Here is our Autumn/Fall music playlist, featuring a blend of genres that encapsulate the essence of the season, avalible on both Youtube & Spotify:
As you listen to these tracks, allow the music to transport you to the heart of Autumn – a time for reflection, gratitude, and connection. Happy listening!
Nature is arguably the most popular musical composer. There is timbre, harmony, and rhythm to be found in rustling leaves, whispers of the wind, birdsong, cicadas, flowing rivers, babbling brooks, crashing waves, and thunderstorms. Just as elements of music can be found in nature, elements of nature can also be found in music.
Some instruments are designed to be powered from the forces of nature. For example, wind chimes respond to the natural movement of air. On the other hand, some instruments are designed to resemble specific sounds in nature – such as ocean drums and rainsticks.
In essence, music in nature is a universal language that transcends cultural and linguistic boundaries. It invites us to tune into the rhythms of the Earth, fostering a deeper connection with the environment. As we immerse ourselves in nature’s symphony, we discover that the beauty of this music lies not only in its complexity but also in its ability to evoke emotions.
While there are many types of synesthesia, the phenomenon is generally described as when a sensory experience in one modality (e.g., hearing music) causes a sensory experience in another modality (e.g., seeing colours). For example, Chromesthesia is the ability to see sounds as colours.
A number of well-known composers like Alexander Scriabin and Franz Liszt are said to have had Chromesthesia.
Scriabin associated musical notes and keys with different colours: for example, D would be represented as bright yellow, A looked like dark green and D-flat was seen as a dark purple. He also created a “keyboard with lights” (Clavier à lumières) – an instrument that displayed colours that corresponded to different notes in his pieces.
Another composer, Liszt has been quoted giving directions to musicians such as, “A little bluer, if you please! This tone type requires it!”
More recent musicians, such as Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, and Billie Eilish have also claimed to have the condition.
Music is not the only thing that can trigger chromesthetic experiences. Sounds found in our daily life, such as birdsong, waterfalls, cars, and even voices of the people nearby may elicit a psychovisual response.
Chromesthesia is not limited to colours. Some people with chromesthesia ascribe shapes to the sounds they hear – such as circular figures or wavy lines. The range of chromesthetic experience may differ depending on qualities in the music or sound itself (pitch, key, timbre, melody, dynamics etc.). Some have described that they perceive shapes and colours in a mental screen around their body, while others have reported that the shapes and colours appear in their minds. Purportedly, the experiential attributes of chromesthesia can differ between individuals.
The following musical works have been written by musicians with synesthesia. We can explore within, how music and visual art can intertwine:
There have been many studies to demonstrate the benefits of how learning music affects the brain. Learning a musical instrument can lead to greater levels of patience and discipline, increased confidence, improved motor skills, and the list goes on.
This creates the question: Should you learn more than one instrument? Some think that learning two instruments at once would be confusing or too much to handle.
Everyone deals and copes with stress differently.
While we previously explored a “Happy Playlist” to help promote positivity in our lives, most of us can agree that laughter is medicine. Humour draws people together in ways that trigger healthy physical and emotional changes in the body. Research shows that laughter strengthens your immune system, improves mood, relieves pain, and protects you from the damaging effects of stress.
While we aren’t making light of the events in the past year (and TPSMTS takes its’ health and safety procedures and protocols very seriously!), we can always try to find light in dark situations.
For a final laugh, and something that the TPSMTS teachers/therapists “perform” multiple times a day, we have a live performance of the Coronavirus Etude on the piano.
Fun fact: The composer who created this video and piece is a spouse of a music therapist!
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-relief/art-20044456
It’s easy to feel cooped up and frustrated during uncertain times. The absence of normalcy can cause a lack of motivation to get things done. Research shows that listening to music releases endorphins in the brain, which in turn reduces anxiety and stress.
YouTube Playlist Spotify Playlist
Other than listening to songs, we can also get creative and write our own! Song parodies are a great way to lighten up the mood. Songwriting may seem daunting at first, but you can always start simple. For example, by only switching out one word per line, the whole song can go a completely different direction. Deciding on an overall theme can also help with brainstorming new lyrics.
With many people moving onto online platforms, online jamming is also becoming popular! Strangers, friends, teachers, and students can play and sing together via video calls on platforms like Google Meet, Zoom, or Skype. More and more services have popped up in the last few months to help musicians connect with one another.
Resource:
Why Listening to Music Makes Us Feel Good
Top music lists are no longer confined to songs in English, and often consist of popular songs from foreign countries. In many cases, people can enjoy songs in languages that they don’t understand themselves. This is a great example of how music transcends the boundaries of language.
Another example of how music transcends language is through translated songs. One of the most translated songs in the world is Amazing Grace. It has been translated into over 60 different languages including Zulu, Mandarin, Farsi, Filipino, and Arabic. Through these many translations, the meaning of the whole song is kept very similarly and faithful to the original that was first published in 1779.
Another song that has been translated many times is a very popular Christmas tune, Silent Night. It has been translated into over 100 different languages (originally in German as “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht”).
In addition, Happy Birthday To You has been identified by the Guinness World Record as the most recognized English song, and has been translated into more than 30 languages!
Many people in the world speak tonal languages – where pitch contributes to the meaning of a word. Tone in these languages are phenomic, meaning that a change in pitch or pitch contour of a word can drastically change the meaning of a word. For example, in Cantonese, altering the tone of “mother” (maa1) will result in you calling her “grandma” (maa4) or “horse” (maa5).
For some tonal languages, such as Mandarin Chinese, the melody usually takes over and the 4 tones in the spoken language are ignored. Mandarin speakers should still be able to discern the meaning of the song by the pronunciation of the word without the tonal information. However, some words may still be confusing on rare occasions.
