♪ ANNOUNCER 1: Why does music make us feel so deeply?

♪ Join Dr. Nolan Gasser, the musical mind behind Pandora Radio on a journey into the science of music, combining a thrilling concert, a mind-expanding conversation, and an interactive app that delivers your own personalized playlist.

NOLAN: This is our journey here tonight.

ANNOUNCER 1: Featuring Nolan's all-star band, the Mighty Mighty, with special guests Malika Tirolien, Aymée Nuviola, Etienne Charles and Ledisi.

♪ I'll do anything for you ♪ ANNOUNCER 1: Discover the true power of music in your life.

Get ready for Why You Like It: Decoding Musical Taste.

ANNOUNCER 2: This program was made possible in part by Sage Foundation, The Marsal Family Foundation, The Markkula Foundation, The Michael and Paula Rantz Foundation, The Winslow Family Foundation, Lynn C. Fritz through the San Francisco Foundation, Pete Briger through the Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund, Henry and Marilyn Hansel, Eric Schwartz and Magda Westland, Unity Music Foundation, and viewers like you.

NOLAN: Hi, I'm Dr. Nolan Gasser.

I've been a musician all my life.

I'm a composer, a pianist, and a musicologist.

I'm the music guy behind the creation of Pandora Radio and my passion is musical taste.

Now we all know the power that music has within us.

It gets us moving, it makes us smile.

It calms us when we're stressed and it soothes us when we're sad.

Plus, it connects us emotionally with those around us.

How does mere sound do this?

Well, my friends, this show explains the science of musical taste, but even more, it explores why we all love music and how we can increase the joys and benefits we get with every song we hear.

I'll be taking you on a remarkable journey into the science of music as you've never experienced it.

Through a live concert and conversation, we'll break down the elements of what happens when you listen to music.

Plus this is an interactive show where you can join in the story using our simple phone app.

Our show is divided into eight segments of music and conversation, each connecting our musical taste to a different topic: the brain, physics, culture, psychology, among others.

During each segment, our interactive app will ask you a multiple choice question whereby we'll gradually get to know you and your musical personality.

At the end of those eight questions, the app will present you with your own personalized playlist that I've handcrafted based on your responses and which will give you hours of rich music discovery.

The app also provides a deeper discovery into the topics we'll present in each segment.

It's a novel approach to combine a show with a phone app and we think you'll love it.

Let's scan that QR code and download the Why You Like It app right now.

We've got an exciting show ahead of us.

Are you ready?

Let's get started.

♪ (Nolan clapping) Keeping a beat, we do it all the time.

Whenever we listen to music, it can even speed up or slow down and I can still follow the beat.

Have you ever seen your dog tap its paw to a beat, other than on Facebook?

I doubt it.

In fact, we humans are the only species capable of truly experiencing it.

We take it for granted, but we really shouldn't.

For rhythm and our unique ability to lock into a beat is one of the main reasons why you like it.

This ability is called entrainment where the brain is able to predict when that next beat will come and share that information with the body so that we know exactly when to clap.

That's what gives rhythm and groove its emotional power.

We feel satisfied when we correctly predict that next beat, and that's our first takeaway.

Musical rhythm is a uniquely human gift that brings us joy and satisfaction as our brain and body work together to predict the beat and feel the groove.

Let's now experience that emotional gift.

As you listen to this first song, focus your attention on the overlapping rhythms in the drums, the percussion, the horns, and the piano.

Notice how naturally your body moves to the groove and the joy you feel as you shake your body line to quote the lyrics, that's entrainment in action.

Let's kick it off now with a Calypso classic, "Jump in the Line," made famous by Harry Belafonte here featuring the great Etienne Charles.

♪ ♪ Well, I sing in we favor ♪ ♪ Play mas at your leisure ♪ ♪ And who like the bacchanal ♪ ♪ Is to jump in the line ♪ ♪ And then play your Carnival ♪ ♪ Jump in the line, move your body in time ♪ ♪ Boom bang, doh 'fraid ♪ ♪ Jump in the line, move your body in time ♪ ♪ Jump in the line, move your body in time ♪ ♪ Boom bang, doh 'fraid ♪ ♪ Jump in the line, move your body in time ♪ ♪ Bring the horns ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (audience cheering and applauding) (audience clapping rhythmically) (audience clapping rhythmically) ♪ ♪ ♪ Shake, shake, shake ♪ ♪ Senora ♪ ♪ Shake your body line ♪ ♪ Work, work, work ♪ ♪ Senora ♪ ♪ Work it all the time ♪ ♪ Shake, shake, shake ♪ ♪ Senora ♪ ♪ Shake your body line ♪ ♪ Work, work, work ♪ ♪ Senora ♪ ♪ Work it all the time ♪ ♪ My girl name is Senora ♪ ♪ I tell you friends, I adore her ♪ ♪ And when she dances, oh, brother ♪ ♪ She's a hurricane in all types of weather ♪ ♪ Jump in the line, move your body in time ♪ ♪ Okay, I believe you ♪ ♪ Jump in the line, move your body in time ♪ ♪ Okay, I believe you ♪ ♪ Jump in the line, move your body in time ♪ ♪ Okay, I believe you ♪ ♪ Jump in the line, move your body in time ♪ ♪ Okay, I believe you ♪ ♪ (audience cheering and applauding) NOLAN: Did you feel the groove of that music?

Well, it's not just rhythm that our brains process, but all the other musical elements as well.

Our brain is like command central.

Everything we experience in music passes through its switchboard.

It's there that we perceive music, makes sense of it, maybe love it or not so much.

How does this happen?

Well, like in a ballet, incoming frequencies and pulsations dance across the varied regions of our brain where electrical and chemical signals turn abstract sound waves into meaning, emotion and memory.

They first hit our ears and get mapped into pitch and rhythm in the brain.

A few milliseconds later, these raw ingredients get translated into the rules of melody, harmony and rhythm.

Another few milliseconds and these rules blossom into meaning.

This song sounds joyful, that one haunting and the emotion triggered within our brain ultimately defines our musical taste.

It's all pretty miraculous that our brains have evolved to experience music so profoundly and no more so than when music becomes a memory.

Take the next song you'll hear, our arrangement of "She Said, She Said" by The Beatles.

I was 12 when I first heard this song and played it over and over again such that it entered my long-term memory along with lots of personal memories, my childhood home, my best friends, my love for The Beatles and my connection to the song's distinct musical elements.

And not just the original recording.

I also retain the song's basic melody, chords and rhythm, the things you'd recognize if a local band played it.

The takeaway here is the brain's amazing ability to transform music into vivid memories and deep emotions that last a lifetime.

As you listen to our version of "She Said, She Said," think back to the first time you heard The Beatles and see what memories pop up, the people, the places, your dreams back in those days.

Then see if you can tell how our version is both similar and different from the original version and marvel at how amazing our brain is to allow that perception.

Here is "She Said, She Said."

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (audience cheering and applauding) NOLAN: It's fascinating how our brains are able to process sound waves into music.

But how did our brains gain these abilities in the first place?

Did music even help us to evolve as a species?

Anthropologists debate whether or not music was essential to our survival.

Personally, I think it was, especially given the power that music has to bring us together, what's called social bonding, giving us the strength to carry out tasks as one collective people, like rooting for the home team or standing up for a cause.

At any rate, what I do know is that we humans have been making music for a really long time, at least for 60,000 years since that's the age of the first known instrument, a flute made from the leg bone of a cave bear.

And if a bone flute can survive from 60,000 years ago, our music making must go back way further.

The takeaway here is that music is a fundamental and ancient part of being human.

That's why we love it.

It bonds us as part of our larger community, bringing us together through the power of song.

And with that, it's time to hear our next song on the dangers of climate change.

As you listen, focus on the mellow and steady groove of the song's West African style and feel how it creates a bonding collective spirit.

As the soaring vocals inspire us to work together to protect the planet.

As it plays, think of other songs you love that are best heard with others by your side, that create that precious social bonding.

Here is our song, "Now is the Time" featuring the brilliant Grammy-winning singer, Malika Tirolien.

♪ I'm gonna sing you a song of destruction and pain ♪ ♪ And all the ways that it could be a song ♪ ♪ Of splendor and gain ♪ ♪ One world, lovely as a summer day ♪ ♪ Fresh air, forests that are green and deep ♪ ♪ One Earth, thriving and alive ♪ ♪ It's nothing at all like the one ♪ ♪ That is fading around us right now ♪ ♪ Look at the glaciers and the plains ♪ ♪ And the reefs that are dying ♪ ♪ They won't last long ♪ ♪ How soon will they disappear ♪ ♪ Will they last a hundred years ♪ ♪ Crying ♪ ♪ For what we've lost ♪ ♪ Now is the time to undo what's begun ♪ ♪ Now is the time to heal all that we've done ♪ ♪ Without fail ♪ ♪ ♪ We have to begin thinking bigger ♪ ♪ We have to do more than consider ourselves ♪ ♪ If everyone tried with more rigor ♪ ♪ Imagine the seeds we could sow ♪ ♪ Imagine the life we could know ♪ ♪ Imagine what clear crystal waters will flow ♪ ♪ Bayi ni akoko ♪ ♪ ♪ Bayi ni akoko ♪ ♪ Instead of singing of the beautiful days ♪ ♪ That are gone ♪ ♪ Bayi ni akoko ♪ ♪ We can all know the pleasure ♪ ♪ Of the universe carrying on ♪ ♪ A ko gbodo kuna ♪ ♪ Greetings, rarest of the butterflies ♪ ♪ What's up, woodlands beneath ice-capped peaks ♪ ♪ Good day, sparkling desert rain ♪ ♪ Hello to a present of all ♪ ♪ That is possible right here and now ♪ ♪ Together we'll bring back the people ♪ ♪ The hopes that are dying ♪ ♪ They wont last long ♪ ♪ How soon will they disappear ♪ ♪ Will they last a hundred years ♪ ♪ Crying ♪ ♪ For what we've lost ♪ ♪ Now is the time to reverse this decline ♪ ♪ Now is the time to heed each warning sign ♪ ♪ Now is the time to restore ♪ ♪ What is yours and mine ♪ ♪ Now and it's passing by ♪ ♪ Now under this great sky ♪ ♪ Now while we still have time ♪ ♪ ♪ Whoa, yeah ♪ ♪ ♪ Bayi ni akoko ♪ (Malika vocalizing) ♪ A ko gbodo kuna ♪ (Malika vocalizing) ♪ Bayi ni akoko ♪ (Malika vocalizing) ♪ A ko gbodo kuna ♪ (Malika vocalizing) (Malika vocalizing) ♪ Bayi ni akoko ♪ (Malika vocalizing) ♪ A ko gbodo kuna ♪ (Malika vocalizing) ♪ Bayi ni akoko ♪ (Malika vocalizing) ♪ A ko gbodo kuna ♪ (Malika vocalizing) (audience applauding) NOLAN: In our journey so far into the wondrous science of musical taste, we've touched on our brain and our evolution to help explain how music is an essential part of being human.

Now we get to one of my favorite topics on the science of why you like it.

One that brings me perhaps the greatest joy when I listen to music.

I'm talking about harmony.

Now, we've all heard musical terms like an octave, ♪ a fifth, ♪ a fourth, ♪ a happy-sounding major chord ♪ and a sad-sounding minor chord.

♪ But unless you've studied music, these are probably vague and hard to identify in the music.

It's kind of like tasting a delicious bite of lasagna.

You know there are some powerful spices in there, but you can't quite put your finger on what they are.

Now, the science that explains how harmony works is physics.

But no need to panic.

I'll keep it brief and simple.

Starting with those sound waves you've heard me talk about.

What exactly are they and how do they turn into the music we love?

You see, a sound wave is the vibration of air molecules created whenever an object vibrates like the string of a violin struck by a bow, the speed of those vibrating molecules determines how high or low the sound registers to our ears.

The faster the vibration, the higher the pitch.

This note is a middle C, meaning those vibrating molecules are moving pretty darn fast, like 261 cycles every second.

That's a sound wave.

But wait, there's more.

Even though our ears only hear that one note, our brain picks up the true nature of a sound wave.

Where beyond that main note, are softer, higher notes sounding at the same time, they're called overtones, and they happen to be those same elements of harmony I played earlier, an octave, a fifth, a fourth, a major chord and a minor chord.

In some ways you can think of music like a chocolate cake.

A lot of what we can easily hear, the melody, the instruments, even the rhythm is on the surface like the chocolate frosting.

But much of the good stuff is underneath the frosting.

That's the harmony, the octaves, the fifths, the major and minor chords.

Maybe you can't identify those chords underneath the melody, and that's okay.

If you focus your ears on that sound under the frosting, I promise you'll find a world of joy and discovery.

The takeaway is this: harmony is that rich body of sound that happens under the surface in the piano, the guitar, the bass.

It's what supports the melody on top.

The more you can focus your attention on the notes sounding underneath the melody, the more joy you'll experience when you listen to music.

Let's test this premise with this next song, an original composition that blends musical elements from North Africa with good old American blues.

As you listen, focus on the harmony.

Try to identify those happy- sounding major chords, sad-sounding minor chords, or maybe some bluesy- sounding harmony during the violin solo.

Here is "Sunset in Tunisia."

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (audience applauding) NOLAN: Even before I could talk or ride a bike, my American cultural identity was hard at work shaping my musical taste.

Just as the culture in which you were raised has profoundly shaped your musical ear since you were a kid.

This process of culture shaping our musical taste is called enculturation.

In our first six months of life, we all have the power to hear music without boundaries, but from then on the rules of how melody, harmony, and rhythm are supposed to sound get narrowed to those within your own culture.

This happens simply by the everyday ways in which we listen to music, at home, at school, even the supermarket.

But unlike with a spoken language, we don't need to understand what's happening in music from a different culture to appreciate it, even to love it.

Exploring music from different cultures is a great way to expand and empower our musical taste.

The takeaway here is that our culture deeply impacts the way we hear music, making some elements familiar and some not.

To use a language metaphor, we tend to hear music from another culture with an accent.

Let's now get a glimpse of the impact of culture on our musical taste and hear what, for many of us, will be music with an accent.

This one's from the island of Cuba.

As you listen, note, the distinct rhythmic nature of this song featuring a staple of Cuban music, the clave.

♪ The syncopated pattern that gives this music its sultry feel.

Now, syncopation is when you place an emphasis where you don't expect it, like before the beat.

♪ Then later in the song, listen for this repeating piano figure.

♪ That's called a montuno.

It's super common in this musical style.

Now get ready for a legend of Cuban music.

The song is "Chan Chan" from the Grammy- winning album, A Journey Through Cuban Music.

Here is Aymée Nuviola.

♪ De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané ♪ ♪ Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí ♪ ♪ ♪ De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané ♪ ♪ Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí ♪ ♪ ♪ El cariño que te tengo ♪ ♪ No te lo puedo negar ♪ ♪ Se me sale la babita ♪ ♪ Y no lo puedo evitar ♪ ♪ ♪ De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané ♪ ♪ Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí ♪ ♪ ♪ De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané ♪ ♪ Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí ♪ ♪ ♪ Cuando Juanica y Chan Chan ♪ ♪ En el mar cernían arena ♪ ♪ Como sacudía el jibe ♪ ♪ A Chan Chan le daba pena ♪ ♪ De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané ♪ ♪ Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí ♪ ♪ ♪ Limpia el camino de pajas ♪ ♪ Que yo me quiero sentar ♪ ♪ En aquél tronco que veo ♪ ♪ Y así no puedo llegar ♪ ♪ De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané ♪ ♪ Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí ♪ ♪ ♪ De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané ♪ ♪ Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí ♪ ♪ Pero tengo que preguntarle ♪ ♪ A la gente Si Mayarí tiene puente ♪ ♪ Por que yo nunca he estado ahí, compai ♪ ♪ AYMÉE: Clap your hands, everybody, clap your hands.

♪ And let's stand up everybody, let's go to dance!

L.A. come on, come on, come on!

Hey!

♪ ♪ Deja la pena Chan Chan, la penita ♪ ♪ Mira que esa niña se le sale la babita por ti ♪ ♪ Aja, aja, aja ♪ Everybody do the same with me, okay?

♪ Deja la pena Chan Chan, la penita ♪ ♪ Mira que esa niña se le sale la babita por ti ♪ ♪ Aja, aja, aja ♪ ♪ Pero no te confunda que no tiene nada de babita ♪ ♪ Deja la pena Chan Chan, la penita ♪ ♪ Mira que esa niña se le sale la babita por ti ♪ ♪ Aja, aja, aja ♪ Everybody, say aja, aja, aja.

♪ Deja la pena Chan Chan, la penita ♪ ♪ Mira que esa niña se le sale la babita por ti ♪ ♪ Aja, aja, aja ♪ ♪ Pero no para de mover esa cinturita ♪ ♪ Aja, aja, aja ♪ ♪ Pero mira como suena ese coro ahorita ♪ ♪ Aja, aja, aja ♪ One more time everybody, aja, aja, aja.

♪ Aja, aja, aja ♪ Ese.

And the chorus says... ♪ De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané ♪ ♪ Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí ♪ ♪ ♪ De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané ♪ ♪ Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí ♪ (audience cheering and applauding) NOLAN: Okay, so now you know that your musical taste gets grounded within you by your culture.

But while your culture may shape the broad dimensions of why you like it, your personal musical taste doesn't stop there.

You don't exactly love every style created by your culture.

Some of us raised in the US, for example, love jazz, but others love rock or hip-hop or country or Broadway or some mix thereof.

We all know the role that genre plays in our musical taste.

Some genres we listen to every day, but others we avoid like the plague.

Why is that?

While there are some purely musical aspects that impact our musical taste, a lot of our interest in a given genre comes by virtue of the social circles we belong to, what I call intraculture.

You see whether connected to your demography, your education, your skills or your hobbies, the intracultures to which you belong, carry with them a whole host of things like fashion, language, and, of course, music.

As such, they give you access, permission, indeed an invitation to try music you didn't know before.

And because it's coming from within your group, you're already primed to like it.

The takeaway here, a big part of why you like the genres you do is thanks to your friends, your clubs, and your social circles in ways that you can see, but also in ways you can't.

For our next song, we've got a great American genre to celebrate, one that's been a pillar of American popular song going back to the 1940s, and that has influenced practically every popular genre since, I'm talking about R&B, rhythm and blues.

As you listen, picture how this music relates to the intracultures you belong to.

Listen for how blues and gospel music here get a modern update, particularly in the amazing vocal flourishes of our singer.

We are very lucky to have with us one of today's leading R&B artists to sing her Grammy- winning hit, "Anything For You."

Here is Ledisi.

♪ If God took me away today ♪ ♪ I pray I did everything I could to honor you ♪ ♪ And when I open my eyes ♪ ♪ There's joy each day ♪ ♪ What a blessing ♪ ♪ I'm waking up next to you ♪ ♪ Your kisses are a sweet surprise ♪ ♪ Can't believe you're in my life ♪ ♪ The impossible is possible because of you ♪ ♪ I will love you past forever ♪ ♪ I'll do anything for you ♪ ♪ I will do anything for you ♪ ♪ Heart and soul ♪ ♪ I'll do anything for you ♪ ♪ You are my life ♪ ♪ You are my one ♪ ♪ One means us two ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, I'll do anything ♪ ♪ Anything for you ♪ ♪ Time, don't wanna waste no more time ♪ ♪ On broken pieces from the past ♪ ♪ We have now, nothing's better than right now ♪ ♪ I'm committed to you, and you are to me ♪ ♪ Yes ♪ ♪ I'll do what it takes ♪ ♪ Right the wrongs ♪ ♪ Of my mistakes ♪ ♪ You give me air ♪ ♪ You give me reason ♪ ♪ To keep on fighting ♪ ♪ For love like ours is worth it ♪ ♪ I'll do anything for you ♪ ♪ I will do anything ♪ ♪ Anything, oooh ♪ ♪ For you ♪ ♪ Anything for you baby, I'll do anything ♪ ♪ Anything for you ♪ ♪ You are my life ♪ ♪ Whatever you're asking, I will do anything ♪ ♪ Anything, anything ♪ ♪ You will never know ♪ ♪ You will never know ♪ ♪ How far my love will go ♪ ♪ All the sacrifices you made to change my life ♪ ♪ Oh, you mean so much to me ♪ ♪ Mean so much to me ♪ ♪ I wish the world could see ♪ ♪ All the joy you bring to my life ♪ ♪ I'll do anything for you ♪ ♪ I will do anything for you ♪ ♪ Anything, oh, ask, I'll do anything ♪ ♪ Anything for you ♪ ♪ You are my life ♪ ♪ You are my life, you are my one ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Anything, anything for you ♪ (Ledisi vocalizing) ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ You are my life.

One means us two ♪ ♪ Anything ♪ ♪ I will do anything for you ♪ ♪ I will do anything for you ♪ ♪ Yes, yes, anything, anything for you ♪ ♪ You are my life.

One means us two ♪ ♪ Yes, anything for you ♪ ♪ Anything for you ♪ ♪ Anything for you ♪ ♪ I'll do anything for you ♪ ♪ Yes, anything, anything for you ♪ (audience applauding) ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ (audience applauding) NOLAN: Let's recap our journey.

♪ We've discovered that only humans can follow a beat, that our brains store music as lifelong memories, that music powerfully bonds us together, that harmony arises from the laws of physics, that our culture determines how we hear music and that our social circles welcome us to the genres and songs we come to call our own.

It's now time for that final mile.

To consider what forces make your musical taste unlike that of anyone else.

The science that explains that is psychology.

In ways that are complex and mysterious, your character, your attitudes, your emotional nature and your personality will have an ultimate influence on your response to music, what music you like and what music you don't.

Are you an extrovert, an introvert?

Do you love to try new things?

Are you empathetic?

Are you super organized?

Your psychological makeup defines and limits which approaches to music you naturally gravitate towards and which ones you shy away from.

Generally speaking, those who are open-minded and empathetic tend to be diverse in their taste.

Leaning towards music that's sophisticated, emotional, and maybe sad, but also spiritual.

By contrast, those who are extroverted prefer music that's energetic, contemporary, heard socially and not too complex.

Do either of these sound like you?

Of course it's easy to oversimplify.

Not everyone who's open-minded loves classical music.

Not all extroverts love hip-hop, but your personality will have a major influence on whether a given song strikes you as "just my kind of thing," or "sorry, that ain't my thing."

The takeaway here is that you are a unique soul with a musical DNA that is unlike anyone else.

It's what it is because of who you are.

So own it, be proud of it, but also be sure to keep it fresh and updated by discovering new music with an open mind and an open heart.

Let's give your psychology a test with our next song, something unusual in that it mixes two genres not normally found together, Hungarian gypsy, or Roma music, on the one hand and fiery rock and roll on the other.

As you listen, take note of when these two styles switch back and forth from exotic Hungarian scales to rocking electric- guitar riffs.

Then ask yourself, do I like this unexpected back and forth, or maybe not so much?

Let's find out.

Here is the "Hungarian Affair."

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (audience cheering and applauding) ♪ NOLAN: Well, my friends, we've covered a lot of ground in our journey into the science of why you like it.

We're now ready to discuss why it matters so much.

I'm talking about emotion.

The link between music and the heart is well established both in our brain and our psychology, such that music can be called a language of emotion.

The evolutionary links of music and rhythm and the pleasure we get in successfully predicting what comes next has built in a positive emotional response to music as a fundamental part of the listening experience and no more so than when music hits us just right and the amygdala, the emotional control center of our brain, releases a dose of dopamine, those feel-good chemicals that create chills on the back of our necks.

And this is especially important since the music you love is tied to your very happiness and wellbeing.

For thousands of years, philosophers and mystics have explored music's wondrous powers of healing, something now supported by science where music therapy has been found to carry as much strength as 10 milligrams of morphine.

But it's not just to heal us when something goes wrong.

Music has the power to make us healthier, to lower our heart rate and blood pressure, and most importantly, to improve our sense of wellbeing, our self-esteem, our capacity to learn and our ability to make better decisions when times are tough.

But the key, my friends, is to devote your full passion to music listening, to empower your musical taste.

We play those old favorites and enjoy the hunt for new ones.

Sing in a choir, pick up an instrument, close your eyes as you listen, following the story embedded in those sound waves and move to the music even when there's no beat.

Our final takeaway is simple.

We all love music because music is good for us.

The more we listen to music, the more joy, togetherness, health and happiness we bring to our lives.

And we'll have fun in the process.

To get you started in your new musical journey, we've got one final song, a fresh take on a classic by the Rolling Stones, featuring our own Tim Ries, who's played saxophone with the Stones for 25 years.

As you listen, I invite you to engage emotionally with the music, follow the ebbs and flows of the musical story.

Listen, in particular to this melodic theme, first played in the piano.

♪ That keeps returning like a recurring pattern in a mosaic.

Here is the rock classic "Gimme Shelter."

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ NOLAN: In this program, we've unraveled the mystery of our love of music, where it comes from, what it says about us and how it can make our lives healthier and happier.

From its role in our evolution to its significance in our anatomy, from its reliance on the laws of physics to its constraints from our culture and social circles.

From its reflection of our psychology to its spark of our emotions.

Music is the gift that keeps on giving, and it's one we should always nurture and never take for granted.

I'm Nolan Gasser and I hope you've enjoyed this journey into the science of Why You Like It: Decoding Musical Taste.

Happy listening, everyone.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (audience applauding) ANNOUNCER 2: This program was made possible in part by Sage Foundation, The Marsal Family Foundation, The Markkula Foundation, The Michael and Paula Rantz Foundation, The Winslow Family Foundation, Lynn C. Fritz through the San Francisco Foundation, Pete Briger through the Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund, Henry and Marilyn Hansel, Eric Schwartz and Magda Westland, Unity Music Foundation, and viewers like you.