Yesterday I was talking about doing art as superior to doing drugs. I didn't have it in mind at the time but it further occurs to me that doing art, or being on the receiving end of it, can be a great substitute for medicine. I was reminded of this by a nice article in today's paper about Music Therapy. I wouldn't mind some of that myself.
In fact, I came home to some - a late Haydn symphony. Now that's what I call healing.
Why does Haydn seem so sane?
At one time I would have despised the notions of art as therapy or art as escape. Grown old and weak, now I'll take whatever it has to offer with huge gratitude.
4 comments:
what about rock music? do you think it has any healing effect?
this is random, but have you heard of the band television and their album marquee moon? i just thought that if there was anyone i know who knew of them, it'll be you..
Two yeps:
I do think many forms of rock music (it's a wide church) can be therapeutic. Interestingly one of Springsteen's routines live in recent years has featured him talking off a gospel-style preacher, selling the virtues of the E Street Band in concert as a form of celebration and healing. Very funny but oddly true.
As I've got older, I must say, I've found that the healing side of rock has been associated with live performance, rather than recordings.
And Marquee Moon was a huge album for me, though I never actually bought it. That part of the New York new wave of the late-seventies was an incredibly fecund period. I see links with Talking Heads and the 1980's version of King Crimson (bcause of the inter-locking guitar thing). Don't know what became of Tom Verlaine though and was always puzzled as to why he and the band didn't go on to bigger things. Have you been listening to Television?
sorry for taking so long to reply. i take occasional gulps of your blog.
i have yet to see a proper rock live performance. i've only done dvds which i feel do not do justice to how good a band is.
but i think it really depends. led zeppelin are great on record. i heard that they don't do such a good job live.
yar. just needed to talk to someone about them. there's amazing stuff on marquee moon. the guitars really drive the whole act. alright. thanks for the recommendations. i'll listen to them soon
I never saw Zeppelin live, but as far as I am aware they had a stellar reputation - certainly in the early years. The CD set of them live at the BBC suggests they were distinctly hot.
You really need to have the 'live' experience. The volume alone makes it something other than the usual listening. And when it works (as with Springsteen) it's something else.
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