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(Draft) Immersion experience:

November 3, 2020

This year 2020 was not what I expected, were in a pandemic. COVID-19 is everywhere, and a few months ago, we were in quarantine, but now school is opening back up and business is opening back up. Even though school is open back up, it's not like before anymore and I think It'll never gonna go back to the way it is. We have to be at least 6 feet apart from each other and most of my classes are online. As for my anatomy lab, there can't be more than 14 students. I feel like learning anatomy and reading by myself in my room in front of my computer is hard. It's hard to focus, especially sitting in front of my computer or laptop all day to do assignments. I took my first anatomy lecture test and I didn't know how to prepare for it, so I read the textbook just to read without understanding it, I was like as long as I read the whole thing, So when it's time for my test, I drove to the campus and walk to the testing center, I did take up the whole time and I finish it too early as well, I did bad on it. Driving back home, I was mad at myself, then, I thought of music.  According to Suzanne Boothby, " A 2013 study in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that people who listened to upbeat music could improve their mood and boost their happiness in just two weeks." Even though music can't completely help you, it will still comfort you. Listening to upbeat music can boost your mood. " A 2015 review in The Lancet found that people who listened to music. before, during, or after surgery experienced less pain and anxiety compared to patients who did not listen to music" (Boothby). Not only music. help with anxiety but also with stress and physical pain.

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So, after I did my research on how music can help me, I wanted to test it out. I got back from taking my lecture test, I was in my bedroom, laying down, I take my iPhone out, plug my headphone in, and I started listening to the One Direction song, "You & I." I know the song had nothing to do with the test but, as they sing, one of the lyrics said, "we can make it to the end," and that's when it touched my heart. The guitar in the back is really soothing and gentle, It gave me the motivation to keep on going and that I can get better as time goes. As I was enjoying music, it calms me then, not even close to one hour, I fell asleep. It's surprising that music therapy can even be an effective treatment for mood disorders related to neurological conditions which I never thought of. It's also effective for Parkinson's disease, dementia, stroke, and several sclerosis as well. Listening to music bring greater health benefits, improves mood, greater self-esteem, and reduce depression.

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I was preparing for a lab exam, I was really stressed out because I don't know if I'm ready for the test. I was planning to do a one-hour session of One Direction song and Big Time Rush and a song called Pretty On The Inside by Chloe Adam. On the side of this page is One Direction and Big Time Rush. One Direction is an English Irish of five pop boy band that was formed in London. One Direction was formed by Zyan, Niall, Harry, Louise, and Liam. This individual group member originally entered 2010’s seventh series of the X-Factor and later came together to become One Direction. “One Direction was promoted as a set of teen idols who were musically compatible but also distinct in style and personality” (Cunningham). They were an idol for teens which is a good thing. As I was doing my research I found out that they were the first to debut their first four albums. Their boy band donated a lot of their income to the charity and was named as the 6th most charitable stars back in 2014. The boy band split up in 2015 and one of the reasons is that they were exhausted (exhausting schedules). While others are mostly there, Malike usually doesn't show up as much according to O'Brien, “Malik was often absent. He left the tour due to stress in early March, then officially quit the band a few days later” (O’ Brien). They also wanted their own solo career. The other boy group I'm about to do a music session with is Big Time Rush, a boy band group of four and is a Nickelodeon Viacom Music. The group members are Kendall, Logan, James, and Carlos. This group was formed in 2009. They were all a vocal singer. “The band released three studio albums between 2010 and 2013” (Ranae).  They sell millions of records which is a lot. The band stopped performing back in 2014 so that way they could work on their own music. After they split up, they went their way, “Big Time Rush reunited over zoom to perform the song” (Jones). It’s been 10 years ever since they were since they reunited on zoom and they perform a song for the audience and shared a message of hope to everyone. As for my 1-hour session, I was in the living room. I put on Big Time Rush song's called World Wide on my tv to alter my mood. Their music makes me feel happy and gives me positive vibes. After that one, I scrolled through the song and I played One Direction's song and Chloe Adam's song called Pretty On The Inside. Both One Direction and Chloe Adam's song, it relieves the stress I have. It made me realized that I'm not the only one whom's is stressing out. Other than that, it makes me feel confident about myself and that the message is as if they are saying love yourself. 

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As for Big Time Rush and One Direction, they both didn’t stick together, they split after a while to produce their own music. As I listen to their music one by one on the couch, I feel like their songs were innocent, unlike today’s music. It gives me positive vibes and I was in a better mood, was happier. Music makes us feel all type of ways such as sad, excited, thrilled, angry, joyous, or relaxed but, One Direction, one of Chloe Adam's song, and Big Time Rush’s music only make me confident about myself because in their music, they talk about how we should love ourselves and we are beautiful the way we are. As we listened to music, it releases a chemical to help our mood. “Music releases a chemical in your brain called dopamine, which improves your mood and reduces your anxiety” (Tozolli). Music can really heal people and it was to believe that it helps us with our anxiety. It even relieves pain and headache. Some day during the week, I was having a bad headache. I turned on a slow playing music combine with rain sound as I close my eyes as I was lying down on my bed, it distracts me from my headache. I was feeling a whole lot better because the sound was smooth and it was claiming. That's when I realized It can help anyone reduce headaches or stress depending on what music they listened to. Not only music help our mood, but it also helps our health as Tozilli claimed that “Music also boosts your immune system and can create positive emotional experiences” (Tozolli). I know music can help me stay focus but, I never thought it would help me promote a more positive mindset. One Direction and Big Time Rush is a good song for teenagers and I personally think that it gives us joy and excitement instead of being depressed and thinking negatively about ourselves. I didn’t know about Big Time Rush until I asked Mike what would be a good song to listen to, he said Big Time Rush. To him, the song of Big Time Rush were his childhood songs. It boosts his happiness and gets his mind out of being depressed. Music can be medicine for our mind and health but, I believe that I got to listen to a song that will not make us depress or a song that will not make us do anything that we shouldn’t be doing. After all the sessions I did, I personally think that studying with music puts me in a good mood but, to be able to study with music, I have to reduce the volume and how distracting music can be and increase the level as to "which the music keeps you in a good mood." When I am in a good mood, it improves my studying and learning outcome. I really recommend listening to good music. Good music can be really helpful. Every time I'm done with the session, I was feeling better. I really like this experience because, after this experience, I was able to feel confident. I was in a better mood. I was able to smile and walked out of the room after the session is over.