Setting the Mood with Music

One of my favorite things about music is the instantaneous ability to change the mindset of a party or group of friends merely by playing a different artist or style of music. I tend to try to "DJ" with my friends getting together by selecting a song or artist to play for a bit depending on who I am with as well as what we currently are doing at the moment.

For example, I was over at a friend's apartment about a week ago and we were playing poker (1$ buy in for a bunch of chips.... very risky eh?) and I put on some jazz from my Ipod, some Dave Brubek Quartet. Everyone was in a relaxed mood and having a great time not worrying about anything but the two cards in their hands. It was really quite a great time, and I think the main psychological reason this experience was so wonderful for all of us was the jazz.

Another example in my own personal life of how music helps psychologically: when I'm in not quite in the mood to study but I HAVE to study for a test coming up, I put on some classical music (usually Beethoven or the Four Seasons by Vivaldi before for about 15 minutes and check my emails or write a blog-post while listening to something classical. Later, I'll get bored of flipping through facebook and decide to study.

Why? I have made an internal connection between studying and classical music, a psychological relationship that associates that when I hear classical music, I think more clearly and prepare my mind for studying. Anyone can do this, as long as you consistently follow a pattern of studying with the same music. I prefer instrumental music so I can concentrate more on the words I read instead of the words I hear, and I range my study playlist from jazz instrumental like Duke Ellington's Mood Indigo to Mozart Symphonies to instrumental folk rock songs like Nickel Creek's Smoothie Song. I read to songs like Infected Mushroom's Avratz. I myself have made some great instrumental songs that others have said are very good study music. You can find many of them at my iLike Artist page.

Actually, this last semester I took several tests while listening to my study list. Some could say it's cheating but I'm very happy that my psychology teachers understood that I wanted to study in a similar atmosphere as I take the test. It also helps a bunch when there's other people around who get up after 10 minutes and just filled in every answer as "C", and when they get up and make a ruckus, I won't hear it as clearly with my tunes on.

Lyrics and instrumentation can also have a large factor on your mindset. I get so moved emotionally when I hear and pay attention to the lyrics of Uncommon Valor, A Vietnam Story by Jedi Mind Tricks.

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Whatever type of music you prefer to listen to while driving or with a certain group of friends, pay attention next time to how you and the people also listening act and think. If you're tired and have to wake up, put on something loud and fast-paced. Psychology studies have shown that there's a strong correlation between arousal and the beats per minute of a song. (although it also depends on the feel of the song, as a song with a supposed 120 BPM could easily be subdivided into 240 BPM or halved to be 60 BPM.)

Find your own connections and mindsets when you hear songs of a certain genre and style. Use these to control the mood of the people around you, or just to chill by yourself and set yourself up for whatever you're about to do or currently doing. By understanding your body's reaction to certain types of music you can really benefit in the end.

to end this post, here's a link to stream in one of the best college radio stations in the world:
KJHK
I will, by the way, be a DJ every Saturday 8-10am CST) playing a variety of music styles: from hip hop to electronica to jazz and all kinds of rock, and much more.

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Now playing: Pinball Vs. Dj Palon - Wildstyle [Extended Mix]
via FoxyTunes