Michael Benghiat BIO

A Santa Monica native, Michael Benghiat has experienced a multicultural musical palette since childhood. Accomplished on both the piano and guitar, Michael grew up in a home surrounded by music, with parents who not only treasured music but encouraged learning about music from a variety of cultural and ethnic heritages.This early exposure to the enduring folk traditions of Greek, Sephardic, Spanish, and Middle Eastern music as well as to classical orchestral music helped forge Michael's unique musical sensibility. Michael's curiosity and interest in non-western musical instruments and traditions finds expression today in his study and collection of exotic acoustic instruments from around the world. His ongoing explorations of musical culture are a natural extension of his BA degree and graduate level work in classical music composition at UCLA. The author of several books on the guitar, Michael's work as a musician and composer reflects his desire to "reach more people than I can teach one-on-one."

Can music enhance healing, meditation and relaxation?
An interview with Michael Benghiat

You may have heard it said that, "Music hath charms to soothe a savage beast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak." But until you've listened to Michael Benghiat's music, you've probably never really experienced music that is often so quiet and peaceful that you feel like you’re listening to the audio equivalent of feathers dropping or clouds floating across the sky. . . yet music that continues to charm and enchant you with unusual and unexpected acoustic instrumentation with an organic and harmonious flow from one track to the next. As many of our customers have told us, Michael’s music truly grows on you and helps you to tap your own inner resources, energy and talent.

The music of musician and composer Michael Benghiat, described by Music Design In Review, as a “gifted and talented artist” features original compositions and soul-searching sounds, in short, music that has an astonishing ability to connect with people. Through that connection, listeners experience calm, peace, and a rare kind of restorative relaxation. As a featured artist on the At Peace Media label, Michael has composed over fifteen CD releases. We are proud to be affiliated with Michael Benghiat and with the higher purpose that permeates his work.

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What inspires you to compose music for healing, meditation, and relaxation?
Helping people reach something good inside themselves or connect with an aspect or an issue that has been neglected or forgotten is what inspires and motivates me. If my music helps to accomplish this, then I feel I've achieved something worthwhile.

Will you tell us something about instrumentation, beats per minute, and tempo, and how these characteristics make your music suitable for healing, meditation, and relaxation?
I usually use tempos in the 50 to 80 beats per minutes range. Also, I try to use authentic instruments whenever possible. Having real instruments with real players conveys a greater range and depth of emotion and, therefore, affects the body and mind to a greater degree. If I'm using keyboards, I consciously look for sounds and textures that sound organic.

Please talk about the health problems you have struggled with during your life, including your experience with cancer and your relapse in the late 1990s.
I was diagnosed with a rare bone disease in my hips when I was just a kid. To correct the condition, I spent six of my teenage years on crutches and went through a series of operations. Also, as an adult I've had testicular cancer. Although the cancer responded favorably to treatment, it returned at the five-year mark in the late l990’s. I had to undergo chemotherapy which in turn prompted me to seek out more holistic and healing therapies. At the time, I had composed four CDs on the At Peace Media label and used my own music along with meditation during my recovery. Even though that was five years ago and I am now cancer free, there is no doubt that these experiences have made me look at my life carefully. Dealing with adversity and suffering are experiences that can make you stronger, more perceptive and more attuned to achieving balance and establishing healthy life-enhancing priorities.

Please talk about the health problems you have struggled with during your life, including your experience with cancer and your relapse in the late 1990s.
I was diagnosed with a rare bone disease in my hips when I was just a kid. To correct the condition, I spent six of my teenage years on crutches and went through a series of operations. Also, as an adult I've had testicular cancer. Although the cancer responded favorably to treatment, it returned at the five-year mark in the late l990’s. I had to undergo chemotherapy which in turn prompted me to seek out more holistic and healing therapies. At the time, I had composed four CDs on the At Peace Media label and used my own music along with meditation during my recovery. Even though that was five years ago and I am now cancer free, there is no doubt that these experiences have made me look at my life carefully. Dealing with adversity and suffering are experiences that can make you stronger, more perceptive and more attuned to achieving balance and establishing healthy life-enhancing priorities.

How have these health problems affected and/or influenced your creative expression?
I think I am more in touch with my body because of these life experiences. Maybe this is why people respond to my music. I write what I would want to hear in a CD, if I were looking for music that would help with healing and relaxation.

Final Notes: For Michael Benghiat, continuing to grow and striving to learn are top priorities. Everyone has problems, he asserts. It's essential to never give up. "If through my music, I can help people deal with the hectic pace of modern life and the stress it generates, if I can bring them to a peaceful place where they gain perspective on their lives—then I feel I have accomplished my purpose.

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Stephen Cohn BIO

A native of southern California, Emmy-award winning musician/composer Stephen Cohn has always been in love with music, in love with the experience of making music. "I grew up in a home where music had a special place in our life. My father wrote chamber music as a hobby, my mother was a dancer and violinist and my sister is a flutist,” says Cohn.

Classically trained as a musician and composer, Cohn completed graduate work in composition and musicology at UCLA. Accomplished on multiple instruments including the piano, guitar and clarinet, he began his professional career singing, composing and writing songs for labels including Motown and Warner Brothers. This quickly led to opportunities to write title themes for TV and scores for films with stars such as Lily Tomlin, Wallace Shawn, Joanne Woodward and William Shatner. Internationally recognized for his concert stage music, Cohn’s compositions have been performed world-wide by such acclaimed musicians as the Arditti Quartet and the Chroma Quartet.

Winning an Emmy Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Music” for his chamber orchestra score for the documentary film, “Dying With Dignity” encouraged Cohn to pursue his interest in studying how music can promote healing and stress reduction.

“In many ways, my music for At Peace® is a culmination of my long-standing interest in the spiritual aspects of music. There are really no formulas for creating something that's relaxing. As a composer, I look for a place inside, where, in writing something, I actually feel the experience of letting go and relaxing or of opening to a space that’s beyond thought. Maybe it’s a question of identifying that place in oneself creatively and then expressing it musically.”

Among the hallmarks of Cohn’s music for At Peace® is his ability to enhance relaxation by offering lush, soothing compositions designed to slow the rhythms of the body and the nervous system while entertaining the listener with beautiful melodies and instruments chosen from a pan-cultural palette.

“Instruments that speak with a soft, soulful voice are the ones that I gravitate to for this kind of music. Every project has a special challenge musically which involves tapping into and weaving together my skills as a classically trained musician, my intuition, and my desire to create musical resonance and harmony with a timeless quality.”

Can Relaxation Music Have Spiritual And Emotional Resonance?
An interview with Stephen Cohn

How did you get your start in music?
I was born into music. My father was an attorney who wrote concert music, chamber music, as a hobby all of his life, but very seriously, like every spare minute so I think I probably first heard music when I was still in the womb -- hearing my father sit at the piano and write this sort of Bartok-ian chamber music. My mother was a violinist and a dancer, and my sister has a Ph.D. in flute from Juilliard and USC so I was always surrounded with very good music. Music had a special place in our life it was revered and it was a special kind of treat to be enjoying music. I always found it to be kind of a thrill. I remember as a kid being taken to musicals and just having magical experiences with it. And then as I began to play music which was first on the clarinet and later on the guitar, the idea of actually being part of the process of making music was very very exciting, a special experience like nothing else. It brought a kind of fulfillment that nothing else brought.

Did you play music together as a family?
Yes, there were instances where we played together in various combinations. My mom and dad used to play piano and violin duets which was a whole ritual.

You have composed concert music as well as music for films. How are the two processes different?
Every project has a special challenge musically. When I'm writing a piece of concert music, I'm being called upon to do a highly individualistic thing -- sit in a room by myself and come up with something that hopefully advances the state of the art, expands the musical language in some way or expands a concept of what music is. This is particularly true in this last century when the musical language just kind of exploded -- a lot of things happened in the concert hall that would not have been thought of as music in the 19th century. But the big difference is if you're called on to write something for a film it's a highly collaborative thing. The team is there in support of a director's vision. The director is in charge of maybe several hundred artists, and he's called upon to forge all of these individual talents into a singlevision.

Composers are trained in the old tradition of studying very hard as an individual and then being very disciplined and digging deeply into your own creativity and coming up with something that comes from a very deep place. And to be able to then make that shift from listening to your own inner creative voice to listening to somebody else's voice directing you -- it seems to sometimes violate everything you've learned about being a composer, being a creative person. And yet it can be very rewarding. I've found that the two things nourish each other in a very important way.

How did you get interested in composing relaxation music?
There is a natural meeting place of being involved in a spiritual practice and thinking about healing oneself first and then healing other people. Combine that with using what I had worked on most in my life of speaking to other people, or reaching other people -- through my music. This idea of wanting actually to reach out to serve other people -- hopefully even heal other people -- with music is a very inspiring idea. The idea of doing an album like SERENA'S GARDEN brings a lot of things together because it's a very individualistic creative endeavor yet on the other hand it's intended very much to communicate with people in a very universal place.

People involved in healing and nurturing  professionals who use At Peace Music with their work often say the same thing. It's interesting to hear that healing is a part of your musical equation, too.
I love the idea that my music can be used by people involved in  healing other people or just to help people reach a place inside themselves where they can feel some calmness and some peace.  

There's a technological aspect to it, in the sense of using very slow tempos or changing tempos perhaps helps to slow down the heartbeat, the pulse. A lot of it is just intuitive feeling that these melodies, these harmonies will have an effect on people that will help them to calm and introspect

What makes for good relaxation music?
There are really no formulas for creating something that's relaxing. I think that a composer can find a place inside where, in writing something, you actually feel the experience of letting go and relaxing or you feel the experience of opening to a space that's beyond thought. And that's an intuitive experience. So I think maybe it's a question of identifying that place in oneself creatively and then expressing it musically.

You use an interesting palette of sounds in your compositions. Are there some instruments that you especially gravitate towards for music for healing and relaxation?
Yes... I would say that instruments that speak with a soft, soulful voice are the ones that I would gravitate to for this music. Ultimately, it's the essence of the music itself that speaks. It's about the intention and the focus of the composer to really touch that place. Using silence effectively is also important. John Cage wrote a book called SOUND AND SILENCE in which he makes it very clear that music is about both. It's about silence and the balance between sound and silence. Sound is defined by the silence around it. So silence is a very important element. When there is a goal in the music to do something like relax or excite then the use of that balance becomes very critical.  Clutter in music often comes about from a lack of faith in the idea itself. If the musical idea speaks then it doesn't need a lot of extramusical “filler” or clutter.

SERENA'S GARDEN feels like a journey -- we don't know exactly where the music is leading but listeners find it very relaxing. Could you comment on that?
When music is working well that's one of the greatest experiences -- you're taken on a trip. And hopefully the music will give you the confidence that this is a trip you want to continue going on so you surrender to it. Giving people the comfort and the confidence to surrender to it and go where it goes and enjoy the journey as they're going -- and hopefully even experience something they haven't experienced before.

Edith Ann... that little girl sitting in the big chair?
Yes, this was a special Christmas episode that had to do with Edith Ann's family. So I had the great joy of working with Lily Tomlin and an animator named Bob Kurtz. And they did this very funny, very edgy, very artistic thing and it was great fun to be around that kind of creativity and be a part of that.

Another one was a show I won an Emmy for, it was a documentary called DYING WITH DIGNITY which was a one hour documentary on euthanasia -- very serious subject matter. There was a challenge to write music for that show that was moving without being morbid. I wrote for a nine piece chamber ensemble and worked with really wonderful musicians. It was one of the first shows that I conducted in the studio.

Another one that comes to mind was having my string quartet --my first string quartet -- recorded by the Ardini Quartet, one of the really great string quartets. They recorded the string quartet in a church -- All Saints, on the outskirts of London, a church that has a beautiful, natural reverberation.

Your music helps people deal with the stresses of life. Do you like writing this kind of music?
I do, I love it. One of the wonderful things about this project is, it's a collaboration, in a sense, but on the other hand I get to sit in a room and write music that I really like that feels appropriate. And the real excitement of it, the real depth of the experience is the feeling of touching other people with the music and supplying something that may actually really be needed at this time.

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James Mikael Brue BIO

Piano virtuoso James Mikael Brue who wrote and recorded Nature's Gift, admits to being really in love with “the acoustical aspect of music, the way piano really vibrates a human being, vibrates our nervous system.”  A classically trained musician and teacher of the Suzuki Method, James created Nature's Gift to express in part ?the depth within each of us, that we can touch, that will heal us.?  Inspired by the Muir woods in Marin County, CA as well as several extended meditation retreats, James’ music is an expression of a beautiful, peaceful journey and a desire to evoke the totality and harmony of nature. 

A resident of northern CA, James Mikael Brue hopes that his healing music for At Peace, ?makes you feel safe so you can let go and take that energy with you into your world, and in the course of that action give it away, give it to others . . . that would be my heart’s dream fulfilled.?

Connect with Your Inner Vibrations
An interview with James Mikael Brue

When did you start playing music?
I started playing music when I was about 6 years old. Piano first and then the guitar. Around the age of 16 or 17, I felt a real pull towards piano and let the guitar go. In my 20s I started experimenting with electronic keyboards and different recording equipment... it's been a journey.

More recently I've focused almost exclusively on the piano. . . I’m just really in love with the acoustical aspect of the music, the way the piano vibrates a human being, vibrates our nervous system.

Your piano compositions have such complexity and depth, and a feeling of possibility and infinite space, which makes your music so appealing. Are you trying to achieve a certain kind of feeling with your music?
Meditation and the attunement to that along with the study of classical music has really been my path. . . meditation and music. Meditation allows me to approach the creative process with freshness, yet base my experiences in the classical realm. I hope that my energy and good intentions come through in the music.

What about music's ability to heal?
Sometimes the most healing thing for a human being is silence. There's a depth withineach of us that we can touch that will heal us. So in a sense we really don't "need" music, we just to need to be in touch with our “self”. But then getting there is another story. There are ancient sciences, thousands of years old, the Vedas, that talk about sound, and how sound can be used to take you to the Silence.

For me sound and the silence are very much connected. Consider a still pond without a ripple upon it and yet when you drop a pebble there's such delight at the wave that the pebble makes. I don't think one could sit in the Silence for too long without wanting to make some waves. I remember being on long meditation retreats, and after a short time of the silence I craved, I wanted to make music.

There's a quote from one of the Scriptures in the Bible, from Genesis that says, "In the beginning, God said, "Let there be light..." To me, this translates as sound came first. Sound is so basic not just to a human being but to every form of creation and that sound influences us deeply, even without our knowledge.

Many people don’t have a clear perception of how deeply environmental sounds are influencing them. When they take a moment to relax, get a massage, talk a walk in a redwood forest or listen to relaxing music, something takes them to a place more inside themselves. During those moments, you realize how much the clatter of the world is constantly influencing us. Sound is so fundamental. . . it has such a deep effect, and I love playing the piano because when I'm at the piano I take the Silence that I've grasped inside myself and give it some expression, to create some “ripples on the water.” And that's extremely gratifying... I can't think of anything more satisfying in my life.

Nature's Gift feels like a beautiful, peaceful journey -- how did that come about?
The music on this CD was created over a period of five years, and the title track, Nature's Gift, was a piece I composed after a long journey away from civilized life. It followed a time I spent traveling, living on faith. When I returned, I wanted to express all the good energy I'd gathered inside myself. I think the peace and relaxation and the ease of that comes through in that track.

Have you been influenced by any specific composers?
I would say my favorite composer is Chopin, because Chopin worshiped God or nature at the piano. The piano was everything to Chopin. You really feel his love for the piano when you play his music. It's very intimate, very heart-rending music -- it has an effect on a human being.

Of course, I studied Bach -- you have to study Bach, Bach provides the fundamentals for your technique. Bach is like the planets moving around the sun -- there are no mistakes (laughs). Bach’s mathematical precision affects a human being from the inside out and makes us feel in tune with the music of the spheres. . .

How would you connect the inspiration of those composers to your own music?
I've always been composing, even from the beginning of just "ker-plunking" on the piano. As I gained more technique through the years playing Chopin, playing Mozart and Bach, my understanding of what they've done has created a great resource. When an idea comes to me, I plug it in to that large arena of musical experience, of everything I've heard, everything I've ever played.

That's what I also tell my students -- some of them are very creative at a very young age, and yet there's not the chops, the fingers aren't there, the experience isn't there, but if you keep studying people's music and learn from them -- have that apprenticeship with them, you find yourself building your ability and broadening your range. Once you synthesize all of this and hook it up to your own experience and imagination you have the freedom to just let yourself go as a composer and musician.

What would you like people who are listening to your music to get out of that experience?
It’s the kind of music I envision being used during a massage, or a yoga class, or some place where you feel safe and you can let go -- if you can be absorbing that energy and take that with you into your life, into your world, and in the course of that action give it away, give it to others... that would be my heart's dream fulfilled.

I'd like to see Nature's Gift played in prisons, in hospitals. If somehow playing this music could provide even a little glimmer of light, like a flame they could fan and begin to allow that light to grow... that would be extremely fulfilling.

Many people seem to feel disconnected from themselves, from those around them... It seems like the goal of your music is to provide a healing catalyst, to help people feel connected to meaningful things in their life, to help them find a meaningful path.
That’s true and it reminds me of the time I gave Nature's Gift to one of my students who was about 4 or 5 months pregnant. Later, she mentioned to me, "Your music made me feel like I was in a cocoon, that I was in a safe space even though I was in a rush to do a lot of different things."

My hope is that my music will allow people to feel better even if they’re in environments where perhaps they don't feel totally comfortable. Use Nature's Gift to achieve quietude, and then rejuvenate and go back into the world. I think we all need to take the time to do that.

Sound takes our consciousness to different levels. We spend a lot of time and energy trying to change our environment, to change the people in our lives. My focus, my love, is to create music that vibrates people from a deep place and opens up their sense of the tremendous possibility in life, even in everyday life.

That's the other beautiful thing about music. It takes us into the Now. All the things we worry about vanish. Music vibrates the silence within us, much in the same way that when you sit near a stream of water and listen to the trickling, gurgling sounds -- it does something to you. It enables you to become more an ocean of silence, an ocean of pure consciousness rather than that little spotlight of just your own experience. We expand and experience more of our higher self, our true self, our expanded self.

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Stephanie Bennett BIO

Award-winning musician and composer Stephanie Bennett has been called “one of our country’s top harpists” (Hollywood Reporter). Avalon, inspired by Stephanie’s travels to Ireland, includes the original composition, “The Ancient Fortress” which she composed at the top of 2500 year old Steig Fort in the Ring of Kerry with one of her harps while “contemplating the mystery and timelessness of this beautiful place and wondering about the kinds of people who had been here before me.” A native of the Midwest, Stephanie’s passion for the harp and composing music dates back to her childhood. She has been invited to collaborate with many musicians and has performed throughout the world including at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland as well as in France, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Argentina, Ecuador and Costa Rica. An advocate of animal rights, she has rescued many cats from the animal pound. According to Bennett, “nature is where I sense the divine and infinite.”

Nature Is Where I Sense The Infinite And The Divine
An interview with Stephanie Bennett

Tell us about Avalon, your first CD recording for At Peace Music?
My first CD that for At Peace was Avalon, Celtic Music for Relaxation, includes traditional Celtic tunes from Ireland and Scotland. I played lots of different Celtic tunes till I found the ones that really inspired and moved me and seemed to have something really beautiful and nurturing to say.  I spent time with them until I got to know them really well, and just experimented with them till I found out different things I wanted to say with them. Because when you’re doing something traditional that’s been played hundreds of times before, you want to honor its timelessness, its history, and yet say something unique with it. Avalon also includes two original tracks, which I composed when I was in Ireland.  I figure that makes them Celtic music -- created and inspired by Ireland itself. 

So, there’s an Irish story behind the your original compositions?
Yes, Ancient Fortress is one of the original compositions. I composed it during a visit to the 2500 year old stone fort called Steig Fort, in the Ring of Kerry , a particularly beautiful peninsula on the west coast of Ireland. It’s out in the countryside, and I took my tiny harp with me. I’d taken a little harp with me to Ireland so that I could play along with the musicians in the pubs in Dublin and so that I could just sit in the countryside and be inspired by the Irish countryside and compose. I took my tiny harp and climbed up to the top of this 2500 year old stone fort, and I just sat there and thought about the mystery and timelessness of this beautiful place, and wondered about the kinds of people who had been here before, and just listened to the ancientness that I felt around me. That’s where Ancient Fortress was composed.

The other piece of music that I composed in Ireland for Avalon is titled Mossy Bower. I composed that when I was visiting Killarney National Park in Killarney Ireland. There’s a beautiful castle there called Ross Castle. During my visit to the castle, I went walking around the grounds and discovered a beautiful spot with several trees surrounding me, with dappled sunlight  filtered i through the leaves. The ground was covered with moss and tiny plants and I just sat quietly, meditatively, and listened to wind rustling through the trees and soaked in the light coming through the leaves. I didn’t have a harp with me that afternoon, but I did have some music manuscript paper for jotting down ideas. So I just listened to my imagination and I came up with a melody there and jotted it down. So the track, Mossy Bower is really dedicated to that special place I visited in Ireland. 

Stephanie, how long have you been playing the harp?
I’ve always been fascinated by music ever since I was a child. I listened to my parents’ classical records and folk music records. My parents weren’t musicians, but they loved music, so they always had a lot of recordings. I loved going to concerts even as a little kid. I had taken some guitar lessons and some piano lessons as a child, and they were OK, but they didn’t really grab me. And then when I was thirteen, in 8th grade, we were assigned to do a report on an instrument of the orchestra for my general music class. There was a poster on the classroom wall with pictures of the instruments of the orchestra and the harp is just such an intriguing looking instrument that I chose that from the poster to do my report on. I knew right then that I had to get my hands on a harp . . .  I was really blessed that my parents always encouraged us to explore our creativity and were very supportive of education of all kinds. 

What else inspires you to compose music for the harp?
Like many people, I find travel very energizing and inspiring. As I harpist, I’ve been able to travel to many different places. One of the things that inspires me to compose music is nature.  Sometimes the music itself is what inspires me. I’ve just always been fascinated by sounds; playing different sounds together, different notes and chords, different scales and different instruments, and the music itself will fascinate me. And I explore and experiment with these materials and find something unique that really grabs me and speaks to me. 

So nature is a big inspiration?
Yes, the other things that I love as much as music are nature and animals. Nature is where I sense the divine and the infinite. Not in buildings or paintings, but when I look at trees and the sky and the ocean and clouds and stars. That’s where I really get a sense of seeing the divine and the infinite, and I often try to honor that with the music that I compose. I’m inspired by certain scenes, whether it’s the sun rising over the snow in Michigan, or the night sky out in the countryside. I’ve composed music inspired by the feelings I got when I was floating over the top of the Swiss Alps in a cable car, and the feelings I had scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. You see the most amazing things underwater! Being underwater is like being on a different planet to me. It’s like being weightless and it’s like being able to fly. The creatures and plants that you see there are just different from what we see on the earth. It’s very inspiring, very mysterious. Listening to music and being in nature; you feel absorbed in something bigger than yourself. You feel like part of a bigger whole.

How would you define the need for and nature of relaxation music? 
We all need to relax and connect with a deeper part of ourselves, and relaxation music is so important for that. I think we need it now more than ever. I feel very honored to be contributing to that.  It’s very important to our health.  For me, playing music is very meditative and healing, and I feel wonderful that I can share that mindspace that I get into when I’m creating music. I hope I can share that with people who listen to my music. I hope they can come into contact with the beauty and serenity that I was trying to create when I played music for them.

When I’m composing music for relaxation, I don’t feel that it has to be vapid or empty or devoid of emotion. It can be emotional as long as it’s a healing and uplifting kind of emotion. And to be uplifting it doesn’t have to be all sweetness and light, because I think there can be a little bit of melancholy in something of great beauty.  And there can be great beauty in a little bit of melancholy. Some of the Celtic pieces are very nostalgic; of course the Irish people have been through a lot of trials and tribulations. so there can be some nostalgia in those pieces. I didn’t shy away from that. There’s great beauty in that too. 

Like the the sun and the shadows?
Right. I didn’t shy away from a little poignancy as long as I felt overall it gave a feeling of healing and a feeling of hope. I tend to think of music as analogous to food and cooking. . .  you’re putting together different flavors and colors, and the music that I do for At Peace Music is analogous to comfort food. Whereas if I were playing a jazz piece or something for concert music that’s meant to be very exciting and challenging, I might think of it in terms of food that has jalapenos or curry, or something shocking.

When I compose music I try to come up with the original themes, melodies and ideas. I’m really just listening for what the music wants to be as well as listening to my imagination.  Something comes to me that probably originally starts with a primordial soup of all the music that I’ve listened to in my life - all the music that I have loved and really paid attention to,and absorbed into my spirit. Some of that comes out in the music that you create. 

How did you choose some of the other instruments to add accent notes on Avalon?
I love the Celtic flutes, the Irish pennywhistles that my friend Sue Winsberg played so beautifully, and some other flutes: the silver flute, alto flute, low whistles and recorders, played by Sue Winsberg and by Laura Halladay. Of course I used that wonderful, magical- sounding Irish instrument, Uilleann pipes (Irish bagpipes), played by Eric Rigler. That sound just instantly transports you to the ancient Celtic world. Of course, harp is my favorite instrument and I use several different harps on Avalon. There are a couple of different kinds of Celtic harp: I use both the nylon strung Celtic harp and also the wire strung Celtic harp, which I feel gives a really mysterious, very ancient sound. The pedal harp, that’s the larger, concert grand harp. Another instrument that I really love a lot is the cello, and I use the cello a lot. It’s got that deep richness.  

Do you think music helps to reflect emotion?  Helps you transcend everyday cares? 
What kind of effect do you think music really has on people?
Music has a wonderful effect on people. It’s mysterious and wonderful. Music can be analyzed mathematically, and the chords and scales we use can be studied and codified - yet the effect that they have, I don’t think we’ll ever understand. It’s just mysterious. And it’s individual too - but isn’t it wonderful that some music can make us happy, or feel encouraged, or feel hopeful?  Music can do so much for us that way. Music can also relax us which is a wonderful healing thing that we need. And I think that even listening to sad music at times can be wonderful because it can be cathartic, it can help us express feelings that we couldn’t express otherwise. 

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Ruth Cunningham BIO

Ruth Cunningham is a classically trained musician and a sound healer. She combines these skills to create intuitively improvised music that connects people to the healing and spiritual power of music. She also collaborates with other healers and musicians in a variety of settings. Ruth is certified as a cross cultural music healing practitioner (CCMHP) by the Open Ear Center located on Bainbridge Island, Washington, and  . . .  sound healing workshops.

She currently has two recordings of healing music, Sacred Light, with harpist Diana Stork and Ancient Beginnings, which is part of the Open Ear Center’s “Music for Healing” series.

Ruth was a member of the acclaimed women’s vocal quarter ANONYMOUS 4 for ten years. With them, she performed in concerts and festivals throughout the United States, Europe and the Far East and made ten recordings – nine of medieval chant and polyphony for harmonia mundi and one, Voices of Light by contemporary composer Richard Einhorn, for Sony Classical.  In the spring of 1998, she left ANONYMOUS 4 to explore other musical repertoires and to work in the field of sound and healing. Ruth Cunningham received a B. Mus. In Performance of Early Music from the New England Conservatory of Music and has studied Cross-Cultural Music and Healing with Pat Moffitt Cook at the Open Ear Center.

• Ruth Cunningham volunteered her musical artistry on a regular basis over a six month time period at St. Paul’s Chapel, a rest and recovery site in lower Manhattan for Ground Zero workers.
• Ruth Cunningham sang and played several times during services at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC, as part of the Visiting Artists Series.
• For two consecutive years, Ruth and Diana played for the Women’s DreamQuest at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, CA.

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Diana Stork BIO

Diana Stork has been well known in the international harp world for nearly two decades. Beloved as a performer in sacred and world music ensembles (the Maihar Orchestra of Ali Akbar Khan, Geist, Twin Harps, Musica Divina) throughout the SF Bay Area; she is also much praised for her efforts in promoting the harp. Director since 1990 of the award-winning multicultural harp concert series FESTIVAL OF HARPS(sm) and the BAY AREA YOUTH HARP ENSEMBLE since l999; she also co-produced the “Harpestry” CD series on Imaginary Road/Polygram which became a PBS Special in l999. She has composed dozens of scores for healing recordings and videos with people such as Andrew Harvey, Dr. Charles Tart, and Dr. Meir Schneider. As world peace becomes an ever more urgent concern, she finds she is devoting an increasing amount of her work with the harp, be it composing, teaching, performing, or recording, to the service of helping others.

Does Music have Buddha Nature?
An interview with Harpist Diana Stork

What is the Connection between Music and Spirituality in your life?
The first spiritual experience I remember was listening to my mother play Beethoven’s “Für Elise” on the Piano. I was very young, but I heard something that was so pure and perfect that I couldn’t describe it. Then when I went to Presbyterian Sunday school, the teacher was explaining to us about God, and she asked if any of us had ever felt close to God. I told her about my experience listening to Fur Elise, and she told me that I was wrong, that I hadn’t contacted God that way. I immediately decided that Christianity was not for me, and that I was going to have to find God some other way. When I came home from Sunday school, I had the same experience again while playing on the swing set. I knew then that the music was only a means to that experience because it directed me to something bigger than myself.

So Spirituality was something personal for you, and not part of any institution?
For years after that, I had a deep spiritual life, but nothing that I would today call a Sangha - no spiritual community. I believed that there was a universal spirit, that listening and playing music was one way of reaching that universal spirit. I felt I had a direct contact with the spirit, and didn’t need anyone to help me keep that contact. And it was not just my waking life that was spiritually connected to music. I have always had a vivid dream life, and one of my most vivid dreams, which I have never forgotten, was about a harp.

I was in my grandfather’s house, which, in the dream, was now owned by an artist friend of mine. He was delighted to know that this house had once been owned by my grandfather and told me to please look around and make myself at home. But before I did that, he asked me to look at a painting he hadn’t been able to finish. He’d been seeking advice from everyone he knew-- would I mind taking a look at it?  I went into the room where my grandfather used to sit; and there on the floor was a big picture of a firebird. It looked Egyptian - very flat, 2-dimensional, and stylized. I bent down and picked up a piece of red chalk and began to draw lines around the bird, one after the other.  When I came to the end of it, the bird began to glow, and then it took off. My friend was amazed, but I only felt happy that I could’ve helped. I then left to look around the house that had given me so much joy and inspiration. I went back into the room that led to the stairs to the second floor.  And to my amazement, on the landing, where that had once been a painting by my great-grandfather, there was now a door that was slightly ajar. I was surprised and delighted and immediately went thru this door. Inside there was an empty room with lovely natural polished wooden walls and floors, basked in light. I immediately felt joyful and started dancing - freely. When I’d finished with this, I danced to the end of the room; and there to the left was yet another room—this one was a secret chapel that my grandfather had gone to (so it appeared in the dream) for his inspiration.  And there in this chapel, sitting in a beam of light, were 2 beautiful harps. I sat down at one of the harps and began to play - and then I woke up.

But you didn’t start playing the Harp until many years later. What actually inspired you to start playing?
Many years later, I went to a therapy session, in hopes of finding my true calling. During a hypnotic trance, a voice from within me said, “I want to play the harp”. When I heard myself say that, everything fell into place for me. I found a friend who had a harp he wanted to sell, and a check to pay for it came almost literally out of nowhere. (It appeared in my mailbox on a Sunday, drawn from a bank in New Jersey with no sign anywhere of who had sent it.) I now practiced constantly, fascinated and delighted with the beautiful music that came so naturally from this wonderful instrument.

But after I had been playing the harp for a while, I began getting pains in my hands and neck and stomach. It just didn’t make sense. Such a gentle instrument - so graceful and beautiful - playing should have been effortless. And yet there it was - pain every time I played.

That must have been terribly frustrating. What did you do to heal the pain?
One time before when I had had serious pain, I had managed to heal myself with the help of a therapist named Meir Schneider. So I turned again to him for help, and got my first indirect exposure to the principles of Buddhism. Meir was Jewish, but he had become strongly influenced by the Buddhism of the Zen center in San Francisco. Abbot Reb Anderson had been receiving private therapy from Meir for the back problems he had developed from long hours sitting in Zazen. Soon Meir had several Buddhist practitioners coming to him for treatments, and was even giving lectures at the Zen center on the proper way to sit in meditation. But when I started taking sessions with him to help me play the harp without pain, I discovered that he had also learned a lot about the inner aspects of meditation from his Buddhist clients. Setting up my harp, I began to play. Immediately he shouted, “Give up the Control!”  I turned and asked him exactly what he meant by that and he said something like - “You’ve got to give up the control - let go”.  He banged on my back, he rubbed my hands, he asked me to breathe. It all helped, in much the way that the Zen masters would shout at their students to surprise them out of ordinary consciousness.

But it wasn’t until months later that I finally grasped what he meant, and thus played my first real note on the harp. Somehow, after the weekly sessions of breathing and attempting to Let Go, the banging on my muscles to remind them to let go - finally it happened. I heard a sound come from the harp which was my own, but yet not my own. The sound was not small and tight and contained within a few feet in every direction from my bod.  No, it was a big sound, resonant and perfectly beautiful!  I heard it! There was no mistaking the difference. I was elated and played again. No, this time I had relapsed back to the old sound - the tight sound of my ego controlling the strings again. I remembered that in Zen and the Art of Archery, the teacher had once said to the author ‘this time, IT shot’ when the author released the string in exactly the right way. In much the same way, I felt that when the harp string was perfectly plucked, the music was being played by something bigger than myself, and it sounded more resonant as a result. Within 2 years of study, I reached a point where I’d integrated my breathing, the in-stroke and outstroke in balance, and the giving up the control.  Hearing it was the hook - there was no comparison. I could hear the difference. And then I started to hear in these beautiful sounds something I hadn’t heard before.

Did this healing work give you a more spiritual approach to your music?
It was definitely the beginning. But the beauty wasn’t enough - it needed heart. I wanted my music to reach out to other sentient beings, to become part of a community that was both social and spiritual. It was then that my path as a Buddhist took shape.

Who were your main spiritual teachers? My first Tibetan Buddhist ceremony was a refuge initiation with Jamgon Kongtrul. I first went largely out of curiosity, but once I had taken the refuge cord, and received a refuge name, I felt somehow that I had made a strong commitment that would change my life. Soon Buddhism became interwoven with many aspects of my daily living. I began to regularly do the White Chenrezig practice at the KDK center in San Francisco. It opened up my heart

How does Buddhism enable you to combine your music and your spiritual life today?
When I began to produce a series of international harp concerts, I made a regular commitment to make a contribution to Nechung monastery in Dharamsala. The monks said prayers during the concerts, and I can always tell when they are praying because everything falls into place. Extraordinarily things have sometimes happened during the concerts, which I am sure are not coincidences, and I am grateful to whatever spiritual forces made them possible. I have also written a piece called Great Ocean in honor of the Dalai Lama. Whenever I perform it, I do a series of visualizations that increases my sense of compassion as the music ebbs and flows. The abbot of Nechung Monastery once sent me a prayer, which I later set to music, and recently recorded in a church with a soprano who sings Medieval music. My Buddhism, paradoxically, has gotten me back into church again, playing music that expresses my spiritual aspirations in ways I never could have imagined. I am more grateful than I can say for the Buddha and the Dharma, which have given me the opportunity to see my audiences (and my fellow musicians) as a Sangha that transcends differences in theological doctrines.

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Marina Belica BIO

Singer/composer Marina Belica is the lead vocalist of the band October Project, which has headlined sold-out shows across the U.S. in addition to touring with Sarah McLachlan and The Crash Test Dummies. They have established an international following through radio and television broadcasts around the world.

In 2003, Marina released one sky, an instrumental album written, arranged and produced by her in collaboration with producer/performer/composers Randy Crafton and Chris Cunningham. Featuring an array of acoustic instruments including woodwinds, string quartet, guitar and percussion, the CD is a collection of ten original compositions with Marina adding keyboards (solo piano on “A Way Home”) and vocal textures on several tracks.

Marina is active on behalf of charitable causes and has appeared in and helped organize several benefit concerts. She has performed in Bali with Grammy-winning Swiss harpist Andreas Vollenweider in a concert for Balinese children, and in Carnegie Hall for the Foundation for Small Voices, a charity that raises money for children’s programs in the arts. She has also performed several benefit concerts for the NOCC (National Ovarian Cancer Coalition), and continues to oversee “Gilda’s Lounge,” an unplugged concert series she began in 2000 for Gilda's Club in New York City.

Harmony under One Sky
Composer and musician,"one sky"
Q and A with MARINA BELICA

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You have an amazingly beautiful voice, yet your solo CD, “one sky” is all acoustic and instrumental.
Thank you! I like to call the music on "one sky" modern, intimate chamber music.

What about the term "world music?" Would that also define your music?
Composer John Hassell came up with an even better term: "fourth world music," which he defines as "classical by structure, popular by textural appeal, global minded."

Why did you chose to compose, record and produce modern chamber music and what does it mean?
It is true that most people know me as a singer/songwriter and not a composer of instrumental music. When I write a song, I find that music comes to me first, much more so than lyrics. I had accumulated a number of compositions that I had expected to add lyrics to, but was surprised to find that I enjoyed the music on its own, without words. These became the compositions on "one sky."

So you wrote the various compositions for One Sky over a span of how many years?
The piano solo ("A Way Home") was written about twenty years ago. Everything else was composed over the span of about a year, the result of a series of improvisational sessions on the piano preceded by meditation. My husband is an artist, and he suggested that we set aside a time each week for the making of music and art together, which we would begin with meditation. It was a really fun process, because in a way it was like channeling; you quiet yourself down and make room for whatever wants to come through. Inevitably, something comes forth. I would tape record these sessions and then listen back in a more conscious and critical state of mind to select passages that held up as compositions or inspired further development. Because this music came from a quiet meditative place, it is itself meditative and contemplative.
After a year or so of these sessions, I had accumulated a body of work that I thought I would set to lyrics, so I recorded a piano/vocal demo on which I sang, but without words - in classical music this is called 'vocalise.' In truth, it may have been my impatience with my own procrastination in coming up with lyrics that provided the catalyst for "one sky." In any case, the producer of the piano/vocal demo (Chris Cunningham) introduced me to his friend, the producer/percussionist Randy Crafton, and the two of them proposed to work together with me to create an acoustic ensemble rendition of this collection of compositions. It was one of the great joys in my life, doing this project. I hope to continue to do these meditative sessions and keep coming forward with music and do another album down the line.

That would be great. Now, some of these pieces are very short too, do you see any of them as possibly having the potential to be expanded into longer pieces?
Absolutely. I had a particular span of time in which to complete the album, so when I was going through the process of picking and choosing material I went with what was there, realizing also that a lot of it could be expanded. I would like to explore that possibility down the line. I also like the idea of creating a chamber music concert of the compositions on "one sky" performed by an ensemble featuring the instruments on the album. I also see that in the future, after October Project----- you know, evolutionary stages.

We’ve been reading more and more published articles regarding clinical studies and
the healing power of music. What are your observations about this?
Edgar Cayce, an American psychic from the middle of the last century, said that sound would be the medicine of the future. I absolutely believe in the healing properties of certain music and certain sounds. I haven’t studied this in great depth, but I know it intuitively and also empirically, from my own experience. There is a study cited in the book "Chanting" by Robert Gass in which children who are suffering from cancer in a hospital experience a decrease in stress and a boost in their immune system after they sing songs and participate in music. I would be grateful to know that any music that I have recorded or performed has had that effect. I know that the music of October Project has achieved that from the many, many letters we have received over the years. I know that music affects one's emotional being, and one's emotional being has a lot to do with one's physical being. If we can provide someone with an emotional release through music, it seems logical that there would be a simultaneously positive impact on their physical 'well-being.'

People often have feelings for which they can’t really apply words, but then, they hear a particular piece of music and it resonates with them and helps them come to terms with or cope with or realize untapped feelings. . .
Absolutely, I think music provides catharsis. Maybe, as you said, when we’ve been unable to release an emotion, music can provide that catharsis.

Your voice is so wonderful, do people inquire, “Why didn’t you sing, or why are there no lyrics? ” Because, your voice is so amazing, people might think you’re holding back. Were you just “giving voice” to another aspect of your creativity?
Thank you for the compliment, and also for the very accurate theory that "one sky" was simply another vehicle of expression for me - more like a direct transmission of tone to the listener, without the added layer of lyrics. Now, I love lyrics, and I love to sing. I suppose "one sky" was an experiment in just letting the music through. I have been playing the piano since the age of four and always found that I was best able to express how I was feeling through music. I always found great solace in making music and expressing my emotions through the instrument. It is an important and powerful vehicle of communication for me.

You have touched on your concept of the role in music in healing. Are you involved in or do you practice daily meditation?
Well, I wish that I were more dedicated than I manage to be. I have recently become more involved in yoga. I think anything that helps you regulate your breath, or helps provide a calming influence on the body, is worth pursuing. Yoga and meditation both provide this, as can singing!

People are often fascinated to hear about different influences and sources of inspiration that fuel the creative muse. Can you reflect on this? Are you influenced by your Slovak heritage?
I'm first generation American. My parents came from Slovakia. The Slovaks have an immense number of folk songs and everybody there knows the words to every song; it’s unbelievable. You could spend an entire night singing around the campfire with these people. They know all seven verses to each folk song. It’s a very rich tradition. I have a strong affinity for these melodies, which are generally on the melancholy side. Even if the lyrics are quite racy, the music remains melancholy! One of my favorite songs is called “Red Apple." It's the most soulful, heart wrenching melody, and then you read the lyrics and find that it’s about a newly married woman who can’t get enough sleep because she and her husband are making love all the time!
Our sense of hearing develops in utero, about four and half months before we are born, so all of the things that we hear before we’re born are actually making an impression. This is one of the reasons we respond so readily to our mothers’ voice, because we’ve heard it from a very intimate place and it’s recognizable to us when we arrive. I think I had a lot of musical experiences in utero. I also remember that when I was growing up, my mother would play the classical piano, and my sister and I, when we were very little, would come running into the room and start dancing, holding hands and running around. So music was a very native experience for me, in the home.

Some of your October Project fans see you and Julie Flanders as a Lennon/McCartney duo, the way you vocalize together. Like the Beatles, we can listen to your songs over and over again and they just stay with you in a wonderfully evocative way.
That’s fantastic. Emil, the composer, is a huge fan of the Beatles. As far as we’re concerned, that’s one of the highest compliments we can get. I appreciate it. One of the things that I liked so much about the Beatles was that you could just as easily start singing one of the harmony lines as the melody - it’s all so beautifully integrated. That to me is harmony as its best. Where it’s a rising up of voices, you know, in harmony, in all of its meaning. It’s a very strong connection between the performers, and I think the audience responds to that.

Can you tell us more about your work with Gilda’s Lounge? Is there a link between music and healing and stress relief?
With Gilda’s Lounge I know that the members really enjoy the opportunity to be immersed in live, acoustic music. I’m very interested to explore the healing properties of music. In fact, I recently led a workshop at the Omega Institute with the songwriters of October Project entitled "Good Vibrations - The Positive Power of Music in Your Life.” It was an amazing experience in which we spent three days exploring the magic and mystery of sound. One fun fact I learned in preparing for this course was that astronomers at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge recently determined that the Perseus Black Hole 'sings' a B flat - albeit 57 octaves lower than the B flat below middle C.

It’s almost spooky, isn’t it?
It is! It’s fascinating. These are such vast mysteries.

Have you read that mathematicians are also often musically inclined or musicians. Many were exposed to really wonderful music when they were young.
It has been theorized that Bach may have composed his fugues based on mathematical formulas. His compositions were so intricate, and so perfectly rendered. Here's an interesting perspective on music from a mathematician's point of view - the mathematical equation that describes the decay of sound waves reveals that a sound wave never completely decays. It weakens gradually but the mathematical formula indicates that it never thoroughly decays. It's fascinating when you think that anything you say resounds forever. Perhaps people would think more carefully about what they say if they knew!

That is a very cool concept. Can you share with us what’s up ahead on your musical horizon?
In the long term, I would love to do another album much like this one. In the near term, I will be recording and performing with October Project. We will complete a full-length album this year and hope to release it in the first half of 2005. We would love to place our music in feature films and will definitely plan to tour to support the new release, both in the U.S. and abroad. We will also continue to develop and explore the healing power of music and sound through workshops at the Omega Institute and elsewhere.


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David Hinz BIO

Composer and musician, David J. Hinz is a resident of Northern California and a graduate of the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, WA. His lifelong passion for music has been fueled by numerous master classes and workshops with musicians and composers including Julius Baker & Michelle Debost, James Gallway & Paul Horn, Ransom Wilson & Paul Winter among others... Owner of one of the earliest (1998) prototype 14K gold Kingma System Flutes crafted by Brannen Brothers of Woburn, MA, David’s flute repertoire is deep and includes musical improvisation and recordings with flutes of varying scales, shapes, sizes, materials and tonality. His natural, light jazzy style on the keyboards, synth and percussion instruments expands his musical range and provides a complementary and simpatico accompaniment to his original flute compositions and impromptu live riffs. Live music lovers and reviewers throughout the U.S. are familiar with the distinctive musical synergy resulting from David’s collaborative efforts with both his own band and with other musicians.

Is Music Naturally Inspired or Does Music Bring us Closer to Nature?

Q and A with David J. Hinz,
Composer and musician of the music CD, Aleutian Meditation
Music for a kinder, gentler world

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Music has always played a significant role in the “healing process”. It has even been said that music provides a way for us to tap into innate knowledge that resides deep within all of us. How does Aleutian Meditation fit into this?
Creating a magical, peaceful sanctuary, a safe haven, so to speak, with my music is something that I have been told is one of the effects of listening to Aleutian Meditation. Listeners have told me that the music helps them to reach into an inner space or place that helps them to nurture creativity, love, & sharing. To me, music has the potential to be a source of energy. It resides everywhere in the world. It can inspire, relax and energize us. Whether or not we’re aware of it, music pulses within us all and it can heal us and keep us well. Listeners may have a visceral, emotional response that to me is the essence of music. If people listening to and using Aleutian Meditation can use it to improve their life journey, I can’t ask for anything more.

David, the range of sound, tempo and timbre on your flutes is truly extraordinary. Tell us some flute stories . . .
The flutes I play on Aleutian Meditation include bass, alto, and C flutes. The bass flute was loaned to me by Scott Goff, first flutist with the Seattle Symphony. I used my Armstrong alto flute, and the C flute was a Yamaha with a very special 14k gold headjoint and was originally part of a flute that was made for Julious Baker, former first flutist with the New York Philharmonic, by Brannen Brothers Flutemakers in Boston, MA. Scott Goff was a student of Julious, and bought the flute from him. Scott sold the headjoint to then second flutist Pamela Mooney, with whom I was studying. Pamela loaned this headjoint to me for a spell, and that's how it ended up being used on this recording. The headjoint (the part that you blow into) of a flute largely determines the quality of the sound of the overall instrument. So, thanks to Scott Goff, Pamela Mooney, Julious Baker, and Brannen Brothers for the roles they played in this recording!

David, it appears that you were “naturally inspired” during the composing, arranging, and production of Aleutian Meditation. How did you decide to layer your flutes with Orca and nature sounds?
I was honored to have a wonderful pod of Orca whales to provide musical inspiration The Orcas, ocean and birds provided a great creative springboard for determining how I would layer the flute tracks. I played the various flutes one at a time, all the way through without stopping. This was all improvisation in real time, and all first takes. At the beginning and end of the recording, I played a very large Indonesian gong. This gong was borrowed from Gamelan Pacifica, of which I was a founding member while a student at the Cornish College of the Arts in 1983.

Tell us about the Orca and nature sounds? Did you record these yourself?
These Orcas were exquisitely recorded by Paul Spong, who is the founder of Orca Lab. They were recorded off the northwest shores of Vancouver Island along with the Pacific Ocean sounds and a few aquatic birds as well. Orcas are the operatic voices, the Pavarottis of the sea world! Very musical. And very fun to improvise with.

This CD has a long run time, at 73 minutes, it’s perfect for a full-body massage session; why this length?
I extended and mixed my original recording of the title track for several reasons. One, I was intrigued with the idea of creating a peaceful and relaxing narrative sequence with essentially three sections. The first was the beginning of the piece, with the gong, the second was the middle part, no gong, and the third was the end section finishing with the gong. Then I "crossfaded" these three files into one continuous wave file to equal seventy-three minutes of flowing, flutacious music.

After doing all of this, I applied a little Ultra-Maximizer Plus, a very cool sound-enhancing electronical software program, just for a bit of added sparkle, et voila!, the master for this updated, CD version of Aleutian Meditation was finished. The cover art and liner notes include photos of my trip to Alaska in 1983.

Tell us more about what inspires your music.
Most of my life, people have known me as a musician, blowin’ my flute in countless different situations, from firesides to festivals. Many of these folks I have never seen, while many I have had the pleasure to know them by the sparkle in their eyes, the magic of their dance, their lips whispering thank you as they walk past the stage after live concerts with my band. And, fortunately, I have had the pleasure to meet many fine friends over all these years. I certainly feel blessed. Thank you all for listening to the music, and for giving me back so much in return.

Do you think music can bring us all closer to nature, or at least engender more respect for the wonder of nature?
Music allows us to transcend everyday states of consciousness, everyday worries and concerns and to travel to places inspired by our imagination and creativity. When we allow time in our day, in our busy lives to let this happen, we slow down our abstract thinking and allow ourselves to focus on expanding our sensory threshold, which can enable us to be more aware of and focused on our surroundings. So yes, relaxation music can enhance sensory awareness, daydreaming, and meditative states which can make us more receptive to the wonder of nature. The key is to keep an open mind to the complete range of sound that is created all around us.

Mixing the orca and ocean wave sounds in Aleutian Meditation, will I hope, have that effect on listeners. Music can be found all around us if we allow ourselves to really listen and tune in to specific sounds and experiences. Even focusing on or listening to the steady drip of raindrops on a roof can be a relaxing experience if you keep an open mind.

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Q and A with
Emil Gagliardi, composer/musician
DETACHING THE WORLD CD Series

What I like about your music is that you seem to have this intuitive way of knowing when you’ve done enough. You weave in a lot of different sounds and effects, but it all flows together nicely. How do you know when you’re finished with something?
When I create music, I am literally sitting at the recorder and painting. The recorder is my canvas, and I don’t have any preconceived notion of what I’m doing. I have no plans. I leave it completely open, and I challenge myself. I sit down and say, all right—can you take something simple and make it sound good? Can you take this group of notes and flip ’em around or stretch them or condense them and create something new?

Would you say that you have a particular creative process?
There’s absolutely no form. When I was in jazz school, a lot of jazz struck me as very formulaic because as experimental as it can be, it was still not experimental enough to me. But at that time I was still too young to be anywhere as a musician. I was still learning how to really manipulate any kind of sound out of the guitar that was pleasing and not, you know, some kind of death metal.

Has the guitar been your primary mode of musical expression from the very beginning?
No, I was a drummer—a self-taught drummer at age six. My father was a drummer, and he always had a drums set in his house. He gave me the sticks and taught me some of the basic rhythms. To teach myself, I would put on headphones—big old bulky headphones—put on a tape, and just play along.

What were some of your early musical influences?
Well, I went to my first Chick Corea concert with my parents when I was five years old. That was at the time of the “Return to Forever” album. That’s what my parents brought me up on—also a lot of Al Di Meola and Weather Report. I still have Weather Report in my car to this day. My father was a drummer, but he never had the ambition to really be schooled in his instrument, and neither did my stepfather, who’s a guitar player. He loved old blues greats like John Lee Hooker and Charles Brown and Taj Mahal.

So instead of watching Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers, you were listening to Chick Corea and Taj Mahal and Charles Brown!
Exactly. I do feel that having that influence at a very young age molded who I am today.

Now, when you were a drummer in high school, were you in a band?
No. I played by myself—for pleasure only. I hadn’t even picked up the guitar till I was 18 years old. I went to the jazz school at the University of Maine in Augusta because they would allow me to start as a complete beginner. I chose the guitar as my main instrument because, after being a drummer for 13 years, I liked the idea of something melodic.

So, school was really your window of opportunity to try something else.
Yes. And the professors I had were great. I chose the guitar professors that were willing to work with somebody brand-new to the field. Some of them told me that they actually liked to teach people from the beginning, instead of teaching someone who’s been playing for 30 years, because you don’t have any bad habits yet.

And you don’t have too many preconceived notions.
I had none whatsoever. And I had friends in school that introduced me to a lot of experimental guitar players: Bill Frisell, John Scofield, and Allan Holdsworth—he’s one of my favorites. There’s so much amazing stuff out there that’s hidden unless you are exposed to it in some genre or other.

Now, when you were playing the guitar in college, were you composing at the same time?
No, not yet. I didn’t compose anything in college. It was like “Guitar 101.” I started out with all of those songs like “Take the A Train.” I was placed in an ensemble with a bunch of other people of the same caliber, and I was doing these boring jazz standards that are just beaten to death. Some of them were great—John Coltrane and Miles Davis covers—but the focus was on technique.

You had to learn how to do it the so-called “right way” before you deviated from it. What happened after you left school?
That was when I started composing. I discovered Ani DiFranco and that kind of music. I thought I might do something acoustic. I did the open-mike scene and composed some really terrible, terrible songs. Terrible lyrics—I’m a not lyricist whatsoever. I couldn’t write the lyrics to a Christmas song. But I still went out and did open-mike nights because I wasn’t in a band.

And you still needed time to incubate all of your experiences.
Yes. I moved to Charleston, and stayed there for four years. My first year, I was still doing open-mike nights. Finally, I got my first tape recorder, and I started playing along with myself. I knew this guy who was in a band. They were recording some material and had never heard me play guitar, so I went in one day and he asked me to stand in for their guitarist. And I was like, “Wow, this is really fun,”—to actually play with people who had material written or just to create something on top of that. So eventually I tried out for and got into a band.

And you were based in Charleston?
Yes. We started doing gigs there—it was a good place. We played in a lot of bars, but we didn’t get very far because we didn’t really have a following. We wrote everything collaboratively—just going to the shed and hashing it out and playing things over and over again. We were getting somewhere, but we still couldn’t draw a crowd. Our music was considered too experimental.

Tell me about the period of time that it took you to start out with Volume 1, extending through Volume 4. Can you describe the whole sequence of events?
I dropped everything to do Volume 1. I started from nothing—just literally from scratch. I’d never had a recording class; I’d never had a production class. I started in June of 2001 and finished in mid-August.

Did you initially plan to use both electric and acoustic guitar, or did that evolve over time?
Volume 1 is just electric, and Volume 2 is a blend of acoustic and electric guitar.

How is Volume 2 an evolutionary step beyond Volume 1?
Well, I started to notice a pattern in the kind of people who liked the sound of Volume 1. They like their music to be so ambient and so background—almost as if it generates the atmosphere itself. Many of them are really into energy work—I have some friends who are Reiki masters who swear by it. But I started getting requests for stuff with a little more continuity from massage therapists.

How did you address that criticism with Volume 2?
I added tenor guitar, which added structure. I wanted to incorporate plucky, acoustic guitar, but still utilize some of the effects I had in Volume 1—the elongation of the notes and some of the ambiance. But I couldn’t just recreate Volume 1. And that’s what makes it special for me as a musician—I still love Volume 1 because I feel like I channeled that in the moment. It all just came—as I was feeling it, it came.

It was your baby.
Exactly. Volume 2 has a little more melody within each song. I was trying different stuff, and I was trying to use the style that I had developed more efficiently. I also worked on developing a theme—each CD in the series has a theme. Volume 2 was a big experiment because I was crafting individual tracks. Volume 1 was more of a constant flow of energy.

What was the idea behind Volume 3?
I wanted to string the songs together a little more, like I did in Volume 1, but I also wanted to give it a little bit of melody. Volume 3 was a very sad album for me—emotionally I was kind of a mess for a lot of different reasons. But some of the best times I had were in the middle of recording and creating that album. Sometimes, as a musician, the only thing that can pull me out of a particular emotion is actually playing music, and being alone—being in the solitude of creation. Volume 3 means a lot to me because there’s a point where it changes. The very end of the album is very different from the very beginning, because I changed as the music changed. I’m reflecting a personal journey through the music. Also, I wanted to lead the listener into what was going to start Volume 4. I left it open-ended.

You kind of set the stage for Volume 4.
Yes. And I didn’t really do that with Volume 1, because Volume 2 starts out with this very dry acoustic guitar—completely different from Volume 1. You’re never going to hear the same thing from me twice. Now, the cover on Volume 3—I took that picture on top of a mountain at Acadia National Park in the middle of winter. “Midnight Moon” [from Volume 4] was actually inspired by that picture.

So, from there, how did you approach Volume 4?
Volume 4 represents where I am most currently as a musician. Every song features improvised soloing, which I didn’t have on any of the other albums. I had a lot of things going on in my head this winter about what I wanted to do for Volume 4. I’d felt this huge Native American energy pull. I recorded Volume 4 on the coast of Maine—an area that used to be inhabited by the Abenaki Indians. “Native Land” is a tribute to that. When I created it, I envisioned almost this Native American dance.

Do you find that when you’re writing a piece of music, the track name comes to you in the middle of writing it, or is it after you finish it that the name pops into your head?
Well, I try to go back to the emotions I was feeling at that time. When I was writing “Tribute (To Sam And Sammy)”, I was thinking of the weird life-death experience between animals and human beings. I believe in souls crossing over into the other side. I believe in existence, and I believe in different dimensions, and that’s kind of where I’m going with that song. It’s my interpretation—it’s like the song changes throughout. It all kind of intertwines. And as I said, this music is my therapy. When I write music, I heal myself.

Well, I hope your next CD will feel like that too—that each one will bring you to a higher level of understanding with yourself, and the world around you and the people around you. So Volume 5—the wheels are turning!

And I’ll tell you—it’s not going to be anything like the first four.


- This Q and A includes excerpted interviews with Emil Gagliardi conducted by Jan Liverance and edited by Emma Ingrisani.

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