A Song of Tice and Tear
Party music. Romantic music. Peaceful music. Workout music.
We ensure there’s a background score to many aspects of life when we feel a need to accentuate the emotion of the activity. And we know it helps.
How about sad music ? Heart-wrenching BGM score that we might have heard in a movie, maybe brought us to tears at the movie theater. Is it a thoroughly depressing idea to listen to such music when we’re feeling low or sad ?
How about sad music ? Heart-wrenching BGM score that we might have heard in a movie, maybe brought us to tears at the movie theater. Is it a thoroughly depressing idea to listen to such music when we’re feeling low or sad ?
Sorrow is yet another normal human emotion we all feel. But somehow, we don’t have a lot of space and scope to process our grief. As much as the phrase “don’t air your dirty laundry” is true, it is also plain idiotic (and unhealthy) to pretend you don’t have any dirty laundry.
Maybe you’re going through a difficult phase right now. Maybe you’re dreading an impending misfortune and are helplessly mourning already. Or perhaps, you’re feeling the aftershock of a blast from the past. Maybe all the above! And yet, we all choose to reply with a ‘Fine’ when someone asks us “How are you?’.
Commendable as it is that we choose to not wallow in self pity and it is expected that one should move on because life goes on, I wonder how often we ponder whether we’ve completely processed our grief. Whether we’re really over it or whether it is just deceptively masked under a veil of normalcy, maybe waiting to explode someday, is a very difficult and personal question.
Coming back to the music discussion. I’m an Original Sound Track geek, who can listen to random soundtracks all day long. I once got stuck in an overnight bus journey with just two audio tracks available offline to play on my phone; Stolen Memories and Remembrances, both from Schindler’s List. To try and get my alert mind into some elusive sleep, I started listening to them. Without realizing that the tracks were playing on loop, I started processing some stuff in my head.
The soundtrack of Schindler’s List, composed by the legend John Williams, is very true to the theme of the movie; evokes a deeply poignant emotion, so much that it has moved people (who had no idea about the movie) to major tears on first hearing.
Thinking about that bus journey in retrospection, I realized that I had processed a lot of grief that night; wordlessly, noiselessly but very effectively. Like that extra push you give when working out to upbeat music, my mind had consciously evaporated a lot of grief and negativity. I truly got over a few things I was apparently holding on to, thanks to John Williams.
I’m not saying we should throw a pity party every time we feel low. Nor am I suggesting to start telling our sob-stories whenever someone asks “How’re you doing?”. It’s just that grief is a very natural feeling and needs to be processed properly, no different than not letting success get on your head.
It need not be something you have to handle all by yourself in your head. Or save it for the time you plan to spend in a support group, if and when you find one. It’s not always possible to open up to someone and share stuff. But maybe some music is what you need to properly process it.
Commendable as it is that we choose to not wallow in self pity and it is expected that one should move on because life goes on, I wonder how often we ponder whether we’ve completely processed our grief. Whether we’re really over it or whether it is just deceptively masked under a veil of normalcy, maybe waiting to explode someday, is a very difficult and personal question.
Coming back to the music discussion. I’m an Original Sound Track geek, who can listen to random soundtracks all day long. I once got stuck in an overnight bus journey with just two audio tracks available offline to play on my phone; Stolen Memories and Remembrances, both from Schindler’s List. To try and get my alert mind into some elusive sleep, I started listening to them. Without realizing that the tracks were playing on loop, I started processing some stuff in my head.
The soundtrack of Schindler’s List, composed by the legend John Williams, is very true to the theme of the movie; evokes a deeply poignant emotion, so much that it has moved people (who had no idea about the movie) to major tears on first hearing.
Thinking about that bus journey in retrospection, I realized that I had processed a lot of grief that night; wordlessly, noiselessly but very effectively. Like that extra push you give when working out to upbeat music, my mind had consciously evaporated a lot of grief and negativity. I truly got over a few things I was apparently holding on to, thanks to John Williams.
I’m not saying we should throw a pity party every time we feel low. Nor am I suggesting to start telling our sob-stories whenever someone asks “How’re you doing?”. It’s just that grief is a very natural feeling and needs to be processed properly, no different than not letting success get on your head.
It need not be something you have to handle all by yourself in your head. Or save it for the time you plan to spend in a support group, if and when you find one. It’s not always possible to open up to someone and share stuff. But maybe some music is what you need to properly process it.
We have an Ode to Joy, why not A Song of Tice and Tear ?
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