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Right now I’m fighting an urge to pull out some old LPs or maybe my 45s.
But I will put that off for now ... so I can tell you why.
The why comes from the music lesson I just finished. A quick 19 minutes that was more about adding harmony to life than learning to strum a guitar.
“Songs are the soundtrack of our lives.” So began the TED talk by Scarlet Keys, a professor at Berklee College of Music. She teaches and writes about songwriting and writes songs and shares insights with her podcast “What’s In a Song.”
Our soundtrack plays out over the years through birthday parties, lullabies, our first love, our first heartbreak and our wedding song. Ultimately it ends with the music we choose for our funeral.
“Songs enhance the moment or the season. Help us dance. Make us cry. Make us run that extra mile,” she said.
Keys demonstrated how different notes and chords set a tone and trigger emotions up or down and turn lyrics into feelings. And it’s deadly to repeat a melody three times in a row. Our brains love patterns but also love surprises.
“Too much repetition is a sonic cliché, and our listeners stop listening,” Keys said, giving a humorous and revealing example.
She reminded her audience of the many times they said to their partner, “Honey, pick up your towels.” The spouse just hears that “wife voice” and stops listening.
Then Keys switched to a sultry voice, “Honey, pick up your towel.” Sounded more like an invitation than a command. Tone makes a difference.
“Songs help us process emotion and understand how we feel,” Keys said. “When we listen to songs we love, our brain releases the feel-good hormone dopamine. When we listen to songs we don’t like or hate, or hold music, bad hold music, our body releases the stress hormone cortisol.
“So try a little bit of this brain science for yourself at home. Pick a song in the morning to start your day with instead of the usual negative thought train that blazes through your brain, taking you with it. Put on a song you love that has uplifting lyrics that primes your nervous system for a great day.”
OK, now you know why I’m thinking about my albums and 45s. I know how a single song can freeze-frame anything I am doing to let the feelings roll in. But Keys offers a powerful reminder of why I should keep a song in my pocket.
She then told how music by Lizzo pulled her through the darkness of breast cancer.
“Oh, I’ve been so down and under pressure. I’m way too fine to be this stressed, yeah. Oh, I’m not the girl I was or used to be. Uh, b---, I might be better.”
“About Damn Time” became her fight song. Along with friends and family.
“It really made me start to understand why I loved that old song, ‘You Are The Wind Beneath My Wings.’ Because I literally felt lifted by the love and the friendship that was surrounding me. Because I shared what I was going through, which I felt was really important to do. And their love held me when I couldn’t hold myself.”
She added to the soundtrack of her life thanks to a fellow songwriter.
“He said, ‘How are you?’ And I said, ‘It’s gonna take everything I’ve got to get through this.’ And he texted back, ‘Well, it’s a good thing you’ve got everything.’”
Keys then sang her song that offered all of us another important reminder:
“So it’s a good thing that I’ve got everything. Cuz love ... love is a real thing. And love ... love is a real thing. And it’s the only thing. And it’s everything we’ve got.”
• Lonny Cain, retired managing editor of The Times in Ottawa, also was a reporter for The Herald-News in Joliet in the 1970s. His PaperWork email is lonnyjcain@gmail.com. Or mail The Times, 110 W. Jefferson St., Ottawa, IL 61350.