Music & Emotion

Edgard Varèse famously called his music 'organized sound' (Varese, 1966) which I think perfectly sums up the idea of what music is. It shows how something as simple as tapping on the desk in a simple way can be classified as music. Through this, I think its important how we can take the idea of sound and relate to it emotion and memory.

For many of us, we have that one special song that takes us to a place in our past. Whether it be of someone special to you, of a place or simply because it brings a smile to your face because you were listening to that particular song while someone told you a joke. Although experts say that the most powerful sense to trigger an emotion is the olfactory, I would disagree. I think the things we hear impact us on a bigger scale, more so than what we realise. If you shuffled the songs on your iPod, for example, and chose the first 5 songs, I'm sure you can work out how each song is special to you.

For mine, the first song is 'Sex On Fire' by Kings Of Leon. For me, this brings back the memory of being at a gig while waiting for the performer coming on. In the background, this song was playing. I can remember the sheer intensity of everyone shouting out the chorus and it made me feel both special and insignificant (special to be part of a generation where we bond with music, while feeling insignificant at how many people were inspired by music).
The last song of the 5 is 'Ready For The Weekend' by Calvin Harris. This, aside from being one of my favourite songs by him, brings back the memory of being in assembly with my friends and singing this acapella because were bored. The part in the song where he goes "We get a thrill from clapping our hands", we proceeded to clap 4 times in succession to the beat of the music (sad, I know).

Music is something that shapes us as a person because it makes us feel everything and nothing all at once. We feel a special connection to that particular song or lyric which triggers something that, in my opinion, nothing else can. Cheesy guilty pleasure songs (we all have them) never fail to put a smile on our face and make us not just sing them, but perform them. Why is this, is it because we think back to a time where we didn't have a care in the world at all?
Matty Healy, the lead singer of the 1975 said that 'You can't really control the way that you feel when you listen to music' which helps to support my argument that what you hear is the most powerful tool when it comes to emotion and memory.

So next time you listen to a song, actually listen to it. Work out what the meaning is behind the song and what the artist's message is that they're trying to get across and I'm certain that it will trigger something in your brain and you will associate that song with a particular memory from then on.
Happy day dreaming!