“Beautiful” Music is a Learned Trait, Study Claims

A recent study from the University of Melbourne has found evidence that what we perceive as beautiful music as compared to unpleasant music is a learned trait. This stands in stark contrast to hundreds of years’ worth of theories hypothesizing that sounds we find appealing are determined by the physical properties of our ears.

The researchers played pure tones and a variety of chords for participants, who were a mix of trained musicians and members of the general public. They rated the sounds on a five-point scale for both their dissonance and their familiarity. Results showed that when listeners heard unfamiliar chords, they were more likely to identify them as dissonant.

Trained musicians, who were more familiar with different chords and able to identify individual tones within them, tended to enjoy more harmonies than the general public.

Co-author of the study, Sarah Wilson says, “This showed us that even the ability to hear a musical pitch (or note) is learned.” Thus, it is possible to train ourselves to enjoy music—even music that is outside of our normal traditions.

A second study was conducted as a follow up to the first, in which 19 non-musician participants were trained to identify notes within specific chords. When tested several sessions later, not only could they identify specific tones in the chords, but they also reported that those chords sounded less dissonant than the ones they were unfamiliar with, regardless of whether or not they were technically harmonious.

This research makes sense when we consider how music differs from culture to culture. While we have one idea of what makes beautiful music, our idea is Western and not universally accepted. Traveling to other countries often reveals to us a different musical culture—which we may or may not perceive as beautiful.

We are creatures of habit and tend to gravitate toward what we know. But since we are also constantly learning and evolving, those tastes might change and adapt over the years. Given time and an open mind, we can find beauty anywhere.