Last time I wrote about how music can be used to give us the right ups and downs that we require. Most of music research actually goes into finding out how music generates emotions in people – what really ‘does’ it for them. Needless to say a lot of personal attributes make a lot of difference in this – the culture that we live in, our age and musical training to say the least – but music has some universal attributes as well that are able to generate some responses in us.
Some of the interesting research that’s been done on this topic has been on whether we react emotionally or cognitively to music. To put it simply – do we react to music unconsciously as part of our emotional make up or do we react to it because we recognise that this is ‘sad’ music or ‘happy’ music and then, through this thinking process, recognise that we need to accordingly feel sad or happy. Overwhelming evidence suggests that we react to music as an instinctive part of our nature, as a pure emotional response, rather than by thinking through it (which is something that we can all agree with, I suppose).
Similar research was done to find out if the melodies make more of a difference or lyrics. And it was found that in case of ‘happy’ music, the melodies caused emotional change, rather than the lyrics, while for ‘sad’ music, the lyrics actually reinforced the feelings that were experienced. But in all cases the melody made more of a difference than the lyrics (which I suppose is actually good for the Hindi film industry considering the modern lyrics!).
The social setting also makes a huge difference to how we perceive music. The best example could be the parties at K itself. As a person who doesn’t drink alcohol, I rely solely on the music to get me high, but it’s not just that – the whole atmosphere contributes to making non-drinkers feel (and look!) as high as drinkers, so much so that one cannot tell who has been drinking and who has not. (However drinkers never seem to understand how non-drinkers get so high!) We see something similar in rock concerts or even if we play music loudly enough. My personal experience is that at times like this, the music enters you, so much so that it kind of possesses you – you can feel it resonating inside you. And that gives you myriad emotions – some people cry, some just head-bang and others sway in rhythm.
But aside from all rules and research is the reaction of singers, or rather performers, to music. I honestly believe that we react to music at many different levels – that, for us, the cognitive part of our brains never shuts off when we listen to music. So while I get swayed by the emotions like anyone else, there’s another part of my brain that is always judging the song, checking to see if it is ‘singable’ or ‘performable’. Even at a concert, when I am absorbed in the music, a part of me is always thinking – “Is this person on-key? Is he on-rhythm? Can this song be replicated? Can it be done by me? What are my skill gaps if I need to sing this song?” And I come back and consciously search out any song that has caught my fancy to try to figure out how to sing it – even if I know I am never going to perform it in my life!
Honestly if we look at our reactions to music, we can never tell how we are going to react to any song. But we just go back to music everytime – to try to find ourselves, our aspirations, our feelings, our meaning in life. And therein lies the greatest power and unpredictability of music, that makes it so easy, yet so difficult to market.
