|
Grav


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 4,454
Last seen: 12 years, 1 month
|
Why do we like music?
#1208321 - 01/11/03 12:26 AM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
GoBlue! said:
Music is strange indeed. We know why the body enjoys food and sex (survival of the species), but why does it also enjoy music??? I'm not convinced that the answer is because it connects us with "the spirits", because I'm not so sure any actual "communication" is going on during music. If you believe you are talking with the spirits, what's the message???
|
Fliquid
Back from being gone.


Registered: 03/18/02
Posts: 6,953
Loc: omotive
Last seen: 9 years, 6 months
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: Grav]
#1208345 - 01/11/03 01:34 AM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
I think we like music because we can use it as a tool to connect memory's on. And i think the frequency waves the music send into you some how always does something to you.
Some types of music even generate certain feelings. And it doesn't even have to be music you've heard before (music you have not yet connected a memory to). So music has equal powers as say drugs, smells and physical touch. They all send signals to your brain.
I know it doesn't clear much up, but maybe this is a piece of the puzzel.
--------------------
My latest music!
|
SnuffelzFurever
Psychonaut

Registered: 09/17/02
Posts: 734
Loc: Miami, florida
Last seen: 21 years, 19 days
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: Grav]
#1208362 - 01/11/03 02:01 AM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
i figure music induces a trance-like state that produces a sort of meditation. as people focus on the music, they can forget their worries about life, and just focus on that simple tune. it's easier for most people than meditating, cuz you have something thats easier to pay attention to than your breath
-------------------- "I think it's time we stop
Children, What's the sound,
Everybody look what's going down"
|
dee_N_ae
\/\/¡†¢h |-|øµ§³ ¢å†


Registered: 08/16/02
Posts: 2,473
Loc: The Shadow of Neptune
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: Grav]
#1208418 - 01/11/03 03:18 AM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
I like music because of the power it has over me. I love it when my whole body & mind get a tingly rush just because of something completely invisible yet entirely real.
Also, creating music has to be the most fun I've ever had.
Edited by dee_N_ae (01/11/03 03:19 AM)
|
Grav


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 4,454
Last seen: 12 years, 1 month
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: Fliquid]
#1208520 - 01/11/03 05:00 AM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
I agree.
I think music is a drug. Something that alters our consciousness. It's well known that humans have some primal desire to do this.
I think we like music because we like to travel and see new places. Inside & Out.
A song is like a photograph of that place. Only it's a photograph you can step inside and walk around in.
And why is it so fun to create music? I think that there is an immense amount of potential power that you weild when you pick up an instrument. Theres something very intriguing about that. It's like building a temple for your god, or something...
I would guess this goes for any type of artistic expression. Music is just my personal favorite.
|
Murex
Reality Hacker

Registered: 07/28/02
Posts: 3,599
Loc: Traped in a shell.
Last seen: 17 years, 5 months
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: Grav]
#1208818 - 01/11/03 07:31 AM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
I agree with everyone here so far.
Music expresses emotions and can convey thoughts or memories. I for one, love every aspect of music. Songs can tell a story, or provoke thought. It's just wonderful stuff.
-------------------- What if everything around you
Isn't quite as it seems?
What if all the world you think you know,
Is an elaborate dream?
And if you look at your reflection,
Is it all you want it to be?
|
diggitydankman
No longer aCannabisConnoisseur

Registered: 12/10/02
Posts: 479
Loc: Michgan
Last seen: 21 years, 9 months
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: Grav]
#1208844 - 01/11/03 07:44 AM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
Music is probably a more ancient form of communivation than speech. This alone would leave extremely deep roots within a civilization, i.e. (ritualistic purposes, entertainment.) Also the right brain controls most musical and artistic concepts and I would like to believe that many different drugs affect that part of the brain and stimulate artistic and musical creativity and understanding.
-------------------- "It's only wrong if you get caught.
If consequences dictate
my course of action
I should play GOD."
Maynard James Keenan, Tool
|
GoBlue!
Tool Rules - DBK

Registered: 10/27/02
Posts: 576
Loc: Ann Arbor, MI
Last seen: 21 years, 5 months
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: Grav]
#1212703 - 01/12/03 05:36 PM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
Hey Grav, thanks for starting a thread on this! I was hoping the question would eventually lead to some discussion. I just stumbled across it now.
I agree with everyone on what music does. But the real question I was after is WHY??? What is actually going on that causes all of these feelings and emotions??? Why do we enjoy it so much???
If diggitydankman is correct that it was used for communication before speach, does this still explain why we enjoy it? I don't get similar pleasure through other forms of communication such as talking or reading. And truthfully I have no idea what goldstein meant by "we are vibrational ourselves".
Any thoughts about why music is pleasurable???
Edit: Grav gave me credit for this thread, but my quote was just a reply to something Grav had said.
--------------------
Just stating my thoughts, not trying to offend
Edited by GoBlue! (01/13/03 05:33 AM)
|
Larrythescaryrex
teardrop on the fire


Registered: 07/19/00
Posts: 11,004
Loc: further down the spiral
Last seen: 2 years, 2 months
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: Grav]
#1212746 - 01/12/03 05:57 PM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
great thread!
music doesn't even have to have lyrics. Just the sound of the instruments is enough to make you cry or laugh...
music is a great thing indeed.
I remember when I went to the pennsic war last summer. It was at a huge campground. Each night for two weeks straight as soon as the sun went down till about 4 in the morning you could hear drums from everywhere and people singing and dancing. It was great.
-------------------- RIP Acidic_Sloth
Sunset_Mission said:
"larry the scary rex
verily scary when thoroughly vexed
invoke the shadows and dust, cast a hex
mercifully massacring memories masterfully
relocate from Ur to 8th density and become a cosmic bully
mulder and scully couldn't decipher his glyphs
invoke the shadows and dust, smoke infernal spliffs"
April 24th 2011
|
Anonymous
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: Grav]
#1213296 - 01/13/03 02:30 AM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
If you look up music in encarta disctionary you will read that music is a collection of sounds to produce a desired effect.
To further segment that i would define good music as a collection of sounds to produce a desired emotion.
Sex is an emotion achived by stimulating your physical sences. So is food -> hanger is a need/emotion demanded by your sunconsiosness.
Emotion from music is achieved by stimulating your hearing sences.
It all comes down to the same basics.
|
GoBlue!
Tool Rules - DBK

Registered: 10/27/02
Posts: 576
Loc: Ann Arbor, MI
Last seen: 21 years, 5 months
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: ]
#1213694 - 01/13/03 05:47 AM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
Ya, but why do we like music. If we didn't like food, we might starve ourselves. If we didn't like sex, we might not reproduce. If we didn't love our children, we might not care if our offspring survived. But if we don't like music, what would be the downside??? Why do we have this emotion??? Animals, especially mammals, tend to share many emotions with humans. Do you suppose that mammals also enjoy music? Or is music strictly a human pleasure??? If animals do share this pleasure (and even if they don't), the question is still why do we like it.
I think it's an equally tough question to answer whether you believe in evolution or not.
In the other thread, it was suggested that music was a "connection" to something else. I don't share this belief, but it's an interesting thought.
--------------------
Just stating my thoughts, not trying to offend
|
sunyata
nonexistentexistentialist
Registered: 12/26/02
Posts: 133
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: GoBlue!]
#1213803 - 01/13/03 06:45 AM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
Alan Watts often talked about how music was one of the most spiritual of all the arts because it is so transitory and of the moment... Unlike a painting or sculpture, music is not meant to remain solid and tangible throughout time -- we hear a note, and it disappears, replaced by the next and the next and the next, and it is this continuous appearing/disappearing aspect of music that makes it so spiritual.
As far as "connecting" us to something else, I do not know what that means, really... Except that we are connected in a certain sense to the musician(s) performing the music and any other listeners who might be present, and the sharing of this experience is certainly enjoyable for me, anyway.
In regards to the question of "why" music is pleasurable, I suppose we might as well ask why any stimulation of the senses is pleasurable... Having your skin touched, tasting great food, smelling the air after it rains... I'm no scientist but there is certainly a biological component to the experience: vibration stimulates our eardrums, our brain interprets the vibratory signal, and if the combination of vibrations is "harmonious", certain chemical pathways in our brain operate in such and such a way that we interpret as feeling good.
I think there is more to any experience than the bare bones of reductionistic biology, however, and I would say that many of the people above have touched on some of the reasons why music is pleasurable for themselves. I think there is also something to the McKennean idea that as the edge of the unfolding of the novelty-generating universe, humans are constantly creating and searching for new experiences, and music is one of the most satisfying ways that we can do that. Most satisfying again because of its connection to the fundamental nature of reality; ie, it is continually reborn with every passing moment.
Edited by sunyata (01/13/03 06:47 AM)
|
the_Landotter
Gnostic Chaoist

Registered: 05/24/02
Posts: 340
Loc: R'lyeh
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: Grav]
#1213948 - 01/13/03 07:35 AM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
I believe that we like music because it appeals to the inner mathemetician in all of us. You know, that part of the brain/mind that can perform blinding fast differential calculus in order to catch a pop fly in the outfield and otherwise (unless we're a ball player) stays mostly dormant. Well no that's not true. What is true is, just like your math teacher told you, we use math all the time, though not in the way he probably meant it. And music, since it is abstract, vibrational and frequency based, appeals to the inner math whiz on its own level.
Music is beauty and beauty is numbers.
-------------------- * * * * * * * * * *
Read the Landotter's Mystical Journey Journal
|
sunyata
nonexistentexistentialist
Registered: 12/26/02
Posts: 133
|
|
That's a great theory.
|
soylent_green
The greatEnitsuj


Registered: 12/11/02
Posts: 765
Loc: Ontario
Last seen: 18 years, 1 day
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: sunyata]
#1214368 - 01/13/03 10:27 AM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
i like everyones opinion on music. it's everything everyone has said....and more
-------------------- What fun is it in Nirvana while other beings are suffering?
|
GoBlue!
Tool Rules - DBK

Registered: 10/27/02
Posts: 576
Loc: Ann Arbor, MI
Last seen: 21 years, 5 months
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: sunyata]
#1214418 - 01/13/03 10:50 AM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
Quote:
In regards to the question of "why" music is pleasurable, I suppose we might as well ask why any stimulation of the senses is pleasurable... Having your skin touched, tasting great food, smelling the air after it rains...
Having your skin touched - helps circulate blood.
Great tasting food - Before food was readily available at the supermarket, taste helped people identify foods that were necessary for their survival. Sugar, salt, fat, etc... were all good for you in the quantities we used to eat them in. Now that everything is so readily available, we tend to each too much of these "good" things.
Smelling the air after it rains - This is nature's way of letting you know the air is fresh and pure and healthy to breath. That's why we don't like the smell of garbage, maneur, etc.
Why music is pleasurable - ?????
Quote:
I would say that many of the people above have touched on some of the reasons why music is pleasurable for themselves.
Ya, they explained what music did for them, but not why it does that for them. Do you see what I'm trying to get at? What is the reason we like it? We can explain the reason for other pleasures. 
--------------------
Just stating my thoughts, not trying to offend
|
GoBlue!
Tool Rules - DBK

Registered: 10/27/02
Posts: 576
Loc: Ann Arbor, MI
Last seen: 21 years, 5 months
|
|
Quote:
I believe that we like music because it appeals to the inner mathemetician in all of us.
That's a good thought, but do we get the same pleasure from doing math problems? No - so I'd say the theory doesn't work.
--------------------
Just stating my thoughts, not trying to offend
|
Anonymous
|
|
Quote:
Music is beauty and beauty is numbers.
Ah so then Mozart is God. Good, I always thought so.
Cheers
|
Strumpling
Neuronaut
Registered: 10/11/02
Posts: 7,571
Loc: Hyperspace
Last seen: 13 years, 8 months
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: Grav]
#1214556 - 01/13/03 11:38 AM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
I don't like all music. I like various types of electronic chill and ambient stuff because they can take the same four notes repeated over and over and do as much shit as possible with it.
This compliments THOUGHT incredibly well - Let's say, for instance, I'm under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms, and listening to (hmm, gee, what would I be listening to..) SHPONGLE. A certain thought comes to mind, and since I'm listening to Shpongle, there is a new sound or rhythm appearing with this thought (shpongle constantly adds and morphs sounds..). This thought will get disected and turned over and looked at from every angle thanks to the assistance of Shpongle - whatever sound it was that appeared along with the thought is now connected to that thought in my mind - the new sound now starts doing all sorts of new stuff, and since it is represented by a thought, the attached thought goes through all sorts of new perspectives and makes all sorts of new connections because its attached to this sound which is changing aspects of itself in relation to other sounds in the music.
Don't know if I expressed that well, but it makes perfect sense in my mind - feel free to yell at me or ask to elaborate.
-------------------- Insert an "I think" mentally in front of eveything I say that seems sketchy, because I certainly don't KNOW much. Also; feel free to yell at me.
In addition: SHPONGLE
|
ribbit
up till dawn

Registered: 10/31/02
Posts: 290
Last seen: 13 years, 3 months
|
Re: Why do we like music? [Re: Strumpling]
#1214840 - 01/13/03 01:29 PM (22 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
music can be in relation to reallity, we exist on a constant vibration, music to me is a reallity created by us, that expresses human emotion. sometimes when im spinning at a party, i get zoned out on my music, it feels like a way of becoming enlightened. especially when im playing some hard epic trance that has a story to tell...its beautiful
music is my world, without it, id rather not be
|
|