The Real Reason We Are Attached to the Music of Our Youth
Remember when you were kids, and your
parents would get excited or emotional when the favorite songs of their
youth would come on? It may have seemed funny then, but surely you can
relate to that sentiment today when you have a family of your own.
Discovering new music has become easier and more accessible than ever
before, with apps like Spotify and Apple Music. We literally have the
entire musical world at our fingertips. And yet, scrolling through the
options trying to decide what to listen to, most of us will opt for old
time favorites.
You may think, ‘well, why risk spending
time on something that I don’t enjoy?’ and you’d be right, but there is
more to it than that. Apparently, there is a psychological reason for
our desire to seek comfort in the familiar. Read on to find out why
listening to new music is actually difficult for the brain and why it
can make us feel uneasy or even angry.
Why our brains reject new melodies
When the brain receives new information, in this case, a song, it is
stored in the long-term memory. The next time you hear the same melody,
your brain will be able to match the sound pattern to what it already
knows. Recognizing patterns allows us to predict and expect what is
coming. In other words, when our brain recognizes new patterns it adapts
accordingly, which is what makes humans the intelligent beings that
they are.
When it comes to hearing music, a network
of nerves in the auditory cortex called the corticofugal network helps
catalog the different patterns of music. When a specific sound maps onto
a pattern, our brains release a corresponding amount of dopamine, the
main chemical source of some of our most intense emotions. This is the
essential reason why music triggers such powerful emotional reactions.
In his book, ‘Proust Was a Neuroscientist, the neuroscience lab worker
and author Jonah Lehrer explained how the essential joy of music works.
As the chords progress, our brain realizes this is a known pattern, and
gradually releases just the right amount of dopamine, so it spikes more
and more without going off the charts. But when we hear something that
hasn’t yet been mapped onto the brain, the corticofugal network is
confused, so to speak, and too much dopamine is released as a response.
When there is no clear map or pattern to anchor to, music can register
as unpleasant. “If the dopamine neurons can’t correlate their firing
with outside events,” Lehrer writes, “the brain is unable to make cogent
associations.”
The most infamous debut of new innovative
music
One anecdote that proves this theory is the story of one of the most
controversial musical debuts in history - Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of
Spring. The orchestral ballet was first performed at the Théâtre des
Champs-Élysées in Paris in 1913.
As soon as the show started, the audience
felt that this wasn’t what they expected. The Rite began with a solo
bassoon so high in its register, that the sound ended up sounding alien
and strange. The performance continued in the same fashion, the
harmonies and rhythms were too difficult to follow. Soon, the crowd
started laughing, then jeering and shouting, some people reportedly even
threw vegetables. 40 people simply left the theater in the middle, and
needless to say the reviews ripped The Rite to shreds.
But after that chaotic evening, the ballet continued running in the
theater for many months. Subsequent performances were packed, and at
each one, the opposition lessened. Eventually, these shows ended with
‘vigorous applause’ and Stravinsky was even adored for his creation.
Our brains are wired to reject the unknown. That is why we experience
pleasure when driving through our hometown, for example, and why we are
so attached to the tunes of our youth. While the act of listening to new
music is hard, it is necessary from time to time, to stimulate and
literally challenge our brains.