Many say that music is to your soul as oxygen is to the body; it’s what keeps you alive and gives meaning to everything else in life. Music is relatable to your emotions, it can touch your heart, can stir nostalgia, and music can quite easily be one of the best ways to improve your mood. However, when we get older and lose touch with the simple things that make life better, including our inner song or musical voice, we lose something powerful. There is no doubt that losing something as powerful as music can leave us feeling like a different person from who we were before. Losing music can leave us feeling lost inside ourselves, losing touch with the music that once kept us grounded and provided a great sense of purpose. Continue reading to discover other reasons we love music and five great ways to stay connected to your music.
Why Do We Love Music?
From our earliest existence, many of us were exposed to music. Whether it was while still in the womb when our parents were blasting music or as infants being sung to, we came to hear music early in life. While nursery rhymes were our introduction, by two years old, the sound of music, the beat, the vibration, and the rhythm left little bodies wiggling. And although grade school music was far different from what we typically heard on the radio, weekly music classes were an opportunity for our little voices to be discovered.
Even though music at a young age was fun, deeper connections to music came later in life for most people. Science has shown that our brain patterns change when we listen to music. There is a release of dopamine that can change our mood and leave us with a sensation equivalent to being tantalized. This feel-good sensation is what keeps us going back and staying connected to the music we love. Today, adults tune into music daily for many different reasons. Some of the benefits of music include:
- Music helps reduce stress
- Music can help improve cognitive performance
- Music helps us sleep better
- Music can help manage pain
- Music put us in a better mood
- Music can help us eat less
In addition to having our car stereo or bedside alarm clock turned in on the music stations we love, there are other ways for us to stay connected to music. Below are five ways to make that happen with ease.
Create a Playlist
A playlist is a stored digital space where you have the music of your choice. That storage can either be on your smartphone, computer, or tablet. Unlike listening to the radio, your playlist is commercial-free and full of music that you have personally selected. Most online services offer easy-to-use interfaces that let you search for and save songs according to the genre, mood, etc.; therefore, don’t feel like you have to stick to only one type of playlist. The beauty of creating a playlist is that you can mix and match or create your playlist based on any category that you see fit to make. That means that you can have a playlist of Christmas music, gospel music, dance music, jazz music, and any other types of music that you like. Many create a playlist of upbeat music for exercise and working out ballads for bedtime, and other playlists to match occasions and moods. When you hear a song you like, press “Add Song” and choose to save it to your library. Creating playlists is accessible from your library, where you store all the music you like. Once you’re finished adding songs to your playlist, be sure to organize playlists so you can enjoy them even on the move on your wired headset. Whether you want to add new songs to your existing collection or start fresh, making a playlist of music that inspires you is an excellent way to get back in touch with your current music taste.
Rank Your Favorite Albums
There was a time when new music drops meant going to the store to purchase the album in the not too distant past. Although getting the vinyl was the goal, the album cover was a treasure. We studied those album covers inside and out, and if we were lucky, it was a bifold album cover with bonuses like pictures, lyrics, and credits. Album covers told a story that made the music more relatable, more crave-worthy, and deepened our connection to the artist and the music. They became wall posters that kept us connected to the music we loved by listening to the album and visually seeing the cover. Another way to stay connected to your musical past is by ranking your favorites. This can be done digitally or with the actual album cover. To start, identify your top 10 albums. Then take a look through each album and think about which ones hold the most significance to you. Which ones touched your heart and spoke to your soul. Which ones made you want to listen to them again and again. Which ones still make you smile whenever you hear them. These are the albums that should remain near the top of your list. Also, consider adding other artists you haven’t listened to in a while. Perhaps they’re the type of artist you didn’t connect with or even enjoyed much. However, after revisiting their work and learning more about their music, you may discover that they had more impact than you initially thought. Whether you rank your albums digitally or use the hard album cover, organizing your favorite album is a great way to stay connected to the music you love.
Write Lyrics To Your Favorite Songs
Singing along to our favorite artists to songs we love can be a great way to boost your mood and share your feelings. Whether we sing off-key or have great vocals, belting out those tunes with artists we love can be pretty endearing. However, how often do we find ourselves not knowing the lyrics and humming certain parts of the song? Even worse, have you ever caught yourself saying the wrong words at specific points in a song? For instance, in the song “This Christmas,” you say, sugar ham, sugar ham instead of the correct lyrics, shake a hand, shake a hand. Today, we can find just about anything we want by using Google. That includes the correct lyrics to almost all of our favorite songs. Knowing the correct lyrics helps us understand the message and the melody clearer. While many find that writing those lyrics is an exercise that helps with memorizing the words, others download song lyrics for their own collection. More creative people who love certain songs go further and write their own lyrics to some of their favorite songs. If you’re not familiar with lyric writing yet, now might be the perfect time to take up this practice. Start by taking note of any lyrics that speak to you – they could be about your own life or even about someone else’s. Then create your version of these lines using your personal experience. This exercise can be enjoyable, especially if you’re writing about people close to you. The result will be a piece of poetry that has come straight from the heart. Also, be sure to include any other details or small stories to go along with your main idea.
Listen To Your Favorite Artists While Doing Chores Around The House
Instead of being a day for sleeping in, many households dedicate Saturdays to cleaning their homes from top to bottom. That includes changing and washing linens, scrubbing or vacuuming all floors, cleaning all bathrooms, opening windows so fresh air could come in, and more. And while to some, house cleaning is one of those tasks that it’s easier to procrastinate on, others have found a way to make this time more pleasurable and, dare I say, enjoyable. Having the melodious sounds of your favorite artist and music playing while cleaning helps make the jobs go faster and create an excellent vibe for cleaning. It doesn’t matter whether you’re cleaning your room or washing dishes – listening to your favorite artist can make even the most mundane tasks more enjoyable.
Although many people will profess to do anything except clean, having music as a backdrop while cleaning has other benefits. Some of those benefits are:
- Grooving to music helps focus on the grime you are cleaning.
- Music helps you be more productive.
- Music makes you feel good doing chores that you may not like doing.
As mentioned above, creating a playlist for every occasion is not only helpful; it’s inspiring and motivating. Therefore, regardless of if you are a fan of R&B, country, rap music, or any other genre, you can even have a playlist for cleaning. There is also a whole category of songs that you can dedicate to your cleaning time. Songs like:
- Vanessa Williams, Work To Do
- I.A., Paper Planes
- Fergie, A Little Party Never Never Killed Nobody
- Beyoncé, Run The World
- Taylor Swift, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
- Lady Gaga, Just Dance
These songs are suggestions and a great place to begin a motivational playlist for cleaning. Build this song you love, songs that get your body moving, and pieces that will inspire you while you clean. They will get you through your cleaning session and are a great way to stay connected to the music you love.
Make A List Of Things You Appreciate About Your Favorite Music
One of the best ways to connect to the music you listen to is to find and show ways to express your appreciation for it. There are several ways to do it that don’t take time or energy. One way is to think about those songs and why you love them. Do you love the way they use instruments together? How do they blend sounds and melodies? What makes them unique? Take some time to jot down a few notes about these factors and compile them into a short essay or journal entry. You’ll find that doing this exercise can deepen your appreciation for your favorite music and also give you a little inspiration to continue making discoveries as you grow older.
Other ways to show appreciation and stay connected to the music you love is:
- Purchase sheet music for a favorite song.
If you play an instrument and that instrument is fundamental in a song you like, get the sheet music and learn to play it on your instrument of choice. - Learn more about your favorite artist.
Again, Google is an amazing tool for learning just about anything we want to know about someone. In addition to Wikipedia, there are tons of published articles about artists, big and small. You will go beyond knowing their age and marital status. Researching and learning more about your favorite artist helps you connect to them more deeply. - Find live concerts featuring artists you love.
If you have access to YouTube, you can find a treasure trove of live concerts. Finding artists whose music you appreciate live in concert will deepen your appreciation for those artists. You will see firsthand how they interact with the crowd, vibe to their music, and how much they love performing for their fans. - Listen to the entire album.
We often purchase an album because of one or two songs on it. We play those songs over and over and skip over everything else. However, try listening to the entire album to see if you notice a theme. Are there songs that string together or a message that the artist is trying to convey? - Try meditating to music.
Although meditation is the practice of being mindful, having music that you love playing during your meditation session is a way to help you stay more engaged in your session.
It is essential to stay connected to the music you love as you have read. In addition to being inspirational and motivational, there are many other benefits to having the music you love in your life. Above I have listed five ways to stay connected to the music you love. By following these five simple steps, you will be able to remain related to your music throughout your entire life. It is a great way to stay in touch with what inspires you, and you will always be able to return to that place where creativity flows freely. As long as you keep working hard to cultivate this creative spirit within yourself, you won’t ever lose sight of what matters. And when inspiration strikes again, you’ll know exactly where to look for it.
