Practical Music Therapy

The parade of really dismal news reports (both national and international) has been so incessant recently that I am beginning to feel trampled by what Barbara Tuchman called "the march of folly." Fortunately, I decided to spend this morning auditioning a preview of Chris Thile's new album (which will not be released until August 6), the first volume of his recordings of the solo violin sonatas and partitas of Johann Sebastian Bach. I can honestly say that I felt better for this listening experience, which I found to be an excellent combination of Bach's inventive ingenuity and Thile's sensitive approach to performing. While this is not conclusive evidence that "music therapy works," I think I could do worse than to make sure that every day provides me with such a listening opportunity!