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Mood Music

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Will:
A quick question based on a curiousity I just had...

Pretty much all of us here listen to music on a damn near constant basis. Most of us have a selection of artists that we not only enjoy, but that have connected with us on a deeper emotional level. I know that I have a tendency to go to music for solace when I am in certain moods - sad, depressed, angry, usually all the so-called "negative" emotions.

My question to you folks is this: How many of you have a certain playlist or collection of songs/artists/records that you turn to whenever you are in a particular mental state? Do you match that mood with the music (sad songs when feeling depressed, etc.) or do you try to counteract it with music that has the opposite feel?

evilbobthebob:
I usually listen to different genres depending on how I'm feeling. If I'm angry or frustrated, for example, I listen to some metal or hardcore, something very angry and fast. If I'm feeling depressed, I turn to softer stuff. I find that the music helps to release all the emotion, so after listening to a lot of Shai Hulud I don't feel quite so pissed off as I was before. I generally turn to my favourite bands when I'm in a really focused mood (that's not the word though...I mean a mood where you know exactly how you feel and it's really strong...).

And I have an entire playlist of songs that remind me of one girl  :oops:

Cernunnos:
I think most of us listen to different music based on our moods. I know i do. Especially since it's possible to find good music in any genre if you look hard enough, and I don't determine whether or not i like something by what genre it is, I have a lot of choices. I might as well choose what kind of music I listen to based on my emotional state, since i can't make myself specialise otherwise. I can't really listen to music when angry, though. No matter how cathartic it might be to another person, I would just get angry at the music somehow. It feels like an interruption, for whatever reason. Otherwise, I definitely alter my music choices based on the setting, both social and internal. To me, it's more important that the music have the right intensity level than it be "happy" or "Sad" or "angry" to fit the occasion.

Will:
Yeah, I percieve most of the folks on this forum to be the type of listeners that would tie their emotions to the music they choose; not too many "radio background noise" people post here. I'm more intrigued by the difference in strategy; I tend to pick music that complements my various emotional states - at the moment, I am dealing with a particularly brutal day of depression with heavy doses of A silver Mt. Zion - rather than attempting to alter my own menta presence with music.

I guess it's a matter of "Music as participatory therapy" vs. "Music as medicine"

Dimmukane:
I tend to visualize what I'm listening to, at least for the stuff I really like.  So sometimes I'm listening to the music for the accompanying image and not the mood.  But when I am listening to music for the mood, I do the complementary thing as well.

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