Music and Its Influence

A guest post by Alegra (Anastasia Jesse), translated from Russian.

I've been asking myself one question for a long time: why does music have such a powerful effect on us? Why does one song make us smile, another make us cry, a third take us back to the past, and a fourth suddenly give us the strength to keep going? After all, we're only hearing sounds.

So why can these sounds change our inner state so much? The more I think about it, the more I realize that music is far more than just a melody.

Music knows how to speak to our brains. Our brains are constantly listening, analyzing, and trying to predict what will happen next. When we hear a familiar song, we sometimes already know what the next sound will be, where the chorus begins, and when our favorite part kicks in. And when that expectation matches what we actually hear, we feel pleasure. But if the music takes an unexpected turn and does it beautifully, we can get goosebumps.

It's an amazing thing: we haven't even heard the next sound yet, and our brain is already expecting it. And music knows how to play with that expectation.

Why does music give us goosebumps?

Surely everyone has had a song that literally sent shivers down their spine. Sometimes it happens on a specific note. Sometimes when the chorus kicks in. Sometimes after a pause. And sometimes we can't even explain why.

Because music is linked to the areas of the brain involved in emotion, memory, and the reward system. That's exactly why just a few seconds of a familiar melody can take us back years.

You hear a song and suddenly remember a person. A street. A scent. First love. A conversation. Some evening that ended long ago.

It's as if music opens a door to a place we haven't visited in a long time.

Now imagine someone who stutters.

To me, this is one of the most amazing examples of how closely music is tied to the way the brain works. There are people who stutter severely in ordinary speech, yet when they start to sing, their speech can become much more fluent.

Why? Because singing works differently. When we sing, we already have the rhythm, the melody, the breathing, the length of each sound, and the next note. The brain doesn't have to decide on its own, second by second, when and how to produce the next sound. It's as if music paves the way for speech.

And there's one simple idea I really like here: rhythm can serve as a guide for the brain. It helps synchronize movement, breathing, and the voice. That's exactly why musical rhythm is used by researchers and specialists in certain types of speech and neurological rehabilitation.

This doesn't mean music automatically heals everything. But it shows us something very important: sound can influence not only our mood but also how the brain organizes certain actions.

Does this mean all music is good for us?

No. Music doesn't only calm us down. It can agitate, irritate, heighten anxiety, or bring back unpleasant memories.

But it's not only about the music itself. A lot depends on the person. The same song is happiness for one person. Pain for another. For a third, just sounds.

Our brains link what we hear to our personal experiences. That's why music is so personal.

And what happens to the body?

We often say, "This song calms me down." And that isn't necessarily just a figure of speech.

Music can influence arousal levels, attention, emotional states, and the body's stress response. Fast music can make us move faster. Rhythm can literally compel the body to sync up with it. Slow music can help us relax. And a familiar song can change our mood instantly.

But there's one thing we can't forget: music that's too loud can damage our hearing. So the effect of music isn't only a question of frequencies and pretty theories. Volume and listening time matter, too.

And what about 432 and 440 Hz?

Lately I've been thinking and reading a lot about exactly this. Why do some people say that 432 Hz is a natural frequency and music feels different at it, while others say that 440 Hz is just the usual international standard? The truth here is much more interesting than just an argument about numbers.

440 Hz is the frequency of the note A4 (the A above middle C), the reference pitch used to tune musical instruments. The international standard ISO 16, which sets A4 at 440 Hz, was published in 1975. But 440 Hz was already being used before 1975.

And 432 Hz really does mean tuning the whole system lower. Some people say that music tuned to 432 Hz feels softer, calmer, or deeper. And I think those feelings deserve respect.

But what a person feels is one thing. Scientific proof that 432 Hz has special healing powers is something else entirely. To date, there is no convincing scientific evidence that 440 Hz is a "destructive frequency" or that 432 Hz is a universal healing one.

But that doesn't make the question itself uninteresting. Quite the opposite. Because it makes us look deeper at music.

Perhaps the secret doesn't lie in a single frequency at all? That's the conclusion I'm slowly coming to on my own. The power of a song may not come down to a magic number. It's a combination of everything: frequency, rhythm, melody, harmony, timbre, voice, lyrics, pauses, dynamics, and emotion.

Add a person's own memories to the mix, and the result is a truly unique reaction. And then it becomes clear why one song can become a favorite for millions of people. It doesn't only reach our ears. It reaches our memory, our emotions, and the brain's expectations.

Music can be more than entertainment

We're used to thinking of music as something we put on at a party, at home, in the car, or on the way to work. But if we look deeper, music is with us for almost our whole lives.

A mother sings to her child. People sing together at celebrations. Music plays at weddings. At funerals. In moments of victory. In moments of parting. In moments of loneliness.

It's with us where ordinary words sometimes aren't enough. And that's probably why I'm more and more convinced that music is one of the languages the brain and our emotions use to talk to each other.

We might not know what a note is called. Or know anything about frequencies. Or understand harmony. But our brains still listen. Our bodies still react. And our emotions still respond.

And maybe that's exactly where the real magic of music lies. Not in a single number. Not in a single note. But in the fact that a few sounds, put together by one person in a certain order, can make another person feel something that's impossible to explain in words.