is classical music really better for your brain than pop/modern music? I often see articles explaining its benefits, but I don’t understand how it’s that different from other genres.

Question

is classical music really better for your brain than pop/modern music? I often see articles explaining its benefits, but I don’t understand how it’s that different from other genres.

In: 6

Answer 1

For one thing, a lot of modern pop music is created or heavily influenced by algorithms and formulas. But that possibly applies to newer classical compositions too…

Also, at some point “classical” music was what was available and there are certainly classical pieces that are pretty pedestrian and definitely not making anyone smarter.

There’s a pretty big gap between something like Chopin and something like Stravinsky, even though they are both brilliant and beautiful. I think classical music achieves the correlation with intelligence and sophistication because the bar is so much higher. For anyone that enjoys music it isn’t a stretch to appreciate and enjoy something like Chopin. However to actually comprehend something like Stravinsky on the level where you can honestly say you are enjoying it? That’s not everyone haha.

Also often the parts of a classical composition that we are most familiar with or may enjoy the most or find the most emotionally fulfilling are sections of a much larger work. I do think that the practice of consuming a relatively long piece of music in it’s entirety in order to access the very moving climaxes is an exercise in restraint and a worthwhile one.