Music Physiology

“It's sort of stupidly obvious -- of course we feel what others are feeling, at least to some extent. If we didn't, then why would we ever cry at the movies or smile when we heard a love song?”(Byrne). Music has survived since prehistoric times and even though it is unnecessary for human survival, it has always been used to tell a story and communicate emotion. This is because music allows people to express what the composer is feeling while adding on to it with the musicians own feelings of how the song should sound. It can activate certain areas in the brain that can trigger a memory that correlates with what is being expressed through the music. Areas of the brain can also cause people to feel emotion when listening to or playing music.
Physiology can also be altered by music by activating the nervous system and releasing neurotransmitters.
Musical aspects are needed to activate these psychological and physiological changes. One musical aspect that can change them is scales, there are many different types of scales, but the two commonly used ones are major and minor. These scales differ because major scales have notes with sharps, while minor scales have notes with flats. Scales are used in music as key signatures so that a person knows what notes are in the song. Tempo is another thing that can affect how someone is feeling, it is the speed which the song is played at, usually in beats per minute. The last thing is tone this deals with the pitch of a note, making notes sharp, flat, or natural. There are many features in music that make it possible for it to affect the emotional state of a person, but music can also affect people physiologically this is thanks to areas in the brain that can process, receive, and analyze the music's emotional signals because of this new therapies can be made for psychological and physiological
diseases.