2024-03-03 10:29:00
Health emotions
Why live music makes you happier than recorded music
Status: 03.03.2024 | Reading time: 2 minutes
Quelle: Getty Images
A rousing concert – everyone knows how thrilling it can be. Researchers have now discovered why this is and why the experience is more fulfilling than listening to the songs on recordings. One effect is crucial for this.
Live music can arouse much stronger emotions than recorded music. The team led by Sascha Frühholz from the Psychological Institute at the University of Zurich has now measured this experimentally. In one attempt The brain activity of 27 study participants was measured while they listened to the same piano pieces live or as a recording. “One of our questions was: Can you achieve more in terms of emotional response with live music than with recorded music?” said Frühholz. “The answer is clear: it works.”
This is mainly because the pianist can react to the behavior of those listening. In the experiment, twelve short pieces of music were played to them – either live by a pianist and a pianist or as a recording. Meanwhile, magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure the test subjects’ reactions in the amygdala, a part of the brain that is involved in the development of emotions.
The result was shown to the musicians in real time. They would have been instructed to change their playing in such a way that the emotions were intensified – for example by changing the volume, tempo, sound quality or hitting more keys.
also read
The experiment showed that there was a much higher and more consistent activity in the amygdala during live music than when listening to recorded music when the musicians were unable to react to the listeners’ well-being.
also read
According to Frühholz, with live music, the pianist or a band receives feedback from the audience, which fires up the musicians and which in turn fires up the audience. His team was now able to measure that.
According to Frühholz, this may be due to the evolutionary roots of music. People have always used tools and instruments to make live music. “People long for the emotional experience of live music,” quoted the University of Frühholz. “We want musicians to take us on an emotional journey with their performance.”
Here you will find content from third parties
In order to display embedded content, your revocable consent to the transmission and processing of personal data is necessary, as the providers of the embedded content require this consent as third party providers [In diesem Zusammenhang können auch Nutzungsprofile (u.a. auf Basis von Cookie-IDs) gebildet und angereichert werden, auch außerhalb des EWR]. By setting the switch to “on”, you agree to this (revocable at any time). This also includes your consent to the transfer of certain personal data to third countries, including the USA, in accordance with Art. 49 (1) (a) GDPR. You can find more information about this. You can revoke your consent at any time using the switch and privacy at the bottom of the page.
According to the BBC, the researchers want to repeat the technically very complex experiment, but with a larger audience and in a concert-like environment.
#Emotions #live #music #happier #tape