Why Does Music Make Me Cry?

I have spent the last week finding out how music can effect your emotions so easily, I myself listen to music for the majority of my day and I listen to different music depending on my mood that I either want or have. Most of the time on my way to college I will listen to upbeat music so I can gain energy for the day, and then in contrast when I’m at home after a long day I will play slow jazz music. However, I’ve always wondered why music plays such a huge part in our culture. 

Music is a way of expressing emotions for the artist as a coping mechanism or to capture the emotion in a moment so it can be remembered. As humans we love to empathise and understand each other, and through music we are allowed to listen and learn from the artists emotions or even relate to them. It comes naturally to us to want to feel the artists portrayal of their emotions because of what we do in everyday life which is spending our time talking to people and adapting ourselves around others. Another aspect of being human is relying on others, it is something everyone does even if they don’t feel they do and one thing I noticed when listening to music is that I rely on music just like I do people to help me cheer up from a bad mood, or to help me cry and release inner tension.

I find it interesting in context with music from different countries such as Samba, African and Jazz and with the idea of people understanding each other whilst not even being able to speak each others languages, is amazing! Through music we can convey emotions and also appreciate each others cultures. Overall, leading back to my point of music being a way of humans understanding each other.

If we go back to my starting point talking about how emotions are provoked by music, after research I found out that, this happens to everyone whether you go form an upbeat song immediately to a sad song it is scientifically proven for music to be able to activate areas of the brain which are associated with emotion. These parts of the brain that link to the pleasure of listening to music are called the limbic system that transmit dopamine. You know the chills you can get from music? That is controlled by dopaminergic pathway in which you experience physiological sensations such as hairs raising up on your arms that go hand in hand with highly emotional experiences.

Across this week, I’ve learnt that music is not only something to sing or dance to but it is a use of expression between people and cultures, so that we can do what we love which is understanding people and alongside all this communication, a chemical reaction happens in your brain to trigger immense emotional experiences.