Like, if you’re sad and you listen to sad music, what does mood tend towards as a result of the emotional interplay with the music? Does it alter the expression of the current or previous mood to some end or what exzctly do you think is happening?
Does it actually change the mood or create a sort of emotional chord progression that tends towards resolution or creating a new emotional tonic?
I think, sometimes there are emotions that “need” to be acknowledged for what they are. When we attempt to ignore them, it only creates an emotional dissonance.
Like, if we are struggling with depression, and our emotional “background music” is a sad song in a minor key, but we try to fight it by playing happy music in a major key… Maybe one song can drown out the other, and become the new background? But more likely, we’ll just end up with dissonance. The happy song we are trying to listen to will just make us feel uncomfortable as a result.
But if we listen to a sad song instead, it can resonate with, harmonize with, the emotional “background music” playing in our subconscious. The emotion itself wants to be heard and acknowledged, and by listening to a song that the emotion can synchronize with, we can help resolve the emotions as the song itself resolves.
(There’s limits to that, of course - for most things, healing happens gradually in layers, so it’s not like one song solves all problems, or anything like that.)
On the flip side, there was one time I was in a casual group setting, there was a big crowd of people all having various conversations, and I started playing a musical instrument softly in the background. I noticed that the song had a rather big impact on the emotional current of the group as a whole, people started speaking with a little more energy, a little more pep, a little more happiness… and when the song ended, that emotional zest faded away from the group as well.
So, context is important.
It’s a tough question to answer. Generally I just prefer “sad” music no matter what my mood is, but I can’t deny feeling happy every time I hear Van Halen - Panama. I wouldn’t say sad music makes me sad in the same way.
I also think it’s hard to put a lot of music into emotional categories. Sometimes it’s not obvious, or it checks multiple boxes, or has a different meaning depending when you listen to it in life.
If I listen to upbeat music it definitely boosts my mood. But, I feel the reverse is a little more complicated.
When I listen to sad music and I’m feeling down, I honestly feel something different. Maybe not happiness, but contentment, because of shared experience.
A shared experience of pain or hardship with that artist that gives a different kind of fulfillment through understanding.
