It has been quite a few years now since I started to study musicology in Gothenburg. I had lived in Sweden for a few years, learned the language and things about the Swedish culture, but it was hard to get a job that suited me. So I thought why not start studying something I’ve always liked, meet like-minded people there and so on. And it was music that interested me. As a piano player I never exceeded the amateur level, but music has been a great comfort in difficult times. So when I got the opportunity to study about music I took it. The main aim was to understand why music actually is so comforting and in general how music influences our feelings, our emotion.
I was an old student, an ‘akademisk tant’ as they say in Sweden, that is an old intellectual lady that never stops studying. Not feeling very comfortable among all those young people I kept a little in the background and sucked up all the information. It was really fun and enriching. After my bachelor’s degree I wanted to continue studying and do more scientific research, but there were not enough students and musicology was integrated in the larger section of cultural science. What a disappointment and what to do? A shame to just throw away all the information that was piled up in my head. All those interesting things like why do we get goose bumps of certain music? Why does it relax us or the opposite, activate us? How is it possible that music retrieves memories? J.S. Bach knew about music and emotion already ages ago and used it in his compositions. But I am not a composer, not even a good player so what to do?
That’s when I decided to start a website and fill it with different things about the influence of music, that have a scientific basis and that I thought were interesting. I added a musical game that I once made for the children in my daughter’s kindergarten, with a short explanation for my target group, the parents and teachers of young children. The aim of the website was to make this musical information available for people who not necessarily have studied at university. So there it was: musicone2five. After that I have written a reading book. It is a musical story with a lot of suggestions for very simple music games that a parent or teacher could do with the children. The aim is to learn about feelings in a playful way. You can read something about it here: musical stories. The book is available in Swedish and in Dutch, not yet in English unfortunately but I might do something about it. Working on the website has been on the back burner in recent years, but now I have added this blog. What comes next? I don’t know, but as long as I enjoy it I’ll go on developing the site. Well this is the first blog post in English. Hopefully there will be many more and please write a comment if you read it. Have a nice day!
