Photo by Spencer Imbrock on Unsplash
Ever since the beginning of our understanding into the world of the human psyche, it has been known that music is a crucial insight into a person’s state of mind. Music seems to have a profound impact on a person’s state of mind and their overall mental wellbeing. Even if we look back at Biblical times, the Psalms (olden day worship music) are written in the Bible to uplift people in their times of need and their times of rejoicing. Music has an incredible ability to affect mood, enhance mood, and even completely change mood. In this piece, we are going to look further into the innate ability which music has to affect our states of mind, and different genres affect us.
So, Do Specific Genres Affect Moods Differently?
In short, yes! When it comes to music, psychology is extraordinarily complex. Although music has the ability to enhance or mildly alter your mood, most music does not have the ability to completely transform your mood 360 degrees. As well as this, music may not necessarily affect people in the way that it is expected to. Simply because one piece of music is a ‘sad song’, it may not necessarily have the effect on the mentality of the person listening to it. It depends on many factors; the beat, the lyrics, and the style of the music will all have effect on the mood of the person listening to it.
As Jack Manning, a writer at 1 Day 2 write and Write my X , commented, “Research done in the past showed that those who participated in the study and were asked to improve their mood actually did, especially when they tried listening to joyful and upbeat music.” However, it was only those who were instructed to improve their mood with this happy music that actually improved their mood. People who listened to the exact same music but were not given the aforementioned instruction did not see the same improvements. So, it seems that when you listen to music specific intention to improve, change, or enhance a mood; it does exactly that. However, it does not do it without any personal thought.
Classical Music = Motivation
Different types of music will have different effects on the human psyche. Classical music is naturally soothing, and this can be seen from how much of this type of music appears on playlists for studying and focusing. Bach & Beethoven’s musical compositions have a great impact on focus and motivation, while simultaneously increasing positivity.
Rock Music = Stress
Although there are fewer musical genres which are shown to increase stress, rock music is one which is known to. Rock music, although known for increasing stress, is actually exceptionally good for productivity and wellbeing. The University of Queensland found that the genre actually helped with anger management and overall positive wellbeing.
Dance Music & Joy
This one is probably the most obvious of the bunch; dance music is known to make people happy! Pop music, dance music, and overall joyful compositions are known for being great at lifting people’s spirits. The whole premise of the dance genre is that it is supposed to set you free and take you to another place entirely.
Sad Music is Great for Sad People
Rebecca Salmon, a lifestyle blogger at Brit Student and Coursework help, noted, “It might seem that sad music simply make sad people even more sad, but this actually is not always the case.” Although this is a popular train of thought, studies have actually shown recently that sad music actually acts as a form of catharsis for sad people. This is why we are drawn to sad music when we are sad, rather than the popular belief that sad music just makes sad people sadder. The process of listening to sad music allows people who are experiencing negative emotions to process them and understand what they are feeling.
The brain and music have an incredible connection, and they are innately connected. Studies conducted over the past couple of decades have shown that music not only has the expected connection of enhancing emotions but also influences emotions in ways that we do not expect. Music is a beautiful way to process and understand emotion.
