how can music without lyrics invokes emotions and feelings in us such as joy, fear, sadness and etc?
In: Biology
Have you ever heard someone say something in a language you don’t speak but still understood how they felt?
Think of music as the language your emotions speak. [Your brain even processes music using the same area it processes language.](https://www.insidescience.org/video/why-does-music-make-us-emotional)
I’m not an expert in this stuff but I have a musical background and I listen to a lot of music that has no vocals.
There is a song by a band called Caspian called ‘Gone in Bloom and Bough”. It’s a 10 minute long post rock song and all I can say is that when I first heard it I cried. It’s almost like cinematic music.
I think it comes down to the notes and key they use obviously, but the tempo and melodies too. That song evokes everything for me, and I think in general the lack of vocals in a song allow you to really make your own mind up about the subject matter. You create the story.
Again, I’m no expert, but that’s my take. Obviously dance tracks are built to get you moving and happy, but sombre songs allow you to project your own take
Music has different meaning in different cultures. In this way, it is like a language that you learn. For example, “Da-nunt, Da-nunt” means shark attack or danger. (I’m referring to the music from Jaws.)
Other musical meanings are rooted in tradition. Funeral music makes us sad, because it reminds us of funerals.
So, once you have learned the meaning of common musical progressions, you hear the meaning in the music. (Musical progression are notes played in a certain order together.). What is interesting is that like a language, the meaning varies between cultures. It also varies by your personal experience.
It is often surprising for people to learn the music has meaning, because the lyrics match the mood of the music. But musicians do that on purpose, so you don’t really think about it. You can look on the internet and find many examples of people mismatching lyrics and musical progression meaning. It can be very unsettling. Another example is that the musical key used for a song may be associated with an emotion. You can sing a song in a different key and it will just seem wrong somehow.
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