On February 10, 2025, an ambulance arrived at the General Whole-Body Hospital in Prepless, PA. Rushed into the emergency room was Art D. Prived, a 60-year-old male. He had been found completely numb in a polyester shroud on a yellow formica coffee table surrounded by pink plastic flamingos from his front yard. His soul beat was minute, his heart had no feeling, and his eyes and ears were shrinking. His left brain was diagnosed with a creeping case of lassi-tudo acreativus, non-creative boredom. His right brain was diagnosed as amusia in excelsis, unable to produce or recognize music in the highest. Art was deprived of himself when he was young. He was surrounded by plastic, coupons, twinkies, and video machines. He was dying of a lack of beauty, unnatural surroundings, and an overdose of instant mashed potatoes.
The hospital was able to revive him in a room full of rainbows, green plants, and nurses telling jokes. Every three hours, two preschoolers came from their violin lessons and played for him. His ears grew, his left brain’s disease creeped away and his right brain was able to digest solid music. His childhood had been recovered in time to save him from a boring death. He began to carve wood, whistle, and paint with his toes. He started to understand jokes and dreamed of new ideas. Art returned home, painted his house and began a folk dance society.
No longer do grandfathers spend the evenings telling their grandchildren ancient myths and stories. Fairy tales are told by the television and the cinema. The inner images of the princess, the prince, the witch, and the dwarfs no longer have time to grow out of the child’s imagination. They are packaged and programmed in sight and sound from the child’s day of birth.
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Saul’s servants said to him. “Look, an evil spirit of God is the cause of your terror. Command us, and your servants who wait on you will look for a skilled harpist; when the evil spirit of God troubles you, the harpist will play and you will recover.” And whenever the spirit of God troubled Saul, David took the harp and played; then Saul grew calm, and recovered, and the evil spirit departed from him.
I Samuel, XVI
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If the brain were a map of the United States, knowledge of its highways would exist from New York City to Princeton, New Jersey. The goal to travel to San Diego is known and there are strong suggestions as to what the territory would be between Princeton and San Diego. But the exact mapping is yet to done. Brain research has just begun to see where the highways are within the skull.
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Grown-ups love figures. When you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you, “What does his voice sound like? What game does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?”
Instead, they demand: “How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?’ Only from figures do they think they have learned anything about him.
from The Little Prince by St. Exupery
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Just as humus in nature makes growth possible, so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition. It is at the primary school age that the imagination must be stimulated; and opportunities for emotional development, which contain experience of the ability to feel, and the power to control the expression of that feeling, must also be provided. Everything that a child of this age experiences that has been awakened and nurtured is a determining factor for the whole of his life.
Carl Orff
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The most significant point that can be made to musicians and artists who have interest in the brain studies is that the more connections that can be made in the brain, the more integrated the experience is within memory.
Creativity can be facilitated in a number of different manners. Through relaxation, the busy modes of thought settle into a more peaceful and receptive state of mind; through physical activity, the body and mind wake up to new ideas; through visualization, the mind can virtually walk into new ideas and methods.
Creativity is simply the process of surrendering the logical control of the mind and personality to the more spontaneous and engaging awareness of creative thought and action.
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The aim of eurhythmics is to enable pupils, at the end of their course, to say, not “I know,” but “I have experienced.” It is to create in them the desire to express themselves. The deep impression of an emotion inspires a longing to communicate it, to others. The whole system of rhythmic training is based on music, because music is a tremendous psychic force. “Receive and give!” is the golden rule of humanity.
Emile Jacques-Dalcroze:
*Don Campbell will be leading a workshop Mar 30 - Apr 1, 2007.
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