Feng Shui Music

(There are Music with Feng Shui influence but for the moment, I would like to share with you Western Music i.e. Baroque music which is good for the `soul')

The 17th-century English dramatist William Congreve once famously said: `Music hath charms to sooth a savage beast', and in our own time it is true that many people turn to music for its power to sooth, to relieve the stresses of everday life, and to create a mood of calm relaxation. The works of the great classical composers include many serene and beautiful pieces that perfectly establish such a mood.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson help to create an appropriate atmosphere:

There is sweet music here that softer falls

Than petals from blown roses on the grass,

Or night-dews on still waters between walls

Of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass;

Music that gentler on the spirit lies,

Than tired eyelids upon tir'd eyes.

Baroque Music

Playing baroque music can lower your heart rate to 70 beats per second!

The baroque period had a weird fascination with body fluids. The prevaling wisdom, called the Doctrine of Affection, was that an imbalance of various fluids found in and produced by the body caused most illnesses and general bodily functions. Bad blood, Swollen gut, Blsiters, Stuffy noses, Dammed-up juices, Mucus, Oozing stuff, Tears, Wast products. Even sweat. Almost anything that affected a peson, either emotionally or physically, could be explained in terms of this liquid imbalance.

Composers believed that they could write music that affected particular body fluids and elicited a specific reaction from the audience. That's why baroque music contains certain musical patterns, or textures, that continue throughout a particular section, or movement.

Antonio Vivaldi (1675-1741)

Instrumental music underwent its greatest development in the baroque period, and more purely instrumental compositions were being written. Antonio Vivaldi (1675-1741) as clearly the most experimental in the concerto style, developing forms and harmonies that were later incorporated into classical styles. He certainly wrote a bunch of concertos during his lifetime -- some 447 in all. He like many other composers, is considered to have a greate influence on Bach.

One of the more interesting aspects of Vivaldi's music was the rythm. Audience members would hum the catchy passages for days after a performance.

Listen to Vivaldi's selections especially his famous -- The Four Seasons:-

Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1750)

In Italy, Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1750) was a leading figure in baroque instrumental and vocal music. He produced over 50 operas and over 40 solo cantatas -- even the great Johann Sebastina Bach based some of his music on Albinoni's.

If you have the opportunity, listen to his Aldagio in G minor for stings and organs.

Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682-1738)

Jean-Joseph Mouret (16-82-1738), a French singer and composer, was a prime example of a jack-of-all-musician. For a while, he was the court superintendent of music, a singer in the king's chamber, and the artistic director of the Concert Spirituel (a concert series in Paris). He was also one of the first composers to use comedy in his operas.

One of his works include -- Roundeau from Suites de Symphonies: Premiere Suite.

George Frideric Handle (1685-1759)

George Frideric handle (1685-1759), one of the masters of the style, wrote all different types of baroque music. At a royal performacne of Messiah in London in 1743, King George was emotionally overcome when he heard the `Hallelujah Chorus," and he actually leaped to his feet. Presumably, the piece affected the right body fluids of the king. Anyway, that's why even today, audiences traditionally stand during the playing of the chorus.

Do listen to some of his works: Air (Suite no. 1 in F Major), Alla Hornpipe (Suite no. 2 in D Major), Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (from his oratorio Solomon) and La Rejouissance (from Music of the Royal Fireworks). 

Hendry Purcell (1659-1695)

Henry Purcell (1659-1695) is regarded as England's greatest native composer of this ear, as distinguised from Handel, Engliand's greatest adopted composer. A versatile composer who used an assortment of musical styles, Purell created all sorts of songs for public occasions, church music, a variety of instrumental works, as well as the perennial favourite, The Fairy Queen. Purcell's one true opera, Dido and Aenas, is a true baroque lament based on the repetition of short musical passages over and over.  Purcell was buried under the organ at Westminster Abbey, where he was the organist.

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706), an important German composer and church organist. His music creates moods and represent qualities of character, such as evil or steadfastness. You may recognise the sounds of Pachelbel's Canon in D, it's become a pop classic.

Christoph  Willibald Gluck (1714-1787)

Gluck wrote his early operas in the baroque style and then gradually began seeking simplicity. His work marked the end of the baroque influence in opera. Do check out his `Dance of the Blessed Spirits'.

I will be introducing Chinese music with Feng Shui influence at a later date:)