The Power of Music

The Power of Music...

We all know that music has an amazing ability to cause emotion.

When a particular song from decades-past comes on the radio,

we can see and feel the specific setting and people we were with

at the time of that song’s airplay

and re-experience the emotion we felt

at the time we heard that song long ago.

Take a second and remember....

Where were you and who were you with when hearing a certain song

by:The Beatles,

Stevie Wonder,

James Taylor,

Michael Buble,

Taylor Swift?

What about a particular classical piece

or instrumental jazz song

or certain new age composition?

Strains from musicals?

Folk songs?

Hymns?

Christmas carols?

Play a certain song and you are taken back to a time in your memory that

conjures up happiness, sadness, anger, loneliness, peacefulness.

Why does this occur?

Brain science has taught us that music is processed

by the lower, sensory levels of our brains

which makes it resistant to later distortions of memories.

In our typical experience of remembering events

or people

or circumstances,

we reinterpret the memory and re-file it in our brains with possible/probable distortions.

Not so with music.

Listening to a particular melody

that is associated with a distinct experience

is processed and logged in a part of our brains that is not affected by reinterpretation.

WOW!

Music not only "takes us back"

but scientific studies prove that music can be purposefully played

in order to cause particular emotions

in the "here and now."

I use this “science of music” daily!

Music is playing from dawn to dusk (and into the night).

Various genres.

It depends on what mood I want to experience

or desire those around me to feel.

When driving in traffic, I put on calming, relaxing music.

When cleaning the house, I want to be energized, so...Motown.

When hosting others for dinner, instrumental jazz.

When writing this blog, baroque music.

When exercising, my Christian contemporary song list on my i-pod.

When working in the garden, Pandora’s Kenny Rankin station.

And on and on.

As a therapist, I have practiced using the skill,

and psychological defense mechanism,

of ‘compartmentalization’ throughout my day.

As I listen to others’ traumas, my job is to empathize with their experiences,

but I must shove my own feelings to the side

or down deep

or away

in order to do the work I am paid to do!

So, at times, I use the power of music

to help me get back in touch with the feelings I have stuffed down,

in order to function well, emotionally.

I hole up in my bedroom, alone.

I put on specific music I know always brings me to tears.

I take out a journal to write down memories or experiences

that bubble up from my psyche.

I allow myself to connect with the emotion

and have “a good cry”

or scream into a pillow.

Sometimes,

clients come to me and they desire an experience of sadness

and the physiological response of tears and crying.

They express a frustration of having “stuffed” memories down

and disconnecting from the emotion of sadness so habitually

that they can’t access the emotion any more.

There have been clients wishing to experience

a genuine feeling of happiness,

being so weary of their living life, as if “through a fog,"

of depressive symptoms.

Other clients are exhausted

from carrying so much anxiety in their bodies

that they long for an experience of peacefulness and calm

in their minds, hearts and muscles!

This is where the power of music can be useful!

I make the suggestion:

1. Choose specific music to tap your sought-after emotional experience.

(at the end of this blog, I will list some song suggestions)

2. Find a dimly-lit, quiet place alone.

3. Play the song or songs that will stir the emotions.

4. Take deep, slow breaths, in and out, with eyes closed.

5. Allow self to imagine colors or a setting or person or memory

that is/are associated with the emotion you desire to feel.

6. Give self the permission to feel the emotion

in your heart,

mind,

soul and

body.

How does music cause emotion?

Simply put, music causes emotions through its tempo,

rhythm,

loudness,

melody and/or

whether it is in a major or minor key (mode).

(Gabrielle, A.; Stromboli, E. (2001). "The influence of musical structure on emotional expression". Music and Emotion: Theory and Research: 223–243.)

Happy music is characterized by fast tempo and major mode,

whereas sad music is typically played in slow tempo and minor mode.

An interesting fact I have learned is that studies support the hypothesis

that lyrics in musical compositions are more important for inducing sad emotions

but that instrumental cues have a greater significance in causing happy emotions.

(Brattico, et al (2011).“A Functional MRI study of happy and sad emotions in music with and without lyrics.”)

[I have not found, personally, the presence or lack of lyrics to necessarily effect my own emotional response,

but I share this information in case it is helpful science for the reader!]

You may know precisely what songs cause specific emotions within you,

but if you would like suggestions, here is a list

that I find cause these various emotions when I listen to these pieces....

Happy

“Try Everything,” (theme from Zootopia), Shakira

“Knee Deep,” Zac Brown Band

“Life is a Highway,” (theme from Cars), Rascal Flatts

“21,” Hunter Hayes

“The Four Seasons; Spring; Allegro,” Vivaldi

“Brandenburg Concerto No.3 in G major,” Bach

“Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” Bobby McFerrin

“September,” Earth, Wind and Fire

Sad

“Adagio for Strings, Op.11,” Samuel Barber

“I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say,” Fernando Ortega

“Gabriel’s Oboe," (theme from The Mission), Ennio Morricone

“Time in a Bottle,” Jim Croce

“Any Other Name,” (theme from American Beauty), Thomas Newman

“Theme from Schindler’s List,” John Williams

Most any instrumental Celtic compositions (!)

Peaceful, Relaxed, Stress-free

“Watermark,” Enya

“Clair de Lune,” Claude Debussy

“Girl With the Flaxen Hair,” Claude Debussy

“Weightless,” Marconi Union

(Listening resulted in a striking 65 percent reduction in participants' overall anxiety,

according to Dr. David Lewis-Hodgson of Mindlab International)

Most of Chris Botti’s body of work

“Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us,” Fernando Ortega

Hidden in My Heart, A Lullaby Journey Album…Vol. I, II, III, Jay Stocker

Most,if not all, of Narada Productions, Inc. piano selections

For the enjoyment of life

and your emotional health,

use the power of music!