The Central Role of Music in Our Life

Abstract

This essay considers the central role of music in human life and the open questions it raises about how the brain perceives and responds to music. The author notes that music is consumed intensively in daily and ritual activities, even among remote tribes, yet people respond very differently to various music types, and the molecular processes underlying feelings such as pleasure, sadness or anxiety, as well as the brain’s categorization of music as good or bad, remain unclear. Drawing on published research, the essay reports that music perception activates almost the entire brain, particularly the limbic system, and describes chemical effectors associated with listening to music, including dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, endorphins, GABA, cortisol, norepinephrine and adrenaline. It outlines positive effects of music on mood, health, learning, memory and social bonding, its therapeutic potential in conditions such as dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, autism, ADHD and DCD, and negative effects such as irritation, stress and depressive feelings under certain circumstances. The author then recounts a personal recovery from apathy and low mood, following the Corona pandemic and war in the Middle East, through listening to Dvořák’s ninth symphony, and compares orchestras playing Beethoven’s sixth symphony, concluding that the pleasure of listening to classical music can intensify by watching young, perfect players enjoying their performance under a passionate conductor.

Abstract prepared by the editorial office from the full text of the article; the authors did not supply one.