The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Madison Choral Project gives a concert of new music focusing on the social and political theme of “Privilege” this Friday night and Sunday afternoon
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ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale, held at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features David Miller, trumpet; Amy Harr, cello; and Jane Peckham, piano. They will play music by Bach, Schmidt, Piazzolla, Honegger and Cooman. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
By Jacob Stockinger
Call it activist beauty or beautiful activism.
It sure seems that political and social relevance is making a comeback in the arts during an era in which inequality in race, gender, ethnicity, wealth, education, health, employment, immigration status and other issues loom larger and larger.
For the Madison Choral Project (below), for example, singing is about more than making music. It can also be about social justice.
Writes the Project:
“The Madison Choral Project believes that too often the classical music concert is simply a museum of the beautiful. Yet the worlds of theater, art and literature can so brilliantly combine beauty with material that provokes contemplation and understanding.
“Our world is increasingly complicated, and we seek to provide voices exploring important emotional and social concerns of today.”
That means that, in its two concerts this weekend, the Madison Choral Project will explore the concept of privilege in two performances this weekend.
The repertoire is all new music or contemporary music by living composers.
The Madison Choral Project, under the direction of Albert Pinsonneault (below), who formerly taught at Edgewood College and is now at Northwestern University, presents their 10th Project – Privilege – on this Friday night, April 21, at 8:30 p.m. (NOT 7:30, as originally announced, because of noise from a nearby football game); and on Sunday afternoon, April 23, at 3 p.m.
Both performances are at the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Avenue, near Camp Randall Stadium.
General admission is $24 in advance and online; $28 at the door; and $10 for students either in advance or at the door. A limited number of preferred seats are offered for $40.
The Privilege concerts feature the work Privilege by Ted Hearne (b. 1982), which Hearne (below) writes “are settings of little texts questioning a contemporary privileged life (mine).”
With texts that range from the inequality of educational experiences, to the unfair playing field brought through race, the work sets thought-provoking texts in a beautiful and musically accessible way. (NOTE: You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The program also includes the world premiere of a new piece of music from Wisconsin composer and UW-Madison graduate D. Jasper Sussman (b. 1989, below), whose piece Work: “What choice?” is a contemplation of society’s confusing and hypocritical demands on women, their bodies and their appearance.
Sussman writes “I have never identified as a feminist. It’d be impossible, however, for me to remain ignorant of the clumsily uneven climate of our world, and certainly of this country. Work: “What Choice?” is an attempt at telling a common story shared by many.”
Included on the concert are two works of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang (b. 1957, below), whose new minimalism includes sonorities influenced by rock and popular music, but with layered repetition that gives the pieces a meditative and contemplative quality.
Also featured is When David Heard by Eric Whitacre (b. 1970, below), a gorgeous and devastating monologue contemplating the death of one’s child.
For more information and tickets, go to www.themcp.org
You can also go to a fine story in The Capital Times:
The Madison Choral Project is Wisconsin’s only fully professional choir. All the singers on stage are paid, professional musicians.
Tags: Activism, activist, Albert Pinsonneault, Art, Arts, Bach, Baroque, beautiful, beauty, Camp Randall Stadium, Chamber music, Child, choral music, Classical music, climate, composer, contemporary, Cooman, country, D. Jasper Sussman, David Lang, death, Edgewood College, Education, emotion, employment, Eric Whitacre, Ethnicity, feminism, feminist, First Unitarian Society of Madison, gender, Health, Honegger, immigration, Income Disparity, income inequality, inequality, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, literature, Madison, Madison Choral Project, minimalism, monologue, Music, New Music, Northwestern University, Piano, Piazzolla, political, Politics, pop, popular music, privilege, professional, Pulitzer Prize, race, relevance, repetition, Rock, Schmidt, singer, Singing, social, social justice, society, Ted Hearne, theater, Trumpet, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, wealth, wealth gay, Wisconsin, world premiere, YouTube
Classical music: The 14th annual Wisconsin Flute Festival takes place this Saturday and offers a FREE concert at 5 p.m. Plus, a FREE recital of French flute music is this Friday at noon
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ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale, at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, will feature flutist Iva Ugrčić, flute and pianist Kyle Johnson performing an all-French program of music by Francis Poulenc, Olivier Messiaen, Claude Debussy and Jules Bouquet. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following information to post:
The 14th annual Wisconsin Flute Festival will take place this coming Saturday, March 4.
The Wisconsin Flute Festival brings together flutists and music lovers of all ages from Wisconsin and the greater Midwest.
The day’s events include workshops, performances, youth and collegiate competitions, a master class, and a 2,300-plus square foot exhibition hall with purveyors of fine flutes, music and accessories.
This year’s Festival will feature guest artist Lorna McGhee (below), principal flute of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Artist Lecturer in Flute at Carnegie Mellon University.
The 14th annual Wisconsin Flute Festival will begin at 8 a.m. in the Pyle Center at UW-Madison and will culminate in a FREE public concert beginning at 5 p.m. in Mills Concert Hall, in the Mosse Humanities Building, at UW-Madison.
This concert, “Landscapes and Love Songs,” will be performed by featured guest artist Lorna McGhee. (Sorry, The Ear has no details on the program.)
This year, an expanded variety of workshops and performances will be offered. Workshop topics will include circular breathing, articulation and vibrato, in addition to sessions on maximizing practice time, musicians’ health and interpreting musical pieces.
Participants will also have the opportunity to experience an interactive session with low flutes including; alto flutes, bass flutes and a contrabass flute (below).
Performances during the day will feature: electro-acoustic music; Telemann (below top) on historical flutes; lesser-known modern masters; Romanian composers; Latin music; Bach (below bottom) transcriptions; contemporary interpretation; and works for flute, clarinet and voice. Student soloists and chamber ensembles from UW-Whitewater and UW-Madison will present concerts.
For flutists shopping for an instrument, music or accessories, over a dozen companies and organizations from across the US will be on-site in the Festival’s exhibit hall. Technicians will be also available to evaluate instruments and conduct minor repairs.
Exhibitors include Altus Flutes, Atlantic Crossing Records, Brannen Brothers Flutemakers, Inc., Burkart Flutes & Piccolos, Di Zhao Flutes, Flute Center of New York, Flute Specialists, Flute World, Heid Music, The National Flute Association, Ward-Brodt, White House of Music and Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras.
Tickets are $20 to $35 for Festival participants. Tickets for non-flutist family members of participants (parents, siblings) are available for at a special rate of $5. Registration information is available online at wisconsinflutefestival.org. Tickets can be purchased at the Festival.
The evening concert beginning at 5 p.m. in Mills Hall, is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
The Wisconsin Flute Festival is a program of the Madison Flute Club.
About the Madison Flute Club
The Madison Flute Club was founded in 2002 and currently presents over 20 concerts each year to an audience of more than 1,500 community members. The club involves, on average, 35 active adult members and over 30 youth from the surrounding area.
To advance and achieve its mission, the Madison Flute Club has undertaken several large projects and partnered with numerous organizations and events in Dane County.
These projects include the commissioning and world premiere of a work for flute choir for Design MMoCA, successfully fundraising for a contrabass flute (the first such instrument in Wisconsin) and performing at the National Flute Association Convention.
Madison Flute Club ensembles and members have been featured on Wisconsin Public Radio’s The Midday with Norman Gilliland, WORT 89.9FM Madison and in the publication The Flutist Quarterly.
The 2017 Wisconsin Flute Festival is co-hosted by Madison Flute Club and UW-Madison Flute Studio.
Major funding is provided by: Heid Music, American Printing Company, Eric and Tobi Breisach, Distillery Marketing and Design, Karl Sandelin in honor of Joyce Sandelin and Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras.
Additional funding is provided by Altus Handmade Flutes, Breisach Cordell PLLC, and Dane Arts with additional funds from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation, The Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of The Capital Times, the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation.
Tags: accessories, acoustic, alto, articulation, Arts, Bach, Baroque, bass, breathing, Carnegie Mellon University, Chamber music, choral music, circular breathing, clarinet, Classical music, composer, contrabass, Dane Arts, Debussy, Early music, Electronic music, Evjue Foundation, exhibition hall, First Unitarian Society of Madison, flute, Health, interpretation, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Jules Bouquet, landscape, Latin, lecturer, Lorna McGhee, love song, Madison, Madison Flute Club, master class, Messiaen, Mozart, Music, New York, Norman Gilliland, Orchestra, Piano, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pleasant T. Rowland, Poulenc, practice, Romania, Sonata, The Capital Times, transcription, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Whitewater, vibrato, vocal music, voice, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, workshop, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: Madison Symphony Orchestra and violinist Henning Kraggerud perform music by Beethoven, Bruch, Elgar and Kraggerud this weekend
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By Jacob Stockinger
Ludwig van Beethoven’s popular Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale” anchors the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) concerts under the baton of music director John DeMain on this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud returns to perform a violin concerto and some of his own original compositions.
The concerts will open with “In the South” by Sir Edward Elgar, a work that was inspired by the countryside and music he experienced during an Italian holiday.
Kraggerud will perform the dramatic and lyrical Violin Concerto No. 1 by Max Bruch (below), followed by his own Three Postludes from his composition “Equinox.”
The program will conclude with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, “the Pastorale,” which is a tribute to country life, as you can see and hear in the popular YouTube video, with almost 3 million hits, that is at the bottom.
The concerts are in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, 201 State Street, on Friday at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday at 8 p.m.; and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
While escaping a drab English winter, Elgar (below), inspired by the Italian Riviera and his realization of the human cost of war, wrote “In the South” – an overture that begins and ends in a stormy mood, while encompassing wistful music for clarinets and strings.
Austrian violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim (below) put Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in the same league as the violin concertos of Beethoven, Brahms and Mendelssohn, calling the Bruch composition the “richest, most seductive” of the four composers. The main musical theme eventually becomes the foundation for a flashy and exhilarating ending.
Kraggerud’s “Equinox” is a set of 24 postludes for solo violin and orchestra in all major and minor keys, with a concluding 25th movement, based on a narration titled “24 Keys to a World Before it Slips Away” by Norwegian novelist Jostein Gaarder.
The Three Postludes, each short character pieces expressing an emotion, will transport audiences around the globe, capturing in a witty way a bit of the flavor of the protagonist’s various stops on his imaginary journey.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 was inspired by his love for the countryside around Vienna. In it he reflects upon humanity’s role in the quiet spaces of nature. According to Beethoven (below), the Pastorale is meant to transport the listener to lush, restful, nature scenes that are “more an expression of feeling than painting.” Popularized through the Disney-animated classic film “Fantasia,” the Pastorale Symphony delights audiences of all ages.
One hour before each performance, Tyrone Greive (below, in a photo by Kathy Esposito), former MSO Concertmaster and retired professor of violin at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will lead a 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience.
For more background on the music, please visit the Program Notes at: madisonsymphony.org/kraggerud.
Single Tickets are $16 to $87 each, available at madisonsymphony.org/kraggerud, through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141.
Groups of 15 or more can save 25 percent by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information visit, madisonsymphony.org/groups
Club 201, MSO’s organization for young professionals, has continued to fulfill its mission for the past 11 years as the premier organization promoting classical music and networking opportunities to the young professionals’ community in Madison.
For a $35 ticket, young professionals will enjoy world-class seating in Overture Hall, an exclusive after-party in the Promenade Lounge, one drink ticket and a cash bar. Conductor John DeMain (below, in a photo by Prasad), as well as musicians from the symphony, will be attending to mingle with Madison’s young professionals.
The deadline to purchase tickets is this Thursday, Oct. 20. Tickets can be purchased for this event, as well as the other events throughout the 2016-17 season by visiting the Club 201 page on the MSO’s website at http://www.madisonsymphony.org/club201.
Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $12 or $15 tickets. More information is at: madisonsymphony.org/studentrush. Students can receive 20 percent savings on seats in select areas of the hall on advance ticket purchases.
Seniors age 62 and up receive 20 percent savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
Major funding for the October concerts is provided by: Steinhauer Charitable Trust, Rosemarie Blancke, Cyrena and Lee Pondrom, and UW Health & Unity Health Insurance. Additional funding is provided by: DeWitt Ross & Stevens S.C., Audrey and Philip Dybdahl, and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Tags: animation, Arts, Austria, Beethoven, Brahms, Cello, charitable, charity, clarinet, Classical music, compose, composer, concertmaster, concerto, discussion, Disney, Edward Elgar, equinox, Fantasia, film, fio, Health, health insurance, Henning Kraggerud, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, Joseph Joachim, Jostein Gaarder, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Max Bruch, Mendelssohn, Music, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, novel, Orchestra, Overture Center, pastoral, Pastorale, postlude, Prelude, profession, professional, Riviera, strings, symphony, trust, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, Writer, young, YouTube
Classical music: Early music group Eliza’s Toyes offers a fascinating exploration of the role of music in medicine from Medieval though Baroque times.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker, who also took the performance photos. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who for 12 years hosted an early music show every other Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
Eliza’s Toyes (below top), the consort of voices and instruments devoted to early music, is led by the formidably talented Jerry Hui. The group gave another of its imaginative programs, this time on Friday night at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery (below bottom).
The theme and title of this program was “Music: The Miracle Medicine.” Offered were 15 selections, conveying various ideas or beliefs about health (both physical and spiritual), illness, medicine, miracle cures and good living.
Each selection was preceded by the reading of passages from moral and medical texts of various periods. (I wonder if today’s medical and health-advice writings will sound as comical generations from now as do those of the past to us!)
Fifteen composers were represented in the course of the program, from Medieval through Baroque: Hildegard von Bingen (below top, 1098-1179), Alfonso El Sabio (1221-1284), Thomas Tallis (1505-1585), Cipriano da Rore (1516-1565),Hubert Waelrant (1515-1595), Orlando di Lassus (1532-1594), William Byrd (1540-1623), Lelio Bertani (1553-1612), John Wilbye (1574-1638), Gabriel Bataille (1575-1630), Melchior Franck (1579-1639), John Maynard (15??-16??), Anonymous 17th-Century (2 items), Marin Marais (1656-1728) and John Eccles (1668-1735).
The selections were mostly vocal, either solo or ensemble. One instrumental selection stood out as probably the one most likely to be familiar: Marin Marais’ excruciatingly detailed “Representation of the Operation for Gallstone” (below top is Marais, below bottom is the introduction to his work) — complete with narrative headings for each section. (You can hear the narration and the music to the unusual piece in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
The performances were earnest and often accomplished. But it must be said in honesty that, in motets and madrigals, the vocal ensemble was not balanced or smooth — the singers clearly need to live with this kind of musical writing somewhat longer. Still, the overall effect was certainly entertaining and thematically fascinating.
There were no printed programs, but the titles and text translations were projected on a background screen. These projections were fully visible and readable, so they worked well.
This is a program that will be offered again, I understand, at the Chazen Museum of Art on July 15, so that it can be caught and savored once more.
Above all, it is one more tribute to the thoughtful, deeply researched and intriguing program skills of Jerry Hui (below).
Tags: Arts, Baroque, Cello, Chamber music, Chazen Museum of Art, choral music, Classical music, cure, Early music, gallstones, good living, Health, Hildegard von Bingen, illness, instrumental music, Jacob Stockinger, Jerry Hui, John W. Barker, John Wilbye, living, Madison, madrigal, Marin Marais, medicine, Medieval, Melchior Franck, miracles, motet, Music, music therapy, Orlando de Lassus, Orlando di Lasso, projections, screen, text, Thomas Tallis, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, viola da gamba, vocal music, wellness, William Byrd, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: The early music group Eliza’s Toyes will explore music as medicine in a concert this Friday night at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear’s friend Jerry Hui –- a supremely talented individual and graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music who performs, composes and teaches at UW-Stout – sends the following word:
The Madison-based early music group Eliza’s Toyes (below top) has a concert this Friday night, May 22, at 7:30 p.m. at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery (below bottom). The concert is titled “Music: The Miracle Medicine.”
Here is an introduction to the program:
“Rediscover the integral role of music as the restorer of health in the early days of medical science during the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods.
“Music has been an integral part of our wellbeing. To this date, many listen to music for its power in relaxation, excitement, and even catharsis. The development of music therapy as a medical profession, as well as increasing research in the physiological and psychological effects of music, signifies our ongoing interest to understand and utilize music.
“As scientists continue to examine music in a utilitarian light, it is worthwhile for us to rediscover how human beings have historically viewed music and its connection with health.”
Tickets will be available at the door: $15 for the general public and $10 for students.
Here is the program, which is organized by theme, and which include singing i English, Latin, French, German and Spanish:
CONCERNING THE FOUR HUMORS
Vos flores rosarum — Hildegard von Bingen (below top, 1098-1179)
Descendi in hortum meum — Cipriano de Rore
Absterge Domine (1575) — Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)
Turn Our Captivity (1611) — William Byrd (below bottom, 1540-1623)
MIRACLES AND REMEDIES
Tantas en Santa María — (Cantigas de Santa Maria)
In principio erat Verbum (1566) — Orlando di Lassus (below, 1532-1594)
Caecus quidam (1558) — Hubert Waelrant (1518-1595)
Gehet hin und saget Johanni wieder — Melchior Franck (1579-1639)
PRACTICING MEDICINE
Le Tableau de l’Opération de la Taille (1725) — Marin Marais (below, 1656-1728; you can hear the piece, with a narration in French, in a YouTube video at the bottom)
Qui veut chasser une migraine — Gabriel Bataille
The nurse’s song — (Pills to Purge Melancholy)
A Wonder: The Physician — John Maynard
GOOD HEALTH THROUGH GOOD LIVING
Chloe found Amyntas lying — (Pills to Purge Melancholy)
My fair Teresa — (Pills to Purge Melancholy)
O Sonno / Ov’e’l silenzio — Marco da Gagliano (1582-1643)
Cara mia Dafne — Lelio Bertani (1553-1612)
Sweet honey sucking bees — John Wilbye (1574-1638)
Tags: Arts, Baroque, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, Doctor of Medicine, Early music, Eliza's Toyes, England, English, English music, France, French, French music, German, German music, Germany, Health, Hildegard von Bingen, Hubert Waelrant, Jacob Stockinger, Jerry Hui, John Maynard, John Wilbye, Latin, Lelio Bertani, Madison, medicine, melancholy, Melchior Franck, Music, music therapy, Orlando di Lasso, Orlando di Lassus, physician, pills, science, scientist, Spain, Spanish, Spanish music, Thomas Tallis, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, viola da gamba, vocal music, William Byrd, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, YouTube
Classical music: Can classical music cure cancer? Increase intelligence or IQ? Relieve pain? It may be worth considering at a time of New Year’s resolutions for healthy living.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear recently came across a compilation of the health benefits of listening to classical music.
Some of it seems farfetched.
I, for one, am dubious about the claim that you can cure cancer by listening to the Fifth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven (below top) or that you can enhance intelligence and mental alertness to a specific section of a specific work, such as the “Spring” section of “The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi (below bottom).
And there are other claims relating to disease and intelligence, like The Mozart Effect for young children, that seem dubious or exaggerated.
But these studies seem to come from some prestigious journals and organizations as well as some careful studies and experiments or trials.
You can read the methods and results, then decide for yourself. Here is a link:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/802304/5-health-benefits-of-classical-music/
And here is a link to one of the works that is supposed to relieve pain — the Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by Radu Lupu and Murray Perahia in a popular YouTube video:
Have a Happy New Year though listening!
Tags: Arts, Baroque, cancer, cancer cure, Chamber music, Classical music, concerto, cure cancer, epilepsy, Health, intelligence, IQ, Jacob Stockinger, Ludwig van Beethoven, mental alertness, Mental health, Mozart, Mozart Effect, Murray Perahia, Music, New Year, pain, Piano, Piano sonata, Radu Lupu, resolutions, Sonata, Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: During flu season, should concert halls pass out surgery masks?
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By Jacob Stockinger
It is happening more and more frequently these days, it seems to The Ear.
You see them offered as a helpful courtesy in hospitals and clinics, in the offices of doctors and dentists.
I am talking about those disposable surgical masks that hook around the ears and cover the nose and mouth, and are intended to help cut down on the risks of spreading contagious and infectious diseases.
This time of the year, they are especially meant to reduce illnesses like the flu, which is now starting to spike around the U.S., according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was broadcast on Fox News.
So as the weekend approaches and the 2013-2014 concert season picks up again after the holidays and the usual winter intermission, The Ear find himself asking: Should those masks be offered at concerts – perhaps even for a small fee if they are expensive? After all, some venues already offer free cough drops.
You can could use the mask protect yourself if you are well, or else to protect others if you are sick. Big audiences, after all, can be like one big hospital ward or Petri dish. And as one bog suggested, they might even have a logo printed on them as a promotion or marketing tool if you use them away form the concert hall.
And the audiences for classical music are generally older — which also means they have weaker immune systems and generally a greater susceptibility to serious effects of the flu and other illnesses. Next time you are in one in January and February, just listen for the hacking and sneezing and blowing of noses. Those can be more than annoyances.
Offering masks would be good for public health, and it might also help reduce the annoyance of coughing, a topic I posted about yesterday in the following link:
You see those masks used everywhere in Asian culture. But our own culture seems to see them as ugly and stigmatizing rather than as a sign of respect for other people’s health and a contribution to protecting the general public’s health. (Also look at the YouTube video at the bottom about wearing surgical masks in Japan.)
It turns out that The Ear is not the only one with this on his mind.
The incredible British pianist Stephen Hough – who has performed several times in Madison — also posted something recently on his blog for the Telegraph newspaper about using surgical masks – perhaps to protect his own health as he tours around the world playing recitals, concertos and chamber music.
Here is a link to his thoughtful essay. Be sure to read the readers’ comments and reactions.
And be sure to leave your own reactions to the idea in the COMMENT section of this blog.
Tags: Centers for Disease Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Classical music, concert hall, Daily Telegraph, dentist, Disease, doctor, February, flu, flu season, Fox News, Health, Hospital, Infectious disease, influenza, Influenza vaccine, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Piano, Public health, Stephen Hough, surgery, surgical mask, United States, YouTube
Classical music: Making music is healthy for you, researchers say. It can lower blood pressure and increase a sense of well-being. You can even start music lessons as an older adult.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Talk about art therapy!
A close friend has often told me how the German army in World War I gave double rations to the piano players because they used so much energy doing their job of entertaining the troops.
I have never been able to prove the story. But it makes a lot of sense to this amateur pianist. I know the physicality of playing, and it takes stamina as well as finesse. And it involves both body and mind. (Below in a photo of University of Wisconsin pianist Christopher Taylor, whose playing is particularly physical and energetic, as you know well if you saw his recent astonishing recital of Franz Liszt‘s extremely virtuoso transcriptions of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony and Fifth Symphony.)
Contemporary researchers have taken an interest in studying how music affects one’s physical and mental health as well as social well-being, especially now that researchers can track changes through MRI and CAT scans.
Here is more good news: The suggestion, or even proof, by Dutch researchers that playing music lowers stress and lowers blood pressure. (Other studies show that listening to music also has benefits. But the one I am discussing dealt specific with actual music-making.)
Here is a link to the study:
http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/playing-music-may-lower-blood-pressure-51779/
And that story has a link to another study, done in Britain, that talks about the heightened sense of well-being one gets from making music – playing the piano or some other instrument or singing. And we know that conducting is particularly aerobic and healthy. Little wonder that conductors generally live along and healthy life.
http://rsh.sagepub.com/content/133/1/36.short
The Bottom Line? Music is good and good for you.
So I say to my fellow Baby Boomers and retirees who wanted to better their health: Music lessons, anyone?
Trust me, it’s never too late.
Just look at the YouTube video below that has had more than 9 MILLION hits:
Tags: art therapy, Arts, Beethoven, Christopher Taylor, Classical music, Franz Liszt, German, Health, Jacob Stockinger, Keyboard, Ludwig van Beethoven, Magnetic resonance imaging, Mental health, Music, Music lesson, Piano, Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven), University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin–Madison, YouTube
Classical music: Are you listening, Richard Simmons? Classical music is great for exercising and improves our health. It lowers blood pressure, reduces heart rate, lowers stress and makes us more relaxed. And guess which piece by which composer does all that best? Plus, there is a FREE trombone recital, with two U.S. premieres, at the UW-Madison tonight.
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ALERT: TONIGHT at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, guest trombonist Dylan Chmura-Moore (below), who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, will perform a FREE recital fetauring “Subadobe” by Frederik Högberg; “Last Judgment” by Frederic Rzewski; “Saturniana” by Miguel Basim Chuaqui; the U.S. premiere of “BaKaTaKaBaKa” by Daniel Moreira; and the U.S. premiere of “Rouse” by Neal Farwell.
By Jacob Stockinger
Talk about Sweatin’ to the Oldies!!!!
Campy fitness guru Richard Simmons (below) has nothing on Longhairs! And Golden Oldie Hits from the Sixties have nothing on Romantic-era composers from 200 years ago.
Can listening to classical music improve your health? And which part of which piece by which composer might do that the best? Check this out.
According to researchers and experts, it seems that classical music can indeed reduce your blood pressure and heart rate (or pulse).
So you might just want think about bringing some sweatpants, a tank top and workouts shoes to the upcoming concert by the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below) on Feb. 8-10 when the MSO will perform the less frequently heard Fourth Symphony (the annotated fourth and final movement is in a YouTube video at the bottom) by Beethoven as well as Ravel’s “Rhapsodie Espagnole” and Prokofiev’s rarely heard “Sinfonia Concertante” with cello soloist Alban Gerhardt.
Putting the salutary effects of musical beauty aside – and The Ear doesn’t think that any beauty should ever be put aside — you just might ask: Why and how does classical I music improve health?
Go to this link and see what the latest scientific research has to say about classical music and human health – including which pieces by which composers seem the ideal choice, and what criteria you should use to personalize your choices of classical music to listen to reap health benefits:
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