Music Notes for Mental Health Awareness Week
"improving your mental health and soothing your soul"
Welcome to Regen/Notes, marking mental health week 2024 with music notes.
Listening to it is like going into a beautiful forest and suddenly stopping in a meadow and thinking, ‘This is so simple, so natural. And how great it is to be alive just in order to be able to experience this. Gábor Takács-Nagy
At some point, we have all been touched by a piece of music, whether that be classical, instrumental, folk, pop, RnB or any other genre, in a way that our spirits are lifted and we feel better with the world.
We know music has the power to evoke emotions, reduce stress and anxiety, and promote a sense of calm and well-being. Nature-inspired music, with its soothing sounds of flowing water, birdsong, and gentle breezes, can transport us to a peaceful, tranquil state, providing an escape from the stresses of daily life and nourishing the mind and spirit.
For me, a morning touchstone is Radio Scala’s 5 am to 7 am In the Park - two hours of nature-based classical pieces and bird song, or the pieces such as Fljotavik (Sigur Ros, 12 Ensemble), Resonate (Sarah Class) or pieces fromErland Cooper on my Spotify mindful music playlist.
The BBC Classical Music magazine carries an article by Hungarian Gábor Takács-Nagy, who chose seven pieces of classical music to “improve your mental health and soothe your soul” One of the pieces chosen is Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17, II: Andante from which the headline quote above refers.
Spotify playlist of music mentioned here
What tunes, songs or pieces soothe your soul?
Our Living Future Europe Biophilia Summit on the 6th June celebrates all aspects of Biophilia, including live musical contributions from Olivia Ahitorp
Gábor Takács-Nagy came to fame as the leader of the Takács Quartet, with whom he played for 17 years. In 2002, he turned to conducting and is currently music director of the Manchester Camerata and principal guest conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra.