Does music affect your mood? Uh, yeah, hello. Music excites, soothes, aggravates. Stores play certain music to get you to buy things. The dentist gives you music to chill you out. A recent study shows different music affects the way foods taste. Pretty basic stuff.

So let’s flip this around.

Does your mood influence the way you react to music?

Of course.

Does the environment in which you receive music matter?

Again, of course.

All of our senses meet up, in our little brains. They get together, have a quick band meeting, and decide whether we are enjoying ourselves or not. Ears think they are so cool and hip, they introduce the music, but the other senses have their say, they won’t be ignored! Step back, ears!

I find it helpful to consider these things as I take in new music, and as I experience live music, at concerts, festivals, etc.

I often sit down to listen to a playlist of new artists, before I head to a festival or conference, or as potential guests for podcasts, etc. There have been days where I have thought to myself, wow, all these artists are pretty dull, and the ones I listened to yesterday were all great, that’s a weird coincidence.

Then I realize that yesterday I was sitting comfortably on a nice day with no distractions, plenty of time to waste, and nothing on my mind. Today I am trying to jam in 10 new artists before I make that phone call and run to the store which will be crowded, I’m tired and my back is sore.

Think about it: if I had you listen to a new (to you) artist on headphones on a 95 degree day while sitting on the bare pavement in the middle of a barren airport remote parking lot while I also slowly set your hand on fire, you probably wouldn’t like the music (or would you?)

But if we were sitting on a breezy sunny late afternoon on a deck overlooking the ocean with a beverage (more accurately our second beverage) looking forward to another great day tomorrow, that same new music has a better chance of winning your approval, no?

This all seems pretty obvious but I find it helpful to remind myself of this stuff.

“Set and setting”, to borrow from psychedelic research, matter: mindset of the listener (you) and the physical environment the experience takes place in greatly affect the experience.

I find it particularly helpful to remember this stuff when I go to live music events. Have you been to shows that you didn’t think were very good, and your friend who was standing or sitting somewhere else thought it was awesome?

So many factors can come into play:

-Are you near to the stage, so you can see the musicians? Can they draw you into the performance with their movement, facial expression, interplay with band members? Can you see over the tall guy in front of you (I hereby offer a blanket apology).

Or maybe it is so crowded near the front that you are packed in, claustrophobic, and that is no fun, and going further back where there is room to move your body, even dance, would be a better experience?

-Are the people around you into it? I have found that just being a little closer to the stage at a big show can make a difference-the vibe of the people in your immediate area can be contagious-if they are engaged and enjoying themselves, you are more likely to agree; these people are generally found closer to the stage.

Of course the talking talking talking people can really bring you down, first of all don’t be that person, but if that is happening near you, just move! It is not worth the aggravation.

If you are at an assigned seating show, you may not have much choice in these matters, but sometimes I would rather stand for a while in the back, or on the sides, to mix up the experience, allow my whole body to participate in the music a little, maneuver those other 4 senses into voting for a good time at the brain band meeting.

Here’s a little trick I use sometimes, when I find my mind wandering or I am not effectively engaged in the live music experience: I close my eyes for a minute and imagine where else I might be at that moment: in an unnecessary zoom meeting, sitting in traffic, home watching Love Island, shoveling snow. This restarts my mindset, gives me appreciation for the moment I am in, and usually, the music starts to sound better and I engage with it.

So discover some new music, but listen to it in the right place and right mood. Have a healthy snack, and go for a nice walk with your earbuds on and listen to our Pork Chop Happy Hour playlist, I am adding cool new music all the time.

Go to a show and try standing in different places. Stand up and move a bit.

Dominate that brain meetup of the senses.