These days, almost everyone is affected to some degree by stressful conditions and apparently, more and more people are searching for ways to find relief. To prove this to yourself, do a Google search on the word-phrase "stress anxiety" and you'll find results in the millions. Next, add the word "music" (stress anxiety music) and millions more results will appear.
As you'll see, there's clearly a lot of interest in relieving stress and music is becoming more and more acceptable as a way to accomplish that goal.
It is well known that certain types of music have a calming, soothing and uplifting influence upon mind and body. However, not all music is equal in its efficacy and applicability. Why? Because listening to music is a very subjective experience and the reality is that sometimes, a piece of music may work well for one person but not as well for another.
Effectiveness depends upon so many technological, physiological and psychological variables that it is often very difficult if not impossible to determine exactly what it is in music that causes human response. Thus, the only meaningful measurement we have is the degree of feeling we experience as we listen. This is how it has been for centuries
Obviously, 'one-size-fits-all' is not an option. It's just as well. There's already too many digital cookie-cutter sound bytes being passed off as music for stress - and listeners should be more aware that effective music is much more than a compilation of pretty sounds with suggestive titles.
Among its many attributes, truly effective music for stress contains an outstanding characteristic; an inherent ability to alter human perspective. It does this by creating a relaxing, uplifting ambience that gradually helps the listener to deal with stressful conditions in a more positive and constructive manner.
When listening to music, most people assume that the human ear does all the work by registering the sum total of musical information. Up to a point this is correct, but feelings generated by a musical experience are the end result of a more complex physiological and psychological process - an end result that does not immediately become apparent until after the fact.
What about people who are deaf? Can they appreciate music? Yes, but to do so they "listen" differently. There is evidence that skin perceptiveness and cellular resonance also play a part in how they perceive sound. If this is true, the implication is that deaf or not, we all perceive, experience and evaluate music on more than one sensory level.
A case in point is Evelyn Glennie, the famous deaf percussionist who performs with various symphony orchestras worldwide. She does not hear music - she feels it. For more information, do a Google search on "deaf percussionist" (without the quotation marks).
Returning to the subject of stress-relief music, some people might say that the music was "peaceful, soothing, beautiful, uplifting" or something similar. Others might comment that it had no effect - "it just put me to sleep". Either way, the music caused something positive to happen, even though the person sleeping was not consciously aware of it.
By the way, it's not unusual for stressed-out people to fall asleep when listening to relaxing sounds. Quite often, they are the victims of sleep deprivation and the soothing, relaxing nature of stress-relief music unexpectedly provides respite.
By now it should be apparent that there is much more to this subject than a single article can provide. Also, we need to remember that (with the exception of opera or pop), music is essentially a non-verbal medium and words are clearly inadequate when attempting to define it. If we are to find true meaning in music, we must put aside the tendency to analyze and simply listen.
The creation of effective stress-relief music should be taken seriously for if successful, it provides listeners with a powerful way to improve the quality of their lives - and if perchance it puts a few of them to sleep, what's wrong with that? It shows the music worked!
