The Whole Music Experience

I woke up this morning, with a storm slamming against the windows.  I decided to stay in bed longer and listen to Bach keyboard works.  I slipped Murray Perahia's Bach Partitas 2, 3 & 4 into my portable CD player and listened to Bach's solo piano via headphones.  The ostinato (bass line played with left hand), and the counterpoint so skillfully played by Perahia calmed my nerves. My mind was racing at the time with thoughts tripping over each other. So I focused on the music, and listened intently while absorbing every nuance into my cells. About 15 minutes of listening to this recording, plus an eye pillow over my face, gave me the same affect as a half an hour of sitting meditation. I realize that anyone who has read sound healing and healing music books would have seen Bach's music at the top of a healing music list.  Experts discuss the architecture and the mathematics of Bach's ingenuous compositions, not that I comprehend the intricacies of Bach's...

After years of feeling affects of different types of music listened to in different settings, I came up with the concept of tracking responses to music via a journal. The benefits of keeping a music journal include, developing music consciousness (how music affects your mind, body, and spirit), exploring musical genres you wouldn't otherwise, and a journey into sound healing. This exercise is more challenging for people with a short attention span or who live busier lifestyle. But the physical act of keeping a journal divided into columns with the headings Type of Music, Artist, time of day, emotional effects, and physical effects does the job.  You don't need to run out and buy a fancy leather bound journal, a cheap spiral notebook will do the job just as well.  So how do you get started? First you purchase the journal and create the columns.  You can even keep an online journal using Access or Excel, if you spend more time in the typing mode.  Then you need t...

I'm not writing about a new topic.   I write this essay in preparation for two workshops I plan on teaching this winter.  I adapted my course Exploring Music with Ecological Themes into a 2-hour workshop where I feature 5 songs hailing from diverse traditions.  We will explore the Finnish runo-song (sadly a fading tradition), indigenous music (haven't selected the tradition yet), the "wild bird jazz" of David Rothenberg and the sound healing-jazz of the late Marjorie De Muynck.  The exploration reads like a shamanic adventure, but my workshop also focuses on lost healing arts. Sadly as a planet, we have mostly lost touch with the natural world and the purposes of music.  I feel that disconnected from nature and intentional music leads to dis-ease and destruction of the planet. If we perform ignorantly music with ill intentions then we lead ourselves further into dis-ease.  I cannot stress this enough.I see music used purposefully by advertisers who sell...

  The Sound of Music Recently I self-published my second novel, "Agnes et Yves" on Create Space.  This lead me to the library to check out books on marketing.  I ran across Martin Lindstrom's "Brand Sense" and found this section on the psychology of sound and music.  Here is a quote. "A fascinating experiment once took place in a small Australian village. Local residents, alarmed by the increase in street crime got together and decided that the best way to confront the problem was to remove the offenders from the main street at nightfall. Instead of taking the more traditional more-police, greater security, and tough-on-crime stance, they chose to play classical music.  Every single block began piping out sounds of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms.  In less than a week, the town reported a dramatic decrease in crime." Closer to home, the Bellingham Police piped out classical music around the bus station downtown.  It did decrease loiteri...

Cesaria Evora, the Cape Verdean singer, also known as “the barefoot diva,” passed away on Saturday, December 17th (at 11:45 am local time) at Baptista de Sousa hospital in Mindelo Cape Verde, as announced by Cape Verdean minister of culture Mario Lucio Sousa. The world famous singer died at 70 on her native island of Sao Vicente about three months after retiring from the stage. She had been suffering health issues for a while and had had a few surgeries over the past few years, including an open-heart operation in May 2010. “I don’t have the strength, the energy anymore. I want you to tell my fans that I’m sorry but I have to rest now. I am sorry I have to retire because of health issues. I wish I could have given pleasure to those who follow me for much more time” she had told French newspaper Le Monde when she announced her retirement last September 23 rd . She was in good shape on stage at the Parisian venue Grand Rex in April 2011 but her unhealthy heart, which had fai...

Jacques Pellarin Quartet Sup Dude Independent release Accordion is an instrument that gets along well with virtually every genre of music, at least the major genres.  You hear the instrument in bluegrass, Parisian chanson, Italian café music, and world jazz.  French accordionist Jacques Pellarin and his quartet perform music that weds Parisian café with jazz, though this is not Paris Combo.  On the album Sup Dude Pellarin doesn’t include the French gypsy swing element that you would expect from French jazz, but surprises me with a performance style that recalls Galician jazz.   Listen to the intro for the titular track and if you’re familiar with Galician music, you’ll hear those musical strains. I’m reminded of the Spanish band Engado.  So Frenchy sounds Spanish too, leaving me wondering about the ironic title.  In any case, Pellarin’s fingers fly across the keys of his accordion in a way that conjures the image of a global music travel...

Franca Masu 10 Anys Aramùsica Once in a while a new diva crosses my path which is the case with Sardinian jazz vocalist Franca Masu who sings her repertoire in the Catalan language.   So not only am I discovering a new vocal talent (to my ears), but I also discovered a Catalan connection to the Italian island of Sardinia.   If you go back hundreds of years, you’ll discover a goldmine of cultural and language connections in the Mediterranean, but for the sake of this review my goal is to pique your curiosity.   Closet anthropologists similar to me will dig right in. Franca Masu marks the first female Sardinian vocalists I have listened to, but she’s not the first chanteuse that I’ve reviewed that sings in the Catalan language, Mariana Rossell (Barcelona) and Maria del Mar Bonet (Majorca) come easily to mind.   Masu weds jazz vocals with traditional instruments on her live album 10 Anys . Masu’s vocals alternate between sedate/tender on Aquamare and ...

  If you take a look at my classical and early music list for 2011, you'll see that classical music is here to stay and diverse as ever.  I considered including an Indian classical CD on this list then added it to the Best World and Jazz Albums of 2011 list instead.  And yes, I find the music on this list healing. 1.      San Francisco Symphony with Michael Thomas and Emanuel Ax, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, San Francisco Symphony 2.      Stephen Hough and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Grieg and Liszt Piano Concertos, Hyperion 3.      21 st Century Symphony Orchestra, Howard Shore’s Lord of the Ring Symphony, Howe Records 4.     Anonymous 4, Secret Voices, Harmonia Mundi 5.     Trio Mediaeval, A Worcester Lady Mass, ECM 6.      Jerusalem Quartet, Mozart String Quartets, Harmonia Mundi 7.    ...

Top 15 World and Jazz Recordings for 2011 I struggled with compiling a top 10 list of recordings for 2011 so I came up with a top 15 list which made my life easier. The first criteria for an artist or recording ending up on the list was how I felt when I first listened to the recording. I admit I am subjective in my approach as are most journalists.  Yet, each of the recordings on the list possess merit too.  Some of these musicians preserve musical traditions, other musicians have mastered their tradition, and others engage their audience through their love of their tradition as in the case of Ana Moura.  You can't help but fall in love with these performers.  The last question I ask, "Do I find these recordings healing for me?" Most years I find that I'm heavier with African recordings, but this year Latin music from the new and old worlds dominate.  If you have not had a chance to hear these recordings I hope you will get on your favorite sea...

Cristina Branco Live in Amsterdam, Netherlands Arc Music If you’re a fan of Portuguese fado music, then fadista Cristina Branco and lute player-composer Custòdio Castelo are familiar names to your ears.   Arc Music takes us back to 1997 before the fame and before the large musical output of these musicians.   Live in Amsterdam, Netherlands features already mature musicians poised for promising careers.   I’m hearing most of these fados for the first time because I didn’t discover either musician until the release of Sensu in 2003, an album that mixed fado with sensual jazz. Similar to Mariza, Branco takes the Portuguese music tradition into contemporary times. She has covered Joni Mitchell ( Ulisses ) and she brought in jazz piano ( Sensus ).   But the 1997 live album features pure fado with traditional instruments, mainly Portuguese guitar, with crystal shimmering tones accompanying Branco’s emotive vocals.    The album features 16...

Holiday Recordings 2011 Cantus Christmas with Cantus Independent release Elisabeth Lohninger Band Christmas in July Jazz Sick Records Putumayo Presents Celtic Christmas Putumayo World Music Secret Garden Winter Poem Heart of Space Records/Valley Entertainment I find holiday music deeply healing.  Here we are in the midst of the darkest time of year, but like a cup of hot chocolate or lights strung along houses, holiday music offers us warmth and comfort. When I was a child, I couldn't wait for the holidays to arrive because I could pull out the Christmas albums and sing along with them.  I lost all sense of time and space.  I felt joy singing those songs, even the sad ones.  The first song I ever learned to play on the parlor organ was Silent Night and to this day, I still find the melody haunting.  My brother loved the song Do You See What I See? and certainly it was a favorite of mine too. Ther...

Kyle Carey Monongah Independent Release I want to thank Angel Romero of World Music Central for forwarding me American songster Kyle Carey’s self-release Monongah .   The recording which blends Appalachian, light gospel, and Celtic folk sounds refreshing with its compelling stories.   Carey has talent to burn as a songwriter, and a mature, clear voice in which to deliver her stories—more or less tales with some intriguing characters.   Not only that the musician brings luminous musical talent on board with musicians from Lunasa and Cherish the Ladies, among others. Her stories are sung against a lush background of mandolin, guitar, and banjo.   I think I might have heard some strings in there somewhere to, but it’s late in the day and my brain feels exhausted.    I do remember the sweet melodies that climb into my head and I catch myself humming them.   The cadence of Devil at your Back with its lilting guitar rolling along cert...

I found a short news clip, "Striking the Right Note" in Taste For Life (November 2011).  According to a research study conducted at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care (9-13-11), "Lifelong musicians experience fewer age-related hearing problems than non-musicians." I doubt this applies to rock musicians however since I've known many rock musicians who started losing their hearing in their 30s and 40s. However, if you wish to check out this intriguing news bite, go to http://www.tasteforlife.com Also in this publication, "Listening to music can ease cancer patients' anxiety and reduce their pain..."

Photo by Patricia Herlevi So often with sound healing or the concept of healing with music, an assumption that healing music must relax us rears its head.  Healing comes in many guises and each of us needs different types of healing.  We might need to boost our immune system, or boost our energy/vitality, we might need music to help us focus better or to relax from a stressful day. This brings up one of my favorite concepts and that is purposeful music.  As we grow more conscious of how music affects our soul-mind-body, we build a music tool kit with multiple purposes.  Often I suffer from headaches and so I choose relaxing music, even drones without melody or audio sound scapes.  Some times I could use a good sound healing session with crystal bowls and tuning forks and other times I need to dance to West African drums, Brazilian samba, or need to get my body moving to something hot and Latin. The purposeful music concept visited me twice within the ...

  Joshua Leeds Good Night Baby Music to Soothe Your Infant to Sleep Sounds True Jai Uttal Kirtan Kids The Elephant, the Monkey, and The Little Butter Thief Sounds True If adults find the technological era stressful, imagine what children feel, especially the extra-sensitive infant.  Plenty of record labels release recordings for children and I’ve featured a handful on this blog already.  I contacted Putumayo about its children’s compilation series and never received a response, then Sounds True came out with Jai Uttal’s  (famous in the world of yoga kirtans) Kirtan Kids and psycho-acoustic researcher Joshua Leeds’ Good Night Baby (Music to Soothe Your Infant to Sleep) .  While I don’t have any children myself, I feel that music is a healthy non-toxic medicine for stressed out children.  And in the case of Jai Uttal’s recording, he offers an avenue to a higher spiritual source.  A child needs to feel connected to t...

  Grieg and Liszt Piano Concertos Stephen Hough Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra with Andrew Litton Hyperion Records Many years ago when I researched European classical composers who included folkloric dance and folk songs in their work, I encountered Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg.  This was around the time that I became familiar with Norwegian folk music so the timing felt perfect.  As far as, the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, I’m most familiar with the work he composed after he joined a Franciscan monastery.  However, I had read stories about the romantic composer’s affects on ladies in attendance at his concerts.  Remember the passionate violinist in the movie The Red Violin ? I’m guessing that character was loosely based on Liszt or at least the composer’s persona. So when I placed Stephen Hough and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra’s latest recording featuring piano concertos by Liszt and Grieg, I expected to hear the kind of music t...