A Month of Musical Magic!

I have been starved for live music for quite some time. That all seems to be turning around- finally!

This seems to be my month for music. On April 27 I went to Durham for what turned out to be a 3 1/2 hour concert with Rhiannon Giddens- vocalist, banjo player and violinist extraordinaire, Mavis Staples, Rissi Palmer, Toshi Reagan, and last but far from least, Blind Boys of Alabama! What an amazing show!!! Absolutely phenomenal. Brilliant musicians. Full of good and uplifting vibes. I don’t have the words to express how truly wonderful it was. Maybe this video will give you a little feel for it. This was Rhiannon and her band.

Three nights later I went to Asheville to see Simrit Kaur at the AyurPrana Listening Room in Asheville. I have to say that I missed the kora player who I always feel is such a big part of her music but it was wonderful nonetheless. Plus my friend Sabrina and I stayed at an Airbnb so we turned it into a bit of an adventure. We got the most incredible freshly made organic insanely delicious donuts in the morning, went to Trader Joe’s since there is not one anywhere near where we live (Asheville, at 2 1/2 hours away is the closest!) and stocked up on some goodies, and then went to Chai Pani for lunch, an Indian restaurant famous for their Indian street food.
Below- Simrit looking like a mystic goddess…

A couple of days later I was talking with my friend Helen and she told me that her husband was a Pink Floyd fanatic so they were going to Chattanooga in a few days to see Brit Floyd, who I wasn’t aware of but are apparently considered to be the number one Pink Floyd tribute band in the world. Of course now I know why. Somehow I managed to get right in on that and ended up going with them. we had front row seats for an absolutely mind-blowingly amazing show! They were totally incredible- I truly do not think if I had my eyes closed that I would have been able to tell the difference between them and the real Pink Floyd. Beyond the instrumentation and the light show, their voices matched perfectly. It was kind of insane- and fabulous. and thoroughly exhilarating!

Coming up next- Andrew Bird and the Asheville Symphony Orchestra! May 29- can’t wait!

Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy

Hmmm… where to start.

Feeling very emotional and vulnerable the past few days. Getting over bronchitis and I still have a fairly brutal cough- fortunately long spaces in between the bouts of hacking.

Lungs. Grief. I am resonating with that.

Today I walked by my friend Shin Ae Tassia’s picture on the bathroom wall. A dear friend who I met while she was undergoing treatment for metastatic breast cancer in 2015. I remember seeing her when I walked into the Integrative Care clinic where I was working at the time. She looked at me and said, “Do you do craniosacral therapy?” I said, “Yes. Do you want a session?” There was no hesitation on her part or mine. I asked when she wanted a session. She said, “Yesterday.” And we began from there. An immediate connection and powerful friendship. That was just who she was. Real. She passed on April 22, 2017.

For whatever reason when I saw her picture tonight it sort of bowled me over and I started weeping. Sometimes with the loved ones who are no longer embodied it feels like they are right here and the connection and the joy is palpable… and sometimes the absence is so strong. I had a wave of that- the deep sadness. Accompanied by the thought “Who are you? Who were you in my life? How did you hit me so hard and have such a huge unknowable impact?” She was an important person. She was a big person. She took up space in the world in the most beautiful way. She filled the space around her with her presence.

And the words that came to my mind were, “Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my open mind…” You know the rest.

I watched and listened to several YouTube videos and came across this one with such wonderful images of those four brilliant men who called themselves The Beatles and who wrote that beautiful song that never ages, never grows old, that truly resonates forever, across the universe. I also googled Shin Ae Tassia and the first thing that showed up was actually a blog post that I wrote less than a year after she died. Here is a link to that post:
From The External to the Eternal

And check this out. As I was researching the song tonight I came across this - from the NASA website, posted on January 31, 2008. It turns out the song is truly traveling across the universe!!!

WASHINGTON - For the first time ever, NASA will beam a song - The Beatles "Across the Universe" -- directly into deep space at 4 p.m. Pacific Time (7 p.m. Eastern Time) on Monday, Feb. 4.

The transmission over NASA's Deep Space Network will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the day The Beatles recorded the song, as well as the 50th anniversary of NASA's founding and the group's beginnings. Two other anniversaries also are being honored: The launch 50 years ago this week of Explorer 1, the first U.S. satellite, and the founding 45 years ago of the Deep Space Network, an international network of antennas that supports missions to explore the universe.

Technicians at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., where the Deep Space Network is managed, will send the command that will start the transmission.

The transmission is being aimed at the North Star, Polaris, which is located 431 light years away from Earth. The song will travel across the universe at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney expressed excitement that the tune, which was principally written by fellow Beatle John Lennon, was being beamed into the cosmos.

"Amazing! Well done, NASA!" McCartney said in a message to the space agency. "Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul."

Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, characterized the song's transmission as a significant event.

"I see that this is the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets across the universe," she said.

It is not the first time Beatles music has been used by NASA; in November 2005, McCartney performed the song "Good Day Sunshine" during a concert that was transmitted to the International Space Station. "Here Comes the Sun," "Ticket to Ride" and "A Hard Day's Night" are among other Beatles' songs that have been played to wake astronaut crews in orbit.

Feb. 4 has been declared "Across The Universe Day" by Beatles fans to commemorate the anniversaries. As part of the celebration, the public around the world has been invited to participate in the event by simultaneously playing the song at the same time it is transmitted by NASA. Many of the senior NASA scientists and engineers involved in the effort are among the group's biggest fans.

"I've been a Beatles fan for 45 years - as long as the Deep Space Network has been around," said Barry Geldzahler, the network's program executive at NASA Headquarters, Washington. "What a joy, especially considering that 'Across the Universe' is my personal favorite Beatles song."

JPL built the Explorer 1 satellite and is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its launch. JPL also operates NASA's Deep Space Network. For information about the Deep Space Network, go to:

http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov

Following Tom Zé Down the Rabbit Hole

I honestly do not know what this song means. I only know that I love it. My understanding is that it has to do with living under oppression, the blurred lines of political parties and ideologies. And “Esquerda” means “dear”. I thought it was a love song for years. I don’t think so. But it is wonderful- full of juice and life and raw energy and whenever I hear it I have to get up and dance. Every song on this album, Vira Na Via Lactea, by the wild, progressive and brilliant Brazilian musician Tom Zé, one of the originators of the Tropicália movement in Brazil in the late sixties, is fabulous.

(An hour later) So… exploring this song led me down a Tom Zé rabbit hole… and I discovered a beautiful song with such an interesting contrasting video, a piece of Tom Zé avant garde art. Apparently the song is about Jesus reincarnating as a flower in the Amazon forest. I used Google Translate to wrangle this translation from Portuguese to English of what he had written about it on his website. Mind you, he was born in 1936. This was apparently written 3 years after the worst of the pandemic- which would put him either at age 87 or 88 at the time he wrote it and filmed this video! The translation (less than perfect, no doubt):

Jesus, Amazon Flores The idea of ​​the song that Jesus Christ, in his second incarnation, was reborn as the Amazonian Flora, also passes through a curious accident. Felipe Hirsch was the director of Sesc, when Danilo was in charge. In a few seconds, in a very short time, I commented with Danilo that I wanted to make a song in which Christ would be reborn as a flower. Second incarnation. Coincidentally, at that moment Danilo was standing there on the table, but in the same way as he looked at us, it was as if he said to me: “Let me look at this idea in deep secrecy, start playing music”. Now, 3 years have passed, after the pandemic problems, I have achieved strength to compose a song as I assumed. Here we go now. Bearing this song, Jesus, Amazon Flower, could also be considered a homage to the rich Danilo, or mentor, through the Sesc, of a metamorphose widening our culture, as Washington Olivetto states.
~Tom Zé, via Google Translate~

The Time To Sing Is Now

I only have a very few minutes. I want to share with you the trailer to the incredible documentary “The Singing Revolution”, the story of how 3 Baltic countries- Latvia, Lithuania & Estonia- eventually freed themselves from oppressive Soviet rule in the late eighties and early nineties. Massive protests against the regime began in the late eighties. Singing was a major component of their rallies and demonstrations.

As we are clearly at a crossroads in deciding how the US is going to go forward, I felt this is an important example of inspiration, motivation and hope which brought clear results. The full movie is available on YouTube and available to rent through Amazon Prime.

Getting Clear

I had such an interesting experience this evening. I have been intending to do a sound healing for someone who lives out of the country. We talked at least 3 weeks ago about her intention but I have been slow in getting to it between doing an event on the solstice, preparing for Christmas, wrapping and shipping packages and the upcoming New Year events. I was feeling somewhat guilty that I had not yet gotten to it even though I knew she understood and was fine with it and had the understanding that it would happen when it was the right time, as did I- but I was still not 100% comfortable with how long it was taking to get to it. As it turned out she sent a text earlier today basically updating her intention. I still expected that I would not get to it til next week.

So, a few hours ago I was sort of mindlessly playing some Tibetan bowls in my living room and moving some of them around, setting them up, shifting them around and switching some of them out. Then I began setting up crystal bowls around them and suddenly I realized I was setting up the sound healing session and that I was supposed to do it tonight. Various other instruments began calling me and soon I was setting up the entire space to do a sound journey which I would record for my client. There was a lot of specificity. The instruments were essentially guiding me and arranging themselves. I didn’t bring in all the instruments I normally use and brought some in that I sometimes play but basically never use for session work.

I was quickly guided to clear the space of everything that didn’t belong there and set up the room around the instruments. I needed to create an altar. I usually think of the room itself as an altar and I don’t need to change things, but I was guided to get certain crystals from my sound healing room, along with pictures and murtis and even specific candles and candle holders. The process took a long time, probably a good 90 minutes and then I was basically “told” by whoever/whatever was guiding me that I needed to take pictures which I would share with the client. Right away I realized that is now a part of the healing session. I’m not sure why but it was very clear that the visual is an important piece.

I did the sound journey and just listened back to it and was hypnotized by it. I wanted to make sure the recording was okay before I sent it off. It was pretty wonderful. Hopefully it will be good for the recipient as well! Please do not hesitate to reach out if you would like a long distant private sound healing session. If you’re reading this blog then you know where to find me.

Here are pictures of the set up for the session.

Beautiful Bleak Midwinter

I have spent the past few nights sitting on my living room floor surrounded with Christmas presents, boxes, wrapping paper and ribbon- wrapping all the goodies for my numerous children and grandchildren- all the while watching Christmas movies, The Great British Baking Show and the occasional YouTube video. This came across my feed and I thought it was stunning and a perfect holiday share. Each of these singers in their own right take my breath away… and then there’s Rufus Wainwright looking regal in his robe! I had never heard the song before and was so moved by it that I played it twice through and then had to learn because it is so gorgeous.

In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan;
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain,
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty —
Jesus Christ.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a Shepherd
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan;
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone…
~Poem by Christina Rossetti, Music by Gustav Holst~
(There are actually two more verses but they were not sung in this concert.)

The Sound Of Falling Snow

Hah! Okay! Here I am! Whew… it’s taken a long time to land. I actually started a blog post a couple of weeks ago and I left it too long without hitting “Save” and it all disappeared! So I am going to keep this one short. My intention for the next few weeks is to write short blog posts at least a couple of times a week- hopefully even more frequently and get somehwat caught up on tracking my amazing year- and hopefully include lots of sound illumination in here as well. The world is crazy, busy and very full!

I am not a newshound, by any stretch of the imagination, but I have to say that I have felt a need to at least keep an eye on the headlines so I have a sense of what’s going on, at the same time trying to stay detached and not get too work up about it all. I’m not going to get political here, beyond saying that I needed a break from all of the news and craziness a couple of days ago. I was putting things away in my kitchen so I put music on YouTube instead of… the other scary stuff! My TV is hooked up to a good sound system so sometimes it’s a great way to listen to music.

The first thing I came across was an extended version of Max Richter’s On The Nature of Daylight, the incredibly beautiful soundtrack to Arrival. I was so happy to be able to listen to it for a full 20 minutes. I think I could really listen to it for hours on end.

That was followed by a piece by Ólafur Arnalds, Only The Winds, which has an accompanying video/short film that is completely hypnotic- poetry in sound and motion.

And finally, I listened to a beautiful composition by Arvo Pärt called Silentium, which begins and ends with the sound of falling snow, one of the most precious sounds of near stillness. A sound when you step outside and hear it, when you step into it, that brings the inner being naturally into a deep quiet place. You want to listen to it.

What I want to share about all of this is that each piece of music, one following the other brought me so much calm and so much peace, as well as happiness and gratitude and simple remembrance of the beauty contained in each moment, something that is so easy to miss in a world filled with noise and which seems at times more chaotic than ever.

Take a break. Take a listen. Drop in to your Self for a little while.

Wonder-Fullfillingness Wednesday! And the Music Of My Life...

This song has been creeping through my consciousness for the past two days… couldn’t get it out of my head so I decided to put it up here. Maybe it will haunt you too- in the best way possible! There’s a little more of Stevie, who had his first hit “Fingertips”when he was only 13, when you scroll down the page. I remember this song but not as well as “I Was Made To Love Her”. I was 12 when that song came out in 1967 and fell in love with it. It remains one of my favorite songs.

I know if you were to go back through this blog you would find so many of my “favorite songs”… but really music saved me… over and over throughout my life and continues to save me on a daily basis. And the feeling that comes up when I hear these songs from my past tells me that my core has not changed. Like everyone, I’ve gone through countless life experiences- traumas, love, loss, childbirth, motherhood- you name it- and still I am the same. Maybe less afraid, more outgoing, more scars, more awareness, but my essence- that which makes me Rosie- is exactly the same as it was when I was an infant, a child, a teen, a lost 20-something year old, a young mother, and now an older and hopefully slightly wiser person. I am aware of it when I walk on the beach. I flash back to the little girl walking on the beach holding my mother’s hand or walking with my sisters and I am that person. And I am aware of it when I listen to music that I love- the music that has been a revelation to me. Music helps me to remember who I am and connect with my essence.

I’m the same person I was when I first heard Stevie’s album “Fullfillingness First Finale” and had my mind blown, yet again, by his music.

In this moment I just decided I don’t want a funeral when I go. I never really did but it just got clear. I want my life celebrated with music.

Music Is Medicine

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. In 2006 I had a head injury. A huge PA speaker that had steadily vibrated over the years from the very loud music that came through it, slowly moved on the shelf it where it was perched, until it fell from about 3 feet above my head, where I happened to be dancing that night. It swung from the cable and slammed me in my right temple. By some miracle and a lot of healing over the following months (sound as well as other modalities), I recovered from the injury. That’s not the point of this story. There was a particularly exciting moment for me about a week after the injury when I got an MRI and saw the image of my brain. My brain! It felt like when Peter Pan saw his shadow- “My shadow! My very own shadow!” Really quite thrilling.

11 months later I was looking through the Arts & Leisure section of the New York Times and, lo and behold, there was a full page image of various brain scans taken while people were listening to music and an article about the researcher, Daniel Levitin. It grabbed me partly because I had not so long ago seen a scan of my own brain after a quite serious injury, and still more so because of the particular topic which is of course my passion! He had just published a book called This Is Your Brain On Music which, to this day, remains one of my favorite books on the effects of music on the brain. Levitin is a musician himself and had a career as a music producer, where he developed a fascination with how certain people (in this case, music producers) are able to discern extremely fine gradations of sound and music. That was the beginning. Click here to read the full article. The picture at the top of the page is the original copy which I still have in my files.

Long story short and fast forward, I just found out today that this year he has published a new book- I Heard There Was A Secret Chord. I was excited and delighted and ended up listening to about 3 hours worth of videos with him and ordered the book for myself and as a Christmas present for a loved one. Here is a wonderful video, so well worth listening to if you are an avid sound and music lover- and possibly a frequency nerd as well! Carlos Reyes is extraordinary. When he picked up his violin and started playing his first piece, I was in tears at the first two notes- one of the points that Levitin and Reyes make during their talk that I think just about everyone can relate to- the power of music to profoundly affect the emotional body, sometimes creating gentle waves, sometimes rougher waters, but ultimately bringing us to a resolution.

Tears That Are Unspoken Words

Two years ago my older brother Tim passed away due to Covid. He was 7 years older than me and when we were younger- much younger- he opened me up to a world of great music. We might be at our father’s house in Newport or I might have been up at Tim’s house in Vermont where he lived with a group of friends- a sort of “hippie house”- and I would suddenly hear his voice. “Hey Rosie, come here! You gotta hear this!” He actually never played a single piece of music for me that I didn’t like, in fact generally that I didn’t love. Dave Mason’s album “Alone Together” was one of them- every track on it being excellent. He loved it and I immediately fell in love with it. Since that day, more than 50 years ago, I have listened to it hundreds of times. It is one of my all-time favorite albums. I know every word and every note on that album. (I have gone through two copies of the vinyl- because the first one got so worn out and now have it on CD.)

A few years ago I decided I wanted to learn to play the song “Sad and Deep As You” on my guitar. It’s one of those songs that you can just sit and play and sing over and over and never tire of it. Just a sweet, sad, beautiful song. Four years ago I put everything in storage and left the country for a while. Due to the pandemic I ended up relocating and much of my stuff has stayed in storage. Yesterday I was unpacking a box from a load of stuff I had brought down from RI last week and there was a little pile of papers in the bottom of the box- songs that I had printed out a few years ago, and that song was among them.

I was feeling good, with warm memories, just singing and getting into the sweet groove of the song and suddenly the memory hit me… of Tim turning me on to that album, sitting on the bed with him just completely knocked out by the music- all of the songs, the words, the nuances and that wonderful shared experience… and I was weeping.

And there was the last verse:
Tears that are unspoken words
Tears that are the truth
Tears that tell a story
As sad and deep as you…

So, I sat and cried- wept- and then I started singing it again… and again… and again…

Grateful for memories.
Grateful for the ability to feel deeply.

Distance Is No Object

It’s late but I have a little story I want to share. I have been in Rhode Island for about a week. I wasn’t planning to do any sessions while I was up here because I already have a lot going on, but I had a friend who was in crisis so I agreed to give her a session. We had it scheduled for today but at the last minute, at the end of the day yesterday, it turned out that it wasn’t going to work out. I talked with her on the phone and gave her my best motivational inspirational pep talk, reminding her that she had done a lot of work and had plenty of tools and she just needed to get through one day- today, which meant for her a very stressful court date- and then she could come to the group sound healing session I have scheduled for tomorrow. Once there she could breathe, exhale and release all that she has had going on. I told her that in the meantime I would give her a long distant healing session. Even at the suggestion I could feel her appreciation and relief.

I decided to do it this morning when I woke up a little before 7. I texted her at precisely 6:57 and told her I was about to play one of my sound journeys and send her long distant healing. I attached the sound journey to the text via Dropbox and told her that whenever she had the chance, preferably this morning, she should simply relax and listen to the sound journey and take it in. I lay in bed for a full hour giving myself a treatment with the Radiance Technique, all the while connecting with her energy and very consciously sending healing to her as well. At 9:45 I received this message from her: “Thank you so much. I woke at 7am with lots of anxiety, and strangely fell back asleep until 8:30… then saw your message which now makes sense why I likely dozed off… and then listened to the recording. My body feels relaxed, both were well received and I thank you so very much. Amazing, truly amazing.” I replied that I am still always blown away by how well this stuff works! She said, “Oh my goodness, me too! My first experience like this and I’m a believer, thank you so much Rosie.”

Speaking of breathing, here is a sweet song by an old and dear friend, LeRoy White, who passed away a little over 3 years ago. He was beloved by many and lived his life to uplift others with his music and incredible generosity of spirit.

Change Your Brain (or, Breathe and Smile)

This is an excerpt from a newsletter I sent out earlier today. I felt that it was worth sharing here as well.

One of the things I am always so grateful for is that I can walk through my house any time of day and pick up a flute, play a gong, a singing bowl or whatever other instrument calls to me in the moment. I always feel like, when a particular instrument catches my eye, it is sending me a message to pick it up and play. (In fact, that's basically how I move through my sound journeys- the instruments tell me which ones to play. They either catch my eye or I hear the sound before I actually begin to play it.)

It only takes a moment to change your state- sometimes just a single note or an extended tone is enough. Maybe you want to think about how you can enhance your sonic environment. Hang a bell on a door or a chime outside your window. You might already have instruments that you have never thought about as "healing"- but, as my former partner Henry said years ago, "Making any sound with a loving intention will produce a healing effect." Perhaps you have an instrument that you have forgotten about or take for granted- it has become a fixture in the corner or on the wall. Pick up that guitar or the old saxophone collecting dust in the closet! And when you pick it up, play it nice and slow. Play a long tone. And listen... listen... listen... And then play another long slow tone... Listen... Breathe... Repeat...

Or HUM!!! Yes. HUM!!! Vibrate your cells from the inside out. Science has shown how the simple act of humming can help with stress levels, sleep and blood pressure as well increasing lymphatic circulation and melatonin production- just to name a few of the benefits- and if you have a voice, you can HUMMMM!

I was actually just reading yesterday that singing is one of the only activities that activates both hemispheres of the brain at the same time. It releases endorphins and oxytocin and can influence memory and brain function. In short- it's good for you!!! Music is brain food, and like all food, it is individual. Not everyone likes the same thing. Notice what sounds excite you, calm you, ground you, make you smile. Take five minutes out of your busy day to listen- just listen. If a sound is irritating you, see what happens when you breathe into it- or hum along with it. Play with it. Become curious about it. What happens if you let go of your resistance and breathe? As my dear friend LeRoy White used to sing, "Breathe and smile."

The Kindness of Friends (You Gotta Have 'Em!)

At this moment I am sitting in my chiropractor’s office in Murphy, North Carolina, feeling grateful for kind friends. Last fall I came in here one day with my back talking to me in a not very happy tone. As my chiropractor was questioning as to what might be aggravating it, I told her that I had been spending lots of hours sitting at my computer. It takes me a really long time to get things done on it at home because we have an insanely slow signal. She then offered, out of the blue, to let me come in and work out of her back office where they have high speed internet. Kind people- I have always enjoyed and appreciated coming here but I really feel like now they have become my friends.

Hmmm…I had no idea where this was going to go when I started writing a few minutes ago… but ah, yes… friends! Kindness… understanding… empathy… a listening heart… a hand to hold… someone to share a cup of coffee, a glass of wine, a good book… and laughter… always laughter…

Here are a few of my favorite songs about friendship. I remember the first time I heard Bette Midler’s song, “Friends”. I was at my brother Tim’s house in Vermont, probably about 14, maybe 15 years old, and some young hippie girl- no idea who she was- came in the house, sat down at the piano and launched into that song. I didn’t know who had written it or where it came from but it was wonderful and exquisite and exuberant and brought tears to my eyes… tears of joy- I think mixed with some longing for that wonderful energy of close friends. It wasn’t for a few months after that before I heard the actual album “The Divine Miss M” and was blown away by it and so happy to be able to listen to that wonderful song again, and again and again!

And of course, I have so many wonderful memories of Carole King’s song “You’ve Got a Friend” which was practically an anthem for my good friends and me as teeenagers in boarding school. It never gets old.

Enjoy!!!