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Music also connects physically. During a concert, researchers measured the physical functions of the visitors: the music lovers synchronized their heart and breathing rates as well as their movements. This may explain why visits to the concert hall put you in such a good mood.
Attending a concert is not just a musical experience. A research team led by the Bernese psychologist Wolfgang Tschacher has observed: When people listen to a string quintet together, it also creates a physical connection between them.
«We observed that the heart rate and breathing rate of all listeners were positively synchronized with one another throughout the concert. The same applies to skin conductivity, which says something about your mood.”
132 wired music lovers
For their study Wolfgang Tschacher (emeritus professor at the University Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Bern) and his team wired 132 concert goers with wearable sensors while they listened to a string quintet. The concert consisted of three pieces of classical music by Beethoven, Brett Dean and Brahms.
Open people synchronize more easily
In addition to heartbeat and skin conductivity, the movements of concertgoers were also monitored with special cameras. The participants also filled out questionnaires about their personality and mood before and after the concert.
“We saw that listeners with pleasant or open personality traits were more easily synchronized with the music than concert-goers with more neurotic or extraverted characters,” says Tschacher.
Yoga also creates an invisible connection
Overall, the results show: Experiencing a concert together creates an invisible connection between people, which those involved are not aware of.
This could explain why events with music are so popular, says psychologist Tschacher: “People also synchronize themselves in other activities: in carnival parades, for example, or when doing sports together or doing yoga.” This synchronization puts people in a good mood, and at concerts it also brings the audience together a little.
Together we are stronger
The fact that people can synchronize their body functions in certain situations also has a deeper evolutionary biological meaning, Tschacher continues: “The ability to coordinate heart and breathing rates may have arisen in human history in order to better prepare groups for dangerous situations to strengthen their cohesion.” This phenomenon of swarm intelligence is widespread in the animal kingdom: fish and birds also organize themselves into large groups and can effectively ward off their enemies as a collective.
Fortunately, it is not necessary to defend yourself against robbers when attending a concert. But together, people can immerse themselves in the music more easily, says Wolfgang Tschacher: “I have the idea that this synchrony of the audience says something about how strongly people go along with the music and how strong their immersion is.”