Nature of Music Beauty, Sound and Healing

by Draper, Maureen McCarthy

• ISBN13: 9781573228985
• ISBN10: 1573228982
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: Riverhead Trade

Summary

Music has a profound influence on our lives; affecting how we think, how we act, how we feel-even who we are. By learning more about the intimate relationship between music and ourselves, we can begin to harness that power and better our lives. A classical pianist, Draper writes about the ways in which the great works of the classical canon can help us cope with grief, give dimension to the mysteries of beauty and faith, aid us in recovery from illness, inspire us to create, or just give us a boost of energy.

This unique guide includes an extensive music bibliography with selections to suit moods, calm nerves, inspire, and heal. Anyone from the novice to the aficionado will find new ways to hear music as they never have before.

Author Biography

Maureen McCarthy Draper, a classical pianist and music teacher, presents music retreats for the Guild for Psychological Studies both in San Francisco and from her home in the Santa Cruz mountains, using live music, poetry, and art. The Nature of Music is her first book.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(7)
The Heart of Listening	8	(25)
Music and the Arts	12	(6)
The Language of Music	18	(7)
Listening to Music, Listening to Yourself	25	(2)
The Physical Power of Music	27	(6)
Hearing the Design	33	(23)
Thematic Seeds	38	(2)
Circular Forms	40	(3)
The Enduring Power of the Mass	43	(2)
Yesterday's Dissonance is Today's Consonance	45	(11)
The Education of Feeling	56	(16)
Ways of Listening	63	(4)
Tonality: The Homing Instinct	67	(5)
When You Are the Music	72	(30)
Your Unlived Life	72	(7)
Bach: The Passionate Mind	79	(6)
Beethoven: A Guide to Spiritual Evolution	85	(10)
Praise and Prayer	95	(7)
Singing Your Own Song	102	(18)
Toning, Singing Bowls, and Chant	107	(6)
Strike the Harp or Join the Chorus	113	(7)
The Alchemy of Music	120	(21)
Earth	123	(2)
Water	125	(2)
Air	127	(2)
Fire	129	(2)
Composing Your Life	131	(4)
A Musical Day	135	(6)
The Healing Power of Music	141	(22)
Anger, Catharsis, and Transformation	144	(4)
How Music Heals	148	(7)
Music for the Hospital	155	(8)
Dreaming and Dancing	163	(11)
Dreaming by Day	163	(7)
Dancing in the Dark	170	(4)
The Funer Garden	174	(26)
The Education of the Heart	176	(5)
Schumann and Brahms: Eros and the Artist	181	(6)
The Garden of Love	187	(4)
Mozart: The Divine Child	191	(9)
Sound Journeys: A Listening Bibliography	200	(16)
Musical Terms	216	(3)
Endnotes	219	(4)
Bibliography	223	(6)
About Companion CDs	229