WE ARE ALL MUSICAL BEINGS - SCIENCE HAS PROVEN IT

It always helps to understand a little bit of how the brain and body works. At MindHarp, our firm belief that music is the best antidote to stress, anxiety and burnout is now backed-up by the science. 

We are all pre-programmed to respond to music…

In 2012, professors and researchers at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) discovered the existence of an anatomically distinct "music centre" in the brain (1). Until then, amongst the scientific community, music was considered as a secondary human function and not significant in human evolution. The perception and enjoyment of music was considered a function that relied on many other brain faculties but had no ‘control centre’ of its own (like speech or eyesight). 

When the folks in white coats (1) identified a distinct cluster of neurons that lit up on exposure to music, they were intrigued. Could this be the elusive ‘music centre’? they asked themselves. They then set about repeating the experiment hundreds and hundreds of times. They tested all genres of music and included ‘non-musical’ sounds like any everyday environment noise (cars, things being dropped etc). The findings were consistent and conclusive: 

"It may be Bach, bluegrass, hip-hop, big band, sitar or Julie Andrews. A listener may relish the sampled genre or revile it. No matter. When a musical passage is played, a distinct set of neurons tucked inside a furrow of a listener’s auditory cortex will fire in response" (2).  

Music is an innate function of the brain

So what? you may say, but the implications of this are profound. If the brain has invested in evolving this function then music has a very important function in human evolution and survival. This is an exciting and new area of scientific discovery and exploration and there is no definitive theory as yet. However, prevailing opinion (and a substantive body of evidence from subjects like anthropology) suggests that music plays a vital role in binding human societies. Humans have always collectively worked to music, worshipped with music and relaxed to music. Only in recent decades has listening to music also become a solitary practice. Unquestionably, engagement with music predisposes us to social engagement. Whether solitary or social, music encourages us to move physically and has extraordinary abilities to stimulate positive mood change.

In summary, we are hardwired or pre-programmed to recognise this mysterious but ubiquitous thing called music. When we hear it, we recognise it for what it is. This has nothing to do with preference or ‘liking it’. Preferences for genres of music are culturally formed. That’s why dad’s like ‘dad rock’ and kids like grime.

1 Professors Nancy Kanwisher, Josh H. McDermott and their postdoctoral colleague Sam Norman-Haignere

2 New Ways Into the Brain’s ‘Music Room’; Natalie Angier, New York Times, 08/02/2016