Ignore this post. It should have been in the Forum Cafe. Thanks.
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I've been a bit down recently - for many reasons - and was driving back to work when I started to listen to a CD I'd borrowed. It was Carnival of the Animals, which I don't think I've heard since I was quite young.

It cheered me up immensely and I had to fight the urge to take the afternoon off for a good long practice session. Noticed how music does that to you? I can make my son practise his trumpet simply by playing some jazz with trumpet in when I pick him up from school. Fortunately he hasn't yet realised my cunning plan!

So, to gather 'medication' for my next bout of depression, which pieces of music make the sun come out for you? Make you want to shout to everyone how good the world is, to dance with strangers in the street and to ###### with what the neighbours will say?

Steve

I find that when I'm down I don't much want to listen to music, because most of the great music I really love has that multi-layered quality of intense beauty and sadness which if you're already feeling sensitive can feel too near the bone.
Beethoven's Emperor Concerto however ... if you can survive the heart-wrenching slow movement and get to the magic moment when those long slow notes morph into the final exultant movement ... gets the fires of hope burning!
On a more mundanely cheerful level the wonderful Scott Joplin rags can do the trick. Anything that gets the foot tapping too ... Irish dance music is great!