The Psychology of Music

Darcie Porter

What would you say if I told you that music stimulates the same part of your brain as food, alcohol, drugs, and even sex?Knowing that, what would you say if I also told you music is one of the largest reasons why children excel in school? How does it happen that music plays such an important role in our lives? In the following, I will answer that question as well as examine the affects of music; which can be positive, and negative.

A team of researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute, using the world's most advanced brain-mapping machines, have found that the same neural clusters that process the seductive pleasures of sex, chocolate and even hard drugs also fire up for music.This research has created an endless lake of knowledge into how the mind works, and processes. Before I can delve into what music can do for you, let me first explain how the brain becomes stimulated by music.

Your inner ear contains a spiral sheet that the sounds of music pluck like a guitar string. This plucking triggers the firing of brain cells that make up the hearing parts of your brain. Different patterns of firing excite other ensembles of cells, and these associate the sound of music with feelings, thoughts, and past experiences.

At the highest station, the auditory cortex, just above your ears, sound is transmitted to the inner ear and broken down according to the spectrum of frequencies that make up sounds. This orderly arrangement of low to higher frequencies is mapped onto the brain much like the way low to high notes are mapped on a piano keyboard. However, not much is known about how the pieces are put back together when we recognize melodies, words, or the scolding sound of someone's voice.

Because the brain cells that deal with memory are stimulated by music, we are able to literally play mind games to help ourselves learn. One example of this is a new technique for children called “The Mozart Effect”. This concept was created to inspire creativity and learning in infants and toddlers. The idea is that by playing classical music, like Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven, to infants, and even pre-birth, will enhance the brain cells used for memory; therefore, giving the child a boost in learning before the age of 3.

Even though “The Mozart Effect” has had outstanding positive feedback from parents across the U.S., there still remains some doubt as to the positive influence music has on the mind. The reason behind such doubt is that adolescent teens aren’t listening to Mozart, Beethoven and Bach. Many teens today find solace in rock & roll and rap which share the same emotions and lyrical frustrations they are experiencing through a difficult transition into adulthood. This inner turmoil caused by social stress can effect the types of music a teen will listen to; the more the turmoil, the harsher the music.

Unfortunately, there have been several cases in the last few decades of teens that take their own life, and use music as a catalyst for death. This has caused a major problem for the music industry. Parents of suicide victims and juvenile criminals are blaming the music for teen angst. Many bands have lyrics that “push the envelope”, and many people in society today feel these lyrics aren’t suitable for teens, and have started a censorship uprising. What most people don’t know is that teens often gravitate towards heavy metal and hard rap because of their environment, peers, or social pressures.

A Swedish study of 11-15-year olds supports a reversal of the traditional cause and effect theories about academic achievement and music. The findings suggest that post academic achievement results in rejection of the school culture and a heavier involvement with peers. This, in turn, leads to an increased preference for socially disapproved music.

Other researchers have examined the ability of children and adolescents to comprehend the lyrics of rock music. Prinsky and Rosenbaum found that many adolescents misinterpreted the lyrics, speculating that this was due to their limited life experience and immature cognitive development. Unlike adults, who find references to sex, violence, drugs, and Satan, adolescents tended to interpret the lyrics of their favorite songs as being about love, politics, growing up, friendship, and other rather benign subjects. The level of misinterpretation was even greater among preadolescents.

This misinterpretation has left little room for parental understanding. The music industry has had its ups and downs, but not nearly as bad as the past 20 years. Here are some major events in censorship history:

1955 - 15,000 letters, mostly written by young adults, are sent to Chicago rock stations accusing them of playing "dirty" records. Radio station WABB runs editorials call "About The Music You Won't Hear on WABB." The editorials promise that the station will censor itself of all controversial music, especially rhythm and blues - in other words, "black" music.

1966 - In March, John Lennon comments that the Beatles are more popular with teens that Jesus Christ. The observation leads to Beatle record burnings and bans from radio play around the country. In March, the Beatles release their “Yesterday and Today” album with the “Butcher cover” (featuring the Beatles sitting with pieces of meat and decapitated baby dolls). The record company quickly withdraws the record from stores and replaces it with an innocuous photo of the band.

July, 1990 - Metal band Judas Priest is sued by the family of two young men. The families contend that “hidden” messages in the band’s “Stained Class” record prompted the youngsters to beat and choke one of their mothers, walk around town exposing themselves, and steal money.

1987 - Heavy metal icon Ozzy Osborne is unsuccessfully sued by the parents of a 19 year old boy who claimed their son committed suicide after listening to Osborne’s song “Suicide Solution”

1990 - Members of the rap group N.W.A. receive a letter from the F.B.I saying that the agency did not appreciate the song “Fuck the Police.” Law enforcement groups across the country agree.

January, 1990 - In one of the most famous music censorship cases, police in Dade County, Florida set up a sting to arrest three retailers who are selling copies of a record by 2 Live Crew to children under the age of 18. Objections to 2 Live Crew started with the break-thought of their hit “Me so Horny.” Similar prosecutions regarding 2 Live Crew record sales occur in Alabama and Tennessee. No prosecutions result in standing convictions. Members of 2 Live Crew are also prosecuted for performing the material live in concert.

1990 - After promoting its premier in a day long "Madonnathon," MTV refuses to air Madonna's video for "Justify My Love" because it contains scenes of sadomasochism, homosexuality, cross-dressing, and group sex.

1991 - Country Music Television and its parent company The Nashville Network both ban Garth Brooks' video for "The Thunder Rolls" because it graphically depicts domestic violence.

1995 - Following protests that Michael Jackson's song "They Don't Care AboutUs" is anti-Semitic, Jackson changes the song's lyrics.

1996 - A young boy claims the song "Altar of Sacrifice" by the group Slayer encouraged him and two others to kill a fifteen-year-old girl, prompting a lawsuit against the band by the girl’s family.

1998 - The high school band at FortZumbaldNorthHigh School in St. Louis is forbidden from playing the Jefferson Airplane hit "White Rabbit" because of drug references in the song's lyrics, even though the band's version of the song is entirely instrumental.

Although music has had a profound impact on people’s lives, it is uncertain what music will sound like in the future. It’s already changed so much. It triggers memory cells in the brain, stimulates the body the way food and sex do, and mostly, it’s just an outlet for creativity. I am certain that music will continue to shape, influence and enhance our world.

Annotated Bibliography

Berger, Harris. Metal, Rock, and Jazz; Perception and the Phenomenology of Musical Experience.HanoverLondon: University Press of New England; WesleyanUniversity Press. 1999.

This vivid ethnography of the musical lives of heavy metal, rock, and jazz musicians in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio shows how musicians engage with the world of sound to forge meaningful experiences of music. Unlike most popular music studies, which only provide a scholar's view, this book is based on intensive fieldwork and hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews. Rich descriptions of the musical life of metal bars and jazz clubs get readers close to the people who make and listen to the music.

Harris M. Berger is associate professor of music and performance studies at TexasA&MUniversity and the 2004-2005 Crawley Family Faculty Fellow. Metal, Rock, and Jazz: Perception and the Phenomenology of Musical Experience (Wesleyan University Press/ University Press of New England, 1999) was his first book, and his articles have appeared in the journals Ethnomusicology, Popular Music, The Journal of American Folklore, and The Journal of Folklore Research. He and Michael T. Carroll co-edited Global Pop, Local Language (University Press of Mississippi, 2003), a volume on the politics and aesthetics of language choice and dialect in popular music around the world. Identity and Everyday Life: Essays in the Study of Folklore, Music, and Popular Culture (WesleyanUniversity Press/ University Press of New England, 2004) is a collection of original essays in social and cultural theory written by Berger and Giovanna P. Del Negro. "History of Rock Music," "Music in the US: Post Civil War," "Music in World Cultures," and "Performance in World Cultures" are courses he teaches frequently.

Coff, Richard. “The Mozart Effect”. 1998-2002. <

Neuroscientists have intensified their research into music and its role in the developing brain. This is partly due to evolving diagnostic techniques and technology, and due, also, to the growing awareness of the probative opportunities presented by such studies. The SuzukiMusicAcademy produces this gateway to fascinating information and ideas arising from current research.

Cromie, William J. “How Your Brain Listens To Music”. The HarvardUniversity Gazette. 2005.

This website is committed to bringing news and articles to the students at HarvardUniversity. The online version of their newspaper, this site is accredited through the president himself. All articles are written by students and professors. Cromie is a gazette writer. Nothing mentioned about him, however his articles have reached many and are well written.

Jourdain, Robert. Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy. New York: William Morrow and Company Inc. 1997.

Through his chapters on Sound, Tone, Melody, Harmony, Rhythm, Composition, Performance, Listening, Understanding and Ecstasy, Jourdain has provided a clear summary of how sound waves are converted by the inner ear and brain into complex musical passages. The book is a resource for learning about the physiological and psychological processes that underlie such diverse occurrences as the song of a yellow warbler, Pavarotti's laments and Tchaikovsky's musical explorations into human emotions.

Lundin, Robert. An Objective Psychology of Music. New York: Ronald Press Company. 1967.

This book was written in textbook format and was sponsored by The Journal of Research in Music Education. Robert W. Lundin, Ph.D., IndianaUniversity, is Professor and Chairman, Department of Psychology, The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. He previously taught at HamiltonCollege. Dr. Lundin is the author of volumes on personality and on psychopathology, and has also contributed many articles to journals in psychology and music education. He is a member of Sigma Xi and is a Fellow in the American Psychological Association.

Nuzum, Eric. “Censorship Incidents”. 1997-2003.

This website is devoted to the public awareness of all censored materials in the U.S. Eric Nuzum acts of his own thoughts, and most of the material is based from his opinion. No accreditations on site. No mention of where he found his material.

This site and all its contents are the intellectual property of Eric Nuzum.

Those wishing to utilize this site for non-commercial purposes may use up to 150 words with proper citation.

Any other uses of this site and its content are forbidden unless express written permission is obtained from Eric Nuzum.

Tillery, Steve. “Can a Person Listen to Music and Study at the Same Time?”. 1995-1998.

The MadSci Network made its debut in September of 1995 as part of WashingtonUniversity's Young Scientist Program, a student-run organization dedicating to improving science literacy among K-12 students in St. Louis. Since that time, the site has evolved into an interactive science teaching and community outreach tool, staffed and maintained by volunteer scientists and engineers from around the world. The MadSci Network fields questions in 26 different subjects, covering topics in astronomy, the biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, earth sciences, engineering, and physics. In 1999 alone, more than 900 scientists volunteered their time to answer more than 25,000 questions from K-12 students and the general public.

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Our main focus has been our free Ask-An-Expert service, which receives 90-150 questions a day from visitors in the U.S. or as far away as Malaysia, Chile and even Antarctica. The people asking questions are as young as 4 years to as old as 88 years of age. Examples include:

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