The Practice--Healing with Whole Music (take the workshop)

Enroll now for the Healing with Whole Music workshop (Bellingham, WA).  The workshop is scheduled for Saturday, March 31, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. through the Whatcom Folk School.
http://www.whatcomfolkschool.org

Come learn the difference between music therapy and sound healing.  Learn ways you can increase music awareness in your life while creating peace in your home and your mind.  Learn about how music affects your soul, mind, body and how the ancients used sound for powerful healing purposes.  Transform your life today through the use of sound and music through my multimedia and interactive workshop.

This workshop is especially important for hospice workers, people who work with children, healers of all kinds, music students and musicians/composers.  

I look forward to seeing you at my workshop.

Register through Michael's Books if you are in Bellingham or at http://www.whatcomfolkschool.org 

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In review--Music for canyons and waterfalls

Coyote Jump

Waking from the Roots

Canyon Records

Classical guitarist-composer Colin Farish teams up with Native American flautist John-Carlos Perea under the moniker Coyote Jump.  Similar to R. Carlos Nakai, Perea brings his flute into the realm of chamber music with relaxing results.  The dynamics (pow-wow drums and soaring flute) that you would hear on a Nakai-De Mars (composer James DeMars) does not appear with Coyote Jump’s Waking from the Roots.  This duet leans towards the meditative new age sound, while tossing in ecological themes.  I prefer to listen to this CD before bedtime because of its relaxing qualities. 

While the songs do not resemble impressionist classical music, the musicians composed the songs with an image from nature, from sudden and tumultuous weather (Lightening Drum) to a sacred waterfall in Indian Canyon (Ohlone Waters) and so on.  This is not new in America since many composers Grofe, Copeland, Gershwin, and DeMars have already plowed this terrain. Yet, I like hearing this tradition passed on. The title Salish Sound, composed by Farish caught my attention because I live in the Salish region in Washington State.  I can see from the liner notes that Farish spent some time in Seattle when he studied at Cornish College of the Arts.  The song’s gentle lilting guitar, warm tabla and flute remind me of traveling on ferries in this region.

Midnight Moon offers a gorgeous respite with its blend of choral voices, strings, two pianos, harp and Native American flute, coming off as the most ambitious composition on the recording.  In fact, the musicians gave a lot of love and effort to Waking from the Roots, from composing the songs and then arranging orchestration.  While R. Carlos Nakai was among the first Native American musicians to collaborate with a classical composer, Coyote Jump proudly keeps this new genre (Euro-classical/Native American) alive and kicking.

http://www.canyonrecords.com

In review---Trombone Rules

Marshall Gilkes

Sound Stories

Alternative Side Records

When trombonist Marshall Gilkes’ Sound Stories arrived at my post office box, I had no plans for reviewing the recording in the near future.  I was taking a short sabbatical from reviewing so I could concentrate on other projects.  However, out of curiosity, I slipped Sound Stories into my CD player and the music grabbed me.  The blend of lyrical and be bop jazz played tightly by this quintet begged for a review.  With Gilkes leading, Donny McCaslin (tenor sax), Adam Birnbaum (piano), Yasushi Nakamura (bass) and Eric Doob (drums) through both composed-through and improvisations, this album showcases a great deal of jazz talent.  Who doesn’t enjoy the alchemical process of music? A little bass, drums, toss in piano, and an extensive conversation between tenor saxophone and trombone, and you have a recipe for a jazzy escape.

The ironically titled, Anxiety--Part 1 and Part 2 did not bring on neurosis and in fact, I felt relaxed listening to these two pieces.  Part 1 featured sweet innuendos whispered between the sax and the trombone.  Part 2’s jaunty opening features a bass-drum-piano groove with the horns gliding over top.  The instrumental ballad Downtime offers a romantic respite with the spotlight on Gilkes’ trombone, sounding trumpet-like.  Am I hearing shades of Miles Davis?  Armstrong-Parts 1 and 2, feature be bop (slow and fast).  The album closes with the lyrically splendid Thruway with Doob’s soft brushstrokes on the cymbals and the Gilkes trombone serenading McCaslin’s saxophone, sometimes singing in tandem.--Highly recommended for jazz seekers.

http://www.marshallgilkes.com

Practice It--Morning Music Meditation

Music Meditation

If you choose to have your day go smoothly, then start your day with music, not the morning news (unless you wish to pray all day for what you hear in the news).  Now, that you have kept a music journal and you have an idea of how music affects your moods, it's time to set aside 20 to 30 minutes each morning for deep music listening.  You can listen to music through headphones if you don't want to wake others up, but keep the volume low so you don't suffer from hearing loss--ringing in the ears is not fun.

Follow these steps:

1). Tune into your emotions and choose the appropriate music for releasing unwanted emotions or enhancing desired feelings.

2). You can choose different songs from different recordings or play consequitive tracks off of a single CD.  You can even listen to music you store on your computer or other devices.

3). Sit or lay down quietly with this music, removing all distractions.

4). Similar to sitting or walking meditation, watch your breath and also your heart rhythms as you listen to this music.  Follow your breath and heartbeat as it entrains to the music.

5). If your mind tends to wander and you feel like daydreaming, keep your daydreams positive, imagining what you want in your life, not what you don't want.

6). If your thoughts are strongly negative and your emotions too strong, then stop the music, and do a few rounds of Emotional Freedom Technique or something similar.  Then return to the music listening.

7). Once you complete your meditation you might wish to continue listening to music for yoga or dance purposes.  This is fine, but take a pause in between the music so that you can digest the previous music. It's like when your mother tells you to leave room for dessert.  Leave a space in between music, especially different kinds of music. If you don't do this you might end up with a strange collage of music stuck in your thoughts for the remainder of the day.

8). End with expressing gratitude for the music, the musicians, and the intimate time you had with both.

Feel free to share your music meditation experiences. You can leave a comment or contact me directly.  I think you need to follow the blog to contact me.

In review--Impressions of Multicultural Quebec

Sagapool

Coop Faux Monnayeurs

Independent Release/Canada

Similar to the French music collective Lo’Jo, Quebec’s Sagapool collectively represents a multicultural stew on its self-titled album.  However, as mentioned in the press notes, Sagapool performs meditative music.  Not to confuse meditative with new age, this sextet lead by clarinetist Guillaume Bourque musically ponders the Great White North, and oddly sounds like Finish or Norwegian folk music.  Sure, the musicians toss the words Klezmer and Balkan around in the band’s description, and we do hear an Eastern European gypsy tinge, especially on an upbeat song Marcel, which sounds like the circus rolled into town.

However, I can draw comparisons between this Quebecois band and European musical acts, but by the end of the day, the best descriptor is original.  Now, I’ve never traveled to Quebec so I am left with a mystical description of the place--some far off land, bordering the US and the Arctic where French language and culture rule the day.  This isn’t Quebecois music that I am used to hearing, but it is something classical, pastoral, and impressionistic.  Sagapool manages to draw on European influences while bringing this music to the snowy climes of Montreal, reminding me of Finland, of all places.  Sagapool has more in common with Frigg or Maria Kalimeni than the big names of acoustic Quebecois music.  Take a listen to Dù, for instance, with its slow klezmer accordion, clarinet, and battery of drums or the contemplative opener, with a title of longitude and latitude coordinates or the slow piano chanson, Entracte.

Today with so much traveling and musical exchange, music bleeds through genres, leaving journalist such as myself scrambling for descriptors.  In the end, I say just pick up the CD and you decide.  Similar to a good fantasy writer, Sagapool creates a world within a world, and if you don’t drop breadcrumbs along the way, you might end up getting lost in the woods of Quebec.

http://www.coopfauxmonnayeurs.com and http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz

In review--Mali Meets Middle East

The Touré-Raichel Collective

The Tel Aviv Session

Cumbancha(release date 3/27/12)

With so many Malian-music collaborations to choose from these days, it is still not a cliché to introduce yet another.  Malian blues guitarist Vieux Farka Touré teams up with Israeli pianist Idan Raichel.  From what I can tell from the press notes, neither musician has collaborated on an acoustic jam session previously that combines the earthiness of Malian music with Middle Eastern modes.  In fact, these musicians are superstars of world pop and rock, but The Tel Aviv Session, sounds more new age than anything else (new age in a good way).  I find this album deeply relaxing alternating with invigorating.

On the opening track Azawade, Raichel’s piano arcs over Touré’s bluesy chord progressions, reminding me of angels descending to the red earth.  Backed by Yossi Fine on bass, and Souleymane Kane on calabash, the only other musician that comes to mind is Taj Mahal, who also weds the truly sublime to bluesy progressions.  For those of you not yet familiar with Malian blues, it celebrates the human spirit and in comparison to the more cathartic American blues, Malian blues uplifts without taking you through the mire first.  Of course, Tinariwen and other Tuareg blues bands from Mali perform a more devastating blues, then what appears here.  As far as I can tell, the only agenda Touré and Raichel had was to exchange musical ideas in a studio setting to see how far they could take it.

There is enough groove here to keep the world music fan hooked, but also enough sophistication and innovation to excite the music academics.  While I am not going to wax on about chord progressions, modes, and Middle Eastern scales, I leave it to the savvy listener to buy the CD.  Everything from Frédéric Yonnet’s harmonica solo on Touré to Malian chanteuse Cabra Casay’s soaring vocals on Ane Nahatka, listeners are in for a one-of-a-kind musical experience.  The entire album provides magical moments, leaving me breathless at times.  I think 2012 is already the year for spectacular music, but world music fans and journalists will talk about this seminal album 20 years from now.  Some albums changed lives and some albums change the course of music history--this is one of them.

http://www.cumbancha.com

In review--Greek shepherds find their nymphs

La Nuova Musica

David Bates

Handel’s Il Pastor Fido

Harmonia Mundi

Love is a complicated matter for Italians.  Remember the star-crossed lovers in Romeo and Juliet?  Still, in another era, Italian troubadours roamed from court to court singing about unobtainable love.  During the classical era, Italians fumbled their way through courtship in Mozart's operas.  However, for George Frideric Handel during the Baroque era, nymphs and Greek shepherds endured Cupid’s painful arrows.  Two couples appear at the center of the baroque opera Il Pastor Fido (The Faithful Shepherd) along with an early predecessor of the femme fatale who has her own plans.

Amarilli (soprano Lucy Crowe) is in love with Mirtillo (soprano Anna Dennis), but betrothed to Silvio (countertenor Clint van der Linde).  However, Silvio made a vow to Diana, goddess of the hunt and he only has one thing on his mind.  Dorinda (mezzo-soprano Madeleine Shaw), has fallen for Silvio and pursues the obsessed hunter.  Meanwhile, Eurilla (soprano Katherine Manley), delivers a deceitful plot to rid of her rival Amarilli so she can claim Mirtillo as her lover.  Now, I’m not sure why the male role of Mirtillo is performed by a soprano, but perhaps no one else could sing the stratospheric arias except a soprano.  Back in Handel’s day, doctors performed a certain procedure on boys so that they could sing these high notes well into their adult years.  Honestly, I don’t know the story behind this quirk, but I guess I’m supposed to suspend belief that a macho shepherd would have such a lovely feminine voice.

While the story itself falls on the pastoral side with a few dramatic moments, such as Silvio mistaking Dorinda for a wild animal during a hunt, or Eurilla framing Amarilli leading to her death sentence, the music delights. By the way, the performances on this recording dazzle.  Handel did not compose music for the average person to sing.  The heavily ornamented arias on this recording leave me with goose bumps. Baroque opera has different challenges than modern opera, where the singers carry the entire story, without special effects, or gigantic eye popping sets.  These vocalists acted out their roles in a recording studio where they delivered a rich palette of emotions from giddiness caused by requited love to despair of a broken heart.  The result is an entertaining opera that runs over two hours.

I would feel hard pressed to choose a favorite aria from this opera since Handel composed gorgeous arias that challenge vocalists.  However, I will mention a few that deeply moved or delighted me.  For an evil woman, Eurilla’s premature triumphant D’allor triofante si cinga provides a shining moment.  Dorinda’s Se m’ami, oh caro offers a sweet lament from a woman who believes that she’s dying in the arms of her lover.  Silvio’s guilt-ridden lament (he accidentally shot an arrow at Dorinda), Tu nel piagarmi il seno certainly feels heart-wrenching. 

It’s not often that I listen to an opera.  Reviewing an opera takes more work than reviewing other types of classical recordings.  First, you have to read the text, read about the musicians, and the composer.  Then you need to sit down with the actual music, and give it a thorough listen.  However, I enjoyed spending a Sunday afternoon exploring Handel’s opera. I also feel honored to discover the young talented ensemble La Nuova Musica and it’s director David Bates.  While you can read accolades this ensemble received in British press, you are better off listening to the recording and allowing it to pleasure all your senses.  Who doesn’t enjoy a good love story sung in Italian?

http://www.harmoniamundi.com