![]() ![]() The researchers saw a reduction in overall anxiety to be as much as 65 percent. In collaboration with the Manchester band Marconi Union, the song “Weightless” was born.Īccording to the Mindlab Institution, this particular song can reduce blood pressure and decrease blood levels of cortisol (“the stress hormone”). Classical music and sounds of nature seem to be particularly effective.īut what happens when a group of scientists and musicians decide to create the most relaxing music by employing scientific principles? The British Academy of Sound Therapy set out to create the world’s most relaxing song. In fact, music has been scientifically shown time and time again to calm the autonomic nervous system, the endocrine, and psychological stress response. It can help you relax and reduce anxiety. It can pump you up during workouts, inspire you before going into an important job interview. She wanted to commission the piece in memory of her parents, who had died within weeks of each other after more fifty years of marriage and she wanted me to set her favorite poem, Robert Frost’s immortal Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.It’s not a secret that music is a powerful universal language. The circumstances around the commission were certainly memorable. My setting of Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening no longer exists. I actually prefer Tony’s poem now…Īnd there it is. Tony wrote an absolutely exquisite poem, finding a completely different (but equally beautiful) message in the music I had already written. This was an enormous task, because I was asking him to not only write a poem that had the exact structure of the Frost, but that would even incorporate key words from “Stopping”, like ‘sleep’. After many discussions with my wife, I decided that I would ask my friend and brilliant poet Charles Anthony Silvestri ( Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine, Lux Aurumque, Nox Aurumque, Her Sacred Spirit Soars) to set new words to the music I had already written. The piece was dead, and would sit under my bed for the next 37 years because of some ridiculous ruling by heirs and lawyers. Little did I know that the Robert Frost Estate had shut down ANY use of the poem just months before, ostensibly because of this plethora of new settings.Īfter a LONG legal battle (many letters, many representatives), the estate of Robert Frost and their publisher, Henry Holt Inc., sternly and formally forbid me from using the poem for publication or performance until the poem became public domain in 2038. When I looked online and saw all of these new and different settings, I naturally (and naively) assumed that it was open to anyone. In 1997, out of the blue, the estate released a number of titles, and at least twenty composers set and published Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening for chorus. Robert Frost’s poetry has been under tight control from his estate since his death, and until a few years ago only Randall Thompson ( Frostiana) had been given permission to set his poetry. Rene Clausen gave it a glorious performance at the ACDA National Convention in the spring of 2001, and soon after I began receiving letters, emails, and phone calls from conductors trying to get a hold of the work.Īnd here was my tragic mistake: I never secured permission to use the poem. We premiered the piece in Austin, October 2000, and the piece was well received. The poem is perfect, truly a gem, and my general approach was to try to get out of the way of the words and let them work their magic. I took my time with the piece, crafting it note by note until I felt that it was exactly the way I wanted it. She wanted to commission the piece in memory of her parents, who had died within weeks of each other after more fifty years of marriage and she wanted me to set her favorite poem, Robert Frost’s immortal Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. I was deeply moved by her spirit and her request, and agreed to take on the commission. ![]() She wanted to commission a choral work from me that would be premiered by the Austin ProChorus (Kinley Lange, cond.), a terrific chorus in which she regularly performed. SLEEP MUDIC PROFESSIONALJulia Armstrong, a lawyer and professional mezzo-soprano living in Austin, Texas. ![]() In the winter of 1999 I was contacted by Ms. ![]()
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