3 Ways to Celebrate the End of Summer Through Music
If you are someone who is dreading bidding the long, summery days adieu, this is for you. Many folks experiences lower moods and energy in the colder months- you are not alone. The shorter and darker days can make us feel stuck or hopeless. Here is yet another area in which music can be a support with transitions and grounding. Check out a few of these ideas to help as you navigate the changing of the seasons.
1. Make a Personalized Summer Playlist
Music has the power to spark memories and feelings in strong ways. Creating an entire playlist of summer vibes can be a helpful resource to turn to when those memories feel far and out of reach.
The idea here is to choose songs that spark specific memories from your summer, or songs you listened to during the summer. Perhaps the song “Sunshine” by The Brummies makes you think of the bright rays streaming through the green leaves. Or maybe, the song you had on repeat on that epic summer roadtrip was Florence’s “Dog Days Are Over.” By putting these songs in a playlist, you are memorializing the snippets of your warmer season, and able to be reminded of what that time felt like. Here are a few prompts to consider when making your playlist. On the winter days when the idea of spring feels impossible to reach, try listening to these songs to take a mental vacation.
Prompts:
Pick a song that makes you think of the first day of summer
Pick a song that became your travel anthem
Pick a song that reminds you of balmy breezes before a summer thunderstorm
Pick a song that reminds you of summer gatherings with loved ones
Pick a song that describes your favorite summer activities
2. Rewrite A song of the summer to be YOUR song of the summer
Want a more personalized way to memorialize your summer? Try out this rewrite of Noah Kahan’s new song, “A Few of Our Own.” This song is has many different meanings to different people. For some, it is about finally finding love, others about letting go of the past, and others about collecting stories in life, and encouraging other to do the same. This rewrite is based off a version of the latter. Use it as an opportunity to reflect on the stories of your summer. Come back to it when you want reminders of the memories you’ve created, and celebrate them in this uplifting tune. Chords are included for those who wish to add their own accompaniment, but a karaoke track on YouTube will also do just fine!
Link to “A Few of Our Own” Summer Rewrite
3. Make a Music Video
Did you know that simply watching videos of nature can have similar affects of being in nature and improve your mood? For the days when it seems the sky hasn’t opened up for days, try searching for some videos of views to see how it feels. For a more personalized experience, make a video with your song(s) of the summer highlighting all of the pictures you took on your adventures! This adds a visual component to music’s power of memory. Maybe use some songs from your summer playlist to be the background for your creation. Or use the song you rewrote to be about the exact memories you are show casing in your pictures. This will be a special and meaningful project to return to in the winter months, and years to come.
-Mikaila Vieyra, LPMT, MT-BC
Identity of the author*: white, neurodivergent, queer, cis-woman.
*Why do we include this? Intersectionality is the way that the various identities we hold (race, gender, sexual orientation, dis/ability, etc.) impacts the way that we experience and perceive the world. How/what we take in from the world impacts how/what we put into the world. Though we are committed to consistently engaging in reflexive practices to explore our explicit/implicit biases, we share the identity to be transparent on what perspective this blog post is coming from.