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How does music affect us emotionally? Why do minor chords so sad? In this episode of The Psych Files I explore ideas from Daniel Leviton’s fascinating book, Your Brain on Music, especially those ideas concerned with what composers do to draw you into their music by first conforming to your musical expectations and then carefully confounding them in order to surprise and delight. I talk with guitarist and composer David Temple to get his perspective on this process as well. Along the way you’ll hear excerpts from some fascinating pieces of music and David and I will discuss what makes them so compelling, especially those in the minor key. My My piano playing skills are pretty rough but get ready for some fun.
Resources for the Psychology of Music
- Daniel Levitin’s excellent book is a great read for those interested in psychology and music:
- Thanks so much to guitarist and composer David Temple. The pieces of music you heard in today’s episode can be purchased from David Temple’s website:
- You can email David at davitem AT yahoo DOT com and he will give you more info about how to purchase his CDs.
- Here’s the book I used to learn music theory and to play piano:
- Excellent article that appeared in Cognitive Daily called, "Even isolated cultures understand emotions conveyed by Western music".
- Great article that appeared in the July 2009 edition of Scientific American Mind entitled "Why Music Moves Us".
- Another interesting article on how music affects us from Scientific American Mind called "Music in Your Head"
- Here’s a more academically-oriented book on the topic of music and expectations:
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you so much for your podcasts. I have been listening to your ‘casts for months and each one is more fascinating than the previous one. This on was extremely enlightening. I thank you for the intro to music theory, and your knowledge of your field..
Thanks again, and if you like, check out my blog and leave me your feedback..
Great episode Michael. I used to be in an a cappella group in college and musicals in high school, it was interesting to hear some of the psychology behind the phenomenon. You mentioned in episode 100 that you are a fan of the TED talks. Have you seen this one? It’s with Dan Ellsey, a man with severe cerebral palsy, who uses technology to compose — and conduct — his own music. The music starts 17:30 into the clip, but the story behind the music is fascinating. I used to spend my summers working at a camp for mentally and physically disabled adults, and Dan was one of my favorite campers.
Another cool (briefer) clip is from the World Science Festival, where Bobby McFerrin (of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” fame) gets the audience to automatically fill in the pentatonic scale. It really is hard-wired into the brain (at least into the brains of Westerners).
David, I hadn’t seen that TED talk by Dan Ellsey – very interesting. Thanks for the link. I did see the video of Bobby McFerrin – really fun video. I saw it just before recording this episode and thought about finding a way to work it in, but I had too much other stuff. If anyone hasn’t seen it, then absolutely take a look. It’s great the way it shows how much innate musical understanding we all have – even if we haven’t had music lessons. Thanks David. -Michael