Music is probably in every person’s life in some shape or form. Whether you listen, play, or maybe even compose, it’s one of the art forms many people enjoy. 66% of Americans say they learned to play a musical instrument throughout their lives, and even if they don’t anymore, the appreciation for music most likely is still there.
Today, we’re dedicating a post to some funny memes about music. It’s our tribute to music enthusiasts, artists, singers, composers, prodigies, and struggling students alike. So scroll down and let the music flow with the memes from the Best Music Memes Instagram page!
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Ah, music. Whether you’re listening to it in your bed at night before sleep, when you’re working to concentrate, or with another 1,000 people in a crazy loud gig, it moves us. It relaxes us, inspires us, soothes our souls like poetry, and helps us connect to the world and people around us.
We probably know why we like music, but what exactly happens to our nervous system when we listen to (or are making) it? Well, it gets our blood flowing to our limbic system which processes emotions and controls our memory. When our ears perceive music, the limbic system “lights up.” Dopamine then triggers the sensations of pleasure and well-being.
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Interestingly, we don’t even need to be able to recognize the rhythm and melody of a song. Studies of people who have suffered brain damage show that people can recognize the emotion conveyed by a piece of music without distinguishing its melody.
Have you ever wondered why women listen to music while they’re in labor? And why do some family members choose to say goodbye to their loved ones while music plays in the background? It’s because music has some pain-relieving qualities. It’s not a pain killer, of course, but it’s a good distraction.
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However, music might have some physical effects on our bodies too. What is music, after all? Vibrations. Currently, researchers are looking into whether vibroacoustic therapy can help those who have Parkinson’s, fibromyalgia, and depression. They apply low-frequency vibrations to the body, as Lee Bartel, PhD, a music professor at the University of Toronto, describes it as “sitting on a subwoofer.”
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Music is also a wonderful means to reduce stress. One study even found that music can be more effective in reducing anxiety before surgery than prescription drugs. Daniel J. Levitin, PhD, author of that study and book “This is Your Brain on Music”, claims that listening to and playing music can improve the body’s immune system.
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Levitin and colleagues found that when we listen to or play music, our bodies produce more of the antibody immunoglobulin A and the natural cells that attack viruses. This can make our immune system stronger. Also, music reduces the levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, in our bodies, helping us relax.
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However, not all people can enjoy the wonders of music. Musical anhedonia is a condition where people feel apathy to music, they’re simply not moved by it at all. Only roughly 3-5% of the population has it, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with them. Their auditory and reward regions don’t “light up” in response to hearing or making music.
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On the other side of the spectrum, there are hyper-hedonics. These are people who say they wouldn’t be able to live without music. In their brains, the strongest transfer of information happens between the auditory and reward systems of the brain. One of such people is Paul Silvia, a psychology professor at the University of Carolina at Greensboro. “I hear music in my mind a lot, and I can get chills from this imagined music,” he told The Atlantic.
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The chills Silvia is describing have an official name: frisson. Researchers from USC found that more than 50% of people get feelings like shivers, a lump in their throat, or goosebumps when they listen to music. While scientists are not entirely sure what causes us to experience the shivers, they have a few theories.
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One theory is that listening to music releases dopamine into our brains. The sudden rush of dopamine supposedly causes us to have a physiological reaction as well, making us feel goosebumps. Other scientists say it’s the emotional connection we might feel to a piece of music. However, one study has found that it’s more about people’s openness to experiences.
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“It’s the cognitive components of ‘Openness to Experience’ – such as making mental predictions about how the music is going to unfold or engaging in musical imagery (a way of processing music that combines listening with daydreaming) – that are associated with frisson to a greater degree than the emotional components,” one of the authors of the study, Mitchell Colver, claims.
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