People listen to songs for pleasure. There’s nothing wrong with that. But, wouldn’t it be good if you could go beyond that? What if you could listen to any song, be entertained, but learn something from it at the same time? That’s what I’m going to share with you today – the three things you can do to benefit from any song you listen to.
1. Memorize the song
It’s interesting that even though we listen to a song many times we rarely memorize all of them. This is because you are listening passively; you let the words flow through your ears as if they are meaningless utterances and only the sound caught our attention. You need to change that.
Commit to memorize the songs you listen to because every memorization effort you take can help to solidify the strength of your memory. Aside from that, it can help you to understand the meaning behind the song because if you know every word in the song, you will easily grasp what the song writer has to convey.
For more tips on memorization, read the article “10 Practical Tips on Improving Memory” to start jump-start your memory improvement effort.
2. Discover the meaning behind the song
Did you know that Paul McCartney of the Beatles wrote the song “Hey Jude” as a way to comfort John Lennon’s son, Julian, after the divorce of John Lennon? How about the song “Zombie” by the Cranberries which was about the ethno-political conflict in Ireland?
It’s important to discover the meanings behind songs you listen to as it can help you to appreciate the effort the song writer puts into it. Sometimes, you might find the meaning is relevant to your life and there are many people who explained how some songs changed their life after they discovered the meanings behind them.
Meanings can be subjective. There are meanings coming from song writers themselves or they can also be interpreted by you. It doesn’t matter what kind of meaning you choose because if a song has some sort of meaning that resonates with you, you can usually find it relevant to your life and cherish it.
Websites like Song Meanings and Song Facts are good places to learn the variety of meanings people attribute to the songs they listen to and how it can help you appreciate the diversity of opinions and interpretations.
3. Make an anchor out of a song
Songs are good emotional anchors. Essentially, when you decide that a song is an anchor for an emotion, you will listen to it anytime you want to feel the emotion. There are various uses of song anchoring.
Generally, you can use it to motivate yourself by using anchoring “motivation” into high energy songs. If you are a novelist who writes in the romantic genre, you can listen to the song that you anchored for the feeling of “love” before you start your writing. Or maybe you need to write a reflection and you think a gloomy outlook can help you to be realistic, then just open the song that’s been anchored with “sadness.”
Songs are meant to be indulged
The three tips outlined above can be highly beneficial if you want to get the most out of any song. It can help you turn from a passive listener into a reflective and appreciative listener.
Your homework is to listen to the following song “Fix You” by Coldplay and answer the questions below the video.
Try to understand the meaning behind the following phrases:
1. Stuck in reverse
2. Lights will guide you home
3. And I will try to fix you
There are no right or wrong answers to these questions; It’s only right if your heart says that it’s right. Happy listening!
Featured photo credit: Sing along with me by John Liu via flickr.com
