Music and Resonance
Excerpts from my thesis - An inquiry into the experience of being with a resonant response to music
I wrote a thesis back in 2016 whilst completing a Masters Degree at MIECAT (Melbourne Institute for Experiential and Creative Arts Therapy) Institute. I wanted to share some exerts from the writings that I thought might be of interest. In retrospect my last post, ‘The current landscape of Melbourne/Naarm’s music field’ was too focused on the negative side of thinking with regards to music and I wanted to share something with more hope and light as I explore my feelings and wonderings around music.
I believe music is universal and has the potential to move people, unlock memories and draw out feelings and emotions. Along with my research I explored the journeys of three participants and their experiences of being with a resonant response to music. I decided not to include their personal information and focus on my findings before, during and after the inquiry.
Enjoy!
My research was based on an inquiry into the experience of being with a resonant response to music. It is important to me because music is my voice; it is my way of expressing, and my preferred creative outlet. I wanted to know what it means for others. What is their resonance to it?
The language of music is universal and can communicate with anybody. It can give us powerful imagery, it can give us strength, help us to access memory, and it can bring us to tears.
We have music at our wedding, we have it at our funeral, and it is the soundtrack to our lives. The potential it has is endless. We represent ourselves through music.
I believe music is universal and has the potential to move people, unlock memories and draw out feelings and emotions.
‘There are sounds which are as good as two cups of coffee” (Dr. Alfred Tomatis, 1999, p10)
Janet Tubbs (2008) in talking about music writes, “We have to experience music. It is a spiritual experience that has to be sensed; we cannot touch, see, or smell it – we have to feel it” (p. 181). In our experiencing often things come up that are meaningful, or the feeling of love for something or someone can manifest inside us, when this occurs our experience becomes amplified and also memorable because of the epiphany that occurs and the meaning that we arrive at from the experiencing. In our busy lives we often don’t give ourselves this opportunity. As a way of understanding what it is we are experiencing or simply for the value of a meditation it can be a useful tool to practice, this idea of staying in the moment.
Music has the ability to give out a huge emotional response, from making you burst into tears, to the harmony of a blissful state of melancholic joy. A moment shared, a memory, the experience, the origin of place, a real sense of the occasion, I can hear the sound of my dreams.
Music has a very profound ability to connect us to memories.
Through storytelling there is a sense of being, a purpose, you become the narrator and move away from initial story into a deeper story, this is the best amalgamation and can be experienced in music making.
In a study made by Carol Krumhansl (2002) On Music: A Link between Cognition and Emotion, Krumhansl states that, “particular pieces of music are often connected to significant personal memories” (p. 45). I believe this is an important factor when emotions are conjured, especially if the song is one that holds something from a time or place and has a familiar quality that links you to that memory. Another thought in the study is how, “words of songs may carry emotion” (p. 45).
In a article in Tonedeaf, music psychologist Nikki Richard (2015) wrote, “Just as you empathise with the emotions of others, that same part of your brain leads to a first-hand experience of feeling the emotions through music too” (para.15). I find it fascinating that through music it is possible to empathise with others, “because they resonate with your feelings” (para. 13). I feel this shows how truly connected we are by our emotions to music because of the resonance we have to it. I am amazed that our memory can enable us to hear again a song that we loved, that we have not heard in years and still have such a strong resonance to it. Lutz Jancke (2008) in his article on Music, Memory & Emotion, writes,
“Hearing music associated with our past often evokes a strong feeling of knowing. We have this feeling for many songs without knowing the title or text of the songs” (p. 3).
Music can evoke or call up memories so that by hearing a song it can take us back in time to a particular place or to a particular emotion. For me memories are like a book filled with sketches, which when accessed can be realised in the form of a painting.
Family is integral to how we experience music. Some of us are raised listening to certain records, given instruments to play and sometimes taken to learn piano before we have a choice. Our earliest memories of music would typically be a time where family was a part of it, so our first exposure to music is often dictated by our family. There is so much richness and experience around family and music for so many of us in our lives from birth to death
What a beautiful thing it is to experience surprise and wonder. Like the feeling of yelling at the top of your lungs to the radio in the car or being in a crowd of people all singing the same song, there is wholeness to it. Once again I look to this article by Richard (2015) in its relevance to saying, “Happy songs can put you in a great mood and truly lift your spirits” (para. 12).
There is nothing quite like that feeling, it’s almost like you can take anything on at that moment. I wonder if that is the reason why athletes put on music to pump themselves up before a game so they can take with them that uplifting feeling.
In a recent article relating to this, columnist Nick Dimengo (2015) writes,” It’s difficult for me to get motivated to do something without blasting some music”, and “most athletes aren’t any different” (para. 1 & 3). It amazes me to see how much music can offer us in so many of our life situations such as getting ready for a sports match, needing inspiration to mow the lawn; it can give us the up and go that we need, that motivational edge.
In relation to how we experience music it is the quality of it that’s memorable, how it makes us feel and what it does to each of us. The qualities that we hear in music can often be what draw us in; it is what gets our attention.
We all have our own aesthetics and are drawn in by different things, for some it can be hearing a beat that goes straight to the innate rhythm that’s inside them or for others it’s the sound of a guitar that speaks their language.
It is not always sound from music that can have a similar effect on us, Basho (1966) in a haiku explains a resonant moment with sound he had in nature, “Breaking the silence of an ancient pond, A frog jumped into water – A deep resonance” (p. 32) I believe detail is a part of what quality is made up of. The details that occur and the things you notice, the complexities and unique ways each of us hear can trigger a process in accessing memory.
BIBLIOGRAHY
Tubbs, J. (2008). Creative Therapy: for children with Autism, ADD, and Asperger’s. Using artistic creativity to reach, teach, and touch our children. New York: Square one publishers.
Krumhansl, C. L. (2002). Music: A Link Between Cognition and Emotion. Current Directions In Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell), 11(2), 45 -50
Rickard, N. (2015). 7 Fascinating Ways Music Can Affect Your Emotions. Tonedeaf. Retrieved from http:///www.tonedeaf.com.au/458006/7- fascinationg-facts-you-didnt-know-about-music-and-emotion.html
Jäncke, L. (2008). Music, memory and emotion. Journal of Biology, 21 (7), 1- 5.
Dimengo, N. (2015). Best Pregame Pump –Up Song Right Now. Bleach Report. Retrieved from http://bleachreport.com/articles/2323738-bestpre-game-pump-up-songs-right-now.html
Basho. (1966). The Narrow Road To The Deep North And Other Travel Sketches. England, USA and Australia: Penguin