The Nerd's Eye View

I am sitting here at work in my grey cubicle and on my iPod is the theme to "Rocky". It's not hard to imagine me sitting there, bouncing slightly in my chair in a distinctly un-ergonomic way, in what appears to be silence. Yet anyone hearing the tune would most likley be inclined to react as well - if not in the same way. It's one of the most recognizable tunes you're lkely to hear, and provokes a visceral response.

Now I count myself a cynic, but there is something about that song. In fact, not just that song, but a whole host of songs. It could be old age taking ahold of me and enfeebling my resolve. Still it's not altogether unpleasant, and I find myself getting nostalgic and misty when listening to it. But it's not just the Rocky theme, there are tons of songs, some of which are quite unexpected. Take John Williams' Superman theme, we heard it while watching Superman Returns several months ago and was caught by surprise. I wasn't even attached to the original movie that much, and yet there I was all weepy in a darkened theatre.

So what causes this reaction? There's the history aspect of course. Things from your "good old days" harken back to your childhood, which time has gilded. You remember it with more fondness than it deserves. So there's that aspect, but I think there's more to it than that. There's also something more basic and visceral, though. The pattern contained in music seems to overlap exactly over some pattern in the brain. The more universal the music, the more likely it is to overlap, and the more likely it is to match peoples' minds. Complex deep structures in the brain, corresponding to congruent structures in a piece of music - it can trigger a deep resonance, and as such an emotional response. This is amplified by backlog of emotions that the average male has. With nowhere else to release your emotions, it takes just this little trigger to let them loose.

Of course, it could just be that I am a big girl's blouse.