I?ll always remember my dad saying that he loved listening to birdsong early in the morning. The singing centered him in a way that I didn?t understand at the time.

Now I know why he felt so refreshed.

Birdsong is a high frequency sound ? around 5,000 hertz. Any sound between 5,000 and 8,000 hertz has been found to recharge our brain?s batteries.

You know what else is amazing?

5,000 hertz is also the frequency that energizes plants. In fact plants showed a 700 percent increase in efficiency of absorbing nutrients when exposed to high frequency classical music. This frequency actually helps the little pores on the plant’s leaves called stomata to open up.

And who says nature doesn’t have a plan. That?s why you’ll find that in areas that don’t have a lot of birds singing, there’s not a lot of plant growth either.

Lots of birds equals lots of plants. Few birdsongs means not a whole lot of greenery. Now I know why we moved from Los Angeles to Asheville, North Carolina ? we wanted birds and trees in our life.

Have you ever entered a room that has a weird or uncomfortable feeling about it? You might just be getting uncomfortable because of low frequency sound waves.

The lowest of those are called infrasound. They?re produced by machines such as vehicles, household equipment and heating and cooling systems. It?s been known for some time that these low frequency waves can cause symptoms such as nausea, headaches, fatigue, insomnia, vibration of internal organs and a feeling of oppression.

On the other hand, certain high frequency sounds literally energize your mind. Scientists have found that sounds from 5,000 to 8,000 hertz recharge your brain?s batteries.

If your CD collection includes music by Mozart, Baroque Music or even Tibetan Chants, keep listening. In numerous studies, these sounds have been found to charge the cortex of the brain and stimulate health and wellness.

At 120-125 hertz you begin to hear the kick drums and bass guitar common to rock music. These lower frequencies produce the opposite effect – they drain us.

Why is this?

Because they have wave-lengths longer than we are tall, which is why lower frequencies are FELT as well as heard. You can feel this low frequency full-body sensation at dance clubs and rock concerts. Or from listening to most FM radio stations.

Since we are mostly exposed to low frequency sounds in the media, I strongly suggest you balance your brain and body by listening to high frequency classical music at least once a day. It?s easy and effortless ? and great for you.

Here?s to your sound health.

Copyright 2006 Tania French

Composer Tania Gabrielle French has enjoyed performances and radio broadcasts of her music worldwide by Grammy Award winning artists. Her popular newsletter tells all about the secret effect of music on your mind and body. Subscribe now at http://www.artabundance.com ? 2006 Tania Gabrielle French. All Rights Reserved.

For 30 years or more, Philip Glass’s music has been criticized for being repetitive, loud, and too accessible. This last quality is his greatest sin in the eyes of academic musicians. As in other fields a sense of elitism adds immeasurably to one’s self-esteem; there’s nothing better than belonging to a club with only a few members. Philip Glass broke up that cozy little club with music which has both depth, and mass appeal.

When I was a student at University of California, Santa Barbara, in the mid-1980s, I had the chance to meet Philip Glass and review a concert he and his ensemble performed on campus. Sorting out some papers recently I stumbled over the review and decided to publish it for the benefit of old and new fans of his work.

Philip Glass, prior to an appearance at UCSB, April 1985

The work which brought him the most fame in recent years is his soundtrack for the film ?Koyannisqatsi?. During an interview before the concert he described how he came to write the score.

Godfrey Reggio first approached me about doing it about three years before the movie was completed. He asked me to do the music and I said I wasn’t interested in doing film music. He said ‘I want you to see how well your music works with these images.? And I was convinced.

Although Glass has subsequently written music for an upcoming Paul Schrader film, ?Mishima?, he remains dubious about working in film.

I’d rather work in the field of opera. I find film limiting in a way… there is something very disappointing about doing a final mix. In a way it’s all over. With an opera, we can reinvent it, we can visualize it, we can reinterpret it. With film once it’s done it’s done.

He and the ensemble still play music from ?Koyannisqatsi?, which was originally scored for a full orchestra. This obviously involves the problem of adapting the music so an eight-piece ensemble can reproduce it.

I have nine synthesizers in the ensemble and we cover string parts and brass parts … it’s amazing, the state-of-the-art is quite extraordinary now. I can make very convincing adaptations.

The concert on Wednesday bore this out. After seeing ?Koyannisqatsi? for the first time only days before, I felt that the power of the work would be reduced without the accompanying images, but I was proved quite wrong; the physical force of the music was stupendous. Amplified to a level not normally associated with classical concerts, his work took on the epic scale which I’d previously associated with Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, or the finale of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, better known as the Olympic hymn.

Fittingly, the piece which showed this most strongly was the Olympian, the music Glass composed for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Los Angeles Olympics. Stirring and powerful, this piece exhibited the ensemble’s craft to the fullest. The musicians and the group are forced to use unusual techniques to play Glass’ music, as he explained.

You just don’t drop into the group and start playing. Any new musical language has to have a new technique… how could it be otherwise? If you are using the old techniques, how could it be new? You have to play rhythmically very accurately and your sense of intonation has to be very defined … those are classic things in a way. However, we’ve rediscovered them. We’re talking about music which is largely polymetric, so that you have to fix your part into a very complex rhythmic scheme that’s going on … and it has to be not just fitted; it has to be very steady. It’s quite different from the kind of modern music where you’ll have different rhythmic things going on all the time, and changing all the time. It’s the steadiness of it that’s the problem.

The piece which had the greatest effect on me and, it seemed, on the rest of the audience, was Facades, one of three sections that the ensemble played from his suite ?Glassworks?. Two synthesizers provided a swirling, evocative base for a dialogue between Jon Gibson and Jack Kripl, both playing soprano saxophones. This piece showed the influence of jazz music on Glass’ work, both rhythmically and harmonically. The depth of feeling reached by the sax players equalled anything which mainstream jazz musicians have ever achieved. Much of the evening’s music was powerful, but this was breathtaking.

The evening ended with an unscheduled encore, a storming version of The Spaceship from Einstein on the Beach. Fantastically powerful, this sent the audience away on a burst of adrenaline. A fitting end to a great show.

You can read more of Tuppy Glossop’s thoughts on music and popular culture at his Web site, AtTheFamilyPlace.com

If you think music doesnt affect you, youll be changing your tune after reading this. This is a true story of a recent study from Leicester University in England.

Youre off to the supermarket and decide to stop by some shelves offering French and German wine. You make up your mind to buy a bottle of the French wine.

While checking out, youre asked why you picked the wine. You respond The label looked great, or I liked the price. Then youre asked if you noticed the French accordion music that was playing when you took that bottle off the shelf. You say that you did. Did it affect your choice of wine today? No, of course not, you answer.

Thats funny because on the days that French music is played nearly 80% of shoppers chose the French wine. On the days that German music the Opposite happens.

In other words, this study found that if you bought some wine from their shelves you were 3 or 4 times more likely to choose a wine that matched the music than the wine that didn’t match the music.

Guess what these wine-buyers responded when asked at the checkout if the music influenced their choice. Only 1 out of 44 customers said that the music was the reason they bought the wine. Thats 2%!

The influence of the music was Huge but the customers Didnt Notice or Believe that it was affecting them. It only took a matter of minutes or seconds for music to get into these peoples brains in a powerful way.

Similar experiments have shown that classical music can make people buy more expensive wine.

Heres another study to chew on. Most of us go out to eat at least once a week. Do you know which music makes you spend more when youre at a restaurant?

In this study, a British restaurant played pop music, classical music and no music over the course of 18 evenings. Average spending prices per person were calculated for the following categories:

Appetizers, Main Courses, Desserts, Coffee, Drinks from the Bar, Wine, Overall Beverage Bill, Overall Food Bill, and Total Amount Spent

They also measured the total time people spent in the restaurant. Heres what they found.

There was a Significant difference between evenings when classical music was played and no music or pop music were played. Classical music resulted in higher spending. Across the board in all categories. Other restaurants here and abroad have had similar results.

What does this mean? Its pretty simple. Classical music relaxes and makes you feel good. And feeling good makes you want the best.

Thats why so many successful people listen to high frequency classical music. They know it helps them work better, think better, and get higher levels of energy. They know it wont deplete them, get them distracted and raise their heart rates, like hard-hitting low frequency music does.

The amazing effect that music has on your mind and body is being proven in study after study. Its information that should not be ignored. Especially these days, when were exposed to music anytime we enter a building.

Copyright 2006 Tania French

Composer Tania Gabrielle French has enjoyed performances and radio broadcasts of her music worldwide by Grammy Award winning artists. Her popular newsletter tells all about the secret effect of music on your mind and body. Subscribe now at http://www.artabundance.com 2006 Tania Gabrielle French. All Rights Reserved.

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