Music for Optimism
by Kay Clancy and Victor Perton
Many of you will know that music can make you feel better, did you know that music also has a physical effect on your body? While you are listening there are changes in your autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for controlling blood pressure and heartbeat, along with changes in your limbic system, which is responsible for feelings and emotions.
There is a wealth of great research that supports this:
- A review of 23 studies involving 1500 people, conducted in 2009, found music helped to reduce blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety in heart disease patients.
- Research from the University of Missouri revealed that music benefits your psychological wellbeing showing that you can raise your mood by listening to happy and upbeat music.
- A study of 1000 pupils undertaken in Finland, in 2013, revealed that those pupils who engaged in singing classes reported higher satisfaction at school in almost every area. The research also showed that these pupils got along better with others highlighting a broader benefit than the self.
- A study published in 2011 by McGill University in Canada found that listening to music releases dopamine, the feel good chemical, in your brain.
There are many more studies that show music makes you more generous, feel more empathetic, changes how you feel about people who are different from you and boosts co-operation. So many great reasons to turn up that dial on music for optimism
Optimistic "No matter how hard reality seems just hold on to your dreams...you can win as long as you keep your head to the sky. Be Optimistic" | Old Church Choir "There ain't nothing gonna steal my joy, no there ain't nothing gonna steal my joy" |
Good Morning Starshine "Good morning starshine, the earth says hello. You twinkle above us, we twinkle below" | Open Your Eyes ‘Every morning you wake up, and you have a choice, you can choose to be happy or you can choose to be miserable. Today, we choose to be happy.’ |
Three Little Birds "Don't worry about a thing, cause every little thing gonna be alright". | Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive "You've got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive, E-lim-i-nate the negative, Latch on to the affirmative, Don't mess with Mr. In-Between" |
Optimistic by August Greene | Cockeyed Optimist |
Optimist by Zoe Keating | Optimist by AVA DELLA PIETRA |
The Optimist by Evie Irie | Radical Optimism by LUZ1E |
Optimism is Contagious by Harold Payne | Happy by Pharrell |
Optimism by Hubert Bommer | Best Day - Kesha |
Put on a Happy Face | When the Lights Go On Again |
Vikki Broughton Hodges on the optimism of “Annie” “The movie (Annie) was based on a popular musical that won seven Tony Awards when it premiered in 1977, including Best Musical, and ran for nearly six years on Broadway because of its positive message about optimism in the face of adversity — the setting is New York City during the Great Depression and the lead character is an orphan looking for a family… Annie’s sense of optimism is an uplifting part of the musical that sends people home with a smile on their face.” |
Edward Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 Timothy Tuller, Saint John’s Cathedral “Edward Elgar’s mammoth Symphony No. 1 … This late-Romantic masterpiece… brimming with an undisputedly English sense of nobility and optimism in the face of adversity. An orchestral music lover’s dream, it is a piece that puts every section of the orchestra through its paces.” |
Vera Lynn - We'll Meet AgainKate McLouglin wrote, "Though today We’ll Meet Again is inseparable from the second world war in most people’s minds in the UK, it was actually Lynn who forged the connection, turning a song about absence in any situation into a classic expression of wartime optimism. Lynn was broadcast singing the song throughout the war and its message of hope and resilience lifted national morale." |
Movin' On Up Brandon Tensley writes, The power of "Movin' On Up" can't be diminished that easily, however. DuBois is gone, but in important ways, the radical optimism so associated with the late actress remains -- thanks to a theme song that turned out to be much, much more. |
Wild's "Goin Back" A sweet sonic immersion of buoyant folk pop laced with meaning and emotive depth, Goin’ Back aches with sincerity and pure, unadulterated passion. WILD balance unbridled optimism and hope with intimate outpourings that capture both stillness and a life in motion: Uplifting and invigoration, this is music meant for feeling the fullness of our existence; for embracing the good and the bad, the large and the small |
Biosphere Laura B Whitmore writes, "Acclaimed folk, Americana singer-songwriter Luke Wallace delivers a solid dose of confident optimism with whispery cool vocals and an earthy groove on “Biosphere.” https://parade.com/987944/laurawhitmore/luke-wallace-biosphere/ Luke sings... "I said no nobody - no no nobody nobody gonna bring me down" There will be a Better Day | I'll be with you in Apple Blossom Time |
Optimist by Jahn Teigen | Can't Stop that Feeling by Justin Timberlake |
High Hopes by Panic | High Hopes by Frank Sinatra |
It's A Beautiful Morning by The Rascals | Greatest Day by Take That |
Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) by SHAKIRA | My Way by Frank Sinatra |
Imagine | Ordinary World - Duran Duran |
It's a Beautiful Day | I can See Clearly Now |
WILD: "This is Our Time" |
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