Music

Using music to help people stay in a still and attentive mode is often helpful. Here are some thoughts on choice and ideas of sources.

It is best if the music is fairly quiet and slow, but need not be innocuous!
Resources I have drawn upon a lot include music that may or may not have been composed with any religious purpose in mind.
If you use music with words its often best for them not to be easily understandable – eg Gregorian chant so that attention is not distracted from the mood and holding quality of the piece.
It is often best not to use music with strong associations – e.g. hymn tunes or music used in adverts. While this cuts out significant realms of music we may be aware of, it doesn’t take long, to discover other sources that can be very effective.

Here are some suggestions - with links to Amazon listed below
Simeon and John	This duo offer a number of CDs with Guitar and flute arrangements of tunes what are suitable.
Iona:	Christian rock group with a strong Celtic flavour. Their CD Book of Kells has two great tracks for stilling “Luke” and “The Virgin”
Agnus Dei	Albums from the Choir of New College Oxford provide some good choral music
Gregorian Chant	This is another rich source of gentle calming music
Russian Orthodox Choral Music	Rachmaninov’s Vespers, Tchaikovsky’s Vespers, the St Petersburg Choir (Russian Easter has a wonderful first track)
Officium	This CD by Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard ensemble used Gregorian chant for the backdrop to saxophone improvisation. Some tracks work very well.
Classical music	The are many collections of classical music pieces for relaxation. Common pieces include Pachelbel’s Canon, Mozart’s Andante from Piano Concerto no 21, Schubert’s Adagio from his string quartet in C, Mozarts Adagio from his Clarinet Concerto…
Ennio Morricone	Gabriel’s oboe from the soundtrack to “The Mission” is wonderful
Mark Kelso	American pianist has done some wonderful simple piano CD’s – particularly good is “For God Alone”
Arvo Part	The CD with Spiegel um Spiegel and Alina is good, though you might not use whole tracks
Native Wisdom	This fascinating CD of music from around the world has some great tracks (and some rubbish!)
Other groups worth exploring	Enya, Secret Garden, Clannad
There is much much more... keep your ears open and you will find it!


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