While walking around Verona High School, it is not uncommon to see teens connected to their headphones. Have you ever wondered what they are listening to? Fetty Wap? Avicii? Luke Bryan? Who knows, but depending on what they are listening to, it may correlate with their emotions.

A lot of the student athletes at VHS have a playlist they listen to before games.  Senior football player, Mark Riggio said, “ The captains picked a lot of the songs on the playlist.  We usually listen to it before practice or games to get pumped up.”  

“When I drive around I listen to all types of music.  It all depends on what I’m in the mood for.  If it’s raining, I tend to listen to sadder songs and if I’m going DTS[down the shore], I’ll listen to country,” says senior Brielle Nesto.

 For junior Dana Pena, music does not always relate to how she is feeling. Sometimes she just listens to songs just because or it has been stuck in her head.

Researchers have studied how music affects its listeners.  Depending on the tone and pitch of the song, our brains are able to comprehend whether it is a cheerful or dismal song.  Believe it or not, our hearts start to sync with the beat of the music and this also plays a part in our emotion.  A “major key” is a representative of happiness and a “minor key” symbolizes despondent emotions.

Researchers have also come up with  new way to try and treat illnesses with music.  It is called music therapy. The idea behind music therapy is to try and help a person feel as if they were at their best, but without using medicine.  Instead they would listen to, play or dissect the music during a session.  It has been proven to help with autism, dementia, depression, infant development, and sleep. Some of the effects of music therapy are said to be teaching verbal or nonverbal communication, reducing agitated or aggressive behavior, reducing heart rate, and increasing sleep duration.

Music may not always directly pertain to what you are feeling but it plays a part.  Music therapy has proven that music can affect the way a person feels and improve their physical health. Whether you know it or not, music impacts your emotion.