What Is Your Music Doing For You? The #1 Sound Your Brain Desperately Wants to Hear

Not only classical music, but other genres, including jazz, pop, folk, and rock, also build new connections in the brain. Recent improvements in imaging technology show exactly which parts of the brain are affected by musical components like tempo, rhythm, syncopation, pitch, harmony, volume, and timbre. Music creates new connections between the auditory, motor, and emotional portions of the brain. The new connections impact things ranging from immune response to learning to manual dexterity, to why you may want to dance or tap a foot, or why you get goose bumps. IOW, Plato and Aristotle were on to something, and rock 'n' roll doesn't necessarily rot your mind, but it does change it.

Folks interested in the topic might check these two short YouTube videos and the references they include:

How does music affect your brain (don't be put off by the initial rock riffs)
This episode of Tech Effects explores the impact of music on the brain and body. From listening to music to performing it, WIRED's Peter Rubin looks at how music can change our moods, why we get the chills, and how it can actually change pathways in our brains.

Can Music Transform Your Brain (a bit more academic on music and cognition)
By Dr. Daniel Levitin, the James McGill Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neuroscience at McGill University)

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Lady: Are you the police?
Elwood Blues: No, ma'am, we're musicians ... We're on a mission from God.