Happy Thursday, everyone... :)
Well, between the yo-yo weather we're having, a huge end of the year deadline here at work that's stressing me out and being around the sickly general population without my MJ mask and a constant source of Purell, I think it's finally hit me...I'm really not feeling so hot today. Usually the tunes would be going full-force right now, but they're not...I'm listening to the sounds of (relative) silence. And I don't know if I'm feeling the Deftones (*gasp*) or anything in my iTunes today.
Do you listen to music when you're under the weather? If so, do you have any suggestions? Mike - that is the exact thing my grandmother used to give all of us when we were sick. We were "sick" A LOT. :) Good morning, Sookie... sorry you aren't feeling well. =(
Personally, I am less likely to listen to music if I'm sick..especially if I have a bad headache. I just want to turn my brain off at that point.
Hope you get to feeling better... the weather sucks here as well..but at least we aren't getting pounded by snow. Oh..no..IT'S HERE. Report It
you should listen to nice love songs..not depressing love songs...dream of love..dream of true love!!
that would make this world a better place! yes, its help and Happy Thursday to you Any music that calms me down... classic... brooadway... love songs... easy listening songs. Sure, most people do. Whatever music makes you feel good. yes i do. i listen to nice instrumental music. yep, Song for the Dead by QOTSA always makes me feel A LOT better I don't..I usually just watch tv..
but try listening to the band "Keane"
I think they're a kinda good under the weather band. yes i do. something that would help you relax. try the love songs from the 80s or try to put on some reading music. there is such a thing really. mostly are piano instrumentals. it helps you relax and it does not distract you. Whenever the spirit moves me. Well or ill. :) yes because music lifts our spirit. if im mad or under the weaher if i can i wll liston to music!!! but even when when i am happy i liston to music!! so i guess you can say that i always liston to music when i can!! sorry not much help but its the truth!!! Well first of all I hope you feel better soon. To answer your question I do like listing to music when I don't feel well no matter whet the issue. If I'm sick I like mostly slow lite songs the beat kinda relaxes me.Sometimes even songs I used to listen to a long time ago are nice as well. it depends on the mood, when i'm stressed i listen to rock (evanescence and linkin park are my fav), or i'll listen to something that has no words to it to try and relax and concentrate on something (like the soundtrack to bourne supremacy and pirates of the Caribbean). sample some different genera's to see what fits you the best. try listening to some acoustic stuff. when i'm sick i'm already depressed so listening to sad music is what i want. Here's what you need:
1 shot of Jack Daniels
1 tsp. of honey
1 tsp. of lemon juice
Take that and follow it up with something light and wispy like Simon and Garfunkel. By the time the Jack kicks in, you'll realize that you're listening to Simon & Garfunkel and wake the f*ck up.
NP: "At Last" - Stevie Nicks Always, much better than watchin TV.
Try These -
Rockin Pneumonia and Boogie Woogie Flu - Johnny Rivers.
Cold as Ice- Foreigner
Seriously - try an uplifting band like a Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet cd Yep, its hard to listen to upbeat or pop music when your low.I find if you listen to chill-out,slow and relaxing music that kinda relates to your mood will help you think and eventually cheer up. I tend to listen to andrea bocelli in particular, but thats just my personal taste. "Begin the day
With a friendly voice
A companion, unobtrusive
Plays that song thats so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood"
If the music and lyrics from Rush's "Spirit of Radio" doesn't cheer you up, nothing will. i listen to music all the time! when i' m sick i put some music and just lay in bed, when i'm at work: i'm working and jamming out, when i'm at home chillin i'm playing music! I tend to mellow it out a little when I'm feeling under the weather, maybe a little Explosions in the Sky, Sigur Ros, or Roxy Music. For all the times I've played the adrenaline-pumping tunes, they don't do the trick whenever I don't have the energy to appreciate them.
Good luck with all and hope you're feeling better soon! Since I'm still a little behind the times with the whole iTunes and MP3 haberdashery these days, I usually make some new mix CDs when I'm sick. So, I don't really listen to that much music.
But if I wanted to chill, I would listen to Chinese Traditional. It's good for the soul. Since you may bust out the Dragon Ensemble, here's a good Chinese remedy to go along with it:
The common belief is some form of balance keeps a healthy body. If you have a fever, you eat cold foods. If you have a chill, eat warm foods. It's a Yin and Yang thing...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_foo...
Hope you feel better! Happy thursday to you too, and sorry to hear you're not feeling good :)
I absolutely rely on music when I'm under the weather or even just when I'm feeling overworked or stressed. The problem for me is, if it's something like a looming deadline (which is the situation I'm in today), music always ends up distracting me and making things even worse. But I never seem to learn my lesson, and still do it every time...
As for suggestions, how about some Cold War Kids?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snQW28vYH... The only music I listen to when I'm not feeling well is the cacophony of coughing up phlegm balls. Most of my stuff isn't very pleasant when your head has that congested sluggish feeling. Suggestions for you? Perhaps some Tori Amos, especially any of her early albums.
Hope you're feeling better soon. Yeah I do because whats better,I mix it up but here is some for me
Hatebreed
Tool
Pantera
Killswitch Happy Thursday Sook, get well soon
Mike's advice sounded pretty good
Up for an off the wall music suggestion?
Try listening to Honky Tonk Train Blues by ELP that songs peps Me up no matter what I felt like this yesterday. I couldn't listen to my usual stuff. But I just played my new Dane Cook CD. As I've stated before, I listen to comedians to make me feel better. Happy Thursday Sookie ~ hope you feel better soon :)
I usually go for the slightly 'lighter' stuff when I feel sick :~
Enigma
Ennio Morricone
An album called Pure Moods ~ mix of 'New Age' and Classical music has changed my life. evanescence in particular.....their lyrics just mean so much to me. You should listen to evanescence too. all of their pre-fallen music is available for free and legal download at evanescencereference.info please check it out....I promise you won't be disappointed. evanescence has made me feel better on my worst days and have made my best days even better =] try chilling music.. like enya.. or some rock like the gathering and epica. and i like a lot the fray :P Yes... most of the time... i love music! and great music instruments.....
Why Music Affects Us
MUSIC and language are uniquely human. A world without either would be hard to imagine. 鈥淏oth language and music are characteristics of the human species that seem to be universal,鈥?says the book The Musical Mind. They are aspects of our need to communicate. So it could be said that, as is true of language, when music 鈥渟peaks鈥?our emotions 鈥渓isten.鈥?br>
Why and how does music speak to our emotions? To answer that, we need to consider: (1)聽the musical elements themselves and the way that our brains process them; (2)聽our emotional makeup and cultural backgrounds, which influence our reaction to music; and (3)聽language, which can also affect our reaction.
The Musical Elements
The characteristics of music are often referred to as 鈥渕usical elements.鈥?These elements include the tone, or timbre, of an instrument. For example, the French horn has been described as 鈥減ortentous,鈥?or heavy, and its sound as quite different from the 鈥渉aughty鈥?trumpet. Although both belong to the same family, or group, of wind instruments, each of them produces overtones, or harmonics, of varying strength. This is what gives each instrument its unique 鈥渧oice.鈥?Composers use these qualities to create certain sonic effects to stir the emotions of the listener.
Probably one of the first elements we become familiar with is rhythm鈥攑erhaps while we are still in the womb, listening to our mother鈥檚 heartbeat. It has been said that response to musical rhythm may be subconsciously influenced by our heartbeat or even our breathing. Hence, it may be no coincidence that most people appear to prefer musical tempo ranges between 70 and 100 beats per minute鈥攖he same range as the average heart rate of a healthy adult. At least this is what is suggested in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills.
The great musical variety that these elements can produce becomes evident when a range of instruments and the sounds and melodies they produce are considered. The haunting voice of the bassoon in the second movement of Mozart鈥檚 concerto for bassoon may evoke deep emotions and feelings. The plaintive sound of a Japanese shakuhachi flute may delicately touch the heart. The husky sound of the tenor saxophone makes a blues melody linger in the minds of many. The oompah of a tuba in a German band usually stirs up feelings of exuberance. The lilting strains of violins playing a Strauss waltz move many listeners to want to get onto the dance floor. Such effects are produced because 鈥渕usic speaks to the entire human being,鈥?according to Clive E. Robbins, of the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Center, in New York.
Harmony, Discord, and Melody
Harmony produces pleasing sounds, while discord produces harsh ones. But did you know that these elements complement each other in some music? A piece of music that sounds harmonious probably has more discord in it than you would imagine. The constant interaction of harmony and discord provides a vacillating, though mostly imperceptible, rise of tension, which finds its release in our emotions. This gentle emotional rocking is soothing, whereas discordant music alone can grate on the nerves and evoke unpleasant feelings鈥攎uch as scraping fingernails on a slate or chalkboard would. On the other hand, if music is based only on harmony, it can be boring.
Melody is the tuneful arrangement of single notes in succession. According to some authorities, the word is derived from the Greek word me鈥瞝os, meaning 鈥渟ong.鈥?Melody, according to dictionaries, is sweet music, any sweet sound.
However, it is not just any succession of sounds that makes a sweet melody. For example, large intervals occurring frequently between successive notes may make a melody dramatic but not sweet. On the other hand, notes flowing by with few big intervals can make a pleasant melody. The different arrangements of notes and intervals give a melody a sad or happy character. As with harmony, a melody creates its own tension and release, affecting our emotions because of the rise and fall of the pitch鈥攖hat is, how high or low a note sounds.
When combined, all these elements create powerful forces that can stimulate or soothe our emotions. This is because of the various ways our brains perceive and process the music.
Music and the Brain
Some suggest that language and logic are predominantly functions of the left side of the brain, while music is processed in the right side of the brain, which deals largely with feelings and emotions. Whether this is so or not, it is obvious that music evokes spontaneous reactions from listeners. The journal Perceptual and Motor Skills expresses it this way: 鈥淢usic has the power to create feelings and emotions in a quick and effective manner. What in a book would require many sentences for description .聽.聽.聽, in music can often be conveyed by just one measure or one chord.鈥?br>
As to the interaction between seeing and hearing and the responses to each of these, the book Music and the Mind makes this interesting observation: 鈥淭here is a closer relation between hearing and emotional arousal than there is between seeing and emotional arousal. .聽.聽. Seeing a wounded animal or suffering person who is silent may produce little emotional response in the observer. But once they start to scream, the onlooker is usually powerfully moved.鈥?br>
Music, Lyrics, and You
One school of thought maintains that a given piece of music has a similar effect on all listeners. However, another says that reaction to a melody or song reflects an individual鈥檚 present state of mind or previous experience. An example of this might be when someone who has lost a loved one in death hears a certain song, perhaps at a place of worship. The song may bring back memories and cause sadness or even cause tears to well up in the bereaved person鈥檚 eyes. Others who are not in that situation may sing that same song with a joyful heart.
Also consider the descriptions of the French horn and the trumpet given earlier. You may not agree that a French horn sounds portentous. To you it may sound boisterous or playful, whereas the trumpet may seem more soulful. Within each of us, there is a unique fountain of feelings that music can cause to well up鈥攖hus, we respond in our own way.
Music helps to connect words or ideas with emotions. Hence, few television or radio advertisements are presented without musical accompaniment. Often the words do not make much sense. However, if the right background music is used, the advertisement will play on the listeners鈥?emotions. How true it is that the aim of most advertising is to make buying an emotional response rather than a logical one!
Whereas advertising may have an undesirable effect on the public鈥檚 pocket, there is a much more serious downside to the power of lyrics and music. The Journal of Youth and Adolescence suggests that through lyrics repeated over and over again, songwriters teach adolescents to disregard others鈥?opinions and to 鈥渉ang tough.鈥?According to another source, the messages conveyed by 鈥渃ontroversial rap lyrics .聽.聽.聽, more graphic than their heavy metal counterparts,鈥?can permeate the emotional makeup of the listener and result in antisocial behavior.
Could negative reactions be prevented if a person just listened to the music and ignored the lyrics? Well, it has to be acknowledged that to a great extent, the words in heavy metal and rap music are difficult to hear. In fact, they often become almost unintelligible above the extraordinarily loud volume of the music. Yet, words or no words, the message is still there in the pulsating rhythm and the repeated melody!
How so? Well, some of the titles alone create images. Further, the kind of music itself is often the message. What message is being conveyed? One youth journal says: 鈥淚t appears to be an imagery of power, potency, and sexual conquest.鈥?Another says: 鈥淭he basic themes .聽.聽. are extreme rebellion, violence, substance abuse, sexual promiscuity, perversion, and Satanism.鈥?br>
Some youths claim that while this may be true, it does not affect them negatively. They will argue that such music is beneficial because it helps them to 鈥榝ind themselves鈥?as individuals. Does it? The Journal of Youth and Adolescence notes: 鈥淭he anger, oppositional themes, and power some boys identify with in heavy metal may be especially welcome at the end of the day for low achieving boys after enduring a day in school of being told one does not measure up.鈥?It then adds: 鈥淭he irony or puzzle is that adolescents鈥?quest for a more secure and authentic self involves use of a public, shared medium. Rather than seeking truly unique experiences in their solitude, adolescents reach out to packaged images provided by a commercial industry.鈥?In other words, someone else is telling these young people what to think and how to feel.
Let us look at rock concerts. What effect do they have on the throngs who attend them? The book Music and the Mind answers: 鈥淭here can be no doubt that, by heightening crowd emotions and by ensuring that those emotions peak together rather than separately, music can powerfully contribute to the loss of critical judgement, the blind surrender to the feelings of the moment, which is so dangerously characteristic of crowd behaviour.鈥?Some of the scenes of wild abandon at rock concerts demonstrate the truthfulness of that statement.
So, to avoid contamination of the mind and the heart, we must be very selective in our choice of music. |
