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| Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net |
Today I read the introduction to John Diamond's book,
The Life Energy in Music: Notes on Music and Sound. It was one of the most exciting things I have read in a long time. I was practically jumping up and down. It was written by John Buttrick about whom I have so far been able to find out very little. He was (is?) a music professor at MIT, a movement therapist and a practitioner of Behavioral Kinesiology. What he discovered through kinesiology is that music
strengthens people. If they are muscle-tested and found to be weak due to physical stress and anxiety, then when music is played they are retested and found to be strong.
"I know now that my playing has the capacity to physically strengthen people. And there are moments when I am aware that the audience and I are breathing together, that I am simply the prism through which all of this flows. The biological imperative of rhythmic pulse and expansion of musical motifs has replaced studied effects...."
In regard to his work with John Diamond, which was a revelation in his life and work, he says:
"...the old ice-bound rivulets of scattered musical life have come together and channeled into a broad, expansive river. The water is fresher, the light iridescent, the current steady even through some rapids. As I go on and with this flow, music is no longer just a profession, it is an instrument of my aspiration."
I can't wait to read the rest of the book. Last sentence on the first page by John Diamond, "Of all the physical modalities, music most activates the life energy and uplifts the soul. Only pure love can do more."