What effects does music have on you?

Certain music acts as memory triggers to my mind, triggering memories of where I was and what I saw when I was listening to that song at that moment. Examples:

Some Boards of Canada songs remind me of my holiday in Yorkshire
One or two albums by The Flashbulb remind me of playing multiplayer Stalker
A few Jean Michelle Jarre songs remind me of my Italy art trip in school

Things like that :) Sometimes music makes me want to dance in my own weird way, or sing. Some invoke lonliness, some warmth, some total boredom, others I try and listen to the intricate detail involved in the song like in The Flashbulb’s songs. Some songs I just want to turn up loud or listen to loud through headphones and feel the music flowing. Killing my ear drums, haha.

I don’t know what it is about music that I love but it’s absolutely facinating and I’m always finding new stuff. I can’t just stick to the same old thing for months on end.

I know Sigur Rós do some awesome music and that whenever I listen to my favorite tunes by them I want to go far off into Iceland, away from the world in bleak places (see Heima to understand what I’m talking about, some of those places are beautiful yet bleak, like inside my mind heh).

I absolutely love tunes that start off quite light with little bass or fullness but then explode into a whole flurry of instrumentation and such. Which I guess links in with Sigur Rós and some of the songs by The Flashbulb and why I like their music a lot.

Music creates a flow of emotions of which it is hard to describe individually, but great joy, sorrow, interest and even boredom can flow out of the music I listen to. Or at least flow into me whether it touches others that way I do not know.

For me, like you guys, it evokes images, memories and feelings. Certain music is also very relaxing for me (I fall asleep to music every night). Most of all, I use it as inspiration.

As a graphic designer, I’d be lost for ideas (particularly under deadline) without music.

Music can make me cry—and otherwise I have a difficult time crying… Music has the power to deepen any mood I am in—happy or sad. I study best to classical…I paint best with baroque.I’m a writer and when I want to write dialog about a decade, I’ll put on the music of that decade and it seems to help. I can’t listen to rock n roll without some part of me moving…same with most African music. I love the musical chants of monks…Music is delicious.

I don’t know how other people receive music except hearing in family stories that Thomas Jefferson [mygreatgreatgreatgreat+something] uncle used to stop and play his violin when he hit a block writing the Declaration of Independence.

Music can completely control my mood. Oooohhhhhh! It’s so amazing. In my opinion, other than A1 steak sauce, =) music is the greatest thing ever invented by man!

if you really think about it music controled the way we acted and dressed.

look at the 70s it was beetles and love in the air hippys all around

80s when metal was huge people called it the devils music every body in the 80s had mullets and slot of people wore leather jackets cause it was the thing

Music helps me process emotions. Music can lift my spirits. Music can enhance my feelings of spirituality. Sometimes music is so beautiful that it makes me cry. Music makes me joyful.

As to the last part of you question, here is an excerpt from one article on the topic:

“Modern researchers delving into why and how music affects our minds and bodies have come up with some startling facts. For instance, music creates changes in metabolism, circulation, blood volume, pulse, blood pressure, and our moods. Doris Soibelman, author of Therapeutic and Industrial Uses of Music, claims that nearly every organ in the body responds to music.”

@Randy

Birds were singing long before man ever came around.

Whats believed to be the oldest language in existince is an ancient Indian chant passed from generation to generation. It is theorized that it mimics local bird species.

Marina, yes, that’s it exactly. Music helps me process emotion!

Music affects my motivation, my productivity, my mood, etc….

Right now my head’s still spinning from having watched 20+ acts in the last 2 days, here

Gives me chills, inspires. Makes me dance too.

@Spargett- Good point. So maybe not the best thing invented by man, but the best idea to ever come up.

I was Billy Joel’s play in NYC—Jersey Boy’s—and once when the lights went up a bit, I was THE ONLY ONE bobbin’ me head to the music! How can one just sit still?

Music has the power to transcend the day. Certain passages lift my spirit; the final passages of Beethoven’s Emperor and the second-to-last bridge of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” come readily to mind. Also the “Freedom” solo, Rage Against the Machine, and Coltrane’s “Love Supreme.”
There are many more examples.

music gets me through the day.

It evokes the emotions and feelings that go through me like the elements of life.

It’s deep.