FIND YOUR HARMONY

Whether you love belting out songs with friends or prefer listening by yourself, Peter Gallivan shows us why music has the power to change your mood.

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"I broke into a million pieces, and I can't go back. But now I'm seeing all the beauty in the broken glass. The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony. My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like..." If you're singing the rest of this song in your head, then you already know the power music can have. Whether you're a huge fan of KPop Demon Hunters or never really got into it, you can't deny the amazing impact this film has had across the world. For those who have not seen the film, it is about a successful K-pop girl group called HUNTR/X who use their melodies to secretly fight demons and protect the world.

However, these magical abilities aren't entirely fictional - in the real world, music is a powerful force, too. Catchy Christmas songs, for example, can awaken deep memories, triggering warm and happy festive feelings. Read on to find out the effect that tunes can have on your brain and your body, and how music may even be able to fix you when you get unwell.

How do you hear?

Sound is made when something vibrates. For example, if someone plucks a guitar string or belts out a tune, it makes the air around them shake a little bit. These vibrations spread out through the air as sound waves. When the vibrations hit your outer ear, they are channelled through your ear canal. At the end of this tunnel is your eardrum - a thin piece of skin that vibrates when sound hits it, just like a drum. The vibrations are transmitted via some very tiny bones - including the very smallest bone in your body - into a spiral-shaped part called the cochlea. This is filled with liquid and tiny hair cells. When the liquid moves, the hair cells move too, triggering nerve cells that change the vibrations into electrical signals. These signals travel back to your brain and this is where the emotional journey begins.

Mood music