Music and the Mind

Has anyone really took notice of just how much music there is in the world? If one were to record all of it into a computer, it would be countless terabytes and none of us could live long enought to listen to it all.

That's quite a bit.

So why is there so much music? Why do we, when doing some manual project such as tree-house building, gardening, writing and other creative or practical tasks, seem to have a need for auditory stimulis? Are we seeking to block out our minds' attempts to cycle through our various concerns? Is it to establish a rhythm to match our work? A mood setter?

I think all of the above apply, and then some.

I have music playing while working on the Writing Project. Sometimes there are soundtracks to good movies, like "Batman Begins" and the "Dark Knight". Other times it's the music of Steve Roach, (a link to his site is right to the right of this blog.)

But it's always music that sets the tone, environment and attitude for the situations in the story. Each character has a theme music piece as does each social group. Obviously, I use music for inspiration.

And here's another thing about me and the Writing Project: I do not like music with english lyrics. They're distracting and cause a jarring sensation between the need to suddenly write tons of poetry and the story within the Project. However, music with lyrics done in a different language do not affect me so much because then the voices are just another instrument.

I know that none of what I had just written does not answer the original question so much. Perhaps it's a mystery to be solved by the individual for the individual rather than a collective and generalizing explaination.

What do any of you think?