Music has become a significant part of everyday life. Be it any Music, rock, classic, regional, joyous or sad, it makes us feel alive. Music tends to make us understand our emotions in a way we couldn’t do ourselves. The ability of music to further imitate our emotions since its birth is mainly talked about by those who creatively serve it to the world in a new manner every time. It’s not just adults who feel the emotions through music but so do children. Children’s rhymes and cheerful jingles help them grow their sensory system early on. Music’s impact on us can be defined in a single line that is to the soul.’ It primarily impacts the mood and well-being of people.
Many studies support the theory that music makes us feel our emotions profoundly and significantly impacts our brains. Music helps lift moods and fruitfully release hormones responsible for a joyful mood. Music releases the same hormone dopamine, which makes us feel pleasure from sex and drugs. This leads to more and more of it getting the dopamine rush. Songs tend to make us feel intense emotion, be it when singing karaoke songs or at the time of movies, like who doesn’t have an embarrassing story of crying at some sentimental scene of a movie due to its background score.
The vibe of music possesses us to think imaginatively and creatively. Generation Z and millennials still nurture the old classics, showing that there is no gap of age or even language as Citizens of almost every country love Kpop. Almost millions of reactionary videos to Hindi songs are available on YouTube. This shows no barrier could keep music lovers apart as music always finds a way to bridge the gap. Music has shown to be a friend to introverts or people who find it difficult to socialize. Music is a crucial element or a contributing friend even for people suffering from mental health illnesses and mental breakdowns. There have been songs that reflect the same ordeal as the sufferer’s, thus making them relate to every lyric and beat of it.
As the above example states, music plays a significant role in transforming people’s emotions. Music compositions of legends like AR Rahman and Amit Trivedi have touched the hearts of billions of people and gracefully drove a legacy of persistent blissful music that would stay for generations to come. They beautifully immortalized emotions, feelings, and musical compositions and drastically changed the era of music in the most beautiful way possible.
Music helps in understanding ourselves, our mood, and our feelings. Music is so relatable to human nature that sometimes we might not express or understand ourselves, but music helps us. It helps us understand our thinking pattern, our thought process, and our mood reflects directly to the song’s feel. A song can immediately turn our mood at every beat. One way a person can do so is by singing songs. If they’re too shy, they can try karaoke online and vibe to the upbeat song that could release the hormone responsible for pleasure, dopamine. Most schools or clubs and even reality shows organize singing competitions as a fun activity as it helps in developing a sound and blissful experience for youngsters.
For many, music acts as a background score in their lives. Although there is no concrete evidence that music has an important impact on our well-being, studies have shown that music does help in lifting our moods. The essence of which is felt by billions of people while music companies make billions out of them. As a music lover, one cannot help but spend most of the day listening to beautiful melodies, vibe along, and doing multi-tasks. Music contains a sense of optimism and spreads positivity to all its lovers. Fast tempos could help arouse physiological and psychological senses and help gain a sense of enthusiasm.
Music doesn’t just imitate current emotions but also brings up memories. We tend to connect an emotion to our memory. It is a possibility that we unintentionally do the same with music. When we listen to a song or music, we often feel a sense of emotion. If we listened to that same song again, we could feel the same emotion in the memory. This sense of feeling the same emotions again can also be derived by not just listening to songs but also by singing karaoke songs.
Music at an individual level certainly helps us discover and find a sense of peace with ourselves. Collectively and socially, enjoying music with friends, family, or out at karaoke nights can make us feel a sense of belonging. We may find some meaningful and deep patterns in music. Music undoubtedly satisfies the mind, but it also triggers unpleasant memories and emotions. Although the entire article focuses on how it makes us feel good, some negative emotions can be triggered through songs, mostly the sad ones. Music surpasses all cultures and connects those miles apart. It beautifully resides in every part of our world. Music is in nature, in the sea, in the woods, in almost every existing being. Music has kept the world alive and keeps the peace surviving in a fast-paced world. In a nutshell, music is your best friend since it makes you feel better and confident and helps handle your emotions better.
Music reduces impulsivity, but why does it do so? Music reduces our impulsivity because it makes us feel calm by engaging in rhythmic sounds and repetitive music. Keeping the neocortex part of our brain engaged creates a peaceful ambiance for a clearer mind. Music is not just used to keep oneself engaged but also used as a form of therapy by professional therapists. The lyrics make them talk about resilience, self-worth, and strength, providing an engaging structure and opportunity and developing a therapeutic relationship. Musical therapies are designed to invoke certain feelings or emotions that the patients may not feel otherwise or feel excessive. With the help of music therapies, these feelings are understood and felt.
Music has evolved over the centuries from being just a cultural significance to a theme and life in itself. By definition given by the professor of music, Gordon Epperson, music is the art combined with vocals or instruments to produce a form of beauty of emotional expression. Research states that remains of ancient humans or early proto-humans could produce sounds similar to music that could be dated back to almost eight hundred thousand years ago! Although the sounds they produced were from their mouth in different pitches. It wasn’t until the Late Pleistocene era that instruments came into existence or two hundred and fifty thousand years ago. During such a pre-developing phase of civilization, proto-humans were developing habits of social interaction and physical needs of warmth, food, and sleep that made music fun and interactive part of their social lifestyle.
Even after thousands of years of development, people in the early late industrialization period found music as the status of the class hierarchy. The elite preferred to listen to Jazz and Opera. The people in different cultures or societies of the world adapted to music in the ways or values it added to their culture. Music added value to traditional and societal functions, events, or rituals. Piano, Violin, Harp were given the same status level as Jazz. Indian classical music was given more value in cultural form than that of status. Music is a prominent part of our culture in the Indian context; it also holds a great value in preaching god with its divine songs and rhythms that connect deeply with the soul. The songs sung to preach are often soothing and soulful, letting the mind connect to the body while setting the soul free. The Hindi and Sanskrit shlokas are aligned to create perfect rhythmic beauty and a calming melody.
With time, Hindi songs have evolved from being a total culture norm to expressing emotions depicted in the movies. Music in movies was used solely to depict strong emotions and support the visuals to give its audience a sense of reliability and connection. The ambiance that music creates in a movie is equally prominent to the essence of artistic films. However, today this essence has shifted to making trendsetting music and content. This has become what one can call the selling point of the music industry. Such music is not something that the audience appreciates for the long run or finds soothing but which the audience uses as trends and then gets bored of it in a short duration. Although this may not be applicable to all, Music genres such as rap and EDM are much appreciated by the audience and are often therapeutic by some people.
Many thoroughly enjoy music, and so has been the case for centuries. It has served as a cultural, social, traditional, and new therapeutic symbol for humans. Music is what we humans enjoy in isolation and during social interaction. No one can displace the significance that music beholds in human life.
With the history of music and the beautiful transition to a therapeutic melody and relatable lyrics, the world also witnessed the rise and evolution of karaoke songs. Karaoke comes from a Japanese word meaning ’empty orchestra.’ For more than five decades, karaoke has been a favorite for millions. However, karaoke was first witnessed in America through an NBC program that asked the audience to sing along with the lyrics visible on screen. However, the first machine was introduced in Japan in 1971. However, it wasn’t until 1985 that karaoke spread widely across Asia and became a significant part of nightlife and clubbing.
Karaoke with digitalization could be seen rising to new heights as online karaoke has become super famous among generation z and millennials. By bringing karaoke online in this newfound age of digitalization, convenience has been brought to people at the touch of their thumbs. Today, Indian music is reaching new heights. Many online platforms and karaoke services at cafes have opened, giving the underrated music a chance to blow up.
Music platforms such as Spotify have made it possible for indie artists in India to explore the masses. Singers such as Anuv Jain have undoubtedly become famous among the new generations. However, many young individuals listen to old and gold Hindi music classics on new platforms. This has acted on bridging the age gap and has been a significant factor in curbing the mainstream popularity of singers by giving opportunities to the underrated ones. Music has been the steadfast supporter in the stories of many individuals; everyone has a story or an incident in their life where music played a significant role and acted as a true friend. People with mental illness always look for a friend in music; this is visible in their playlists. Every song depicts a hidden story they wanted to tell someone. People have made this possible now; they have begun sharing their stories with their loved ones through their playlists.
Music not only makes us feel amazing, but it makes us feel confident, feel like our stories are being told and heard. Music gives our real-life a feel of reel life with a perfect background to fit every emotion, mood, and event. Music is therapeutic for most of us. It’s our 2 am friend and go-to buddy. We don’t know what this world would look like without music, and maybe we don’t want to know. Because a world without music will also be a world without life, without connection and a friend, and it doesn’t sound like a world we would want to be a part of, let alone live.
