Relief Of The Pressure

I think the most of us would be utterly lost without music.

Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber might be an unusual piece of music to listen to when I'm sad, but the music seems to build up the melancholy and release it. ."and the love you make is equal to the love you take"

I was going to become an art and music therapist and am sorry I didn't pursue it. Especially since I learned recently (within ten years) that music does actually affect you in ways more scientific than emotional. Your thalamus responds in much the same way a person feels creative or horny or aggressive. Music does soothe the savage breast. This doesn't necessarily exclude those who are hearing impaired as the bass can be felt in the chest (oh my heart!) and around the face. Ask the deaf who love to go to dances! It is felt throughout the whole body in much the same way that guys who own Harleys brag about the vibration of the seat. Bikers know the "pulse" of a Harley! I know I can feel totally blocked creatively until I put on the right music and soon there's a sculpture or painting I didn't know was in me!! Like giving birth. Unfortunately, Jim Morrison knew of how the slowly increasing beat along with bass can cause crowds and concert goers to be brought to a frenzy!! He used it to feel his own control over crowds. Heavy Metal bands learned well from the Doors and use it to this day! That along with his stripping and lewd lyrics were enough to bring in the authorities. Don't start screaming free speech. I'm talking control of rioting and violence, not censoring his dropping his pants. Watch anyone who's into Heavy Metal. I'm guilty!. I love Metalica. (relating more to the lyrics but love their talent AND the driving beat) Kids become air bands, want the experience to be MORE so get into Ecstasy, start body slamming and moshing (sp?)..all in fun but easily turned to violence. I haven't heard of anyone picking a fight while listening to James Taylor! Please, NOT knocking it! Use responsibly!! And if you're suicidal, don't get hung up on Ozzy's song about Momma I'm Coming Hommmmmeee! I personally preferred Metalica, while slitting my wrists. "And I DUB THEE UNFORGIVEN!!!!!!

Felt blue cause I'm not where I should be with my goals(joke...do you know how to make God Laugh?...Tell Him your plans!)...Turned on Timbaland's "the way I are" ,blasted it and danced (even with bad knee) and like myself just the way I are!

Just curious-- but what type of music do you listen to?

yeah,sometimes i remember to use music to lift my spirits. i may start with sad music...just follow the feeling...end up with happier stuff. though some just cheer me up in general...lately,everytime howard jones comes up on my blip page,it makes me feel better. i also have enjoyed listening to billy bragg and barenaked ladies lately. mostly,for me it's the sound that soothes,but sometimes the lyrics too...bn and billy crack me up,but their tunes are good too,and that's first for me. what do you like to listen to or are there too many to mention?

I LOVE TO HEAR MUSIC WITH THE SOUNDS OF THE RAIN, WIND, SOUNDS OF THE OCEAN WAVES, VERY RELAXING, AT LEAST FOR ME.

I, too, use music to soothe the soul. When I REALLY need a heavy dose, I listen to Bach. He never fails to take me away from my world of petty problems and into his world of structural and harmonic perfection.

I feel similar, choose music by my moods, but when I have dark thoughts, I hear Gloomy Monday and when I'm in a hilarious mood, music from Madness for example.

I'm the same way, music has a very relaxing tone - just makes me feel better!

I was 4 when my dad ordered that I either take lessons, or get the HELL off the "damned piano." I was 3 credits from a music degree at UMASS/Amherst PAD (The Old Chapel, if anyone remembers...) when I graduated high school and fled TOWARD a war in Beirut, but away from the "Happy Valley" of Hadley, Amherst, Northampton, Massachusetts.

It was PLAYING and not merely listening to music that allowed me to live most of 20 years that would build up to "delayed onset PTSD." Being able to PLAY and compose kept me sane.

I discovered "Garage Band" on the Mac and even bought a cheap keyboard to start getting back into it after 10 years of nothing, but got frustrated by my stiff fingers and the tinny sounds of digital presets: They could never approach the sound in my head.

Being able to EXPRESS the music -- the sound of your feelings -- is sometimes an ability to get past words that fail and the search for artists that don't quite get what YOU feel... not exactly.

http://rasadesign.com/music/Planets_Swiftly_Tilting.mp3 is a long and maybe tedious song of experiencing PTSD, the anger, the images that flood in as memories, the amnesia and homelessness, the fight against it, rage...

http://rasadesign.com/music/afterGoodnightOnlyAPicture.mp3 is about a woman named Elzbeta that died in an explosion and I loved her when I was very alone and in a strange country at war. The "photograph" in question blew against my leg and it was the one she was holding and the one I had taken. It was an 8X10 glossy of a mutual friend. Elzbeta was dead in the road.

http://rasadesign.com/music/seanpiano.mp3 is a complete improvisation for my girlfriend who needed music for a video project that she was doing. The "score" was completely developed in one pass based on videos taken at Belle Island in DC at a ruin of structures. I literally composed it on the spot and it requires a TON of editing, but... it was an expression.

I suggest learning to PLAY the sounds of pain and anxiety and depression. Sometimes, the sounds are where the feeling is and they are YOURS and not some artist with slightly different experiences.

You get the "aha" when you're putting the sound to the experience... because you're thinking about it and there is a sound to it.

yes,everyday we have some kind of bothering things,every time i feel tired and lost,i would listen to some music to encourage me to persist on.

I don't listen to the radio anymore, because if I hear a depressing song or something that triggers a bad memory, it sends me spiraling and it's very difficult to get out of my head. It's great when songs I love come on, which is mostly the case, but some are not good for me to hear. I do love music and it's extremely soothing, but I have to select what I listen too, not someone else.

I agree totally. When my kids are stressing me out I go straight for Canon by Pachabel, and other soft classical music or pan pipes, it clams me down so quickly and easily. When I'm feeling a little crappy I put on music that's really inspiring and positive and from various genres. That lifts me up within minutes. I try to stay away from music like heavy metal and rap I really dont like it and the energy its creates is so negative I just cant stand to listen to the stuff.