Feeling the Music –

How Music Helps Us Understand Our Emotions

One of the truly amazing things about music is its capacity for endless self-expression and self-discovery. Finding your unique sound is a beautiful journey that unfolds throughout your life. And in addition is the depth of emotions that can be discovered, processed and shared, captivating audiences while healing the artist.

Processing emotions through music can be a deeply personal and profound experience that provides solace, validation, and catharsis. Music has a unique ability to resonate with our innermost feelings and evoke a wide range of emotions, from joy and love, to sadness, grief, and many more. Lyrics, melodies, and tone can convey a depth and intensity of our emotions in ways that words alone often cannot. One of the ways in which music facilitates emotional processing is through its ability to mirror our feelings. When we hear a song that reflects our emotions or experiences, that opens a door for us to feel understood and less alone in our struggles. As a result, music provides a powerful form of validation and affirmation of our innermost feelings.

The ability that music has to prompt the brain and its associations with past time is remarkable. Certain songs or pieces of music have the potential to become deeply intertwined with significant moments in our lives, serving as powerful triggers for emotions and memories associated with those experiences. When we hear a song that resonates with our emotions, it’s like opening a door to the past, allowing us to revisit moments, feelings, and even people who may no longer be a part of our lives. The melody, lyrics, and even the tone of the music can transport us back in time, evoking a flood of emotions and memories that may have been buried deep within our subconscious. This introspective journey can be both enlightening and therapeutic, providing us with comfort and meaning as we navigate the complexities of our lives.

There are so many ways to work with music that creates a safe space for processing and confronting difficult emotions. When we listen to music that reflects our innermost
feelings, we feel validated and understood, knowing that others have experienced similar struggles. This validation can be immensely comforting, reassuring us that we are not alone in our journeys. Participating in music-making, such as playing, listening, or singing, is a wonderful way to learn how to relate what you’re hearing to what you’re feeling. Regardless of the emotion, music allows us to channel our feelings into a creative expression, providing a sense of relief in a healthy manner. As much as playing music is a form of expression it is also a vessel for self-discovery, enabling us to articulate and communicate our emotions in ways that transcend language barriers.

Exercise for Exploring Emotion Through Music:

There are endless ways to explore feelings with music. Here, you will learn a few ways to embody different emotions with your instrument. This will allow you to create an emotional response for yourself and others listening to your music. As well as understanding what tones trigger that response. This exercise is especially helpful to aspiring songwriters who want to convey real emotions in their audiences.

Exercise 1:

On your instrument, find a simple combination of notes in a major key, no more than 2-3. Think D or G major. Can you describe the sound using words? How does it feel? Do you think other people would also feel this way? Try this with different notes and see what emotions you can create with different combinations. Add in an additional note and see how the tone changes.

Now try a minor key, think A minor or a combination of notes in any minor key. How does this sound to you? How does it make you feel? What part of a movie would these notes be best for?

Continue exploring with different note combinations and explore all the different emotions you can create with your instruments. Can you make your instrument sound surprised? Suspenseful? Shy? How chaotic or calm can you sound? Once you understand the basics of this, you can write or find music that helps you understand your own emotions better, or you can share your feelings with other people by sharing the music that resonates with you, with them.

Exercise 2:

Pull up your favorite music streaming service, spotify, apple music, your family’s old records or maybe even the radio. Turn on any song and start listening. Listen to the melodies, rhythm, lyrics and tones of the music. How does this move you? Does it make you want to get up and dance? Or does it motivate you? How do you feel? List emotions that come up during different parts of the song. How does it feel at the very beginning versus during the chorus? How about the bridge? Try this with a few contemporary songs until you get comfortable naming different emotions with the music.

To take it to the next level try listening to instrumental music: jazz, classical, even try broadway instrumental music. Try exercising these muscles without listening to any lyrics. This will give you the freedom to feel freely without being right or wrong. Find a song with lots of different changes and see how you feel by the end of the song.

Be as creative as possible! There’s no limit to the ways you can explore music and your response to it. What matters is how it is meaningful to you.

Here is a list of some of the many ways music can help you explore and deepen your relationship with your feelings.

Emotional Regulation: Engaging with music has been shown to have a calming and soothing effect on the mind and body. Listening to music can regulate emotions, reduce stress and anxiety, and promote relaxation. Certain types of music, such as slow, gentle melodies or ambient sounds, have been found to be particularly effective in inducing a state of emotional calmness and well-being.
Cathartic Release: Music provides a safe outlet for people of all ages to feel and release pent-up emotions. Whether through listening to emotionally charged songs or engaging in active music-making, music allows us to channel our feelings in a constructive and expressive manner. This process of emotional release can promote psychological relief and provide a sense of closure or resolution.
Self-Reflection and Insight: Music has the power to evoke memories, associations, and introspection, allowing us to gain insight into our thoughts, feelings, and
experiences. By listening to music that resonates with our emotions, we can explore and process our innermost thoughts and feelings in a reflective and productive way. This process of self-reflection can promote greater self-awareness, empathy, and personal growth.
Connection and Empathy: Sharing music with others fosters connection, empathy, and a sense of camaraderie. Whether through attending concerts, participating in music therapy sessions, or simply listening to music together. These experiences create opportunities for shared emotional experiences and mutual understanding. This sense of connection can provide validation, support, and comfort during times of emotional distress or vulnerability.
Create Personalized Playlists: Curating playlists of songs that evoke specific emotions or moods can help you access or move through particular emotions. This can also help you with transitions like putting on that sad song when you need to cry or playing your favorite upbeat tune on your way home from work. Create a playlist of upbeat, energetic songs for boosting your mood, or a collection of calming, soothing music for relaxation.
Breathwork and Music: Combine deep breathing exercises with music to enhance relaxation and emotional regulation. Sync your breath to the rhythm of the music, inhaling deeply on long notes and exhaling slowly on short notes.
Movement and Dance: Use music as a soundtrack for movement and dance to release pent-up emotions and energy. Allow yourself to move freely and expressively, letting the music guide your movements and emotions.
Journaling to Music: While listening to music, jot some things down on a piece of paper or your favorite journal. Thoughts and experiences or emotions and questions. Use the music as inspiration for reflection and self-expression, allowing it to guide your
writing.

Songwriting also serves as a powerful tool for exploring and understanding our own complex emotions.

As we navigate the process of crafting lyrics and melodies, we delve deep into our innermost thoughts and feelings, unraveling the intricacies of our emotional landscape and finding what resonates with us the most. By putting words to music, we gain clarity and insight into our experiences, untangling the knots of confusion and uncertainty. Simplifying what was once crowded, songwriting allows us to give voice to emotions that may be too complex to express in conversation. This provides an outlet for processing and confronting our innermost struggles. In this, we not only learn about our emotions but also discover new ways to express them.

Emotional Catharsis: Writing music can serve as a form of emotional release. By channeling intense emotions into music, individuals can experience a sense of relief and closure as they express and confront their feelings in a safe and controlled environment.
Self-Exploration: Writing music encourages self-exploration and introspection. As individuals engage in the creative process of composing music, they may uncover deeper insights into their emotions, beliefs, and experiences, leading to greater self-awareness and understanding.
Sense of Control: Writing music empowers individuals to take control of their emotions and experiences. Through the act of composition, individuals can shape and structure their emotions into meaningful musical compositions, fostering a sense of agency and empowerment.
Transformation: Writing music allows individuals to transform negative or challenging emotions into something positive and with meaningful resolution. By turning pain, sadness, or anger into art, individuals can find beauty and purpose in their emotional experiences, leading to a sense of growth and resilience.
Connection with Others: Writing music can facilitate connection and empathy with others who may resonate with similar emotions or experiences. Sharing music with others can create a sense of community and validation, fostering connections and understanding among individuals who share common emotional struggles.
Personal Healing: Writing music can promote personal healing and well-being. Writing music is very therapeutic, offering individuals a sense of purpose, fulfillment, and meaning as they navigate their own emotional journey.

Writing music provides a means to processing small and big emotions, offering individuals a creative outlet for expression, exploration, and healing. Whether it may be through songwriting, composition, or improvisation, music can serve as a transformative tool for navigating the complexities of human emotion and experience.

Overall, processing emotions through music is a deeply personal, transformative and rewarding experience that offers a pathway to healing, self-awareness, and connection to others. Regardless of the method, music provides a powerful medium for exploring and expressing the complexities of the heart.