Music as a Journey
By Stephanie Wang
Music is often referred to as healing for the soul, and it is one of my biggest art passions. From sitting at my keyboard to enacting a one-woman-no-audience concert, I love music. Sometimes, the different combinations of melodies and harmonies wrap around my ears like a blanket and tell me that everything will be okay. Other times, the beats are pounding at me to get up and dance. Since COVID-19 and quarantine occurred, life has become quite a bit more stressful. I've found music to be very comforting because the lyrics, melodies, and all the other intricacies of a piece are somehow able to do what I sometimes cannot - express my emotions.
Harvard Health has an article that explains how the music you choose to listen to can influence your emotions because of how music interacts with our brain. Psychology Today explains that the enjoyment of music is processed in the same region our brain processes other things that bring us joy. From the musical aspect, the simplest explanation for this reaction is due to the musical modes in a piece of music. At its most basic form, happy music is often referred to as being in a major scale, while sad, slow music is often found in a minor scale.
A study performed at the University of Toronto, Mississauga also found that a listener's moods are able to change based on "their perceptions of the emotions conveyed by the music." This study used happiness cues based on the major or minor scales of music while also including variables on the rhythmic levels of music consisting of fast or slow beats. Faster rhythms were associated with more happiness cues while slower beats corresponded to more sadness ratings. This certainly explains why WALK THE MOON's “Shut up and Dance” always makes me do exactly what the title suggests - it has a major key and a fast beat!
Additionally, Stanford conducted a study that reported how rhythm impacts our brain. Stronger or slower beats stimulate different types of brainwaves that can influence our mood. According to the University of Nevada, Reno, the most relaxing music sits at about 60 beats per minute. In fact, beats per minute even influences our heart rate by increasing or slowing down depending on the music listened to.
Ever wonder why “Stayin' Alive” is often taught to be hummed when performing CPR? It's because the song has a tempo of 103 beats per minute, which is within the American Heart Association's guidelines to have CPR performed around 100 - 120 compressions per minute. Compressing to this beat, or any song with a tempo within that range, will help keep blood flowing to the brain and the heart while providing enough time for the heart chambers to refill.
Since music has always been dear to me, I'm sharing that love of music in the form of curated, and potentially themed, playlists. Here's a playlist featuring contemporary instrumental pieces that each have the power to take me on a journey.
_______________________________________________
Stephanie Wang is a post-baccalaureate pre-medical student at the University of Vermont, and an Art from the Heart volunteer. Follow her on her journey to medical school as a career changer here.









