Recreating Your Moods

I happened across an article in the Orlando Sentinel this morning. The talk in it about fine-tuning your moods just made such perfect sense to me, since it fits so well with what I’ve seen and experienced throughout my life with music. The article offers some practical advice on how to use music to help move yourself from one mood to another - from angry to calm, from sad to content, from tired to energized. The key, says Elizabeth Miles, author of “Tune Your Brain: Using Music to Manage Your Mind, Body and Mood”, is to start with music that matches your mood and gradually introduce music that reflects the mood you want to be in.

“I do that all the time,” a friend told me when we chatted about it. “I’ve got playlists of music that just suit my mood, but after you said that, I realized that I do exactly what you said. Whenever I’m upset or hurt about a guy, for instance, I’ve got a playlist of ‘angry girl’ songs that starts with sad, crying songs and ends with “who needs you anyway?” songs. It’s been years since I cried myself to sleep over a fight with a boyfriend.”

My friend’s approach may be a bit crude, but it’s based on sound music therapy theory. It uses what music therapists call the ‘Iso’ approach - matching your music to the mood, then letting the changes in the music gradually ease you to a better mood. Music is a visceral, emotional experience. The sound vibrates and reverberates in the air around us, and sets up sympathetic vibrations within everything that the sonic waves touch. The effects are sometimes dramatic - who hasn’t seen videos of a glass shattering to the vibrations of a sustained note? If music can shatter glass, why should the cells of our blood and skin and brain be less affected?

Symphonies and other works of classical music also use this principle. The music is more than just sound - it evokes a physical and emotional reaction in listeners. Some scientists believe that the effect may be related to the release of endorphins in the brain - and while the science fascinates me, I don’t need to understand the nuts and bolts of it to understand which sounds move people to meditation, to relaxation, to awe, to joy.

When we are composing and arranging a new selection, we let the music move us, riding on its waves. There are times when we play the last notes of a composition and find ourselves transported, stunned, looking around to see our own emotions mirrored in the faces of every other musician and listener in the room. That’s when we know we’ve found the right blend, the notes have come together perfectly. That’s when we know that we have created something to share.

I hope that you enjoy the article, and that it helps you to create your own playlists of music to soothe your every mood, energize you and aid you in your contemplation and meditation.