Music can remind us of our memories from the past. It brings us memories of a band that played that song, a road trip where we played that song, or a mentally difficult time where music helped us pass the time. It also reminds us of smells, sights or feelings. All these influences are referred to as “music-induced thoughts”. Some people say that when they make or listen to music, they feel or imagine shapes, which is really interesting but real.

Kelly Jakubowski and her colleagues have analysed the thoughts of listeners when they listen to unusual types of music: classical, electronic, rock and pop music. This allowed them to compare the independent effects of music type and emotion on reported thoughts, which were indeed intense, a percentage of 76% of the time. However, the occurrence of thoughts changed depending on the type of music. With electronic and classical music, people reported more thoughts than with other genres and almost all listeners said they imagined or felt shapes when listening.

In a project by Dr Helen Daynes, who works at the AHRC Research Centre for Musical Performance as Creative Process, she also analysed data from musicians. The results showed that 90% of musicians reported thinking about form when making music. She also reported some themes that describe the way people think about forms. Some of these are: Form as a tool for expressive performance, which refers to the movement that leads to certain phrases or notes. Building patterns of intensity, volume and texture.

So why do we think about shapes when we listen to or play music?
I suspect it comes from musicians or performers wanting to visualise and highlight certain notes when playing music, which helps them improvise, remember and emphasise the music. Perhaps it has to do with synaesthesia, a phenomenon in which the senses overlap, e.g. when tasting colours or feeling sounds. But imagining shapes while interacting with music happens to many people. So I think it’s caused by a deep feeling for the music and for the musical patterns, which can change depending on the instrument, style and rhythm.

Do you think about shapes when you interact with music? Let me know in the comments below!

Written by Irmak E

Sources:

https://musicpsychology.co.uk/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us