Music?

[cnfsdnlostinside]

I am having a bit of trouble even starting this thread, because i can't quite decide what it is i am questioning.
1) There are so many different genres of music, probably at least one genre to match each social "click."
2)Certain types of music or sounds will produce a certain effect on ones mind, whether it be an emotion or an idea or what ever.
3) Even animals (at least my few pets) seem to have a taste for music; when the piano is played, I have known two cats (neither from the same household) to come out of hiding to be near the instrument.

I suppose my question is why do the sound waves produced from various instruments (and other electrical devices) have any effect at all on organisms? I am not supposing that plants grow better when exposed to classical or baroke music or anything of that sort. There is just something appealing or even alluring about music. I am sure that "creative expression/interpretation" is nowhere included in pirimitive behaviours/instincts, and now i find myself at a baracade preventing any sort of formable thoughts. Any sort of guidance or other opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[Turtle]

___I recall reading studies which claim to show that indeed plants do respond to music; they did less well with heavy metal than classical.
___Regarding humans, I think it has to do with entrainment wherin the music entrains the brainwaves. From there it's a matter of which brain frequencies associate with what mood/activity, a broadly studied topic on its own.

[pgrmdave]

Actually, what we find appealing in music is simply what we are used to, and that is not painful to our ears. It is a cultural response more than anything else.

[orbsycli]

it's the full spectrum of our hearing flourishing all around us with rhythm! A rhythm we can feel, one that flows right though us. it's taking things we relate to, and turning it into this beautiful self-expression of everything we've ever known.
i wish i knew why scientifically living things are stimulated by music, i just know from my observations, so can't help you there.
the 2 sides of your brain act differently to music too.
one side just hears it, the other listens. breaks it down, figures it out. or something like that.
i could ramble for hours.

[niviene]

Originally Posted by orbsycli

i wish i knew why scientifically living things are stimulated by music, i just know from my observations, so can't help you there.

...are you saying you're not living?

[orbsycli]

no i was saying i don't know much science behind music. i guess you could consider engineering music, and the mathematics behind it science, but i was refering more to the biological sorts.

[niviene]

Originally Posted by orbsycli

no i was saying i don't know much science behind music. i guess you could consider engineering music, and the mathematics behind it science, but i was refering more to the biological sorts.

I know... I was being a smart ass. Sometimes I can't help myself. Although, this is something I wonder about, too... I wonder if certain sound wave frequencies make us feel better. I'm sure there has been a study on this somewhere....

[orbsycli]

yeah. there has been many! i've experimented with it myself.
whether it's flying down the road at 100 mph with only 1 back window open and such low frequencies are generated they can actually impair your driving skills, or sitting inside of my audio laboratory with 18kHz sine waves destroying my peace...or even a good song! just a simple melody, it all affects us.