In Italy, people isolated by the COVID-19 pandemic stood on apartment balconies, singing \u201cBella Ciao\u201d \u2013 \u201cgoodnight, beautiful\u201d \u2013 together into the night. Musicians in a Dutch symphony filmed themselves playing Beethoven\u2019s \u201cOde to Joy\u201d individually \u2013 then assembled a compilation video titled \u201cFrom Us, For You.\u201d In Columbus, children played their cellos from their porch so an elderly neighbor could hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The virus might be keeping people apart; music is bringing them together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Research shows music can help regulate emotion, make us feel connected<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMusic is a very effective, easy and cheap way of distracting yourself,\u201d said Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, a professor of communication at The Ohio State University who has studied the connections between people and the music they listen to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oftentimes we think of other people when we listen to music \u2013 it might remind us of other people and just help us feel connected. And that is a buffer against stress \u2013 human connectedness helps you to feel less stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That includes the kind of in-person connections made in Italy and Columbus. But it also includes playing a song that reminds you of a happy moment \u2013 maybe one from a concert you enjoyed with friends, or a song that reminds you of your partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Music can help our bodies manage the physiological response to stress, research shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cListening to music positively affects cortisol levels in the saliva, and it can lower a person\u2019s heart rate,\u201d Knobloch-Westerwick said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So if you\u2019re feeling stressed or anxious, what<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The kind of music should you listen to depends on the person, said Lindsay Warrenburg, who finished her PhD at Ohio State in December, and whose dissertation focused on music and emotion. She specifically studied how music affects feelings of sorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe research on regulation of emotion shows that there are different ways to regulate your mood,\u201d she said, \u201cbut right now, during times of stress like we\u2019re living in now, being distracted and actively seeking out something that will make you feel more positive are probably two of the best strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That could mean listening to upbeat music that makes you feel happy, she said. Or, it could mean returning to music that reminds you of specific moments or broader times in your life that brought you joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a critical period of music listening called the reminiscence, which is from around age 12 to around age 22 \u2013 it\u2019s when most of our musical tastes are formed,\u201d Warrenburg said. \u201cI would suggest going back to music that reminds people of that time period.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Music often prompts memories: We remember where we were and who we were with the first time we saw our favorite musician perform. A cheesy slow jam might take us back to our high school prom. A happy sing-along might remind us of favorite friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust thinking about your loved ones, about good relationships, about the good times in your life has a reassuring effect,\u201d Knobloch-Westerwick said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People often learn to love music because of their families or broader cultures, she said. That\u2019s one reason listening to music helps us feel connected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMaybe you\u2019ve seen your parents enjoy a certain type of music, or maybe you\u2019ve been in a school band,\u201d Knobloch-Westerwick said. \u201cPart of this is cultural. And there are also the physiological responses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is some research that shows the tempo of the music might matter, too: \u201cThe beat could help you sort of bring your body back to a normal beat,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Music, like so many art forms, can also help us process our emotions and feel like we are not alone in them \u2013 it\u2019s the reason breakup songs are so powerful when relationships end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, ultimately, even though we\u2019re connecting remotely, understanding that we aren\u2019t alone might be one of the things that helps us get through this time, Knobloch-Westerwick said. \u201cMusic is a great way of reminding us that we are all in this together,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat everybody does counts. So, we all have to really hang in there and support each other. We will see through this. Everything will be better eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Italy, people isolated by the COVID-19 pandemic stood on apartment balconies, singing \u201cBella Ciao\u201d \u2013 \u201cgoodnight, beautiful\u201d \u2013 together into the night. Musicians in a Dutch symphony filmed themselves playing Beethoven\u2019s \u201cOde to Joy\u201d individually \u2013 then assembled a compilation video titled \u201cFrom Us, For You.\u201d In Columbus, children played their cellos from their porch so an elderly neighbor could hear. The virus might be keeping people apart; music is bringing them together. Research shows music can help regulate emotion, make us feel connected \u201cMusic is a very effective, easy and cheap way of distracting yourself,\u201d said Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, a professor of communication at The Ohio State University who has studied the connections between people and the music they listen to. Oftentimes we think of other people when we listen to music \u2013 it might remind us of other people and just help us feel connected. And that is a buffer against stress \u2013 human connectedness helps you to feel less stress. That includes the kind of in-person connections made in Italy and Columbus. But it also includes playing a song that reminds you of a happy moment \u2013 maybe one from a concert you enjoyed with friends, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2272,2258,2273,2270,2269,2268,2271],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1650,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648\/revisions\/1650"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}