I read an extremely interesting article about music and the effects of music on loneliness.

In a time where lockdowns have been a way of life for many, across the world, I wanted to remind everyone of the wonder of music and its benefits to help soothe, lift and support us through tough times.

Full website link is listed below but some interesting findings have been summarised below:

 

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When individuals feel distressed or lonely, they often turn to music to feel better. Some listeners say that they feel understood, emotionally supported, and less lonely when the lyrics of a song apply to their lives .Others describe sad-sounding music as helping them to link their sadness to something positive and making them feel less alone in their negative experiences . To still others, listening to mood-congruent music by themselves feels like being with a friend that offers understanding and comfort when they are sad .

The engagement in distraction through sad music with a high aesthetic value, for instance, has been identified as an effective self-regulatory strategy for achieving mood enhancement when feeling sad .Sad pieces, cheerful music is regularly employed for distraction from unwanted thoughts, worries and stress .Distraction is recognized as a self-regulatory strategy that repairs mood very effectively and as a highly important strategy for the use of music listening in general .

 

Music as a Virtual Friend

The idea that private music listening can convey the sense of the presence of another person has been proposed by several theoretical positions, in particular social cognition. Persona theory posits that listeners automatically and unconsciously conceive music as expression of a state of mind of an imagined. Likewise, shared affective motion experience theory claims that music provides company by conveying a sense of the presence, actions, and emotional states of another person Furthermore, research on social music cognition suggests that solitary listening can function as a form of social and that listeners can conceive a virtual social agent while engaging with well-known musical pieces by themselves.

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Therefore, music not only soothes us in times of sadness but also counter- acts loneliness, which affects so many people and especially at a time of lockdowns.

Food for thought!

Keen to know peoples thoughts and reactions to this post!

 

 

 

(Source: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2059204320935709)