Do you or have you ever used music as therapy? I have a nephew who has a song for almost every occasion in his life, good or bad. He can literally track his life with a particular song that he listened to to get him through his hard times as well as good times. I have and I still do use music to get me through life's battlegrounds and celebrations.
I truly believe in the power and magic of music and I believe that God placed it in our souls for that very purpose. I'm very eclectic when it comes to music. You can find a little bit of everything in my record, tape, CD, and ipod collection.
I want to know how you use or have used music as a form of therapy in your life.
Carl - your blog is great! Nice work:-). I love music, and like you, have an eclectic collection of what spoke to me during different periods of my life. As I refelct back I am reminded of my college track days. Running collegiately was a gamet of emotions from extreme highs to extreme lows...music helped me to control my reactions to those situations and find balance. Whether it was to get the adrenaline pumping before a race, or to soothe the pain on the long bus ride home, music was a constant. When I hear those same songs today, I can explicitly recall my emotions from many years ago. Music is a theraputic story of our lives. Katie Smit
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ReplyDeleteCarl, unlike you I am not eclectic in my musical tastes, but I do love music. I find that my "fix" is generally in the early morning...calming, calming, calming. Congrats on your blog (now I know what a blog is!).
ReplyDeleteHi Carl,
ReplyDeleteYes . . . I love music especially Christian music gives me a sense of peace. I listen to it while exercising and in the morning before work. I also love listening to it before and after school in my classroom. The kids love listening to soft music when they are all doing independant work. This all helps releave any stress involved!
Good luck on your masters.
Liz
Well Carl,
ReplyDeleteI'd have to say that I enjoy different types of music during different times. I love upbeat music when driving in the car or at a party. However, when writing or thinking...or taking a bubble bath, I enjoy soft, soothing music which has no words. And then, of course, there's the three Rock and Roll loving males I live with! Sometimes, there's just no escaping the sound of an electric guitar at MY house. I must say that I am glad my boys ARE exposed to more than one type! I guess you could say different times (and emotional states) call for different musical measures! Ha! Get it? Music...measures?
Enjoyed your blog! Continue to do what you do. You're great at it, and you enrich the lives of so many young kids through music! Hayden and Bryan are two of your BIGGEST fans! :) Jen B.
Hi Carl,
ReplyDeleteBlog looks great :) I also like a lot of different types of music, and have used music to relax and get through good and bad times in life!
Mr. Mays,
ReplyDeleteI would say yes and that
it does get me through hard times, like your mephew. I
carry my iPod almost everywhere and am constantly listening to "mood music"
where ever I am... Unfortunatly my
iPod isn't cooperating right now so
I don't have my "mood music" :'(
I can't wait until I get it back!
Sincerly,
Your Music Student
Hayden Bosler
Hello Everybody,
ReplyDeleteKeep the comments coming! I love it. This was scary for me to do for the first time but I love reading your comments. I love how music can bring comfort and joy to our spirits and bring us all together at the same time.
Keep the music playing and keep on singing!
Hello Carl,
ReplyDeleteIt's a pleasure to join your blog about whether or not music is used as a form of therapy during stress and/or celebrations in my life. Yes, I love music. When I am feeling sad or stressed, I resort to humming my favorite spiritual songs, like "Jesus You Are The Center of My Joy," or "How Great Thou Art." My favorite music is Gospel and Jazz. I listen to Kenny G to celebrate a special moment and a need to get away from it all. Music is very comforting. My ultimate desire is to learn to play the piano. I enjoy singing, and one of the things I miss is singing with my brothers and sisters. In closing, music is soothing for the soul in my opinion.
Carl I have music going while I work at the computer, riding in the car, reading a book,as part of my meditation/faith, while I eat and at times while I am playing golf to relax and regain my focus. LR
ReplyDeleteI can truly say that Music has, have, and always will be used as a therapy in my life. I am convinced that I can attribute this love to an Uncle of mine who introduced me to music - all types! He introduced me to music on all scopes and I have always been grateful to him for that (Thanks Uncle C). Music makes me happy and comforts me when I'm sad, having a bad day, whatever life brings! Therapy is a great way to describe MUSIC for me. Marvin Gaye says in a collaboration with EPMD "Music is my heart and soul, more precious than gold' - I can certainly agree!!
ReplyDeleteCarl- great work done on the blog. :) I found that waking to music instead of the alarm clock buzzing starts the day off better. I used to use certain songs to get ready for our high school football games and then on the bus ride home had other songs (some calming songs if we had lost, but the whole team would be singing together if we had won). If I am starting to feel down, "Don't Worry, Be Happy" sometimes comes to mind, instilled by my father. I have found that even select lyrics can match exactly what was/is/or will happen and that is the song needed for the moment to boost your spirits. Music is a great therapy tool and it brings people together. I would hate to see how boring and dreary this world would be without music.
ReplyDeleteWow Carl! Congrats on not only starting a blog, but getting SO many people to comment on your post! I use music as therapy ALL of the time. A story that I have shared with very few people- when I was 19 years old I was in the beginning of a two year mission for my church in Brazil. We (my companion and I) were walking down the street and witnessed part of a fight that included gun fire. We dashed into a local store to get out of the street, but not before we saw somebody being hauled away in the back of a car. We went one of our local churches and just sang the hymns of the church to try to comfort our souls from having witnessed such a dramatic event. I still get chills reflecting on it. I can not even begin to imagine what thousands of our soldiers go through every day facing the horrors of war. The only solace I found came through singing and playing the piano. I don't know how to play very well, I just drummed out the melodies of my favorite hymns.
ReplyDeleteEven today, when I encounter times of difficult or I'm feeling down, I will sing and/or listen to music.
Hey Carl,
ReplyDeleteWhen I got too sick to continue to work I kind of developed some anxiety that I was prone to anyway? So I began to meditate almost three years ago. It is a breathing focused exercise and if I have a relaxing type of beat I can focus on, my blood pressure drops dramatically. I now have a part time job in a location that is very loud. If I can again listen to music, the negative effects of traffic noise are put to ease.....
Carl, why do you think they play "elevator music" in the elevator.........?
ReplyDeleteof course to relax people after being closed up in a metal box and then suspended by a cable....kind of kidding a little, but music is used to relax people all the time...or it can of course stir other emotions.....sure works on me..
Good work on going for that Master's buddy!!!
Yes I do. I think that it is very relaxing and it has the ability to soothe the savage beast in the soul.
ReplyDeleteI was involved in a study to see the effect of subtle background music as a way to calm hyperactive students in the classroom. The results seemed favorable and the instrumental pieces chosen did seem to make an effect for on task performance. I only made one mistake in the study and that was to initially listen to the tape in the car before the study began- it relaxed me so much that I went right through a red light, only coming back to reality with the honking horns and the flashing red lights behind me!
ReplyDeleteI do use music as therapy. I can use it like many of the other posters as a device to spark a memory. Those memories can be of a time period of my life or sometimes songs are tied to a specific event. I also use music actively to effect my mood like Mark shared. You might assume that I always seek to change my mood toward the positive with uplifting music or positive message lyrics but I also, often, seek out music to match or support my current mood even if that mood is blue. I don’t think I am alone in doing that or Pink Floyd would have found it difficult to sell their albums. Sometime I am mad and want some sound to feed that emotion at least in the short term. I remember a few decades ago when the government was laying siege to Manual Noriaga they blared Heavy Metal at him 24/7 until he cracked, music as a weapon. More removed from your post, I remember reading a few years ago that the Israelis were the first to use a sonic weapon against a crowd. Apparently it made them sick to their stomachs and difficult for them to stand. Maybe for a future post you could explore the unifying and motivational effect music can have on groups, the civil rights movement for example.
ReplyDeleteI can honestly say that music genuinely causes a physical response from my heart.
ReplyDeleteFor example, songs that came out or I listened to while dating John can give me an instant "falling in love" sensation. A lot of disco music reminds me of being a kid, jumping around and trying to do the moves we had seen adults trying to do.
At times, when I am feeling emotionally "constipated", I will listen to the songs that just seem to touch my very being, allowing me to release whatever is bottled up inside me.
Because I am a weirdo PE teacher, I use, and have used music to get me motivated. When I was in high school and later in college, I would listen to certain types of music to get myself motivated and energized. Music set a good tone, if it was the right song, and it got me ready to perform. I still do this on the way to work and during certain events. Are rock ballads really all that and a bag of chips? Yes they are.
ReplyDeleteKachel