Music can help in overcoming crises. This is the result of a new study in which people in lockdown were questioned. A distinction is also made between listening to music and making music.
Frankfurt / Main – Music helps people to get through crises such as the corona pandemic better. This is confirmed by a study by the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt am Main with people from six countries on three continents.
During the first lockdown from April to May 2020, demographically representative samples were collected: Over 5,000 people from Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, India and the USA answered questions online about how they dealt with music during the crisis. “More than half of the respondents stated that they use music to cope with emotional and social stress factors,” the researchers report in the journal “Humanities and Social Sciences Communications”.
“It is noteworthy that it is not the music itself that serves as a coping aid, but the music-related behavior, i.e. the way in which people changed the way they dealt with music during the crisis,” explained Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann, Director at the Max Planck -Institute. “Listening to music and making music offer different coping potential.”
Regulation of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress
People with stronger negative emotions due to the pandemic use music primarily to regulate depression, anxiety and stress. This strategy is used particularly when listening to music. People with a predominantly positive mood, on the other hand, used music primarily as a substitute for social interactions. Music gives them a sense of belonging and community both while listening and making music. When making music, the music can also serve as a “means of self-reflection”.
“Corona music” played a special role – that is, newly composed pieces about the pandemic or old songs whose texts were revised with a corona reference. The interest in such pieces therefore contributed to the fact that a person found dealing with music in the crisis as helpful. “Corona music” offers the opportunity to react collectively to social challenges and thus strengthens the resilience of the individual and the community. dpa
