Ever since the early 1920’s, music has been one of the most prominent aspects of pop culture. It can be found everywhere, on the radio, in movies, played in public areas such as shopping malls or restaurants, etc. People are also constantly purchasing music, going to concerts, and creating music on a day to day. There is no avoiding music no matter where you go, especially because music is so readily available to any and every one around the world. This makes music an aspect of everyday culture that has a huge impact on people’s lifestyles. However, along with the development of music and the increasing prevalence of music in society, there has been dispute on whether or not music affects humans in more ways just cultural. Questions begin to emerge; How does it affect a person when they enjoy or hate a song? And on the other hand, why do the same songs have different effects on different people? Music has been proven to cause people to have certain reactions based on evidence that music can influence a person’s mood, physical behavior, or opinions. Although this may be true, it is difficult to determine whether or not these influences affect people on an individual or group basis. Depending on the influence a listener is experiencing, it can trigger a reaction specific to each person. But these reactions can be seen in everyone and vary due to the elements of a song, such as beats per minute, or implemented dynamics, and the context. Music provokes different reactions in every individual through emotional and physical responses brought on by the structure of songs and the situations in which they’re heard. 

Music can make you want to do a number of things, sing, dance, crying, or even workout. This is what is involved in the physical effects that music has on people. Actions like these are generally cause by different parts of a song. Music is generally structured with the following components, lyrics, melodies, and beats and rhythm. These parts of a song have varying physical effects for each individual. For example, a study was done regarding the effect of music associated with the physical activity rates of high school students in gym class. After analyzing the results, it was stated that, “From this study, the data indicate that significant differences were noted between gender and activity type causing that the activities with music to increase steps taken and time in activity. It was found that the activities with music increased steps taken and time in activity for both males and females” (Brewer, Barney, Prusak, Pennington 698-699). This quotation concludes that student activity in gym class significantly increased when exposed to music in both boys and girls. Other physical responses are easier to observe however. For instance, people dancing to music is typically in response to a high BPM, or beats per minute. This is because the music is faster, making dances such as jumping suitable to the style of music. Dancing to music is just another way to experience music. In Jessica Phillips-Silver’s, On the Meaning of Movement in Music, Development and the Brain, she explains that “Scientific studies can test the hypothesis that when we produce or perceive music, auditory and movement systems are not only functioning simultaneously but are integrated so that what we perceive in music is a product of what we hear and feel” (Phillips-Silver 294). She is basically saying that music can be perceived in many ways and dancing is just one of those ways. These perceptions vary from person to person as everyone dances differently to music that they hear. Other than dancing and increased physical activity, facial expression and singing are two other physical responses that are easy to correlate with each individual’s reaction to music. Smiling due to enjoying a song is part of this, as it Is one of the easiest responses to music to see.

Physical responses to music can also correlate with emotions. When observing physical behavior regarding music it is easy to associate it with an emotion. Take a facial expression like frowning for instance, when correlating it with response to music, it can most certainly be because someone does not like a song or the song makes them angry or sad. This is similarly seen in comparison to workout capabilities. In Andrew Lane’s, Effects of musical interventions on emotional states and running performance, he states, “The findings of the present study lend support to the notion that listening to music is an effective emotion regulation strategy for use in running” (Lane, Davis, Davenport 405). The relationship between emotional and physical reactions to music vary by individual due to the possibility for there to be different opinions on a single song. If all people thought of a song or type of music the same way, there would be no variation in dances for different types of music. And dancing, being one of the biggest ways to convey emotion through music as a way of expression, depends on emotion. As stated by Marko Ahtisaari in, Music and Emotion, “In summary, movement, be it in musical or physical form, is one important way of conveying emotions. Thus, people who say that they are moved by music are more right than they realize” (Ahtisaari 2015). Just as much as emotions determine performance or physical responses, emotions play an important role in changing physical factors. In Richard Parncutt’s, The Science & Psychology of Musical Performance: Creative Strategies for Teaching and Learning, he explains that, “The chapter ends by suggesting specific strategies that musicians can use to manage anxiety. These include positive self-talk, mental imagery, goal-setting, relaxation, and performance routines” (Parncutt, McPherson 113-114). Musicians have to utilize emotional tools in order to perform successfully. Emotions can also play a part in the manipulation of physical response to music through an example such as crying. Sad emotions gained from hearing a particular song can be overwhelming and sometimes result in crying. This is common due to the fact that some people listen to sad music in order to cry, but varies as each individual has they’re own idea of what type of music would be capable of making them cry. 

Emotional responses to music are much more complex with an array of components that cause them to be so. There are a number of parts to a song that are responsible for making people feel a certain way. In Psych2Go’s video, Psychology of Music, they exclaim that, “in conclusion music’s effect on your mood is instantaneous and impactful but it's also dependent on your familiarity with what you're listening to, the setting you're in, the level of volume the music is played at especially for songs volume increases and decreases suddenly while it's playing, and the level of concentration you have while listening to it the effect also depends on the genre and how it fits your mood” (Psych2Go 2015). Familiarity is if you have heard a song before, if you know and like a song that is being played, you are more likely to enjoy hearing it. This can also trigger nostalgic feelings. If you had felt a certain way when you first heard a song, hearing it again may recreate those emotions. Setting is self-explanatory, listening to a song alone versus in a crowd at a concert affects emotions because of the differences in energy levels. In Patrik Juslin’s, Emotional Responses to Music, he emphasizes that, “it is becoming increasingly clear that key to an understanding of musical emotions is to describe the complex interplay between the music, the listener, and the situation. Juslin et al. (in press) noted that emotional responses to music occurred in all kinds of locations, partly because the participants were able to bring their favourite music anywhere” (Juslin 2012). This explains even more how much hearing music in a specific place and hearing your own music there can influence emotional effects. Volume is similar to setting, especially at concerts. The louder a song is, the more you’re actually going to be able to really feel the music. Concentration is crucial to effects taken on by music. If someone is not focused on a song, the emotional response will be lessened greatly. These come together to change a person’s mood and shape the way they conceive music. All of these components of a song and what parts affect emotional responses are different for every person because peoples’ preferences are different. For example, some people may prefer quiet music over loud music but may still have the same effects that loud music would have on someone else who preferred loud music. The only part of songs that the video fails to mention is tempo and/or beats per minute. In Lars Rogenmoser’s, Independent component processes underlying emotions during natural music listening, he states that, “there is evidence indicating a certain stability of music-evoked emotional experiences across cultures (Peretz and He´bert, 2000; Trehub, 2003) in response to specific elementary musical structures such as the musical mode (major/ minor) and tempo inducing happiness and sadness” (Rogenmoser, Zollinger, Elmer, Jäncke 1429). He explains that tempo and musical mode can have a large effect on a person’s emotional response to music, regardless of how basic it is. Tempo, or beats per minute, is generally associated with its effect on heart rate. Generally, faster heart rates caused by higher BPMs adopt happier emotional responses whereas slower heart rates and lower BPMs adopt more sad and solemn emotional responses. Finally, music can grant people with useful traits that enhance your way of life. In Emily Lynar’s, The joy of heartfelt music, An examination of emotional and physiological responses, she states that, “Music forms an integral and powerful part of human experience (Trappe, 2012a). Not only can music invoke a large spectrum of emotions, but it can regulate arousal, enhance executive skills and concentration, improve sleep quality, and strengthen social connectedness” (Lynar 2017). So, on top of the effect of emotional influences music has on the human brain, music can also expand the capabilities of peoples’ “neural network”. 

There is some disagreement on whether or not physical and emotional responses to music are individually based or if they are influenced by something else outside of the listeners themselves. The counter argument to individual effects of music is not very popular, but has some good points. These consist of theories of Placebo Effect and social norms. The Placebo theories regarding effects of human responses to music are this, it is believed that when people see others reacting to a certain type of music a certain way that they will follow. However, this counter argument becomes almost invalid when presented music that goes against the grain and is unique. Something such as a classical piece has the potential to be annoying to others who enjoy the modern music that is being created today, but magnificent to an art history major at any university. In Ahtisaari’s, Music and Emotion, he emphasizes that, “emotions are contagious: according to a study, exposure to pictures of facial expressions of emotions activated the same facial muscles needed to produce a similar expression and led to reports of experiencing similar feelings in the observers” (Ahtisaari 2015). But these expressions are what is contagious, these people that are interacting are not sharing the same feeling for music. Even if the people interacting felt the same way about a song, it would be at different levels. Next comes social norms, which is extremely relevant in modern culture. The Placebo theory is that people will only react to music a certain way if it is from a mainstream artist. This is true to an extent, but there is a lot of evidence against it as well. For example, someone who is not a fan of a high grossing artist may feel left out if a lot of other people like a song, but will still not be a fan of theirs. It also goes for their music, people do sometimes buy music just because they know an artist is popular. But what about the less popular artists? If peoples’ responses to music were only effected through this “peer pressure” type situation, then why would they be more of a fan of an artist not many people have heard of? People have their own different tastes in music and therefore have different emotional responses to artists that may not be whats popular at the moment. There is also proof that music affects people differently for different reasons that reside within that individual. In Patrik Juslin’s, Emotional Responses to Music, he explains that, “Still, research has revealed a number of factors in the individual that may potentially affect emotional responses to music, such as the listener's age, gender, personality, musical training, music preference and current mood” (Juslin 2012). The quotation describes that there can be more studies done to prove that different characteristics of a person are responsible for the responses that that person has to certain music. Juslin also talks about how listening styles affect emotional effects in music listeners, he states, “Musical training might lead to less emotional involvement due to increasingly analytic listening suggested that there may be different individual ‘listening styles’” (Juslin 2012). Listening style is one of the things that people use as a counter argument against individual effects of music as well. These arguments are most likely due to the amount of people with similar listening styles, making it seem like music’s effects are inflicted on a group of people rather that individuals. This is flawed as well due to the fact that some listening styles, such as analytical as explained above, are adopted styles of listening rather than that of what was natural for the individual.

Music plays such a large role in everyday life, it is useful to know what aspects of it affect our emotions and how that may impact specific behaviors. Since music is unavoidable, and a huge part of pop culture, awareness of its presence and effect on the individual may be useful to aid if a specific reaction is desired. Emotional responses to music are something that everyone should be aware of because of how relevant they are in everyone’s life whether or not someone is a music lover. This can be implemented when doing daily tasks such as going to the gym or relaxing or doing homework to increase productivity levels. Physical responses may be advantageous to know about in order to be confident in expressing music and utilizing that expression for both your own convenience and knowledge. As time goes on, more should be done to further analyze the effects of music as music itself progresses along with society. Especially since it is thought that music affects the individual based off of traits such as gender and age, this data should be obtained as society continues to allow music to be such a large piece of culture all around the world. Music is universal, and understanding its effects and the importance of them in peoples’ lives should be very important to everyone. 
