You Are the Music: How Music Reveals What it Means to be Human (18 page)

Overall, film music by itself can be mildly scary but when embedded in cinematic concrete context it has the power to enhance our sensory experience and to really frighten us; this film/music combination makes something more emotionally engaging than either watching or listening in isolation. The presence of film permits the meaning of the music to be directly interpreted in a similar way by everyone, something that is more variable if we just hear music on its own.
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For example, we can easily confuse a film soundtrack as being romantic instead of dramatic when we are missing the film
context.
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In return, an otherwise neutral visual film scene gets enhanced emotional attention and engagement thanks to the music-related activation of our brain’s limbic system.
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Tears

Film music can be designed to do more than just scare us. It allows us to experience an enhanced wealth of emotions. I tried a recent experiment with this book in mind, where I watched the two films that are guaranteed to make me cry:
The Notebook
and
The Bridges of Madison County
. Both of the key scenes where I tend to break down (if you have seen these films then you know what I am talking about) have no language content, just beautiful music and heart-wrenching visual scenes. So I tried watching them without the music. Nothing: dry eyes. And I tell you something, I am never doing that again. It did not ruin the whole film – just the best part.

This personal experiment and my reaction raise an interesting related question. Why would I want to make myself cry with music? I was not in a particularly low mood on the days that I watched these films and in general I am not a fan of making myself miserable. This question is relevant to the larger question of why we choose to listen to sad music at all.

According to David Huron
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the science behind sad music can be traced back to our brain’s response to sad events in real life, such as heartbreak or the loss of a loved one. When genuine sad events befall us, our brain reacts to tears by releasing neurotransmitters into the brain that will alleviate the gutwrenching emotion. That is why many people report feeling better, or at least numbed from their pain, after a good cry. When we listen to sad music in the absence of a sad trigger event we are creating a kind of ‘pseudo-sadness’ situation within ourselves, effectively tricking our minds into thinking we are terribly sad when in fact nothing is really wrong.

One particular neurotransmitter that may be a target for our ‘pseudo-sadness’ music listening behaviours is prolactin, a brain chemical that is naturally released in response to genuine grief. In the case of music listening, in the words of Huron himself, ‘now you have the prolactin release without the psychic pain. So at the end of the day, you’re actually feeling quite good.’ Sad music in a film has the potential to raise the emotional stakes, stimulating a brain response that has an effect on how we feel when the titles roll.

This theory may explain why I did not enjoy my favourite sad films when I turned the sound down. No music = fewer tears = less cathartic release and not so much of a mental hug. So, I say three cheers for film music writers and their ability to take the emotional impact of the best stories to a higher level.

Meaning

The final role of music in film is to help guide us towards an evaluation of meaning. This goes beyond the emotional meaning as described in the last few sections as music can also inject meaning regarding characterisation, including responses, reactions and intentions of actors.
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These techniques and effects are inherited and adapted from earlier art forms such as opera.

The simplest form of musical meaning in film is the identification of genre, series and characters. Film music is full of ‘leitmotifs’, short repeating musical phrases that reoccur at various times throughout the film. Leitmotifs were famously used by Richard Wagner in his cycle of four operas,
Der Ring des Nibelungen
, with a similar aim of relating the audience to specific characters and situations. Most films nowadays have their own leitmotif, one that is related to the main theme tune, and that reoccurs throughout the action in order to reinforce the character of the individual film or film series (such as in the James Bond or Indiana Jones films, for example).

Film characters can also have their own personal leitmotifs to mark their presence in the story, either physically or in the minds of other characters on the screen. This is sometimes referred to as the musical indicator or ‘mark’. The
Superman
films provide a prime example of this technique. For the audience, the sound of that classical triad-based motif signals to us that the man of steel is on his way and that the chaotic destruction unfolding on the screen will soon be fixed. Similarly, thanks to the use of a simple two-note motif in the
Jaws
films, you don’t need to see a fin in the water to know that trouble is close by.

A film soundtrack can also lead us to understand far more subtle aspects of characterisation. For example, consider
The Artist
, the excellent Oscar-winning silent film starring the talented Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo as George Valentin and Peppy Miller. The vast majority of this film contains no clue as to the feelings or plans of the two main characters other than their facial and body reactions and the incidental music that accompanies the entire film.

In this style of film, the music is an integral part of the action description for the audience, which guides evaluation and predictions for what might happen next. Aspects of these soundtracks help us to understand what is happening and whether we should regard this change of events in a positive or negative way. This is often referred to as the use of
idée fixe
, a technique that probably predates leitmotifs in cinema and which was arguably far more important in the silent film genre. It represents the use of music to reveal hidden or invisible connections between characters (such as hidden passion or antagonism) or to indicate links between different elements in a plot.
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In conclusion, a film soundtrack, something many of us probably hardly notice until it is taken away, has the power to lead us gracefully and gently through the many layers of
narrative, characterisation and plot twists within a film. It can take us to the heights of emotional reaction and reveal the hidden depths of a great story. You know where you are in a film thanks to the music.

Music and sport

For the few, sport and exercise is a career choice but for the majority of us it is a leisure activity that we engage in for fun and/or health benefits. Many of us also choose to watch sport in our free time and can devote our lifelong loyalty to a particular team or sportsperson. Whether as a participant or as a spectator, music plays an important role in sport and exercise in terms of motivation, performance and team spirit.

Get moving!

In the previous chapter I gave examples of how music at different tempi and volumes can change the way we move around commercial spaces such as supermarkets. It should not come as a huge surprise then that music can help us move while we engage in sport. In the case of sport, however, it is usually the individual themselves that seeks out the music to try to help them keep moving.

Most of us expect to hear a certain type of music in the gym, a type of music that we assume is going to somehow assist us with our workout.
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People also spend time designing and updating their own music playlists for workouts. Is all this music really helping?

It is now widely accepted that music can aid exercise effectiveness, which is defined in different ways depending on the exercise but can include measures such as how long someone continues to work out (endurance) or the amount of effort that they exert (strength and power).
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The term used for music in this context is
ergogenic
, which means that it is an external agent that has a measurable impact on performance.
So caffeine is also ergogenic, as are performance-enhancing drugs. How does music have these kinds of effects?

Music works well as a blocker for the signals of mental tiredness and physical exhaustion that your brain receives during exercise. Listening to complex music (as opposed to simpler music) is thought to occupy a significant amount of our limited attention system and may therefore reduce the number of these tiredness messages that get through, or may reduce their effect on our reactions.
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One of the results of this is that we lose track of how hard we have worked or how long we have been exercising. The typical reaction to this situation is to work out for longer; music ‘colours’ our impression of fatigue.
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If the only mechanism at play here is that of blocking out the world and thereby tricking us into working out for longer, then we might ask why music should be any more effective than audio books or podcasts. These options are popular with some people but their usage cannot compare to the vast majority who would prefer music. What is it within music that encourages us to exercise harder, for longer?

In two review articles published in 2012, Costas Karageorghis and David-Lee Priest summarised the research into music and exercise over the last decade, since the introduction of good controls and the use of standardised protocols recognised by sports bodies.
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They identified a multitude of positive music effects on exercise other than a simple draw on our attention: triggering or regulating emotions, altering moods, evoking memories, psycho-physiological arousal, reducing inhibitions, and encouraging rhythmic movement. Music is doing a lot more for your workout than simply occupying your mind.

Pre-exercise music can be a useful way to stimulate arousal levels up to those which are needed for effective exercise. In one memorable experiment, researchers played either the
theme from
Rocky
or silence before sending volunteers out on a 60m dash; the music condition led to faster times and physiological reactions that were consistent with a pre-stimulating agent, including increases in breathing rate and muscle tension.
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Enjoyable music can also boost our confidence before going into an exercise routine, which may then have knock-on positive effects on success.
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During exercise, music can aid movement by acting as a synchronisation partner that in one study lengthened a treadmill-based routine by 15 per cent on average.
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The overall average expected enhancement effect of music on people’s (perceived) effort expenditure in low to moderate exercise is estimated at a reasonable 10 per cent.
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The use of music before and during exercise has also been found to increase strength output as measured by the amount of time people are able to hold a weight out in front of them at arm’s length and shoulder height.

The newest music contributions to the exercise world are programs that adapt themselves to the pace and pattern of the user, using changing rhythms to encourage optimum movement and to ‘reward’ people when they keep up with the pace.
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So far these music programs have found some success with reported motivation and focus but the jury is still out as to whether the music really helps people move to a certain pace or significantly reduces how exhausted they feel.
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One factor that needs to be considered is whether people like the music, since preference for music has been shown to have a measurable effect on important exercise outcomes such as the (perceived) rate of exertion.
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The tempo of music is one of the most crucial aspects that may alter exercise outcomes; this varies little from individual to individual. When it comes to motivation, the music that makes me feel good during exercise relates to my individual preferences and previous associations with the music.
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When it comes to tempo, however, the current advice is that younger adults should be listening to music within the high tempo band of 125–140 beats per minute when engaged in repetitive, aerobic-type activity.
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At the time of writing there is not enough research on older adults to be able to draw a comparable figure.

Conversely, medium tempo music apparently has enhanced effects on our perception of flow and motivation during exercise compared to fast or mixed-up tempos.
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Interestingly, tempo may be less effective when removed from a musical context. When scientists have tried using just drumbeats, they have often found poorer outcomes compared to when those same tempo rhythms are embedded in normal music.
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Gender plays a role in responses to music in exercise as well. There is some evidence that women respond better than men to ‘motivational’ music in exercises such as circuit training, whereas men outperformed women in a condition where they listened to a simple metronome. In fact, the men did as well with the metronome as they did with the motivational music, which suggests a greater reliance on beat within music for pacing, whereas women get an extra boost from music content.
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One notable point about the music and exercise literature is that there are a number of published studies that report insubstantial or null impacts of music on performance. In some areas the number of such publications is significant enough for us to question whether music really has a reliable effect on everyone when it comes to all forms of exercise. However, the potential power of music in well-controlled studies to reduce fatigue and extend/enhance aerobic and strength performance is such that, overall, the findings advocate trying music if you are interested in upping exercise performance.

Athletes

Trained athletes are often seen using music while training and before competing. During the London Olympic Games I watched swimmer after swimmer approach the pool in headphones, only removing them at the last minute before diving into the water. Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie famously requested that Scatman John’s ‘Scatman’ be played before a world record attempt
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while Olympic gold medal-winning shooter Suzy Balogh from Australia is partial to a wide range of music including Jamiroquai’s ‘Canned Heat’ and the
Star Wars
theme before a competition.
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