How music affects your mood

Photo courtesy Noella Williams

The correlation of listening to music and how it affects your mental health/mood is very close. While discussing specific genres and tempos, it is visible that these are important elements that can affect a person’s mood. Music can be used to make a person feel happy, sad or energetic. While listening, playing or creating music, each song is based on a person’s mood or emotion.

Music also affects one’s mood, via the rhythms and beats per minute. Tallahassee local DJ and producer, Henson Christian, produces content that is a more up-tempo South Florida style.

“When DJ-ing or producing action, you have to pay attention to levels and its stages using BPM not being too high or too low,” Christian said. “When shifting in BPM from one song to the next.make sure each transition in between songs is natural so that the mood of the crowd is not affected.”

Robert Eason, a fourth year music industry student at Florida A&M University, agrees that music can influence its listener’s mood. While learning about music, Eason explains the importance of shuffling a playlist to transition into a song that is similar to the prior to keep the same energy.

According to Psychology Today’s Shahram Heshmat Ph.D.,“Artists use their lyrics that resonate with the listener’s personal experience and can give voice to feelings or experiences that one might not be able to express oneself.”

While creating new music, the artist is using lyrics, beats and other musical elements to have their mood and emotions be reflected through their work to connect with their listeners. Upcoming artist Marquise Taylor, commonly known as Dreshon, describes how an artist’s music is sometimes not targeting a specific mood in the listener, but it may reflect the mood of the artist.

“My music and lyrics that I put out are a representation of me and who I am not only as an artist, but as a person,” Dreshon said.“I want my audience to feel like they know how I am feeling when I am performing and creating my music.”

Music is a universal language and has a variety of effects on a person.Music with a slow tempo may be streamed while studying or relaxing, meanwhile tracks with an upbeat tempo will be popular at a club. No matter the genre, tempo or lyric, it is safe to say music has some type of effect on a person’s mood.