Music is emotional. It can
make a person feel happy or sad, even angry or scared. It triggers these
emotions in all of us differently. One song may make a person feel sorrow,
while another person feels joy from the same song. Humans always respond to
music with emotions. Music initiates this emotion using its melody, lyrics (if
present), dynamics, tone color, and harmonies. Doucleff (2012) of The Wall Street Journal states it best,
“music is most likely to tingle the spine, in short, when it includes surprises
in volume, timber, and harmonic pattern” (Para. 8). Michaeleen Doucleff writes
an article about how Adele’s Someone Like
You makes everyone want to cry because of its surprising changes in sound.
Doucleff goes on to say that
music always creates tension and then a resolution. During these moments,
humans get the chills (Doucleff, 2012). Someone
Like You is a perfect example of doing just this. The song starts with this
slow rhythm in a kind of haunting lower frequency. The timber of Adele’s voice
is very peaceful and soulful. All of this is creating tension and building us
as the listener to the chorus. “When the chorus enters, Adele’s voice jumps up
an octave, and she belts out notes with increasing volume” (Doucleff, 2012,
Para 10). This is the resolution. In the chorus the harmonies also change
creating this intensely dramatic moment. Our reaction to this is simply wow!
Anyone listening to this song can’t help but feel emotion for this story.
A similar song that makes me
feel sadness is A Thousand Years by
Christina Perri. You may know this song from Twilight: Breaking Dawn.
This song is so beautiful in
every way. There is really no other way to say it, but the harmonies are so
pretty. The soft breathy tone in her voice really makes this song for me. When
the guy joins in singing harmonies, everything takes off. After the big moment
on the word more, we are giving a piano solo to calms us down. This is an
example of tension and then resolution. The song as a whole does a wonderful job
at telling this passionate love story with the use of dynamics and timber. It
leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy.
On the contrary, a song that
makes me feel joy is Happy by
Pharrell Williams. This song is also in a movie called Despicable Me.
This song gives off the same
emotion that it is named after. The fast tempo and rhythm of this song just
makes me want to dance. The clapping in the background in certain sections is
also great. It gives the piece so much momentum. Adding to that, the timber of
Pharrell’s voice is perfect. He sings at a higher frequency that makes you feel
good. The whole song is very bright. It reminds me of a beautiful sunny day at
the beach. One can’t help but to feel excitement and happiness.
In conclusion, music is very
powerful. It plays with our emotions as it tells a story that we just can’t
refuse to listen to.
References
DOUCLEFF, M. (2012, February 11).
Anatomy of a tear-jerker. Retrieved April 29, 2015, from http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970203646004577213010291701378
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