Sunday

I'm currently trying to plan my day.

So far on the list: Wegmans. I'm going to see if I can find a bowl there to replace the one I broke. If not, I'll go out to target some time this afternoon. I also need coffee, some milk, a roll of toilet paper and some multi-surface cleaner. I'm going to start the cleaning process today.

Then I'm going to go by Barnes and Noble and see if there is anything I need. I just ordered two books that will ship home by the time I get there. One book is by Paul Nordoff-- Its all about the inherent qualities of music that make it therapeutic.

From Barcelona Publishers:

In these penetrating sessions, Dr. Nordoff dialogues with his students about the expressive dynamics of each tonal and rhythmic component of music, and through musical examples from various composers throughout history, demonstrates their therapeutic significance. This book is a foundational text for all music therapists who use improvisation as therapy. Its main goal is to develop the awareness, intuition, and experiential understanding of music needed to bring its healing powers to others through creative improvisation.

Nordoff said that each musical interval (even a half step) has some therapeutic qualities- each tone means something different, each tone is an event. Nordoff took these ideas from the teachings and writings of Rudolf Steiner. So the second book I ordered is by Rudolf Steiner called "The Inner Nature of Music and the Experience of Tone." You know just some light reading.

Here's the description from Amazon:

"A tone is at the foundation of everything in the physical world." This is one of many astonishing statements made by Rudolf Steiner in this collection of seven lectures on the inner realities of music. These lectures are an unusual treasure as they are the only two groups of lectures that Steiner gave primarily on music, other than the lecture cycle for the tone eurythmy course, Eurythmy as Visible Music. In the first group of three lectures, given in 1906, Steiner explains why music affects the human soul so powerfully. Music has always held a special position among the arts because it is the only art form whose archetype, or source, lies not in the physical world, as with architecture, sculpture, and painting, but purely in the spiritual world-the soul's true home. Music thus directly expresses through tones the innermost essence of the cosmos, and our sense of well-being when we hear music comes from a recognition of our soul's experience in the spiritual world. In the remaining lectures, given in 1922-23, Steiner discusses our experience of musical intervals and shows how it has undergone profound changes during the course of evolution. The religious effects of music in ancient times and the union of music with speech are considered, as well as the origin of musical instruments out of imaginations that accompanied singing. New insights are offered on the nature of the major and minor modes and on future directions of musical development."

I am excited to read something new and interesting and related. I have some fluff that I plan on reading to balance out what I think might be some heavy stuff. I'm looking forward to reading the real deal from the original source (Steiner) and see what kind of connections Nordoff makes and see how Nordoff ran off with the ideas. Sounds nerdy, eh? Oh well. I am excited about it. The fluff I'm reading is a book by Max DePree- "Leadership in an art." Our ITD recommended a couple of his books. It will be enlightening I'm sure, but the print is big and the writing is straightforward. I think it will offer a nice break from Steiner and Nordoff.

Anyhow- sorry about being slightly tangential. I'd like to go pick up some boxes today, but UPS and fedex don't do much on Sundays. Soooo I'll just start cleaning stuff and pick up boxes tomorrow. I only need a few more.

Otherwise, I plan on watching the I Love Lucy marathon while I start cleaning.

This episode is the one where Ethel Mae Potter & Friends stop in Albuquerque.

"Ethel Mae Potter, We Never Forgot Her"

It's one of my favorites.