[Music Therapy] SAM: a room for everyone who wants to enjoy vinyl

SAM: Stanza dell'Ascolto della Musica, i.e. a room for music listening

Vinyl reproduction for everyone!

Author: Lucio Cadeddu - TNT Italy
Published: April, 2021

Music in a universal language and it possesses healing properties that we music lovers know quite well. It helps relaxation, mental focus and well-being. There are ways to approach your music listening that are far more powerful than others: certainly, choosing a record, taking it out of its sleeve, placing it on a turntable and choosing a track...is a ritual that takes time. And this extra time is far more fascinating - because it requires some physical input at our end - than tapping with a finger on a cell phone screen to choose a track on Spotify. Why? Because it is a slow action, and an uncommon one nowadays. Tapping on a screen is an action we repeat thousands of times a day, how can this be relaxing?

Listening to a record requires some extra input as well, for example when you wish to skip a track or change the side of an LP. This is time you take just for yourself. Sitting on an armchair and listening to a vinyl is a completely different experience, a ritual, much more fascinating than listening to music with earphones while doing other things (walking, working, etc). Vinyl listening requires some extra care and devotion.

With these ideas in mind, an Italian association devoted to well-being and music therapy, the A.R.S., located in Jesi, a small town in Italy, with the help of a local bank (Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Jesi) has created a place where everyone can sit down, relax and play some vinyl. This place has been called SAM, Stanza dell'Ascolto della Musica (Room for music listening), a dedicated room with a HiFi system, a turntable and a collection of vinyls. Here you can find their Facebook page. The audio system consists of a Lenco LS50 turntable, a Yamaha A-S201 integrated amp and a pair of Indiana Line TH311 loudspeakers.

A beautiful view of Jesi (Italy)

Do I need to add more? Oh yes, I hope this is just the beginning, and that similar initiatives will take place everywhere. We definitely need to give people a way (and possibly a place) where they can sit down, relax and listen to music, better if played nicely via a turntable and a good HiFi system. All our worries will fade way, for sure, at least for a (long playing) while.