Is it nostalgia or is it music? Maybe both.

By Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.    

My wife gave me a “Wooden Music Center with Recordable CD Player” for Christmas this year.  Not particularly liking modern technology, I waited eleven days to open the box.  It sat in my study until I could muster the stamina (the sheer determination) to open it, pull the Center from its foam protection, and read the instructions.  My lack of technical expertise caused me to read with great care, but I was resolved to make this work.
    
It is true that I had been wanting an instrument that would convert my 33 1/3rd  vinyl records to CDs for some time.  I have over 500 LPs — collected over a long period — and they had been stored for close to 25 years.  I didn’t even know for certain they would still be playable.  At one point I came home with a similar music center only to find out that it did not include a recordable CD player.  
    
This Music Center my wife bought me was truly an impressive piece of equipment manufactured by Innovative Technology (i.t.).  It was made in a dark-walnut stained oak, the various parts are metal, not plastic, and it stands 12-inches high, 12-inches deep, and 20-inches across the front of it.  The best part of it, however, for a non-techie, is how easy it is to use.  Basically, when recording from vinyl to CD, it involves adjusting two volume controls, pressing a record button, and then pressing a press/play button just after the needle hits the record.
    
I immediately set up a portable 2-foot by 4-foot table in my study and adjusted its height to 30-inches so that I would have a solid place to put the Music Center (at eye level) and a place, as well, where I could put records, CD-Rs, and CD sleeves for labeling each.  Also, I could keep the instructions for the Music Center operation open and at a convenient height for reading when it comes time to finalize CDs.
    
All of this information is only a prelude to what was to come.  I began the process of recording CDs just a short five days ago, and to date I have burned 20 CD-Rs or close to 40% of my first purchase of 50 CD-Rs.  It has been an unbelievable trip back through the years.
    
For me, listening to these old LPs, stirs up wonderful memories.  One of the initial reasons for investing in them in the first place was my love of music.  A secondary reason was the enjoyment from having music in the background as I studied, read, and wrote.  Many of the songs took me back to some of the early speeches and articles I wrote as a young instructor and assistant professor at Indiana University and then the University of Massachusetts.  The  music truly uplifts and transports me.
    
It is interesting that as I listen to these records my mood is enhanced.  I feel more joyous, lighthearted, and ebullient.  I trace much of this to the reasons why I began collecting records in the first place.  Originally, it was the available form in which I could purchase music inexpensively — 45 rpms.  In the beginning, I collected for pleasure, but soon after that, I discovered that having the latest songs promoted my popularity.  When I became leader of my church youth group, I promoted dances among the youth and with other youth groups as well.  In all cases, it was my record player that we used and my records to which people would dance.  Those were wonderful days of fun.
    
When my family went around the world, I took a large number of 45s along with me.  That was when rock ‘n roll was new, and many other cultures had just heard of it (1960-61).  My younger sister taught me how to dance, and we would put on exhibitions.  For example, in Karachi, West Pakistan, where we stayed for two weeks prior to going to Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), where both my parents (Fulbright scholars) taught, we would go to the main hotel downtown to dance in the evenings, and we always drew large crowds of onlookers.
    
You can easily see that for a person just beginning college (and my sister who was still in high school), these exhibition experiences did wonders for our confidence and egos.  It never failed that our dancing served as conversation starters.  People, of course, wanted to know where we were from, where we learned to dance, and what we were doing so far away from home.
    
As I sit here and write this essay, I can remember no negative experiences associated with the songs I am listening to.  And, what is truly amazing, as I was looking over the LPs I collected many years ago, I have continued to make similar choices in the CDs I have chosen to collect even today — which amounts to nearly the same number of LPs.  It is surprising that my tastes have not changed substantially.
    
For the purposes of writing this essay, I Googled “the benefits of nostalgia,” and I discovered a website that serves as support for my observations above.  At HealthPsych.com, in an essay entitled, “Sweet, sweet memories,” the author, a psychologist from Australia, writes about such nostalgic experiences:   
  
“Psychologist Tim Wildschut and his colleagues have found nostalgic memories, such as I experienced, to be a potent mood booster. They found that people who  write about good memories are more cheerful compared to people who write about everyday events, report higher self-esteem and feel more positively about their personal relationships. These findings reinforce earlier studies which also show the protective psychological benefits of nostalgia.”
    
I wonder if those who collect music, in whatever form, tend to be more cheerful than the general population?  I wonder, too, if those who continually play the music they played, purchased, or heard during their “growing years” tend to have higher self-esteem or feel more positively about their personal relationships?
    
At About.com:StressManagement Elizabeth Scott, in an essay entitled, “Music and Your Body: How Music Affects Us and Why Music Therapy Promotes Health - How and Why Is Music A Good Tool For Health?” writes about the profound effect music can have on your body and psyche.  In addition to stimulating brain waves, counteracting stress, producing a positive state of mind by keeping depression and anxiety at bay, lowering blood pressure (which can also reduce the risk of stroke and other health problems over time), and boosting immunity, it also can ease muscle tension.
    
Then I wondered if it was the nostaligia or the music having the positive effect?  Perhaps it was a little of both.  Whatever the cause, the effect was positive, encouraging, and revitalizing.
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Michael Pollick, at wiseGEEK.com, has an essay on, “Is nostalgia healthy?”   The essence of his essay is contained in this sentence, “While nostalgia in reasonable doses can provide a sense of comfort for stressed-out adults, too much nostalgia can have a negative effect.”

At Success Consciousness.com, Remez Sasson has written an essay on, “The power of positive thinking.”  Although I found music to assist me in thinking positively (as in the essay above), Sasson offers at least six additional, specific, and practical suggestions.  There are many essays on positive thinking; this one is short and to the point.
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Copyright July, 2011, by And Then Some Publishing L.L.C.