“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” – Plato

I have a theory about music, and why the right music touches us so deeply.  To explain, it requires two questions, and is an extension of already well-documented research, but hear me out (pun intended).

Question 1: What determines our musical taste?
Certainly most research suggests that this is conditioned. That is to say, our musical taste is a consequence of the music that we’re exposed to. Further, the research suggests that this is especially true between the ages of 8 and 12. After 12, there are other social factors that play in…such as friend groups that we want to be part of, and so on.

Question 2: Why does the right music seem to cut right to our soul?
In this case, research tells us that when our musical tastes are forming, throughout life but certainly and most importantly in our development years, our brain will “tag” emotionally significant moments and the music we listen to throughout these times. Thereafter, this music will take us back to that emotionally charged moment…to some degree or another.

But the part that I want to add…is a little bit physics and a little bit biology.

When sound waves enter our ear canal, they make our ear drum vibrate. This sets off a chain reaction of events with the bones of our middle ear, the cochlea and the brain. The cochlea converts these sound waves (just compression waves of air) into electrical signals that are passed to the brain.

Side Note: This video is insane. Perhaps you won’t be as fascinated by it, but the complexity of the ear and how it works? I mean, come, on. I don’t know where the intricacy of the universe comes from, but it certainly causes me awe and wonder.

Side Note 2: There is not one single thing to know, that you can’t know, through the inter webs. And ever-increasingly, that you can’t learn through video content. I have the sum total of human knowledge at my fingertips, at all times. Access to which is only governed by the creativeness of my Google search. I mean, come. on.

But again, I digress…

My extension to the theory, is in the phenomenon of the cochlea converting and sending electrical signals to the brain.

I believe that when the music we identify with is converted to electrical signals…those signals impact and spread over our brain as ocean waves impact and spread over the shore.

I believe that these impulses are like massaging hands. The wrong touch, or frequency, and they can cause pain. The right touch, or frequency, and they gently and consistently massage our magnificent grey noodle into an absolutely sublime state.

Think about your shower head. If only one tiny stream of water came out and was directed consistently at your forehead…this might be called water torture.  But when all 100 streams are hitting your face, or body at the same time…it’s a wonderful massage.

Sound waves. Electrical Signals. Brain Massage. Right?

OK…so perhaps not the most profound of contemplations…but I assure you, in my mind this makes perfect sense, and puts me one step closer to infinite connection to the universe. I just have to work on the articulation.

So what’s the damn point?

The point is simply to bow to the incredible power of music.  The unexplainable feeling that comes over us when music engulfs our spirit, and makes us involuntarily close our eyes.

Christopher John Boyle was born July 20, 1964. Son of a pharmacist and an accountant in Seattle, Washington.

He would later change his name to Chris Cornell…and he is absolutely, the greatest male rock vocalist in the history of histories.

Chris Cornell died 2 years ago, today.  And for those who knew his music, and his voice…it is hard to describe.

Sometimes I think the English language struggles to produce the words that can most adequately blend the qualitative with the quantitative. The emotional with the rational. The mental with the spiritual.

But all of these perspectives must be engaged, at least for me, to adequately describe how this man’s voice could penetrate us.

As you’ve seen from my attempt to describe my ‘theory extension’…I am clearly not the man to craft that description. So I will leave that to my friend Mr. Marley.

“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” – Bob Marley

Rest well Mr. Cornell. Know that my sons will hear your voice, especially between the ages of 8 and 12.  🙂

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