When and why do we listen to music

   

When do we listen to music? Today music exists almost everywhere; we listen to music in our car, on our iPod or smart phone with headphones, while we are walking, riding our bike, working, doing our chores, when we go out in a club, etc. But all of these excessive presence of music, does not mean that we’re involved in the process, called ‘listening to music’. And here is where the term art comes. Let’s start from the time we choose to listen to music. Is there a right time to listen to music? There is always a right time for music. But before that we have to make clear that using music as background, when we are doing our activities or as a means of keeping us company, is not exactly ‘listening to music’. So, taking into account this aspect, the answer is yes. And this time is when we choose to listen to music and do only that, either because we want to relax or because we want to cry or even when we want to have an emotional burst. In all these cases music plays the role of a psychologist who knows how to trigger our response to certain events. But in order for this to happen we must be emotionally ready to accept this influence of music; and we can’t be emotionally ready when we wash dishes, when we drive, when we work, because simply, we are not concentrate on music. It doesn’t matter if we are angry, sad or happy. We only have to say to ourselves ‘now I want to listen to music’. Of course, there are many cases where music could have a supportive role on one hand (like listening to music when studying) and on the other, it could also serve as a ‘medicine’ or a kind of treatment (this is exactly what music therapy deals with).

Why? Firstly, music gives us pleasure. In fact, it has been found that music makes ...

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...hese uses of music result in something good for that person, then an attitude is formed, in which music becomes a sort of rule that sets some of the standards, that our social behavior is made of.

Consequently, as you may have concluded so far, we need music, even for a couple of minutes a day, even if we don’t pursue that intentionally, because it is inevitably connected to some of the most important moments – social facts – of our life: e.g. the first song our mother sang to us, the song that was playing in the background during our first kiss or even the song we listened for a last time with our grandpa before he passed away. Remember: there are no absolute rules in all those cases, because the process of listening to music is really complicated. So, the answer to the question ‘Why do I want to listen to music?’ could be: “Because it’s a universal language!”