Whether its Vivaldi's Four Seasons or Taylor Swift's All Too Well, certain pieces of music can impact our moods, whether we're feeling happy or sad.
They can uncover deep memories and even transport us back to particular moments in our lives. As researchers and music lovers alike are increasingly discovering, playing our favourite music affects us in many different ways.
"From brain imaging studies to population-based research, there's now burgeoning evidence about the power and impact of music on our physiological and psychological states," psychologist and musician Greta Bradman says.
So what exactly happens to us when we listen to music? And how can we use this powerful tool more deliberately in our lives?
Can listening to music change how you feel?
You know that feeling of pleasure or awe you experience when listening to your favourite songs? "That's likely dopamine, maybe even a dab of the bonding or 'love' hormone oxytocin too," Bradman says.
This psychological effect of listening to music can be powerful.
"Think about music as a strong emotional amplifier, and we can use it for many purposes," music researcher at Western Sydney University, Steffen Herff, says.
"The power of music is that it is so diverse. It can make you happy or sad, it can make you energised or calm, it can guide your attention or bring you to specific places you visited in the past and trigger memories," he says.
But Dr Herff cautions that this emotional connection with music can also backfire, especially if you have memories associated with things you'd rather forget.
"If the music happens to be bound to a problematic, even traumatic experience, the melody or the music can trigger that experience," he explains.
In some cases, it may be worth seeking help from a health practitioner if this is something you struggle with.
Music for the highs and the lows
Music can affect more than our emotions. After thousands of years of dancing to the beat, we know that music can also move us physically.
In the past few years, researchers have found that listening to music influences our heart rate, blood pressure and skin conductance (which is linked to our sweating ability). These physiological reactions can even synchronise audiences at live concerts.
To see these physiological effects in action, Bradman suggests wearing a smart watch while listening to music and watching your heart rate change.
Listening to music you enjoy has also been shown to reduce pain in those recovering from surgery, while playing music can soothe newborns undergoing the routine heel-prick tests.
How can you harness music's power?
The key to harnessing music for your wellbeing is working out how exactly you interact with music, Dr Herff explains. This can be different for every person.
"Music that may have a calming effect on one person may enrage another," he says.
As a psychologist, Bradman sees how invaluable the interaction with music can be for her clients.
"Music has a way of grounding you, providing the headspace to do lighter wellbeing work for every mind outside of session time," she says.
Some of the ways Bradman's clients harness music in between sessions include listening to their favourite music during attention training exercises, or playing certain songs when adding entries to a gratitude journal.
Music can also help people sit with difficult emotions rather than pushing them away.
Bradman offers the example of someone experiencing a relationship breakdown, who might be feeling a mix of emotions including sadness and grief.
"Music that is congruent with their mood enables them to sit with the feelings of sadness and process their loss for a while, before they're ready to move on," she says, affirming something medieval troubadours and chart-topping artists have known for eons.
But Dr Herff says there's a limit to what music can do.
"Music can help you get into the process of working on your issue or can dull the edge or emphasise particular type of emotion but won't solve it on its own," he says.
Bradman agrees, adding: "There's nothing like talking with a psychologist or mental health expert to work on deeper issues and self-development."
Dr Herff says one of the strongest benefits music has is that it brings people together.
"Music helps people form a strong social bond," he says.
"What we know through neuroscience is that these social areas are still active when we listen to music."
This is true for many people, including those with a wide variety of mental health and physical conditions.
Recently Dr Herff and his team investigated how music can ease loneliness and found that music could help participants imagine social interactions, showing its potential to be used in clinical settings such as exposure therapy.
For Bradman, everyone can benefit from using music in their wellbeing journey, even if it means setting time aside to do so.
"Just as regular physical activity can be terrific for your physical and mental health, engaging in wellbeing exercises regularly can equip you with techniques to bring in during times of challenge and also times when you need to optimally perform," she says.
Greta Bradman presents Mindful Music on Monday 7-8pm at ABC Classic. You can also catch up through ABC Listen.