Listening to new music is hard. Not hard compared to going to space or war, but hard compared to listening to music we already know.
There is a physiological explanation in our desire to seek comfort in the familiar. It can help us understand why listening to new music is so hard, and why it can make us feel uneasy, angry, or even riotous. It has to do with the plasticity of our brains.
When it comes to hearing music, a network of nerves in the auditory cortex called the corticofugal network helps classify the different patterns of music. When a specific sound maps onto a pattern, our brains release an amount of dopamine, the main chemical source of some of our most intense emotions. This is the essential reason why music triggers such powerful emotional reactions.
Take the chorus of a song by Adele or Bruce Springsteen, many of which have very recognizable melody. The majority of our brains have memorized these melodies and know exactly what to expect when each comes around. When the corticofugal network registers that Springsteen chorus, our brains release just the right amount of dopamine.
But when we hear something that hasn't already been mapped onto the brain, the corticofugal network goes a bit out of control, and our brains release too much dopamine as a response. When there is no map or pattern to attach to, music can register as unpleasant or bad.
That’s what happened one night in Paris in 1913. The piece that was shown at the Théatre des Champs- élysées for the first time that night was Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. As described in the daily newspaper Le Figaro, many members of the audience could not understand this new music. After the failure of that evening, however, the ballet continued running at the theater for many months. At the second, there was noise only during the latter part of the ballet; at the third, “thunderous applause” and little protest. At a concert performance of Rite one year later, “excitement and adoration” swept over the crowd, and admirers surrounded Stravinsky in the street afterward, in a riot of delight.
We are built to avoid the uncertainty of newness and our brains actually fight against the unfamiliarity of life. The act of listening to new music is hard, but it's necessary. Our brains change as they recognize new patterns in the world, which is what makes brains useful.
【小题1】According to the passage, why is it hard to listen to new music?| A．Because our brains tell us it’s unpleasant. |
| B．Because new music tend to be unappealing. |
| C．Because new music can trigger emotional reactions. |
| D．Because our brains release dopamine when listening to new music. |
| A．Because it is familiar to us. | B．Because it is easy to memorize. |
| C．Because it has a specific sound map. | D．Because it affects the network of nerves. |
| A．To show that people are changeable. | B．To introduce an event happening in 1913. |
| C．To appeal to people to listen to new music. | D．To prove that people tend to dislike new music. |
| A．Ways of listening to new music. |
| B．Other activities that benefit our brains. |
| C．Benefits we can get from listening to new music. |
| D．Reasons why we are built to avoid the uncertainty. |
