If you’re talking about music with Joan Zaretti, you’ll quickly learn that gospel and folk are her go-to genres since she likes to sing along and harmonize with the music. The History, Literature, and the Arts lecturer is an ethnomusicologist (someone who studies music of different cultures) and focuses on how music is a fundamental aspect of culture and plays a role in a person’s belief systems, traditions, and memories.
“Music can help people process and shape their emotions,” says Zaretti, who’s spent nearly two decades educating Bryant students in world music and creativity and the arts. “Each of those are very important to how music affects our mental health.”
In 2022, the average person spent 20.1 hours each week listening to music, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry; that number jumped almost two hours from 2021. Over the years, different studies have discovered that music can help lift people’s mood, improve productivity, help individuals fall asleep, and reduce stress. Zaretti explains that just like a specific smell can bring someone back to a moment in time or a certain taste to a particular holiday, music can activate memories.
“For some individuals, a sound or a song can flood a person’s memories of community, family and friends, and places — often providing them with comfort,” Zaretti says.
Zaretti says the exciting part about music is there’s no “one size fits all” approach for how people experience it; therefore, the way people use music to process emotions is uniquely their own. For example, someone who’s upset might find it helpful to listen to soothing songs while another individual with the same feeling might require music opposite of that. To determine the types of music that help people to relax, feel productive, or a boost of energy, Zaretti says individuals can reflect on what they’re listening to and consider how different genres and styles of music affect or express their emotions.
But not all music comes from hopping onto Spotify, turning on the radio, or setting a needle on a record. According to Zaretti, the brain is processing the musicality of sounds around individuals — whether or not they consciously realize it. She notes that some people might find the rhythm of footsteps, sound of breathing, or a bird’s chirping musical; a Washington Post article from May 18 highlighted research with positive associations between seeing and hearing birds and improved mental well-being.
Zaretti notes that listening to music is not just an aural process.
“Music is very physical — whether you’re moving slightly, tapping, dancing, or singing along. That physicality is an important part of what stimulates our brain,” she says, noting how music can affect certain perceptual skills and cognitive abilities.
According to Zaretti, the physical experience of singing together can relieve tension and stress. The communal act of singing can also unify a group of people in a common goal and offer connection. Additionally, the process of composing music — whether it’s writing, creating beats, or sampling — provides an opportunity for the composer to shape sounds in a way that is meaningful to them.
“Anytime you’re involved in music or creativity, you’re activating a part of you that allows you to experience the world more fully,” Zaretti says. “The more you create, listen, and explore the world you live in, the more you discover about yourself.”
Below, are 6 songs Zaretti recommends individuals add to their calming playlist:
1. Hasta La Raiz by Natalie Lafourcade
2. Halogen by Sød Ven
3. Pretty Wings by Maxwell
4. Didn't Cha Know by Erykah Badu
5. Acorda Pedrinho by Jovem Dionisio
6. Grazing in the Grass by Hugh Maskela
