Why do we love music?

Certif1ed wrote: We love music for many reasons, but I'd like to put forward the real, physical, provable reason (such is my wont!). Music consists of soundwaves. Nothing earth-shattering there. Each soundwave has it's own effect on you in a physical way - not just through your aural receptors, but your entire body. You will find the vibrations caused by the soundwaves individually and in concert with each other cause you to feel good or bad about the music in many ways. You really are "picking up good vibrations..." Another physical way in which music can have a direct effect and make you "love" it, is chemical. Put simply, the vibrations caused by the soundwaves cause your body to produce chemical reactions. Combine those with powerful lyrics, and a song can move you to tears (a chemical reaction). Sometimes music alone can do this - such is its power. It's easy to demonstrate just how powerful soundwaves are - a soprano singing the C two octaves above middle C can famously smash a wine glass, because the sound waves resonate at the same frequency as the glass. A very low frequency can also cause a building to crumble into dust. Combining certain frequencies into pleasing patterns is the art of composition. Since different bodies resonate sympathetically or negatively to different combinations of frequencies, we have different tastes. If the composer gets the patterns right for you, he/she has succeeded at her art, and you have a piece of music you love.

I have plenty of respect for you, Cert, but please tell me you're being satirical.

Oh, I'm not dismissing the scientific value of your post; I think it is fascinating how various external stimuli can provoke a emotional response, backed up by the mind's constant endeavor to put some kind of order to meaningless perceptions.

A couple of bright musical types made some observations on this topic:

http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/interviews/wire 96b.html

But when it gets right down to it, that's not why we love music. I read your post and imagined a device which is programmed to directly cause specific chemical reactions in the body. Ceratinly the inventor who makes that happen will be respected (and rich!), but such a machine will never be loved like an inspired piece of music.

VB: I have a different view of what went down, but I was hoping to let it all go.

At first, you didn't apologize- you referred to an apology which, if you wrote it, I never read. Then when I said I'd like to see it, you replied "what do you want, my blood" or something like that, which to me doesn't sound like sincere apology material (but I may be mistaken). Then, nothing happened for a while and I assumed it was all over.

Now, all of a sudden, this outburst...which to me seems uncalled for, unless you're still talking about the old stuff (which, like I said, I had thought was over with).

Before you get the wrong idea, I didn't really care then and I don't really care now...just wanted to make it clear how the situation appears to me.

Cert: if I offended you with the way I worded my response to your post, I'm sorry...I think it's a good discussion and I'd like to hear more of your reasoning.

In response to Mr Lee, who seems to be feeling like he's digging a deep pit - I'm not going to take sides between you and Vibe, having not yet discovered the post or posts in which you two found so much to disagree about. I think you're both intelligent people with a great love for prog music.

I'm in no way offended by your comments, James - I have a great deal of respect for what you think, and I'm simply interested to hear why you think my post may have been satirical (maybe I just missed something).

The first time I heard those theories postulated (at Uni), I nearly cried out "Bollocks!!" myself, until I'd heard the entire lecture, by a professor who specialised in twentieth century music with a prediliction for treating music as a science more than an art. I then wrote a paper on these theories with much relish, as I realised its potential for controversy! Hence I threw it into the mix here - expecting a few more disagreements than I got - I guess people know me too well by now!

The idea of an automatic music-making machine occurred to me at the time (1991) - since I was studying music and computing, I was at liberty to write a program that harmonised melodies in the style of J.S. Bach - which won me a starred First despite the fact that it only worked with certain melodies... but the computer science lecturer didn't catch on, so that was OK

I digress, as usual. It would be horrible to think that machines could calculate how to write music - but, as Mr Eno and co have proved, people actually want to try to create such a machine... the potential is incredibly intriguing

Vibrationbaby wrote: I really enjoyed that one. There is a drummer here in Montreal who is somewhat of a legend. His name is Guy Nadon and he said to me once, " music is about feeling, not counting. Counting is for bankers and lawyers". This guy is probably the greatest drummer ever as any Montrealer will attest to. He blew Buddy Rich away when he was a kid. Rich just left the gig and sped off in his sports car. Another thing about Rich was that he treated his sidemen like crap. Any band Guy Nadon had he treated his fellow musicians with utmost respect and I never heard anyone say a bad thing about the man. And he is also very approachable and will talk to anyone whether it's in between sets or in a restaurant. Music is about love and inner peace. And it can also be interpreted by scientific methods as cert has demonstrated. I could add a few points here but cert has pretty much hit the nail on the head. Nice thoughts cert!

MAN! Je l'ai vu Nadon au Parc Lafontaine dans le Plateau Mont-Royal: il donné un show gratis un soir d'été, il y a une couples d'années! Il drummait avec des boîtes de conserves! Il n'arrêtait pas de parler à la foule! C'est un phénomène, ce gars-là! Peut-être pas aussi hot que Buddy Rich, mais definitivement pas loin derrière! T'as bien raison: c'est un homme super simple qui ne se prend pas pour un autre! Ïl y en a pas assez du monde de même!

T'es pas mal hot d'avoir été choisi pilote d'avion de chasse! Mon frère a tout réussi ce qu'il faisait dans la vie, sauf une chose: pilote de F-18: ses oreilles ne supportaient pas la différence de pression. Tu dois être doué!

Just to pick up again on Certif1ed's posts, I flicked on the radio this afternoon and caught a short report on a music composing program at the University Of Plymouth, UK. The Brazilian researcher (or lecturer?) hooked it up to the reporter's brain via an electrode skull cap and the reporter could change the speed of the music and - apparently - the sequence of notes. The program basically composed in the style of Mozart, but a unique sequence of notes. It's a start, anyway.