Have you heard of music therapy? I don’t know much about it other than I hear it’s a wonderful tool for Alzheimer’s patients. To me the concept is that a song from your past lights up a part of your brain that causes a positive emotional reaction. This makes sense to me on some levels this thought that music can ignite a little fire that is losing its spark all while evoking a positive emotion. It does seem therapeutic. I see this idea of evoking emotion manifesting in me even in my healthy state as I shout, “I love this song”. Put your hands up if you’ve been there! So, I can certainly image the positive effects it has on those whose memories are being compromised. There is one song lately that brings back memories of when I was young in my career. Yeah, who knew Cher belting “Do you believe in life after love” would mean so much to me. I still strut like the icon in her fishnet onesy when I hear it. I think that’s the point.
So fast forward to today at a time far, far, far (yep that’s a lot a fars) from my career starting point and to what I have termed as Act 3 of my professional pursuits. Here I sit typing a confession to you readers. I (pause here for effect) have a revolving soundtrack that plays in my head daily. No different than Zoey’s Extraordinary Play List if you ever managed to watch the 2 season NBC series. My playlist is on random and sometimes repeat but it’s consistent and the volume is turned up, way up.
My sister once said that a person will often narrate their life in real time. I honestly thought that I was the only one who did that, a quirky thing I did and I kept it private because well it seemed like that should be kept to oneself. As the confession continues not only do I narrate my activities on the daily like so many others apparently, but this narration is accompanied by a musical soundtrack (all you therapist out there feel free to weigh in on this)!
Here’s an example of how it plays out with me. I post something on social media about Bergy Bag. At times I have gotten a response that feels a little negative and instructs my clients and future clients that one should just go to the dollar store and buy an insulated lunch box rather than spend money on our designer quality cooling cosmetic bags. When I read this opposing comment in my head Adam Lampert’s “What do you want from me” starts playing immediately. What am I in a Pitch Perfect sing off? Maybe I am trying to lighten the mood for myself. Afterall designing, building, and launching a brand from scratch on your own can be frightening and at times make you feel vulnerable and unsure. Not to mention that I have bootstrapped the whole thing so no pressure there either. Zero. Zilch. Nada. So as the chorus continues in my head, “just don’t give up I am working it out”, it occurs to me perhaps playing these lyrics is more of an inner strength tap reminding me I can think differently and creatively on the fly and even under attack. Or I am bat sh$t cray cray either way my man Adam calms the waters so I can keep moving my ship forward.
We see professional athletes embrace music too. Maybe a little different than a soundtrack to accompany life’s moments and more of a pump you up Hans and Frans sort of thing. I think they call it an entry song. We have all seen and heard an entry song played on the baseball field. The five to ten seconds of the song blares through the stadium, the crowd nods their head and stomps their feet to the beat as the athlete walks up to the plate like he owns whole place. The obvious effect here is to get the athlete in the zone so they can well in this case knock it out of the park. It’s likely effective because they have been doing it for years and it has trickled down to recreational wake boarders and 10-year-old ice dancing pairs – I have witnessed both in all their weekend warrior and adorable glory.
It's safe to say music is healing, motivating and a daily soundtrack personally played as someone walks through life. For all the scenes in life this is likely why there are all genres of music; ballads and anthems, shake it all out of your system heavy metal and mood setting Yacht Rock. Side note I have some really good one liners and I would love to guest DJ on SiriusXM 311 Yacht Rock. Just like the anchors we drop we can all hang here for a while. There is more where that came from like it or not.
So has this segment of MUSIC AND YOU comes to a conclusion, I have two questions;
First question; What role does music play if your life?
- Therapy
- Soundtrack
- Motivation
Second question – What’s YOUR entry song?
I am inspired to create a playlist for my 80-year-old self with the title “hey boss babe, remember this one”
And the opening track is…
This was written by Heather Dziedzic, founder of Bergy Bag. Our patent pending bags are made with designer construction and materials, are insulated and have a pocket for an ice pack. They are not ordinary cosmetic bags, they are cooler than that. When it’s hot Bergy Bag is meant to keep your cosmetics safe from melting, your phone from overheating and your serums from exploding in a gorgeous way that allows for fashion to meet function.
In case it wasn’t obvious with the grammar mistakes in this blog I wrote this the old fashion way. Partly because I don’t know how to use chat gpt yet and partly because I am up for the challenge.
