The Soulful Power of Music: How Song Awakens the Soul and Shapes the Brain

Music has a profound effect on the soul. In Jewish thought, it's often said that music begins where words end. It elevates the spirit and brings inner joy, sometimes even moving a person to dance. According to Kabbalistic teachings, the Gate of Music in the higher realms is positioned right next to the Gate of Divine Inspiration (Ruach HaKodesh). Of the prophets of Israel it is written: “And it was, when the musician played, that the spirit of G-d came upon him.”

In one brain study conducted by researchers at Dartmouth College, led by Dr. Janata and his colleagues at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, scientists mapped areas of the brain connected to musical activity. They recruited eight participants with musical training and asked them to listen to an eight-minute composition created by a prominent arranger who was also one of the researchers. The piece was designed to progress through all 24 musical keys used in Western music, in order to observe how these changes affected the human brain.

As an aside, it's interesting to note the meaning of the word shir (song) in Hebrew. In the Talmud (Tractate Shabbat), the word shir is used to describe a circular bracelet- essentially a ring. In Kabbalah, this teaches us that when a person sings, their soul reaches for higher spiritual realms in line with what it says in Sefer Yetzirah: “Its end is bound to its beginning.” Why is a song called a shir, a “ring”? Because through singing, the soul longs to reconnect with its divine source, forming a kind of spiritual circle between the person and their Creator.

The Maharal of Prague explains that this is why dance can deeply stir the human soul. Dance cannot truly exist without music- the song awakens the soul’s longing, creating a deep desire for closeness to the Divine. Even without articulating it, the soul yearns for transcendence. On another level, dancing expresses the soul's desire to rise above physicality and detach from the material world- its leap upward symbolizing the soul’s aspiration to cleave to its Source.

Back to the study:

Remarkably, the transitions between musical keys during the piece formed a circular, ring-like geometric pattern in brain activity. As participants listened, their brainwaves were scanned using a technique similar to MRI. It was discovered that listening to the piece activated the entire circular band surrounding the brain- an almost perfect ring.

This unique pattern of brain activity is what causes the pleasure we feel when listening to harmonious music. The research shows that music literally forms a ring of influence around the brain. How fascinating it is to compare this to the teachings of Kabbalah: that the Hebrew word for song, shir, implies a circle- a ring- "its end bound to its beginning", representing the soul’s yearning to return to its origin.