Love of musical harmony is not nature but nurture
We know music makes us happy. But did you know that you can train yourself to appreciate more types of music, thus getting happier? Our love of music and appreciation of musical harmony is learned, as opposed to based on natural ability, says a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General by University of Melbourne researchers.
“Our study shows that musical harmony can be learnt and it is a matter of training the brain to hear the sounds,” says Associate Professor Neil McLachlan, “So if you thought that the music of some exotic culture (or Jazz) sounded like the wailing of cats, it’s simply because you haven’t learnt to listen by their rules.”
While previous theories about how we appreciate music were based on the physical properties of sound, the ear itself, and an innate ability to hear harmony, the new study suggests that we can learn to hear harmony. If music makes us happy, it stands to reason that understanding more music will make us happier!
The researchers tested 66 volunteers with a range of musical training on their ability to hear combinations of notes to determine if they found the combinations familiar or pleasing. Participants needed to be familiar with the sounds created by notes, because “If they couldn’t find the notes, they found the sound dissonant or unpleasant,” McLachlan says.
“This highlights the importance of training the brain to like particular variations of combinations of sounds like those found in jazz or rock.” The question of why some combinations of musical notes are considered pleasant or unpleasant has long been debated, but McLachlan argues “We have shown in this study that for music, beauty is in the brain of the beholder.”
Image: Some rights reserved by Robert Couse-Baker