Music and Art for Wellness

We believe in using music and art to achieve goals beyond just learning or being “good at” a creative skill. They are a vehicle for emotional awareness, processing experiences, exploring sense of self and identity, reducing physical pain, connect with meaningful memories and experiences, and building positive community. Today we are going to share some ideas with you about ways to explore creative expression in your own time and space, based on a workshop facilitated by Vanessa Hale, MT-BC, at the Somersworth Public Library last month.

Before we dive in, I invite you to journal, chat with a loved one, or think about the following questions. 

• How would you describe your relationship with creativity?

• How do you currently engage in music, art, movement, writing, etc?

• What barriers do you experience to self-expression and creativity? Are they societal, physical, emotional?

Below are some ideas that I discussed and explore with a group at the Somersworth Public Library. I hope you will give them a try, adapt them to your curiosities, share them with others, and use them as a starting place for creative self-expression in your daily life.

• Sing, dance, or create for pure expression! How does it feel to exist and create without a specific end goal, time limit, or expectation?

• Keep a personal journal for art, music, poetry, quotes, photos (digital or physical). Fill it with things that you create, that inspire you, that you want to remember.

• Play music of your choice and just move your hand on paper. Show curiosity and openness towards your movements, creation, and existence. Unsure of where to start? You could also try selections from a variety of time periods and genres:

  1. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons or The Rite of Spring

  2. Caroline Shaw: Orange.

  3. West African drum ensembles (Ewe drumming)

  4. Afro-Caribbean genres like Calypso or Salsa

  5. South Indian Carnatic raga

  6. Techno or Electronic Dance Music (EDM)

• Identify and name 2 or 3 emotions. You could be experiencing them, you could be curious about them, you could struggle to express them. Draw, pick an instrument, or use a digital music making app (Cove, BandLab, GarageBand, or Chrome Music Lab) to express them. What could this feeling sound like? Look like? How could I move my body to reflect this?

• Create an emotion regulation playlist. We have a previous blog post outlining how to use music to regulate our bodies and brains here.

• Try your hand at creating a past, present, and future playlist.

  1. Pick one (or more) songs to represent something or someone from your past.

  2. Choose another to highlight an aspect of your present.

  3. Find another that represents something you hope for, predict, or expect in your future.

  4. Listen to these songs!

     1. Read the lyrics closely

     2. Focus on the instruments playing.

     3. Notice your physical reaction.

     4. If you want, take some time to journal, converse, or think about any themes, connections, or contrasting ideas that emerge as you reflect.

If you take anything from this post, I hope you learn that creative expression is for EVERYONE. You don’t need to have experience in choir, band, piano, art class, orchestra, creative writing, or any other kind of formal training to embrace the creativity in your human nature. When you nurture your creative side, just as you nurture your physical health, memory, and cognitive abilities, you open new pathways to wellness, self-exploration, and connection with the world and people around you. 

I hope you try something new, find peace, and discover a new way to practice self-compassion.