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I never needed science to tell me
about the healing power of music, but as I read the newspaper today, it simply
confirmed the obvious. Letting myself surrender to YouTube’s autoplay mode
takes me on journeys that evoke the same feelings as a walk through Glencoe, a
hike up Preikestolen, or sailing around the islands near Poreč.
Music reaches the deepest parts of my mind, stirring emotions like nostalgia, melancholy, joy, and beauty. It has the same emotional pull as the psychological insights of a Tranströmer poem, the rhythmic pulse of Robert Frost’s lines, or the profound simplicity of a Lydia Davis sentence. That “tingle factor” resonates in both music and literature. And just as being immersed in nature is therapeutic, so too is losing oneself in music.
Recently, while caught in YouTube’s algorithm, I came across a familiar song, one I had encountered years ago. Let me explain.
During my English Literature degree, one of the books on the syllabus was *Dubliners* by James Joyce. In the story "Eveline," Joyce references the song “I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls,” a popular 19th-century opera aria. Curious, I looked it up and found Enya’s version. Wow! Its beauty and gentleness were unlike anything I had heard before. When I finally emerged from the spell it cast over me, I shared it with a friend, who then sent it to his wife. She listened to it at work and was moved to tears. Hearing that song again recently brought all those feelings back, like watching a film reel of the joy I felt the first time I heard it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp5t2yIiR-U&t=1s