Purposeful listening
When we listen with purpose, music gives us what we need when we need it
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There are two ways that we listen to music, passively–which is most of the time–and purposefully. Listening passively is when we have music on ‘in the background’ while doing something, listening while cleaning, driving, going for a walk, working, reading, you name it.
But purposeful listening is when the music is the main attraction, the focus. When we listen to music with purpose, we ‘get’ more from it; the textures, the lyrical connotation, the underlying nuance. We may focus on the cool bass line (one of the coolest is John Deacon’s bass line in Queen’s You’re My Best Friend), the interesting drum fills (obviously anything by Rush), the background vocals (Did you know that the whispering background vocal on the chorus of Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain is none other than Mick Jagger? Could the song be about him?), or the mix (how Sting’s vocals on the Police’s Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic feels ‘way in the back’).
Also, purposeful listening invites us to pay more attention to the lyrics, the interesting meter, or how the vibe of the music connects with our emotions at the time — and when we do, we get something more from the music, such as validation of our feelings, empathic connection (Think Everybody Hurts by R.E.M.), or more of an aesthetic experience. This is where music gives us what we need when we need it. Sometimes we need to wallow in the melancholy of Leonard Cohen, the reflective profoundness of Joni Mitchell, or the empowerment of Lizzo.
When we listen to music with purpose, we experience the entire aural and emotional profile that connects our mind… body… and soul.
Music therapy
In music therapy, the music is always purposeful. The music is a tool to help work towards a need or a goal. It’s where the inherent elements in music work with the body as we ‘entrain’ to rhythm, tempo, and timbre. Great music builds tension, and then when it resolves, we actually feel it in our bodies — the goosebumps we get, the ‘awe’ factor. Think Beethoven’s Fifth. The entire four-movement piece builds from the famous, dark motif until the breathtaking explosion of relief and joy when we hit the final movement. We physically ‘feel’ the resolve.
As a music therapist working in a hospital setting, when working with someone who is in pain, I may use tension and release in the music to help guide them through their discomfort. I may start by having them focus on their pain as they breathe into it while I’m holding on a minor chord (Em) on the guitar. Then, when I prompt them to exhale, I’ll resolve the minor chord (Em) to the major equivalent (Emaj); the resolve. Then we may go to Am - Amaj, Dm - Dmaj, etc., to hold the tension on the breath in (the minor chord)… then let it all go, or release, on the exhale (the major chord). This can help ‘move’ some of the pain out of the body, which decreases pain perception.
Or… If someone is extremely anxious I may use ‘clinical’ improvisation on the guitar. Clinical improvisation is creating the music in the moment, purposefully, to ‘meet’ the patient where they are, and then gradually changing and manipulating the music to help bring them to where we want them to be; to help prompt a relaxation response. When I initiate the music, it sounds like how I imagine they are feeling. There’s dissonance, minor modes, and tension. The music connects to their deepest fears and entrains with their anxious feelings. In doing so, the music also provides validation and empathy. Then, once we are fully aesthetically connected, I’ll start moving the dissonance to more harmonic themes, the minor modes to major foundations, the tension to resolve. This prompts a relaxation response in the body. There have been many times when someone is so anxious when we start that they are rolled up in a ball in the bed and shaking. Then after 30 minutes of this type of intervention, they are sleeping. Again, the music purposefully meets them where they are, then helps take them to a more comforting place.
The purposeful use of songs in music therapy
Songs give us so much. Especially for someone who is coping with being in the hospital, dealing with the emotional pain of a life-threatening illness, or navigating a new cancer diagnosis. Songs connect us to others and to ourselves. Songs speak for us when we can’t find the words. And songs help us reflect on life, and our mortality, say, when a doctor suggests stopping treatment because it’s no longer working and it’s time to look towards a more palliative plan. Songs can help process it all. When we are working through a myriad of medical challenges, we can find profound connection in music, specifically the lyrics of meaningful songs.
She’s in her 60’s, with a new cancer diagnosis, and is in the hospital going through treatment. Her doctor said to me, “Her body is wrecked, her mind is wrecked, can you please visit?”
I sat with her for a few moments, just trying to be present as she looked exhausted and pained and anxious and... all of it. I played some ‘soundscape’ on the guitar, just to hold her in the space. She closed her eyes. Then I moved into some songs that were, perhaps, meaningful for her. I started with Stand By Me.
My tempo and arpeggiated accompaniment were pensive against the somewhat positive lyrics. Her face softened with the music and after the song, without opening her eyes, she said, “Yesss...” I moved through a few additional songs, and she really seemed to fully take the music in. She was languidly moving her arms and occasionally sang a few familiar lyrics with me. I kept the mood reflective but started adding a little energy, for some movement. I closed it out with a relaxed, yet uplifting, version of I Can See Clearly Now. When the music concluded, after a moment she slowly opened her eyes and said:
“These songs make me happy and sad at the same time. It’s just what I need.”
That statement. It almost sums up what music therapy is. And what purposeful music can do. Music brings, prompts, and releases held in emotions, but music also has an inherent underlying beauty in it that we connect with. It’s the perfect dichotomy of projecting what is being felt against what wants to be felt. It’s all the emotions, together in the moment, funneled through the aesthetic experience.
In the hospital, and in life, purposeful music has the capacity to engage multiple physiological and neural systems that not only help the body, but mend the mind, and lift the soul.
Purposeful music can give reprieve and release, prompt a relaxation response, bring connection and a sense of control — and offer comfort during the very last moments of life.
Purposeful music gives us what we need when we need it. When you are finding yourself in times of trouble. Listen to some music… purposefully.
The healing power of music.
(The stories presented in this newsletter are based on accounts or experiences and are not actual accounts or experiences.)
Raymond Leone, MMT, MT-BC is a board-certified music therapist based in Northern Virginia and writes extensively about music therapy and music and wellness.
Did you know that if you hit the heart at the top or the bottom of this email you will make my day and it will make it easier for others to find this publication. Thanks!
A wonderful description of how music therapy works—thanks for sharing this! Blessings, Bob Pomeroy