Music Inspires, Heals and Connects us
Unplugged for an entire week.Very little computer communication and definitely no streaming video or evening news. Where was I? Unexpectedly, a last minute opportunity to spend Week Six at Chautauqua Institute in Chautauqua, New York, had me packing my bags in a hurry. The theme for the week, “Exploring the Transformative Power of Music with Renée Fleming.”
You do not have to be an opera fan, to fully appreciate the beauty and power of Renée Fleming’s voice. The 2023 Kennedy Center Honoree sings just about every kind of music including Jazz, pop, and rap. The entire week at Chautauqua, many lectures concluded with an audience sing- along of one sort or another.
Music can make us laugh, cry, and bring us together. One person in the audience at one of the larger morning lectures, wanted to know if anyone had tried to get the entire U.S. Congress to sing together — a worthy endeavor. The challenge, if one were to attempt such a project, would be to have no hidden agenda. Singing for singing’s sake would be the only goal. The act itself in the moment would provide the bond. It’s fun to imagine.
Surprising to me was to learn that it’s only been in the past thirty-five years
(approximately) that around the globe collaboratively scientists have begun to comprehensively study all music’s curative applications.
The oldest musical instrument, unearthed thus far by archeologists did not belong to Cro-Magnon man, the ancestor of modern man. Sixty thousand years old, created from the thigh bone of a bear, it was made by a Neanderthal. The earliest documented civilizations developed between 4,000 and 3,500 B.C. didn’t appear until more than 50,000 years later ! All those years, humans in one way or another were creating music.
If you want to know more about this exciting subject, look no further than Fleming’s book, Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness. Yes, often speakers at the institute are hawking their latest book, but this one comprised of essays from renowned scientists, educators, healthcare providers artists, and creative arts therapists is packed with insightful material.
Among the contributors are novelist Ann Patchett, writing about
“How to Fall in Love with Opera”, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, writing on “Nature, Culture, and Healing” Daniel J. Levitin, author of This is Your Brain on Music writing “What does it mean to be Musical” and Tufts Psychology Professor Aniruddh D. Patel’s essay’s, “Musicality, Evolution, and Animal Responses to Music.” The introduction to the 592 page volume is written by Dr. Frances Collins, who both spearheaded the Human Genome Project and is also former director of National Institute of Health (2009–2021). Collins joined Fleming in conversation at Monday’s keynote lecture and later that afternoon delivered an interfaith lecture on the week’s subject: The Arts: Expressions from the Soul.
Fast forward to yesterday’s return to old habits. After catching up on laundry and other household chores, my husband and I plopped down to watch a streaming show on Apple TV. I chose “Dark Matter” a science fiction thriller about the possibility of traveling into various alternate realities. What if you could revisit an alternate route, your life might have taken if you made a different choice? is the basic premise. Not a totally original concept, many sci-fi novelists have explored this idea. One of my favorite Sci-Fi writers, the very prolific Philip K. Dick ( 1928–1982), explored multiple realities in numerous and mind bending ways in both his short stories and novels. Nevertheless, the initial episode got me to thinking about those choices we all make and how it affects our future.
A long time ago, at the fork in the road, I decided to give up on a career related to music. How would my life be different now? Just my deep interest and the years I did spend singing and practicing, in some way affects my life today. Remembering words when associating them with beats and a rhythm has been shown by neurologists to use a different part of your brain than the part of the brain used solely for speech. As a writer, I prize my ability to remember scraps of dialogue with the idea I may be able to use them at a future time. Plenty of people listen to music as they walk and run. It can help the set their pace, although I personally have a concern that it might impair the awareness of their surroundings which, with fast moving bicycles and cars can be dangerous. But my point it that music has always been a helpful part of my life, even if it took a “backseat.”
Music and poetry often go together. Song lyrics are a form of verse. Folk songs often contain a chorus, or a repeated phrase. The first song I learned guitar chords for was “Down in the Valley” with the refrain: Hear the wind blow dear. Hear the wind blow. Hang your head over. Hear the winds blow.
You can’t find a better writing prompt than a song you once listened to over and over again. Editors will caution you to not use copywritten lyrics in your work. Old folk songs are in the public domain and if you have to use a more recent song as a prompt, it is okay to reference the title or imagery, just no lyrics.
So here is a WRITING PROMPT:
Think of a song that you know well. Why do you know it well? What do you think of when you hear it? Think of images. Maybe in your mind you’ll hear the beginning of a poem. Try again with a fresh sheet of paper and write a scene, fact or fiction. You may be surprised by what your mind conjures up or remembers. Try a different song. Maybe the story is the contrast between songs or the mood evoked by a particular memory. Have fun and keep writing. Even if you only write for fifteen minutes a day you’ll start seeing some beautiful sentences that grow into stories.
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