Sounds And Our Moods – “Floating Down a River Named Emotion”

Different sounds and music can affect our moods drastically. One of my favorite songs to try to relax to has some beautiful sounds from instruments that you don’t hear too often.

Now playing:
Incubus – “Aqueous Transmission”
Album: Morning View

If you haven’t done so yet, please check out my Personal Playlist page. I update it with all of the albums I discuss in my blog posts!

I would like you to take a moment to listen to this song. Even if you already know the song, stop what you are doing, play this video, close your eyes, and take it all in.

There are so many layers and textures to this song. The music sounds so rich, yet so pure, all at once. After doing a little research on this song, I learned that a Japanese orchestra accompanied Incubus on this song. One particular Instrument used was a “pipa.” They even have the sounds of the frogs outside of their Malibu studio where they recorded this album! And we can’t leave out Brandon Boyd’s vocals. It was as if this song was made specifically for his voice. I don’t think anyone else could have pulled this song off quite like him. It’s so meditative and hypnotizing!

Water In Lyrics

Once again, I notice the water theme in calming songs. As I listen to this song, I imagine relaxing while floating down the river that Boyd sings about. I just let the current take me, leaving all of my anxieties behind.

Sound Vibrations

Every year during one of our science units, I teach my first graders the science behind sound. All sound is made through vibrations. We experiment with rubber-bands of different sizes to show how they produce different pitches.

We can all agree that some sounds are more soothing than others. Tires screeching on the road, nails scraping down a chalkboard, or a baby’s high pitched wails are definitely NOT on the list of soothing sounds. Those types of sounds would normally cause anxiety.

I feel it is so important to pay close attention to the sounds that we expose ourselves to on a daily basis. Those sounds can make a huge impact on our moods. We need to be proactive and aware how sounds make us feel. Stay in tune with your feelings. Now, I know there are some sounds you may not be able to avoid, like maybe an annoying coworker constantly whining or noisy traffic outside of your workplace or home. But what we CAN do is replace it with a more soothing sound, or at least work on incorporating more soothing sounds into our daily lives so it is more prominent compared to the sounds that cause anxiety and stress.

Research

I’ve been doing a little bit of research on music therapy in whatever spare time I can find between teaching virtually and blogging. I found a very interesting article from Positive Psychology. According to this article,

Let’s think about those five items in that list. Don’t you think we accomplished all five things from listening to that song? If you didn’t accomplish all five, then I’m sure you checked off the majority of that list!

Today’s Takeaway

Today I explored so much about sounds and our moods. I’m already listening to music daily after work to unwind and then blog about it. I think my next step is to research more about Tibetan singing bowls. It might be a good investment to make as I continue my journey into exploring music as therapy and my constant quest for mental wellness.