![]() They need an opportunity to express the existing emotion first and work through it in a constructive way. If someone is depressed, playing happy music may simply cause tension and discomfort and perpetuate their emotional state. If you’re sad, play something sad.īringing in music that is so drastically different from a current emotional state (or even from their typical preferences) could have adverse consequences such as increasing the intensity of the original emotion or causing unwanted tension and arousal.įor example, if someone is very angry or anxious, suddenly playing “calm” music may make them more angry because it simply does not validate their emotion. The basic idea of this foundation of music therapy is that you select music to match the client’s current state–Not where you think they “should” be. The reason it isn’t so cut and dry is because of what music therapists call the “iso principle”. Not true.Įmotional Response to Music: The Iso Principl e If someone is depressed just play them a happy song and everything will be alright. If someone is angry play Enya and they’ll feel better. The mistake that some people make is thinking that you can change someone’s emotion by immediately playing the type of music for where they “think” they should be. The trick is figuring out what works for you as far as finding the music to modulate (change) and direct your emotion. The Zwagg study went on to say that tempo, mode, and percussiveness do indeed modulate (change) our emotions and can actually be used to direct emotions. You are probably intuitively aware of this as you use upbeat music for dancing and active moments and slower music during calm times (such as yoga or relaxation).Ī recent study by Zwagg et all (2011) showed that an increase in tempo led to an “increase in reported arousal and tension and a decrease in heart rate variability.” Basically this mean that they saw physiological signs of arousal and tension (such as muscle response, breathing rate, etc.) with faster tempo, which supports the idea that music influences our physiological states on an unconscious and almost involuntary level. Generally speaking, listening to music with strong rhythms will cause your autonomic system to speed up (increased blood flow, heart rate, and breathing rate) and when you listen to slower music it tends to slows down. Why is that? What is it about music that makes us not only seek it out, but seek a specific genre or even a particular song to support or match our emotional state?Īlthough there are many factors involved (familiarity, activation of emotion and memory centers in the brain, physiological response, etc.) I have chosen to focus on physiological and emotional responses for this post. Many of us gravitate to certain artists when we’re in certain moods, and sometimes we have to do some searching to find the “right song”. The beautiful thing about this is that it affords so many options for us as we seek out what we particularly enjoy. ![]() As I work with teens and hear the songs they bring in to express their emotions I am constantly amazed at the huge variety of music I hear. There are infinite genres of music out there, with a huge array of style, harmony, rhythm, emotional expression, etc. In many of my client’s own words, “my music says and expresses things about myself that I didn’t even know.” I love that! I have found this to be especially true with teenagers, where music is a core part of their identity. ![]() Have you ever found yourself listening to music to influence your emotion? Whether it was to augment what you were already feeling or to change what you were feeling, we all have experience with turning to music as a way to cope.
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