Music and the Brain

 Do you listen to music to relax? Music, and especially that of low tempo, can have a positive effect on stress. It has been seen that the stress hormone cortisol is lowered when people listen to music or actively participate in music. The body does this by regulating the parasympathetic nervous system, which reduces the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Especially music performed in group settings such as choir singing, increases the social bonding hormone oxytocin, which acts as a buffer against stress. Also, endorphins and dopamine are increased by music, which can regulate pain perception and well-being. 

 Picture downloaded from Wikimedia Commons (public domain) 

 Harmonies are groups of pitches. For instance, if our auditory systems hear a root note and its major third or perfect fifth, it will remind us of a major chord, which will be pleasant to our ears. This will be a consonant group. If we instead hear the minor second of the root tone, it will feel dissonant, and we will expect it to resolve into a consonant group. Not only the pitch itself, but rhythm and timbre have roles in how these harmonic groups are perceived. Isn’t it intriguing that our brains have expectations of pitches? Are these expectations global? Does dissonance for a Westerner also mean dissonance for someone who is trained in oriental music?