Adversity, Resilience and Music
/I just spoke with a dynamic woman who founded and runs an organization called the Modern Widows Club (www.modernwidowsclub.com). The group’s mission is to “serve the empower widows to lean into life, build resilience and release their potential to make a positive difference in society.” She somehow heard about music therapy and intuitively thought there was something there to support her mission. And there is.
Resiliency is defined as the ability to adapt to stress and adversity. It is the capacity to incorporate negative fears, feelings and experiences with positive emotionality. And these traits are not inherited or gifted to certain people and not to others. They can be developed.
There are a number of traits that make up the composite of resiliency. They are optimism, attitude to life, emotional awareness, a sense of control, social support, a sense of humor, confidence in self, the ability to solve problems and the willingness to adapt and be flexible.
So how does music fit in? Music can change one’s affect from intensity to calm, from depressed to elevated, from inert to motivated, from hopeless to hopeful. And it’s all just a playlist away.
Here’s an example. I don’t like to get up in the mornings- never have and I expect never will. To help move me from sluggish and tired to functional and dare I say happy, I created a playlist called ‘waking to a beautiful world.’ I have music on there that gently rocks me with rhythms (Jimmy Cliff’s ‘Beautiful world, beautiful people’), inspires me with words (Ben Harper’s ‘Better way’) and gets my mind moving faster (Krishna Das ‘Shri Guru Charanam). This last piece starts off slowly and accelerates. I start is as I disembark from the train and begin my walk to Berklee to begin classes. By the time I arrive, I am alert, ready for the day and have a smile on my face.
The blues have a particular quality of matching your affective state of sadness or depression. It not only meets it, it lifts it. A playlist that begins with one or two blues tunes can then progress to songs with lighter affects. Your emotions have been recognized and validated in the music. They have served their purpose and you can now look to move on.
There are many more sophisticated ways that a music therapist can help transform affect from being ineffectual to being able to ‘lean into life.’ Here is a list of songs that I use. Perhaps from this model, you can begin to see how you might customize playlists to work with and transform your affective states.
Songs that make me laugh
Dean Martin- That’s amore
Nancy Sinatra- These boots are made for walking
Clark Terry- Mumbles
Ella Fitzgerald- Old MacDonald (yes, the children’s song)
Young @ Heart’s version of ‘Should I stay or should I go’
Louis Prima’s ‘I want to be like you’ from Jungle Book
Harry Belafonte- Jump in the line
Tower of Power- Don’t change horses
Songs that bring me peace (and helped prepare me to be relaxed for surgeries)
Renee Fleming- Nacht und träume by Strauss
Renee Fleming- Abends will ich schlafen geh'n, from Hänsel und Gretel
Finzi’s Eclogue for piano and strings
Mozart’s serenade for winds, K. 361- Adagio
Tchaïkovski’s Sérénade Pour Cordes
Nakai- Comes the dawn
Korngold: Violin Concerto in D major
Vaughan Williams: Symphony #3, "A Pastoral Symphony" - 1. Molto Moderato
Cavatina (The Deer Hunter)
Elgar: Symphony #1 In A Flat, Op. 55 - 3. Adagio
Vaughan Williams: 5 Variants Of Dives & Lazarus
Elgar: Variations On An Original Theme, Op. 36, "Enigma" - Var. 9, “Nimrod"
Mascagni: Cavelleria Rusticana - Intermezzo Sinfonico
Find the stillness- a Unitarian Universalist hymn
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto In A, K 622 - Adagio
Renee FLeming- Hallelujiah
Eva Cassidy- Dark eyed Molly
Duke Ellington- Sophisticated lady
Songs that make me feel optimism (or clarity about what’s important)
Peter, Paul and Mary- ‘Dont laught at me’
Louis Armstrong or Eva Cassidy- What a wonderful world
Eva Cassidy’s version of ‘Imagine’
Sting- ‘Fragile’
Young @ Heart’s versions of ‘Young at heart’ and ‘One’
Jimmy Cliff- ‘Wonderful world, beautiful people’
Bob Marley- Jah live
Michael Jackson- Man in the mirror
Ben Harper- Better way
YoYo Ma and Alison Kraus- Simple gifts
Cat Stevens- Peace train
Bob Marley- War
Ray Charles- Spirit of Christmas
Songs that get me moving
Michael Franti & Spearhead- The sound of sunshine
Talking Heads- Nothing but flowers
Benny Goodman- Sing, sing, sing
Robert Plant and Alison Kraus- Gone, gone, gone
Bonerama- Bayou Betty
Buckwheat Zydeco- Ma ‘Tit Fille
Elvis Presley- A little less conversation (JXL radio edit remix)
Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band- Olympia Brass Band
Cat Stevens- Can’t keep it in
Gloria Estafan- Mi tierra
Count Basie- Jumpin’ at the woodside
So how will you use music to enhance your mood? to transform a bad day to a good one? Music has power and you can wield it to your well-being. It’s just a track away!