posted
I noticed an interesting musical phenomenon since I was about 13 or so.
Whenever I listen to music (usually very beat driven electronica) I notice a difference in the tempo, depending on how active my brain is
Hear me out.
Whenever I listen to music after I workout, the tempos and pace of the song, seem slightly slower than usual. (my brain's "sampling rate" is high, so stuff seems slow)
Whenever I listen to music when I'm tired/distracted, the pace seems noticeably faster. (brain sample rate lower, so music skips along quicker)
I'm high on life, nothing else...has anyone else noticed this kind of perceptual change?
posted
If I've worked out seriously, there will be a 5 minute period of "weird clarity," where I will feel deeply calm and almost meditative -- runners high, perhaps. In this period, everything feels different, including music.
In terms of percieved effect, well, sure, the level of excitement your body is on will certainly effect how you percieve events. For instance, they did an experiment where a group of people were told a bit of news, half of whom were given a placebo, and the other half adrenaline.
The adrenaline-given people reacted to happy news with more excitement, and with more anxiety to stressful news.
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posted
I don't have quite the same experience. Ever since I've started to study music seriously, I have worked to develop my sense of pulse. As a result, I have a pretty good idea of what any given tempo is, within about 10 beats per minute. I know some people who can discern variations in tempo as negligible as 1 bpm.
However, it is VERY common for musicians of ALL levels to have a tendency to speed up when the music gets louder, and slow down when the music gets slower. Perhaps this phenomenon is related?
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quote:Originally posted by BandoCommando: However, it is VERY common for musicians of ALL levels to have a tendency to speed up when the music gets louder, and slow down when the music gets slower. Perhaps this phenomenon is related?
posted
That is completely normal - but still cool. The tempo of a beat is all relative to our heartbeat. It creates the context for what we perceive to be fast or slow. (I'm sure it is the same for how much we have going on in our heads, too.) It's not any different from the phenomenon of normally tolerably warm bathwater seeming nigh-scalding because you were out in the snow.
Biorhythms, yo. It's all a circle. Let's makeout.
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