Music's Influence

[WhatTheFunction]

There's a certain "element" I feel when I listen to music. It's usually an over-whelming excitement and passion. I'm very into music and I listen to it as much as I can. Sometimes, I think I'm addicted to it or at least so passionately attached to it that it interferes with other things.

Example: I can't watch videos/clips sometimes because I'd much rather just listen to music.

This isn't really any indication of addiction; I just want to get my love for it across. Okay, so I get into this "zone" when I listen to music. I get heavily into it. I go from just mouthing the words to the song to swaying back and forth and enthusiastically moving my hands and pretending I'm either acting out the words or playing the instruments.

Songs that particularly catch my interest are the ones that are a bit darker. More dramatic, minor-key songs specifically. Not just that, but I really, really, really get into lyrics. If the lyrics are metaphorically/figuratively written and a bit harder to decipher first listen, I'm in love with the song. It's as if the song pulls me both emotionally and engages me in thought.

Weird thing about me and music is that I have to listen to music that I'm in the "mood" for. If I'm feeling really emotional or wanting to expression my emotion through the music I'm listening to, I'll listen to more passionate, energy-driven music. It has to have intricate lyrics, a minor key and heavy instruments.

A genre that I normally really get into besides classical (don't laugh at me) is post hardcore. The whine-like singing mixed with enraged screaming and usually love-driven lyrics are really heavy to me.

I feel energy being moved from the music through my body. It's as if the music is literally coming out of the headphones and surging through to my fingers. For this reason, I usually can't enjoy music fully without some sort of noise-cancelling, over-the-ear headset.

Not that this is any correlation (it might be) but I've been playing viola since I was 9. I think music really gets me to express myself and get in-tune with my own emotions. My favorite composer was Bach mainly because most of the pieces I played by him were written in C-minor/G-minor (my two favorite keys).

Does anyone else feel this way about music? Or this strongly?

 

[Proletar]

WORD.

I'm a guitarist myself. The only thing greater than experiencing great music is to jam with other musicians. (Good ones...)

 

[Hadoblado]

Absolutely. I don't care much for lyrics unless they are very clever, but music is incredibly important to me. I find it difficult to move about in the world without an audio barrier between myself and the other inhabitants of this decrepit rock.

I listen to various metal forms mostly, I have a strong bias for music that is abnormal/alternative.

 

[Lukenji]

I'm addicted to new sorts of music.
I'm bored when I listen to much music of the same kind.
I have a folder in my computer with all ranges of it: Béla Bartók's Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm, Bossa Nova, namely Tom Jobim, some medieval music, modernist composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki and György Ligeti, Dave Brubeck, Heitor Villa-Lobos, minimalist composers such as Wim Mertens, Michael Nyman and Philip Glass, and also Bach and Mahler and Stravinsky and stuff, Bulgarian traditional music and Indonesian gamelan compositions, Astor Piazolla, and then there are the normal ones, like Radiohead and Helloween and Apocalyptica and Greenday and Massive Attack and Gorillaz and so on.

 

[Heisenberg]

I love music, you never find me without my headphones.

A genre that I normally really get into besides classical (don't laugh at me) is post hardcore. The whine-like singing mixed with enraged screaming and usually love-driven lyrics are really heavy to me.

I agree completely, we need to exchange bands sometime

 

[EyeSeeCold]

I resonate somewhat. When I'm in the mood for it, the dynamic and immersive atmospheres of post-metal give the best listening experience. With some metal though I don't listen for the lyrics, when the bands bands have harsh vocals and the words are obscured.

It's interesting that you get that feeling with classical music. Most that I've listened to isn't very energetic or engaging, but then I've come across a few great pieces such as this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bcRCCg01I

 

[Reluctantly]

Without music, I don't think I'd feel very alive. It colors my thoughts and makes my emotions worth having. My other senses can't really do that.

 

[Nott]

One-hundred percent agreement. I often use songs as a 'translator' so my ENFP friend can understand what I'm feeling. I also don't think I would feel much of anything at all without music; it validates and/or helps me classify feelings.

This relationship between INTPs and music begs the question: are INTPs manipulated by music?

 

[Hawkeye]

This may be of interest - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22096764