Why are you listening to so much relaxing music now?

It is clear why we listen to music. Because it is fun. Because it feels good. Because songs make us happy, calm us in stressful situations, and then amplify them again. In the new FM4 Music podcast, we’re trying to find out why fun music is fun for us. Is there a scheme?

from Christopher Seiben

FM4 radio

Christophe Sebin and guests from the world of music talk about music. Every Thursday on the radio and everywhere Where is the podcast.

Relaxing music, fun music, relaxing music, comfort music, whatever you call it, there are completely individual and personal styles. They can (but don’t have to) be quieter, slower instrumentation, simple lead chords, and easy listening songs. But it can also be completely different songs, hard metal tunes, electronic beats, sad songs, or whatever.

Finding peace and quiet – This is generally a good goal that you want to achieve with more pleasure, with relaxing music. What you want out of my world, how individual that sounds. or not? says d. Thomas Stegmann. He is Professor of Music Therapy and Head of the Institute for Music Therapy and the Vienna Music Therapy Research Center at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

“Upbeat music is something this alarm system can suppress,” he says. Music as a harmonic stimulus. What these sounds are, on the one hand, it is the same for everyone, and on the other hand, it is different. The sounds of the mother’s body, heartbeat, and breathing are all useful sounds even before birth and can then influence our hearing behavior for years. On the other hand, musical socialization plays a role. says d. Stegmann.

And why music as a comfort zone?

says d. Stegmann. “Of course it is the case in times of crisis, in times when so much is happening and changing, the longing for something familiar and stable is simply greater.” Nostalgia also plays a role, it is about music that you associate with happier times, that perhaps reminds you of your youth. Like a soothing scent in a way.

Lou Wallner

That’s what science says, what do musicians say about comfort music? Baeza Demirkalp and Ezgi Atas aze, Make dreamy smooth music, anti-anxiety music in reality, feel-good music. “Hotline Aze” is the name of their smash hit debut album from last year – a record for which the two also set up a veritable hotline that people can call if they need advice. So, proper comfort music.

“The thing that sounds less fake,” says Aze, describing their own take on comfort music. Vulnerability is a key word: “The fact that you feel someone was uncomfortable making music is comforting.” It just depends on your own style, Azzi says, remembering a former roommate: “She just got up at 6:30 in the morning and put on techno and was really good at it. And we were like: Good morning…”

And what makes for the relaxing sound in Aze Music? “I think Aze has the advantage of having a best friend because we’ve known each other since we were three or four years old.” Almost for life. So music becomes very relaxing and beautiful when it is an expression of friendship between two people who make music together. Many different approaches and interpretations of what characterizes music. But more importantly, it’s always about making the songs feel good. You can then check out the rest yourself.

If you want to be heard, you have to feel: why are you listening to so much relaxing music now?

What’s fun comfort music anyway? Is there a fixed type or is it very personal? Christophe Sebin wants to know more: On the FM4 music podcast he talks to Dr. Thomas Stegemann, Professor of Music Therapy and Head of the Institute of Music Therapy at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and with Beyza Demirkalp and Ezgi Atas of the band Aze. With “Hotline Aze” they wrote one of the best comfort music albums. “If you want to hear, you must feel,” henceforth FM4 player and everywhere, Where is the podcast.