# Classical chillout music in "actually really stressful" probe **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 7, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-chillout-music-in-actually-really-stressful-probe/167067 "2003-04-07T14:39:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-chillout-music-in-actually-really-stressful-probe/167067/81 "2003-04-16T00:57:36Z")
Inspiring, **Cervaise**. Esprix ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-chillout-music-in-actually-really-stressful-probe/167067/82 "2003-04-16T01:07:07Z")
Moments in “relaxing classical music.” I am in the bowels of the local hospital, about to get an MRI. I have had a headache for the last two months, and visions of tumors are dancing in my head. The kindly tech asks me what kind of music I would like to listen to whilst in the tube. Not wanting to be annoyed by music I hate, I ask for “classical.” They give me my headphones, put the goggles on me, and whisk me into the machine. The first thing I hear through the headphones? The opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth. Yep. Nice and relaxing. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-chillout-music-in-actually-really-stressful-probe/167067/83 "2003-04-16T01:11:54Z")
What **Cervaise** said. Some pieces also remind me of certain things-Prokofiev’s _Romeo and Juliet_ brings to the mind the Romanovs-because of a documentary I have that uses pieces from it while showing footage of the family. Thus, I find it soothing. Or a song might be relaxing for sentimental reasons. I just mean people who think that classical music, _in general_, is relaxing. To me, it’s stimulating-in that it stimulates my brain. Of course, like most music, if I’m involved in something, I often end up tuning it out-but that’s just how I am with anything-I do that to the tv or the radio. And not everyone is going to have the same reaction to each piece. That’s a given. For example, I found that listening to Debussy’s _La Mer_ while I study REALLY helps me to focus on what I’m doing, and I tended to be able to concentrate much better. Someone else may have a totally different reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-chillout-music-in-actually-really-stressful-probe/167067/84 "2003-04-16T01:15:35Z")
One thing that DOES relax me, that’s not meant to, is the _Star Wars_ soundtrack (all of it.) Mainly because I used to listen to it a lot when I was going through a major depression, because it distracted me-reading my SW books and listening to the music-and kept my mind off of my worries. So it’s a very beloved thing to me, and it never fails to make me feel better. (Especially Yoda’s theme!) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-chillout-music-in-actually-really-stressful-probe/167067/85 "2003-04-25T11:48:25Z")
I hope it is not unduly perverse to dig up this thread to say that today Amazon finally saw fit to actually deliver my _Portrait of P.D.Q. Bach_ CD. Thanks **Esprix** (and others), I laughed out loud at _The Echo Sonata_, inspired, irreverent lunacy. And yet so, er… relaxing. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-chillout-music-in-actually-really-stressful-probe/167067/86 "2003-04-25T15:20:46Z")
Conflicting drives - Auntie Mame mode, reading every post carefully, soaking up the fine prose and fascinating references (except for Estilicon’s rant, that was odd); and a simultaneous Arnold Horseshack “Ooooh-Oooooh-Ooooh” staccato urge to get to the bottom in order to type **Me Too**! Our orchestra (community-type) just started rehearsals including Ravel’s _Mother Goose; five pieces for children_. Did I mention I have this problem with weeping while playing? Last fall we played Mozart’s _Requiem_ at a huge cathedral, part of the national _Rolling Requiem_ concerts held simultaneously on 9/11. There’s 100 of us, plus 100 members of various choirs were there. At the end of the first movement - the sudden silence - the echo - unforgettable. Our conductor was so stirred, he kinda forgot to give the tempo for the beginning of _Deis Irae_ (sp?) and the first couple of measures were flubbed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-chillout-music-in-actually-really-stressful-probe/167067.md?page=4)