Speaking of the collaboration of neuroscience and art, one can easily
think of the painting of brains and nerves. However, their collaboration is
more prevalent, subtle, and relevant in our lives. “Someone like you” became a
hit song for its sad story behind and its power to touch everyone’s heart.
However, its secret was revealed that its power came from the collaboration of
art and neuroscience. The song contains a musical device called “appoggiatura”,
which is “a type of ornamental note that clashes with the melody just enough to
create a dissonant sound”(Doucleff). It causes a temporary tension that would
resolve after the notes return to the anticipation and thus cause chills to
listeners. The repetition of such chills would cause stronger physiological
reactions like increasing heart rate, sweating, goose bumps and tears.
Also, “Someone like you” is emotionally powerful because of its other
features. First, the opening is soft and repetitive. But when the chorus
starts, the voice jumps up an octave and the volume increases. These features
are prevalent in music that can cause strong emotional reactions. In addition
to the patterns, the sad lyrics also invoke similar memories of listeners to
further emphasize the influence. These features remind me of a Korean song I am
fond of recently. The song “Eyes, Nose, Lips” starts with soft and repetitive
notes and changes into higher notes during the chorus. The first time I listen
to it, without understanding the lyrics, I felt chills and strong emotional
reactions.
The features above are not the only examples of how neuroscientific knowledges
are used in pop music. Korean pop music industry is highly competitive. In
order to bring attention of the listeners, musicians focus on making people
addictive by using repetition in both music and lyrics. According to the
article of Margulis, repetition in music brings more activity in the emotional
regions of our brains. The following K-pop song involves repetitive notes and
lyrics during the chorus and several surprising change in music style, “forcing
the listener to listen again to catch the different parts” (Benjamin).
Doucleff, Michaeleen. “Anatomy of a Tear-Jerker”. February 11, 2012. The
Wall Street Journal. Web. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970203646004577213010291701378
Adele. “Someone Like You”. September 29, 2011. Youtube. Web. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLQl3WQQoQ0
Taeyang. “Eyes, Nose, Lips”. Bigbang. June 2, 2014. Youtube. Web. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwuAPyOImoI
Benjamin, Jeff. “f(x) Solidifies Brand of Quirky, Hipster Pop with “Red
Light” Album”. July 8, 2014. Billboard. Web. http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6150400/f(x)-solidifies-brand-of-quirky-hipster-pop-with-red-light-album-k-pop
F(x). “Red Light”. SMTOWN. July 2, 2014. Youtube. Web. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv-8-EgPEY0
Margulis, Elizabeth Hellmuth.
“One more time”. Aeon Magazine. March 7, 2014/ Web. http://aeon.co/magazine/altered-states/why-we-love-repetition-in-music/
Hi! I really enjoyed reading your post! You had a very interesting point of view and I thought that your examples of how different songs utilizes the connection between neuroscience and art are very unique. I never know that even composing songs involve neuroscience. On a side note, I am a K-Pop fan as well :) Great post and interesting ideas!
ReplyDeleteI loved the way you integrated the way music can manipulate the listeners emotions and by using certain sounds evoke thoughts of sadness, or joy. Another example, the song Happy by Pharrell, the upbeat song is in a major key which tells the brain this is a positive song. When songs have minor chords the music sounds sad. Certain instruments like the violin do this as well! This post was so interesting! I hadn't connected those things!
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