The Whole Music Experience

Try this experiment. Next time you hear music coming from a passing car while you're out walking, pay attention to your body's reaction. Pay attention to how your body rearranges itself to match the rhythm and tempo of the song coming from the passing car. I've noticed this with myself. I'm walking on a city street at my own pace and cadence. Then a car passes by with rap music pouring out of the speakers. I notice that my step picks up, my heart races, and I end up walking to the rap rhythms against my will. Alternately, if I'm walking into a shop and a Bach prelude pours from a speaker, I pay attention to my body's rhythms as they slow down and my mind travels from worries of the day to contemplation. Or I stop thinking obsessive thoughts and I remember music history lessons about the Baroque Era--Bach's music. Right now, I'm listening to Marvin Gaye's greatest hits on YouTube as I type this post. I'm feeling my heart swelling with compas...

Murray Perahia Bach Goldberg Variations Sony I feel too exhausted at the moment to write an actual review of Pianist Murray Perahia's gorgeous interpretation of Bach's Goldberg Variations. However, Perahia takes his listeners through a vast palette of emotions with aplomb while performing the short 32 variations--a Bach masterpiece that was originally composed for his "talented protege Johann Gottlieb Goldberg to play on harpsicord." The first recording I heard and enjoyed of the variations was by the late Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. Listening to two recordings by Glenn Gould, recorded decades a part, led me to think that I would not enjoy another pianist's recording of this work. However, I find Perahia's version (who has a lot of Bach recordings under his belt), extremely moving and powerful. I borrowed the CD from the library down the street and have listened to several times in the past week. Since this is a healing music site, I want to add ...