

of schema) are “stock musical phrases” (Gjerdingen 2007, p. The concert schema will be different for different cultures (as is music), and for people of different ages. For example, we’ve been to a Concert we have a general notion - a schema - of what is common to concerts. Schemas inform a host of day-to-day interactions we have with the world. Margulis’s model describes three distinct types of listener reactions, each derived from listener-experienced tension:Īn important way that our brain deals with standard situations is that it extracts those elements that are common to multiple situations and creates a framework within which to place them this framework is called a schema. Listeners familiar with Western music will have a strong expectation to hear or provide one more note. If the ascending musical partial octave “do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-…” is heard. The thrills we experience from music are the result of having our expectations artfully manipulated. Horses neighing, xylophones, and instruments of unidentifiable origins have appeared in their songs, and, King Gizzard always manage to wrangle killer tunes. It’s never clear from the outset exactly which path they’ll explore or what sounds they’ll plop into the mix along the way. The Melbourne psych-rock septet have fed the past 50 years of rock history through a paper shredder and seamlessly taped the strands back together in intriguing new patterns. Music is organized sound, but the organization has to involve some element of the unexpected or it is emotionally flat and robotic. The appreciation we have for music is related to our ability to learn the underlying structure of the music we like-the equivalent to grammar in spoken or signed languages-and to be able to make predictions about what will come next. So, as Loretta Graziano Breuning says, “to make you happy, music must be at the sweet spot of novelty and familiarity.” We’ll put it a bit differently: stop playing that song on the repeat! You’ll start hating it in few days. And this doesn’t get you dopamine either. However, when it is too familiar, your brain predicts what happens next effortlessly. When it is somewhat familiar - you feel as if you want to tap your feet.

If the music is unfamiliar, you don’t get the chemical. And it’s simple: each correct prediction triggers dopamine. Music gives pleasure because your mind keeps predicting what comes next,” writes Loretta Graziano Breuning. How Your Favorite Song Starts to Irritate You
