Many people in this world feel a deep connection with music, whether it be the lyrics, rhythm or a memory the listener associates with a song. A part of our brain called the ‘hypothalamus’ is responsible for producing chemicals which help us to perform certain actions and regulate important organs such as body temperature. Music is very similar to this as it alters our brain function causing our behaviour to adjust according to the importance or feeling we associate with a specific song; hence music being used as an escape by many people. Music relaxes the mind explaining why it is widely used during meditation or during studying. Everyone’s music taste is unique as different people have a connection with different genres of music; it is therefore important to remember that music is subjective. It is heavily influenced by personal feelings, tastes or the opinion of the listener therefore classifying music as ‘better’ or ‘worse’ can cause conflict.
Having similar music taste to other people can help you to connect especially at gigs or concerts as finding individuals who connect to the same music as you may be difficult. Also, music improves the individual’s health as concluded by a study conducted from Harvard stating music may bring about a decrease in blood pressure after an intense physical workout. However, having a connection with a specific genre of music does not mean that you will always connect to that genre; music has many genres’ meaning it is extremely common for people to develop an emotional connection with a different category in music later on in their life or a mix of both. During difficult times, music can act as an emotional support as it may be an escape from reality; at other times, we may associate music with negative memories in our lives which forces us to avoid listening to what used to provide us comfort.
For centuries, in many cultures’ music has been used as a reason to gather and to celebrate. Music is culturally diverse therefore can help us to enhance our learning of different countries: for example, Classical music has been extremely popular in India for many centuries.
