Music is a powerful phenomenon that transcends language, culture, gender and age. It can slip into your mind and alter your mood -- for better or for worse -- with its harmony, rhythm, lyrics, melody, timbre and pitch. Together, these musical elements create an intense and profound emotional reaction.
"Music is auditory, emotional and motoric," writes renowned New York neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks in his book Musicophilia (Knopf, 2007). "We keep time to it, involuntarily, even if we are not consciously attending to it and our faces and postures mirror the ‘narrative' of the melody and the thoughts and feelings it provokes."
Michelle Lawrence, a music therapist with the Victoria Conservatory of Music (VCM) in British Columbia agrees. "Music affects us whether we know it or not. It is around us all the time. You have commercials, television, and music is specifically placed to create emotion, to make you feel something, to make you purchase something."
How music affects and afflicts your mood
Studies have shown that different types of music can have different effects on mood. Grunge rock, for instance, can increase hostility, tension and sadness. Country music can lead to depression. Classical has the power to uplift.
Musical group REM's song Shiny Happy People can energize with its quick tempo, lively beat and bright tonal colours; Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik can relax with its slow tempo, smooth flowing rhythms and even pulse. While music's tempo can directly affect your mood, music affects everyone in different ways.
Get personal with music
"I firmly believe that personal preference has to play a role in it," says Dr. Johanne Brodeur, the head of music therapy at the VCM. "I'm not saying if you play hard rock music it's going to put you to sleep, but it doesn't have to be Bach or Handel. Just something you enjoy listening to that will be soothing to you."
Music has many goals, Brodeur points out, from promoting relaxation and strengthening self-esteem to managing anxiety and expanding your ability to express yourself. "The goals are endless. You just have to decide what's right for you."
Make music work for you
"We can use music to help a lot with our mood in a more powerful way than what people may be doing," says Lawrence. If you're feeling upset, for example, she suggests matching a piece of music to your mood, but then slowly adding in some happier songs.
You can also use music as a nighttime ritual to help you relax, or create a playlist that keeps you motivated during a long run. Of the latter, Dr. Costas Karageorghis, a sport psychologist at Brunel University in London and head of the Music in Sport Research Group, has found that some of the benefits of running with music include its positive effects on mood, its ability to make you feel more alert and its ability to distract from your task and thereby reduce your rate of perceived exertion, or how hard you feel you've worked.
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