Your lockdown playlist: What to listen to during quarantine

Songs in the Key of Strife

If you’re after a lockdown playlist to see you through the quarantine blues, never fear. We’ve got you covered. Continue reading to find out more…

Music and humanity

Music is a fundamental need for humans, with historians suggesting that our ancestors used pitch and rhythm to communicate with each other. It’s also suggested that music, as a communication tool, predates speech and language. For instance, historical evidence shows instruments were carved out of swan and vulture wing bones dating back some 43,000 years. That’s a lot of years there. And Neanderthals were also found to use caves to act as resonators for sound – who says that you need those fancy pants speaker systems hey?

However, apart from music’s ability to aid communication across a universal level, music is also said to have a profound effect on our physical and psychological well being. This is because our brains release essential feel-good endorphins and neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine. So, if we feel depleted, physically or mentally, music can come to the rescue. To cheer us up. Motivate us. Improve cognitive performance. Reduce stress. Manage pain. Help us sleep better. Enhance moods. Ease depression. Improve endurance. To make us more productive.

Music and togetherness

But music is so important during this global crisis because it brings us together at a time when we’ve been told to stay apart for the good of mankind. University of Oxford’s Jeremy Montagu writes beautifully, “Sound conveys emotion. Music leads to bonding, such as bonding between mother and child or bonding between groups. Music keeps workers happy when doing repetitive and otherwise boring work, and helps everyone to move together, increasing the force of their work. Dancing or singing together binds participants into a cohesive group. It has even been suggested that music, in causing such bonding, created not only the family but society itself, bringing individuals together who might otherwise have led solitary lives.”

This is precisely what we have seen over the last few weeks, from people singing from their balconies in Italy and Spain to virtual gigs online. The production of parodies shared on social channels to live-stream orchestras/choirs. And the most precious of all, our united front in Clap for Carers. At a time of confinement, we have turned to music as a saviour.

Music for everyone

So in response to our innate need for music to express ourselves and for social cohesion, we have created a lockdown playlist that you can listen to during this time. Because of this, we wanted to create something we can all relate to – something with humour and something to reach our souls. The idea stemmed from Campaign’s latest article playlists for isolation from the industry’s music pros, but they seem to have missed us out!

We hope you enjoy this lockdown playlist. Please share with your family and friends. Turn it up loud and dance about. Loosen those shackles and let the music flow through you. But most of all be kind to yourselves. Stay home, stay safe and stay well.

“…Whenever humans come together for any reason, music is there,” – Daniel Levitin.