What makes music sound "scary"?

With Halloween just around the corner, I've
been contemplating what makes music scary. Some of my younger
readers may not know that for a couple of decades, movies were silent.
In other words, the audience just read the dialogue at the bottom of the
screen, and a pianist sat to the side of the screen and literally
improvised whatever music seemed appropriate to what was happening on the
screen. This was quite an art and just anyone couldn't do it.
The musician had to be able to represent not only horror and fear but also romance, humor, religious feeling and tremendous joy.

Now that movies have soundtracks, the
music that has been composed for them will be among the classics of
tomorrow. The scary movies have some of the most famous themes.
Two that come to mind immediately are the themes from "Jaws" and "Psycho."
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is a definite classic horror film. It's
music, by Bernard Herrmann, truly evokes fear and panic. The famous shower
scene music (the screeching violins) is parodied and copied in media all
over the world.

Of course, most of this music is in a minor
key and incorporates sudden changes of dynamics (louds and softs).
You might also hear unusual instruments such as a digiridoo or perhaps a
sitar. The purpose is to create an atmosphere that is unfamiliar; a
soundscape that disorients and confuses. Have a fun Halloween and
pay attention to the music

How does your brain listen to music?

According to the Harvard Gazette: Your inner ear contains a spiral sheet that the sounds of music pluck like a guitar string. This plucking triggers the firing of brain cells that make up the hearing parts of your brain. At the highest station, the auditory cortex, just above your ears, these firing cells generate the conscious experience of music. Different patterns of firing excite other ensembles of cells, and these associate the sound of music with feelings, thoughts, and past experiences.

I've written quite a bit about how music elicits tremendous emotion when you hear songs from your adolescence or teen years. This music can shift you to a whole different emotional state and place. Now you know a little more about it!

Music on the Brain

At the Harvard Medical School, Dr. Mark Tramo is doing research on how music affects the brain. His research also suggests that even babies have specific musical likes and dislikes. The dark stripe on the model brain he holds marks an area particularly sensitive to rhythm, melody, and harmony. The good doctor says that "They begin to respond to music while still in the womb. At the age of 4 months, dissonant notes at the end of a melody will cause them to squirm and turn away. If they like a tune, they may coo. "

"Music is in our genes," says Mark Jude Tramo, a musician, prolific songwriter, and neuroscientist at the Harvard Medical School. "Many researchers like myself are trying to understand melody, harmony, rhythm, and the feelings they produce, at the level of individual brain cells. At this level, there may be a universal set of rules that governs how a limited number of sounds can be combined in an infinite number of ways."
"All humans come into the world with an innate capability for music," agrees Kay Shelemay, professor of music at Harvard. "At a very early age, this capability is shaped by the music system of the culture in which a child is raised. That culture affects the construction of instruments, the way people sound when they sing, and even the way they hear sound. By combining research on what goes on in the brain with a cultural understanding of music, I expect we'll learn a lot more than we would by either approach alone."

Imagine how wonderful it would be if music could provide one powerful path to peace!