I’m sure you know that everyone’s taste in music is different. Some people like pop music, while others like rock ’n’ roll and still others enjoy country music. But there are songs, such as Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” that got a huge negative review.
What makes people think it is bad? Is it because of the tremendous amount of auto-tune used, the lyrics or something else?
In music, there are seven notes: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. There are some sharps and flats. A “sharp” is the note between A and B and A “flat” is the note between G and A. There are certain exceptions though such as E sharp, which is F because, technically, there aren’t any notes between E and F and C flat is technically B since there aren’t any notes between B and C. There are certain sounds that sound good to most people. For example, chords in thirds [every third note (i.e. A, C and E) sound good. These notes are called consonants.
Whether humans like consonants because that’s what they’re accustomed to or because it’s what we hear and are told sounds good (nature vs. nurture) is largely debated.
This debate has been going on for a long time. In fact, it has been traced back to Pythagoras. Pythagoras was a philosopher and teacher in ancient Greece who came up with the Pythagorean theorem in math. Pythagoras also theorized about the musical intervals.
If you have ever seen a harp, you might’ve noticed that the string length becomes longer the farther away each is from the person playing. The shorter the string, the higher the note it plays; and the longer it is, the lower the note it plays.
Pythagoras discovered that if a string was cut exactly half its length, the original string would be one octave (eight notes, hence the “oct”) higher. A note that is however many octaves away is the same note, just higher or lower (e.g. if you play a C on a piano and someone tells you to play the note one octave lower, you will move your hand down to the C that is lower than the one you just played). Pythagoras discovered the smaller the length of the string, the higher its pitch. He also believed all the planets made music, but we just couldn’t hear it.
Dissonant sounds are notes that don’t sound good together. This is especially true for notes that are right next to each other such as C and C sharp. Scientists think the reason we label some sounds consonant and others dissonant might be because of how our ears are shaped or maybe the ratios of the frequencies.
We like consonant sounds and don’t like dissonant sounds because, in the western hemisphere, that’s the environment we grew up in. It’s the norm here. In other parts of the world, people found dissonant sounds to be just as pleasurable as consonant sounds. A lot of scientists believe culture plays an important factor in the types of music you like.
It was also found babies stare longer at speakers from which consonant sounds are playing than speakers from which dissonant sounds are playing. Birds also chirp consonant sounds.
Appreciation for a specific genre of music is also developed with the kind of concerts we go to.
For some people, classical music is difficult to comprehend. But once we start taking an interest and go deep into the music, we find solace in it.
Our taste also varies with the wide spectrum of events in our life, musical performances, seasons, colors, lyrics, ability to sing along, etc. Scientists have researched the power of music and how it helps to improve our physical and mental well-being.
Once we find the type of music we resonate well with, we can use it to help improve concentration, patience and perseverance. When I need to complete homework, I usually play instrumental music in the background. This helps me focus longer.
Genetics play a role; although, my dad likes to listen to religious music while my older brother likes to listen to songs that have electrically induced sounds. So, it also has to do with the kind of music and songs we grow up with. What types of music sounds good also depends on the person listening to it. I, personally, don’t like repetitive music but other people might because it makes the song catchier and easier to follow along with.
People say the reason they disliked Rebecca Black’s “Friday” was because it had shallow lyrics and unrelatable concepts (e.g. which seat to take). Maybe the reason people hated it so much was their friends hated it.
Ultimately, your taste in music could be a random mixture of genetics, how you were brought up, and what types of music your friends and family members liked.
Vaageesha Das is a 10th grader at Morgantown High School. Today’s information comes from: https://wired.com/2016/07/neuroscientists-still-dont-know-music-sounds-good/; https://www.vpr.org/post/timeline-002-pythagoras-and-connection-between-music-and-math#stream/0; https://www.quora.com/What-is-so-horrible-about-Rebecca-Blacks-Friday-song
