One app that jumped out at us when we visited Young and Well was Escape, the app that utilizes your music library to create playlists to move you from one mood to another. This app seemed particularly useful because many of us have at one time or another utlized music to work through emotions. We thought it was especially interesting and useful that the app has you start with the mood you are currently in, then through the sequence of songs moves you to where you want to be. It is difficult if not impossible to immediately switch from one mood to another, so movement over the course of several songs seems much more therapeutically appropriate. It validates your current mood, but also does not allow you to remain stuck in it.
This app seemed particularly important for adolescents given that music plays such an integral role in identity development. This has been discussed by psycholgists quite a lot recently, with generally the consensus being that the effects are positive. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-musical-self/201110/teens-and-music-noise-or-necessary . However, while this app is particularly appropriate for teens, music and therefore its usefulness is not really age specific; in fact many of us planned on utilizing the app in our own lives.
Using each person’s own music library is another important aspect of this app, as there are many artists and genres of music in the world, and different ones have different meaning to each individual. If these were playlists developed by clinicians instead of from the user’s own music, the app would not have the same kind of connection and therefore efficacy.
The power and univerality of music is something that seemed to continue as a theme throughout our trip down the Great Ocean Road. This began very early on when our tour guide began utilizing music to help get us in the mind set of different times and historical figures.
That music has power has been a truth evident since aboriginal times. In the video we watched at the Aboriginal Cultural center the narrator discussed how music and dance was used to pass down aborigial culture and history. This reminded us of when Rob from Vacca discussed how it was important to him to pass on the playing of didgeridoo to his sons as a way of connecting them to their culture; while unfortunately there are not available videos of him playing, there are many other awesome demonstrations on youtube such as this one:https://youtu.be/9g592I-p-dc . And this is not just true of Australian First People; in our own country Native Americans often utilized music in a similar way https://youtu.be/eZkU5IHkZk8
Music can also be used to empower and unite oppressed people, as Katie showed us when she played us the song by an Aboriginal musician who had been part of and was speaking out against the Stolen Generation: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rjkrjYitgeA . This reminds us of how African Americans used music since the times of slavery to communicate and unite when other methods of communication were forbidden to them.
In modern times songs still play a role in capturing culture and uniting a nation; from official national anthems to unofficial ones; for example Katie discussed how ‘You’re the Voice’ is that for Australians https://youtu.be/BAeMl8nSj5M. In the U.S we have many such songs, from more formal ones like My Country Tis of Thee to this baseball classic which even non-baseball fans seem to know https://youtu.be/q4-gsdLSSQ0 . In addition to uniting people, they can also convey aspects of culture such as True Blue, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ceWKrsJX9N4. Unfortunately one of the side effects is that these songs get stuck in your head for forever, likhttps://youtu.be/F9YqCP_B7EUe G’day G’day…See for yourself: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oivqGZoqj84
In summary music is universal and gets in your head in a way other communication cannot, a sentiment captured beautifully here: https://youtu.be/F9YqCP_B7EU
Kassandra and Becky