Monday, March 23, 2020

30 Chic Days at Home - Day 4 - Scent the Air with Music

Image: Kamala Saraswathi, Unsplash

Welcome to Day 4 of the Thirty Chic Days at Home series.  Today we are going to fill the air with the fragrance of music.  I am a big fan of playing soothing, relaxing music when I'm at home.  The kind of music you would hear in a spa or yoga retreat.  By having this type of music on softly in the background I find it easier to be calm, stay soothed and have a peaceful state of mind for the most part.  There are different kinds of relaxing music so don't worry if you don't like whale sounds (hi mum!) or the flutey type, you can choose classical adagios, piano music or elegant strings.

Let me introduce you to some of the favourite artists of this genre I've found.

My number one favourite is Hilary Stagg.  He plays an electric harp and I find his music calms me instantly.  My number two is Kevin Kern, who plays beautiful piano music.  And my third favourite is Peder Helland, who has quite ethereal music.

You can listen to their music (and others, by searching for relaxing music or study music) on YouTube, or Spotify, my new favourite service.  I have just finished my three month's free introductory offer on Spotify and now happily pay $15 per month for it.  You can play pretty much anything!  I decided that it was worth the monthly cost when I saw that it was less than the price of one album on iTunes.

Plus, you can always access the free version of Spotify if you want to use it without paying, but you do get advertisements sometimes.

I first came across my main favourite Hilary Stagg from a CD I was given almost twenty years ago when I worked for Parfums Christian Dior.  We were sent a stack of CDs from Christian Dior in Paris to play during customers facials.  It was the most beautiful music and I was instantly hooked.  You couldn't buy this CD anywhere and the tracks weren't listed so I never knew who the artists were.  It was an 'in-house' thing.

Only recently I thought to use the Shazam app on my phone, which is fantastic for seeing what a song is that you love the sound of.  I am always using it in shops and cafes and have found loads of new music this way.  So I Shazam-ed all the songs on the Dior CD and have recreated it as a playlist on Spotify.  Yay!  If you would like to listen to my Dior CD too you can find it by searching 'Dior relaxing music' or going here on Spotify.  Using Shazam is how I found out that the beautiful electric harp tracks are by Hilary Stagg.

I hope you love the Dior playlist as much as I do.  I have played it so often now that I know the tracks off by heart and only a few seconds into it I feel my shoulders relax and my blood pressure drop.  Please let me know what you think of it!

See you tomorrow for day five.

xx Fiona



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4 comments:

  1. Oh I love this post! I am going straight into Spotify to check it out. Thanks Fiona. x

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  2. I'm playing the music now and it's lovely! thanks for the suggestion.

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  3. I have your playlist playing while I do my work this afternoon, and it's a beautiful playlist. One of my favourite relaxing songs (the Theme from Harry's Game) is playing as I type now. It's certainly making the remoteness of working from home far more enjoyable, and yes, Chic! Thank you for sharing, and stay safe. xx

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  4. I like https://www.ambient-mixer.com/ for background sounds. If you want to be in Paris in the 1930s, or Mr. Tumnus' House from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, or a roaring fireplace, you can find a track here to suit you. You can also make your own if you're so inclined.

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Merci for your comment. Wishing you a chic day!