http://musicandhappiness.com TO INCREASE YOUR WELL-BEING Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:59:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en To listen to our first audio newsletter on the ways an ascending melodic line creates a positive feeling, use one of the following links: For streaming audio: http://www.audioacrobat.com/play/W2wGSYgQ To download to MP3 player: http://lynne.audioacrobat.com/download/MusicandHappiness-October2008.mp3 http://musicandhappiness.com/2008/11/13/recordings-of-october-2008-newsletter/ We like to give you, our newsletter listeners, specific information on the pieces we play and discuss each month. We choose recordings that Josh considers to be outstanding. 1. I'm a Cockeyed Optimist comes from Rogers and Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC, new Broadway cast recording on Sony BMG Entertainment 88697-30457-2. 2. Scherzo comes ... http://musicandhappiness.com/2008/10/21/music-played-in-our-october-newsletter/ Connecting with people through his music has been the credo of Philip Glass for some forty years. As far back as 1967 he viewed the modern music scene as being transformed by "a generation of composers who were in open revolt against the academic musical world."  He said," I personally knew that ... http://musicandhappiness.com/2008/09/23/savoring-philip-glass/ So many of us look up to role models, heroes whom we try to emulate. But all too often we find ourselves falling short and feeling frustrated. Yet there are inner strengths which we can tap to find our individual voice. And sometimes the results can be absolutely spectacular, defying ... http://musicandhappiness.com/2008/06/20/miles-davis-a-case-of-tapping-into-inner-strengths/ "I'm not suggesting people abandon musical instruments and start playing their cars and apartments, but I do think the reign of music as a commodity made only by professionals might be winding down." Amidst preparations for his launching of a highly unusual multimedia event, DAVID BYRNE, founder ... http://musicandhappiness.com/2008/06/01/playing-the-building/ Josh and I went to see YOUNG AT HEART last night. This is a very enjoyable documentary movie about a group of elders--average age of 80--who travel the world from their home in Northampton, Massachusetts, giving concerts of Rock music. It's thought-provoking for several reasons. As one group member says happily, ... http://musicandhappiness.com/2008/04/27/sing-sing-sing/ Lynne has just shared an absolutely riveting article with me, "Second Nature: "Your Personality Isn't Necessarily Set in Stone." It comes from the current issue of Psychology Today (April 2008). What especially caught my attention was a remarkable story of optimism in action. David Fajgenbaum, a freshman at Georgetown University, ... http://musicandhappiness.com/2008/03/10/bereavement-optimism-and-music/ Have you noticed how many books are being published on the subject of Happiness these days? What it is. What it is not. Where to find it. How to actively create it. It is a central topic of Positive Psychology research. (See the list at the end of this post.)* What ... http://musicandhappiness.com/2008/02/03/a-new-year-for-music-and-happiness/ Music, as Josh has written elsewhere on this blog, is solidly rooted in memory. (See under Music and Memory.) Holiday music combines social memory--that background music playing everywhere you shop, every time you turn on the radio--and personal memory--your associations with particular music that brings up past holiday celebrations, ... http://musicandhappiness.com/2007/12/16/do-you-have-favorite-holiday-songs/ "A soft answer turneth away wrath." The timeless wisdom of this biblical proverb (Proverbs 15:1) has found artistic expression in one of Beethoven's most divine creations-- the slow movement of his Piano Concerto no. 4, a work I have previously written a post about (see post for ... http://musicandhappiness.com/2007/11/23/the-wisdom-of-a-soft-answer/