Too many days have passed since I last had time to add anything to this blog. Life has got in the way – as it does. Life in this instance involving a Golden Wedding celebration (ours) and 80th birthday celebrations (not ours), but one that meant a journey south.
Now, life is back to ‘normal’ and I am reading How Shostakovitch Changed My Mind by Stephen Johnson. This is an absolute gem of a book – both in content and in presentation. Not many books these days have such a beautiful binding.
However, Johnson writes movingly about the healing effect of music on sufferers of mental illness and how it helped him as he struggled with bipolar disorder. It’s not just those who are depressed or disturbed that find music healing. Some pieces of music can be cathartic as they induce tears releasing feelings that may have been suppressed for decades.
I’ve decided that I should really be reading this book while I listen to the music of Shostakovitch. As it is, I just have certain phrases going through my head but when I read the book for a second time – as I most certainly will, then I will have his music playing in the background.
Music not only heals, it inspires. It releases emotions, soothes, fires imagination. A world without music would be a very cold place. Words and music – two of life’s essentials.
Life's a Beach 