idealawg

Listen to the cicadas of 2013

The sound of cicadas on the east coast. Click to listen. (Above is a photo I took of one of the gang.)

Note: You can hear the sound of a landing plane in the middle of this short recording but mostly just the cicadas singing (or whatever they do).

Note (added June 3, 2013): Article on the cicadas "17-year cicadas create a buzz in some Va. neighborhoods" (Washington Post). Click to listen to them in another of my recordings from Manassas, Virginia.

 Note (added June 9, 2013). Here are some haiku poems written by Matsu Basho about cicadas.

Nothing in the cry
of cicadas suggests they
are about to die

Calm and serene
The sound of a cicada
Penetrates the rock

Lonely silence, 
A single cicada's cry 
Sinking into stone

Atul Gawande on how professions produce top-level performers and the difference between coaching and teaching

I've been away for a bit due to the illness of a family member, and hope to be back blogging more often soon.

Today I am happy to post the link to a talk by Dr. Atul Gawande; his presentation, given to Harvard Graduate School of Education, is titled "The Difference Between Coaching and Teaching." From the School Web site:

On Wednesday, October 24, HMS and HSPH Professor Atul Gawande applie[d] his observations from the fields of sports, music, schools, and medicine, to a discussion of how different professions produce top-level performers.

Enjoy his talk. Click to learn about Dr. Gawande's book The Checklist Manifesto.

H/T: Farnam Street.

Denver lawyers: Want to learn how to be more mindful by making music?

Many times, I have blogged about the benefits of mindfulness and meditation (see here and here). I wrote "Move From Being a Mindless Lawyer To a Mindful Lawyer" for The Complete Lawyer. And I maintain a Web page with resources related to mindfulness in the law: ContemplativeLawyers.com. Now I am writing to see how many of you would be interested in an activity that is a bit novel.

Last spring, I purchased my first harmonica and was immediately impressed with how much one has to be in the moment to play well, or even play at all. Then I recently I took a clinic with musician Ronnie Shellist and again thought that playing this little rectangle with holes requires mindfulness.

What a coincidence to talk after the class with Ronnie and learn that he too finds the harmonica an excellent instrument of mindfulness! Later he and I had coffee to explore further this topic. And I had an idea . . .

Would any of you like to attend a short presentation with Ronnie to learn about mindfulness and the harmonica? I was thinking we could have this program at one of the regularly scheduled meetings of Colorado Contemplative Lawyers Society (i.e, the third Tuesday evening of one of the upcoming months), or we could find another time and date. Right now, I just need to know the interest.

To that meeting you would need to bring a harmonica; some are available for less than ten dollars on Amazon. On the agenda might be discussion of whether some of us would want to meet regularly and learn to really play the mindful harmonica. The main goal for this meeting though would be mindful fun!

Let me know if you are interested by e-mailing me.

After 2-week mediation with Gail Killefer, George Clinton and Black Eyed Peas resolve their dispute

George Clinton accused Black Eyed Peas (more here in the Washington Post) of using part of one of his songs in their "Shut Up" without permission. Their two-week mediation resulted in a resolution. I was happy to notice that the mediator Gail Killefer and I both have attended intensive conflict resolution training with Gary Friedman.

Country song an inspiration for new book on storytelling

As a fan of country music since I was a small child, it pleases me when someone who "hates" country is shocked to be moved by a song of that genre. For example, many of my friends who don't like country are nevertheless moved by this song.

I have been looking forward to reading The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human (review of the book) and my face broke out in a big grin when I learned that "Stealing Cinderella" was a major reason the book was written. From Amazon:

What inspired you to write this book?
I was speeding down the highway on a gorgeous autumn day, cheerfully spinning through the FM dial, and a country music song came on. My normal response to this sort of catastrophe is to turn the channel as quickly as possible. But that day, for some reason, I decided to listen. In "Stealing Cinderella," Chuck Wicks sings about a young man asking for his sweetheart's hand in marriage. The girl's father makes the young man wait in the living room, where he notices photos of his sweetheart as a child, "She was playing Cinderella/ She was riding her first bike/ Bouncing on the bed and looking for a pillow fight/ Running through the sprinkler/ With a big popsicle grin/ Dancing with her dad, looking up at him. . ." And the young man suddenly realizes that he is taking something precious from the father: he is stealing Cinderella. Before the song was over I was crying so hard that I had to pull off the road. I sat there for a long time feeling sad about my own daughters growing up to abandon me. But I was also marveling at how quickly Wicks's small, musical story had melted me into sheer helplessness. I wrote the book partly in an effort to understand what happened to me that day.

Many country songs are stories. Here are a couple of my favorites for you:

• "A Father's Love (The Only Way He Knew How)"
• "The Walk"
• "Love Without End, Amen"
• "That's My Job"

Weather permitting: Clinic in Denver with legendary David Amram Saturday, Feb 4

Tomorrow, February 4, at noon, David Amram will be giving a clinic in south Denver with one of the Colorado Jazz Workshop combos. If you are interested in attending, email me for details.

From Wikipedia:

David Amram (born November 17, 1930) is an American composer, musician, conductor, and writer. As a classical composer and performer, his integration of jazz (including being one of the first noted as an improvising jazz French hornist[1]), ethnic and folk music has led him to work with the likes of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Willie Nelson, Langston Hughes, Charles Mingus, Leonard Bernstein, Sir James Galway, Tito Puente, Mary Lou Williams, Joseph Papp, Arthur Miller, Miles Davis, Arturo Sandoval, Stan Getz, Pete Seeger, Elia Kazan, Odetta, Lord Buckley, Dustin Hoffman, Steve Allen, Machito, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Allen Ginsberg, Nina Simone, Gregory Corso, Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman, Hunter Thompson, Johnny Depp and Jack Kerouac throughout the course of his career.

Click to read the rest.

Swing dancing in Denver: Enjoy all the physical and mental benefits—and have fun

Did you know Denver has a swing dancing scene? If you are an accomplished swinger, a middling dancer of the jitterbug, or someone wanting to learn a new, pleasurable way to get in your aerobic exercise for the week, come to the Mercury Cafe. Colorado Jazz Workshop big bands will be swinging there on the following dates:

• Feb 5-Monday Big Band
• April 8-Saturday Big Band
• May 20-Wednesday Big Band

Swing lessons will be available on each date; cost is $9; time is 8 to 11 PM.

And just in time for the gigs, a terrific article by Brad Weissman about the history of swing, and about swing dancing in Denver. From "Swing it!" (EnCompass):

Denver is an ironic place in which a new swing boom might take place, as it almost killed “King of Swing” Benny Goodman’s career right before his big national breakthrough at Los Angeles’ Palomar Ballroom on August 21, 1935. Former Elitch Gardens proprietor Jack Gurtler told Denver historian Corrine Hunt, “Benny Goodman bombed in Denver!”

In the early 1930s, there were two basic kinds of jazz, broken down along racial lines. For black audiences, there were the adventurous, virtuoso sounds of artists typified by the brilliant inventions

In this program, neuroscience meets jazz, mindfulness, and improv

Click to watch "The Present Moment: Explorations from Music and Neuroscience" presented on PortalWisconsin.org. (Or here at Wisconsin Public Television.) Early in the program, Professor Richard Davidson (or Richie as he is known by friends and colleagues) flashes on the screen this quote, one I deeply appreciate:

And the faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, and will. No one is compos sui if he have it not. An education which should improve this faculty would be the education par excellence. But it is easier to define this ideal than to give practical directions for bringing it about. William James, The Principles of Psychology, 1890.

The program is described at the Web site:

Richard Davidson, the Director of the Lab for Affective Neuroscience at UW-Madison, and Ben Sidran, a renowned musician and author, explore the relationship between the brain and music. Their lecture and discussion includes a jazz performance, featuring Sidran, his son Leo, and Billy Peterson. Steve Paulson from Wisconsin Public Radio moderates.

The program was originally broadcast on Wisconsin Public Television's University Place. Watch University Place--a virtual lecture hall with presentations on science, economics, environment, conservation, public education, health, art, culture and more--on WPT's Wisconsin Channel. Visit wpt.org for more information.

Duration: 1 hr. 32 min.

"Music therapy for depression: it seems to work, but how?"

We read frequently that depression strikes lawyers in troubling numbers. Wonder if anyone is using music as a treatment measure?

From "Music therapy for depression: it seems to work, but how?" (British Journal of Psychiatry):

Summary
Evidence is beginning to emerge that music therapy can improve the mental health of people with depression. We examine possible mechanisms of action of this complex intervention and suggest that music therapy partly is effective because active music-making within the therapeutic frame offers the patient opportunities for new aesthetic, physical and relational experiences.

Excerpt:

Colorado Jazz Workshop performance at Dazzle—July, 2011

I took several clips of the CO Jazz Workshop Saturday PM Combo as they played July 26, at Dazzle in Denver. Click to listen.

• Solo by Paul Collyer
• Solo by Edd Nichols
• CO Jazz Workshop Saturday PM Combo
• Solo by Edd Nichols
• Solo by Michelle Wagner
• Solos by Michelle Wagner and Richard Sierzant
• Solo by Richard Sierzant
• Solo by Edd Nichols
• Solo by Rich Forsberg
• Solo by Frank Rabbio
• Solo by Edd Nichols
• Solo by Rich Forsberg
• CO Jazz Workshop Saturday PM Combo
• Solo by Paul Collyer
• Solo by Edd Nichols