Music & The Psyche II

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Lectures / Workshops

Ansuman Biswas

The Bàuls - Mystic musicians of Bengal

Bàul ('crazy') minstrels wander the lush Bengal countryside with a few simple instruments, singing with infectious spontaneity. Drawn from daily life, their songs and simple imagery masks a subtle system of esoteric lore, rooted in a system of sexual yoga. Ansuman Biswas explains Bàul philosophy and demonstrates their music with songs and recordings made on a recent field trip.

James D'Angelo

Sound & music as vibrational energies for mental & spiritual unfoldment

Current interest in therapeutic sound is a return to ancient knowledge that tones vibrating in sympathy with our physical, mental and spiritual structure can induce a sense of wholeness. A composer & workshop leader, Dr D'Angelo lectures at Goldsmiths College and co-edited Caduceus magazine's 1994 issue Healing with Sound & Music.

Rachel Darnley-Smith

What do music therapists hear?

Many different kinds of sounds are created in the course of a music therapy session, some are perceptible as musical phenomena, others are expressive of the unconscious. Using clinical case material Rachel Darnley-Smith shows how both musical and psycho-analytical perspectives inform how a music therapist hears and responds.

Kevin Jones

Tuning the calendar – Numerological significances within music & the organisation of time

Remarkable parallels exist between the western calendar and the organisation of tonal music. Dr Jones, composer and reader at Kingston University, reviews humanity's attempts to translate the order of the cosmos into fundamental aspects of earthly existence, albeit ignored by materialist minds.

David Jones

How 'Alternative' Music can 'cross over'

A discussion led by the Managing Director of leading concert promoters Serious SpeakOut.

John Paynter

Sound & structure

Despite wide cultural differences, people all over the world hold musical experience to be a central reality. When we are moved emotionally by music is deeper satisfaction a response to structural entirety? Professor Paynter discusses the persistence of music in human society.

Adam Ockelford

Educating a musical savant – Case study of Derek Paravicini

Formerly RNIB music advisor, Adam Ockelford has worked for 12 years with Derek Paravicini, a prodigious blind pianist with learning difficulties, who was present then aged 16. He reflects on contemporary and past attitudes to musical savants in the light of creating the Amber Trust to assist their education.

Frank Perry

Spiritual discipline as musical discipline

Leading British improviser/ percussionist Frank Perry is also a practising psychic. He talks about and demonstrate the relationship between exoteric and esoteric awareness within the musical personality in reference to his study of Tibetan percussion.

Richard Povall

Music of the body – A holistic approach to music & multimedia composition

The 'humanisation' of music technology offers the possibility of creating a new holism between composer/performer and musical structure. Richard Povall, Senior Lecturer in New Performance Media at Dartington, asks whether the urban centred character of academic institutions militates against art which values human expression and the natural world.

Paul Robertson

Music & the mind of the creator

The musical models of the past were based on the supposition that humans function according to musical laws. Modern neurology is rediscovering these ancient truths in the language of science. After a year spent making the C4 series Music & The Mind Paul Robertson offers some thoughts about the symbolism and significance of musical language.

Jenni Roditi

Voice movement therapy

Using a simple vocabulary of vocal timbres the voice can lead us into the parts of our selves which are in some way blocked. Composer Jenni Roditi explains how she facilitates the release of voice/personality by channelling feelings and experiences vocally and bodily to reach a place where therapeutic and creative expression are one.

Maxwell Steer

The Cinema of the Mind - Dreaming & creativity

As a composer, broadcaster and writer Maxwell Steer's career has been motivated by exploration of his inner landscape rather than external considerations. He offers practical techniques for engaging with the subconscious, giving access to the coherent symbolic language which underpins all the wisdom traditions.

John Tavener

Art & the end-point - An illustrated talk on the sacred in art

The leading British composer and mystic John Tavener asks whether there can be any 'real' focus for art other than its power to evoke realities which transcend the physical world? He sees all art which truly expresses the divine nature as a miracle and feels the appropriate response of the artist to hir own gifts is one of humility.

Michæl Tucker

Beyond the barriers - Shamanic intuitions of the deep song

Author of the definitive study Dreaming With Open Eyes – a study of the shamanic spirit in 20thC art & culture, Michæl Tucker explores the imagery of 'otherness' in a variety of contemporary situations. He is Professor of the Faculty of Art at Brighton University.

David M Walters

New perceptions of learning – Implications for education

David M Walters explores the practicalities of integrating music and learning which are arising from recent research, and engages participants' experience to show how these ideas can best be used in classroom and training session. Co-editor of YES, the national music education magazine, he directs Coda Music Centre, specialising in music and music technology.

Tim Wheater

The secret power of music - The art of listening

A flautist with the LSO and Eurhythmics before specialising in the transformative and healing aspects of music, Tim WheaterÕs starting point is the centrality of the breath to all musical performance. He has given workshops for the British Holistic Medical Association and appeared at Mind, Body, Spirit Festivals here and in Australia. His twelfth solo album, Heartland, was recently released in the US, where he spends much of his time.

Clive Williamson

Digital DIY – Self-producing/releasing as a small record label

Computers are the hub of the music technology. As well as talking about the wider issues of technology and creativity, Clive Williamson demonstrates how computers allow musicians to control their music and its image. Formerly ith BBC, Clive Williamson has been recording/producing his own ambient group Symbiosis since 1988.

Glenn Wilson

Music, brain & experience – The psychology of musical ability & appreciation

Reader in Personality at the Institute of Psychiatry, Dr Wilson considers the impact of music upon our emotions, the origins of talent, and cybernetic processing of music including gender differences.

Stage fright & optimal performance

Current interest in therapeutic sound is a return to ancient knowledge that tones vibrating in sympathy Author of Psychology for Performing Artists, Dr Wilson is Adjunct Professor of Performing Arts in the University of Nevada's Department of Psychology in addition to his post with the Institute of Psychiatry. Here he talks about imaging ideal performance so as to manage performance anxieties and maximise personal potentials.

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