Science has pretty much confirmed that humans are hard-wired to respond to music.
I can attest to that. I bet we all can.
We all have “our songs” that stick with us forever and songs we call upon when we need an emotional shift.
I would listen to inspiring music before I played basketball games in high school (We Are The Champions, Queen). And I still remember the song that was playing when I walked up to my friends and family at my 30th surprise party (Car Crash, Matt Nathanson). Classical music was my choice when I gave birth to my son. And a bagpiper serenaded my dad with Amazing Grace on his front porch for his 80th birthday.
My point? Music is a THING. So many things, actually. It’s a friend, a hug, a protector, a gift, a companion, a memory. It’s powerful and has the power to move our brains in different directions.
Which brings me to your daily car rides to school.
Instead of fighting over which song you’re going to listen to on the way to school, here’s my assignment:
Make a playlist full of empowering music and declare it your “Going to School Music.”
Make it non-negotiable. Fill it with inspiring music and then let the lyrics and notes do their thing.
Maria shared her empowering playlist in her Facebook group and I highly recommend you check it out here. Here’s a sneak peak!
- Brave, Sara Bareilles
- Unwritten, Natasha Bedingfield
- Perfect, Pink
- Born This Way, Lady Gaga
- Home, Phillip Phillips
In the book, The Power of Music, Elena Mannes tracked the human relationship with music over the course of a life span. She told NPR’s Neal Conan that studies show that infants prefer “consonant intervals, the smooth-sounding ones that sound nice to our Western ears in a chord, as opposed to a jarring combination of notes.”
In fact, Mannes reported that baby cries contain some of the basic intervals common to Western music. We’re talking babies just a few weeks old! Isn’t that amazing?
Further, she reports that scientists have found that music stimulates more parts of the brain than any other human function. That’s why she sees so much potential in music’s power to change the brain and affect the way it works.
And what better time to raise your child’s frequency than just before they head into school?
“The songs have empowering messages and if our children hear them over and over again, those messages will stick with them.” Maria says.“We want to give our children the words of power, the words of love and resilience to live in this sometimes sad and challenging world. It can’t hurt to do this through music versus constant lecturing.”
I couldn’t agree more!
And here’s another bonus freebie from Maria –Download this FREE Calm Down Strategies printable. Put it on your fridge to help the kids with all the fluctuating emotions that can be triggered during the back-to-school transition.
What are some of your favorite empowering songs? Leave them in the comments for everyone to enjoy!
*** Meg Keys is an award-winning advertising and marketing writer and the author of The Waiting Line – What to Do (and Not Do) When Someone You Love is Struggling with Infertility. She is fueled by her love of food, art and fluffy pets and lives in Metro Detroit with her husband and son. Find her at megkeys.com.