From time to time it’s important to be reminded of the healing power of music.
Last week was one of those moments in this musician’s life – something that inspired me to keep loving music amidst an emotional and artistic crisis.
My dad always talked about this mysterious thing called synchronicity – a meaningful coincidence that feels like a little nod from God when it happens.
Dad, being a perpetual songwriter, trained me from a young age to notice what was around me. He called it songwriter radar, and later came to call it Now.
It’s really just being mindful about things that are interesting and noticing how being open can bring good things your way.
I had been reading about music therapy’s origins and about the music / math connection with our study at Songpreneurs on melody writing last quarter, and had come across two interesting pieces of information.
One was that among all the music ever written (in this book published in 1965) one of the most healing and uplifting pieces of music for people is Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
How fascinating. The book written by Dr. Roberto Assagioli went on to say part of the
reason was because of the struggle in the first moment that is overcome and worked out into the final uplifting movement that most of us recognize as “Ode To Joy.”
Taking this into my brain, I decided to listen to this Ninth Symphony soon and went on with my week.
A few days later, I got an email from the YEP Nashville group about a special opportunity to get Nashville Symphony tickets. What was the performance? You guessed it – Beethoven’s Ninth.
I bought two tickets at once and started pumping myself up about going.
The week brought its challenges, mainly due to this being my dad’s birthday and Father's Day month, and missing him.
But let’s just say that by the time Thursday rolled around, I needed to see that Symphony like my life depended on it. My heart sometimes tries to take in too much, or something. Or maybe it’s the vibrations from all this music, Dr. Assagioli might suggest, but whatever the reason, my melancholy mood had become a little toxic.
I needed something to remind me what this thing is all about. Why do I love music so very much when it’s so very hard, even at a successful level to keep doing it sometimes?
True to word, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and indeed the very Nashville Symphony itself, composed of its master musicians of all shapes and sizes, including the fantastic array of diverse singers vibrating we audience down to our very core – this is the stuff, this is what’s it’s all about.
Ahhh. My heart and soul breathed a sigh of relief as my cells seemed to uncoil and deliver a healing tonic to my stress strapped body in the presence of God and this mighty orchestra. I was spellbound and enrapt – transcendent.
Assagioli said in his book that in prisons Beethoven’s Ninth had been used to great success to bring even violent criminals to tears as their anguished souls felt this all encompassing release of healing love pouring through time and space from the master’s mind into our ears. Truly it is transformative magic at work of the highest Godly order.
In conclusion, I highly recommend that you invest the money into going to see the Nashville Symphony at some point during your next visit to our music town. It is a cannot be missed experience that has reawakened the love for all things beautiful in this country girl’s heart.
Maybe even an Aria or two might be floating around here somewhere in the foreseeable future.
In loving gratitude, your friend, Amanda. xo
P.S. The second interesting thing I learned recently is that the wavelength of a sound wave for a low C is over two meters! That’s HUGE to think those low notes course right through our bodies in such a big way. Here’s a link to the chart (called Physics of Music on Michigan Tech website) where I learned that fact that we used as a reference in our last Songpreneurs melody writing class.
P.P.S. Isn’t it cool how the word “tonic” means a healing substance and is also the name of the first and last note in a musical scale? I love this stuff.
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