Music and Emotions

When one hears music, one feels emotion. Emotion influences the way
a person would act. It could also nurture virtue in him, or set a path towards
vices. As Aristotle explained in his book, “Problemata”, music and emotions
are alike as they’re both movements that move us. Music, just like emotion, is
a principle of movement on a sense level. Another thing is that, aside from their
similarity, music imitates emotion in a way that a person would listen to a kind
of music according to his feelings, so that the music will move him. Aristotle
describes this as how different musical modes and different rhythms induce
different kinds of emotions.

I can attest to those philosophies as I am a musician myself. Whenever

I play my bass guitar, those low notes make me want to move my body, and
oftentimes I do. The rhythm and note placement sets a groove that anyone can
dance to. When I create a song, the first thing I do is think of a certain mode
(e.g. Mixolydian) to set the mood of the song, just as Aristotle described on
how different modes can produce different emotions. Another example that’s
related to the same philosophy is the song called Fade to Black by Metallica.
It’s in the key of B minor (with Aeolian as the mode). The theme of its lyrics is
about hitting a very low point in life, and the feeling of despair. From the lyrics
alone, one can tell that it’s a sad song but it wouldn’t be obvious if the key is in
C major (it would sound happy).