"Health in music" is what we searched.
On Nettrekker we got 27 results but on google we got 316,000,000 results. Nettrekker shows ratings on the sites but google does not, making it difficult to determine if the site was helpful or not. Google shows sites with music on them but Nettrekker shows sites with information with more specific information. Nettrekker has sites with true science on it but google shows a lot of psuedoscience which is science that is essentially fake. Google has a feature which is called "I'm Feeling Lucky" this feature finds the site that google feels is best for what you are looking for and automatically opens it. Nettrecker has a few features that can help you refine your search. Google has a feature called "did you mean?" when you google something and if you spell it wrong it asks you if you meant something else, Nettrekker has this same feature.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
music in health
Levine's Kidney Seen to Be Cancerous.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(James Levine)
Wakin, Daniel J. "Levine's Kidney Seen to Be Cancerous.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(James Levine)." The New York Times 157.54380 (July 23, 2008): E1(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 The New York Times Company
A growth on the kidney of the conductor James Levine was found to have been cancerous, but the malignancy had not spread, and Mr. Levine was expected to recover fully, the Boston Symphony Orchestra said on Tuesday.
Surgeons removed the kidney last week after doctors found what was described at the time as a cyst. The orchestra, of which he is music director, said Mr. Levine, 65, was released from the undisclosed New York hospital over the weekend.
The orchestra quoted Mr. Levine's brother, Tom, as saying that the growth was malignant but ''very small and confined to the central area of his right kidney.'' He added: ''Fortunately, because of early detection, it had not spread to the surrounding tissues, blood vessels or lymph nodes. Doctors reported the surgery was completely curative and no further treatment is necessary.''
Mr. Levine was in ''very good spirits'' while recuperating at home, his brother said, and was looking forward to opening the season in Boston and at the Metropolitan Opera, where he is also music director.
The Met's general manager, Peter Gelb, was on vacation but said through a spokeswoman that he had been keeping in close touch and was expecting Mr. Levine back in September.
''He's happy that Jim's comfortable and doing well,'' said the spokeswoman, Lee Abrahamian.
Mr. Levine said on July 8 that he was going in for surgery, forcing the cancellation of the rest of his concerts at the Tanglewood festival in Massachusetts. Just before, he had conducted Berlioz's large-scale opera ''Les Troyens'' in a concert version over two days.
Mr. Levine has suffered several health problems in recent years, including surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff caused by a fall, sciatica and intermittent hand tremors.
He has a number of important appointments in September, including a Verdi Requiem in honor of Luciano Pavarotti, who died last year, at the Met on Sept. 18 and the house's gala opening performance on Sept. 22. His plans at the Met next season include performances of a new production of Berlioz's ''Damnation de Faust,'' Gluck's ''Orfeo ed Euridice'' and Wagner's ''Ring'' cycle.
At the Boston Symphony Mr. Levine is to lead 12 programs during the next season, which opens on Sept. 24. Highlights include a concert version of Verdi's ''Simon Boccanegra,'' the premiere of Elliott Carter's Interventions for piano and orchestra with Daniel Barenboim, and a February program of Mozart arias with the soprano Barbara Frittoli, Brahms's Symphony No. 2 and the premiere of Gunther Schuller's ''Where the Word Ends.''
CAPTION(S):
PHOTO: James Levine is at home.
Gale Document Number:A181700681
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
Now in the recovery room, music for hearts to heal by.(Metropolitan Desk)
Kelley, Tina. "Now in the recovery room, music for hearts to heal by.(Metropolitan Desk)." The New York Times (August 28, 2006): B1(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2006 The New York Times Company
When George Moran woke up on Tuesday, he thought he had died and gone to heaven.
It was not such an outlandish idea. Mr. Moran, 39, a music teacher in Long Valley, N.J., had had a cardiac valve repaired that morning at Morristown Memorial Hospital. During the surgery, his heart had to be stopped for 90 minutes, and he was placed on a heart-lung machine. Soon after, he recalled, there was an attractive woman walking around, playing a small harp.
Luckily, these celestial aspects of the recovery room did not send Mr. Moran into palpitations. Instead, researchers suspect, the gentle arpeggios of the harpist might have helped regulate his heart rate, blood pressure and breathing, aiding his recovery.
Two hours a day, Alix Weisz, a harpist from Chester, N.J., strolls through the hospital's Cardiac Post-Anesthesia Care Unit to test that premise. The recovery room staff monitors changes in patients' vital signs every 15 minutes while she plays, and for an hour before and after.
Results will be collected as part of a four-week study, one of several around the country trying to measure the health benefits of music in hospitals.
One research project by a doctor at the Carle Heart Center in Urbana, Ill., has suggested that harp music in particular helped stabilize irregular heartbeats.
With the Morristown study, which is financed by a local trust and still under way, evidence that music helps patients heal there is still anecdotal. But many patients and nurses say they have looked forward to Ms. Weisz's visits.
''When I was coming out of it, I was filled with tubes -- a throat tube, an oxygen tube -- and it was very hard to breathe,'' Mr. Moran said. ''You feel you're going to gag. The music calmed my body and allowed me to stop thinking about what was going on. It allowed me to feel more relaxed and rested.''
Ms. Weisz has her own guidelines for playing her instrument of peace.
''I try not to play anything recognizable, because there might be an unwanted emotional response, like if I played music a guy broke up with his girlfriend in Atlantic City to,'' she said. She relies on chants, lullabies, and Celtic airs and ancient standards from books like ''The Healer's Way: Soothing Music for Those in Pain.''
She plays quietly and slowly, and she said she tries not to glance over at the monitors above the beds, to see if any pulse rates are decreasing. While many of the patients in the recovery room are still anesthetized and unresponsive, she said Mr. Moran had given her the thumbs up while she played.
''Sometimes people say, 'Wow, I had a feeling I was in a big field,' and that's what we want these people to do, to think about where they're going to be, where they're going in life, and how this is just an episode,'' she said, gesturing at the ashen patients on beds surrounded by intravenous drips and beeping machines.
As part of the study, nurses are also taking note of their own stress levels when the music is playing.
One nurse, Lisa Gingerella, recalled how one of her recent patients was very confused and agitated the day after his surgery.
''Alix came, and he fell asleep, and his blood pressure and heart rate dropped dramatically -- he slept all afternoon,'' she said, adding that the music also has a similarly soothing effect on her.
''She calms me the heck right down,'' Ms. Gingerella said. ''I want to take her home, or have her playing in the car on the way home.''
The unit's nursing manager, Lynn Emond, said she has noticed that her staff is much quieter when Ms. Weisz is playing.
Thomas Kroncke, 55, stayed in the recovery room on Monday after an aortic valve replacement and, like Mr. Moran, has graduated to a regular room. Mr. Kroncke said he noticed how the harpist soothed and quieted the post-op unit.
''You really didn't notice the hustle and bustle,'' he said. ''I felt if I could just be feeling this calm and relaxed this soon after surgery, things are only going to get better.''
CAPTION(S):
Photo: When playing at Morristown Memorial Hospital in New Jersey, Alix Weisz avoids easily recognizable songs, which may trigger negative responses from patients. (Photo by James Estrin/The New York Times)
Gale Document Number:A150322188
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
In Case You Haven't Heard.(Brief Article)
"In Case You Haven't Heard.(Brief Article)." Mental Health Weekly 11.38 (Oct 8, 2001): 8. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2001 Manisses Communications Group, Inc.
Researchers are finding that music can be used to help people deal with fear and sadness. Through the use of positron emission tomography, or PET scans, researchers can see how music that causes subjects to feel "shivers down their spine" activates the same area of the brain as food and sex. Since music is not a survival instinct, researchers are not sure why they act on the brain in the same way as food and sex. The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Gale Document Number:A79147623
A grace note for the sickly.(LIFE)
Gill, Lisa. "A grace note for the sickly.(LIFE)." USA Today (June 17, 2008): 09D. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 USA Today
Byline: Lisa Gill
Kristen Stewart holds a round, wooden instrument filled with small, metal beads that sounds like waves gently crashing upon a beach. As she rotates it back and forth, Angelina and Audrianna Liew yawn, flutter their eyes and occasionally drift off to sleep.
Any other musician might take offense, but this is exactly the reaction Stewart was hoping for.
Born seven weeks premature, the identical twins have spent 20 days in the neonatal intensive care unit at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. Like most ICUs, with the racket of beeping monitors and buzzing devices, along with the chatter among visitors and staff, the room is anything but a sanctuary for rest.
But for these infants, sleep is crucial to their growth and development.
As a clinical director and music therapist at Beth Israel's Louis and Lucille Armstrong Music Therapy Program, Stewart specializes in working with premature babies, children and patients with trauma -- in this case, showing parents Rick Mei and Shan Liew how to use instruments that mimic heartbeats and womb sounds, as well as their own voices, to comfort their newborns. The goal on this day: to encourage the babies to sleep, become calm and alert, and prepare for feeding.
The twins would go on to spend several more days in the ICU before heading home. Music therapy played a role in their recovery, their mother says.
Beth Israel's program is one of many efforts by hospitals around the country to use music as a way to ease patient's pain, lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety and depression and improve coping abilities to get patients well, faster.
In harmony with healing
"Often, music therapy is more cost-effective than administering medication, especially for patients with anxiety, sleep disturbances or pain," says Al Bumanis, spokesman for the American Music Therapy Association.
A 2007 survey of U.S. health facilities by the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, along with the Joint Commission and Americans for the Arts, found that of the 1,923 facilities, 35% offered some type of music to patients.
Besides promoting relaxation and reducing stress, music therapy has been shown to affect sleep patterns, improve stroke patients' memories and decrease the amount of sedation medication needed for some patients.
Claudius Conrad, senior surgical resident at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, led a study published in December in the journal Critical Care Medicine that attempted to identify changes the body undergoes while listening to music.
The study looked at patients in the ICU who were on mechanical breathing machines. The group that was exposed to Mozart piano sonatas experienced marked decreases in stress hormones and in cytokines -- one of the chemicals responsible for regulating the body's response to trauma.
There was also a substantial increase in the production of growth hormones, which helps the body regulate metabolism, particularly during sleep. The result was a reduction in blood pressure, lowered heart rate and less need for medication to keep patients sedated, compared with the control group, Conrad says.
"If patients could be exposed to music in the ICU ... they would survive more often, they would leave the ICU faster," he says. "This would also save costs."
From preemies to stroke victims
Other recent studies have further confirmed the benefits of music on healing.
*Patients admitted to a hospital in Helsinki, Finland, after a severe stroke listened to recorded music for at least an hour daily. Compared with those who either listened to audiobooks or nothing, music patients recovered their verbal memory faster, as well as experienced less depression, according to a study in the March issue of the journal Brain.
*Playing two hours of recorded Mozart each week to premature babies lowered their heart rate and helped induce sleep, according to researchers at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. That study has not yet been submitted for publication in a medical journal.
*Terminally ill patients in Australia who had a single music therapy session were found to have less anxiety, pain and drowsiness compared with those who did not listen to music, according to a study published in the May Journal of Palliative Medicine.
Not all studies are in concert about music's therapeutic benefits. In a 2004 Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews, researchers evaluating 51 studies found that while music reduced patients' perceptions of pain and the need for pain medication, the total benefit was minor.
But try telling that to Kim Febres, a music therapist at the Carol G. Simon Cancer Center at Morristown (N.J.) Memorial Hospital. As Febres strums and sings the first few notes of a popular tune about Naples, Rosa Dotro, 71, an Italian immigrant who has stomach cancer, pushes aside her dinner, wipes the tears streaking her cheeks and sings along in a high, clear voice along, "Saaaanta Lucia! Santa Lucia!"
When they finish, Dotro tells Febres she is worried about having surgery and asks to hear the song again.
"Sing!" Dotro orders. "You can do this all night if you want. I feel better already."
CAPTION(S):
PHOTO, B/W, Photos by Peter Foley for USA TODAY; PHOTO, B/W
Gale Document Number:CJ180254764
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
After Kidney Surgery, Levine Has 'Fresh Insights'.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(James Levine)
Wakin, Daniel J. "After Kidney Surgery, Levine Has 'Fresh Insights'.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(James Levine)." The New York Times 158.54439 (Sept 20, 2008): B10(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 The New York Times Company
James Levine, the Metropolitan Opera and Boston Symphony Orchestra maestro, said on Friday that his recent brush with cancer brought a glimpse of mortality that will inevitably color his work.
''It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have your doctor say, 'Well, you have a cancer,' '' he said in his first extensive interview since one of his kidneys, which contained a malignant growth, was removed on July 15. ''It makes one feel sort of snatched from the jaws. I must make sure that I bring to bear whatever fresh insights and richness come from that experience.''
Mr. Levine, 65, is the music director of both the Met and the Boston Symphony and one of the eminent opera conductors of the age. As such he is a valuable franchise. He said that he felt in excellent condition, and that his recovery is on schedule. Other than falling into a deep sleep more quickly at night, he said he was back to normal, with plenty of stamina and mobility in his arms.
In fact, at a performance of the Verdi Requiem at the Met on Thursday Mr. Levine seemed vigorous, shaking his fist with passion during the terrifying orchestral blasts of the opening of the ''Dies irae'' section. The performance was in memory of the tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who died last year.
The audience gave Mr. Levine healthy applause and bravos when he took the podium, and he touched his heart. He said on Friday that he had been inundated with letters and calls from well-wishers. ''The vibrations and support and concern and care from everybody were absolutely unbelievable,'' he said.
Mr. Levine said his surgery brought another layer of meaning to the Verdi work. ''It had a dimension of significance, richness -- the piece and the whole experience -- which was clearly related to this one-of-a-kind experience I just had,'' he said. ''It was without doubt a more significant and more deep-feeling experience to prepare it now than it was before.''
The Requiem served as Mr. Levine's comeback on the stage. But he had already gone back to work on Aug. 25, starting rehearsals with the Met orchestra. Right then, he said, the reality of recovering sunk in. ''I was happy to see them, in a completely different dimension,'' he said.
He faces a busy week, including rehearsals in New York on Saturday, the Met's gala opening-night performance on Monday and rehearsals and concerts in Boston every day after that through Sept. 27. Next weekend's program with the symphony is another requiem -- that of Brahms.
In describing how the cancerous growth was discovered, Mr. Levine said he first felt discomfort while on vacation in France in June and called his doctor in New York. The doctor, zeroing in on the symptoms, suggested a scan when he returned shortly before the start of Tanglewood, the festival that is the Boston Symphony's summer home. It was then that the cyst was detected. Mr. Levine conducted the first Tanglewood program, but on July 8 the Boston Symphony announced he would be withdrawing for the surgery.
The cyst was found to be cancerous, but doctors said that it was small and confined to the kidney. Mr. Levine said no further treatment was necessary. He noted that there is no history of cancer in his family. There is a history of heart disease, but he said his blood pressure and cholesterol levels were good.
Mr. Levine spoke in his cramped study at the Met between rehearsals. Wearing black slacks and a black polo shirt, he sat back in an easy chair and took an occasional swig from a bottle of mineral water.
He said his health over all was excellent, despite other recent ailments. He underwent rotator cuff surgery in 2006 for an injury from a fall onstage, and he has suffered from hand tremors and sciatica.
Mr. Levine said he used the six weeks of enforced rest to take on projects he normally does not have time for. Staying close to home in his New York apartment, he said, he worked on a ''small book'' about overlooked topics in music that he has toyed with writing; sorted through and wrote commentary on a collection of photographs connected to his career; practiced the piano; and studied orchestral scores that had long captured his interest.
He also said that he watched and listened to some of his old recordings, and that his surgery affected that experience as well. ''For the first time I had enough psychological and emotional distance from them to hear that some of them are good,'' he said. ''I heard them as though they had been done by somebody else.''
He said that while this ''business about mortality'' made everything feel more significant, he did not feel more driven to accomplish new tasks.
''I realized that if I had three lifetimes I could never do everything,'' Mr. Levine said. ''Therefore, I feel very grateful for what I've been able to do.''
CAPTION(S):
PHOTO: James Levine returned to the stage to conduct on Thursday.(PHOTOGRAPH BY G. PAUL BURNETT/THE NEW YORK TIMES)
Gale Document Number:CJ185319911
In case you haven't heard ...(music therapy used to treat acute schizophrenia)(Brief article)
"In case you haven't heard ...(music therapy used to treat acute schizophrenia)(Brief article)." Mental Health Weekly 16.43 (Nov 6, 2006): 8(1). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
British researchers have recently published the results of a small, preliminary trial which suggest that music therapy is worth exploring as an additional tool in treating the symptoms of acute schizophrenia. In a trial of 81 patients, the researchers measured the effects of eight to 12 music sessions in which "patients were given access to a range of musical instruments and encouraged to use these to express themselves." The team saw significantly greater reductions in symptoms in those who received music therapy, compared with a control group receiving only standard therapy. Lead author Mike Crawford, M.D., explains that although it's understood that "psychological treatments" can help treat the depression, anxiety and emotional withdrawal of schizophrenia in people who are "fairly stable," this is the first randomized study to consider "co-improvisational" music therapy in "acutely unwell" inpatients.
Gale Document Number:A154458849
Masur to undergo transplant.(Kurt Masur)(Living Arts Pages)
"Masur to undergo transplant.(Kurt Masur)(Living Arts Pages)." The New York Times (Sept 24, 2001 s0 pE3(N) pE3(L) col 1 (5 col): E3(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2001 The New York Times Company
The New York Philharmonic announced yesterday that Kurt Masur was withdrawing from two weeks of subscription concerts in December and a New Year's Eve performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony that he was to conduct. He is to undergo an organ transplant in late November in Europe.
The orchestra did not specify which organ, saying only that it was not his heart. A suitable donor is said to have been found.
Mr. Masur began his 11th and final season as the Philharmonic's music director on Thursday with a nationally televised performance of Brahms's ''German Requiem'' in memory of the victims of recent terrorist attacks. The season was conceived as a tribute to his accomplishments with the orchestra and includes the release of a 10-CD set of live recordings of Masur performances.
Mr. Masur, 74, withdrew from two weeks of concerts a year ago, when he underwent an unspecified surgical procedure. At that time the orchestra used the vacancy on the podium as a testing ground for the two prime candidates to succeed Mr. Masur as music director, Mariss Jansons and Christoph Eschenbach. In the end the choice was neither of those but Lorin Maazel, who is to take over next season.
No substitute conductors have yet been announced for December. Mr. Masur plans to honor all commitments through November, to return to the Philharmonic for concert performances of Wagner's ''Tristan und Isolde'' beginning on Feb. 7 and to finish the season and lead a tour to Germany and Asia in June.
Gale Document Number:A78772367
Surgery Forces James Levine to Bow Out of Tanglewood.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)
Wakin, Daniel J. "Surgery Forces James Levine to Bow Out of Tanglewood.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)." The New York Times 157.54366 (July 9, 2008): E2(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 The New York Times Company
The conductor James Levine will have a kidney removed because of the discovery of a cyst, forcing him to miss the rest of the Tanglewood Festival season, the Boston Symphony Orchestra said on Tuesday.
Mr. Levine, the music director of the Boston Symphony and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, is expected to recover fully and be ready for the opening of the opera and symphony seasons in September, according to a statement.
The one-page announcement provided few medical details, other than saying that the cyst had caused ''pressure and discomfort.'' Doctors called the surgery ''curative, with no other treatment necessary,'' it said.
The operation is the latest medical setback for Mr. Levine, 65, a major maestro who has been carefully husbanding his energy in recent years. He suffers from intermittent hand tremors and sciatica, and has struggled with his weight.
In 2006 he was out for four months because of a shoulder injury caused by a fall and underwent rotator-cuff surgery. Last summer he canceled a conducting trip to the Verbier Festival in Switzerland to conserve strength. After each setback, Mr. Levine has returned with vigor.
Last weekend Mr. Levine was on the podium to open the Boston Symphony's summer season at the Tanglewood Festival in Lenox, Mass., with a concert version of Berlioz's huge opera ''Les Troyens,'' performed over two days. It is a piece to tax the spryest of conductors, and Mr. Levine is said to have appeared to be in good physical condition.
He had planned to lead nine more concerts, with the Boston Symphony and the Tanglewood Music Center student orchestra. The concerts included performances of Kurt Weill's ''Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'' and Tchaikovsky's ''Eugene Onegin.'' He also would have conducted several programs of music by Elliott Carter, in celebration of that composer's 100th birthday.
The Boston Symphony said that guest conductors would replace Mr. Levine. Julian Kuerti, a Boston Symphony assistant conductor and former Tanglewood Music Center fellow, will lead the orchestra this Sunday.
In the statement, Mr. Levine said: ''It is extremely frustrating that I need to have this surgery now. My projects at Tanglewood have been planned so carefully and coordinated in such detail by the festival administration.'' He said that he especially regretted missing the concerts in honor of Mr. Carter, whose music Mr. Levine had been championing.
Mr. Levine did not immediately respond to messages left with Tanglewood staff.
The statement also did not say when the cyst was discovered or when the decision was made to operate. Mark Volpe, the Boston Symphony's president, said Mr. Levine had told him and Tanglewood officials about the surgery on Sunday at a cast party after ''Les Troyens.'' Mr. Levine arrived at Tanglewood on June 26 and had also been working with conducting fellows and the Tanglewood Music Center orchestra.
''Our first reaction was for his own well-being,'' Mr. Volpe said. He said he had no more information than what was in the statement.
The Boston Symphony players learned about the situation at rehearsal on Tuesday. ''It's kind of a disconnect for them,'' Mr. Volpe said, ''because he's in such great shape.''
CAPTION(S):
PHOTO: James Levine at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass., on Sunday. (PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL J. LUTCH)
Gale Document Number:A181100097
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
In case you haven't heard.(Brief Article)
"In case you haven't heard.(Brief Article)." Mental Health Weekly 12.19 (May 13, 2002): 8(1). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2002 Manisses Communications Group, Inc.
An electronic musician has found that while his compact discs may not be scaling Billboard's Top 200, his New Age sounds are being used by mental health professionals to soothe their anxious patients. Don Slepian has released a CD entitled "Sea of Bliss" as well as two others that have been described by some as "Sonic Perfume." "The music allows people to forget their worries and find a happy place naturally in their minds," said Slepian. The CDs have also been used in hospital birthing centers. The rhythmic, reverberating sounds of these CDs may be purchased by calling (866)4101347, ext. 237.
Gale Document Number:A86647877
Prescription: Music.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(Arts, Briefly)(Brief Article)
Kent, Pam. "Prescription: Music.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(Arts, Briefly)(Brief Article)." The New York Times (Nov 6, 2004 pB12(L) col 05 (2 col): B12(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2004 The New York Times Company
Music can be good for health in ways that might not be immediately obvious, concluded the first symposium organized by the Association of British Orchestras with health-care professionals at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London. The association, representing most of the leading orchestras in Britain, presented research to health practitioners, including an initiative called the Bronchial Boogies, which found that if children who suffered from asthma played wind instruments, their symptoms improved. Other research highlighted the health benefits of listening to music, including reduced anxiety and depression. PAM KENT
Gale Document Number:A124212684
For MTV, Mortality Stalks Celebrity.(Cultural Desk)(CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK)
Strauss, Neil. "For MTV, Mortality Stalks Celebrity.(Cultural Desk)(CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK)." The New York Times (Sept 6, 1997): NA. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 1997 The New York Times Company
The specter of death hung over the MTV Video Music Awards on Thursday night at Radio City Music Hall. On and off camera, celebrities made frequent mention of those among their ranks who had died of unnatural causes since last year's awards show, from royalty (the Princess of Wales) to rappers (Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.) to those made famous by blood and marriage (Ennis Cosby and Dr. Betty Shabazz). Oddly, there was no mention of Gianni Versace, although musicians close to him, like Elton John and Madonna, spoke of Diana.
Part of what gives celebrities their status over the many nobodies of the world is that they are preserved eternally in magazines, newspapers, CD's, films and other cultural artifacts. When fans meet celebrities, they try to take a piece of that eternity with them, whether it be through a picture, an autograph or a piece of clothing or lock of hair. But this year celebrities and their fans are learning (as they do every few years) that despite the eternity that the word star implies, stars are flesh and blood like everyone else. This has been a year in which the biggest single to date is a memorial, ''I'll Be Missing You'' (Puff Daddy's tribute to the Notorious B.I.G.), and the death of a celebrity has become a ritualized commodity, whether it be through the selling of photos depicting the tragedy or the release of posthumous albums.
''Tell me the truth,'' the award show's host, Chris Rock, asked the crew of MTV News backstage when the cameras were off. ''You guys like it when somebody dies, don't you?'' Nobody laughed or spoke a word in response.
In some ways, the MTV Video Music Awards were reminiscent of the Academy Awards last year when the Hollywood audience sobbed and applauded after a speech by Christopher Reeve. Some were crying in pity and admiration. Others were crying for their own mortality. His wheelchair was a reminder: ''Yes, it can even happen to you when you least expect it, no matter how safe and cautious you are.'' The difference was that, unlike Mr. Reeve's fall from a horse, the deaths of Diana, Gianni Versace, Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur (who was strutting around cocky and unassailable at the MTV awards show party last year) were largely due to their status as public figures.
Madonna, in her speech, felt that we were all to blame. ''It's time for us to take responsibility for our own insatiable need to run after gossip and scandals and lies and rumors,'' she said, speaking as one who has fled her share of paparazzi.
For perhaps the first time at the MTV Video Music Awards (typically more a celebration of celebrity than an actual awards show), a cynical eye was cast on fame. Speaking as if celebrities were an addiction like alcohol or drugs, Fiona Apple encouraged viewers not to base their lives on those of their entertainment idols.
Backstage, Will Smith exaggerated her sentiments, warning that ''more tragedies can happen if you base your lives on knowing what other people are doing.'' Different musicians expressed grief in ways appropriate to their music.
The Spice Girls did it with vapidity, eulogizing Diana thus: ''I think we're really about what Lady Diana had, she had real girl power,'' referring to the Spice Girls catch phrase telling female fans they have the power to accept the status quo. The band Sublime, whose singer, Bradley Nowell, died of a heroin overdose last year, made a punk statement about the many pointless deaths. And Puffy Combs paid tribute to the Notorious B.I.G. with a show of force and community, with Mr. Combs, his entourage and their relatives all wearing shirts with a picture of the Notorious B.I.G. and the word ''Remember.'' In the night's most moving moment, the Notorious B.I.G.'s mother, Voletta Wallace, accepted the award for best rap video for her son, trying to speak the slang he would have used.
But just as the heroin-related suicide of Kurt Cobain didn't keep more than a half-dozen musicians from overdosing the next year, Thursday night's message about respecting the rights of public figures to live like ordinary human beings didn't keep the wolves at bay. Celebrities walked a gantlet of screaming fans outside to get to the press area, where the media fought and clamored to film and photograph them. After the awards show, as stars went to exclusive parties at hotels, photographers and cameramen lay in wait outside, shouting at each recognizable face. If a celebrity didn't stop for photographs, the paparazzi began hissing and in one case throwing things at them.
''How about giving me some of the money you make from my photographs,'' one musician yelled back as he sped away from the Four Seasons in his limousine, reflecting the increased contempt some stars have for the paparazzi since Diana's death. Unfortunately, it will take a lot more than high-profile deaths and a sympathetic awards show to keep stardom from being the most envied and coveted 24-hour job in the Western world.
CAPTION(S):
Photo: Voletta Wallace, the mother of Notorious B.I.G., accepting the best rap video award for her son's ''Hypnotize.'' At right, Puffy Combs, with arm raised. (Chang W. Lee/The New York Times)(pg. 15)
Gale Document Number:A150294007
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Surgery On Levine Successful.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(ARTS, BRIEFLY)(James Levine)(Brief article)
Wakin, Daniel J. "Surgery On Levine Successful.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(ARTS, BRIEFLY)(James Levine)(Brief article)." The New York Times 157.54374 (July 17, 2008): E2(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 The New York Times Company
Doctors operated successfully to remove a kidney from the conductor James Levine, right, on Tuesday after a cyst was discovered, his brother, Tom Levine, said in a statement released by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which declined to name the hospital. ''There were no unexpected incidents or surprises,'' the statement said, adding that a routine biopsy would be performed. The symphony had said earlier that the operation would be ''curative.'' Mr. Levine, who is music director of the Boston Symphony and Metropolitan Opera, will spend several days at the hospital and then recuperate at home, the statement said. Mr. Levine, 65, was forced to cancel the rest of his dates at the Tanglewood music festival.
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PHOTO
Gale Document Number:A181455165
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More Music Yields More Words.(Health & Fitness)(VITAL SIGNS: MENTAL ABILITIES)(professional musicians' region of the brain involved in verbal memory is larger )
O'Neil, John. "More Music Yields More Words.(Health & Fitness)(VITAL SIGNS: MENTAL ABILITIES)(professional musicians' region of the brain involved in verbal memory is larger )." The New York Times (July 29, 2003 pF6 col 01 (7 col): F6. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2003 The New York Times Company
If you want to improve the vocabulary of your children, sign them up for the orchestra, a study released yesterday suggests.
The research, which was published in the journal Neuropsychology, builds on earlier research showing that the region of the brain involved in verbal memory is larger in adult musicians than in those who are not musicians.
Researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong studied 90 boys in a local school. Half of them were members of the school's string orchestra.
The boys with musical training scored about 20 percent higher on a test of their ability to learn new words and did slightly better than the nonmusicians at recalling words after a 30-minute break.
In contrast, though, no differences were found between the two groups in a test of visual memory.
A year later, the researchers retested the 45 boys who had been in the orchestra, including 9 who had dropped out, and 17 boys from the nonmusician group who had joined the orchestra.
The newcomers, who had significantly lower verbal memory scores on the previous test, made the greatest progress over the course of the year, the researchers found. Those who stayed with the orchestra also improved their scores, though not as much. Those who dropped out saw their scores decline, though they remained above those of students who had never played.
The study's lead researcher, Dr. Agnes S. Chan, a psychologist, said the findings showed how experience could shape the brain, and suggests that music training could help poor students or those with brain injuries to improve their verbal memory.
But she cautioned against expecting too big an effect. ''Good memory'' by itself, she noted, ''is not directly equal to success. The individuals need to work hard.''
Gale Document Number:A105961769
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
Would You Like Abba or Verdi With Your Kidney Transplant?(The Arts/Cultural Desk)
Wakin, Daniel J. "Would You Like Abba or Verdi With Your Kidney Transplant?(The Arts/Cultural Desk)." The New York Times (June 10, 2006): A1(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2006 The New York Times Company
The surgeon in Operating Room 7, Dr. Marc Bessler, jockeyed a patient's spleen to get to the kidney. ''White Shadows'' by Coldplay murmured in the background. A resident cut away tissue near the kidney. Abba's ''Waterloo'' came next in the shuffle.
Across the corridor on Thursday afternoon, Dr. William B. Inabnet, an endocrine surgeon, prepared to cut into a patient's neck. His iPod played Verdi's ''Traviata.''
''Madness! Madness!'' sang the soprano Anna Moffo. A heart monitor beeped to a different rhythm, like a metronome run amok.
Scalpel, suture, iPod.
It was a normal day at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Washington Heights, where music fills the operating rooms much of the time, as it does in other hospitals. Like most of modern life, surgery has acquired a soundtrack, whether it be Sinatra or Vivaldi, Mozart or Bob Marley, ''La Boheme'' or the Beatles. Surgeons say it relaxes them, focuses their attention and helps pass the time.
Mention of the subject in medical journals goes back 50 years, and a growing body of recent research shows mild benefits for the patient going under the knife as well as for the surgeon holding it. The topic also figures in hospital television shows like ''Chicago Hope'' and ''Grey's Anatomy.''
Less examined are the rituals and protocols about how music is played and who decides the program.
Music can become a subtle bone of contention among the members of the surgical team or a practical aid. Loud rock 'n' roll is good for routine operations, they say, Mozart for trickier ones. There is even a genre called ''closing music'': raucous sounds to suture by.
Many operating rooms come equipped with music equipment, although iPods now appear to be the system of choice. Some patients are given headphones. (Surgeons generally do not use them, so they can hear what is going on.) Sophisticated teleconferencing equipment in some operating theaters is occasionally drafted to play music.
Given the large number of doctors who are amateur musicians, the presence of music at a surgeon's job site seems natural.
''The whole issue of performing in a finite period of time is very analogous between the two,'' said Dr. Eric Rose, chairman of the department of surgery at the Columbia University Medical Center, which is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the operating room is called a theater, he said.
But there is no way to generalize about content. ''As wide as musical tastes are, that's as broad as the listening habits of surgeons in the operating room,'' said Dr. Rose, whose tastes range from Vivaldi to Simon and Garfunkel. He said that Dr. Norman E. Shumway, the father of the heart transplant, who died in February, had often played Edith Piaf during surgery.
Dr. Paul Ruggieri, a general surgeon who practices in Fall River, Mass., said he was in a Sinatra and Diana Krall phase. Deep Purple's ''Smoke on the Water'' is another favorite. ''That's a nice song if you're in a hyped mood,'' Dr. Ruggieri said.
Dr. Inabnet's first love is jazz: John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday. When he has difficult operations, he prefers lively bands: the Red Hot Chili Peppers, for example. ''That's good pancreas music,'' he said. ''It's an organ I respect tremendously.''
At St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, Dr. Alan Benvenisty, a vascular and transplant surgeon, meticulously creates playlists for his two iPods, which he sets up with speakers. ''I have the whole thing programmed ahead of time,'' he said. ''If you spend many, many hours in the O.R. listening to music, you learn a lot about music. I'm pretty much an expert on classic rock.'' His nickname is Hyper Al.
Generally, the attending surgeon, the honcho in the hierarchical operating room, decides the playlist. Next in line is often the anesthesiologist. If no doctor brings music, it may come down to the CD collection of the head surgical nurse. Any member of the team has veto power if the music becomes distracting or interferes with dialogue. Music that requires concentration, like Mahler, is rare. When tensions rise, the music is often turned off.
Anesthesiologists have an important say because they must hear the beeps of their equipment. ''There's a bunch of them who are always saying, 'Can you turn it down?' '' said Dr. Bessler, the director of laparoscopic surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian. (He has 760 tunes on his iPod Mini. ''For me, Abba is the thing,'' he said. ''There's no gangsta rap in my O.R.'')
In a survey of 200 anesthesiologists published in 1997 in the British journal Anaesthesia, 72 percent of respondents said music was played regularly in their operating rooms. About 26 percent felt that music ''reduced their vigilance'' and interfered with communication. Half felt that music was distracting when they encountered a problem.
In nonemergency situations, junior members of a surgical team are often at the mercy of the attending surgeons.
''I was brutalized for a number of years as a resident listening to Mantovani,'' Dr. Rose said. ''The surgeon will go nameless. It was atrocious.''
Another nameless surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian would regularly play the same live concert recording of Vladimir Horowitz during a particular procedure, said Dr. Jonathan M. Chen, a pediatric heart surgeon. ''He would always turn to the head nurse and say, 'Prof. Horowitz, please,' '' said Dr. Chen, who works at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, part of NewYork-Presbyterian. ''That got very old very quickly.''
Other offenders are surgeons who like to sing along. ''They get upset sometimes when I sing,'' an unabashed Dr. Benvenisty said. ''I know all these songs by heart.''
Surgeons often ask patients what they want to hear. Dr. Inabnet has to be especially sensitive, he said, because in most of his cases the patients receive local anesthesia and are awake. In Thursday's operation, to remove a pea-size parathyroid gland, the patient asked for opera. Dr. Inabnet's iPod happened to have a classic 1960 recording of ''La Traviata,'' which played through a desktop computer with speakers surgically taped to the computer stand.
Sometimes patients come in with requests. Dr. Marc Dickstein, a NewYork-Presbyterian anesthesiologist, said a teenage girl facing a lung transplant had brought a CD of Seal, her favorite artist. ''It was just kind of a powerful scene there,'' he said. ''This was what she wanted to hear before what could have been her final moments.'' The girl made it. ''She was unbelievably brave,'' Dr. Dickstein said.
Surgeons have adopted music into their practice.
Dr. Nas Eftekhar, a retired pioneer of hip and knee replacements, used Mozart's ''Eine Kleine Nachtmusik'' to mark the exact moments to apply cement to the femur and insert the artificial joint. ''The timing is extremely critical,'' he said.
Dr. Chen, a blues lover, used to employ tracks to time the wait for bleeding to stop before closing up. ''Everybody is impatient at that part of the operation,'' he said. But now there is no music in his operating room. He operates on the hearts of babies and children. Blood-oxygen monitors are crucial in such operations, and they emit beeps that change pitch with the slightest change in oxygen levels. So music is out.
Some physicians warn of excesses.
In a letter to the Medical Journal of Australia, Dr. Richard H. Riley of Perth raised two examples: a surgeon who had an opera videocassette playing during an operation, and a second who listened to music through earbuds despite having to be questioned by the anesthesiologist. While extreme, Dr. Riley said, the examples ''do remind us that we should remain vigilant and not allow developments in entertainment technology to interfere with patient care.''
But at least five studies published in the last dozen years show benefits to surgeons and patients from music, or at least no harm.
One showed that it made no difference in the results of psychomotor tests on anesthesiologist trainees. Another found that surgeons could block out music during complex tasks. Music made surgeons calmer, more accurate and speedier, according to a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association in 1994. Music through headphones reduced the amount of sedation needed for urological patients and lowered the blood pressure of elderly eye-surgery patients, other studies found.
Dr. Brian Jacob, a general surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York who specializes in laparoscopic and stomach stapling surgery, said music helped everyone in the operating room.
''You're basically sending a message to the people around you that it's a cool place to be,'' he said. ''I found I get a lot done when I have U2 in the background,'' he said. He does take care to lower the volume when the patient enters the room, and he sometimes asks for requests.
But the patient usually says that whatever is on is fine. ''They want me happy,'' he said.
CAPTION(S):
Photos: At NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, top, Verdi plays on an iPod during surgery. At Charlton Hospital in Fall River, Mass., Dr. Paul Ruggieri fills his CD player. (Photo by Robert Spencer for The New York Times); (Photo by Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times)(pg. B12)
Gale Document Number:A146854015
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Brain scans tune in to personal nature of improvising music.(LIFE)
Toppo, Greg. "Brain scans tune in to personal nature of improvising music.(LIFE)." USA Today (March 5, 2008): 09D. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 USA Today
Byline: Greg Toppo
From Eric Clapton to Miles Davis to Yo-Yo Ma, we've long heard that when musicians improvise, they're engaged in an intensely personal pursuit. A pair of scientists have scanned musicians' brains and now say that's true.
More precisely, when musicians improvise, they're using the same part of the brain that responds to a simple request: Tell me about yourself.
In new findings, researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders say they have located the region of the brain -- the medial prefrontal cortex -- that lights up when musicians improvise. It's the same area we all use when we're talking about ourselves -- who we are, what makes us tick.
It makes perfect sense to Charles Limb, a Hopkins researcher and jazz saxophonist who holds a joint faculty appointment at Hopkins' music conservatory. "Because the person is spontaneously composing, they really are revealing themselves musically," he says. "It's like your own musical autobiography."
At the same time, he and a colleague found, improvising musicians turn off the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a portion of the brain linked to planning, careful actions and self-censoring.
Limb says most writing about jazz has traditionally stressed how great musicians "find their own sound." Now, he says, we know what that means in scientific terms: "It's basically sculpting your own identity, the voice you're going to use."
And he has the brain scans to prove it.
Limb and a colleague, Allen Braun of the communication disorder center, designed an unusual experiment. They recruited six jazz pianists to play a specially designed keyboard while lying on their backs in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine.
Subjects played scales, simple memorized pieces and improvisations on both. During the improvisations, a recorded jazz group played in their headphones.
When Limb and Braun examined the scans produced during improvisation and stripped away evidence of brain activity common to all playing, they were left with signals from the medial prefrontal cortex.
Limb says the brain fires similarly when people improvise while speaking, improvise solutions to problems and dream. Next up: brain scans of poets, visual artists and "non-artists asked to improvise."
The findings were published Feb. 27 in Public Library of Science ONE.
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PHOTO, B/W, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Gale Document Number:CJ176120883
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Masur withdraws from concerts.(Kurt Masur of the New York Philharmonic)
Oestreich, James R. "Masur withdraws from concerts.(Kurt Masur of the New York Philharmonic)." The New York Times (Sept 22, 2000 pB3(N) pE3(L) col 4 (11 col): E3(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2000 The New York Times Company
The New York Philharmonic announced yesterday that Kurt Masur is withdrawing from two weeks of subscription concerts he was to have conducted in November and from a special concert being added in October. Mr. Masur has to undergo an unspecified minor surgical procedure, and will need time to recover.
The subscription concerts are on Nov. 2, 3, 4 and 7, with the pianist Emanuel Ax as soloist, and Nov. 9, 10 and 14, with two members of the orchestra -- Glenn Dicterow, the concertmaster, and Carter Brey, the principal cellist -- as soloists. Mr. Masur also planned to conduct a concert in memory of Leonard Bernstein, to be added to the Philharmonic schedule on Oct. 31.
Bernstein died on Oct. 14, 1990, and a series in his memory on Oct. 12, 13, 14 and 17, conducted by Leonard Slatkin and including Bernstein's ''Jeremiah'' Symphony, is to go ahead as scheduled. In addition, the orchestra is releasing a 10-CD set of previously unpublished Bernstein recordings from its archives next month.
With the orchestra bogged down in a search for a successor to Mr. Masur as music director when he leaves in 2002, a fascinating sidelight on the cancellation comes with the selection of replacement conductors. Mariss Jansons is to conduct the Bernstein program. Mikko Franck takes over the first week of subscription concerts, in his Philharmonic debut, and Christoph Eschenbach the second.
While the Philharmonic courted Riccardo Muti as music director during the summer, Mr. Jansons and Mr. Eschenbach were also said by people within the organization to be on the short list of candidates. Mr. Muti rejected the orchestra's overtures in July.
As to the others, Zarin Mehta, who took over as executive director of the orchestra this month, said recently that he preferred the term ''wish list'' and that ''it has names that could not possibly be involved with the Philharmonic for a variety of reasons.'' Indeed, the smart money in the business now puts Mr. Eschenbach -- the chief conductor of the NDR Symphony in Hamburg -- in Philadelphia, as the prime candidate to succeed Wolfgang Sawallisch as music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2002.
In any case, orchestras hiring music directors usually consider only candidates who have experience with the players, preferably recent experience. Mr. Jansons, the music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, last appeared with the Philharmonic in 1996, Mr. Eschenbach in 1998. Mr. Mehta and Paul B. Guenther, the chairman of the Philharmonic have said that they hope to name Mr. Masur's successor by the end of the year.
Gale Document Number:A65520676
After an Injury, a Maestro Returns in Fighting Form.(National Desk)(MUSIC REVIEW)(James Levine)
Holland, Bernard. "After an Injury, a Maestro Returns in Fighting Form.(National Desk)(MUSIC REVIEW)(James Levine)." The New York Times (July 9, 2006): A13(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2006 The New York Times Company
The Beethoven Ninth Symphony is a mighty presence on any concert program, but the music world in general and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in particular had equally earthshaking things on its mind Friday night. The Tanglewood Festival was opening its summer symphonic season at the Shed, and all eyes and ears were on James Levine, who has not been seen in front of this or any other orchestra for the last four months.
After a fall onstage at the beginning of March, surgery on a rotator cuff, general silence and a little mystery, Mr. Levine was coming off the disabled list. His employers at the Boston Symphony have clearly been worried. He is their new music director, their franchise player and, in good part, their immediate future.
Would there be lingering impairment, a fading of energy? What about the heavy workloads Mr. Levine is known for? There was also the happier question of whether an enforced layoff would take a few pounds off the conductor's increasingly generous proportions and resolve some of his disquieting physical tics.
Before the music, a medical report: First, Mr. Levine can wave his arms just fine, thank you. He looks a few sizes smaller, and that has probably kept his tailor busy. He walks reasonably well, but he does sit when he conducts. He will never be sylphlike.
More important was the music, which was healthy indeed. Schoenberg's early Chamber Symphony in its big-orchestra arrangement luxuriated: dense, slippery and sinuous in a sea of constant change. The Beethoven profited from Mr. Levine's paradoxical talent for being both elegant and powerful. The slow movement had a special grace and dignity.
Beethoven was deeply unkind to the human voice, but in the famous finale, the vocal quartet (Sondra Radvanovsky, Wendy White, Clifton Forbis and John Relyea) labored admirably. Those relentless high-flying soprano notes in the chorus part require a kind of controlled, conductor-induced mass hysteria. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus sounded hypnotized.
Mr. Levine did not throw his upper body around with abandon, but then he never did, and does not have to. Physically, he is a minimalist. Conductors conduct as much with their eyes, with their personal powers of persuasion and with their ability to convey instructions, as they do with their arms and hands.
Fritz Reiner seemed to do the job with his little finger. Some of the more profound orchestra performances of the 20th century were created by an Otto Klemperer hobbled by strokes, tottering in extreme old age yet capable of electrifying musicians with gestures that when looked at closely, had little to do with the motion of the music.
Members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra said their playing improved dramatically when Wilhelm Furtwangler merely stood in the back of the rehearsal hall.
Conducting is a mysterious occupation, one in which the exchange of information seems to occur almost by osmosis. Everyone should be heartened by what happened at Tanglewood on Friday night. No one should worry about Mr. Levine's arm-waving capacities, nor should they ever have. It is not like losing one's fastball.
To be resolved is whether concerts like this one can sustain the same energy. Mr. Levine is 63 -- not old at all in this notoriously long-lived trade, but a serious age for someone coming back from such severe muscular trauma.
CAPTION(S):
Photo: James Levine conducted Friday at his first performance in four months. (Photo by Michael Lutch for The New York Times)
Gale Document Number:A147968588
Music soothes Alzheimer's.(LIFE)
Painter, Kim. "Music soothes Alzheimer's.(LIFE)." USA Today (July 24, 2006): 04D. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2006 USA Today
Byline: Kim Painter
My column on music and medicine (Your Health, July 10) prompted readers to share stories about the power of music in the lives of people with dementia.
Allen Pfenninger of Brooklyn Heights, Ohio, wrote: "Music is a wonderful balm for Alzheimer's patients. My mother-in-law (who just passed away) ... didn't remember my wife or myself, but she could recognize music from her past. We took an iPod into the nursing home, split it with three sets of earphones and listened to songs we knew she liked. She would hum along. She would laugh at the funny ones (Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah by Allan Sherman, Tiptoe Through the Tulips by Tiny Tim). She would cry at the sad ones, and we learned to try to keep those to a minimum. I would throw her a curve every once in a while just to see what she might know: When she hummed along to the Notre Dame Victory March, I was amazed. When she stopped humming along about a month ago, we knew the end might be near."
Amy Losak of Teaneck, N.J., remembered her late father, Sam Rosenberg, a lifelong music lover who spent his last days in a nursing home struggling with dementia, anxiety and depression. She wrote: "A volunteer would come to Dad's nursing home, attired in a straw hat and suspenders, with a banjo, to engage the residents in a sing-along session. My dad always sang the loudest, with great gusto, and despite his memory deficits, he knew the lyrics almost perfectly to the old-time popular songs of the '30s and '40s. ... My dad was happy then. ... It was as if this music brought him back to a realm of cognitive lucidity and anchored him in a firm time and place. It was a bittersweet pleasure to see -- and hear."
Folic acid update
Gruma, a Mexican food producer that is a major supplier of corn flour (sold under the Maseca brand) and corn tortillas (sold under the Mission Foods brand) to U.S. stores, has agreed to fortify the products with folic acid. Scientists and advocacy groups hope that the move will decrease serious birth defects among Hispanics.
As I wrote in an earlier column (Your Health, June 19), scientists have known for years that adequate folic acid intake can reduce the risk of neural tube defects -- including spina bifida -- by 50% to 70%. But rates haven't dropped as much as hoped, despite the heavy promotion of supplements and the addition of folic acid to enriched bread, cereal and other grain products made in the USA. Rates remain especially high among Hispanics, and some scientists think dietary differences -- including the use of unfortified, imported corn products -- may play a role.
The Gruma products will be available at Wal-Mart and other stores by the end of 2006.
Q: Is there still a folic acid need in postmenopausal women or women who have had a hysterectomy? "
Timi Ruiz, Emery, S.D.
A: The role of folic acid supplements for adults who can't become pregnant remains unclear.
Some studies suggest that folic acid (and its natural form, folate) might reduce risks of heart attack and stroke by lowering levels of homocysteine, an amino acid in the blood. And stroke deaths in the USA have dropped since the government started requiring folic acid in enriched breads and cereals. But clinical trials, in which people are given supplements or placebos, have shown mixed results.
In its latest recommendations on heart-healthy habits, the American Heart Association says: "Available evidence is inadequate to recommend folate and other B vitamin supplements as a means to reduce (cardiovascular disease risk)."
Studies have likewise failed to show that folate lowers the risk of dementia, as some scientists had hoped. Still, some scientists say it is reasonable to take a multivitamin containing folic acid and other B vitamins in the hope that there will be benefits.
For a free brochure about the new American Heart Association lifestyle guidelines, call 1-800-AHA-USA1.
For more information on folic acid in the prevention of birth defects, visit www.marchofdimes.com and click on "Before You're Pregnant." --- Have a health or medical question?
E-mail kpainter@usatoday.com. Please include your name, city and daytime phone number. Selected questions will be answered in the newspaper.
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GRAPHICS, B/W, Web Bryant, USA TODAY (ILLUSTRATION) (2)
Gale Document Number:CJ148595537
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At the Met, Concerns Over the Maestro's Health.(Arts & Ideas/Cultural Desk)
Pogrebin, Robin. "At the Met, Concerns Over the Maestro's Health.(Arts & Ideas/Cultural Desk)." The New York Times (May 1, 2004 pA1(L) col 04 (39 col): A1(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
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Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2004 The New York Times Company
The conductor James Levine has been suffering from unexplained tremors in his left arm and leg that at times impair his ability to lead the orchestra effectively, said some musicians who play under him at the Metropolitan Opera.
Mr. Levine, in his first interview on the subject, said yesterday that the tremors began a decade ago and that they had not worsened, nor had they hurt his ability to do his job.
Although Mr. Levine, 60, said the intermittent shaking was consistent with Parkinson's disease, he added that his doctor had not diagnosed that ailment and that he had no other symptoms.
Mr. Levine added that his condition was not hereditary and that it had not progressed. ''It hasn't budged,'' he said. He added: ''It hasn't got a name. It just has a style of its own.''
Mr. Levine's health has long been the subject of rumors and worry among his admirers and employers.
The issue has become more acute lately because Mr. Levine's busy schedule is well known, and he is to take over as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra this fall, while continuing at the Met, which he has led since 1976.
The Met itself, in a sign of confidence in Mr. Levine, has decided to announce another extension of his contract, from 2007 through 2011, said Joseph Volpe, the Met's general manager, who will retire himself in 2006.
''This guarantees artistic stability,'' Mr. Volpe said. ''This helps secure the future of the Met.''
Mr. Levine also regularly conducts the Berlin Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and since 1999 has served as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic, a position he will leave at the end of this season to take up the Boston post.
Mr. Levine said that his neurologist had been unable to diagnose his disorder and that he took medication for the tremors as well as for sciatica. The medications do not affect his work, he said.
''It's just part of me,'' he said. ''I take medicine he prescribed for me, but it is not strong and not with noticeable side effects.''
''So far, my impression is my communication with the orchestra is better distilled than it was when I was first dealing with it,'' he continued. ''Judging by my interactions with musicians and colleagues, if anything, I'm not getting worse, I'm getting better. On the other hand, I'm getting older.''
But some musicians in the orchestra disagreed with Mr. Levine. They said they revered his musicianship and asked that their names not be published. They said Mr. Levine's condition had made his leadership of the orchestra inconsistent and even at times ineffectual.
These musicians said Mr. Levine could be difficult to follow because he always conducted sitting down, rarely gave easily visible cues and slumped in his chair as a performance progressed, particularly during lengthy productions like Wagner's ''Ring.''
His posture is a barometer, some musicians said. As the night goes on, one said, ''You cannot see his baton behind the podium.''
Another said: ''He drops down, and you wonder what in the world is going on, or 'what do we do now?' That's when you could use cues. And we don't have them.''
Another musician added: ''It's been very, very difficult. The reason the orchestra even had any glory days and rose to prominence was because of Levine. So you don't want to kick a man when he's down. Yes, there's a problem; yes, something has to be done; yes, it's the big elephant in the room, but who am I to lead the charge? I owe a lot to the man.''
Mr. Volpe said Mr. Levine's performance level remained high. He said that during Tuesday night's presentation of Wagner's ''Walkure,'' for example, Mr. Levine ''was the freshest I've ever seen him during the last act.''
''All you've got to do is go to a 'Ring' performance and see the way the audience responds,'' Mr. Volpe added. ''They go nuts.''
While Mr. Volpe said he planned to change Mr. Levine's title from artistic director to music director when Mr. Levine takes the Boston job, he said this was meant only to reflect a shift in Mr. Levine's responsibilities, to a focus more exclusively on the music.
Mr. Levine said he had deliberately curtailed his conducting gestures over the years, believing it was important to convey his intentions to the orchestra through subtle movements or eye contact. ''I have a mission which I've had all my life, to have the audience hear the music without the conductor leading them visually,'' he said.
Asked about some of the musicians' concerns that they cannot follow him, he said: ''I'm aware that sometimes they can't see, and that sometimes the physical layout makes it very hard -- depending on the angle and how crowded the pit is, and how many people are playing -- to hear and see everything. But I think for the most part, we're developing at a very good rate on that.''
Conductors differ, Mr. Levine said. ''Many conductors conduct everything with their eyes closed,'' he said. ''My major communication tool always is my eyes.''
''Some conductors conduct big, some conduct little,'' he added. ''In the end, it's just a question what kind of results do we get.''
Stewart B. Rose, a horn player, said he had been able to follow Mr. Levine easily. ''Yes, he's not jumping around on the podium anymore, but my sense is he's in control of what's going on,'' Mr. Rose said. ''He just kind of has to glance over, and things happen.''
Howard T. Howard, a horn player with the orchestra for 43 years, said he believed that Mr. Levine's physical struggles had enriched his performance. ''I've always found that personal hardship tends to make more of an artist,'' he said. ''I think you hear the difference between someone who has had a happy, secure life and someone who has had some misery and gone through his own personal hell.''
''I would say there is a weight to the man now that might well be due to his physical ailments,'' Mr. Howard said.
Mark Volpe, managing director of the Boston Symphony (he is not related to the Met's Mr. Volpe), said he was unconcerned about Mr. Levine's health. ''We're certainly anticipating great music-making from him,'' he said. ''His energy level is still way beyond the norm. We see no evidence that it's impacted his work at all. If anything, the level of excitement he's bringing to Boston is palpable.''
Several members of the Boston Symphony, which has played under Mr. Levine as a visiting conductor, said they were confident he could handle the job. ''The physical motions are a very small part of what a musical director does,'' said Fenwick Smith, a flute player with the symphony for 25 years. At a January concert in Boston, Mr. Smith said, ''there was absolutely no doubt about what his intentions were.'' He added, ''There doesn't need to be a whole lot of podium dramatics for an orchestra to play at its best.''
But some Met musicians said that opera was different from orchestral music, that it sometimes called for physical command, and that Mr. Levine could not provide it. ''For exciting, fast music, you want somebody standing and being on top of the orchestra,'' one player said. ''And you want to see both hands.''
Mr. Levine's baton movements have become almost imperceptible, these musicians said, adding that those who sit in the back cannot see what he is doing. ''If you watch, you can pick it up,'' a player said. ''The problem is, people can't really see.''
Mr. Levine is more energetic at the beginning of an opera, some musicians said. ''He starts off O.K.,'' one said. ''He holds the thing together and you see signs of the old Levine. But after we're a few hours in, it starts to fall apart.''
Another musician said Mr. Levine was clearly struggling through Monday's performance of Wagner's ''Rheingold,'' but that he persevered. ''He was breathing very heavily,'' the musician said. ''But I was quite amazed about his conducting skills in spite of this.''
In the middle of a December performance of Berlioz's ''Benvenuto Cellini,'' Mr. Levine called for a substitute conductor. But he returned later in the evening. Mr. Levine said he left because of a cold.
The longtime players in the Met orchestra have gotten to know Mr. Levine so well, they said, that they can follow him anyway. ''The orchestra is talented enough that we get through it,'' one said. ''I don't know how many orchestras could do it. The Met is a pretty unique ensemble. We know the pieces really, really well.''
One player said a performance a few months ago of Schoenberg's ''Moses und Aron,'' for example, was particularly frustrating. ''He just wasn't there,'' the musician said. ''The notes are going by, and we're looking up and thinking, 'He's just trying to keep it steady.' We worked so hard on it and got very little help.''
Other musicians said the Met's players shouldn't need much help. ''I think he just assumes that we know where we are, and he's right,'' Mr. Howard said. ''At this point in our careers, we should know where we are.''
Mr. Levine said newer members of the orchestra might feel a little lost because they were not used to his style. ''I've had to work exceptionally hard to absorb the new people,'' he said. ''The new people are brilliant, talented as they can be. But their experience is limited, and their contact with the repertoire is limited.''
Although a conductor's physical condition would be difficult to conceal in a symphony orchestra that performs onstage, a Met musician said, it is more easily masked in the darkened pit of an opera house.
The mystery of Mr. Levine's health is intensified by his personality, some players said. ''He lives such a secretive life outside of music, so no one really knows what's wrong with him,'' one said. ''The circle around Levine is incredibly protective.''
Whatever ails Mr. Levine, the musicians agreed that he had no intention of letting it get the better of him. ''He's the kind of conductor who will drop dead on the podium with a baton in his hand,'' one said. ''His only motive for living is to get on the podium and conduct.''
Gale Document Number:A116102051
Wakin, Daniel J. "Levine's Kidney Seen to Be Cancerous.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(James Levine)." The New York Times 157.54380 (July 23, 2008): E1(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 The New York Times Company
A growth on the kidney of the conductor James Levine was found to have been cancerous, but the malignancy had not spread, and Mr. Levine was expected to recover fully, the Boston Symphony Orchestra said on Tuesday.
Surgeons removed the kidney last week after doctors found what was described at the time as a cyst. The orchestra, of which he is music director, said Mr. Levine, 65, was released from the undisclosed New York hospital over the weekend.
The orchestra quoted Mr. Levine's brother, Tom, as saying that the growth was malignant but ''very small and confined to the central area of his right kidney.'' He added: ''Fortunately, because of early detection, it had not spread to the surrounding tissues, blood vessels or lymph nodes. Doctors reported the surgery was completely curative and no further treatment is necessary.''
Mr. Levine was in ''very good spirits'' while recuperating at home, his brother said, and was looking forward to opening the season in Boston and at the Metropolitan Opera, where he is also music director.
The Met's general manager, Peter Gelb, was on vacation but said through a spokeswoman that he had been keeping in close touch and was expecting Mr. Levine back in September.
''He's happy that Jim's comfortable and doing well,'' said the spokeswoman, Lee Abrahamian.
Mr. Levine said on July 8 that he was going in for surgery, forcing the cancellation of the rest of his concerts at the Tanglewood festival in Massachusetts. Just before, he had conducted Berlioz's large-scale opera ''Les Troyens'' in a concert version over two days.
Mr. Levine has suffered several health problems in recent years, including surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff caused by a fall, sciatica and intermittent hand tremors.
He has a number of important appointments in September, including a Verdi Requiem in honor of Luciano Pavarotti, who died last year, at the Met on Sept. 18 and the house's gala opening performance on Sept. 22. His plans at the Met next season include performances of a new production of Berlioz's ''Damnation de Faust,'' Gluck's ''Orfeo ed Euridice'' and Wagner's ''Ring'' cycle.
At the Boston Symphony Mr. Levine is to lead 12 programs during the next season, which opens on Sept. 24. Highlights include a concert version of Verdi's ''Simon Boccanegra,'' the premiere of Elliott Carter's Interventions for piano and orchestra with Daniel Barenboim, and a February program of Mozart arias with the soprano Barbara Frittoli, Brahms's Symphony No. 2 and the premiere of Gunther Schuller's ''Where the Word Ends.''
CAPTION(S):
PHOTO: James Levine is at home.
Gale Document Number:A181700681
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
Now in the recovery room, music for hearts to heal by.(Metropolitan Desk)
Kelley, Tina. "Now in the recovery room, music for hearts to heal by.(Metropolitan Desk)." The New York Times (August 28, 2006): B1(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2006 The New York Times Company
When George Moran woke up on Tuesday, he thought he had died and gone to heaven.
It was not such an outlandish idea. Mr. Moran, 39, a music teacher in Long Valley, N.J., had had a cardiac valve repaired that morning at Morristown Memorial Hospital. During the surgery, his heart had to be stopped for 90 minutes, and he was placed on a heart-lung machine. Soon after, he recalled, there was an attractive woman walking around, playing a small harp.
Luckily, these celestial aspects of the recovery room did not send Mr. Moran into palpitations. Instead, researchers suspect, the gentle arpeggios of the harpist might have helped regulate his heart rate, blood pressure and breathing, aiding his recovery.
Two hours a day, Alix Weisz, a harpist from Chester, N.J., strolls through the hospital's Cardiac Post-Anesthesia Care Unit to test that premise. The recovery room staff monitors changes in patients' vital signs every 15 minutes while she plays, and for an hour before and after.
Results will be collected as part of a four-week study, one of several around the country trying to measure the health benefits of music in hospitals.
One research project by a doctor at the Carle Heart Center in Urbana, Ill., has suggested that harp music in particular helped stabilize irregular heartbeats.
With the Morristown study, which is financed by a local trust and still under way, evidence that music helps patients heal there is still anecdotal. But many patients and nurses say they have looked forward to Ms. Weisz's visits.
''When I was coming out of it, I was filled with tubes -- a throat tube, an oxygen tube -- and it was very hard to breathe,'' Mr. Moran said. ''You feel you're going to gag. The music calmed my body and allowed me to stop thinking about what was going on. It allowed me to feel more relaxed and rested.''
Ms. Weisz has her own guidelines for playing her instrument of peace.
''I try not to play anything recognizable, because there might be an unwanted emotional response, like if I played music a guy broke up with his girlfriend in Atlantic City to,'' she said. She relies on chants, lullabies, and Celtic airs and ancient standards from books like ''The Healer's Way: Soothing Music for Those in Pain.''
She plays quietly and slowly, and she said she tries not to glance over at the monitors above the beds, to see if any pulse rates are decreasing. While many of the patients in the recovery room are still anesthetized and unresponsive, she said Mr. Moran had given her the thumbs up while she played.
''Sometimes people say, 'Wow, I had a feeling I was in a big field,' and that's what we want these people to do, to think about where they're going to be, where they're going in life, and how this is just an episode,'' she said, gesturing at the ashen patients on beds surrounded by intravenous drips and beeping machines.
As part of the study, nurses are also taking note of their own stress levels when the music is playing.
One nurse, Lisa Gingerella, recalled how one of her recent patients was very confused and agitated the day after his surgery.
''Alix came, and he fell asleep, and his blood pressure and heart rate dropped dramatically -- he slept all afternoon,'' she said, adding that the music also has a similarly soothing effect on her.
''She calms me the heck right down,'' Ms. Gingerella said. ''I want to take her home, or have her playing in the car on the way home.''
The unit's nursing manager, Lynn Emond, said she has noticed that her staff is much quieter when Ms. Weisz is playing.
Thomas Kroncke, 55, stayed in the recovery room on Monday after an aortic valve replacement and, like Mr. Moran, has graduated to a regular room. Mr. Kroncke said he noticed how the harpist soothed and quieted the post-op unit.
''You really didn't notice the hustle and bustle,'' he said. ''I felt if I could just be feeling this calm and relaxed this soon after surgery, things are only going to get better.''
CAPTION(S):
Photo: When playing at Morristown Memorial Hospital in New Jersey, Alix Weisz avoids easily recognizable songs, which may trigger negative responses from patients. (Photo by James Estrin/The New York Times)
Gale Document Number:A150322188
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
In Case You Haven't Heard.(Brief Article)
"In Case You Haven't Heard.(Brief Article)." Mental Health Weekly 11.38 (Oct 8, 2001): 8. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2001 Manisses Communications Group, Inc.
Researchers are finding that music can be used to help people deal with fear and sadness. Through the use of positron emission tomography, or PET scans, researchers can see how music that causes subjects to feel "shivers down their spine" activates the same area of the brain as food and sex. Since music is not a survival instinct, researchers are not sure why they act on the brain in the same way as food and sex. The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Gale Document Number:A79147623
A grace note for the sickly.(LIFE)
Gill, Lisa. "A grace note for the sickly.(LIFE)." USA Today (June 17, 2008): 09D. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 USA Today
Byline: Lisa Gill
Kristen Stewart holds a round, wooden instrument filled with small, metal beads that sounds like waves gently crashing upon a beach. As she rotates it back and forth, Angelina and Audrianna Liew yawn, flutter their eyes and occasionally drift off to sleep.
Any other musician might take offense, but this is exactly the reaction Stewart was hoping for.
Born seven weeks premature, the identical twins have spent 20 days in the neonatal intensive care unit at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. Like most ICUs, with the racket of beeping monitors and buzzing devices, along with the chatter among visitors and staff, the room is anything but a sanctuary for rest.
But for these infants, sleep is crucial to their growth and development.
As a clinical director and music therapist at Beth Israel's Louis and Lucille Armstrong Music Therapy Program, Stewart specializes in working with premature babies, children and patients with trauma -- in this case, showing parents Rick Mei and Shan Liew how to use instruments that mimic heartbeats and womb sounds, as well as their own voices, to comfort their newborns. The goal on this day: to encourage the babies to sleep, become calm and alert, and prepare for feeding.
The twins would go on to spend several more days in the ICU before heading home. Music therapy played a role in their recovery, their mother says.
Beth Israel's program is one of many efforts by hospitals around the country to use music as a way to ease patient's pain, lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety and depression and improve coping abilities to get patients well, faster.
In harmony with healing
"Often, music therapy is more cost-effective than administering medication, especially for patients with anxiety, sleep disturbances or pain," says Al Bumanis, spokesman for the American Music Therapy Association.
A 2007 survey of U.S. health facilities by the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, along with the Joint Commission and Americans for the Arts, found that of the 1,923 facilities, 35% offered some type of music to patients.
Besides promoting relaxation and reducing stress, music therapy has been shown to affect sleep patterns, improve stroke patients' memories and decrease the amount of sedation medication needed for some patients.
Claudius Conrad, senior surgical resident at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, led a study published in December in the journal Critical Care Medicine that attempted to identify changes the body undergoes while listening to music.
The study looked at patients in the ICU who were on mechanical breathing machines. The group that was exposed to Mozart piano sonatas experienced marked decreases in stress hormones and in cytokines -- one of the chemicals responsible for regulating the body's response to trauma.
There was also a substantial increase in the production of growth hormones, which helps the body regulate metabolism, particularly during sleep. The result was a reduction in blood pressure, lowered heart rate and less need for medication to keep patients sedated, compared with the control group, Conrad says.
"If patients could be exposed to music in the ICU ... they would survive more often, they would leave the ICU faster," he says. "This would also save costs."
From preemies to stroke victims
Other recent studies have further confirmed the benefits of music on healing.
*Patients admitted to a hospital in Helsinki, Finland, after a severe stroke listened to recorded music for at least an hour daily. Compared with those who either listened to audiobooks or nothing, music patients recovered their verbal memory faster, as well as experienced less depression, according to a study in the March issue of the journal Brain.
*Playing two hours of recorded Mozart each week to premature babies lowered their heart rate and helped induce sleep, according to researchers at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. That study has not yet been submitted for publication in a medical journal.
*Terminally ill patients in Australia who had a single music therapy session were found to have less anxiety, pain and drowsiness compared with those who did not listen to music, according to a study published in the May Journal of Palliative Medicine.
Not all studies are in concert about music's therapeutic benefits. In a 2004 Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews, researchers evaluating 51 studies found that while music reduced patients' perceptions of pain and the need for pain medication, the total benefit was minor.
But try telling that to Kim Febres, a music therapist at the Carol G. Simon Cancer Center at Morristown (N.J.) Memorial Hospital. As Febres strums and sings the first few notes of a popular tune about Naples, Rosa Dotro, 71, an Italian immigrant who has stomach cancer, pushes aside her dinner, wipes the tears streaking her cheeks and sings along in a high, clear voice along, "Saaaanta Lucia! Santa Lucia!"
When they finish, Dotro tells Febres she is worried about having surgery and asks to hear the song again.
"Sing!" Dotro orders. "You can do this all night if you want. I feel better already."
CAPTION(S):
PHOTO, B/W, Photos by Peter Foley for USA TODAY; PHOTO, B/W
Gale Document Number:CJ180254764
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
After Kidney Surgery, Levine Has 'Fresh Insights'.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(James Levine)
Wakin, Daniel J. "After Kidney Surgery, Levine Has 'Fresh Insights'.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(James Levine)." The New York Times 158.54439 (Sept 20, 2008): B10(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 The New York Times Company
James Levine, the Metropolitan Opera and Boston Symphony Orchestra maestro, said on Friday that his recent brush with cancer brought a glimpse of mortality that will inevitably color his work.
''It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have your doctor say, 'Well, you have a cancer,' '' he said in his first extensive interview since one of his kidneys, which contained a malignant growth, was removed on July 15. ''It makes one feel sort of snatched from the jaws. I must make sure that I bring to bear whatever fresh insights and richness come from that experience.''
Mr. Levine, 65, is the music director of both the Met and the Boston Symphony and one of the eminent opera conductors of the age. As such he is a valuable franchise. He said that he felt in excellent condition, and that his recovery is on schedule. Other than falling into a deep sleep more quickly at night, he said he was back to normal, with plenty of stamina and mobility in his arms.
In fact, at a performance of the Verdi Requiem at the Met on Thursday Mr. Levine seemed vigorous, shaking his fist with passion during the terrifying orchestral blasts of the opening of the ''Dies irae'' section. The performance was in memory of the tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who died last year.
The audience gave Mr. Levine healthy applause and bravos when he took the podium, and he touched his heart. He said on Friday that he had been inundated with letters and calls from well-wishers. ''The vibrations and support and concern and care from everybody were absolutely unbelievable,'' he said.
Mr. Levine said his surgery brought another layer of meaning to the Verdi work. ''It had a dimension of significance, richness -- the piece and the whole experience -- which was clearly related to this one-of-a-kind experience I just had,'' he said. ''It was without doubt a more significant and more deep-feeling experience to prepare it now than it was before.''
The Requiem served as Mr. Levine's comeback on the stage. But he had already gone back to work on Aug. 25, starting rehearsals with the Met orchestra. Right then, he said, the reality of recovering sunk in. ''I was happy to see them, in a completely different dimension,'' he said.
He faces a busy week, including rehearsals in New York on Saturday, the Met's gala opening-night performance on Monday and rehearsals and concerts in Boston every day after that through Sept. 27. Next weekend's program with the symphony is another requiem -- that of Brahms.
In describing how the cancerous growth was discovered, Mr. Levine said he first felt discomfort while on vacation in France in June and called his doctor in New York. The doctor, zeroing in on the symptoms, suggested a scan when he returned shortly before the start of Tanglewood, the festival that is the Boston Symphony's summer home. It was then that the cyst was detected. Mr. Levine conducted the first Tanglewood program, but on July 8 the Boston Symphony announced he would be withdrawing for the surgery.
The cyst was found to be cancerous, but doctors said that it was small and confined to the kidney. Mr. Levine said no further treatment was necessary. He noted that there is no history of cancer in his family. There is a history of heart disease, but he said his blood pressure and cholesterol levels were good.
Mr. Levine spoke in his cramped study at the Met between rehearsals. Wearing black slacks and a black polo shirt, he sat back in an easy chair and took an occasional swig from a bottle of mineral water.
He said his health over all was excellent, despite other recent ailments. He underwent rotator cuff surgery in 2006 for an injury from a fall onstage, and he has suffered from hand tremors and sciatica.
Mr. Levine said he used the six weeks of enforced rest to take on projects he normally does not have time for. Staying close to home in his New York apartment, he said, he worked on a ''small book'' about overlooked topics in music that he has toyed with writing; sorted through and wrote commentary on a collection of photographs connected to his career; practiced the piano; and studied orchestral scores that had long captured his interest.
He also said that he watched and listened to some of his old recordings, and that his surgery affected that experience as well. ''For the first time I had enough psychological and emotional distance from them to hear that some of them are good,'' he said. ''I heard them as though they had been done by somebody else.''
He said that while this ''business about mortality'' made everything feel more significant, he did not feel more driven to accomplish new tasks.
''I realized that if I had three lifetimes I could never do everything,'' Mr. Levine said. ''Therefore, I feel very grateful for what I've been able to do.''
CAPTION(S):
PHOTO: James Levine returned to the stage to conduct on Thursday.(PHOTOGRAPH BY G. PAUL BURNETT/THE NEW YORK TIMES)
Gale Document Number:CJ185319911
In case you haven't heard ...(music therapy used to treat acute schizophrenia)(Brief article)
"In case you haven't heard ...(music therapy used to treat acute schizophrenia)(Brief article)." Mental Health Weekly 16.43 (Nov 6, 2006): 8(1). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
British researchers have recently published the results of a small, preliminary trial which suggest that music therapy is worth exploring as an additional tool in treating the symptoms of acute schizophrenia. In a trial of 81 patients, the researchers measured the effects of eight to 12 music sessions in which "patients were given access to a range of musical instruments and encouraged to use these to express themselves." The team saw significantly greater reductions in symptoms in those who received music therapy, compared with a control group receiving only standard therapy. Lead author Mike Crawford, M.D., explains that although it's understood that "psychological treatments" can help treat the depression, anxiety and emotional withdrawal of schizophrenia in people who are "fairly stable," this is the first randomized study to consider "co-improvisational" music therapy in "acutely unwell" inpatients.
Gale Document Number:A154458849
Masur to undergo transplant.(Kurt Masur)(Living Arts Pages)
"Masur to undergo transplant.(Kurt Masur)(Living Arts Pages)." The New York Times (Sept 24, 2001 s0 pE3(N) pE3(L) col 1 (5 col): E3(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2001 The New York Times Company
The New York Philharmonic announced yesterday that Kurt Masur was withdrawing from two weeks of subscription concerts in December and a New Year's Eve performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony that he was to conduct. He is to undergo an organ transplant in late November in Europe.
The orchestra did not specify which organ, saying only that it was not his heart. A suitable donor is said to have been found.
Mr. Masur began his 11th and final season as the Philharmonic's music director on Thursday with a nationally televised performance of Brahms's ''German Requiem'' in memory of the victims of recent terrorist attacks. The season was conceived as a tribute to his accomplishments with the orchestra and includes the release of a 10-CD set of live recordings of Masur performances.
Mr. Masur, 74, withdrew from two weeks of concerts a year ago, when he underwent an unspecified surgical procedure. At that time the orchestra used the vacancy on the podium as a testing ground for the two prime candidates to succeed Mr. Masur as music director, Mariss Jansons and Christoph Eschenbach. In the end the choice was neither of those but Lorin Maazel, who is to take over next season.
No substitute conductors have yet been announced for December. Mr. Masur plans to honor all commitments through November, to return to the Philharmonic for concert performances of Wagner's ''Tristan und Isolde'' beginning on Feb. 7 and to finish the season and lead a tour to Germany and Asia in June.
Gale Document Number:A78772367
Surgery Forces James Levine to Bow Out of Tanglewood.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)
Wakin, Daniel J. "Surgery Forces James Levine to Bow Out of Tanglewood.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)." The New York Times 157.54366 (July 9, 2008): E2(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 The New York Times Company
The conductor James Levine will have a kidney removed because of the discovery of a cyst, forcing him to miss the rest of the Tanglewood Festival season, the Boston Symphony Orchestra said on Tuesday.
Mr. Levine, the music director of the Boston Symphony and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, is expected to recover fully and be ready for the opening of the opera and symphony seasons in September, according to a statement.
The one-page announcement provided few medical details, other than saying that the cyst had caused ''pressure and discomfort.'' Doctors called the surgery ''curative, with no other treatment necessary,'' it said.
The operation is the latest medical setback for Mr. Levine, 65, a major maestro who has been carefully husbanding his energy in recent years. He suffers from intermittent hand tremors and sciatica, and has struggled with his weight.
In 2006 he was out for four months because of a shoulder injury caused by a fall and underwent rotator-cuff surgery. Last summer he canceled a conducting trip to the Verbier Festival in Switzerland to conserve strength. After each setback, Mr. Levine has returned with vigor.
Last weekend Mr. Levine was on the podium to open the Boston Symphony's summer season at the Tanglewood Festival in Lenox, Mass., with a concert version of Berlioz's huge opera ''Les Troyens,'' performed over two days. It is a piece to tax the spryest of conductors, and Mr. Levine is said to have appeared to be in good physical condition.
He had planned to lead nine more concerts, with the Boston Symphony and the Tanglewood Music Center student orchestra. The concerts included performances of Kurt Weill's ''Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'' and Tchaikovsky's ''Eugene Onegin.'' He also would have conducted several programs of music by Elliott Carter, in celebration of that composer's 100th birthday.
The Boston Symphony said that guest conductors would replace Mr. Levine. Julian Kuerti, a Boston Symphony assistant conductor and former Tanglewood Music Center fellow, will lead the orchestra this Sunday.
In the statement, Mr. Levine said: ''It is extremely frustrating that I need to have this surgery now. My projects at Tanglewood have been planned so carefully and coordinated in such detail by the festival administration.'' He said that he especially regretted missing the concerts in honor of Mr. Carter, whose music Mr. Levine had been championing.
Mr. Levine did not immediately respond to messages left with Tanglewood staff.
The statement also did not say when the cyst was discovered or when the decision was made to operate. Mark Volpe, the Boston Symphony's president, said Mr. Levine had told him and Tanglewood officials about the surgery on Sunday at a cast party after ''Les Troyens.'' Mr. Levine arrived at Tanglewood on June 26 and had also been working with conducting fellows and the Tanglewood Music Center orchestra.
''Our first reaction was for his own well-being,'' Mr. Volpe said. He said he had no more information than what was in the statement.
The Boston Symphony players learned about the situation at rehearsal on Tuesday. ''It's kind of a disconnect for them,'' Mr. Volpe said, ''because he's in such great shape.''
CAPTION(S):
PHOTO: James Levine at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass., on Sunday. (PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL J. LUTCH)
Gale Document Number:A181100097
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
In case you haven't heard.(Brief Article)
"In case you haven't heard.(Brief Article)." Mental Health Weekly 12.19 (May 13, 2002): 8(1). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2002 Manisses Communications Group, Inc.
An electronic musician has found that while his compact discs may not be scaling Billboard's Top 200, his New Age sounds are being used by mental health professionals to soothe their anxious patients. Don Slepian has released a CD entitled "Sea of Bliss" as well as two others that have been described by some as "Sonic Perfume." "The music allows people to forget their worries and find a happy place naturally in their minds," said Slepian. The CDs have also been used in hospital birthing centers. The rhythmic, reverberating sounds of these CDs may be purchased by calling (866)4101347, ext. 237.
Gale Document Number:A86647877
Prescription: Music.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(Arts, Briefly)(Brief Article)
Kent, Pam. "Prescription: Music.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(Arts, Briefly)(Brief Article)." The New York Times (Nov 6, 2004 pB12(L) col 05 (2 col): B12(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2004 The New York Times Company
Music can be good for health in ways that might not be immediately obvious, concluded the first symposium organized by the Association of British Orchestras with health-care professionals at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London. The association, representing most of the leading orchestras in Britain, presented research to health practitioners, including an initiative called the Bronchial Boogies, which found that if children who suffered from asthma played wind instruments, their symptoms improved. Other research highlighted the health benefits of listening to music, including reduced anxiety and depression. PAM KENT
Gale Document Number:A124212684
For MTV, Mortality Stalks Celebrity.(Cultural Desk)(CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK)
Strauss, Neil. "For MTV, Mortality Stalks Celebrity.(Cultural Desk)(CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK)." The New York Times (Sept 6, 1997): NA. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 1997 The New York Times Company
The specter of death hung over the MTV Video Music Awards on Thursday night at Radio City Music Hall. On and off camera, celebrities made frequent mention of those among their ranks who had died of unnatural causes since last year's awards show, from royalty (the Princess of Wales) to rappers (Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.) to those made famous by blood and marriage (Ennis Cosby and Dr. Betty Shabazz). Oddly, there was no mention of Gianni Versace, although musicians close to him, like Elton John and Madonna, spoke of Diana.
Part of what gives celebrities their status over the many nobodies of the world is that they are preserved eternally in magazines, newspapers, CD's, films and other cultural artifacts. When fans meet celebrities, they try to take a piece of that eternity with them, whether it be through a picture, an autograph or a piece of clothing or lock of hair. But this year celebrities and their fans are learning (as they do every few years) that despite the eternity that the word star implies, stars are flesh and blood like everyone else. This has been a year in which the biggest single to date is a memorial, ''I'll Be Missing You'' (Puff Daddy's tribute to the Notorious B.I.G.), and the death of a celebrity has become a ritualized commodity, whether it be through the selling of photos depicting the tragedy or the release of posthumous albums.
''Tell me the truth,'' the award show's host, Chris Rock, asked the crew of MTV News backstage when the cameras were off. ''You guys like it when somebody dies, don't you?'' Nobody laughed or spoke a word in response.
In some ways, the MTV Video Music Awards were reminiscent of the Academy Awards last year when the Hollywood audience sobbed and applauded after a speech by Christopher Reeve. Some were crying in pity and admiration. Others were crying for their own mortality. His wheelchair was a reminder: ''Yes, it can even happen to you when you least expect it, no matter how safe and cautious you are.'' The difference was that, unlike Mr. Reeve's fall from a horse, the deaths of Diana, Gianni Versace, Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur (who was strutting around cocky and unassailable at the MTV awards show party last year) were largely due to their status as public figures.
Madonna, in her speech, felt that we were all to blame. ''It's time for us to take responsibility for our own insatiable need to run after gossip and scandals and lies and rumors,'' she said, speaking as one who has fled her share of paparazzi.
For perhaps the first time at the MTV Video Music Awards (typically more a celebration of celebrity than an actual awards show), a cynical eye was cast on fame. Speaking as if celebrities were an addiction like alcohol or drugs, Fiona Apple encouraged viewers not to base their lives on those of their entertainment idols.
Backstage, Will Smith exaggerated her sentiments, warning that ''more tragedies can happen if you base your lives on knowing what other people are doing.'' Different musicians expressed grief in ways appropriate to their music.
The Spice Girls did it with vapidity, eulogizing Diana thus: ''I think we're really about what Lady Diana had, she had real girl power,'' referring to the Spice Girls catch phrase telling female fans they have the power to accept the status quo. The band Sublime, whose singer, Bradley Nowell, died of a heroin overdose last year, made a punk statement about the many pointless deaths. And Puffy Combs paid tribute to the Notorious B.I.G. with a show of force and community, with Mr. Combs, his entourage and their relatives all wearing shirts with a picture of the Notorious B.I.G. and the word ''Remember.'' In the night's most moving moment, the Notorious B.I.G.'s mother, Voletta Wallace, accepted the award for best rap video for her son, trying to speak the slang he would have used.
But just as the heroin-related suicide of Kurt Cobain didn't keep more than a half-dozen musicians from overdosing the next year, Thursday night's message about respecting the rights of public figures to live like ordinary human beings didn't keep the wolves at bay. Celebrities walked a gantlet of screaming fans outside to get to the press area, where the media fought and clamored to film and photograph them. After the awards show, as stars went to exclusive parties at hotels, photographers and cameramen lay in wait outside, shouting at each recognizable face. If a celebrity didn't stop for photographs, the paparazzi began hissing and in one case throwing things at them.
''How about giving me some of the money you make from my photographs,'' one musician yelled back as he sped away from the Four Seasons in his limousine, reflecting the increased contempt some stars have for the paparazzi since Diana's death. Unfortunately, it will take a lot more than high-profile deaths and a sympathetic awards show to keep stardom from being the most envied and coveted 24-hour job in the Western world.
CAPTION(S):
Photo: Voletta Wallace, the mother of Notorious B.I.G., accepting the best rap video award for her son's ''Hypnotize.'' At right, Puffy Combs, with arm raised. (Chang W. Lee/The New York Times)(pg. 15)
Gale Document Number:A150294007
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
Surgery On Levine Successful.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(ARTS, BRIEFLY)(James Levine)(Brief article)
Wakin, Daniel J. "Surgery On Levine Successful.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(ARTS, BRIEFLY)(James Levine)(Brief article)." The New York Times 157.54374 (July 17, 2008): E2(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 The New York Times Company
Doctors operated successfully to remove a kidney from the conductor James Levine, right, on Tuesday after a cyst was discovered, his brother, Tom Levine, said in a statement released by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which declined to name the hospital. ''There were no unexpected incidents or surprises,'' the statement said, adding that a routine biopsy would be performed. The symphony had said earlier that the operation would be ''curative.'' Mr. Levine, who is music director of the Boston Symphony and Metropolitan Opera, will spend several days at the hospital and then recuperate at home, the statement said. Mr. Levine, 65, was forced to cancel the rest of his dates at the Tanglewood music festival.
CAPTION(S):
PHOTO
Gale Document Number:A181455165
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
More Music Yields More Words.(Health & Fitness)(VITAL SIGNS: MENTAL ABILITIES)(professional musicians' region of the brain involved in verbal memory is larger )
O'Neil, John. "More Music Yields More Words.(Health & Fitness)(VITAL SIGNS: MENTAL ABILITIES)(professional musicians' region of the brain involved in verbal memory is larger )." The New York Times (July 29, 2003 pF6 col 01 (7 col): F6. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2003 The New York Times Company
If you want to improve the vocabulary of your children, sign them up for the orchestra, a study released yesterday suggests.
The research, which was published in the journal Neuropsychology, builds on earlier research showing that the region of the brain involved in verbal memory is larger in adult musicians than in those who are not musicians.
Researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong studied 90 boys in a local school. Half of them were members of the school's string orchestra.
The boys with musical training scored about 20 percent higher on a test of their ability to learn new words and did slightly better than the nonmusicians at recalling words after a 30-minute break.
In contrast, though, no differences were found between the two groups in a test of visual memory.
A year later, the researchers retested the 45 boys who had been in the orchestra, including 9 who had dropped out, and 17 boys from the nonmusician group who had joined the orchestra.
The newcomers, who had significantly lower verbal memory scores on the previous test, made the greatest progress over the course of the year, the researchers found. Those who stayed with the orchestra also improved their scores, though not as much. Those who dropped out saw their scores decline, though they remained above those of students who had never played.
The study's lead researcher, Dr. Agnes S. Chan, a psychologist, said the findings showed how experience could shape the brain, and suggests that music training could help poor students or those with brain injuries to improve their verbal memory.
But she cautioned against expecting too big an effect. ''Good memory'' by itself, she noted, ''is not directly equal to success. The individuals need to work hard.''
Gale Document Number:A105961769
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
Would You Like Abba or Verdi With Your Kidney Transplant?(The Arts/Cultural Desk)
Wakin, Daniel J. "Would You Like Abba or Verdi With Your Kidney Transplant?(The Arts/Cultural Desk)." The New York Times (June 10, 2006): A1(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2006 The New York Times Company
The surgeon in Operating Room 7, Dr. Marc Bessler, jockeyed a patient's spleen to get to the kidney. ''White Shadows'' by Coldplay murmured in the background. A resident cut away tissue near the kidney. Abba's ''Waterloo'' came next in the shuffle.
Across the corridor on Thursday afternoon, Dr. William B. Inabnet, an endocrine surgeon, prepared to cut into a patient's neck. His iPod played Verdi's ''Traviata.''
''Madness! Madness!'' sang the soprano Anna Moffo. A heart monitor beeped to a different rhythm, like a metronome run amok.
Scalpel, suture, iPod.
It was a normal day at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Washington Heights, where music fills the operating rooms much of the time, as it does in other hospitals. Like most of modern life, surgery has acquired a soundtrack, whether it be Sinatra or Vivaldi, Mozart or Bob Marley, ''La Boheme'' or the Beatles. Surgeons say it relaxes them, focuses their attention and helps pass the time.
Mention of the subject in medical journals goes back 50 years, and a growing body of recent research shows mild benefits for the patient going under the knife as well as for the surgeon holding it. The topic also figures in hospital television shows like ''Chicago Hope'' and ''Grey's Anatomy.''
Less examined are the rituals and protocols about how music is played and who decides the program.
Music can become a subtle bone of contention among the members of the surgical team or a practical aid. Loud rock 'n' roll is good for routine operations, they say, Mozart for trickier ones. There is even a genre called ''closing music'': raucous sounds to suture by.
Many operating rooms come equipped with music equipment, although iPods now appear to be the system of choice. Some patients are given headphones. (Surgeons generally do not use them, so they can hear what is going on.) Sophisticated teleconferencing equipment in some operating theaters is occasionally drafted to play music.
Given the large number of doctors who are amateur musicians, the presence of music at a surgeon's job site seems natural.
''The whole issue of performing in a finite period of time is very analogous between the two,'' said Dr. Eric Rose, chairman of the department of surgery at the Columbia University Medical Center, which is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the operating room is called a theater, he said.
But there is no way to generalize about content. ''As wide as musical tastes are, that's as broad as the listening habits of surgeons in the operating room,'' said Dr. Rose, whose tastes range from Vivaldi to Simon and Garfunkel. He said that Dr. Norman E. Shumway, the father of the heart transplant, who died in February, had often played Edith Piaf during surgery.
Dr. Paul Ruggieri, a general surgeon who practices in Fall River, Mass., said he was in a Sinatra and Diana Krall phase. Deep Purple's ''Smoke on the Water'' is another favorite. ''That's a nice song if you're in a hyped mood,'' Dr. Ruggieri said.
Dr. Inabnet's first love is jazz: John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday. When he has difficult operations, he prefers lively bands: the Red Hot Chili Peppers, for example. ''That's good pancreas music,'' he said. ''It's an organ I respect tremendously.''
At St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, Dr. Alan Benvenisty, a vascular and transplant surgeon, meticulously creates playlists for his two iPods, which he sets up with speakers. ''I have the whole thing programmed ahead of time,'' he said. ''If you spend many, many hours in the O.R. listening to music, you learn a lot about music. I'm pretty much an expert on classic rock.'' His nickname is Hyper Al.
Generally, the attending surgeon, the honcho in the hierarchical operating room, decides the playlist. Next in line is often the anesthesiologist. If no doctor brings music, it may come down to the CD collection of the head surgical nurse. Any member of the team has veto power if the music becomes distracting or interferes with dialogue. Music that requires concentration, like Mahler, is rare. When tensions rise, the music is often turned off.
Anesthesiologists have an important say because they must hear the beeps of their equipment. ''There's a bunch of them who are always saying, 'Can you turn it down?' '' said Dr. Bessler, the director of laparoscopic surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian. (He has 760 tunes on his iPod Mini. ''For me, Abba is the thing,'' he said. ''There's no gangsta rap in my O.R.'')
In a survey of 200 anesthesiologists published in 1997 in the British journal Anaesthesia, 72 percent of respondents said music was played regularly in their operating rooms. About 26 percent felt that music ''reduced their vigilance'' and interfered with communication. Half felt that music was distracting when they encountered a problem.
In nonemergency situations, junior members of a surgical team are often at the mercy of the attending surgeons.
''I was brutalized for a number of years as a resident listening to Mantovani,'' Dr. Rose said. ''The surgeon will go nameless. It was atrocious.''
Another nameless surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian would regularly play the same live concert recording of Vladimir Horowitz during a particular procedure, said Dr. Jonathan M. Chen, a pediatric heart surgeon. ''He would always turn to the head nurse and say, 'Prof. Horowitz, please,' '' said Dr. Chen, who works at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, part of NewYork-Presbyterian. ''That got very old very quickly.''
Other offenders are surgeons who like to sing along. ''They get upset sometimes when I sing,'' an unabashed Dr. Benvenisty said. ''I know all these songs by heart.''
Surgeons often ask patients what they want to hear. Dr. Inabnet has to be especially sensitive, he said, because in most of his cases the patients receive local anesthesia and are awake. In Thursday's operation, to remove a pea-size parathyroid gland, the patient asked for opera. Dr. Inabnet's iPod happened to have a classic 1960 recording of ''La Traviata,'' which played through a desktop computer with speakers surgically taped to the computer stand.
Sometimes patients come in with requests. Dr. Marc Dickstein, a NewYork-Presbyterian anesthesiologist, said a teenage girl facing a lung transplant had brought a CD of Seal, her favorite artist. ''It was just kind of a powerful scene there,'' he said. ''This was what she wanted to hear before what could have been her final moments.'' The girl made it. ''She was unbelievably brave,'' Dr. Dickstein said.
Surgeons have adopted music into their practice.
Dr. Nas Eftekhar, a retired pioneer of hip and knee replacements, used Mozart's ''Eine Kleine Nachtmusik'' to mark the exact moments to apply cement to the femur and insert the artificial joint. ''The timing is extremely critical,'' he said.
Dr. Chen, a blues lover, used to employ tracks to time the wait for bleeding to stop before closing up. ''Everybody is impatient at that part of the operation,'' he said. But now there is no music in his operating room. He operates on the hearts of babies and children. Blood-oxygen monitors are crucial in such operations, and they emit beeps that change pitch with the slightest change in oxygen levels. So music is out.
Some physicians warn of excesses.
In a letter to the Medical Journal of Australia, Dr. Richard H. Riley of Perth raised two examples: a surgeon who had an opera videocassette playing during an operation, and a second who listened to music through earbuds despite having to be questioned by the anesthesiologist. While extreme, Dr. Riley said, the examples ''do remind us that we should remain vigilant and not allow developments in entertainment technology to interfere with patient care.''
But at least five studies published in the last dozen years show benefits to surgeons and patients from music, or at least no harm.
One showed that it made no difference in the results of psychomotor tests on anesthesiologist trainees. Another found that surgeons could block out music during complex tasks. Music made surgeons calmer, more accurate and speedier, according to a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association in 1994. Music through headphones reduced the amount of sedation needed for urological patients and lowered the blood pressure of elderly eye-surgery patients, other studies found.
Dr. Brian Jacob, a general surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York who specializes in laparoscopic and stomach stapling surgery, said music helped everyone in the operating room.
''You're basically sending a message to the people around you that it's a cool place to be,'' he said. ''I found I get a lot done when I have U2 in the background,'' he said. He does take care to lower the volume when the patient enters the room, and he sometimes asks for requests.
But the patient usually says that whatever is on is fine. ''They want me happy,'' he said.
CAPTION(S):
Photos: At NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, top, Verdi plays on an iPod during surgery. At Charlton Hospital in Fall River, Mass., Dr. Paul Ruggieri fills his CD player. (Photo by Robert Spencer for The New York Times); (Photo by Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times)(pg. B12)
Gale Document Number:A146854015
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
Brain scans tune in to personal nature of improvising music.(LIFE)
Toppo, Greg. "Brain scans tune in to personal nature of improvising music.(LIFE)." USA Today (March 5, 2008): 09D. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 USA Today
Byline: Greg Toppo
From Eric Clapton to Miles Davis to Yo-Yo Ma, we've long heard that when musicians improvise, they're engaged in an intensely personal pursuit. A pair of scientists have scanned musicians' brains and now say that's true.
More precisely, when musicians improvise, they're using the same part of the brain that responds to a simple request: Tell me about yourself.
In new findings, researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders say they have located the region of the brain -- the medial prefrontal cortex -- that lights up when musicians improvise. It's the same area we all use when we're talking about ourselves -- who we are, what makes us tick.
It makes perfect sense to Charles Limb, a Hopkins researcher and jazz saxophonist who holds a joint faculty appointment at Hopkins' music conservatory. "Because the person is spontaneously composing, they really are revealing themselves musically," he says. "It's like your own musical autobiography."
At the same time, he and a colleague found, improvising musicians turn off the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a portion of the brain linked to planning, careful actions and self-censoring.
Limb says most writing about jazz has traditionally stressed how great musicians "find their own sound." Now, he says, we know what that means in scientific terms: "It's basically sculpting your own identity, the voice you're going to use."
And he has the brain scans to prove it.
Limb and a colleague, Allen Braun of the communication disorder center, designed an unusual experiment. They recruited six jazz pianists to play a specially designed keyboard while lying on their backs in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine.
Subjects played scales, simple memorized pieces and improvisations on both. During the improvisations, a recorded jazz group played in their headphones.
When Limb and Braun examined the scans produced during improvisation and stripped away evidence of brain activity common to all playing, they were left with signals from the medial prefrontal cortex.
Limb says the brain fires similarly when people improvise while speaking, improvise solutions to problems and dream. Next up: brain scans of poets, visual artists and "non-artists asked to improvise."
The findings were published Feb. 27 in Public Library of Science ONE.
CAPTION(S):
PHOTO, B/W, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Gale Document Number:CJ176120883
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
Masur withdraws from concerts.(Kurt Masur of the New York Philharmonic)
Oestreich, James R. "Masur withdraws from concerts.(Kurt Masur of the New York Philharmonic)." The New York Times (Sept 22, 2000 pB3(N) pE3(L) col 4 (11 col): E3(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2000 The New York Times Company
The New York Philharmonic announced yesterday that Kurt Masur is withdrawing from two weeks of subscription concerts he was to have conducted in November and from a special concert being added in October. Mr. Masur has to undergo an unspecified minor surgical procedure, and will need time to recover.
The subscription concerts are on Nov. 2, 3, 4 and 7, with the pianist Emanuel Ax as soloist, and Nov. 9, 10 and 14, with two members of the orchestra -- Glenn Dicterow, the concertmaster, and Carter Brey, the principal cellist -- as soloists. Mr. Masur also planned to conduct a concert in memory of Leonard Bernstein, to be added to the Philharmonic schedule on Oct. 31.
Bernstein died on Oct. 14, 1990, and a series in his memory on Oct. 12, 13, 14 and 17, conducted by Leonard Slatkin and including Bernstein's ''Jeremiah'' Symphony, is to go ahead as scheduled. In addition, the orchestra is releasing a 10-CD set of previously unpublished Bernstein recordings from its archives next month.
With the orchestra bogged down in a search for a successor to Mr. Masur as music director when he leaves in 2002, a fascinating sidelight on the cancellation comes with the selection of replacement conductors. Mariss Jansons is to conduct the Bernstein program. Mikko Franck takes over the first week of subscription concerts, in his Philharmonic debut, and Christoph Eschenbach the second.
While the Philharmonic courted Riccardo Muti as music director during the summer, Mr. Jansons and Mr. Eschenbach were also said by people within the organization to be on the short list of candidates. Mr. Muti rejected the orchestra's overtures in July.
As to the others, Zarin Mehta, who took over as executive director of the orchestra this month, said recently that he preferred the term ''wish list'' and that ''it has names that could not possibly be involved with the Philharmonic for a variety of reasons.'' Indeed, the smart money in the business now puts Mr. Eschenbach -- the chief conductor of the NDR Symphony in Hamburg -- in Philadelphia, as the prime candidate to succeed Wolfgang Sawallisch as music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2002.
In any case, orchestras hiring music directors usually consider only candidates who have experience with the players, preferably recent experience. Mr. Jansons, the music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, last appeared with the Philharmonic in 1996, Mr. Eschenbach in 1998. Mr. Mehta and Paul B. Guenther, the chairman of the Philharmonic have said that they hope to name Mr. Masur's successor by the end of the year.
Gale Document Number:A65520676
After an Injury, a Maestro Returns in Fighting Form.(National Desk)(MUSIC REVIEW)(James Levine)
Holland, Bernard. "After an Injury, a Maestro Returns in Fighting Form.(National Desk)(MUSIC REVIEW)(James Levine)." The New York Times (July 9, 2006): A13(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2006 The New York Times Company
The Beethoven Ninth Symphony is a mighty presence on any concert program, but the music world in general and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in particular had equally earthshaking things on its mind Friday night. The Tanglewood Festival was opening its summer symphonic season at the Shed, and all eyes and ears were on James Levine, who has not been seen in front of this or any other orchestra for the last four months.
After a fall onstage at the beginning of March, surgery on a rotator cuff, general silence and a little mystery, Mr. Levine was coming off the disabled list. His employers at the Boston Symphony have clearly been worried. He is their new music director, their franchise player and, in good part, their immediate future.
Would there be lingering impairment, a fading of energy? What about the heavy workloads Mr. Levine is known for? There was also the happier question of whether an enforced layoff would take a few pounds off the conductor's increasingly generous proportions and resolve some of his disquieting physical tics.
Before the music, a medical report: First, Mr. Levine can wave his arms just fine, thank you. He looks a few sizes smaller, and that has probably kept his tailor busy. He walks reasonably well, but he does sit when he conducts. He will never be sylphlike.
More important was the music, which was healthy indeed. Schoenberg's early Chamber Symphony in its big-orchestra arrangement luxuriated: dense, slippery and sinuous in a sea of constant change. The Beethoven profited from Mr. Levine's paradoxical talent for being both elegant and powerful. The slow movement had a special grace and dignity.
Beethoven was deeply unkind to the human voice, but in the famous finale, the vocal quartet (Sondra Radvanovsky, Wendy White, Clifton Forbis and John Relyea) labored admirably. Those relentless high-flying soprano notes in the chorus part require a kind of controlled, conductor-induced mass hysteria. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus sounded hypnotized.
Mr. Levine did not throw his upper body around with abandon, but then he never did, and does not have to. Physically, he is a minimalist. Conductors conduct as much with their eyes, with their personal powers of persuasion and with their ability to convey instructions, as they do with their arms and hands.
Fritz Reiner seemed to do the job with his little finger. Some of the more profound orchestra performances of the 20th century were created by an Otto Klemperer hobbled by strokes, tottering in extreme old age yet capable of electrifying musicians with gestures that when looked at closely, had little to do with the motion of the music.
Members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra said their playing improved dramatically when Wilhelm Furtwangler merely stood in the back of the rehearsal hall.
Conducting is a mysterious occupation, one in which the exchange of information seems to occur almost by osmosis. Everyone should be heartened by what happened at Tanglewood on Friday night. No one should worry about Mr. Levine's arm-waving capacities, nor should they ever have. It is not like losing one's fastball.
To be resolved is whether concerts like this one can sustain the same energy. Mr. Levine is 63 -- not old at all in this notoriously long-lived trade, but a serious age for someone coming back from such severe muscular trauma.
CAPTION(S):
Photo: James Levine conducted Friday at his first performance in four months. (Photo by Michael Lutch for The New York Times)
Gale Document Number:A147968588
Music soothes Alzheimer's.(LIFE)
Painter, Kim. "Music soothes Alzheimer's.(LIFE)." USA Today (July 24, 2006): 04D. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2006 USA Today
Byline: Kim Painter
My column on music and medicine (Your Health, July 10) prompted readers to share stories about the power of music in the lives of people with dementia.
Allen Pfenninger of Brooklyn Heights, Ohio, wrote: "Music is a wonderful balm for Alzheimer's patients. My mother-in-law (who just passed away) ... didn't remember my wife or myself, but she could recognize music from her past. We took an iPod into the nursing home, split it with three sets of earphones and listened to songs we knew she liked. She would hum along. She would laugh at the funny ones (Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah by Allan Sherman, Tiptoe Through the Tulips by Tiny Tim). She would cry at the sad ones, and we learned to try to keep those to a minimum. I would throw her a curve every once in a while just to see what she might know: When she hummed along to the Notre Dame Victory March, I was amazed. When she stopped humming along about a month ago, we knew the end might be near."
Amy Losak of Teaneck, N.J., remembered her late father, Sam Rosenberg, a lifelong music lover who spent his last days in a nursing home struggling with dementia, anxiety and depression. She wrote: "A volunteer would come to Dad's nursing home, attired in a straw hat and suspenders, with a banjo, to engage the residents in a sing-along session. My dad always sang the loudest, with great gusto, and despite his memory deficits, he knew the lyrics almost perfectly to the old-time popular songs of the '30s and '40s. ... My dad was happy then. ... It was as if this music brought him back to a realm of cognitive lucidity and anchored him in a firm time and place. It was a bittersweet pleasure to see -- and hear."
Folic acid update
Gruma, a Mexican food producer that is a major supplier of corn flour (sold under the Maseca brand) and corn tortillas (sold under the Mission Foods brand) to U.S. stores, has agreed to fortify the products with folic acid. Scientists and advocacy groups hope that the move will decrease serious birth defects among Hispanics.
As I wrote in an earlier column (Your Health, June 19), scientists have known for years that adequate folic acid intake can reduce the risk of neural tube defects -- including spina bifida -- by 50% to 70%. But rates haven't dropped as much as hoped, despite the heavy promotion of supplements and the addition of folic acid to enriched bread, cereal and other grain products made in the USA. Rates remain especially high among Hispanics, and some scientists think dietary differences -- including the use of unfortified, imported corn products -- may play a role.
The Gruma products will be available at Wal-Mart and other stores by the end of 2006.
Q: Is there still a folic acid need in postmenopausal women or women who have had a hysterectomy? "
Timi Ruiz, Emery, S.D.
A: The role of folic acid supplements for adults who can't become pregnant remains unclear.
Some studies suggest that folic acid (and its natural form, folate) might reduce risks of heart attack and stroke by lowering levels of homocysteine, an amino acid in the blood. And stroke deaths in the USA have dropped since the government started requiring folic acid in enriched breads and cereals. But clinical trials, in which people are given supplements or placebos, have shown mixed results.
In its latest recommendations on heart-healthy habits, the American Heart Association says: "Available evidence is inadequate to recommend folate and other B vitamin supplements as a means to reduce (cardiovascular disease risk)."
Studies have likewise failed to show that folate lowers the risk of dementia, as some scientists had hoped. Still, some scientists say it is reasonable to take a multivitamin containing folic acid and other B vitamins in the hope that there will be benefits.
For a free brochure about the new American Heart Association lifestyle guidelines, call 1-800-AHA-USA1.
For more information on folic acid in the prevention of birth defects, visit www.marchofdimes.com and click on "Before You're Pregnant." --- Have a health or medical question?
E-mail kpainter@usatoday.com. Please include your name, city and daytime phone number. Selected questions will be answered in the newspaper.
CAPTION(S):
GRAPHICS, B/W, Web Bryant, USA TODAY (ILLUSTRATION) (2)
Gale Document Number:CJ148595537
Disclaimer: This information is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.
At the Met, Concerns Over the Maestro's Health.(Arts & Ideas/Cultural Desk)
Pogrebin, Robin. "At the Met, Concerns Over the Maestro's Health.(Arts & Ideas/Cultural Desk)." The New York Times (May 1, 2004 pA1(L) col 04 (39 col): A1(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. La Conner High School. 4 Dec. 2008
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2004 The New York Times Company
The conductor James Levine has been suffering from unexplained tremors in his left arm and leg that at times impair his ability to lead the orchestra effectively, said some musicians who play under him at the Metropolitan Opera.
Mr. Levine, in his first interview on the subject, said yesterday that the tremors began a decade ago and that they had not worsened, nor had they hurt his ability to do his job.
Although Mr. Levine, 60, said the intermittent shaking was consistent with Parkinson's disease, he added that his doctor had not diagnosed that ailment and that he had no other symptoms.
Mr. Levine added that his condition was not hereditary and that it had not progressed. ''It hasn't budged,'' he said. He added: ''It hasn't got a name. It just has a style of its own.''
Mr. Levine's health has long been the subject of rumors and worry among his admirers and employers.
The issue has become more acute lately because Mr. Levine's busy schedule is well known, and he is to take over as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra this fall, while continuing at the Met, which he has led since 1976.
The Met itself, in a sign of confidence in Mr. Levine, has decided to announce another extension of his contract, from 2007 through 2011, said Joseph Volpe, the Met's general manager, who will retire himself in 2006.
''This guarantees artistic stability,'' Mr. Volpe said. ''This helps secure the future of the Met.''
Mr. Levine also regularly conducts the Berlin Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and since 1999 has served as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic, a position he will leave at the end of this season to take up the Boston post.
Mr. Levine said that his neurologist had been unable to diagnose his disorder and that he took medication for the tremors as well as for sciatica. The medications do not affect his work, he said.
''It's just part of me,'' he said. ''I take medicine he prescribed for me, but it is not strong and not with noticeable side effects.''
''So far, my impression is my communication with the orchestra is better distilled than it was when I was first dealing with it,'' he continued. ''Judging by my interactions with musicians and colleagues, if anything, I'm not getting worse, I'm getting better. On the other hand, I'm getting older.''
But some musicians in the orchestra disagreed with Mr. Levine. They said they revered his musicianship and asked that their names not be published. They said Mr. Levine's condition had made his leadership of the orchestra inconsistent and even at times ineffectual.
These musicians said Mr. Levine could be difficult to follow because he always conducted sitting down, rarely gave easily visible cues and slumped in his chair as a performance progressed, particularly during lengthy productions like Wagner's ''Ring.''
His posture is a barometer, some musicians said. As the night goes on, one said, ''You cannot see his baton behind the podium.''
Another said: ''He drops down, and you wonder what in the world is going on, or 'what do we do now?' That's when you could use cues. And we don't have them.''
Another musician added: ''It's been very, very difficult. The reason the orchestra even had any glory days and rose to prominence was because of Levine. So you don't want to kick a man when he's down. Yes, there's a problem; yes, something has to be done; yes, it's the big elephant in the room, but who am I to lead the charge? I owe a lot to the man.''
Mr. Volpe said Mr. Levine's performance level remained high. He said that during Tuesday night's presentation of Wagner's ''Walkure,'' for example, Mr. Levine ''was the freshest I've ever seen him during the last act.''
''All you've got to do is go to a 'Ring' performance and see the way the audience responds,'' Mr. Volpe added. ''They go nuts.''
While Mr. Volpe said he planned to change Mr. Levine's title from artistic director to music director when Mr. Levine takes the Boston job, he said this was meant only to reflect a shift in Mr. Levine's responsibilities, to a focus more exclusively on the music.
Mr. Levine said he had deliberately curtailed his conducting gestures over the years, believing it was important to convey his intentions to the orchestra through subtle movements or eye contact. ''I have a mission which I've had all my life, to have the audience hear the music without the conductor leading them visually,'' he said.
Asked about some of the musicians' concerns that they cannot follow him, he said: ''I'm aware that sometimes they can't see, and that sometimes the physical layout makes it very hard -- depending on the angle and how crowded the pit is, and how many people are playing -- to hear and see everything. But I think for the most part, we're developing at a very good rate on that.''
Conductors differ, Mr. Levine said. ''Many conductors conduct everything with their eyes closed,'' he said. ''My major communication tool always is my eyes.''
''Some conductors conduct big, some conduct little,'' he added. ''In the end, it's just a question what kind of results do we get.''
Stewart B. Rose, a horn player, said he had been able to follow Mr. Levine easily. ''Yes, he's not jumping around on the podium anymore, but my sense is he's in control of what's going on,'' Mr. Rose said. ''He just kind of has to glance over, and things happen.''
Howard T. Howard, a horn player with the orchestra for 43 years, said he believed that Mr. Levine's physical struggles had enriched his performance. ''I've always found that personal hardship tends to make more of an artist,'' he said. ''I think you hear the difference between someone who has had a happy, secure life and someone who has had some misery and gone through his own personal hell.''
''I would say there is a weight to the man now that might well be due to his physical ailments,'' Mr. Howard said.
Mark Volpe, managing director of the Boston Symphony (he is not related to the Met's Mr. Volpe), said he was unconcerned about Mr. Levine's health. ''We're certainly anticipating great music-making from him,'' he said. ''His energy level is still way beyond the norm. We see no evidence that it's impacted his work at all. If anything, the level of excitement he's bringing to Boston is palpable.''
Several members of the Boston Symphony, which has played under Mr. Levine as a visiting conductor, said they were confident he could handle the job. ''The physical motions are a very small part of what a musical director does,'' said Fenwick Smith, a flute player with the symphony for 25 years. At a January concert in Boston, Mr. Smith said, ''there was absolutely no doubt about what his intentions were.'' He added, ''There doesn't need to be a whole lot of podium dramatics for an orchestra to play at its best.''
But some Met musicians said that opera was different from orchestral music, that it sometimes called for physical command, and that Mr. Levine could not provide it. ''For exciting, fast music, you want somebody standing and being on top of the orchestra,'' one player said. ''And you want to see both hands.''
Mr. Levine's baton movements have become almost imperceptible, these musicians said, adding that those who sit in the back cannot see what he is doing. ''If you watch, you can pick it up,'' a player said. ''The problem is, people can't really see.''
Mr. Levine is more energetic at the beginning of an opera, some musicians said. ''He starts off O.K.,'' one said. ''He holds the thing together and you see signs of the old Levine. But after we're a few hours in, it starts to fall apart.''
Another musician said Mr. Levine was clearly struggling through Monday's performance of Wagner's ''Rheingold,'' but that he persevered. ''He was breathing very heavily,'' the musician said. ''But I was quite amazed about his conducting skills in spite of this.''
In the middle of a December performance of Berlioz's ''Benvenuto Cellini,'' Mr. Levine called for a substitute conductor. But he returned later in the evening. Mr. Levine said he left because of a cold.
The longtime players in the Met orchestra have gotten to know Mr. Levine so well, they said, that they can follow him anyway. ''The orchestra is talented enough that we get through it,'' one said. ''I don't know how many orchestras could do it. The Met is a pretty unique ensemble. We know the pieces really, really well.''
One player said a performance a few months ago of Schoenberg's ''Moses und Aron,'' for example, was particularly frustrating. ''He just wasn't there,'' the musician said. ''The notes are going by, and we're looking up and thinking, 'He's just trying to keep it steady.' We worked so hard on it and got very little help.''
Other musicians said the Met's players shouldn't need much help. ''I think he just assumes that we know where we are, and he's right,'' Mr. Howard said. ''At this point in our careers, we should know where we are.''
Mr. Levine said newer members of the orchestra might feel a little lost because they were not used to his style. ''I've had to work exceptionally hard to absorb the new people,'' he said. ''The new people are brilliant, talented as they can be. But their experience is limited, and their contact with the repertoire is limited.''
Although a conductor's physical condition would be difficult to conceal in a symphony orchestra that performs onstage, a Met musician said, it is more easily masked in the darkened pit of an opera house.
The mystery of Mr. Levine's health is intensified by his personality, some players said. ''He lives such a secretive life outside of music, so no one really knows what's wrong with him,'' one said. ''The circle around Levine is incredibly protective.''
Whatever ails Mr. Levine, the musicians agreed that he had no intention of letting it get the better of him. ''He's the kind of conductor who will drop dead on the podium with a baton in his hand,'' one said. ''His only motive for living is to get on the podium and conduct.''
Gale Document Number:A116102051
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Essential Question
How is music good for me?
It creates a good environment for learning and for sports it creates intensity. Music is also good for you to relieve stress, and helps.
It creates a good environment for learning and for sports it creates intensity. Music is also good for you to relieve stress, and helps.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Operational Definitions
What kind of music is good for me?
How is music good for me?
What if music was never made?
Should music be allowed in school?
Why is music good for me?
What sports are good for you?
How are sports good for me?
What if sports were never created?
Should some sports be banned?
Why are sports good for me?
How is music good for me?
What if music was never made?
Should music be allowed in school?
Why is music good for me?
What sports are good for you?
How are sports good for me?
What if sports were never created?
Should some sports be banned?
Why are sports good for me?
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Website Validity
One of the three websites were valid. The first website was about tree octopus (not valid). The second was about was about a movie coming out in Winter 2008(valid). The third was about a mummy attack. (not valid).
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Links
Images
This shows that highschool can be fun and isn't always about the work.
This is to show the work i did in shop.
This is to show my transportation to and from school.
I used Culture Grams to find all of my images.
This is to show the work i did in shop.
This is to show my transportation to and from school.
I used Culture Grams to find all of my images.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Washington State History
I haven't really learned anything new in the process of doing my project because i have grown up around the lake that I'm doing my project on. Well that's about it.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
How this technology is going to help me
i think this technology is going to help me by making research easier and other projects easy. For example the washington state history project.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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