Art: The Medicine You Need by Sana

Whether you’re in-tune with the large world of art, or just know of it, art is a beautiful way of dumping pent up emotions into the world and out of your head. Not only does it help express sentiment, but many times feelings are needed to produce wonderful pieces. 

Imagine a sweet poem expressing the love you feel, each word written from the heart. Or an original composition expressing growing rage while you slam the keys down on the piano, furiously and frantically pacing through each note. Or a heart-felt song, with each tear falling down the cheek, pulling the next word of the lyric out, filling the room with despair. 

Naturally, a song, art-piece, or work of writing may come to mind when thinking of these scenarios. Emotions could be played, sung in the shower, or professionally written; either way it’s about putting all those thoughts into a unique form of art, beautifully leaving a trace of the moment and a long lasting feeling. 

Edgar Allen Poe, one of the most well known poets, used forms of writing to deal with mental struggles and fears. His poems often reflected feelings of despair and loss, sharing dark themes. 

But there was a reason for his gloomy poems. As a child Poe felt grief through the loss of his mother. Following her death his father abandoned the family due to her loss. Later in his life he was taken care of by his foster mother who later died and to make it worse, he later lost his wife. 

This theme of loss ran throughout his life and it was difficult to get over those suppressed feelings. Though Edgar Allen Poe used poetry to express his feelings, there are plenty of other art forms people can utilize to help understand and potentially subsidize their emotions.

Studies show that art therapy has made a positive impact on people, enhancing their mental well-being and overall mood. Many people struggle to express their emotions, or understand them as it is too much for them to take in. 

Oftentimes, putting all their emotion towards a specific art form can help awareness towards the feelings they are enduring. 

For example, Vincent Van Gogh, another well known artist, found art as a way to deal with mental health struggles. Through his life he struggled to find hope in surviving. Art fulfilled that dark hole in his chest, brushing the muted hues with colors of hope and joy. 

Music is a beautiful outlet for emotion. Through my musical career, I’ve found that music with emotional depth and personal feeling behind each note calls for better sounding pieces. Telling a story through each note significantly improved the way I play. 

It’s important we learn this lesson as monumental artistic mediums need feeling and personal experiences; they feed off of it. 

Candle light prelude, a song with fast repetitive sequences of notes, can soon become a blur. But when you really think, put your heart into it, you make yourself the composer. It’s the feeling of hanging on the edge, the wind almost diminishing your light, fighting against it and fading in and out of existence. The flame moves slower and faster, growing brighter and dimmer. 

Now when you embody the flame, you’re on the edge of flickering, barely holding on. 

Play with a sense of focus, notes switching between speed to imitate the light intensity. Your feeling affects the product of your playing, your act, your song. 

Recent studies show that people have a growing passion for music touched with emotion. Don’t just play your music, paint your art, sing your song, immerse in it all. Because it’s one thing to read sheet music, but it’s another to tell a story with it. 

Though music has always been around and holds deep value in cultures and history, it’s clear music is constantly changing. For many it’s a fun way to present themselves to others, but for others it was their outlet to the world, their megaphone to share their struggles to that vast majority that otherwise wouldn’t have listened. 

Music depicts a life beyond everyone else, a new depiction of the world. For example, when hip-hop started to make its way through the music industry around the late 80s and early 90s many rappers in poverty or feeling of unfairness in the world used lyrics to tell the world their struggles of living in the areas they are from to try and bring awareness to problems not addressed. 

Some of the big names that emerged during this time were Tupac and many famous rappers from New York including Nas and Mobb Deep, who are known for speaking up on these issues. 

A study done by Journal of Music Theory states that 85% of participants admitted to being able to understand their feelings and struggles through songwriting. This further pushes the point that music helps heal struggles. A quote by Tupac shows his struggle and how the world perceives him. He said “If you walked a mile in my shoes, you’d be crazy too”. This clearly shows how he uses music to present his problems and stereotypes. 

Your voice is heard much clearer through something pretty, even if your story isn’t. 

Music, painting, singing, writing. They all have a creative aspect. Our emotions are powerful byproducts of ourselves and we should use them to their fullest potential whether that be journaling to understand our progression as a person, painting to feel each emotion, or singing to be heard. There are many benefits and major investments to art. 

Life isn’t supposed to be easy; we aren’t wired to understand everything we go through. If life was a utopia, everyone’s existence would be the same and the world would never evolve. 

Because it’s not a matter of how put together you are—but how willing you are to carve your own trail and discover new landscapes. 

Art is the lock, and your emotions are the key. Use your passion to turn the knob.