Music!

Image: Harlequin and Pierrot by Andre Derain (1924)

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers
And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

-Arthur O'Shaughnessy, Ode (1874)

As the buoyant strains of Arabic pop started to gently unravel my Sunday blues, the wonderful book The Tao of Music by Dr John M. Ortiz came to my mind. When reading the book, which has been one of my treasures, I remember being struck by how prolific and versatile the author was. Aside from his contribution to psychology, he was also an accomplished musician and martial artist. Curious to find out about his more recent work, I tracked down his Institute of Applied Psychomusicology website. Here I was once again moved to find evidence of the vibrant and passionate work Dr Ortiz had done during a lifetime that was resonant and harmonious in every sense of the word. Ideas from The Tao of Music have often echoed in my  endeavours, and I am grateful to have shared in a few lines from this great man's song. 

Ideas from The Tao of Music

Because concepts from the book have been so helpful to me in work and life at large, I am listing a few here with a brief description. The Tao of Music is a treasure trove of further ideas, though, and well worth a complete reading. 

Music for Mood: The book suggests a spectrum of ways to use music for directing moods. This is applied to more serious clinical cases, but is equally valid for everyday emotional obstacles (like getting through Sunday evening/Monday morning, in my case!). See my earlier post on sourcing music for mood online for more ideas. 

Music for Training: Working from a psychological perspective, many of the training objectives in the book involve personal traits, such as overcoming fears or "training" to take on problematic situations successfully. Incidentally, since an important part of my current project involves training groups of people, I have become acutely aware of how helpful music can be in this respect as well. 

Music for Timing: An excellent trick from the book is to use music for timing. The duration of a piece of music can be used as a natural timing device, whether it is for an exercise regimen or household chores. I once attended an outstanding training course where the dramatic, 70-second Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss was played to bring trainees back from breaks. 100% effective!

Music for Concentration: Musical awareness has often been alleged to correlate with concentration and thinking skills. Anyone can capitalize on this by selecting music that supports concentration during intensive thinking tasks. My own experience with this is that when I have academic writing or reading to do, I put on Baroque music (and a burner of peppermint essential oil), and emerge two hours later having moved mountains. The force of habit certainly plays a part, but the music is definitely an essential ingredient. 

Music for Escape: Perhaps not the way it is phrased in the book, but every music lover knows that sound holds a secret door to anywhere and anywhen. My favourite suggestion from the book is called "The Magic Nightclub", and it involves lining up your most-loved energizing music, unplugging the phone and setting up a space where you can dance your heart out. (At least, that's the way I do it, though I might have adapted it a bit....)

Musical Menus: The book offers suggested "menus" of music for different purposes, including tracks, artists, albums and the playing time for each recording. 

21st Century Twists

The Tao of Music contains ideas of lasting value. However, it was published in the 1990s, just shy of many of the technological developments that have revolutionized music in recent years. Seen from a contemporary angle, there are many new possibilities: playlists, public domain music, streaming radio, music discovery, recording your own music with free software, remixing existing music... I shan't say more than that for now, but technology has added countless variations to a theme that sounds wonderful already.

Curious? Get The Tao of Music from The Book Depository and enjoy free delivery on all books.