Why Listening To Music Matters
In which I offer you an invitation to be the very best person you can be with four musical ways you can start to practice that right now
What this is about
How practical awareness of the music you love in these areas:
Focus
Emotion
Music Theory & Analysis (light)
Paradox
can help build improved real-life skills.
Who this is for
If any of those four areas has meaning for you:
Your ability to focus tasks or talking isn’t where you want it to be
Your emotional bandwidth is often overwhelmed by life
You want to understand why you love the music you do
Unresolved contradiction, conflict, and paradox bother you
you may be able to work all of them simultaneously using the music you already love, and discover that improvement isn’t always linear and binary.
Let’s Dive In To The Magic Of Music
Have you ever stopped to think about how you really hear your favorite song? Maybe it’s a tune you’ve loved for years. You know the lyrics by heart. The beat, the melody — they live inside you. But why does that same song still feel fresh every time you play it? What keeps you coming back? Has the meaning changed as you’ve grown?
Music is powerful. It aligns with your emotions, memories, and even your soul. And there are so many different ways to experience it. In this space, I’ll guide you through some exciting ways to listen to music more deeply — ways you might not have thought about before, even though you know the music well.
These insights come from years of exploring music and learning how people react to it. We’ll keep things simple by focusing on songs with both words and music. Ready to explore a deeper connection with the songs you love?
Let’s get started!
Focus: How Do You Listen to Music?
When you listen to a song, what do you hear first: the lyrics or the music?
In my experience with audiences, most people focus on one more than the other. Some dive deep into the words, while others get pulled in by the beat, the melody, or the rhythm. Ever heard of a mondegreen? That’s when you mishear song lyrics. A funny example is when people think Creedence Clearwater Revival sings “There’s a bathroom on the right” instead of “There’s a bad moon on the rise” in Bad Moon Rising (Oops!)
That happens when your ears are tuned more to the music than the lyrics. It’s totally normal — and easy to change once you notice it — as well as good for a lifetime of laughs later.
For other songs — especially lyrics-intense genres like hip-hop and rap — the lyrics might grab you first. Storytelling songs like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” or “My Way” are very words-forward. But even songs with powerful words have layers of music underneath that make them truly special. Want proof? Check out this short PBS video where music expert Rob Kapilow explains why “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is so musically beautiful. He talks about the “circle and yearn” pattern in the melody—pretty cool stuff!
Yip Harburg, the lyricist for “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” said it best:
“Words make you think thoughts, music makes you feel a feeling, but a song makes you feel a thought.”
Why Focus Matters
Which kind of focus do you bring to your listening room? Do you feel the thoughts in the words? When people speak to you, do you focus more on the music in their voice or the content of their words? How can a practice of intentional listening focus with music you already love cross over to other kinds of focus IRL — maybe it’s a dopamine attention thing, maybe not — how will you use this to counteract our shrinking attention spans?
Listening Hint: Focus
Whether you hear words or music “first,” try changing it up. If you hear words first, start to bring your awareness to the music. If you hear music first, shift your attention to the words. Notice how this practice changes your overall awareness.
Feel the Music: How Songs Connect to Your Emotions
Let’s talk about emotion. How do you feel when you hear one of your favorite songs?
Music is more than just sound—it’s a direct path to your feelings. Sometimes, a song can bring up emotions you didn’t even know you were holding. Experts like Brené Brown and emotional intelligence programs show that it's not enough to just say “I feel bad” or “I’m fine.” What really matters is being able to describe your feelings clearly and accurately.
Think about it. Feeling “bad” could mean a lot of things — frustrated, lonely, embarrassed, or even hopeless. When you’re stuck in a tough situation, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, knowing exactly how you feel can help you deal with it better. How do we learn this new language? Even though I made music from a really early age, the actual words behind all those musical feelings were totally foreign to me until I started to learn them…in my 30s!
Here’s a simple tool to try (I wish I’d known about it back then): the Plutchik Wheel of Emotions. Next time you hear a song that stirs something in you, take a moment to find the emotion(s) you feel on the wheel. Stronger feelings are closer to the center, while milder ones are toward the edge. Mark the ones that hit home; they might not be clustered all in the same general space.
Why Emotion Matters
Doing an exercise like this helps grow your emotional vocabulary. That means you’ll be better at naming and understanding your feelings — which is a communications superpower IRL. Whether you’re trying to build strong teams, help people see new ideas, or show empathy, emotional awareness is key. And you can’t grow those skills without learning and using the language of emotion.
Music is the perfect place to start. It makes you feel — so why not learn how to name those feelings and use that insight in your daily life?
By the way, psychologist Robert Plutchik created the emotion wheel to help people get better at this. There are other tools too, however, from my experience, Plutchick’s is the best blend of simple, powerful, and easy to use. Want to go deeper? Check out this article for more.
Listening Hint: Emotion
Discovering and naming emotions is such a powerful way to be. It connects us. Even when we can’t name the feeling precisely, we can still offer a shoulder when a friend needs it. Try this: identify a song that really gets into you emotionally and let it play. If you are “words first” look for the feeling words in the lyrics as you hear them and find those words or similar ones on the Wheel. If you are “music first” this exercise is less linear: as you listen to the music, what are the qualities that surface for you? Long meandering melodies that circle and yearn offer different emotional content than short choppy ones. Let your heart guide you as you discover the best words from the Wheel to describe how you feel.
Dig Deeper: How Music Theory Makes Songs More Meaningful
For some of us, taking a deep dive into how music is made — its structure, notes, and patterns — can make the songs we love even more powerful. Theory and analysis do this by providing insight into why musical devices cause us to respond as we do.
When you hear classical music fans or jazz lovers talk about things like chord progressions, melody lines, or why a certain instrument plays at a certain moment, you’ve heard music theory in action. It’s a way to understand and analyze the building blocks of sound. That’s what music expert Rob Kapilow talked about with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” He showed how the melody pulls at your emotions in a very intentional way.
Curious? You're not alone — and you’re in great company. Music genius Jacob Collier does an amazing job explaining music theory in a simple, mind-blowing way. In this video from Wired, Jacob breaks down the classic song “Amazing Grace” at five different levels—from beginner to expert. He talks about and demonstrates harmony, overtones, undertones(!), and even how these sounds naturally exist in the world around us.
Stick around to the end of that video and you’ll see Jacob and jazz legend Herbie Hancock improvise together—a masterclass in musical creativity and connection.
Why Theory/Analysis Matters
Studying music theory isn’t just for people who are super analytical. It’s also great for creative and intuitive minds. When you understand how a song creates emotion, it helps you connect your thoughts and your feelings on a deeper level. That’s a great practice for self awareness, by the way.
In fact, learning music theory can help bridge two very different ways of thinking. Whether you’re a logic-minded person trying to understand emotion, or someone full of empathy who wants to “get” how tech-minded folks think, music theory and analysis might be the perfect tool.
It’s more than just notes and scales. It’s a way to feel more and understand more—all at the same time.
Listening Hint: Theory/Analysis
This is where you can begin to ask yourself why you respond as you do to music, and there are no wrong answers. Every one of us groks music in our own unique ways and, while music theorists make blanket statements about such things (remember “circle and yearn?”) they don’t have to be true for everyone. Knowing something about the rules helps free us to break them, yes? With a music theory concept such as “circle and yearn” clearly in your mind, ask yourself if it works on you as you listen to “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” or any other song that uses the same construct. How do you respond? Can you find other songs that do “circle and year” for you?
The Power of Paradox: When Music and Lyrics Don’t Match
Let’s wrap things up with something surprising — paradox in music. That’s when a song’s music says one thing but the lyrics say something completely different. It might sound strange, but this clash can actually make a song even more meaningful.
One great example is The Beatles' classic hit “Lady Madonna.” Go ahead—listen to your favorite version for a moment.
Now ask yourself these questions, a but like “practicing” this article:
Do I respond more to the lyrics or the music?
How does this song make me feel? Use the Wheel to get specific.
What happens when I switch focus—listening first to the words, then to the tune, or the other way around?
You might notice something fascinating: the music in “Lady Madonna” is upbeat, playful, even fun to sing along with. But the lyrics tell a much sadder story—a woman struggling to get by, dealing with the harshness of everyday life. That’s the paradox.
The cheerful piano melody (inspired by old-school rock and boogie-woogie) feels joyful. But the lyrics, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, paint a picture of real struggle and survival. It’s almost like your heart is pulled in two directions at once — and that’s the whole point.
Why Paradox Matters
This musical paradox shows us something powerful: we can hold two (or more) opposite feelings at the same time. You don’t have to “solve” the contradiction. You can just sit with it.
In fact, that’s part of what makes “Lady Madonna” powerful. The song proves we don’t need everything to be black or white, happy or sad. Real life is full of both at the same time. And music like this can help us get more comfortable with the spaces in between the opposites.
Even if it’s only for the two minutes and eighteen seconds of the song, you're learning something big:
You don’t have to choose between one feeling or another. You easily can feel both.
And that skill — what some call embracing paradox — can help you stay open, curious, and compassionate in a world that seems polarized and yet isn’t always either/or.
The Real Reason Music Listening Matters
We’ve taken a short journey through the world of music listening — but this is just the beginning. Hopefully, it’s given you some fresh ways to think about how music shapes not just what we hear, but who we are.
Sure, psychology and brain science help explain how music affects us. And yes, music theory shows us the patterns and structures inside a song. But the heart of music listening goes much deeper — it’s about how we experience and connect with our world and each other through organized sound. It’s also a beautiful fact that every one of us experiences this in our own unique ways.
When we bring a more nuanced awareness to the words, the melodies, and the feelings in music, we open up new ways of thinking and feeling. This can shift our mindset in powerful ways, help us connect to other people with more authenticity, and give us ways of understanding ourselves and others that reach far beyond mindset.
Why Music Matters
If we could change just one thing about the world today, why not have it be how skillfully we listen: to music, to each other, to ourselves. Music teaches us to listen first with an open heart, without jumping to conclusions or rushing to judge.
And if we can practice that kind of listening — with songs we love — it just might help us become better at listening to people we love...and even to people or ideas or songs we don’t like as much or flat-out disagree with.
That could change everything, one listener at a time. How?
By building listening skills, we also build understanding skills.
So what do you think?
Instead of musical wallpaper or momentary mood-making, how will a music practice help you become a better human? Show us your progress in the comments.
And be well.
For more, here’s a landing page.
Over the course of more than 40 years of paying attention to how music works on us, Bill Protzmann has rediscovered the fundamental nature and purpose of music and accumulated a vast awareness of anthropology and sociology, as well as the effects of music, the arts, and information technology on human beings. Bill has experimented with what he has learned through performing concerts, giving lectures, facilitating workshops, and teaching classes. He first published on the powerful extensibility of music into the business realm in 2006 (here and abstract here). Ten years later, in 2016, he consolidated his work into the Musimorphic Quest. In this guided, gamified, experiential environment, participants discover and remember their innate connection to this ancient transformative technology. The National Council for Behavioral Healthcare recognized Bill in 2014 with an Inspiring Hope award for Artistic Expression, the industry equivalent of winning an Oscar.
In addition to individuals, Musimorphic programs support personal and professional development and wellness for businesses, NPOs and at-risk populations.