listening to a single piece of classical music will not represent the full spectrum. It would be like listening to a reggae song and saying, "Nope, I don't like rock and roll at all."
Okay, now back to the cartoons. If you are like me and many others, you may have gotten up on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons in your pajamas as a kid. During my cartoon-watching phase, I watched the Looney Tunes episodes, one after the other. If you also watched these shows, you were exposed to an enormous amount of classical music without realizing it, because they used this music as the soundtracks in those cartoons. When I was a little older than my cartoon-watching years (sixteen or so) I was living with my dad and my stepmom, and I remember listening to Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto on my dad's CD player. I was taking piano lessons at the time, and my piano teacher wanted me to listen to this piece so that I could get inspired and think of new ideas for my compositions. Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto, by the way, is a very dramatic and epic-sounding piece, with a beautiful and punchy-sounding rhythm on the piano, especially in the beginning. It's one of my favorite pieces.
Out of curiosity, when I was listening to it in the living room, I asked my brother what he thought of it, and his response was: "It makes me feel like I'm watching a cartoon." And there you have it -- upbringings and cultural surroundings will mold your brain and musical tastes.
Apparently, Yanni writes music that sounds like movie soundtracks
I was reminded of my brother's response to the Tchaikovsky piece when I got a similar reaction from a friend of mine. I was in my car with him and I was listening to a very popular song by Yanni called "Santorini". It's sort of his standard "opening piece" whenever he has concerts, and he performed this piece with his orchestra when I watched him live in 2012 (yes, he has his own small orchestra). As soon as my friend heard it, he said, "This sounds like the opening to a movie." He's a fairly avid movie-goer, and so this would make sense. But the interesting thing is that the idea of that particular song being a movie soundtrack (which it could very easily pass for one) didn't even occur to me. I'm just so used to hearing the song as it is, by itself, with all the instruments and the percussive qualities of the piece, etc. It's just another example of how people's individual experiences shape their reactions to hearing a song.
The diversity that exists among people's musical tastes, their reactions, and their associated upbringing that ties into them further solidifies the notion that one type of music isn't necessarily "better" than another. It's also why I immediately dismiss the claim from anyone who thinks, for example, that "classical music is the finest of all music", or claims from others who make statements such as, "If it ain't country, it ain't music." There is no such thing as a superior genre, and the science behind it confirms this. The genre that you like the best is the best genre, for you.
The exception, of course, is Steve Winwood. I mean, come on... if you don't like his music then there's clearly something wrong with you ;)
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