The first week of school, I walk into Bruce Fleming’s English class. Instead of being greeted by the boring poster of books or cliché inspirational quotes, I see a corner of giant cacti, a wall of movie posters and classic rock blasting from the speakers. Did I pull a freshman move and go to the wrong classroom?

Instead of attacking us with questions on Black Swan Green and making us analyze quotes, Fleming decides to talk about music. Up until this point I’ve been zoning out (no offense Mr. Fleming), but once he started the PowerPoint on the brain’s response to music I stopped daydreaming and focused on his words.

The slides explained that different types of music have varying tempos or rhythms. Those between 40 to 60 relax, 50 to 60 inspire and 120 to 140 motivate. Just the way a beat is produced can interact with stimuli to create responses from your brain. Basically a single beat can change a person’s whole mood. Then, when lyrics are added to match the beat, the brain’s stimuli draw an even bigger connection. For example, an artist could match tempos between 40 to 60 to calming words and tone of voice. With all the right elements, one has used science to make music appealing.

The common saying, “listening to Mozart makes you a genius” really isn’t about a response that instantaneously makes you Albert Einstein. According to a Ted Talk by neuroscientist Jessica Grahn, it’s about motivation. Classical music makes you feel intelligent, therefore you are more determined. This feeling is processed by various brain segments.

In Belle Beth Cooper’s article, “The surprising science behind what music does to our brains”, she states that the nucleus accumbens, amygdala and cerebellum all process the emotion of music. The cerebellum even creates movement responses such as tapping a foot all the way to dancing. The analyzation of music in the brains goes into even more detail with the prefrontal cortex. This section creates an expectation/satisfaction for what you are hearing while the hippocampus acts as memory storage that recalls past musical experiences.

All these processes occur in an instant. When the music plays, you begin to evaluate and by the time you are 30-45 seconds into a song you have all these judgments for what was just perceived.

This brings me to the concept of genre preferences. If we all analyze music the same, how can she like rock while he prefers country? There is an ongoing argument whether music preference is due to a person’s brain or personality.

One argument made by scientists states that empathy levels are connected to the inclination of jazz over hard metal. Those with high empathy levels tend to lean towards the style of gentle, reflective, depressing and relaxing songs while lower levels preferred intense, animated and thrilling songs.

The second argument made by scientists related personality traits, such as self-esteem and introverts versus extroverts, to the quality of each genre. Rap fans were reported to have high self-esteems and were extroverts while introverted rock fans had low self-esteems.

However, I’d like to think music is not studied in a lab to create maximum appeal to various groups nor is there a science to why I like the music I Iike. Rather it is created out of pure belief and expression of the artist. It works with both the left, logical side of the brain and the right, artistic side of  the brain. There is truth in scientific studies of music, but the way it relates to me or speaks to me can’t be analyzed or understood with numbers; music is abstract. Yes, my brain might have a methodical reaction to music, but there is also a magic that causes the listener to transcend from reality. I’m not sure how someone can take a stick and hit it against things to make people feel stuff — It just does.

To read more in depth or see some cool charts go to: https://www.fastcompany.com/3022942/work-smart/the-surprising-science-behind-what-music-does-to-our-brains

Claire’s Playlists:

Relax https://open.spotify.com/user/clairerobidoux/playlist/78o1Ejmzg3ckNWU4D0sEHB

Inspire https://open.spotify.com/user/clairerobidoux/playlist/6IePUrjQxsKVy7gJzx31CB