# What do you listen to when things aren't going your way?



## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

I was just curious, what classical music cheers you up?


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

I'm one of those for whom music is food, not medicine. 

If I'm down, I'm down, period. 'Down' does not stop me from fully enjoying listening to something, or playing something... but that is all done while I stay down. 

What brings me out of 'down' is whatever was bringing me down changing; of if what brings me down does not change or I cannot influence that, I have to bring myself up while not relying upon music.

Up or down, ya gotta eat....


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

I'm one of those for whom music is food, not medicine. 

If I'm down, I'm down, period. 'Down' does not stop me from fully enjoying listening to something, or playing something... but that is all done while I stay down. 

What brings me out of 'down' is whatever was bringing me down changing: if what brings me down does not change or I cannot influence that, I have to bring myself up while not relying upon music.

Up or down, ya gotta eat....


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

> What do you listen to when things aren't going your way?


Definitely Schoenberg & atonal music.

Music which doesn't go anywhere at all


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

Beethoven!


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Mendelssohn.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Like _PetrB_, I don't use music as medicine, though I sometimes did in my whippersnapper days. Even then I employed the Pile It On principle. A strong dose of Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony had a cathartic effect on depression, apparently persuading me that things weren't _that_ bad.


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## DrKilroy (Sep 29, 2012)

I have not had this recently, but I usually listen to Ravel's complete piano works - it does not obviously cheer me up, but rather matches my mood. 

Best regards, Dr


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

Music can be food, but it can also be like healthy food - which improves one's general well-being. Such is the beauty of the excellent Beethoven or Haydn symphony. I find Beethoven more cathartic and Haydn more as a positive opposite to how I feel.


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

Nothing, really. I don't want to associate music I like with a lousy mental state.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

I guess I don't listen to anything that "cheers me up" if I am down. 

Instead, when I am down I think, "What would I like to be the last thing I hear before I die?" in which case Mozart and Mahler get a lot of play time.

Mozart's Requiem & Don Giovanni Overture.
Mahler's Adagietto from the 5th Symphony & Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde & Der Abschiedfrom Das Lied Von Der Erde also come to mind.

Eventually I usually end up listening to Mahler's 2nd Symphony "Resurrection" where I am reminded that whatever I am experiencing is temporary and that this physical form is not my "natural" state and thus not worth worrying about.


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## DrKilroy (Sep 29, 2012)

I also listen to Mozart's Requiem then, but it actually cheers me up.  

Best regards, Dr


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

For a general emotional problem, I listen to classical to bring me through the process. Like with a Bach cantata, it starts where I am and brings me through and out of it. 

If I'm really down and need to snap out of it, I listen to goofy music like the B-52s.


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## Carpenoctem (May 15, 2012)

This may sound strange but I don't like listening to my favorite music when I'm sad because then I'll usually I glue my emotional state to the piece and I always remember what was bothering my while listening to the same piece.

Yeah, I know, it's stupid.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

regressivetransphobe said:


> Nothing, really. I don't want to associate music I like with a lousy mental state.


I can understand this. If I listen to or play a piece during a difficult time, it can have negative associations that almost make me sick to my stomache, and sometimes it will be hard to hear it fresh until I hear it again on a happy day.


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## Carpenoctem (May 15, 2012)

clavichorder said:


> I can understand this. If I listen to or play a piece during a difficult time, it can have negative associations that almost make me sick to my stomache, and sometimes it will be hard to hear it fresh until I hear it again on a happy day.


Same here, I still cringe when I listen to Bach's cello suites because I always remember how crappy I felt that day.


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## adrver (Nov 5, 2012)

I either listen to a requiem or something similar (when I feel like pitiying myself), or something cheerful like Haydn's 94th or 88th


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Well, since 'down' is my usual demeanour, then I can listen to my entire CD collection. However I don't advise listening to Skemptons 'Lento' at times of particular moroseness; beautiful as it is, it holds a surprising amount of emotive material.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

GG's JS Bach, what else?


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

Manok said:


> I was just curious, what classical music cheers you up?


Mozart, Mozart, Mozart & Mozart again...

Almost all of his oeuvres cheers me up... and the effect lasts for very long periods of time, like prolonged release tablets 

He always has something to say that makes me to be aware of happiness and joy once again.

Mozart has a wide menu of emotions... I can found strength, happiness, tenderness, brightness, poise, balance, coolness and beauty.

A cheerful celebration of Life and living.


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## MaestroViolinist (May 22, 2012)

"Death and the Maiden" Lol 

Something by Vivaldi most likely, or Beethoven, or Wieniawski, or Mendelssohn. (Strange combination, I know).


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## Renaissance (Jul 10, 2012)

Beethoven or Early Music. Definitely effective.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Depends on whether I can correct the situation or not. If there's nothing I can do... I might not listen to anything, or go for experimental/noise/meditative music. But if I can correct the situation with working hard, then I go for Bruckner! Or Beethoven!


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Xaltotun said:


> Depends on whether I can correct the situation or not. If there's nothing I can do... I might not listen to anything, or go for experimental/noise/meditative music. But if I can correct the situation with working hard, then I go for Bruckner! Or Beethoven!


Back when I used music for encouragement, I listened to Tchaikovky's 5th or Franck's Symphony in D. There is something about the Franck that bolstered my faith in myself; God wasn't in it then. I have no idea why the Tchaikovsky was effective.


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## Kevin Pearson (Aug 14, 2009)

I have suffered from depression on and off since I was a teenager but several years ago I had acute severe depression and was close to hospitalization because I was pretty much non-functional. I couldn't listen to music at all during the worst of it but when I started getting better I listened to a lot of Miles Davis and it really was a life changing experience for me. It seemed that for the first time in my life I really got where he was coming from. I could identify with the emotions and feelings he was expressing. It was a revelation of sorts and to this day I really enjoy listening to him when I'm having periods of depression. I also really enjoy listening to Sibelius, Nielsen and Mahler symphonies during those times. They seem to help and I don't associate the negative moments with them at all and thoroughly enjoy listening to them at other times without the depression.

Kevin


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

When things aren't going my way, I tend to listen to angry-sounding music which has a note of triumph. Shostakovich is great for this, especially his 10th Symphony, but also 4, 5, 7, 8 and 11. Schnittke, Mahler and Bartok are also good, not to mention Nielsen's 4th and 5th, and Bruckner's 8th.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

Beethoven's 6th Symphony, and certain parts of other symphonies of his really pick me up when I may be down, and inspire me ^^


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Kevin Pearson said:


> When I started getting better I listened to a lot of Miles Davis and it really was a life changing experience for me. It seemed that for the first time in my life I really got where he was coming from. I could identify with the emotions and feelings he was expressing. It was a revelation of sorts and to this day I really enjoy listening to him when I'm having periods of depression.


First, I'm sorry to hear about your depression. I'm glad you were able to pull out of it. 
Second, I've never been able to get into Miles Davis' music. Maybe your experience will give me a frame of reference.


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## Kevin Pearson (Aug 14, 2009)

Manxfeeder said:


> First, I'm sorry to hear about your depression. I'm glad you were able to pull out of it.
> Second, I've never been able to get into Miles Davis' music. Maybe your experience will give me a frame of reference.


Let me say Manxfeeder that the majority of my listening was to his pre-electric stuff of the 70s. I'd listen to albums like "Kind of Blue", "Sketches of Spain", "Birth of Cool", "Miles Ahead", "Working With The Miles Davis Quintet", "My Funny Valentine" and Milestones". It's not that I didn't listen at all to things like "Bitches Brew" and "On The Corner", because I did, but I found the most solace in those early recordings.

Kevin


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## mud (May 17, 2012)

When things aren't going my way, I am in a department store, and forgot to wear my headphones, so I get stuck listening to some lame top 40 mix from the thirty something generation's hit list. Oh well, at least they don't pipe in contemporary classical...


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Depends on what I'm down about. If I'm down because I'm a crusty old ******* that hasn't even drawn a charming woman's ire, let alone her interest, in years, then I listen to some of Mendelssohn's songs without words to console myself. If I'm being a helpless cynic who thinks we're going to hell in a hand basket and then actually going to hell after that, then I listen to a cantata. If I'm sick and my body aches, then I listen to Saint Saens or something else Romantic and don't think much about the music, just to give myself a break. If it's something really bad, I'll put on some lively Baroque dances and work in my yard all day. Kind of built my life around music and listening to it, and I've got to say that I've had a pretty happy life because of it. Never stayed in a rut.


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