Music & Noise: What is the difference

Ritesh Bawri

09 Jan 2025 — 2 min read

Have you listened to music recently? The Beatles, Mozart or Dizzy Gillespie? If you have, did you ever wonder why music sounds, well like music to your ears?

Is our brain inherently build to appreciate music or is this an acquired skill?

How does this ability affect not just the way we listen to music, but also the way we interact with other people?

I am simplifying, but music is played at different frequencies. Frequency of sound in this case. So, musicians play the key A at 55 Hz and the key at 98 Hz, for example. You appreciate the sound when it is harmonic or rhythmic.

But what made you appreciate it?

For starters, exposure. I love listening to music of all genres. Classical western, Rock, Jazz, Afrikaans, French. The list is long. I have Lp’s from the 1900s that I collected for free as a student in Michigan.

So my children have grown up listening to all kinds of music. It started with wheels on the bus, but quickly developed to Jazz and Rock.

So the more you expose yourself, the more you will appreciate music.

But you may ask, why does this matter?

When you listen to classical music, for example, the pathways through which our brain processes the information are similar to the one we use for spatial reasoning. You are priming your brain to think better.

Music is also more complex than a person speaking. So scientists believe that it is a form of primitive listening where we had to pay attention to multiple sounds from our environment to protect and preserve.

Music directly affects the autonomous nervous system. Your heart rate can go up or down, depending on what you are hearing.

So how can you use this for your benefit?

First, understand the effect that the sounds that you listen to have a direct bearing on the way you think and the way your body behaves.

Next, modulate what you listen to and ensure that it has a positive effect on you. Sound matters more than you might have thought.

Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain

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