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When music is more than background noise, we benefit emotionally
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by Kim Painter
Updated August 19, 2022
Background music is everywhere: in grocery stores, dental offices, elevators, homes and cars. It can change our mood, shape our behavior and even influence what we buy. But what happens when music becomes more than an echoey hum as we’re pumping gas or standing in line? What happens when we focus intently on music and really listen?
“Music is powerfully influencing us even when we are not paying close attention,” says Suzanne Hanser, chair emerita of the music therapy department at the Berklee College of Music and incoming president of the International Association for Music & Medicine. “So you can imagine how much bigger the impact can be when we really focus on the music.”
Giving music your full attention, for the length of a song or a whole album, can move you physically and emotionally, kindle memories and help you see the world in new ways, Hanser and other experts say. But in an age of constant streaming, shuffling and sampling, that kind of listening is more challenging, notes Frank Diaz, associate professor of music education at the University of Indiana Bloomington.
“Music listening used to be a special thing,” Diaz says. You would turn on a record player, select an album and pull it out of its sleeve, then set it on the turntable and place the needle “just so,” he says. “Then you sat down in the living room and listened. You couldn’t take it with you.”
Portable, plentiful music is not a bad thing. But when we don’t slow down and immerse ourselves in the world (and in music), “we lose a lot of the texture of our experiences,” Diaz says.
Go to Music and Brain Health to learn more about how music can trigger memories, improve your mood and more.
There’s no wrong way to listen to music, says Hanser, who contributed to a report on music and the brain for the Global Council on Brain Health. You don’t need noise-canceling headphones or a special chair. You can do it in the shower or on a walk. You can dance or hum or sing along — or just sit quietly. “Everyone listens in their own way,” she says. But here are some ideas for a deeper listening experience.
• “Effects of music learning and piano practice on cognitive function, mood and quality of life in older adults,” Frontiers in Psychology, November 2013. This study evaluated the effects of group piano lessons on thinking ability, coordination, and emotions in 29 men and women, ages 60 to 84. Participants couldn’t read music or play an instrument before the study. Thirteen people took the piano class, while 16 participated in other leisure activities. All of the participants exercised. After four months, the piano group showed improved emotional well-being, including less distress and fatigue, than the normal activities group. It’s important to note that this was a small study, and the groups weren’t randomly assigned, so the results may have been influenced by the type of people who took the piano classes. Read the full study.
• “Mindfulness, attention, and flow during music listening: An empirical investigation,” Psychology of Music, September 2011. This study looked at the effects of mindfulness meditation on attention and response to music in a group of 132 music students from a university in the southeastern United States. The students were divided into four groups. Two groups that included 69 students practiced a mindfulness meditation technique, coupled with either a subjective evaluation of the music called an aesthetic response or a total absorption in the music called a flow response. The other two groups practiced either an aesthetic response or a flow response, but no meditation. Most of the students who practiced mindfulness meditation reported that it improved their ability to focus on the music without distraction. Read a summary of the study. (A fee is required to access the full study.)