The Whole Music Experience

Music Consciousness in the Work and Market Place Seattle, photo by Patricia Herlevi So many times I walk into a business or shop and leave immediately because I don’t enjoy the music playing in the store. In some cases, I’ve heard NPR or some other news source blasting from a radio. In either case, those shops lost my business because I felt unwelcomed by the audio choices. I’ve been blasted with heavy metal at an Aveda beauty school (Seattle), I’ve had to listen to 70s and 80s pop music getting my hair cut at other beauty schools and also strangely enough waiting for a counseling appointment and ditto for a naturopath clinic. Nostalgia is a dangerous thing and drum machines pattering away do not provide a healing environment. Some lyrics might trigger painful memories. This is why massage therapists and other energy healers provide either silence or soothing tension-free music to their patients. All of the above scenarios portray unconscious music/audio choices that might...

Susanne Lundeng Mot Kirkelig Kulturverksted In 2004 I reviewed Norwegian fiddler-violinist Susanne Lundeng’s Strange Journey for my former website Cranky Crow World Music (2002-2007). While I found that album ambitious blending jazz and traditional music, her 2011 recording Mot (Courage) represents contemplative Nordic music where jazz, traditional, and classical intersect. Lundeng experiments with tonality on Imella where she’s joined by BØde Sinfonietta. On the remaining tracks she either flies solo or pairs off with a chamber musicians Min Ensemble, piano and accordion. While the songs moves along at a slower tempo, they possess a primal, untamed feel, such as on tracks 4 and 7 when the violin takes on a Hungarian gypsy quality. I think the courage in the album’s title refers mostly to Imella (track 6) in which the violinist experiments with tonality. However, the dissonance on the track leaves me feeling uneasy. I prefer the more pastoral songs on the album...