Why We Love Music
Who said that "a single sound tone is not really pleasurable by itself, but sounds organized over time are amazingly powerful"?
Valorie Salimpoor (2015)
According to Ed Large at the University of Connecticut, what kind of performance lights up pleasure centers, unlike a mechanical or “bland” performance of the same piece?
A dynamic performance (dynamic variations)
What is melody?
The “catchy tune” or main musical idea you can grab onto
What type of evidence includes surviving instruments and artifacts?
Archaeology
Around what year do the first written texts appear in Egypt?
3400 BC
What brain chemical is commonly released as a biological response to pleasure while listening to music?
Dopamine
According to Large, what do musical rhythms directly affect in the listener?
Brain rhythms (or brain waves)
What is harmony?
Multiple tones or musical lines that move in tandem to form a chord progression
What type of evidence includes paintings, carvings, mosaics, and sculptures that show how instruments were held and ensembles were arranged?
Iconography
Which Egyptian metal rattle is linked to Hathor, associated with love and beauty?
The sistrum
When we hear unfamiliar music, what do our memory circuits search for?
Recognizable patterns, so we can predict where the music is leading
What happens to people’s brain rhythms when they experience music as a group?
The rhythms synchronize, producing a shared emotional experience. (syncronicity)
What is rhythm?
How long notes are held, when they stop, and when to place moments of silence
After about what date do philosophical, religious, and literary writings about music become abundant?
2000-3000 BC
Which Egyptian chordophone was often played by women, over the shoulder or placed on the floor?
The arched harp
What kind of response does recalling a familiar tune produce, rather than simply a memory?
An emotional response. A meaningful memory.
If listeners’ brainwave patterns sync up during a performance, does that mean they all like the music?
No. Preferences still differ; not everyone releases dopamine for every piece.
What is John Cage’s 1952 piece in which the performers do not play their instruments for four minutes and thirty-three seconds?
4'33"
What do scholars call modern performances that combine archaeology, ethnomusicology, and informed speculation to recreate ancient music?
Modern scholarly performance practice (or reconstructed performance)
Around what date did the Egyptian empire fall?
1000 BC
Which two brain regions are labeled on the lecture diagram about music and pleasure?
The caudate nucleus and the nucleus accumbens
How young are children who already experience connections with the music around them?
As young as 8 months old
Which two pieces did we listen to when asking what it means for music to be “good” in class?
John Williams’s Flying Theme from E.T. (1982) and Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise (1995)
Name two of the surviving ancient instrument types mentioned in our 3rd module slides.
lyres, auloi, reed/bone flutes, bells, and ocarinas, more
Which exceptionally old Egyptian woodwindwas featured in one of our lecture videos?
The reed (or bone) flute