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Christopher Wheaton ENGL 1010 Trenton Judson 11/7/13 Music and Its Relativity to Emotions and Cognition; a Position Synthesis Have you ever had a song playing over and over in your head relentlessly for hours on end, and no matter what you do, those same lyrics, tune, or rhythm keep playing in your head? My friend, you are not alone. In fact, we all have had that occurrence of repetitive music once, if not a million times throughout our lives. I have a friend who I have been well acquainted with for many years, and we have shared many experiences together through our maturation in the teenage years. One particular reason why we have been friends for so long is that we have so much in common such as family relations, hobbies and interests in video games, girls, and other male activities. However, there is one attribute that I do not understand about him and probably never will, its the appreciation and love of music that he clearly does not possess. It used to be so terrible that whenever I had a song playing, he would immediately turn it off, make an insult about the song or artist, or make a threat to break my music player. It is not as bad as it used to be, given the fact that he now has expressed an interest in the mixing of music to create what is now called Dubstep, but the fact that at one point in time, he could not stand the sound of music playing near him still bothers me to this day. Funny, isnt it? So far, he is the only person I have met who has a tough time listening to music, or even finds a tough time in enjoying music for that matter. Throughout my adolescent years, I have come to notice that music is a great influence in the way we act around others, how we perceive the world around us, and ultimately

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how we dress, talk, and what we eat (believe it or not)! Countless studies have been done, all of them striving to determine why music does this to us. Music influences our situational and emotional experiences through cognitive relations, sociological scenarios, personal expression and how we experience life. The cognitive and emotional elements that coincide with us are directly affected by music and its powerful influences. Music is a powerful in the sense that it affects the way we think, the way we act, the way we process situations and scenarios in our lives, and it fundamentally benefits both the emotional needs and physical needs of anyone who listens. Nechama Yehuda, music therapist and professor at Bar Ilan University who writes the article Music and Stress, describes music as an unstoppable force that penetrates all barriers used against it. In her own words, she states Music reaches and touches us whether we like it or not. It actually invades our physical, emotional and cultural territory. If music is an invasive force and there is nowhere to escape it, then why do we allow it? No escape. However, it is much more than just an intrusive force that we cant escape. Instead of giving music a negative connotation and completely disregarding the benefits that music has on the brain, we can analyze how music gives us a better feeling of individuality. Yehuda explains that sonorous envelopment, a constant invasion of unwanted noise, can be battled by music. Our musical preference, which involves our emotional connection to the music that we enjoy, allows the release of stress that occurs from the sonorous envelopment that we constantly experience. It doesnt completely rid you of the unwanted noise, but it provides a distraction from it. Music also exercises the cognitive expectancy mechanism (87), which is our natural inborn advantage that we have to predict forthcoming events. This mechanism also involves emotion, whereas when our expectancy mechanism is functioning properly, we experience situations on an entirely different new level verifying that music almost

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drastically changes the way we feel and/or react to scenarios we might not have been so reactive to. Carol Krumhansl, a music psychologist who writes the article, Music: A link between Cognition and Emotion, discusses a common view. In order for music to acquire an emotional meaning to an individual, an event that consists of a significant consequential effect has to take place (45). From what I know, music speaks to everyone based on their individual preference. It can be characterized as a unique language, which speaks to everyone differently and no two translations are exactly the same. Musical sounds have emotional influences, and depending on how far weve come in life, no two individuals will feel the same emotions for a single sound. There may be similar cognitive reactions that the sound makes such as a distaste for it, but an identical conclusion where both individuals feel the same way is highly improbable. For example, one adolescent associates himself with violent video games, another a less gruesome activity such as reading, learning or socializing. Both of the individuals are well aware of what a gunshot sounds like, but when both of them are in a situation where a gunshot goes off, the reactions from each are likely to be dramatically different. An educated conclusion suggests that the adolescent who associates himself with violent video games would be the one to react at a much calmer level compared to the adolescent who does not participate in such activities. This is where the factor of individual experience comes into play. Our individual experiences we have encountered in life dramatically determine what our preference in music is and how we express it. Mark Edmundson, an English Professor at the University of Virginia, writes the article Can Music Save Your Life? And brings to my attention the psychological factors in our lives and how they greatly influence each individuals musical preference. To make his point very clear, he gives an example of how significant events in his life have affected what types of music he listens to and what kinds of memories he associates it

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with. Of course, some of the songs I listened to were sad, but sadness lies latent in the soul I experienced my grief over my younger sister's death, (P11). In this quote, I do not include the piece in which Edmundson experiences this grief because the significance isnt necessary, however, what is important is that Edmundson states clearly that he experiences the same grief he experienced when his sister passed away. This event occurred several years previously, according to Edmundson. How intriguing is it that just by listening to a sad song, it can bring about emotions that you felt years previous? I find it crazy to believe it, but I can attest to this claim as noteworthy. I can relate to this example almost precisely as the author does. I drive a lot, and while driving, I enjoy listening to music. After a while, I have come to notice that the same songs I listened to almost three years ago bring up memories from the exact same time period. One song I listen to about every day was played in my graduation ceremony and every time I listen to it, the images from the ceremony play on and on through my mind. This is extremely similar to what Edmundson experiences with music. Edmundson also claims that music is so influential, that it can cause our minds to undergo a process of changing the way we think and observe our surroundings. As I pointed out earlier, Music has a spoken language, not the lyrics of a song, but the harmonies and melodic tunes that are encapsulated together. Music is a complex and deep language that speaks to everyone on a unique scale. No two individuals can interpret the emotions of a tune because the cognitive functions of their brains are unique and therefore do not analyze things the same way. Therefore, the music we listen to will undoubtedly influence an individual while it may have no significant effects on another individual. I like rap, my friend enjoys country, and neither of us like each others musical preference. This is a good example of the metaphorical complex language music is. I have noticed that personal expressions play a big role in my argument. Personal expression is highly influential to our surroundings, and

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although our surroundings are extraordinarily vague, I am going to focus on people as the main factor of our surroundings. Personal expression and Sociological influences provide us with logical answers to what kinds of emotions are being experienced, be it our own, or another individuals emotions. Going off of this argument that personal expression (how we display our emotions, in this case, through music) and sociological influences (a scientific term of peer pressure, or what kind of influences we experience from the views of our peers and the standards of society) are assessed to determine what emotions we are feeling, I observed a situation at my workplace where both of these topics were prevailing forces in a discussion between two co-workers who were quarreling about the subject of what genre of music is presumably better than the other. One team member was defending his position that the Rock genre was dominant in the musical world while the other team member was sticking to his belief that Jazz was the greatest genre ever created. While both of their arguments proved to be ample, what is interesting is that neither one thought about the influences that caused their preference in music to be that way. I can safely assume that the Rock lover is associated with others who enjoy listening to Rock as well. I can also safely assume that the Jazz enthusiast acquaints himself with other Jazz listeners. What does this say about sociological influences and its effects? Sociologists suggest that the function of involvement and belonging, especially on a musical level, primarily reflects the type of music we listen to. But those sociological influences cant take place without personal expression. Be it through expressing ones own feelings about music, or ones ability to write music, personal expression is a benefactor to sociological influences. In fact, we can even include it as a sociological influence! Through the act of personal expression, you are, to some extent, influencing how one feels about music! When someone is expressing to you their own

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personal feelings about music, they are influencing you whether it is successful or not. How we choose to react to those influences is entirely our choice, but the stronger the influence, the greater likelihood that your preference will be changed. To back up my theory of sociological influences, Edmundson explains that musical preference is an extremely sensitive subject that is not openly discussed by his students. When asked to give their opinions of what music is enjoyable, his students do not participate in answering. Edmundson is surprised, given the instance that his students freely engage in all other types of conversations with topics including social gatherings, extra-curricular activities, hobbies, and even so far as sex. But, when the subject of music is introduced, his students go quiet. Edmundson suggests that music preference is a highly subjective. What I mean by this, is when someone wants to express themselves personally through music, they feel that they are going to be attacked, not physically but emotionally. This individual believes, whether by some significant event in his/her past or a psychological factor, that to express themselves is an activity that is highly discouraged, and if you take a second to think about it, it is. Personal expression today is believed to be a sort of way of standing up to something such as a figure of authority. This is badly misinterpreted and should not be considered as the real definition of personal expression. I personally do not see it as an extreme issue, but it is in other regions. Ive heard of instances where some people were brutally attacked because of their preference on music. I do not have the evidence to support these rumors, and I do not believe them to be true either, nonetheless, I do see the negative influences that exist in society today. To summarize what has been said, Music influences our situational and emotional experiences through cognitive relation, sociological scenarios, personal expression and how we experience life. The significance of how much it influences our experiences is superior to what I

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originally speculated. Generally speaking, music is such a mystery to even the most prestigious music theorists that my claim can be nothing short of a mild assumption. The extent of the amount of research required to fully understand the cognitive, sociological, emotional, psychological, and physiological effects of music would be astronomical. I am quite convinced that the research I am talking about is already taking place. Science is always changing, and I am going to go as far to say that music is just as much of a science as it is an art. Science, just like music, is always changing. It is crazy to think that ones opinion of the world can be changed by just one instrument or song. I find it rather arduous to grasp the concept of music and its influences. Music is a powerful influence. I believe it should be respected as such, too.

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Works Cited -Edmundson, Mark. "Can Music Save Your Life?" Chronicle of Higher Education 58.38 (2012): B6-B9. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. -Krumhansl, Carol L. "Music: A Link between Cognition and Emotion." Current Directions in Psychological Science 11.2 (2002): 45-50. JSTOR. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. -Yehuda, Nechama. "Music and Stress." Journal of Adult Development 18.2 (2011): 8594.Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.