Pleasure and Magic of Music

When I was a teen I spent many hours laying on the floor listening to records. Did you? Do you still?

For adults, music tends to be in the background. It plays while we cook, while we drive, 0r while we work. It’s in grocery stores and restaurants. We are so used to it being there that we barely notice it anymore.

A bass line lands in our body before our thinking mind has time to catch up. Our shoulders drop, our foot starts moving, and something in our chest opens. We don’t decide this. Our body responds to music without conscious thought!

In our Nourish series we have been looking at the many ways we can care for ourselves beyond food. Music is powerful and magical.

Listening with our body

Notice where you feel sound. Some people feel music in their chest, some in their belly or feet. Some notice their breath release, their jaw unclench, or a sudden impulse to move. A piece that settles one person may agitate another. Part of nourishing ourselves is attuning to how our own body actually responds - what we enjoy, what relaxes us, and what lifts us up.

Try it with a few songs this week. Sit down, close your eyes, and notice where you feel it and what it does. Do you enjoy it?

What are your associations and memories with this song?

Music holds our history

At my Dad’s service, we had a piper play Amazing Grace. For months after when I heard it playing in a grocery store or elevator I’d be reminded of that day. There are songs that remind us of happy times and others that bring back a sweet sadness. Some makes us lonely. We feel cherished and loved when we listen to other music.

What songs nourish you?

Certain songs carry us straight back. A few notes and we are in a particular kitchen, a particular car, a particular summer.

Music is powerful. It reaches into stored memory and brings it forward into our body. Sometimes that is welcome. Sometimes it surprises us. Sometimes a song we loved turns out to hold something we have not finished with yet.

Another layer of complexity is what we know about the artist in the intervening years since we first encountered the song. Michael Jackson’s music is clouded for me now. I’ve lost some of the simple enjoyment of the songs.

Your own voice

We tend to think of music as something we receive from outside ourselves, but our own voice is an instrument too, and is one of the most direct ways to settle our nervous system.

Humming is simple and accessible to almost everyone. You do not need to be able to sing. Just make a sound and feel it in your body. The vibration in your chest and throat activates our vagus nerve, which is part of how our body moves out of stress and into a more regulated state. A few minutes of humming can shift something and we feel different.

If you have not hummed in a while, try it now. Find a note that feels comfortable, close your mouth, and just let the sound move through you.

Many people love singing and chanting. Is that something you do? At home or also in public with others? Do you play a instrument? I play flute.

Listening to music as a practice

Could you set aside five minutes this week and listen to something you love, on purpose, with your full attention? Just you and the music and however it feels in your body. You might be inspired to tap along or get up and dance.

What type of music does that for you? What specific songs land in your body before your mind has a chance to think about it?

This week in our Sunday class, we’re going to listen to three compilations. One features songs with a social justice theme - Aretha’s “Respect”, Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”, John Lennon’s “Imagine”, and Garth Brooks “We Shall Be Free”.

The second has songs about love that evoke emotion - The Beatles "Yesterday," Vince Gill "When I Call Your Name," Miley Cyrus "Flowers," and Louis Armstrong "What a Wonderful World".

We then move into hits - from the movie "Footloose," Steppenwolf 's "Born to Be Wild," Stevie Wonder "Higher Ground," and Pharrell Williams "Happy." I’ve posted them below or try some of your own.

What makes you happy? What opens your heart? What music makes you feel cherished?

Join us Sunday 10AM or Monday 7PM to listen and share together.

Learn more at lynnfraserstillpoint.com/sunday-community-class