Does music effect your mood?

Mr. dude

Hello. The Q is, as before stated, can music effect your mood?(affect or effect?) Anyway, my mom and I have had arguments about this more than a few times. She says that me listening to metal makes me agry. Is there any scientific proof that this happens? Examples.....

Metal= angry

country= sad

classical= relaxed

and so on.

brewnog

Of course music can affect your mood.

Take yourself for an example. Listening to metal has already affected your spelling. Who knows what could happen next, sperm count maybe? Perhaps you'll go blind.

Mr. dude

Not a metal fan huh? And my spelling has nothing to do with the mood I'm in, which is rather like this.....

εllipse

Absolutely.

I've even learned to regulate my mood with music.

brewnog

I'm a fan of almost all music!

I was just surprised that any music fan would question its ability to affect the listener's mood. I'm not saying that listening to metal will turn you into a psycho, but ask yourself why you listen to it.

mattmns

I think music can affect a person's mood. Whether or not your mood, Mr. Dude, changes due to you listening to heavy metal music, I cannot say. Also, I think it affects people differently.

cronxeh

happy hardcore, trance, and vocal trance pretty much the only music i listen to, and the only music that can make me happy

Bladibla

When it comes to emotions, i think nothing beats classical music. I can't think of a vocal pop/rock/goth whatever song that beats a sad melody from a piano or violin in terms of evoking emotions.

Kakarot

hah thats what i listen to woot.

Jelfish

A lot of people say that music works by creating tension (dissonance) and then resolving that tension. My theory is that the tension-resolution patterns in music elicit some sort of bodily responce (think chills down your back, relaxation, anxiety) that is similar to the ones that occur when a person has an emotional experience. Therefore, similar bodily responses due to music can elicit memories of how that person felt during that emotional experience. I think, in part, that's why certain types of music work so well with certain scenes in movies. The music 'guides' your emotions.

GregA

Not sure whether music would convert me from feeling happy to feeling sad but the right sort of classical or metal (Enter Sandman by Metallica...I love it) music can either put me into a deeper state of relaxation or fire me up

Moonbear

I'm not sure, sometimes I think my mood affects my choice of music as much as my choice of music affects my mood.

I like metal, but it doesn't make me angry; I listen to it when I need the energy to stay focused on something that requires a lot of concentration for a long period of time.

And classical doesn't relax me either. It ranges from grating on my nerves because it's too much like a boring lullaby to seeming invigorating with a full orchestra playing boldly.

While I think music can invoke certain emotions, I also think that is dependent on the listener's state of mind at the time they are listening. A song that may seem upbeat when I'm blasting it on the stereo while driving through winding country roads may seem downright melancholy when played at a softer volume while I'm thinking of someone I haven't seen in a while.

pattylou

Yes, it affects my mood, and more importantly from a day-to-day grind, it affects my children's mood!

A tip for parents of young children:

Find the music that your children like to sing along to. Keep it in your car or other places where sibling squabbles drive you nuts. When your kids start to squawk:
"Mom! She looked at me again!" "Mom! She flipped her hair again!" "Mom! I want an ice cream!" .... you can, without saying a word, simply put the music that they like to sing, on, and they :::forget their worries,::::start singing along::::and life is good again.

It's *amazing.*

honestrosewater

Now that I think of it, my mom did exactly the same thing with us (4-6 kids).

Knavish

Any other trance fans in here? www.di.fm Greatest. Music. Ever.

pattylou

Does hemi-sync count? I occasionally use it to achieve altered states of consciousness (increases likelihood of lucid dreaming etc.) Definitely gets me into trance, but I wouldn't call what I use - music. Just different frequencies going into each ear. Still, I wonder if "trance music" uses some of the same principles?

zoobyshoe

I'm not sure why you are getting so elaborate. It seems clear to me that we have emotional responses directly to the sound of the music, with no need for the intervening body response you propose.

You are right about the obvious fact that a musical score guides the audiences' emotional response. As Homer Simpson said while watching TV: "I know the guy's evil! Can't you hear the music"?