The Whole Music Experience

peaceful photo by Patricia Herlevi With the holidays upon us and the year winding down, most people deal with stress overload. Add to that dealing with holiday crowds in shopping malls, traffic on the highways, and calamities that occur around the planet which I think has to do with all this stress rippling out. So unwind and relax to music. I'm going to get you started with suggestions from diverse music genres: Classical I suggest staying away from the wild Romantic Era composers with the exception of Tchaikovsky and listen to his ballets and sacred music (Rachmaninoff also has sacred recordings). For the most part, stick with chamber music such as string quartets, slower Mozart, Debussy , Ravel , Satie, Grie g , Sibelius, Aaron Copeland, and solo harp or cello recordings. Classical holiday music will either bring peace or strife depending on the person so use discernment and listen in to your feelings. Also try Renaissance polyphony such as Anonymous 4 or Stile Ant...

Image found on Wikipedia For the past the year, my life experiences have taken a toll on my well-being.  The stress has caused me to suffer illness at times. Each time I found myself turning to music to create healing in my mind, body and spirit.  Then I realized, wait a minute, I've been doing this my entire life. For anyone with access to the Internet and YouTube, there is literally a world of music as an offering to boost well-being.  Sometimes, curiosity and delving into music from other cultures or traditions gets our minds off our worries and problems.  When we redirect our minds, our bodies heal themselves. Another practice revolves around listening to favorite songs, either current or past favorites because if the songs stoke our hearts we raise our vibration.  As you know when we raise our vibrations we heal ourselves on a deep level.  However, make sure those favorite songs do not contain negative text or any abrasive sounds in them. ...

photo credit Mitch Tobias  Global Didgeridoo: In Conversation with Stephen Kent Since we live in a world surrounded by traditional instruments, some hailing back thousands of years, some misunderstood exploited by dominate cultures such as with indigenous instruments--didgeridoo comes to mind, we must grow more conscious of our relationship to these instruments. I explored this concept in my (now between publishers) book Whole Music, in the chapter about indigenous music. Recently, I wanted to include an article on didgeridoo or interview with a player on Whole Music Experience.  Through synchronicity and me spacing out, I came across Stephen Kent, or I could say I became reacquainted with his musical contributions to world and other types of music because I reviewed his CD, Oil and Water many years ago.  Quite accomplished as a player, musicians from various genres and countries have invited Kent to collaborate with them leading to some fascinating music ...

Since I haven't been able to travel long-distance due to finances and health reasons, I learned about the world by exploring musical traditions from other cultures.  But I didn't stop there, I also watch anthropology videos and read books on the topic.  Since I was a child, I have pursued my interests in other cultures with my earliest efforts involving pen pals in German, France and Japan.  Once the internet came available I jumped on board ditto for world music via compact discs and concerts.  However, one of my favorite books in my collection is Mickey Hart's Song Catchers published with National Geographic. This book delves into the works of famous ethnomusicologists (anthropologist who study music-related culture).   But I've already reviewed the book for this blog and I would rather pursue the topic of exploring music via headphones (or not) and YouTube.  So what kind of videos can we find on YouTube and how do we know what to search for? Since...

World   Dieter Iby Didgeridoo Street Music   Arc Music On visits to YouTube, I have encountered street musicians playing didgeridoo on street corners and sidewalks.   I can’t imagine encountering didgeridoo players on the streets where I reside, however, I can listen to Dieter Iby perform his world fusion on Didgeridoo Street Music .   The musician arranges didgeridoo with West African percussion instruments and he partners with kora player (West African harp) Stefan Charisius on Sim.Mah (Pisces) with spectacular otherworldly results.   Iby also pleases me with his song titles which feature signs of the Zodiac.   I’m not sure if the musician is familiar with astrological energies, but he certainly matches the right song to the right sign. For instance, the opener, Gu.an.na (Taurus) feels sensual and grounding to me similar to the sign Taurus and the track I already mentioned for Pisces also feels right on.   The second track, n...

World  The Idan Raichel Project Quarter to Six Cumbancha Israeli peacemaker and musician Idan Raichal returns with his musical collective of emerging and established musicians on his latest release, Quarter to Six .   Signifying the moment before darkness falls (early evening) and based on a quote he overheard, the songs possess a soberness and gravity.   The album includes 16 tracks divided into two sections, Part A and Part B and represeningt various styles from world pop to classical ( In a Quiet Night featuring the German counter-tenor Andreas Scholl). I have mixed feelings about the songs.   On one hand, each of the songs features strong melodies, stunning vocals (especially the guest appearance of Ana Moura on God Knows ), and some beautiful acoustic arrangements.   On the other hand, I’m not fond of programming or world pop since my preferences lead towards classical and folkloric music performed on acoustic instruments.   So ...

21st Century Musical Healers--Bring it All Together Now My first encounter with Prashant Michael John was when his Tandava CD landed in my mailbox and I reviewed it for World Music Central.   Then later, Prashant joined my Linked In group Musical Healers where he has contributed his sound healing and music wisdom as well as, supporting the other members of the healing music group.   When I thought of who I would interview for my Sound Healing Series on Whole Music Experience, Prashant came up on my short list of sound healers because he explores folk music traditions from around the globe and also embraces the sound healing side of music consciousness, a rare combination.   He also bridges the gap between eastern and western music while creating stunning music with masterful musicians.   And when he’s not doing that or touring, he’s offering kirtan events in Calgary, Canada.   WME: Similar to other young aspiring musicians residing in t...