Take two arias and call me in the morning...

Throughout history, people have believed that music has the power to cure all manners of ailments. In biblical times, King Saul ordered David to play his lyre to sooth his anxiety and stress. Traditional Native American healing rituals have always included singing as a primary component. Then there is English playwright William Congreve who famously wrote, "Music has charms to soothe the savage breast."

Today there is the field of music therapy, whose practitioners offer improved quality of life to patients with issues such as physical disabilities, brain injuries, and Alzheimer's disease. Over 70 American universities offer approved degree programs in the field. However, Austrian musician Vera Brandes has taken this practice a step further, as can be seen in this interesting article in the New York Times. Ms. Brandes believes that she can prescribe music the way doctors prescribe traditional medicines, sending patients home with an iPod of specially chosen music to help treat psychosomatic disorders, pain, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and certain types of arrhythmia.

Researchers are only just now understanding the effects of music on the brain, so it isn't so far-fetched to think that specific types of music can improve an individual's well-being. What do our readers think? Does anyone have any examples of the healing power of music? Please share them in the comments section. And might I prescribe for everyone a dose of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme for whatever ails you...

Disney, Part Two

I finally feel like I've caught up on my sleep after what was an exhausting but very memorable trip to Orlando. After an easy flight (much better than the 9-hour delay fiasco of 2005), we set off on Saturday morning for our day of performances in the park. Here was our set list:


The Sinfonians, a concert march by Clifton Williams
Alligator Alley, a programmatic piece about alligators and hunters by Michael Daugherty
Lyric Music, a melodic solo trumpet feature with several exciting climaxes and wonderful scoring by Robert Starer
Spring Festival, a merging of a traditional Chinese folk song with contemporary western classical techniques by Chen Yi
Rio Con Brio, a lively dance number that uses Brazilian rhythms and instruments by Hugh Stuart


The last work garnered a standing ovation from our hometown crowd. The various percussion accessories included reco-reco (a scraper), pandeiro (a type of tambourine), double samba shaker, tamborim (a very small frame drum), claves, maracas, guiro, and timbales. We also had an apito (tri-tone samba whistle) soloist. Granted, the music wasn't truly authentic, but it gave us a chance to spend time in class listening to and discussing some real samba music from the Carnaval scene in Brazil.

After our performance, we watched the orchestra and choir. Both groups were wonderful, especially the chamber orchestra's choreographed, "strolling strings" version of "Sing, Sing, Sing" complete with gymnastics. That evening we enjoyed the dance company and Choraliers in their performances. All total, we gave five concerts between 10:00 am and 7:00 pm, monopolizing the FutureWorld West Stage in EPCOT.

Saturday night included a trip to Cirque de Soleil to see their death-defying acrobatic feats of weirdness. On Sunday night, after a day in the parks, the orchestra and band combined to form a 100-piece ensemble for a clinic with a Disney musician. He led us through several sight reading exercises, impressing upon us the importance of playing something right the first time. He said that while we may have 40+ rehearsals for one performance, professionals have one rehearsal for several performances--an impressive concept for us all to grasp. The evening ended as we recorded the music to some clips from Tarzan and then watching the video with our performance as the soundtrack. We did pretty well, I might add!

After another day in the parks on Monday, we got to celebrate a successful tour with a dance party at Fantasia Gardens, an outdoor pavilion on a small beach. On Tuesday, we visited the Kennedy Space Center and headed off to the airport for our return flight home. All in all, the trip was a big success, full of great music and memories. Now we can start planning Band Trip 2011!

Disney, Part One

Just a quick one here--one of my favorite things about going to DisneyWorld is hearing all of the wonderful performers throughout the park. Here are some of the sites from EPCOT:

Mariachi Cobre in Mexico. Several violins, two small guitars that I assume might be vihuelas, and the large acoustic bass guitar called a guitarron. The singing is in thirds and done in call and response fashion.



Mo' Rockin in Morocco. The lead singer/violinist composes these wonderful Moroccan rock songs with the keyboardist rapping in Arabic. The drummer is playing a cool drum machine.



The Voices of Liberty--an a cappella vocal group in the American pavillion:


Three women playing taiko drums in Japan:


A woman playing a guzheng, or Chinese zither, in a hall in China:


This doesn't include the shots I didn't get, like Off Kilter (a Canadian/Celtic rock band with a lead bagpiper) and the awesome sax quartet in the Magic Kingdom that feature a curved soprano and a bass sax.

I'll get some pictures up of our performance soon.

Orlando Bound!

We're off to Orlando in a few hours! The bands are rehearsed, the music is packed, and the equipment is ready. Tomorrow we will have a wonderful concert in EPCOT along with performances by our orchestra, choirs, and dance group. On Sunday, we will attend the professional Disney clinics, and on Tuesday night we'll be back. Look for a wrap-up of our experiences next week!