Have you noticed a correlation between moods and music? I’d be surprised if you hadn’t by now. Most us and most of the time pick our music based on a mood and it comes almost subconsciously.
A week ago I lied down on a hammock with my arms behind my head rocking back and forth while staring at the clouds dance through the sky as they reflected off a mirror-like pool to my right. There was a breeze circulating and the sun was just out of the way to keep me quite comfortable. For the most part of two months I’ve been battling the cycle of neuroticism; depression of where I’m at, anxiety of how I’m going to make it to the next step, and frustration that I should be letting myself be content and continue working at my goals without beating myself up every time. It sounds like a real party, right? It sure is! I preface this because my music choice on this particular free afternoon, a gift to myself, was that of classical music. I was studying those clouds when a song came on that resonated so much that I had to pick up my phone and see what was playing; it was Symphony No.6 in B Minor, Op.74 “Pathetique” Adagio by Tchaikovsky, Currentzis, & Music Aeterna. A lot of that is mumbo-jumbo to me, to be honest, but I wanted to share the song that provided the impact and became the catalyst to this writing. It was then that I realized how happy and content I was.
You see, when you’re in “The Cycle”, you don’t just “enjoy yourself”; you try to enjoy yourself and sometimes succeed and sometimes fail. But in this moment, it was an effortless acceptance of my life and the pace where I was headed and the work I had accomplished thus far. The elephant sized weight wasn’t hanging around on my chest! Ah the bliss! I swear the breeze never felt better! Once the break was over, I continued to play classical music, more symphonies, and I kept that same mood throughout the following hours even when I went back to work. It clicked in my head how powerful this music was on my brain, so I began to go through my “Recently Played” on Spotify to look at what I listened to when I was feeling certain emotions. There was a blatant correlation. Sometimes I was aware what I was choosing and did so with vigor! But there were also a plethora of moments when the music dictated my emotional outcome. This intrigued me so I sent a series of questions over to a friend that I knew would devote time and answer seriously. I won’t divulge her answers but I will provide the questions.
- What percentage of your day are you listening to something?
- What percentage is podcast/audiobook and what percentage is music?
- Do you often pick one or the other depending on your mood?
- Do you have a genre or specific song/album you go to when you’re in a good mood?
- Do you have a specific genre or song/album you go to when you WANT to be in a good mood?
- Do you try to convince yourself through sound to be happier or do you pick audio based on your current mood without attempting to change it?
She gave me some good answers that I half expected but with a personal twist that I didn’t follow in my own life. I found it fascinating so I did some research on the Psychology of Music and stumbled across an article written on Psychology Today titled “Music’s Power Explained”. In the article they briefly discuss the impacts of music on emotion and how we each have our own way of using music falling into different categories. The three main categories they talk about are:
“With Solace, people listen to music that matches their emotional state, e.g., sad music if they are sad. Individuals who listen to music for solace use that music to feel understood and less alone. For instance, a person with depression might listen to a song about living with the illness and find comfort in it.
With Diversion, people listen to music to distract themselves from their bad mood. This music does not need to match their mental state. For instance, a person who is anxious might sing along to a happy song until the anxiety dissipates.
With Discharge, people listen to music that matches their emotional state to better express that emotion. For instance, a person who is frustrated might sing along to angry music to provide an outlet for that frustration.”
Interestingly enough, they also say men who prefer the Discharge method show higher levels of anxiety and neuroticism; so venting get rid of negativity only enhances the negativity in this situation. Apparently, this is not the same for women. They studied this through brain imaging technique called, functional magnetic resonance imaging. FMRI’s are used to see which part of your brain is operating during certain activities. That being said, they focused on the part of the brain that regulates emotions, the medial prefrontal cortex. From the studies and short synopsis of what was learned, certain listening methods cause different levels of activity of the the medial prefrontal cortex. The more activation, the more work out, so it seems. What they’re saying, and what I’m relaying, is that it becomes easier to regulate your emotions when you often listen to music that activates that part of your brain more often. So the Discharge method shows low activity of the mPFC which only prolongs the emotional turmoil; whereas, methods like the Diversion method show increased activity meaning the person will become regulated easier and quicker.
All in all, we pick our music either by choice or by our subconscious based on our mood, but it’s to our advantage to choose wisely. Music has a stronger hold on our emotions than we may realize.
If you would like to read the article I mentioned: Musics Power Explained