Thread: How Music Affects You

I learned this the hard way when I used to listen to extremely depressing music all the time and used to be extremely depressed. Now I am very careful what sort of music I listen to. When I am studying I always listen to piano music. I read somewhere that there is something about piano music that helps in learning, and I don't know how accurate this is, but it has been working for me. Straight A's. I've also read that music is the quickest and easiest way to raise your vibrational frequency.

I definitely think that listening to certain types of music constantly will perpetuate an unhealthy state of mind (like emo). Basically I've come to realize that the type of people and music I surround myself with has a great impact on my life...so I manage each accordingly.

There probably is bad music that if you listen to a lot might make you depressed. Though I think you have to seperate that from good music, that might be moving or sad. Its likely good for you at times to listen to stuff like that.

You know what I think makes an even bigger impact though? Music that goes with films or movies, and stuff like that. When you are watching something, and listening to music that really fits, it makes the entire thing more powerful.

Originally Posted by Alric

There probably is bad music that if you listen to a lot might make you depressed. Though I think you have to seperate that from good music, that might be moving or sad. Its likely good for you at times to listen to stuff like that.

I find that I have music that is interpreted on the basis of my mood-- usually, it's a part of my mood that's so subconscious and hidden that I can only realize it when triggering it with powerful music. Beautiful music, when in a good mood, will numb me in a positive way, and I'll feel as if the beauty of the music is flowing through me. In a depressive mood, I can usually tell right away that a song is going to affect me in a depressing way. This would correspond with the same song, and like I said, the difference is chosen on the basis of my mood.

Generally, for me, I'm very emotional when it comes to music no matter what. I can be extremely happy (so I think) but perhaps have maybe the slightest thing bothering me subconsciously, and listening to a beautiful song will trigger a mood swing almost instantly. Generally I can change the song quickly to rid of the change, but sometimes it allows the negativity to progressively grow.

Generally I listen to relaxing music, IDM/electronic or ambient music, though I have a wide selection of songs that I just find particularly tasty. I can tell a good song immediately by how it engulfs me. A cool sounding song but meaningless one with no emotion will intrigue one part of me, but with my short attention span for that part of the brain (I really have a very short attention span with it) I'll find myself ignoring the music, and unlike other music, when not listening it isn't flowing through me. With relaxing ambient or IDM, I can be focusing on something that requires all of my effort of thinking and still I will be consumed by the music. It flows through me like morphine, essentially, and it really does affect my mentality. Emotionally powerful, but visually as well. I see things from the music in my peripheral every second a song I like is playing. It's as if the point of focus is the only thing I can consciously see, as is the case now when typing. I can see only the letters eject as the vertical line passes each, the rest is a blur of imagery that is consistently undergoing change in sync with my mood and emotional flow.

I elaborated a bit on my most powerful ways that music affects me here, if anyone's interested. Music really is my mind's magnet, it's an amazing thing of how sensitive some people can be with it.

I think a lot of times a depressing song can be uplifting for a depressed person. If the cause of someone's distress is a closed feedback loop of emotion, then a song that has a depressing tone but has resolution in its structure can elicit a cleansing feeling. If the person's despair stems from a lonely feeling of "am I the only one?" then just hearing someone elses emotions put to music can show them that there are others out there that feel the same way and it can be supportive.

When i hear music, it moves me and touchest my heart. It is my closest shadow and my furthest goodbye. I listen to music and it reminds me of my earliest childhood. It remind me of growing up. And leaving loved ones behind. It is everything to me. Without it, i would struggle.

Sad music can certainly bring you down, but I don't think this is always the case. It can actually be comforting for someone in a depressed mood to hear depressing music, because it reminds them that they're not the only ones that feel so down. Others have been where they are. It can give them a paradoxical sort of sense of belonging.

It's extremely interesting to me that we will so often willfully subject ourselves to music that is almost certainly bound to induce a negative emotional state in us. On the face of it, it seems almost masochistic. So why do we do it? I've noticed that there seems to be something strangely satisfying about lingering in a negative emotional state for at least a while. If I find myself in a blue mood, I don't always want to be immediately cheered up. I can't fully explain why, but sometimes I want to bask in the negative feelings for a little while first. It seems to make me feel... I don't know, more human. What do you all think?

Originally Posted by DuB

It's extremely interesting to me that we will so often willfully subject ourselves to music that is almost certainly bound to induce a negative emotional state in us. On the face of it, it seems almost masochistic. So why do we do it? I've noticed that there seems to be something strangely satisfying about lingering in a negative emotional state for at least a while. If I find myself in a blue mood, I don't always want to be immediately cheered up. I can't fully explain why, but sometimes I want to bask in the negative feelings for a little while first. It seems to make me feel... I don't know, more human. What do you all think?

I notice this especially with anger. I'll get in a mood(actually am sort of in one now) where I'll be pissed off and I'll want to hang on to my anger because I feel like I need it to help me get revenge or destroy the cause of my problem. I think it's because emotions are like a kind of energy that can influence us and when in their grip we often feel like we need to store that energy and wait until the perfect moment(the wu wei) to unleash it. Needless to say we often unleash it at quite the wrong moment.

I think, in a nutshell, the mood decides the music that one chooses more than the music decides the mood, though they both influence one another. I will for instance choose to listen to a happy (maybe actiony) piece of music if I am happy, and the music will then continue to keep me in the "happy place". Likewise I would willingly choose an angry piece of music if I was angry. It also helps with containment of the emotion. I am experiencing the negative feeling through what I'm hearing, and not by expressing it on my environment.

Originally Posted by DuB

If I find myself in a blue mood, I don't always want to be immediately cheered up. I can't fully explain why, but sometimes I want to bask in the negative feelings for a little while first.

I feel you, to some degree. If it's because it expresses our humanity, I don't know. I think that bad feelings, on rare occasions, are satisfying. I've noticed it more with anger (again) than the other negative emotions, but I should also point out that I am seldom ever, ever ever angry at all (don't want to give the wrong impression). There is something exhaling about its simplicity and drive to destroy. Something primitive.

I've been thinking about music more than usual lately. What we find in it that we identify with.. Or what we pick in a song that we claim says something about who we are. I could for instance share with you a song that "says something about me," because of what I'd feel in that piece of music that I connect with. How can this connection be made at all? What triggers this? What is music that it should get inside of us so?