"Music was my refuge," the writer Maya Angelou once said. "I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness."
It’s a neat way of summing up the powerful impact music can have on our mental state. Indeed, its ability to soothe our troubled minds has been explored for centuries.
Greek physicians used instruments such as lyres and zithers to help heal their patients, while Aristotle believed that flute music could arouse strong emotions and “purify the soul”. In Italy, celebrated castrato singer Farinelli was employed at the Spanish Court for 10 years, where he sang to King Philip V after his wife, Queen Elisabetta Farnese, suggested the musician’s voice might have the power to cure his depression. When President Nixon had trouble sleeping, he apparently liked to play Rachmaninov’s piano concertos at “ear-splitting volume”.
In the 21st century, research suggests there is a connection between music and its effect on various illnesses. Studies have shown it to slow heart rate, lower blood pressure, and reduce levels of stress hormones. Research conducted in 2005 by the University of Windsor in Canada, meanwhile, showed that music could improve cognitive function.
Rolling Stone introduces new charts to compete with Billboard
Rolling Stone is launching new music charts to compete with Billboard as the go-to source for determining the country's most popular music. Just like Billboard, Rolling Stone will rank the top 100 songs and 200 albums in the United States, plus offering other charts including ranks of social media buzz and trending tracks. The new charts roll out this coming Monday.
Billboard has long been considered the source of record regarding what music is most popular, but the streaming era has introduced a lot more information and a lot more uncertainty. How much should a vinyl purchase count for compared to a paid stream or an unpaid stream or a spin on the radio? Billboard's repeatedly tweaked its formula to account for changing types of music consumption, but it may be that there is no such thing as a definitive list of music popularity any more. (
Music Business Worldwide)
Tinder launches "festival mode"
Tinder is offering a new "festival mode" to facilitate semi-spontaneous meet-ups at music events like Bonnaroo and Governor's Ball. "Users of the dating app can now add participating festivals to their Tinder profiles, which then allows them to view and match with other Tinder users who have marked themselves as attending," reports
Pitchfork.
Just one day earlier, Lizzo did the opposite of dressing up — although she did wear giant earrings bearing her name for
a stripped-down session at The Current. Here's the acoustic version of "Juice."
