Why do we like music? Why do we like performing music? Why is pop music popular?

The book I have been basing my last couple blogs on, titled This is Your Brain on Music, was written by professor Daniel Levitin of McGill University. The other day, he gave a very interesting presentation on the topic of music cognition. I attended this lecture and took copious notes. Below I will highlight some amazing points he addressed about why we like music.

For one thing, in many of my posts I have referenced the fact that our brains are always trying to determine what will come next when we listen to music. Levitin explained that one reason we like music so much is that since we are always trying to subconsciously "guess" what will come next, we are constantly being rewarded when we guess correctly. Yet when we guess incorrectly, often what ends up resulting in the music is something even better or more exciting than we predicted, so we still get the sense of gratification.

The area of our brain that is mostly responsible for this musical anticipation is called Brodmann Area- 47 located in the prefrontal cortex. Melodies and chords tend to have a "trajectory that composers both use and verge away from " (Levitin). As I just explained, either way we get still get that sense of reward. The primary area of the brain responsible for giving us this pleasurable rewarding feeling is the nucleus accumbens and its mediation of the chemical dopamine.

That's the nitty-gritty of it. Yet there are other practical applications as to why we like music. We associate certain music, with certain memories and certain emotions (good or bad). As Levitin noted, the areas of the brain that process vibrato on the violin are the same areas that process a person crying. Hence, violin music is often associated with sadness.

Some people get a particular pleasure out of performing with other people. Levitin amusingly mentioned that the chemical Oxytocin is released in people's brains when they are singing together. This is the same chemical that is released when people are experiencing sexual pleasure. Levitin pointed out that the chemical composition of the brain when you're singing in a choir is similar to that of when you are undergoing sexual gratification.

Finally, Levitin talked about how "pop" music earns its title. Why is pop music popular? More generally, why do so many people like X genre of music so much?

In this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I, you can see how many of the current songs out there that everybody knows use the exact same four chords in the same pattern: I-V-vi-IV. Thinking about what was said earlier about rewards, why do you think people like all these different songs if they all use the same chord progession??

Levitin comically noted that when a person touches you in the same place over and over again it becomes an irritant. Yet, when they touch you in different places, you tend to like it. All 'references' aside, this fact applies very directly to music. In all of the pop songs in the video above, the chord progression is the same. So our brain gets a sense of reward from accurately  being able to "predict" what chord will sound next given that common pattern we're used to. Yet, each song has its own variations in melody, lyrics, and rhythm. So that aspect of each song is something new to us. The combination of the brain both being able to predict what is happening while also being happily surprised by something new results in great chemical reward. Hence, people tend to like pop music, making it "popular". Even if you don't like pop music (perhaps you prefer theater or classical), the above explanation can really be applied to any genre. The big idea is that music is combination of what we expect and what we are surprised by. This is a very "happy"- happy medium
for the brain.

In response to the question "Why do people like some genres more than others?", Levitin joked: "Why do some people like spicy foods while others can't stand spice?" This is an area that is still being researched which does not currently have a sound scientific explanation.