Music & Happiness-Latham Crihfield

           What’s something you do that makes you happy?  Taking a walk in a park?  Going bungee jumping and skydiving?  Taking long road trips across country?  Or maybe something simpler like reading a book or sitting on your back porch smoking a cigar?  Sometimes, the little things in life can make a person happy.  I myself have a few activities that make me happy; taking a walk around the neighborhood and having a conversation with close friends are some of them.  My favorite thing, however, is listening to music.  I find that it helps relax my well-being.  Whether I’m listening to artists like Fall Out Boy, The Rolling Stones, Metallica, or even Maroon 5, the music always takes my mind off of any troubles that I’ve had and soothes my soul.

            There is a relationship between music and happiness.  In fact, neurological studies show that our brains are “hardwired to interpret and react emotionally to a piece of music.”  When you listen to “happy” songs, you feel a sense of joy and light-heartedness (i.e. “Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin).  By that logic, someone could easily argue that if someone were to listen to sad or angry music, that person would become depressed or upset in response.  That argument is untrue however.  I know plenty of people who listen to hardcore bands on a daily basis and even go to those types of concerts regularly, yet they’re as happy as can be.  The late Chris Cornell once said:

“I've always liked depressing music because a lot of times, listening to it when you're down can actually make you feel less depressed. Also, even though a person may have problems with depression, sometimes you can actually be kind of comfortable in that space because you know how to operate within it.”

            A study at the Deakin University in Victoria conducted 1,000 interviews on random citizens in Australia in order to analyze if there is a connection between music and happiness.  As a result, they discovered that people who engage in music by dancing and attending concerts are reported to have “a higher level of subjective well-being.”  People who attend concerts are more active and connected to music, allowing them to express themselves.  But this alone does not mean that you have to attend a concert and dance in order to be happier.  Accordingly, the average age of the people in the survey conducted was around 56 years old, and the musical entertainment was mostly classical and theater musicals.  Not everyone wants to dance at a concert; they would rather sit at the back or front row and enjoy the music being played.  Or maybe they’d rather sit in the pews of the Ryman Auditorium while listening to a country band.  The point is that you don’t have to physically engage in music in order to enjoy it.

            Frederic Nietzsche once wrote, “Without music, life would be a mistake.”  This coming from a man who actively fought physical pain just to go for a walk and be happy! 

But he was right; music certainly does have an active role in life, including happiness.  Even if you’ve had an absolutely horrible day, like getting fired from a job or your car gets totaled in a car accident, music can help bring your mental and emotional state up.  You can dance, tap your foot, head bang, or do nothing at all while listening to music.  You can listen to your favorite songs however you want as long as it makes you happy.  One of my philosophies is to always do what makes you happy, and I think we all can agree that music is certainly one of the doorways in the pursuit of happiness.

Comments:

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Reference Sources:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/17/health/music-concerts-dancing-study-trnd/index.html

https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/music-and-happiness2.htm