In His Majesty’s Secret Service (or: Sounds Soothing)

Free music for professional licensing

I am on an unusual assignment this evening, but one not entirely unrelated to learning. When I was called into the plush office of a superior a week ago, I wondered what I had sinned. As it turned out, the task set for me was a confidential and highly unexpected one: to find music for relaxation. My personal, ethical footnote to this includes the adjectives free and legal.

Discoveries
This unaccustomed pursuit has had me trawling the Web, discovering a few jewels along the way, and expanding my own listening repertoire. It has also reminded me, firstly, how powerful music can be in setting the tone of one’s environment, and secondly, how important it is for educators to protect ourselves from the potential stresses of our work. If this seems off-topic to you, that is a clear sign that you need to dive in and turn up the volume on one of these recommended sites ;).

Recommended Sites
The iconic music discovery streaming radio station, Pandora, is only available in the US at the moment. Pandora’s virtue is that it recommends new music you may like, based on your existing favourites. For the rest of us, there is still Musicovery, which uses graphics to suggest related music, and Deezer, where the trip-hop section should unwind the most tightly coiled among us. iTunes Radio offers a selection of channels that could fit the chill bill, including Ambient, International/World and Religious. (An iTunes download is required to access iTunes Radio.) The Relax playlist at 22tracks presents a new set of tunes every week, all selected by Amsterdam DJs – reason enough to get mellow.

A number of podcasts can also be tapped for automatically updated sounds: Great Relaxation Music can be accessed from iTunes, while Sacred Dub Podcast and Ambient Podcast offer subscriptions on their websites.

Personal Favourites
And now for two personal favourites of my own. For music there is Jamendo, which offers genre-based streaming radio, selected downloads and the backdrop of a social network-type music discovery service. With 92 relaxation albums to choose from, there is no lack of variety. To still my deepest worries, there is Rainy Mood, which plays what may be the sweetest music in the world to my ears: a rainstorm. (Rainy Mood buoyed me through the last troubled days of my Master's thesis.)

Sounding Off
Soundscapes can transform an environment, and I have been thrilled by how sampling these sites has changed the atmosphere of my living space. To have access to these for free is, of course, a wonderful gift. Yet if we want more, we do need to feed the artists. I am all for sampling for free, but when coming across a true gem, it is worthwhile to thank the creators with a purchase or donation and, of course, promoting them through online social media. Inspiration may come cheap, but it should always be valued.