How does music work?

ronthepon · #1 (**permalink**) 06-27-2006

Instrumental music, in particular is pretty wierd in the way it affects us.

Why do only a few combinations of tunes and frequencies seem musical and not others?

Why do we hum a newly heard tune endlessly until it begins to give us a headache?

How is music (instrumental) related to our thinking process?

Has there been any research or theory on the subject?

Tormod · #2 (**permalink**) 06-27-2006

Interesting questions but not sure why you place it in medical science. Music is used in therapy but I think it is more a cultural issue (as in the effect of art on people, creativity, and the social role of art in society).

A lot of research has been done on many things so it would perhaps be a good idea to isolate a few things. Like the humming of tunes, for example - it begs the question: why do people like different types of music? How can people in India like their pop music, while Westerners fall for ours?

There are many reasons why music is important to people, and evidence of music in society is very, very old.

ronthepon · #3 (**permalink**) 06-27-2006

-Officially a mild and embarassed explaination-
I place it in medical science because I thought it's got to do with working of the brain...

Chacmool · #4 (**permalink**) 06-27-2006

Interesting topic! Where would it fit in best? Physics, because of the wave properties of sound? Biology, because of the part the ear plays? Or Social Sciences, because of the cultural significance?

pgrmdave · #5 (**permalink**) 06-27-2006

There's been quite a bit of research done on music, but I don't have access to it. My high school band director is pursuing his doctorate in music education and he used to tell us about all the interesting research that he'd done. A lot of what we find pleasant in music is merely due to culture, for instance, Western culture has 12 notes until it repeats, many asian cultures have more notes, which opens up for more chords, more cadences, and very different sounding music.

Tormod · #6 (**permalink**) 06-27-2006

Maybe we need that music forum after all.

UncleAl · #7 (**permalink**) 06-27-2006

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/week234.html
The mathematics of music including torsors, orbifolds, and Mathieu groups.

ronthepon · #8 (**permalink**) 06-28-2006

That's an excellent link, UncleAl.

InfiniteNow · #9 (**permalink**) 06-29-2006

I remember a professor of mine once making the statement, "We think in terms of sound." He was a cognition professor, so it always stood out to me.

Something about the rhythms and buzzing associated with nerve cells firing. He went so far as to tie in the ideas of alpha and beta waves. Some music just matches a dominant frequency within us I suppose.

We also react differently to music depending on what we are feeling, and will choose different music to correspond with our feelings. Punk rock, classical, dance, jazz... some are good always, while with others one needs to be "in the mood."

Interesting question indeed, Ron.