Music Can Be the Headliner
It doesn't have to just sit in the wings
When was the last time you watched a movie? Perhaps without even realizing it, you likely moved through different emotional states: empathy, humor, suspense, fear. Now imagine what that movie would have been like if there had been only dialogue, with no accompanying musical soundtrack. Do you think the emotions you felt would have been as strong?
In the history of moviemaking, the age before talking films (a.k.a. "talkies") is commonly known as the "silent era" of film. Yet this is a somewhat misleading description. True enough: these films that did not have dialogue synchronized with the acting on the screen. Yet the actual watching of the movies wasn't a silent encounter; there were usually live musicians in the theater whose performance served to complement the storyline.
(As a side note, if you ever have the chance to watch a movie with a live choir and orchestra, do it. My family attended a showing of one of The Lord of the Rings movies at a beautiful open-air amphitheater accompanied by a live musical performance. It was amazing.)
Using Music Passively and Actively
When the technology evolved to have dialogue recorded along with the acting, music remained an important part of the film experience. With this change, though, the music seemed to become something more absorbed by our subconscious minds, while the dialogue took center stage and was brought to the forefront of our attention.
Carefully chosen background music can move our brain into the proper state for the task at hand, as users of my Spotify playlists have discovered. This is a more passive use of music. Music can also be used actively to help us mentally shift more easily and effectively from one task to the next. These mental shifts are like the baton handoff in a relay race. The handoff can go smoothly, or it can be fumbled badly.
Music for Mental Shifting
For instance, did we just finish a task that took a lot of brain power and now must move on to a physically demanding one? Are we happy about something exciting that just happened, but we just received a call from a friend who is upset? Are we about to start something that we really don't want to do? The right pieces of music can help us make these shifts.
With summer in full swing, many of us have more self-directed time right now: our boss or colleagues may be away, or our schedules are more flexible with our children home from school. During these times, music can help us stay on track. Now's a great time to recall the four elements of music that influence our brains and thus our moods and actions.