It won’t be a surprise to most that music can affect the human brain emotionally. We all have that one song that brings us to tears, at the same time as having a song that really pumps you up and gets you going again.

Music can have a massive effect on emotions, and that’s one of the reasons why composers add music to films – they want you to feel sad, happy, angry or scared at exactly the right time. You’ve probably chosen music yourself to evoke a particular reaction in your brain, just like when gym-goers put on a motivational playlist full of energy to get them through a workout.

All of this is, of course, backed by research that shows that music can affect our emotions in different ways. Happy, upbeat music causes our brains to produce chemicals like dopamine and serotonin, which evokes feelings of joy, whereas calming music relaxes the mind and the body. The research also showed though, that whilst music can influence our mood, our mood can also influence the music that we choose to listen to.