Using Music to Improve Your Mood
Music Therapy Playlists: Part Two
Using Music to Improve Your Mood
The Heart’s Way, Imagery and Insights
Welcome to Part Two of our two-part series about Music Playlists. We’ll be exploring using music to improve your mood. Music can be wonderfully healing, and music playlists can have a remarkably positive impact on our moods and feelings. Let’s get started!
A Brief Review of Music Therapy Playlists: Part One
Previously on The Heart’s Way, Imagery and Insights I published Music Therapy Playlists: Part One. In this post we explored themed playlists and the benefits of curating these types of playlists:
- To process/explore emotions, i.e., grief
- To accompany an activity, i.e., study, exercise
- To relax
- To improve motivation, i.e., setting goals or decreasing procrastination
- To improve concentration and/or focus
- To enhance creativity
- To improve sleep
- To worship and praise
- To celebrate or commemorate special times or seasons, i.e., Christmas, birthdays
For more information regarding the profession and definition of Music Therapy, along with access to several themed music playlists, click on the blog post link: Music Therapy Playlists: Part One.
And Now on To Part Two: Using Music to Improve Your Mood
Part Two of this two-part series explores music playlists that are created for the purpose of improving your mood, sometimes referred to as emotion regulation.
Emotion regulation is the ability to exert control over one’s own emotional state. It may involve behaviors such as rethinking a challenging situation to reduce anger or anxiety, hiding visible signs of sadness or fear, or focusing on reasons to feel happy or calm.
Psychology Today
Music can be helpful to improve or regulate our moods. Have you ever listened to a song and had an emotional reaction to it? Maybe it helped to calm you, bring you to tears, or make you smile. Some music can be relaxing and some very invigorating. It has been said that music can take you to places where words cannot.
Because music is a very subjective experience, it can move you to think and feel in ways that are totally individualized. What may soothe you may irritate someone else. That is why music playlists to improve our moods can be so interesting. What may be the perfect line-up of songs for you may be completely disinteresting to someone else. The musical combinations are endless!
Creating Music Playlists to Improve Your Mood
Let’s delve into how you can make your own music playlists that enhance emotion regulation.
(For quick reference I’ll include a worksheet at the end that you can use to make your own playlists).
These playlists are based on the iso principle in Music Therapy.
The term “iso principle” is unique to the field of music therapy. It was first introduced in the late 1940’s by Altshuler as a method of mood management in which the music therapist provides music that matches their client’s mood, then gradually changes the music to help the client shift to a different mood.
Central Ohio Music Therapy (This is an excellent short article!)
Music playlists can help you change negative feelings to more positive feelings just with the use of music, played in a certain order (playlist).
Utilizing the Iso Principle music playlists can be developed to move:
- From sadness or depression to happiness or contentment
- From anxiousness to calm
- From anger to relaxation, etc.
Basic Steps to Create Your Own Playlist
In order to do this, choose 4 to 5 (or more) songs that you enjoy listening to that you think will transition you from a negative feeling to a more positive feeling. Start with a song that matches or represents your current (negative) feeling and then gradually add songs (with each song) to achieve a more positive feeling until you’ve reached your goal feeling.
Once you’ve chosen the songs and put them in the best order, then create a playlist on your phone or device. That way, when you’re feeling (fill in the blank) and want to improve or regulate your mood, turn on your tunes and let the music do the rest!
An Example Playlist
Here is a link (click on blue highlighted area) to listen to an example playlist I created:
Music to Improve Your Mood Playlist
It focuses on changing a depressed mood to one of contentment through 10 songs. I used non-vocal music for this playlist. Personally, I am drawn to non-vocal music when connecting to songs emotionally. Others, however, prefer music with lyrics/words to enhance the melodies, harmonies, and rhythms. This points to the fact that music is totally subjective!
In order to listen to the full songs on this music playlist you will need to open Spotify on your listening device. Spotify has a free app that is easy to download and use.
Here is the list of music for the Music to Improve Your Mood Playlist, along with notes to clarify how I feel the music moves me from a feeling of depression to contentment (remember, these are my feelings…they may not match with yours…and that’s OK!):
- Letter From Home by Pat Metheny Group – sad, contemplative, melancholy, slow.
- Between Earth and Sky by Robin Bullock – guitar music with flowing melodies; makes me think of memories.
- The Cradle by George Winston – piano music, wistful, moderate pace; makes me wonder what’s next for me in my life?
- All I Ever Wanted by Jim Brickman – piano music, longing, yearning melody; at this point I’m beginning to think that I want to change how I feel.
- Grand Passion by John Tesh – piano/orchestral music, hopeful, a little jazzy; starting to contemplate that something new may be possible.
- Fields of Gold by Tommy Emmanuel – guitar/orchestral music, more upbeat and positive; I can imagine myself dancing!
- Little Martha by Jerry Douglas – guitar music, sunshiny (is that a word?); it’s like taking a brisk walk-in nature.
- Klimbim by Don Ross – guitar music, upbeat; reminds me of a summer car ride.
- Round Thing by Luca Stricagnoli – guitar music, fun, bouncy, happy; makes me feel free with childlike simplicity.
- Santorini-Remastered by Yanni – orchestral music, expansive, diverse tempos; I’ve reached my goal feeling – welcome world, here I am!
Time to Create Your Own Music Playlist to Improve Your Mood
Now it’s your turn to create a music playlist to improve your mood! Here are some suggested steps (just fill in the blanks!):
HOW I FEEL RIGHT NOW: _____________________
HOW I WANT TO FEEL (GOAL FEELING): ____________________
CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONAL PLAYLIST:
- SONG TITLE (HOW YOU FEEL NOW): ____________________
- SONG TITLE: _____________________
- SONG TITLE: ____________________
- SONG TITLE: ____________________
- SONG TITLE (GOAL FEELING): ____________________
Have you reached your goal feeling or mood? If yes, great! If not, then you may want to expand your list to include more songs to give yourself more time to regulate your mood. Or you may want to change your song selections. That’s the beauty of this type of playlist. It can be individualized to your specific wants or needs.
A Helpful Worksheet to Download
As promised above, here’s the link to download the worksheet to create your own playlists:
Music Playlists To Improve Your Mood Worksheet
Happy creating!