Over the course of our day, we're exposed to countless sounds in our environments and routines that we may or may not pay active attention to. Some of these sounds are expected results of deliberate physical actions (e.g.: pulling keys out of your pocket produces a jingle) and others are uncontrollable occurrences specific to a given environment (e.g.: waves crashing on the beach).



Ivan Pavlov demonstrated that repeated exposure to a given sound prompts our minds to associate it with the particular physical or emotional state most frequently experienced when exposed to it.





Associative Music is a style of music that evokes those developed emotional and physical reactions to sound in tandem with the power of melody and rhythm.





When Pavlov would serve food to his dog, he'd ring a bell to get it's attention. After a few times, ringing the bell would cause the dog to salivate with or without food in front of it. This bell illicited a psychological response from the dog (expecting to find food near the bell) as well as a physical one (actually drooling).



Though we are a slightly more developed species, the paired reaction between sounds and expectations still applies to us (watch a bored middleschooler react when surprised by the school bell at the end of class).