Tuesday, March 24, 2015

What's Making Me Happy This Week: Not the Weather

The calendar says otherwise, but the morning thermometer reading of 9 degrees proves that spring has not arrived in Boston. On the bright side, streets clogged with snow and effectively one-way are once again functionally two-way, thanks to a couple of days’ worth of thawing sometime last week.

I’m also trying to take some pride in being a veteran of Boston’s snowiest winter on record (if we had to put up with the snow, at least we got the bragging rights to go with it!), but these positives are only getting me so far. I’ve had to kick my happiness efforts up a notch lately.

This week I’m finding it in music -- not Katy Perry or Gym Class Heroes this time -- Gabriel Faure’s Requiem. You know, the one that debuted on the charts at number 1 in 1890.

The director polled the church choir about preparing this piece last fall. I felt too stupid to ask, “What’s a Foray Requiem?” so I went along with the much more musically advanced choir members in endorsing the idea. Then I found out it’s a Catholic mass for the dead. In Latin, with a sprinkling of Greek. And it’s 35 minutes long.

And it may be one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard. We learned it and performed it last Sunday, and it was amazing. Even now phrases from the music are running through my head. From a happiness standpoint, it fired on a bunch of different cylinders: the social experience of singing with the choir, the sense of achievement from mastering Latin pronunciation, and the sense of awe from the deeply worshipful nature of the music.

It turns out that music we like prompts our brains to release dopamine, the chemical associated with reward for biologically necessary behavior like eating and having sex. And some unnecessary behavior, like dopamine-hijacking drugs.

Well, duh. People listen to music because they like it. But there’s more to it than that. In some circumstances music boosts the immune system, reduces stress, shortens recovery time after surgery, and reduces the perception of pain. Music classes have been shown to reduce anxiety, loneliness, and depression. If that’s not enough, music can also improve efficiency of oxygen use, boost endurance, and help exercisers feel more positive during workouts -- even the really grueling ones.

If the Faure Requiem is not up your alley, it’s OK. In fact, for most of music’s benefits, the more you like it the better. For the exercise benefits, pick one that matches the tempo of your workout (is this why A-ha’s “Take On Me” ran through my head every time I ran a cross-country race in high school?). An up tempo in a major key tends to be more happiness-promoting than slow music in a minor key, but other than that it’s up to you.

What's making you happy this week?

2 comments:

  1. Listening to the Faure Requiem live made me happy last week. Listening to Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem made me happy last night. Anticipating hearing it live on April 11th (Boston Cecilia concert at All Saints Church, Brookline, MA. I'm sure there are tickets available.) is making me happy today. And R'el is singing in the Verdi Requiem tonight at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan. Who knew a life of requiems could be so joyful.

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  2. I am late to the party on this one, but since you have not written since, I am now caught up! Mindful meditation is making me happy this week. I went 61 one days in row recently after making a commitment to do 8 consecutive weeks of practice. I really love it and can feel the benefits. I am on a new streak of 18 days. I love music too and always feel happy listening to Pandora Stations - A Fine Frenzy, Sarah Bareillis, Mumford and Sons, or an occassional 80s flashback of Erasure, Tears for Fears, or the Violent Femmes. Great stuff!!

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