I have the opportunity to present on therapeutic drumming coming up here in a couple months. While meeting with the coordinator, we had to hash out some details of a flyer that is going to go out to garner interest that had the words "the healing power of (music)" on it. Phrases like this give me hives because I think people will automatically think that if they have some sort of illness, physical or mental, that they'll be miraculously healed by music.
While I do believe in the whole - "music of the spheres" - everything is vibration - everything is rhythm - thing, music unfortunately cannot outright heal someone of their illness. However, it can be ridiculously healing.
A few months ago NPR posted on facebook the simple question, "What music makes you cry?" It made me think of something in music psychology we call extra-musical associations, which usually have to do with choosing appropriate musical selections during a relaxation. Extra-musical associations are narratives that either we or the composer put on a certain song or piece of music. In the case of classical music you've got La cathedrale engloutie (the underwater cathedral) by Claude Debussy which, totally sounds like its title:
and then in popular music, you've got Adele, who I'm pretty sure was stalking me in high school and college and writing songs about my relationships:
Our extra-musical perceptions are very personal and very meaningful. There isn't a single time I can listen to certain Coldplay songs without thinking of the South of France, or driving outside of Fort Worth, or whatever.
But further than that, what are the songs that bring you to tears? Every once in awhile, this song gets me because it reminds me of my grandfather who died, a boyfriend who left me, and a friend who basically disappeared without explanation:
I heard from someone that there was a study done on the chemical compound of tears from three people: one who was cutting onions, one who was physically in pain, and one who was grieving. Turns out the one who was grieving had lots of serotonin in their tears, which means that the tears were actually physically healing. Crazy, huh?
What's on your tearjerker playlist and why?
Our extra-musical perceptions are very personal and very meaningful. There isn't a single time I can listen to certain Coldplay songs without thinking of the South of France, or driving outside of Fort Worth, or whatever.
But further than that, what are the songs that bring you to tears? Every once in awhile, this song gets me because it reminds me of my grandfather who died, a boyfriend who left me, and a friend who basically disappeared without explanation:
I heard from someone that there was a study done on the chemical compound of tears from three people: one who was cutting onions, one who was physically in pain, and one who was grieving. Turns out the one who was grieving had lots of serotonin in their tears, which means that the tears were actually physically healing. Crazy, huh?
What's on your tearjerker playlist and why?
3 comments:
there's so many. And there's some that take me back to such a specific moment in my life that I can smell memories (Home Life by John Mayer does that)
Currently, without fail, Lead Me by Sanctus Real makes me cry. If I really let go singing along, it can go to ugly cry. Its about the family dynamics in our roles as spouses and parents and it just hits the special spot in my heart.
This is going to sound silly, but Closing Time by Semisonic always makes me tear up a bit. It reminds me of a simpler time. It was a time before I ran away from one boyfriend, was left by another, lost a couple of friends forever and grew up.
I long for that time again and that song always makes me think of late summer evenings, riding around in my crush's car (never in a relationship with him, just his car... ah, to be 17 again).
you know what's funny is that Closing Time reminds me of middle school dances (and that unfortunate overall craze) at the KC hall back in my hometown. Isn't it funny how a song can rocket you right back to the sights and smells of a particular time?
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