Lift Up Your Voice

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the maiden broadcast of the Comfort Music station. Well, I can't call it that because there already is a Comfort Music, a Comfort Music blog about Comfort Radio, which is dedicated to sharing music from the Burning Man gathering of 2003. Then, of course, there's the company Comfort Music. Which is funeral-music oriented.
So maybe forget the word "comfort," even though that is exactly what it is.
When hard times hit, people turn to music. Music therapy can help people with certain disorders (UMKC offers a major in music therapy). But in the lower case version of music therapy, you plug in your ear pieces and tune in. (Check out this precious "how to" from wikiHow. I think everybody reading probably knows the Watchtower piece, so here's a little sample of the Mussgorsky)





Can you--or should you--think of music as a tool to built optimism? My grandparents always did. Whenever I practiced piano, they would always praise the happy, bouyant pieces. One of their gifts to me was a big collection of lead sheets for their favorite stuff: Little Brown Jug, Happy Days are Here Again, Sunny Side of the Street. No matter how I worked on the Chopin nocturnes, it was always these songs they wanted.
Of course my preference was for anything dark and minor with lots of chromaticism and a soft ending. I always resented that they didn't like this. But then depression runs in my family, so I suppose to them the happy music was a kind of folk tonic.
My teenage struggles drove me to expression through sad music. But in a way, wasn't the music also shaping my perception of life?
As hard times are upon my family, I am now interested in persuing this question. Up-tempo music helps me get through my long runs. Maybe it will also help me even out the rollercoaster highs (see last Wednesdays post) with the can't-get-out-of-bed-why-am-I-always-tearing-up lows.
So here, for your listening pleasure, is some comforting music. Let's see if it helps. The first offerings come from my grandparents' play list:





And here is a version of a song that never fails to make me feel better.



I plan on making this a continuing feature, but I'd like your help. If you have a favorite uplifting song, please send a message, either through comments or on the contact link on my profile and we'll make it a community effort.