Music

Anotherone

I usually live engrossed in my own head listening to my thoughts . At the times of serious stress I start listening to music and I am amazed about how it helps. Why dont we share music that helps us to deal with stress, frustration, upset , sobbing and comforts us in the darkest times? If there was a thread like this before then please just redirect me to it .

I shall start

JodyJ

Thank you for this post! I discovered long ago the power of music to influence my well-being. I love The Flower Duet you shared. My own list includes lots of Bach and other Baroque music, classical guitar, and piano repertoire. But old 60s and 70s tunes I can sing along with are also great. I recently rediscovered the Joni Mitchell songs I loved when I was 14. Feels healing to listen to them again.

DivineMrsM

Anotherone, this is a good topic. I recently created a “soft music" playlist on Spotify (I just use a free account on my ipad) and listen to it when I try napping in the afternoon. Jodi, some of my selections are similar to your 60s and 70s tunes, including a bit of James Taylor, who was always way too mellow for me before, Carly Simon, Natalie Cole and others.

My newest discovery and current favorite artist is Kacey Musgraves. Her album, Golden Hour, is the right music at the perfect time. There's a reason it's won four best album awards this past year, including both a Grammy for best country album and also a Grammy for Album of the Year. Her voice...heavenly....

Here's the title cut. The whole album is worth listening to.

Moderators

Anotherone, thank you for starting this thread, is just fantastic!

The Mods

Anonymous

I like this topic too - good idea!

I primarily listen to synth based music with a lot of depressing lyrics about death/pain/loss/darkness anyway, but I saw this artist open for another favorite group recently and she just blew everyone away in that tiny venue. The story behind the song is very sad - she essentially became a solo singer because her working partner died in the Oakland Ghost Ship fire. The album was a way for her to process loss and change, but her voice is massive. I don't know if its really comforting, but it gives sound to my deep feelings (especially from 5 minutes in). She's really inspiring - a big, passionate solo woman in a genre that is heavily skewed male for both performers and audience.

SRSQ - Only One

The live version (from 27 minutes)

Anotherone

thank you for sharing.

Here is another all time favourite

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I

Anotherone

and one more

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mdFrn89x74k

wintersocks

This is so very sweet, mournful and sad; yet comforting too.

vlnrph

Music does indeed help. I'm of a classical persuasion - right now, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is on the radio almost ready to begin the final movement with the famous Ode to Joy, which is the anthem of the European Union.

Anyway, another way to 'be in the moment' and not dwell on past events or worry about the future is to generate song, melody or harmony yourself. I perform with a couple of orchestras and need to focus on what we're playing so cannot let my mind wander. Usually there are no words or lyrics to distract me. If the conductor is doing things with a different section I pay attention to that interaction since it might also affect the violinsin some fashion.

A couple months ago I had a stand partner with a lower extremity injury. At rehearsal break he said it was the first time in a week that he hadn't thought about his sore foot! Works for other body parts too...

Anotherone

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I bet it does! Amazing power .

In my ignorance I never understood what is conductor needed for- music is all written in sheets so everybody knows what and when is played - why is he necessary ?

Anonymous

This is indeed a great idea for a thread, Anotherone! I do love classical music and find it beautiful and relaxing. But I am also a "typical American kid" at heart and I often find pop songs from my youth very comforting and great to put me in an upbeat mood. I "rediscovered" the Monkees a few years ago, before diagnosis, when I was incredibly stressed out about some problems in my life. Nothing like some fun pop music as a distraction. And, I guess it brings me back to a time when I felt safe and cared for.

This thread also reminded me of my "theme song" for finishing chemo and finding out I was NED -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emx6dU7suvg

"Red Rubber Ball" by Cyrkle

Never knew it was co-written by Paul Simon until I found it on YouTube, the pop culture time machine.