Psychology of Music

Lesson #1

     The psychology of music is a straightforward and simple concept. Many of my peers at my high school sometimes ask me how do I portray my mood through my music? Basically they are asking the question how is it I can express with a vocabulary that only consists of twelve notes. My only answer to this is sometimes a hard one for most to grasp. “Discipline is what wins the day,” this is probably one of my favorite quotes, for it was mentioned in the civil war drama Gods and Generals. Discipline is the only answer I can think of.

     I can honestly remember from the time I was a seventh grader until the present, the many times I have been a recluse; many nights rather than going to the movies with friends or girls I committed my time to the study of music. This is what it takes to achieve the expression you look for. There are many components of music that are linked with the psychology of music: scales, phrases, transitions, chord progressions, and key changes.

     For instance, the major scale can portray a chirpy sound with happy emotions, but countering that is the minor scale. The minor scale can convey sad, depressing, or any negative emotion. This is where a musician’s study should start. After reading this blog look up the major and minor scales on YouTube. YouTube is a great tool; the many free videos are great and informative. As you look up these, study not only the scale itself, but think also about the creative aspects you can use for your own melodies you could create. My next post will concentrate more on the major scale itself. All of this may not make perfect sense, these little assignments will start to sink as the lessons go on. Your homework is to study these scales, for the next lessons will begin to isolate the actual study of the major scale.

     With the study of the scales one will begin to see where everything comes from, components such as chord progressions, melodies, and relationships of keys will start to be seen. Not only are there the scales, but modes also and modes can actually mix up the spectrum of notes; changing the whole perception of the crowd. You could have fractions of people that cling differently to the melodies that you create. If you can tell my blog rather than teaching someone how to play songs, the blogs that I write will be isolated on the more creative aspect of music. If you are into creating your own art check out my blog periodically, and you will learn how to express your emotion through music.