Greetings from Barcelona☀️
🙌Many thanks for reading The Quest.
If you are joining for the first time, welcome to our deep dive into facilitation, learning, and how to live a creative life. A special welcome to Circle community members. It’s great to have you here.
I’m especially excited about this week’s edition 👉How to Use Music to Supercharge Connection in Your Groups. This one’s for music lovers 😍.
Let’s jump right in!
How do you pick the perfect song?
That’s the question I was asking myself as I kicked off the first live session in an 8-week virtual facilitation training program for teachers. I knew the first moments of that Zoom call would set the tone for the rest of the course. And I was on a mission to pick the perfect song.
I felt the pressure mounting.
My inner critic decided to join me in choosing the song. Not surprisingly every idea was met with a firm “no”. Overwhelm and paralysis set in. In a moment of exasperation, I thought, “Maybe I’ll just skip the opening song.”
Then it came to me.
I remembered a song that my friend and facilitator Adam Rosendahl played in one of his live sessions (more on Adam below). Upbeat but not too intense. Relatable to but not cliché. A song that would make my group members feel excited about what was to come. The winner? A Baumon remix of Marvin Gaye’s classic Sunny.
Don’t skip the opening song.
As we debriefed that first session one of the teachers said, “The Music made a huge difference. I was feeling nervous and unsure of what to expect. When I heard the music I felt more at ease and instantly connected to the group.”
Music is one of your facilitation superpowers.
Music plays a powerful role in virtual group work. It strengthens social bonds and increases belonging, empathy, trust, and cooperation. It calms our nerves. It uplifts our mood. And there is an art and science in knowing how to use music that will unlock these benefits for your groups, especially in virtual experiences.
🤔How can you use music to supercharge connection in your groups?
That’s our Quest for this week 🔎
👉Four Ways Music Strengthens Social Bonds @jillsuttie
👉The Power of Music Creation @adamrosendalh
👉5 Ways to Leverage the Power of Music in Virtual Sessions
Plus
👉3 Playlists to Inspire Music for Your Next Session
🤝Four Ways Music Strengthens Social Bonds
An article from Jill Suttie at Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Centre.
This article helped me understand why music is so powerful in group experiences.
Here are four ways that music strengthens social bonds👇
1/ Music increases contact, coordination, and cooperation with others. It harmonizes us and increases trust.
2/ Music gives us an oxytocin boost. It increases bonding and social connection.
3/ Music strengthens our “theory of mind” and empathy. It helps us to understand what others are thinking and feeling.
4/ Music increases cultural cohesion –> it communicates belonging and safety in a group.
Here’s why I believe this matters for group work👇
👉 Music can help create a shared moment in time, even when we are not in the same space.
👉 Music can help group members feel more at ease and open to connecting with others.
👉 Music can help you set a tone that connects to your intention for your group.
👉 Music can help create group identity with a shared playlist for example.
Read the full article 👉here.
Also, check out Suttie’s article Why We Love Music 👉here.
🎛️The Power of Music Curation
Adam Rosendahlis my go-to guy when it comes to using music with groups.
Adam is an artist, facilitator, DJ, music curator, and Quest reader (hi Adam 👋). He is the founder of Late Nite Art, a wildly successful and unique immersive team offsite arts experience that was featured in the Harvard Business Review this month.
He wrote an article called “The Power of Music Curation”. In it, he reveals the secrets of selecting songs that create a mood and build connection.
Here are some of Adam’s tips on how to transform your sessions with music👇
🎛️Make people feel at home.
Know your audience. Choose music that may reflect different aspects of their identity and culture. Create an element of surprise and delight.
🎛️Create an irresistible atmosphere.
Think about the feeling and atmosphere you want to create at your next event. Choose music that helps people drop into a different kind of space.
🎛️Let yourself experiment
Take time to curate a playlist that shapes the way you want people to feel.
Read Adam’s article 👉 here and follow him on LinkedIn 👉 here.
What songs would you add to your playlist?
💡Five Key Moments to Use Music in Virtual Sessions
I used to only play music at the start of my sessions. I learned that there are so many more ways to use music to set a tone and create group bonds at many key moments throughout the entire session.
Here’s a Twitter thread I wrote on 5 key moments when playing music will supercharge connection in your virtual groups. Join the conversation on Twitter👇
Gwyn Wansbrough 🚢TL;DR
5 key moments for playing music that will supercharge connection in your virtual groups
👉 1/ When people arrive
👉 2/ During silent writing time
👉 3/ Coming back from breakouts
👉 4/ When creating a word cloud
👉 5/ When your group needs to move
How do you use music in your virtual sessions?
Big thanks to Devon Little, Stef Turner, Jenny Sauer-Klein, Adam Rosendahl, Xoli Fuyani, and Silvia Giovannoni for inspiring this list.
🎵Bonus: Three Playlists to Inspire Music for Your Next Session
Here are three playlists with songs that I use in my virtual sessions
Music is highly personal. It depends on social context and personal associations.
That means that music that works for one group, won’t work for another.
These may not be your jams. But I hope these will give you some ideas and inspiration for creating your own playlist.
🎵My Top 10 Favorite Intro Songs
🎵My Top 10 Favorite Instrumental Songs
🎵IDEO’s Experience Design Jams
I know, enough of the listicles already 😅
💌Thanks for reading The Quest
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Special shout-outs to 🙌 Connie, Barry, Michaele, Joan, Manu, Jenny R., Jenny SK., Connie, Andrew B., and everyone who took the time to fill in the survey last week – thank you!
Visit my website for ways we can work together 👉 here.
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Creatively yours,
