I love all sorts of music and I wonder what that says about me. I trained for many years in Indian classical vocal music, so a beautiful khayal by Pt Jasraj or Ustad Rashid Khan can melt away my stress and actually make me happier. Equally, Queen, Billy Joel, the Beatles or the Doors will energize me. An exquisitely-rendered Mehdi Hassan ghazal will bring me indescribable joy, as will a favourite old Hindi film song. I even enjoy the new music that my children insist I listen to. Does our personality decide what kind of music we like? If so what do our music choices say about our personality? Or is it the other way around?
Your musical tastes have a lot to do with your parents. The music you grew up listening to will likely always have a permanent place in your heart. It is a matter of early exposure and repetition that decides what you will enjoy later in life. That is perhaps why I will never ever tire of listening to Abba, Ghulam Ali, Kishore Kumar, Eagles…this is the music I grew up with.
Research shows that people who are creative, those who require more intellectual stimulation are more open to innovative and experimental musical renditions and enjoy more complex genres. Extroverts and sociable people seem to enjoy upbeat, energetic musical styles.
The reason some songs are our favourite songs could have several reasons: the tune, the beat and arrangement appeal to your senses. It is however more likely that you love a song because it is associated with an important memory or a deep emotional experience. For instance, the song you associate with your first crush will always evoke a certain emotional response from you: joyful, wistful, nostalgic. Some melodies will always trigger certain memories and evoke specific emotional responses. For me, dum maro dum will always remind me of my college cultural festival; Al Stewart will always be about long drives, Jethro Tull’s Heavy Horses and Dire Straits’ On Every Street is about happy times hanging out with friends behind the college gym.
One’s surroundings, including music can impact how much one drinks. Studies have found that high music volumes encourage people to drink faster and more. The type of music playing can even impact how much you spend. For instance, one study was conducted at a flower shop: romantic love songs were seen to impact shoppers in a way that they were inclined to spend more money.
According to those who have studied the phenomenon of personality-impacting musical tastes, people who like soft rock and R&B; mellow music could be low-energy people, inclined towards melancholy. Balanced personality types tend to like a wide variety of musical genres. Mechanically inclined ‘systemisers’ tend to like heavy metal, hard rock. Extroverts are more likely to be able to sing, it was found. Musicaluniverse.org is an ongoing scientific music psychology project where you can take quizzes and receive your scores instantly. It’s quite interesting; I tried it. Apparently I am very extroverted, fairly conscientious and quite open to new experiences based on the music I liked.
Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World always reminds me how beautiful this world of ours is (I defy you not to feel happier and more elated after listening to the song in this video). John Lennon’s Imagine always makes me introspect and think of why there is so much strife in this world. Michael Jackson’s Heal the World makes me want to rush out and plant trees. Even research shows us that music can make us sympathetic to others and promote pro-social, helpful behaviour. For me, music enriches life in so many different ways – life without music is impossible to contemplate.
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