Music for Healing

Art and music are both very big parts of my recovery program. I paint pictures as a way of expressing myself and working through my challenges. I write songs in the same way, pouring my heart onto the page and into the tape recording. Both of these art forms are avenues of self-expression for me, and they have helped me to discern what’s going on inside of me so I can get it out of me and into my latest inventory.

In the pages that follow, I will detail some of this work. Perhaps you will be inspired by my example, and consider using art forms in your recovery program.

Since the art is difficult for me to reproduce in these pages, I have provided links to my website, where the art is displayed.

Music for Recovery (The Healing Power of Music)

Music is a big part of my recovery program. Music heals my anxiety and restores my soul. Whether I’m playing it or listening to it, music is a vital part of my daily life. What follows is a presentation of the different types of music I use and how I use them.

Music for Listening 

Listening to music is a healing experience for me. I listen to it to heal myself from whatever anxiety or uncomfortable feeling I’m experiencing at that moment. I choose the music I listen to based on the healing I wish to take place.

There are certain pieces of music that heal me spiritually. There are other pieces that help me to release rage, as I have discussed previously in this book. When my soul needs repair, I put these pieces on and they cure me of whatever difficult feelings I am struggling with.

Here is a list of music I listen to and how it serves me. Some of the music listed is an entire CD and some of it is just single pieces. Much of this music, especially the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic pieces, is available on recordings from many different artists. There is a complete discography at the end of the book.

Music for Spiritual Healing

Bach:  Sonatas and Partitas for Violin

Beethoven:  The Late String Quartets

Brahms:  Complete String Quartets, Quintets and Sextets

Sarah Groves: Conversations

Handel:  The Messiah (There is a part of me that could live in Handel’s Messiahforever and never come out. That’s the truth.)

Haydn:  The Creation

Josquin des Prez: Ave Maria… Virgo Serena, Missa Pange Lingua, Mille Regretz

Mozart:  Requiem Mass in D Minor

New Camaldoli Hermitage:  O Day of Resurrection! Liturgy of the Hours for Sunday

Palestrina: Pope Marcellus Mass

Radiohead:  Kid A, OK Computer, In Rainbows, The Bends

Sibelius:  Violin Concerto in D Minor, Opus 47

Victoria:  O Magnum Mysterium

Wilson, Steven: The Raven That Refused to Sing

The music for spiritual healing is music that does just that. It revives my spiritual self. Bach, Haydn, Handel, and New Camaldoli Hermitage are music used as a form of worship.

Music for the Release of Rage

Linkin Park:Meteora (album),Hybrid Theory (album)

Marilyn Manson, This Is the New Shit (The Matrix Reloaded soundtrack),Rock Is Dead (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture, The Matrix)

Ministry:  Bad Blood (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture, The Matrix)

Rage Against the Machine:  Calm Like a Bomb (The Matrix Reloaded soundtrack)

Rob Zombie: Dragula (Hot Rod Herman Remix) (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture, The Matrix)

Un Loco:  Bruises (The Matrix Reloaded soundtrack)

With the music that I use to release rage, I either listen to it in my car, or put them on my iPod when I’m pounding and yelling on my punching bag.

Music for Playing

Playing music is a huge part of my life and is part of my recovery process. As I have noted throughout this book, playing etudes and partitas on my stringed instruments (violin, viola, and cello) is an activity that gets me relaxed and centered. Playing classical pieces on my classical guitar is also useful for this purpose.

I play and sing my own music, on either my electric or acoustic guitar, when I want to express myself and release tension, anxiety, or despair. It restores my soul every time.

Here is a list of music that I play on my stringed instruments to release tension, anxiety, or despair

Bach, Johann Sebastian. Six Sonatas and Partitas, S. 1001 – 1006, For violin solo, edited by Joseph Joachim and Andreas Moser, New York, NY: International Music Company, No. 516. (Partita in D Minor for Violinis one of my absolute favorites.)

Bach, Johann Sebastian. Six Suites for Violoncello Solo, Milwaukee, WI: G. Schirmer, Inc., 1939.   

Schroeder, Alwin. 170 Foundation Studies for Violoncello, New York, NY: Carl Fisher, 1916. (Warning: Not all of these studies are relaxing. Some of them are downright scary!)

Jerry Willard. Fifty Easy Classical Guitar Pieces, New York, NY: Amsco Publications, 2004.

Wolfahrt, Franz. Foundational Studies for Violin, books 1 and 2. New York, NY: Carl Fischer LLC, 2011.

Wolfahrt, Franz. Foundational Studies for Viola, books 1 and 2. New York, NY: Carl Fischer LLC, 2013.

Wright, Juliet. Beloved Album, all songs (For a list of song titles, their lyrics, or to pick up the CD, go to www.hiddenangel.net.) (These songs work great on acoustic or electric guitar. Sheet music not currently available.)

Wright, Juliet. Fearless Moral Inventory Album, all songs (For a list of song titles, their lyrics, or to pick up the CD, go to www.hiddenangel.net.) (These songs work great on acoustic or electric guitar. Sheet music not currently available.)

Playing my instruments always gets me relaxed, calm, centered, and breathing. Practicing improves my self-esteem and makes my inner children happy. Playing my instruments reminds me that there is still purity and truth in the world, and it puts me back in the flow of the Goodness of the Universe. Regardless of what’s going on in my life, playing my instruments and singing my songs always makes me feel better. I will always keep music in my life for my own self. I always feel better after singing my songs. That is God’s gift to me and I am grateful to God for His gift of music.