Melancholy

When I was more involved in my own musicality I took a few classes ranging from Music Appreciation to History of Music. In one of those classes I first heard of the Doctrine of Ethos. A simple explanation (lifted from Guitar Press) is that the doctrine “describes the effects of sound on human behavior and therefore its moral influence. Aristotle, in his Politics, explains how the different kinds of music, imitating specific feelings (anger, kindness, love), can affect a human being with the same kind of feelings. Therefore, says Aristotle, someone who listens to the wrong kind of music will grow up to a bad person, and vice-versa. Consequently, Aristotle (and also Plato) recommended the right kind of music in the education of young citizens.” In other words, the idea that music can effect a change of mental state. Knowing I paid attention to my emotional state to different music and quickly realized the truth in it. Heavy Metal and Punk Rock (both of which I was a fan of at the time) made me angry, rebellious, reckless and generally unpleasant. Since this wasn’t really how I wanted to feel I quit listening to music that put me in that frame of mind.

However, some nights, such as tonight, I am feeling a little melancholy and I leverage the doctrine in order to wallow to my hearts content, feeling sorry for myself, lonely and sad to the accompaniment of some over dramatic emo folk music. I know that it’s probably not healthy but at it is cathartic.

So next time you are feeling blue listen to them! Are you happy? Nothing suits that better than poppy upbeat Irish traditional or Irish rock. Feeling particularly dramatic? If your leanings are towards opera then try any number of quirky female artists. As for me, tonight I am tucking into a glass of wine, a stack of machine learning papers and an IPod full of Kate Heidke-Miller. A quirky female vocalist that has tendencies towards the melancholy with enough perky tunes to keep me smiling in a sad sort of way.