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JS Bach: where to start with his music
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The Music Of Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was called the immortal God of Harmony by none other than Beethoven himself. The composer’s music inspires a feeling of love, reverence and even spirituality.
His most popular piece of organ music is Toccata and Fugue in D minor, which is a soundtrack used in many movies. A popular wedding sound is Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring while a cigar company used Air on the G String in a primetime TV ad when TV could advertise such stuff.
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Johann Sebastian Bach: Early Life
- Born in 1685 in Germany, Bach was in a dynasty of musicians, though his mother and father died before he turned ten.
- Even as an orphan, he got into what he loved, starting with organ music as a court musician, composing for church services.
- This added a flavour of the devotion and love in his music at an early age. He started compiling instrumental music in Cöthen, moving away from his earlier style and using a more diverse range of instruments.
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Johann Sebastian Bach: The Finest Years
- Bach’s shifting to a cosmopolitan city in Germany resulted in a sort of serendipity that helped him compose his finest music like Magnificat, and about 200 cantata.
- He composed gems like Christmas Oratorio and two great gospel compositions for Good Friday: St John and St Matthew.
- Bach left incomplete a final collection called The Art of Fugue when he died in 1750.
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Bach: The Music Of Harmony
For many musicians, Bach is the ‘alpha’, a shared point of reference, a starting language of how music can be made, and how it can sound. His work is timeless and covered by countless composers, jazz players and patrons. In his instrumental works, his music had a sense of balance and harmony which is found in nature, in the trees, the moon and the sky.
Pieces like the Six Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin and The Well-Tempered Clavier provide a glimpse of the other shore of the universe. The works are precise, complete, and mathematically balanced. They feel satisfying after hundreds of years as they carry a theme where each repetition and transformation fits like a jigsaw puzzle. This was never repeated or fully emulated by any other musician ever since.
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Insomnia
- Thoughts and restlessness are a product of stress and worry and lead to a common problem: Insomnia.
- Being unable to sleep can cause further mental health issues like chronic anxiet...
Music And Sleep
Music of various minimalistic and calm genres has the ability to silence any sleep-preventing thoughts, with the positive distraction of music being safer and as much effective as a sleep medication.
Ambient beats, dreamy landscapes and delicate strains of the piano or the sitar (an ancient Indian guitar) naturally imbues positive mental states, infusing rhythmic color and emotions and creating hypnotic pulses that promote sleep.
A Sonic Environment To Doze Off
Though any slow music can promote sleep (provided it has around 60 to 80 beats per minute) classical music goes further and even impacts the ‘parasympathetic nervous system’ of the body, which is responsible for resting and digesting food.
Frédéric Chopin’s Nocturnes, 21 solo piano pieces that transform the mind into a dream state, are masterpiece compositions that even mimic the oncoming of sleep by ending without any ending, similar to how one never registers the exact moment one falls asleep.
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Health Benefits Of Music
Music has been shown to play a role in healing our bodies and increasing our health and happiness. Studies show that music relieves pain in patients, and also relieves stress and anxiety...
Limitations in the Findings About Music
- There is still ambiguity if listening to or playing the music causes the benefits.
- It is not known if stimulating or relaxing music is doing the healing.
- It is not known if the music is the person’s favourite music or of his liking, as opposed to something chosen by the experimenter.
- There are several other factors like a group playing vs individual playing of music, or a large random trial, which needs to be looked at in the future
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Music and work
Music and repetitive tasks
When a task is clearly defined and repetitive in nature, music makes it more enjoyable.
It isn’t the music itself, but rather the improved mood your favorite music brings that will give a boost in productivity.
Ambient noise
Moderate noise level can get creative juices flowing, but the line is easily crossed; loud noises made it incredibly difficult to concentrate.
Bellowing basses and screeching synths will do you more harm than good when engaging in deep work.