The Whole Music Experience

Wikipedia When I was a child, I couldn't wait to get out the Christmas carol albums and I didn't care if the songs were secular or sacred--I just enjoyed floating off on those prized melodies. But as I grew older and garnered Christmas memories that upset me, I started noticing that holiday music left me feeling more depressed than uplifted. So last night the thought occurred to me, at least in the US where Christmas music appears like plastered wallpaper in shopping malls and grocery stores, that some people might actually feel ill at ease when hearing the songs. First, they might not enjoy listening to Christian carols if they come from another religious background, or they might harbor bad memories associated with those songs. Perhaps, it's hard to believe that anyone would associate pain or grief with "Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer" unless they lost a loved one, received a dire medical diagnosis, or experienced some other challenging event around the ho...

The music videos had been deleted so you will need to look them up on YouTube or another music channel. I apologize for the inconvenience. I'm going to include 5 music videos here from different genres. Please listen to or watch the videos with headphones and keep track of the changing of your moods. If you keep a music diary, then write down your emotions and physical effects to the various tracks. Be aware of nostalgic memories, mood you began with, attitudes towards certain genres, and it's best to close your eyes while listening, at least one time through the process. Watching the video will dilute the effect of listening to the music. This exercise is to track moods caused by musical vibration. Notice timbre, chords, scales, contours of the melodies or harmonies. If you're a trained musicians this will be easier, but we can all do it. First here is a track by the rock band R.E.M who at this time was more folk and acoustic sounding. This is off the band's firs...