Why does music have such a hold over us

Music is interpreted by a basal part of our brain. It appeals to the primal brain without being sent to the higher functioning parts. It is like a direct link to our deepest brain functions and is able to stimulate without needing conscious thought. It’s pretty cool! Certain beats and tones are hypnotic because they hijack brain function at a primal level. That’s why ancient cultures used drum beats and chanting to get people entranced in order to control them.
 
Music is interpreted by a basal part of our brain. It appeals to the primal brain without being sent to the higher functioning parts. It is like a direct link to our deepest brain functions and is able to stimulate without needing conscious thought. It’s pretty cool! Certain beats and tones are hypnotic because they hijack brain function at a primal level. That’s why ancient cultures used drum beats and chanting to get people entranced in order to control them.
Drum beats and chanting isn't music. It's just "drum beats and chanting". Enter rap.
Because music is the speach of angels.

Because music soothes savage beast.

Because at night our soul enters the ocean of light and sound.
What about the beast that's not savage?
 
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Depends on.music taste. I prefeer live sessions including thode recorded live. Studio albums are "perfect" but sound cold for me. Recorded live session from Joaquín Sabina and Joan Manuel Serrat are my prefeered.
I really don't think it's a matter of taste. We all recognize music for what it is. We may have preferences but we know it's 'music' when we hear it. Demograhpics dictate what we're going to like in general. The fact these organized sounds are appealing has some science behind it imo. Even though the number of "melodies" may be infinite as current monotonic afficionados will trumpet, the actually 'appealing' ones have already been discovered being quite limited. However those that have been discovered are numerous enough that one does not have enough time to hear each one just once in a lifetime. So discovering 'new music' is a matter of the 'past', imo.
But I digress. It seems to me the appealing ones are mathematically synchronous to our sense of logic. If it flows smoothly it sounds good. But as accompanying complexity diminishes as with current examples, so does the appeal.
 
For most of us, music may appeal intrisically, for others, it appeals socially, as it gives a sense of belonging and a sense of identity. The latter, apply most to adolescents and young adults. If one studies the last decades of music history, one definitely notices that the social belonging characteristic of music has quite some power on the psych.
 
Depends.... some noises, such as rap, make me want to puke.

But most music brings me joy.

Why, who knows? It just does.

Like Sibelius's Finlandia, Beethoven's 2nd, most waltzes, a lot of New Wave, tangos, pasodobles, Rick James, some of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies (*), etc., want me to get up and dance because they make me happy and they got a good beat.

Then you got stuff that reminds one of home. The sound of Catalan sardanas is at best, interesting, but to me, La Santa Espina and others remind me of my early youth. And I get homesick of sorts. That's why we tend to like stuff like National Anthems because in many way they define what and who we are.

The Eagles remind me of my current home. I'm happy.

Then you got music I really know, Zappa, that I find very fun.

Chopin's nocturnes make me think of staying at home, in front of a fireplace, while it's cold and rainy outside. Happy and yet sad. Most classical piano sounds like that to me.

Jazz piano likewise I find very harmonious. I dig it more than the saxophone.

Plus you got those really good rock riffs.. Led Zeppelin, Keith Richards, 10,000 Maniacs, etc... amongst many, that are masters of melodies and riffs and hooks that are natural progressions that we, in the Western World, understand and appreciate...

As the article noted, as youth we all "learn" sounds that make thing agreeable, and stuff we don't agree.

Examples: To me, Japanese music is just one song with different lyrics; Chinese music is atonal noise; Philip Glass is nails on a chalkboard.

And, let's not forget... reproduced music just sounds better with a bit of 2nd order distortion and a blue LED.

(*) Right now I got Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. Go on, play it... tell me you don't want to get up and dance and just enjoy being alive!
 
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“They don’t give a damn, about any trumpet playin’ band…. It ain’t what they call ‘Rock and Roll’”.

And they called rock “noise” at one time. Now we have rap, hip-hop, and “I cant sing without my electronics” artists.

Now Sultans of Swing will be playing in my head all day.
 
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This will soothe the soul.
2021-05-02 04.16.18.jpg
 
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