Monday, August 20, 2007
Ever think of music as a mind-altering drug?
I notice it as I ride back and forth to work, almost the only time that I really listen to music anymore. In particular, I notice the contrast between the last few months when I had quit listening to music while driving, the past before that and the present now since I've loaded up my little iPod Shuffle (another story) and have had it with me the last week or so.
I've enjoyed Clannad's music for years—still I only have a couple of their albums—and I put a few of their songs in the iPod the other day. I find Moya Brennon's vocals to be beautifully evocative, reflective, intimate. The songs I chose are sung in Gaelic and so I hear complex sounds, not words that I can assign meaning to. Purely emotional content is communicated. The effect on my mood is more subtle than, say, alcohol but if I watch for it, it's detectable.
The next questions would be: Is the effect just associational, that is, stemming from events at another time when I listened to the piece? Is it addictive? (I would tend to answer in the affirmative on this.) Are there other sources of the effect? When I "watch for it", is that self-fulfilling?
The silliest part of it is that I often chose music that one might think would bring my mood down and, sure enough, it does. Brilliant, huh?
One has to laugh.
I notice it as I ride back and forth to work, almost the only time that I really listen to music anymore. In particular, I notice the contrast between the last few months when I had quit listening to music while driving, the past before that and the present now since I've loaded up my little iPod Shuffle (another story) and have had it with me the last week or so.
I've enjoyed Clannad's music for years—still I only have a couple of their albums—and I put a few of their songs in the iPod the other day. I find Moya Brennon's vocals to be beautifully evocative, reflective, intimate. The songs I chose are sung in Gaelic and so I hear complex sounds, not words that I can assign meaning to. Purely emotional content is communicated. The effect on my mood is more subtle than, say, alcohol but if I watch for it, it's detectable.
The next questions would be: Is the effect just associational, that is, stemming from events at another time when I listened to the piece? Is it addictive? (I would tend to answer in the affirmative on this.) Are there other sources of the effect? When I "watch for it", is that self-fulfilling?
The silliest part of it is that I often chose music that one might think would bring my mood down and, sure enough, it does. Brilliant, huh?
One has to laugh.
# posted by goldpython @ 8:11 AM 
