The melodies of the strings, the depth of the piano and the charisma of the flute. The depth of the bass, the clink of the drums and the elongated shrills of the saxophone. The soul of the melody, the energy of the rhythm, and the beauty of music.
Manipal is, without doubt, a musical place, exposed to the 7/8 beats of jazz to the grooves of hip-hop and the solemn tunes of soul. But have we ever stopped to question what music is? Why does it make us feel what we do when we hear? There is a story, an emotion and sometimes a whole spectrum that those frequencies carry with them.
Although the above stated is a well-known fact, scientists were unable to prove the same until just a few years ago. German researchers Bernd and Daniela Willimek have developed what is called the Theory of Musical Equilibration which provides the first viable hypothesis about the emotional effect of chords and at large, music. Expressed in simple terms, their Theory states, for example, that a minor key does not sound sad in and of itself; instead, the person listening to the music identifies with a process of will which conveys the idea, “No more.” Identifying with the content of this will is what fills the minor key with a sense of sorrow.
To date, scientists have been unsuccessful in establishing a direct relation between music and emotions. The Theory of Musical Equilibration, however, explains the emotional impact of music as a general process in which the listener identifies with the content of the will encoded in the music.
To obtain statistical validation of the emotional effects of harmonies, the researchers conducted extensive tests with over 2100 participants from four continents including members of the famous Vienna Boys’ Choir and the Regensburg Cathedral Choir. The tests yielded a strikingly high correlation of 86%, confirming that precise harmonies are preferred over others in specific contexts, a phenomenon defined and explained by the Theory. For greater clarity, let us take the example of the diminished seventh. This key has been linked to the feeling of despair while an augmented chord delivers astonishment.
The Theory of Musical Equilibration (known in the original German as the Strebetendenz-Theorie) is the first to create a psychological paradigm which explains the emotional effects of music. It breaks down musical sequences into one of their most essential components ― harmony. Harmony is essentially music in its concentrated form since within a single moment it can reflect melodic and other musical processes. This theory directly uses harmony as the basis of its argumentation.
Irrespective of what the theory suggests or doesn’t suggest, there remains no doubt that music with or without an external force delivers a story or at least a part of it. Imagine this, a soft piano starts, just simple arpeggios are playing. You can hear a smooth saxophone gliding cresting over the notes of the piano. The elongated notes of the saxophone are complemented by the short but effective strokes of the bass. As the piece crescendos to its peak, all the elements bind into one entity and suddenly drop into a much-needed moment of silence. The silence is not synonymous to emptiness, but much is felt in those moments until the saxophone and piano do the last dance before they exit. Whether that reminds of a jazz bar or a solemn evening out on the patio, it has an emotion, a story.
The beauty of music lies in what it can convey; the message that it gives is what brings people together; in the freedom to interpret the rise and fall of notes in any way the listener feels them. There is no isolation, no limitation, just the story you hear and feel.
Chords & Co. 