Behind the Beats: Musings on Music
Publishing Solutions Group
Full-service development, production, translation and audio for print & digital products. K-16. SOWMBA certified.
By Sophie Pollack-Milgate
Summer 2023 Intern
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A global survey from 2020 found that adults spend 18 hours on average listening to music each week, with music occupying as much as 68% of people’s waking hours.[1] That’s a lot of music! And yet, it’s not surprising. For me, having music in the background makes almost any task more fun.
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We may not think about the benefits of music all that often (I don’t), but research speaks to its importance . First and foremost, music functions as a crucial source of social connection. Music unites groups both big and small: a crowd at an event, a parent and child, people at a dance. Aside from its social functions, music can help people perform better at cognitive tasks and improve mental health. Listening to music even has physical benefits such as helping with pain management and changing people’s blood pressure.[2]
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Something else many people don’t think about that often is why they like music. What makes these configurations of sounds so important to so many people? One theory is that music attracts people through its patterns. We anticipate the return of a pattern, and we feel a sense of reward when the pattern finally recurs. But we don’t only feel happy when we listen to music. Another theory that explains why we like music suggests that it appeals to our emotional understanding of speech.[3] Sometimes, experiencing sadness because of music can help us: music distracts us when we need it, voices our emotions, and connects us to others, even when we’re alone.[4]
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Another aspect of music worth considering is why people have different tastes in music. One reason for this could boil down to circumstance. With different exposures to music, we come to anticipate different patterns in different ways. And while many people have different tastes in music, some people don’t like music at all. This describes up to 5% of the population. Studies have found that people with so-called “specific music anhedonia” don’t demonstrate the same physiological responses to music, including connections between brain activity in the auditory and reward centers.[5]
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Beyond the human world, music has effects on other types of animals. For instance, researchers composed music for tamarins , a tiny species of primate. They found that the tamarins became agitated when they listened to music based on their warning calls and that they calmed down when they heard music similar to their bonding calls.[6] This calming effect of music could be used to help animals, such as dogs in kennels. In fact, a 2020 study examined the use of music therapy in dogs and found that it has promise.[7]
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Clearly, music serves a variety of functions for people and other animals. Researchers continue to study fascinating questions related to music, including which types of music different species of animals prefer, and why some people like music more than others.[8] So, keep listening!
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Music can help treat various symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. For example, listening to music can aid people with Parkinson’s in walking more smoothly, and singing can increase the clarity of their speech.[9]