Listening to music you like is an emotional experience. By that I don’t mean that you cry or get chills every time, but if you tune in to what you’re hearing you have pleasurable, engaging or resonant experience.
The first two of those qualities are obvious, but the last one is interesting.
I chose the word “resonant” to mean the experience of relating to the music. It’s the same experience you get if you are listening to someone tell you about a life experience similar to something you’ve gone through.
When a piece of music resonates with you, you feel like the music is bringing out a feeling from inside you. You may not have been feeling that emotion before you tuned in to that piece of music, but the act of paying attention brings it out.
Relating to music is always a good experience, even if the particular emotion isn’t one you go out of your way to experience. The feeling of disgust, for example, isn’t one I desire to experience, but I can think of darker, twisted music that contains it (Tool comes to mind). And there are times where I really crave that, and nothing else will do.
No matter what the emotion is, expressing it and finding that the receiving end resonates with what you’re experiencing feels good. Meaningful music to me is like a good friend, who helps you express those difficult feelings and then affirm you that s/he relates to what you’re feeling. And that shared experience creates the sense of connection, that you’re not alone in feeling that.
Music has been a great friend to me. And my dream is to create such friends for you.