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Musical oddities, curious phenomena, medical conditions,
scientific discoveries, etc., all within the realm of music.
You are invited to comment on the stories or to suggest other
relevant stories in our Music Forum.
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Music's Healing
Power |
Music therapy: the Tomatis Method
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Did you know that ailments such as lack of balance, poor
concentration, stuttering and even depression could actually be
attributed to problems with your ears? A simple therapy, known
as the Tomatis Method, has proven to be an effective way to
treat many ailments associated with the inner ear.
A device called the electronic ear — a black box that plays
cassettes, rather like an amplifier and linked to headphones —
devised by Dr Tomatis, relays music in such a way that it
exercises the muscles in the ears. It retrains the ear by
playing filtered music through the headphones, gradually
reintroducing sound through its natural journey of development.
Mozart's music is used because it falls mostly in the
high-frequency sound range and has a greater number of
vibrations than other types of music. It also uses both medium-
and low-range pitches at random, to give the ear a solid
workout...
http://health.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=50148
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Weather Harp
sound sculpture |
Melbourne's Weather Harp
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An intriguing harp mounted on an exterior wall in Sugden
Place, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from 2003-2006. It is
played by the weather.
Environmentally Sensitive Installation, Kinetic Installation and
Outdoor Installation
Video by Briele Hansen. Sound by Michael Havir and David Murphy....
http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om33100.html
Video on YouTube:
 Melbourne's
Weather Harp
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The Sounds of
Silence |
John Cage's 4′33″
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Avant-Garde composer John
Cage's most famous musical composition called 4'33" consists of
the pianist going to the piano, and not playing for four minutes
and thirty-three seconds. (He uses a stopwatch to time this.) In
other words, the entire piece consists of silences - silences of
different lengths.
What you hear when you listen to 4'33" is more a matter of
chance than with any other piece of music - nothing of what you
hear is anything the composer wrote...
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/cage_j.html
John Cage's 4′33″
Videos on YouTube:
Piano version of 4′33″
Full Orchestral version of 4′33″ |
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Lullabies and
Language Development |
ABC Radio story
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A research study has found that
lullabies not only relax babies but help them
learn the language. A mother singing lullabies whilst pregnant
and continuing after the birth of her baby can help decrease the
chance of post natal depression, encourage bonding between
mother and baby, and help the child's language development...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/07/2112889.htm
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Musical Savant 1 |
Rex Lewis-Clack
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His piano teacher is teaching him a piece,
a Schubert Impromptu, and he’s hearing it now for the first
time. Right after hearing it, he’s able to play the piece, but
he isn’t reading music. He can’t even see the keys.
Rex is a musical savant, one of a handful of people in the world
who share a mysterious combination of blindness, mental
disability, and exceptional musical talent...."
Rex Lewis-Clack is a musical savant whose incredible piano
talent coexists with blindness and severe mental impairment.
...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/25/60minutes/
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Musical Savant 2 |
Derek Paravicini
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Blind and brain-damaged, Derek Paravicini is a musical marvel,
able to play back any tune after one listen.
Derek was called a "human iPod" on a recent visit to the US, but
Dr Ockelford resists that limiting description. "When he works
with an orchestra, he tunes in to the musicians around him. If
they are playing simply and quietly, he'll pick up on that. He
shows real sensitivity."...
http://music.guardian.co.uk/jazz/story/0,,2068612,00.html
http://www.mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk/misc/derekparaviccini.html
Videos on YouTube:
Musical Savants - autism, blindness
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