# Therapeutic music



## iloveChopin (Nov 24, 2013)

Probably been asked and answered ad nauseum but I'll ask again. Mostly because at the specific moment I'm asking, I feel an almost overwhelming need to hear or read a reassuring answer. 

Whenever I feel as if I just can't go on any longer trying to cope with "the world", whatever that means at the moment, I put on one of the two or three CDs I've made myself, of what I call my "gentle music". The kinds of soft slow classical pieces that give me peace. Sometimes when I'm listening to the disc I wonder how I could ever possibly make it thru another day if I knew I could never again hear such beauty. 

So--three questions: 

1) Who else among you sees, hears, and, yes, almost even "feels" music at that level?

2) What are some of your favorites? For me, a lot is by Bach, Chopin, and Handel. All of it is what I'd characterize as slow, soft, pensive, and gentle. 

3) The toughest question; the one I really need the most help with right now. IF you do put on music like this because you DO need the therapeutic value you crave when you put it in, how do you cope if you just keep sinking closer to the edge of an abyss that you think you simply can't escape no matter how beautiful the music is? What do you do if you THINK life has gotten so hard that even music this beautiful just can't solve your problems? 

Obviously nothing is ever REALLY that bad! I know that. But sometimes it feels like it's close and even Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring by Virgil Fox doesn't completely bring me back from the edge. What then?


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

I find that sacred music often helps to comfort and inspire me. This may not be the case for everyone, depending on a person's individual religious beliefs and philosophies. For me personally, sacred music gives me the sense of something bigger than myself, something beyond my own specific problems.

Some of the sacred works that I often turn to: Haydn's Creation, Bach's B-minor Mass, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. Also (thanks to recent suggestions in the sacred music forum), I've started listening to religious works for solo piano by Liszt and Messiaen.


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## Richard8655 (Feb 19, 2016)

Bettina said:


> I find that sacred music often helps to comfort and inspire me. This may not be the case for everyone, depending on a person's individual religious beliefs and philosophies. For me personally, sacred music gives me the sense of something bigger than myself, something beyond my own specific problems.
> 
> Some of the sacred works that I often turn to: Haydn's Creation, Bach's B-minor Mass, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. Also (thanks to recent suggestions in the sacred music forum), I've started listening to religious works for solo piano by Liszt and Messiaen.


These are inspirational for me too, although I'm not religious. Maybe looking at it from perspective of the cosmos rather than God or Jesus. But no requiems included I see. I find them affecting me in a deeper, darker way. Not sure why that form of sacred music is so appealing. Seems to touch the psyche in a particular way. But your point about something bigger than oneself is well put.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I find the beauty in Bach's Keyboard Partitas' sarabandes, especially calming and consoling. I question if Bach's intent here was "secular". For me it is spiritual music on the highest level.


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## iloveChopin (Nov 24, 2013)

Thanks folks. 

I definitely agree with Bettina and others about the comfort and solace one can get from sacred music in particular, although not about Missa Solemnis! :lol: It has never been one of my favorites, but I digress! 

As for the b Minor Mass: I would agree in a heartbeat that it is one of the greatest of all choral pieces. Every time I listen to the Crucifixus in particular, I marvel at how well Bach matched whatever chord the upper three voices were in, anywhere in the movement, with wherever the marvelous ostinato bass happened to be, from note to note, through the entire selection. Every single chord or note the four voices sing "fits", no matter what key you may think any of it is in! Simply marvelous writing.

And one of my other favorites, as long as I'm on the subject of four part choral works, is Verdi's Four Sacred Pieces. I think those are just about as good as four part choral writing gets!

No question at all that any of these pieces (well, maybe not Missa Solemnis! ) has the power to solve just about all my momentary worldly problems.

Thx again.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

For me, what works is listening to Messiaen organ works ... I can be totally rejuvenated after listening to these works, especially in a darkened room.


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## Nate Miller (Oct 24, 2016)

iloveChopin said:


> Probably been asked and answered ad nauseum but I'll ask again. Mostly because at the specific moment I'm asking, I feel an almost overwhelming need to hear or read a reassuring answer.
> 
> Whenever I feel as if I just can't go on any longer trying to cope with "the world", whatever that means at the moment, I put on one of the two or three CDs I've made myself, of what I call my "gentle music". The kinds of soft slow classical pieces that give me peace. Sometimes when I'm listening to the disc I wonder how I could ever possibly make it thru another day if I knew I could never again hear such beauty.
> 
> ...


first off, I found a really good support group for people who just can't stand the world anymore. Its called "Everybody". They meet down at the bar.

Second, did you know that there is really a legitimate world of music therapy? It doesn't so much deal with your mood, but it focuses more on regular people using music to engage each other and stuff like that. It is really good in working with children with learning disabilities or special needs. I've also seen it used for corporate team building exercises.

I've had people approach me about recording some of my classical guitar arrangements for a CD of therapeutic music, but nothing ever really came of it that I know of. I played the sessions, recorded what they asked for, got paid, and never heard any more about it.

and finally, I want to point out that nothing can "make" you feel any particular way. It is always your choice to be happy or to be sad, regardless of what the situation is. I'm not trying to say that the problems you are facing aren't real, I just want to say that music isn't making you feel better, YOU are making you feel better. So with that in mind, if you can make yourself feel better, then why not just take things as they come and don't let things get you down.

...its just a thought


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