Meadow music goes mainstream
Music, which appeals to the sense of hearing, is another widely used stress reliever. Besides the New Age, world, ethnic and spiritual music forms that most people are familiar with, even in the pop-music market the "healing style" is starting to make an appearance.
Well-known music program host Mickey Huang notes that there have always been so-called "healing singers" like Winnie Hsin and Fish Leong, or the early singer Chen Shuhua (known as a "spokesperson for the urban woman"). When you were lovelorn, hearing their songs would always give you a feeling of shared experience.
"But these songs were generally only about romantic problems. For example, if you were heartbroken and heard Winnie Hsin's 'Such a Painful Realization' you would get an especially strong feeling. But in terms of dispelling the little frustrations of everyday life, the New Age music that has become popular in recent years has the most therapeutic effect," avers Huang.
He points out that "grassy meadow music," as this genre is known in Chinese, literally means "music that makes you feel as if you are listening in a grassy meadow." The tempos and rhythms are moderate, the voices inclined toward the soft and gentle, and the subject matter depicted in the songs is mainly positive and sunny. The images projected by the singers also differ from the flash of pop idols; usually they appear on stage in jeans and t-shirts with just a few guitars.
"Grassy meadow" music seeks to give the listener a stress-free listening experience. Among the representative groups and singers working in this genre in Taiwan right now are Cheer Chen, Sodagreen, Natural Q, 929, Bear Babes and Nylas.
Mickey Huang opines that grassy meadow music will become more popular during an economic downturn. For example, at the "Simple Life Festival" sponsored in part by Uni-President Corporation in November of 2008, a large number of singers working the grassy meadow genre were invited to perform. Even though the tickets were NT$1200 each, tens of thousands of people attended.
Also, the concert held in the Taipei Arena in January of 2009 by Cheer Chen was sold out within 48 hours of the tickets going on sale. "Even Jay Chou can't hope to move tickets that fast," laughs Huang.
Besides therapy that directly appeals to the five senses, other goods and services that can have a curative effect for consumers fall into one of three approaches: temporarily taking the individual off the beaten track; trying to provide an answer; and connecting the consumer to emotive personal or collective experiences.
The best example of going off the beaten track is computer games. In the non-stop course of smashing through obstacles, fighting monsters, and seeking treasure, game-players enter a different world where they can forget the troubles of the real world.
In terms of "seeking to provide an answer," fortune telling, tarot readings, and psychological counseling all have the function of providing direction to the lost. They become tranquilizers craved by the public when people are flustered and confused and don't know where to turn.
United Counseling Center founder Alan Chou relates that since the global financial storm touched off by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the US in the fall of 2008, many financial and high-tech firms have come to them to ask for classes in stress relief and mood control for employees. Business was up nearly 30% over the same period in 2007.
Chou points out that psychological counseling courses allow these people to get some relief by commiserating with others in a similar predicament, so that they don't feel so alone. The courses also offer practical suggestions to help them through their troubles.
"For example, a lot of high-tech people were formerly so busy that they neglected their families and health, so you tell them that a leave without pay is in fact a great opportunity to take a breather from work," explains Alan Chou, "Sometimes just changing the way you look at things opens up whole new horizons."
The Alishan Sunrise Impression Concert, now entering its seventh year, this year invited Canadian New Age artist and environmentalist Matthew Lien to provide the musical backdrop to the rising sun, hoping to bring some light and hope into the lives of the Taiwan public as it struggles through an economic downturn.