# Do you play/listen to music to feel, or to express how you feel?



## Thrifty Walrus (Jul 8, 2010)

I've found NT's tend to like music to feel, they play or listen just to feel something. Where as NF's and others listen/ play to express how they feel, they listen thinking "this so describes what I'm going through", while NT's listen thinking "So this is what happiness is....."

It's a distinction I don't think many make, is there even a difference? Do you think it's type related?


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## Orbrial (Feb 27, 2010)

I don't know if it's type related.. but I listen to certain music according to how I feel.. but also listen to music as an expression of my feelings.. You didn't really have a both option.


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## Thrifty Walrus (Jul 8, 2010)

Orbrial said:


> I don't know if it's type related.. but I listen to certain music according to how I feel.. but also listen to music as an expression of my feelings.. You didn't really have a both option.


You would pick the second one. If you listen according to how you feel, that isn't listening to feel, that's picking music based on how you feel, so you'd fall into the second category.


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## Memphisto (Jan 27, 2010)

I chose the second catagory...but sometimes it's both. Sometimes I just don't know what or how I feel. I just feel numb...so I listen to music and it evokes feelings and emotions. And from there I'm able to figure out how I actually feel...if that makes any sense at all.


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## geGamedev (Nov 26, 2009)

darkestar said:


> I chose the second catagory...but sometimes it's both. Sometimes I just don't know what or how I feel. I just feel numb...so I listen to music and it evokes feelings and emotions. And from there I'm able to figure out how I actually feel...if that makes any sense at all.


I went with the second one as well and also think a "both" should be included. Sometimes I play music to evoke an emotion. Other times I prefer to have my music match whatever I'm already feeling.


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## Vaka (Feb 26, 2010)

I would go with the first option as I don't exactly set out to find music that expresses how I feel or to create music to express how I feel.
I would like to add that most of the time, my listening to music isn't really about feeling in the first place.


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## heartturnedtoporcelain (Apr 9, 2010)

Music always provokes emotion in me. It doesn't express how I feel - it provokes feeling within me.


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## SyndiCat (Oct 2, 2010)

both, and sometimes neither.


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## Orbrial (Feb 27, 2010)

Thrifty Walrus said:


> You would pick the second one. If you listen according to how you feel, that isn't listening to feel, that's picking music based on how you feel, so you'd fall into the second category.


I think I did pick that.. but I also some times listen to music to change my mood.. I want to feel happy.. so I listen to happy music.. is that not option 1?


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## Thrifty Walrus (Jul 8, 2010)

Orbrial said:


> I think I did pick that.. but I also some times listen to music to change my mood.. I want to feel happy.. so I listen to happy music.. is that not option 1?


..........yes. I should've added a "both" option XD


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## snail (Oct 13, 2008)

I listen to music that relates to the mood I am already in. Therefore, I would call it expressive, but it isn't so much about showing my mood to anyone else. It is more about clarifying it to myself, and even more, it is about feeling like at some point, someone somewhere related enough to make music about the feeling. It makes me feel less alone in whatever I am feeling, whether that feeling is positive or negative. 

If I were to try to listen to music that didn't fit my mood, it wouldn't change my mood. It would just clash with it and make me tense. If someone tries to make me listen to a fast, happy song when I am feeling melancholy and un-energetic, that song will get on my nerves and I will have to turn it off. In a different mood, it might be exactly what I can relate to, and the melancholy song would seem tedious and uninteresting.

If songs could change my moods, I would only listen to happy music, but they can't.


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## Orbrial (Feb 27, 2010)

snail said:


> I listen to music that relates to the mood I am already in. Therefore, I would call it expressive, but it isn't so much about showing my mood to anyone else. It is more about clarifying it to myself, and even more, it is about feeling like at some point, someone somewhere related enough to make music about the feeling. It makes me feel less alone in whatever I am feeling, whether that feeling is positive or negative.
> 
> If I were to try to listen to music that didn't fit my mood, it wouldn't change my mood. It would just clash with it and make me tense. If someone tries to make me listen to a fast, happy song when I am feeling melancholy and un-energetic, that song will get on my nerves and I will have to turn it off. In a different mood, it might be exactly what I can relate to, and the melancholy song would seem tedious and uninteresting.
> 
> If songs could change my moods, I would only listen to happy music, but they can't.


Have you ever tried listening to really happy bouncy music when you're angry or sad? Maybe I'm just weird.. I can accept that.. but I find it hard to continue to be sad or angry if I can listen to enough happy bouncy music. I didn't say the first song would do it for me.. but after several songs.. I'm usually singing along with them.. and my mood has lifted generally speaking.. but maybe that's just me?


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## snail (Oct 13, 2008)

Orbrial said:


> Have you ever tried listening to really happy bouncy music when you're angry or sad? Maybe I'm just weird.. I can accept that.. but I find it hard to continue to be sad or angry if I can listen to enough happy bouncy music. I didn't say the first song would do it for me.. but after several songs.. I'm usually singing along with them.. and my mood has lifted generally speaking.. but maybe that's just me?


When I try to do that, I end up feeling drained and tense. It clashes painfully with my feelings. If I am in a low-energy mood of any sort, whether pleasant or unpleasant, I find high-energy music intolerable. I can't be around happy music when I am angry or sad, and if someone else is playing it somewhere, I am likely to have to leave in order to avoid being affected negatively by it.

Listening to sad music when I am sad can sometimes make me feel better, though, if I feel like someone else in the world has, at some point, been able to relate. It makes me feel less alone. My feelings are most impacted by interpersonal experiences, and when there isn't anyone else to talk to, sometimes reading poetry or listening to music by people who have felt the same way will help me to feel more connected and understood.


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## Who (Jan 2, 2010)

The only reason I ever use to listen to/play music is because it seems like a good idea at the time. I really don't have the capacity to analyze it further than that, I'm afraid.


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## The Unseen (Oct 26, 2010)

There is another thread similar to this, An INTJ subconscious emotional release? Perhaps this is a more in depth version of what you are talking about?


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## SyndiCat (Oct 2, 2010)

i mean, who doesn't express themselves through music sometimes? 






Who is the tall, dark stranger there.
The one with the gun and the icy stare.
The one with the scalp of his ex-wife's hair.
Psy-cho Dad, Psycho Dad, Psycho Dad!​


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## Ti Dominant (Sep 25, 2010)

I can sometimes match my mood with the music I'm playing, but most of the time I just objectively enjoy the sound of different "feelings" and "moods" expressed in different songs, irregardless of what mood I'm actually in or what feelings I may be feeling at the moment. There isn't always a distinct "connection" between what I'm listening to and how I'm feeling. 

For instance, they say that when the average person is mad they listen to angry, frustrated, heavy metal music! Loud, thundering, and pounding. And when someone is happy, they often listen to upbeat, poppy, joyful music with an optimistic sort of mood. I'm not like that; I can listen to happy piano music when I'm mad (and it sometimes logically calms me down), or I can listen to hardcore, heavy metal with thundering riffs when I'm extremely happy (and it'll sometimes give me some energy or enthusiasm). Needless to say, I'm a person who can listen to anything without a preexisting emotional state behind my motivation to do so. 

In fact, this one time got me in trouble in school. A very intelligent and wise English instructor was once explaining to the class how people often listen to music that parallels or reflects their mood (happy/happy, mad/loud, sad/sad, ect.). She loved to shower us with interesting information she'd picked up over the years. At any rate, I raised my hand and objected to the stereotype, as I was clearly an exception to this seeming rule. I told her that I don't often listen to music simply because I'm mad, sad, happy, or frustrated; I even went so far as to mention that I can sometimes reverse my moods through the playing of music with a mood contrary to my current emotional state. Her face looked shocked, she couldn't believe it, and it seemed as though I was making her look like an asshole by pointing out how the general rule just isn't true with me. And she may have thought I wasn't the most enjoyable person that day, but I'm not afraid to be honest. 

Hopefully this helps. Perhaps my NT nature explains this odd ability to just listen to whatever I want, regardless of my emotional state.


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## heartturnedtoporcelain (Apr 9, 2010)

Ti Dominant said:


> I can sometimes match my mood with the music I'm playing, but most of the time I just objectively enjoy the sound of different "feelings" and "moods" expressed in different songs, irregardless of what mood I'm actually in or what feelings I may be feeling at the moment. There isn't always a distinct "connection" between what I'm listening to and how I'm feeling.
> 
> For instance, they say that when the average person is mad they listen to angry, frustrated, heavy metal music! Loud, thundering, and pounding. And when someone is happy, they often listen to upbeat, poppy, joyful music with an optimistic sort of mood. I'm not like that; I can listen to happy piano music when I'm mad (and it sometimes logically calms me down), or I can listen to hardcore, heavy metal with thundering riffs when I'm extremely happy (and it'll sometimes give me some energy or enthusiasm). Needless to say, I'm a person who can listen to anything without a preexisting emotional state behind my motivation to do so.
> 
> ...


I don't think it's necessarily an NT thing. I have the same type of issue. I can listen to any type of music whatever mood I may be in. And, like you said, "sometimes [I can] reverse my moods through the playing of music with a mood contrary to my current emotional state."


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## L'Empereur (Jun 7, 2010)

Feelings do not affect my interest in music. :mellow:


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## Shaku91 (Nov 5, 2010)

Ti Dominant said:


> I can sometimes match my mood with the music I'm playing, but most of the time I just objectively enjoy the sound of different "feelings" and "moods" expressed in different songs, irregardless of what mood I'm actually in or what feelings I may be feeling at the moment. There isn't always a distinct "connection" between what I'm listening to and how I'm feeling.
> 
> For instance, they say that when the average person is mad they listen to angry, frustrated, heavy metal music! Loud, thundering, and pounding. And when someone is happy, they often listen to upbeat, poppy, joyful music with an optimistic sort of mood. I'm not like that; I can listen to happy piano music when I'm mad (and it sometimes logically calms me down), or I can listen to hardcore, heavy metal with thundering riffs when I'm extremely happy (and it'll sometimes give me some energy or enthusiasm). Needless to say, I'm a person who can listen to anything without a preexisting emotional state behind my motivation to do so.


 Ditto! Even though it doesn't really change my mood but actually influences the way I think at that moment, usually making me switch from pessimistic to optimistic usually...it's just as long as I am listening though.

Curiously, I can't stop categorizing songs according to the seasons and time of the day I feel they express; Of course not Pop songs or anything like that.


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