As infants, we learn to recognize voices, tones, and auditory cues. The sound of a mother's gentle voice gets associated with comfort, while a sharp or harsh tone may alert us to danger or discontent. This emotional association begins early and lays the groundwork for how we interpret sounds for the rest of our lives.
This ability to link sound and meaning is also why music holds such a deep emotional resonance for us. At a young age, we begin to tune our emotions to music. A soothing lullaby helps a child feel calm and safe, while an upbeat melody can inspire joy and movement. Music teaches us how to associate tone with feeling—minor keys often evoke a sense of sadness or longing, while major keys inspire lightness and happiness. A slow tempo brings a sense of peace and stillness, whereas a faster beat can energize and uplift us.
Even without understanding the words, a child can instinctively feel the emotion within a piece of music. It becomes one of the earliest ways we process and express our emotions. By tying feelings to sounds, we train our brains to interpret the world not just through logic but through emotion, allowing us to connect more deeply with others and with our own inner experiences.
Along with this observation comes the quality of that sound. If we hear a musically soothing lullaby that is reproduced with a bit of glare or harshness, we naturally recoil from it—as we would a harsh scolding. And the opposite is true.
We're all connected to music and sound from the day we pop out of Mama's womb. No wonder that for some of us the quality of that reproduced sound is so important.
Let's keep our connection strong.
