MUS 1751 Chapter : Music Appreciation 1751
Document Summary
Why do we listen to music: gives us pleasure, affects our minds and bodies, intensifies and deepens our feelings, heightens the emotional experience of events. Listening to music---a physical reaction to a disturbance in our environment. A sound machine creates a vibration; it creates sound waves; processed by the inner ear; converted into electrical signals; transported by the neurons; primary auditory cortex in the center of the brain; increased dopamine= mood enhancement. Musical sounds tend to be regular in their vibration. Acoustics remain the same but the means of capturing and preserving sound have been constantly evolving. Up until 900 a. d. most music was passed down orally. At around this time the benedictine monks began to find ways to notate their religious chants. Around 1250 more popular styles of music began to be notated. As the centuries went by, the written works or scores became more elaborate with tempo (how fast) markings and dynamic (how loud or soft) markings.
