Today I have two stories of people who are big and bad. So  Sit down, relax, get Doritos and lets go.

First story comes from a couple weeks ago when I was with my friend who has a pretty sweet car (picture below). Well we were hitting up random businesses so he could apply for jobs cause he is a bum and needs money…. 

Well we were sitting in this parking lot when these two kids came over to strike up a conversation because they also had a pretty nice car. First off it was sort of random. But they started talking about there system and a bunch of other crap. Well some how we got on the conversation of how country music hits hard on there system and before we know it Taylor Swift came blasting out of their speakers.

You know your big and bad when you blast Taylor Swift (Even Kanye does that sometimes.)

 
I prefer Hartman’s car over my 98 ford escort any day.

Second of all you know when you really reach it as a big and bad bully when you get a brand new car. But you look a lot bigger, and a lot badder when you show it off right?? Duhhhhh!

So my friend and I were sitting outside of taco bell in the parking lot when we saw this new car pull in. The kid got out and went inside to get his burrito and tacos and came out about 5 minutes later. He saw us looking so he got in the car and backed out….and then decided to shove the gas pedal into the floor board and go 0-35 past us. Then he slammed on the breaks to gently go over the speed bumps. Oh yeah big man. You go real fast in your muscle car, yet you don’t have the muscle to handle speed bumps?

 
My social life.

I just realized both stories include me and a friend sitting in a parking lot………Wow I need a social life….

I am a 23 year old male, am currently on Adderal XR 30Mg bid, Xanax 1Mg bid, and Remeron at bedtime. I have been on Adderal XR for five years. (at 60mg) The last few months the pharmacy has given me (unbeknownst to me) generic adderal XR, and I noticed (without knowing it wasn’t the ‘name brand) a substantial change in my productivity and overall, an increase in ADHD symptoms. (honestly it feels like taking 30mg alone) And have finnally the last week, got out and old bottle of immediate release 30 Mg Adderal (not XR) and have taken 30mg(XR) AND 30mg (regular) in the morning and 30mg of the XR in the afternoon, and have done well. The doctor I am seeing has already lowered the xanx dramatically. (my other doctor had me on 4mg qid wich was a lot but I most days only took 2mg 2 or 3 times a day) And has sarcastically made comment about me being on “all the good stuff” and “great combination” I take he is very biased when it comes to sched. medications. Any way, I am very apprehensive to tell him about the Adderal problem as, I was doing great on 3mg of xanax and still he lowered it, I don’t want the same thing to happen with Adderal, If he did, I would be a more unfocused MESS. Also, I have been reading about Vyvanse. Is that possibly a good thing to switch to? (70mg bid?) (and what about 2mg xanax XR in the AM and 1 mg regular prn?) Does this seem like a logical request to ask a very closed minded doctor? (I can’t switch doctors for 6 months).

Your situation brings up many different issues that I think will be helpful to others.  Let’s start with the Adderall issue.  A number of months ago (can’t remember exactly when), Adderall went generic and everyone started getting “mixed amphetamine salts” instead of their brand name stuff.  Anytime this happens, there is a segment of the population that does not get the same benefits as they do from the brand name drug.  This switch to generic Adderall is no different.  I have received what I feel are credible complaints about it not lasting as long, “kicking in” too strongly, not getting the “boost” from the second half of the medicine, etc., etc. You identify the perfect scenario where you didn’t even realize that there was a change (they look very similar to each other).   The best solution for you would be to go back to the brand-only Adderall.  It worked for you for years and you had no difficulty with it.  You were not seeking more of it over time or playing with the dosages.  It will likely cost you more and your doctor may have to advocate for you (more about him later), but it would be the logical thing to do.  I would not switch to Vyvanse because Adderall was working for you in the first place.  Just go back to what worked.  I worry that Doctor Sarcasm would view a request to switch to Vyvanse as drug seeking, since Vyvanse is “the good stuff” now.

Now, the Xanax.  You don’t describe what role the Xanax has in your life.  Did you have severe anxiety in the past?  Has that been better lately?  Have you had the re-emergence of anxiety as the dose of the Xanax has been reduced?  These are all very important questions that need to be answered.  Most doctors (myself included) like to get people on the lowest possible dose of Xanax and, if clinically appropriate, off this class of medicine.  Xanax, in particular, has a nasty reputation of being addictive and abusable.  But the tapering of medicine should be clinically driven and not based on population based fear.  And it should never be accompanied by sarcasm.  You go to the doctor for help and advice.  If you want sarcasm, go talk to your family.  That is actually the most concerning issue raised by your letter.  Given how you seem to feel about the relationship you have with your doctor, I would say that 6 months can’t pass too quickly.  Try talking to him in a straight forward manner and address his sarcasm if he slips into that again.  You can try saying something along the lines of . . . “I hear by the tone in your voice that you don’t trust me with these medications.  I can assure you that I take only what is prescribed and only take these medicines to control my symptoms.”  Maybe the doc will listen, maybe he won’t.

Good Luck!

–Dan Hartman, MD

The following is the contents of the 1964 Programme, held by Bayan Northcott and photographed when I visited him.

[p 1]

Wardour Castle

Concerts and Lectures

16–22 August 1964

President Michael Tippett

Musical Director Harrison Birtwistle

Price 5’-

[p 2]

[map of Tisbury]

[p 3]

Contents

Acknowledgements                        4

The Composers and Artists            5

Programmes

16 August            Lecture            13

Concert            13

17 August            Recital            19

Concert            19

18 August            Lecture            25

Concert            25

19 August            Recital            31

Discussion            31

20 August            Recital            37

Lecture            37

21 August            Concert            41

22 August            Concert            41

[p 4]

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Headmistress, Miss C. B. Galton, and the Governors of Cranborne Chase School for kindly allowing us to use the Castle, both for the Concerts and the Summer School; and the following people for their invaluable assistance:

Mrs. M. I. Mackintosh

Honorary Secretary

Mr. H. O. Young

Honorary Treasurer

Miss G. Selby-Smith

Honorary Librarian

Mrs. T. Hetherington

Miss Caroline Philips

Mrs. R. Porteous

Mr. Michael Thomas

for the loan of organ and harpsichord

The Revd. C. J. Godfrey

for the use of Donhead St. Andrew parish church

The Ministry of Works

for the permission to use the grounds of the Old Castle

Cover Design and Book            Anthony Denning

Programme Notes                        Anthony Gilbert

[p 5]

Notes on the Composers and Artists

[p 6/7]

Harrison Birtwistle

was born in 1934; he studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music and subsequently at the Royal Academy of Music. He is now teaching music at Cranborne Chase School. His works include: Refrains and Choruses, performed 1959 Cheltenham Festival; Music for Sleep, a work for children; Chorales for Orchestra; The World is Discovered, performed at this year’s I.S.C.M. Festival; Entr’acts and Sappho Fragments, performed at this year’s Cheltenham Festival; and Three Movement with Fanfares, commissioned by The Worship Company of Musicians for this year’s City of London Festival

Peter Maxwell Davies

was born in Manchester in 1934, and studied  1952-57 at Manchester University, and Manchester College of Music; 1957-58, Italian Government Scholarship; studied composition with Petrassi in Rome. Director of Music at the Grammar School, Cirencester, and for the past 18 months he has been at Princeton, New Jersey. His works include: Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, 1955; Five Piano Pieces, 1956; Alma Redemptoris Mater, 1957; St. Michael, for wind instruments first performed at the Cheltenham Festival, 1957; Prolation, for orchestra, 1958; Five Motets for a capella choir, 1959; O Magnum Mysterium, for choir, instruments and organ, 1960. His Sinfonia was presented at the Cheltenham Festival by the English Chamber Orchestra in 1962

Anthony Gilbert

was born in London in 1934. He started to study music in 1958; harmony and counterpoint with Anthony Milner; composition briefly with Mátyás Seiber; then since 1959 with Alexander Goehr. Works include: a Duo for Violin and Viola, a Serenade for Six Instruments (commissioned by the S.P.N.M.); and a recently completed Mass for choir and brass.

Alexander Goehr

was born in 1932 in Berlin. Son of the conductor Walter Goehr. Was brought to England as a baby and educated. Studied composition at Royal Manchester College of Music with Richard Hall, and in 1954 was awarded a French Government Scholarship and student at the Paris Conservatoire with Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod. For some years taught at Morley College and now works part time at the B.B.C., and its chairman of the Society for the Promotion of New Music. Principal works include: Sonata for Piano, The Deluge; Cantata after Leonardo da Vinci; Suters Gold; Cantata on a text by Eisenstein; Violin Concerto; and Little Symphony.

Michael Tippett

was born in 1905, and at the age of 18 entered the Royal College of Music where he studied composition with Charles Wood and R. O. Morris, and conducting with Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Malcolm Sargent. In the early ‘forties he was the Musical Director of Morley College and was closely associated with Walter Goehr, who have many first performances of his music from this period. Works from this period were: Concerto for Double String Orchestra; an Oratorio; A Child of Our Time; and the First Symphony. In 1953 Covent Garden gave the first performance of his first opera, A Midsummer Marriage. In 1953 his second opera, King Priam, was given its first performance in Coventry, late at Covent Garden. This Piano Sonata to be played tonight was written shortly after “King Priam” and was given its first performance by Margaret Kitchin.

Hugh Wood

was born near Wigan in Lancashire in 1932. He started to study music when he was 22; academic work with Dr. Lloyd Webber and later with Anthony Milner; composition with Iain Hamilton and then with Mátyás Seiber. His compositions include: a set of variations for viola and piano; instrumental songs to texts by Christopher Logue; a trio for flute, viola and piano; quartets, the second of which was commissioned by the B.B.C. for the 1962 Cheltenham Festival. Several of these pieces have been broadcast. He has taught at Morley College for five years and also, latterly, at the Royal Academy of Music. He is married to the pianist Susan McGaw.

[p. 8/9]

Richard Adeney

wad born in London in 1920. He studied music at Dartington Hall and the Royal College of Music. He is now the principal flute of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra. Hs is unmarried and keenly interested in photography.

Lucy Berthoud

was born in Hertfordshire in 1942. Three years later she went to live in New York and there, at the age of 11, started to learn the flute with Ruth Freeman of the Julliard School of Music. When she was 17 she came to England and studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Derek Honner; in 1963-64 she went to Paris to study with Fernand Caratgé

John Carewe

was born in 1934 and studied with Roger Desormiere, Walter Goehr and Olivier Messiaen. For several years assisted John Pritchard with the Musica Viva Concerts in Liverpool, and has appeared as conductor with principal orchestras in this country. Is particularly interested in performance of new music and has given many first performances of works by young English composers.

Lamar Crowson

was born in American but completed his musical training with Arthur Benjamin at the Royal College of Music, with he is now professor of the piano. Among the many awards he has won are the Chappell Gold Medal, the Harriet Cohen International Medal and two first prizes for chamber music at the Munich International Competition. His is will known for his solo and chamber music productions.

Barbara Elsie

was born in Yorkshire in 1938 and at the age of 16 won a three-year Scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music in London. Her teacher was Winifred Radford, with whom she still works. Her oratorio repertoire is extensive and she performs regularly with principal choral societies in Great Britain. Since her first important engagement at York Minister in 1959 she has broadcast a cantata for her, and consequently she was invited to take part in the first performance of his opera “English Eccentrics,” which had u

Osian Ellis

was born in Flintshire. He started to play the harp at the age of 10 and at 17 he won scholarships which took him to the Royal Academy of Music, where he is now a professor. He has brought the harp into great prominence with his concert appearances, recitals and broadcasts, and he has taken part in most of the major European festivals. His performance of Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro with the Melos Ensemble was awarded a Premier Prix in 1962 by the French Society of Authors and Editors of Music. Ossian Ellis is an authority on Welsh Folk Music.

Emanuel Hurwitz

was born and educated in England. At the age of 14 he won the Bronislaw-Hubermann Scholarship for the Royal Academy of Music which was adjudicated by Hubermann in person. In 1939 he became the youngest member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra; he has played solos and obligatos with his orchestras and has always been singled out by the critics for his excellent performances. Since the war he has been leader of the Jacques Orchestra and is now leader of the English Chamber Orchestra. In 1954 he formed a string ensemble which has gained considerable success playing music of the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries. He has been a member of the Melos Ensemble since 1955.

[p 10/11]

Margaret Kitchin

was born in Switzerland and studied with Jacqueline Blancard. She has played all over Europe, giving recitals and as a soloist with all the leading orchestras, playing classical and many modern works in which she specialises. She has given many first performance of modern works, including the Piano Sonata by Alexander Goehr, and work by Ian Hamilton, Peter Maxwell Davies, Peter Racine Fricker, etc.

Susan McGaw

studied at the Royal Academy of Music where she son the Liszt Scholarship and many other prizes. On leaving she won a Caird Scholarship and one from the French Government, and studied in Paris for two years with Yvonne Lefébure Since returning she has played regularly in London and the provinces. She is a frequent broadcaster. He husband is Hugh Wood. They have a son and daughter.

Gervase de Peyer

was a scholar at the Royal College of Music and completed his studying under Frederick Thurston in 1958. He has played for many of the London symphony and chamber orchestras and is at present principal clarinet in the London Symphony Orchestra. He is well known as a soloist and has performed with nearly all the major orchestras in the country under many well known conductors. He has also appeared at many festivals, including Edinburgh and Holland. He has made records for Decca, H.M.V., l’Oiseau Lyre and Parlophone.

Neill Sanders

was born in London in 1923, son of violinist, and has a brother who plays the flute. He won an open scholarship to the Royal College of Music in 1939, after which he did a season with the Scottish Orchestra before becoming principal horn with the L.S.O. He spent seven years with Denniss Brian in the Philharmonia Orchestra and is at present co-principal in the B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra.

Michael Thomas

is at present recording concerts and making permanent recordings of music of keyboard instruments of exceptional historical importance on the continent and in England and Ireland. During the past few years he has recorded recitals on most of the famous old harpsichords, organs and clavichords. He is a person who has made the most thorough study of the technique, phrasing and ornamentation of old music and has, through his long experience and experiments with old instruments, learned how these techniques may best be applied to the old instruments that were used in historical times.

Terence Weil

studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where he won numerous prizes for Chamber Music including the Sir Edward Cooper prize. He was a member of the Hurwitz String Quartet until it disbanded in 1951. He has been principal ‘cello of many chamber orchestras but is at present free-lancing. He is a founder member of the Melos Ensemble.

[p 12]

[advertisement, Universal Edition, for the path to the new music by Anton Webern]

[p 13]

Sunday 16th August

5.0 p.m. Lecture

in the Assembly Room

8.30 p.m. Concert

in the Assembly Room

[p 14/15]

Music in Our Time

Lecture 5.0 p.m.

ALEXANDER GOEHR will lecture on certain aspects of contemporary music with particular reference to works being performed in the evening concert.

Concert 8.30 p.m.

Introduced by MICHAEL TIPPETT

A concert of contemporary English Music

Promoted by: Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Society for the Promotion of New Music

Barbara Elsie            Soprano

Margaret Kitchin            Pianoforte

Peter Maxwell Davies            Pianoforte

Richard Adeney            Flute

Gervase de Peyer            Clarinet

Neill Sanders            Horn

Osian Ellis            Harp

Emmanuel Hurwitz            Violin

Terence Weil            ‘Cello

John Carewe            Conductor

Three Piano Pieces, op.5            Hugh Wood

These pieces were written for my wife to play, the first for a Wigmore Hall recital in January 1961, and the whole set for a midday recital at the 1963 Cheltenham Festival. the first, Lento, consists of a long tune with rises to a climax, after which some introductory material is heard again. The second, Energico, is the longest of the three, a rondo with episodes and an introduction; the first episode features constant trills, the second is lyrical, in a slower tempo. The main theme appears in a different register each time. The third piece, Calmo, is very short, reminiscent in its materials, valedictory in its nature.

[p 16]

Monody for Corpis Christi Harrison Birtwistle

[lyrics reproduced in original]

The first movement is a simple arch whose main member is the vocal line (to which all other parts are embellishments and from which they may be said to stem). Its rise and descent are emphasized by the gradual addition of instruments from the beginning and their subtraction towards the end, and by the gradually increasing complexity of the instrumental episodes separating the couplets.

This movement leads without a break into an instrumental fantasia Quasi fanfara in contrasting sections, at first very short and static, then longer and more flowing, the whole serving as a transition between the different levels of tension of the two movements for voice.

The third movement follows without interruption and again the overall form is very simple. Each stanza grows in intensity towards its end; in between the two there is a brief instrumental episode ending with a flute cadenza.

Sonata for Piano Anthony Gilbert

This sonata was written in 1961-62 and was first performed by Margaret Kitchin at the S.P.N.M. Cheltenham Festival concert in 1962. There are three movements:

1. Vivace. The overall shape is that of classical sonata form with two contrasting subject-groups, a bipartite section of development in which each group is treated in accordance with its individual character, and an elliptical reprise and coda.

2. Cantilena is a simple, song-type movement in three sections of continuous variation. The middle section, characterized by a pedal, forms a central point of repose for the whole sonata, while the third part recalls the other two and has the function of a coda.

[p 17]

3. Scherzo. This opens with two contrasting motifs and the first part of the movement is concerned with their development and gradual integration. As they become more completely combined the section reaches a climax which triggers off Trio 1, a set of short variations on a rhythmic motif. After a short link using first-section material there follows Trio 2, which is free and rhapsodic in character, and has echoes of the first and second movements. The final section is a telescoped and varied version of the first.

Sonata No.2 for Piano Michael Tippett

This Sonata was written early in 1962 and first performed by Margaret Kitchin at the

Edinburgh Festival of that year. It is in one continuous movement.

Composed very shortly after the completion of “King Priam,” the sonata derives form from the dramatic structure of at opera, and some of its materials from the orchestral piano part. It constitutes a complete departure from normal sonata procedure in that there is virtually no development; the sonata grows by statement – the constant addition of new material and by variation and repetition of material previously given. Constant use is made of new materials and by variation and repetition of material previously given. Constant use is made of contrasts: contrasts of texture, contrasts of tempi and timbres and contrasts between static and dynamic. Towards the end the phrases and motifs get shorter and tension grows until the final page, which is a coda concerned with the elimination of the principal motifs.

INTERVAL (25 minutes)

Five Little Pieces Peter Maxwell Davies

(first performance)

The five little piano pieces were composed between 1960 and 1962.

Suite, op. 11            Alexander Goehr

This work was commissioned by the Aldeburgh Festival Committee for the Melos Ensemble who gave its first performance in June, 1961. The object was to produce a piece of light, serenade-like character with an important part for flute and harp. There are five movements.

The first is a quick movement in three main sections. The first and second of these alternate two sharply distinguished types of material in continually varied forms; the third in contrast is a flowing section for solo flute with string accompaniment. There are two repeats: the first section is played again immediately, and the second again after the third.

The second movement is an Intermezzo for harp in improvisatory style. The structural principle is the note-by-note changing of two superimposed chords by pedal shifts.

The third movement is a Scherzo. This is very lightly scored, being almost all in one part over a pedal. Of its two main motifs, the first on the ‘cello is recognisable as the clarinet motif from the first movement in equal notes. Its “head” is used throughout the movement as a sort of punctuation mark dividing sections. The Trio comes right at the end and is for the three stringed instruments only; finally there is an eight-bar coda on scherzo material.

The fourth movement is an Arietta for solo flute, backed by a horn pedal of three notes, with brief answering figures on viola, ‘cello and harp.

The finale is a true Quodlibet in which short blocks of material from all the previous movements are juxtaposed mosaic-wise. There are two cadenzas: one for flute on Scherzo material, and one for harp on Trio material. The whole is held together by a horn-call which recurs like a rondo-theme, and whose origins are revealed to the sharp ear on its final appearance.

[p 18]

[Advertisement for UE composers Harrison Birtwistle and Hugh Wood]

[p 19]

Monday, 17th August

5.0 p.m. RECITAL

in the Old Kitchen

8.30 p.m. CONCERT

in the Assembly Room

[p 20/21]

Early Organ Music            Recital 5.0 p.m.

Peter Maxwell Davies will introduce and play early music on a newly restored Snitzler organ. Works by: Dunstable, Taverner, Byrd, Tomkins, Gabrielli, Scheidt, Zipoli etc.

The Organ

The organ belongs to Peter Maxwell Davies and was made by Snitzler in 1768.

Snitzler’s soundboards have little pallets directly under the keys which are operated by a pin on the underside of the key, thus giving an extremely light and responsive touch. The disadvantage of this method is that the wind channels are small, so that it is only possible to play three or four rows of pipes at once.

This organ originally possessed an ordinary stopped Diapason 8’, and open Diapason 8’ which contrasted with it, a Dulciana with tongues and beards, and a very small scale, also 8’, and small Dulciana Principle: the effect was rather soft and lacked virility. The pipes were therefore transposed to give a stopped Diapason and Principle, and the Dulcianas became the 12th and 15th. In this way the incisive Snitzler tone was immediately regained.

Chamber Concert            8.30 p.m.

Melos Ensemble

Lamar Crowson            Piano

Gervase de Peyer            Clarinet

Emmanuel Hurwitz            Violin

Neill Sanders            Horn

Terence Weil            ‘Cello

Pianoforte Trio in F sharp minor Haydn

Haydn’s Piano Trios belong rather to his piano music than to that for string ensemble. The keyboard plays a dominant part in all of them and the use of the violin, and particularly the ‘cello, is held by some authorities to be optional. The first editions describe them as “Sonatas pour le piano-forte avec accompagnement de violon et violoncello,” and the violin rarely goes above 2nd position, the ‘cello merely duplicating the bass of the piano.

This interesting work is one of a group of three composed in or before 1795 and dedicated to his English friend, Mrs. Schroeter.

There are three movements, the first of which, a sonata allegro, is notable for its wealth but as it reaches the dominant cadence it acquires a minor flavour, providing an excuse to plunge straight into A for the middle section. The procedure in reverse brings back the tonic towards the end.

The Finale is a Minuet in F-sharp minor of great beauty, with a trio consisting of the same material transplanted to the tonic major. Without going beyond the canons of Haydn’s normal minuet procedure, it provided a most satisfactory ending to the work.

[p 22]

Six Little Piano Pieces, op. 19            Schoenberg

Light, tender

Slow.

Very slow.

Quick, but light.

Somewhat quick.

Very slow.

The first five of these pieces were written on 19th February, 1911; the sixth was written in June, just four weeks after the death of Mahler, to whom it constitutes a kind of epitaph.

Around this time perhaps more than at any other period Schoenberg was preoccupied with problems of form – particularly of finding more appropriate vessels for his rapidly evolving atonality. There is no doubt that he was struck by the aphoristic manner of Webern’s op. 6, and particularly of the violin pieces op. 7, to the extent of being impelled to see what possibilities the very short form held for himself.

In addition, in these little pieces we find him for the first time calling into question the traditional relationship between melody and accompaniment, and investigating the possibility of more interesting functions for the latter. So, for example, in Nos. 1, 2 and 4 it becomes merely an extension or feature of the melody, serving to heighten its expressiveness in various ways, and No. 6, the strangest piece of all, is concerned with the almost elimination of both elements.

Seven Sketches, op. 9            Bartok

These piano pieces were composed between 1908-10, and are, in a way, a diary of Bartók’s development as a composer in these years. The first ones reflect his early preoccupation with western mannerisms – particularly impressionism; the later ones show his growing interest in the folk-idioms of his own land.

1. Portrait of a Young Girl: to wit, Marta Ziegler, its dedicatee, whom he married in 1909. A short piece in ternary form, betraying the influence of, surprisingly enough, Busoni in its harmonic style and its treatment of material.

2. A Swing. Two motifs are used in alternation: the first a rocking, polytonal figure, the second a bagpipe tune in not quite a whole tone scale.

3. is dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Z. Kodály. The lack of title emphasizes Bartòk’s abandonment of impressionism; the piece is simply a rhapsodic melody unfolded in rubato-parlando style over an accompaniment of major tenths.

4. is another rhapsodic piece. After an 11-bar introduction a Hungarian-style melody is presented in varied forms over a florid accompaniment.

5. A Rumanian Folk Melody, and 6., a dance in the Valachian manner, are still closer to popular sources, and foreshadow the Bartók of Mikrokosmos.

7. In this piece, perhaps the most interesting of all the Sketches, brief modal phrases succeed one another with striking juxtapositions of tonality; there is a gradual metamorphosis to irregular rhythms and whole-tone scales, and in the long code to note-clusters.

Première Rhapsodie for clarinet and piano            Debussy

This piece was written in 1910 as a test piece for clarinet competitions at the Conservatoire at which it was Debussy’s duty to adjudicate. It was subsequently orchestrated (the style of the accompaniment seems to indicate that this was his intention all along) and in this form is said to have been regarded by Debussy as one of the most pleasing pieces he had written.

It is freely constructed (as befits a Rhapsody) from static blocks of contrasting material in three main categories: slow and dreamy, poco mosso and scherzando, sharply juxtaposed or joined by brief linking passages.

Four Pieces for clarinet and piano, op.5             Berg

These pieces were written in the summer of 1913, and are dedicated to Schoenberg’s “Society for Private Performances,” under whose auspices they were first played more than six years later. Their epigrammatic style is an untypical of Berg as Schoenberg’s op. 19, their obvious model, is of him.

1. The clarinet’s opening six-note figure is a skilful simultaneous exposition of all the motivic elements of the piece, which in any case all spring from the single governing principle of intervallic expansion. Its form is very simple – the piano and clarinet move in opposite directions to the central climax which is held for two bard and then quickly falls away to a code of static harmonies.

2. This utilizes the same motivic elements as No. 1 in a pianissimo conflict between two kinds of ostinato accompaniment in the piano and a simple melodic line in the clarinet. The climax is expressed without rising above p, simply being the point at which the conflict resolves in favour of one of the ostinati.

3. Another very quiet piece, falling into four sharply contrasted sections, the first two quick and nervous, the third slow and flowing and the fourth an elliptical reprise and headlong code to be played as quickly and quietly as possible.

4. This piece takes farther the idea inherent in No. 3. The contrasted sections, each characterized by a different ostinato, are again present (though the speeds are the reverse of those in No. 3); likewise the sonata-like reprise before the code. Now, however, in spite of the ostinato, the piece is not static: it is aimed at the explosive climax which ends the first part of the code. The coda proper is simply three bars of echo.

INTERVAL (25 minutes)

[p 24]

Fantasia in C minor, K475            Mozart

This piece, written in 1875 for his gifted pupil Thérèse von Trattner, is one of four Fantasias for the piano composed in Mozart’s later years. It was customary for him to precede performances of his sonatas with an improvised introduction in the same key; the present Fantasia, published by Mozart as a prelude to the Sonata K457, may be taken as a fairly close indication of the nature of these improvisations.

It is made up of five contrasted open-ended sections: the first Adagio, the second a D major episode in the same tempo, the third a stormy Allegro in two halves, linked by a brief cadenza to the fourth, Andantino in B-flat; the fifth is another stormy Allegro. The whole is rounded off by a recapitulation and code on first-section material.

The organization of keys is interesting. The first, third and fifth sections are unstable and constantly modulating, any affirmations of the home (or any) key being rigorously avoided. The second and fourth are anchor sections firmly in keys two removes [sic] from home on the dominant and the subdominant sides respectively – so that the acute ear may sense an implied tonic midway between. However, not until the final section is the home key reached and established.

Trio for Piano, Violin and Horn, op.40            Brahms

This is one of a group of works composed after Brahms’ resignation in 1864 as Director of the Vienna Choral Society. It is a very much a horn trio; the horn part is as it were the backbone of the work, and the character of all the melodic material is determined by its appropriateness to that instrument.

The first movement is an Andante of unusual design, with boldly planned key relationships. There are two balancing sections, each in two contrasting parts, organised as follows: Andante in E-flat (2/4 time); poco più animato in C minor and G minor (9/8); Andante in E-flat; poco più animato in E-flat minor and B-flat minor, leading to a final Andante in G-flat which modulates back to the home key at the final climax.

The Scherzo begins with a long (12-bar) upbeat to the principal motif, whose four bars of 2/4 rhythm in 3 contrast strikingly with the overall 3/4 pulse.  The whole of the first section is built up from the material of these first 16 bars – a secondary motif given out by the horn on the next page plays little part in the growth of the movement. The Trio in the subdominant minor is less exuberant and decisive in character; the melody owes its outline to the “upbeat” motif of the previous section. After 76 bars uninterrupted by any form of full cadence the Scherzo is given de capo.

In the third movement, Adagio mesto in E-flat minor, there are four sections whose exact symmetry and the economy of whose material are belied by the flowing, almost rhapsodic manner in which the music unfolds.

The Finale is a lively movement in sonata form, through whose many modulations the horn is handled with such adroitness that accidentals seldom appear in the part.

[p 25]

Tuesday, 18th August

5.0 p.m. Lecture

in the Assembly Room

8.30 p.m. Concert

in the Assembly Room

[p 26/27]

Quartet for the End of Time            Lecture 5.0 p.m.

Olivier Messiaen, the Man and His Music

given by Hugh Wood

Concert 8.30 p.m.

Members of the Melos Ensemble

Emmanuel Hurwitz            Violin [viola]

Gervase de Peyer            Clarinet

Terence Weil            Violoncello

Lamar Crowson            Pianoforte

Clarinet Trio in E flat K498            Mozart

Andante;

Menuetto;

Rondo – Allegretto

The year 1786 was a trying one for Mozart. He was heavily in debt, his newly completed Marriage of Figaro had been withdrawn after only nine performances, and he had lost his third son. Nevertheless in the space of only six months he managed to turn out eight masterpieces, of which this Trio is one. It was written for his friends Francisca Jacquin and Anton Stadler with Mozart himself playing the viola part.

The unusual choice of instruments gives a mellow, closely-knit ensemble capable of considerable expressive power, and it was no doubt with this possibility in mind that Mozart made the first movement an andante rather than an allegro, almost – but not quite – discarding the sonata in favour of the song-form. The movement grows continuously from the motif in the first bar, and very little other material is introduced,

The second movement is a vigorous Minuet with a Trio effectively contrasting the timbres of the clarinet and viola in dialogue.

The theme of the final Rondo springs from a fragment of the “2nd subject” in the first movement. Little important music is given to the viola in the first section, in order to heighten the effect of its striking C-minor entry in the second episode. Save for a few bars of A-flat melody in the central part, its rôle is secondary until nearly the end, during a final brilliant reworking of the Rondo theme.

[p 28]

Four Impromptus, op. 142            Schubert

This is the style under which, mainly for commercial reasons. Schubert published the first of four piano sonatas written during the last 10 months of his life. And although undeniably a sonata of sorts, there is a certain looseness about its construction which suits its new name better.

For instance, in the first movement, Allegro moderato, there is an F-minor first subject and an A-major second subject, but where we might expect a development there is a longish passage of new material which moves into all sorts of interesting keys but does not grow. This innovation is taken a step further when the passage is reintroduced in the recapitulation, and at last Schubert’s scheme – a simple binary form – becomes apparent.

The second movement, Allegretto, is a Sarabande and trio going hand in hand with the first movement in key and character.

The third, Andante, is a set of variations on a tune from Rosamunde.

The finale, Allegro Scherzando, is in clearly defined ABA form, but the manner of organising the material in the outer sections gives it certain Rondo characteristics. It is perhaps the most imaginative of the movement. Cross-rhythms abound, the harmonic structure is striking, and the lead back from the central to the final section is magical.

INTERVAL (25 minutes)

Quatuor pour la fin du temps Olivier Messiaen

“And I saw another might angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was on his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet were as pillars of fire… and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the earth… and standing upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his head to heaven; and he swore by him that liveth for ever… that time shall be no longer; but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God shall be finished…” (Apocalypse of St. Jonn, Chapter X).

Conceived and written during my captivity, the Quatuor pour la fin du temps was first performed in Stalag Villa on 15th January, 1941, by Jean le Boulaire (violin), Henri Akoka (clarinet), Etienne Pasquier (‘cello) and myself on the piano. It was directly inspired by the above quotation from the Apocalypse. Its musical language is essentially immaterial, spiritual, catholic. Modes which, melodically and harmonically, realize a kind of tonal ubiquity, being the listener nearer to eternity in space or the infinite. Special rhythms, not bound by regular metre, powerful serve to put the temporal at a distance. (All this is but mere tentative stammering if one thinks of the overwhelming grandeur of its subject).

This “Quartet” is in eight movements. Why so? Seven is the perfect number, the six days of creation sanctified by the divine Sabbath; the seven of rest extends into eternity and becomes the eight of undecaying light, of unalterable peace.

1. “Liturgy of Crystal.” Between three and four in the morning, the birds awaken: a blackbird or solo nightingale improvises, surrounded by a fine sprinkling of sound, a halo of trills lost high in the treetops. Transfer this to the religious place, and you have the harmonious silence of heaven.

2. “Vocalise, for the Angel who announces the end of Time.” The first and third parts (very short) evoke the power of this mighty angel arrayed in cloud with a rainbow upon his head, who places one foot upon the sea and the other foot upon the land. The “middle section” depicts the impalpable harmonic of heaven. Gentle cascades of orange-blue chords on the piano surround with their distant carillon quasi-plainchant recitatives on violin and ‘cello.

3. “Abyss of the birds.” Clarinet solo. The abyss is Time, with its sadness, its wearinesses. The birds are the opposite of Time; they are our desire for light, stars, rainbows and paeans of jubilation.

4. “Interlude.” A Scherzo, more extrovert in character than the previous movement, but linked with them, nevertheless, by a number of melodic “reminders.”

5. “Praise to the Eternity of Jesus.” Jesus is considered here as the Word. A long ‘cello phrase, infinitely slow, magnifies with love and reverence the eternity of this might and gently Word, “whose years shall never be exhausted.” Majestically the melody spreads out, into the tender and sovereign distance. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”

6. “Dance of fury for the seven trumpets.” Rhythmically, this is the most characteristic piece of the set. The four instruments playing in unison take on the sound of gongs and trumpets (the first six trumpets of the apocalypse following by various catastrophes, the trumpet of the seventh angel announcing the consummation of the mystery of God. Use is made of added values, augmented or diminished rhythms, and non-retrogradable rhythms. Stone music, formidable granitic sound; the irresistible movement of steel, enormous blocks of purple fury, glacial drunkenness. Listen above all to the terrible fortissimo augmentation of the theme with its notes all changed in register which comes towards the end of the piece.

7. “A confusion of rainbows, for the Angel who announced the end of Time.” Certain passages for the second movement return here. The almighty Angel appears, and so, particularly, does the rainbow which he wears (the rainbow, symbol of peach, goodness, and of all vibration in light and sound). In my dreams I hear and see groups of chords and melodies, known colours and shapes; then after this transitory phase I move into the unreal and experience with ecstasy a whirling and mingling together of superhuman sounds and chords. These fiery swords, these torrents of blue-orange lava, these sudden starts: these are confusions, these are rainbows.

8. “Praise to the Immortality of Jesus.” A broad violin solo, acting as pendant  to the ‘cello solo of the 5th movement. Why this second praise? It is addressed more particularly to the second aspect of Jesus, to Jesus the Man, to the Word made flesh, returning immortal to give us His life. It is all love. Its slow climb to the heights is the ascension of man towards his God, of the child of God towards its Father, of the beatified creatures towards Paradise.

– And I say again what I said above: “all thus us but mere tentative stammering if one thinks of the overwhelming grandeur of its subject.’

(Notes translated from score by Anthony Gilbert)

[p 30]

At the age of 56, Olivier Messiaen is almost certainly the most distinguished composer working in Europe today. He was born in 1908 at Avignon, song of a Shakespearean scholar and a poetess. He entered the Paris Conservatoire when he was only 11, and there studied the organ under Marcel Dupré, theory under Maurice Emmanuel and composition under Paul Dukas. At 18 he won the first prize for counterpoint and fugue, and he went on to win first prizes for piano accompaniment, organ playing, improvisation, music history and composition. His first mature work was, like so much of his later output, for the organ: Le Banquet Céleste, written in 1928. The Eight Preludes for piano followed in 1929: it was on the recommendation of Dukas that they were published. In 1931 he was appointed organist at the Great Organ of Holy Trinity, Paris. Other works of these years include Les Offrandes oubliées, L’Ancension, the Theme and Variations for Violin and Piano, and the Nativité du Seigneur cycle for organ. In 1936 he appeared as the leader of a group of young musicians calling themselbes “La Jeune France,” the other being André Jolivet, Daniel Lesur and Yves Baudrier. In this year also he was appointed professor at the Ecole Normale and at the Schola Cantorum. Works 1936-39: Poemes pour Mi, Chants de terre et de ciel, and the Corps glorieué for organ.

Messiaen enlisted at the beginning of the war and was taken prisoner during the fall of France in 1940. It was in a German prison camp in Silesia that he wrote the Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1941). This work was the harbinger of the most prolific period of his career. He was repatriated to occupied France and then wrote the Visions de l’Amen for two pianos, for Trios petites liturgies de la Présence Divine (the first work of his to become widely known after the war), the immense piano work Vignt regards sur l’Enfant Jésus, the similarly large-scale song-cycle Harawi, and then his chef d’oeuvre the Turangalila Symphony. This was written in 1946-48 and has been performed many times all over Europe and in America since its first performance in Boston in 1949. In 1953 and 1954 two performance took place in London, conducted by Walter Goehr. The work has recently been recorded.

On his return to France, Messiaen had been appointed professor of harmony at the Conservatoire, and before the end of the war a lively group of young pupils had gathered themselves round him, including the 19-year-old Pierre Boulez. The title of his appointment was changed in 1947 to that of Professor of Aesthetics, rhythmic studies and of the analysis class; a wider range of pupils now included Karheinz Stockhausen, Jean Barraque, Yannis Xenakis and Gilbert Amy. During the years 1947-53 Messiaen gave classes at various musical centres, including Budapest, Sarrebruck, Tanglewood and Darmstadt. His Quatre Etudes de rhythme for piano was begun on Darmstaft in 1949, and this work has had a great influence on composers of the Darmstadt circle. Other works of this time: Canteyodjaya for piano; the Cinq Rechants for choir; the Messe de la Pentecote for organi; Le Merle Noir for flute and piano; and the Livre d’orgue.

During the last 10 years Messiaen’s name has become well-known all over the world and his importance recognised as one of the sources of new musical thought. Latterly his works are even to be heard in England, where in particular his organ music now received regular performances. A recent group of works springs from the composer’s lifelong preoccupation with bird-song: the Réveil des oiseaux (1953) for piano and orchestra; the Oiseaux exotiques (1956) for piano, wind ensemble and percussion, and the piano work Catalogue d’oiseaux (1959). More recent still is Chronochromie (1960), an important work for large orchestra, and the Haikai for piano and clarinet solo and chamber ensemble (1962).

Hugh Wood

[p 31]

Wednesday, 19th August

5.0 p.m. Recital

in the Old Kitchen

8.30 p.m. Discussion

in the Assemble Room

[p 32/33]

Flute and Harpsichord

Recital 5.0 pm

Lucy Berthoud            Flute

Michael Thomas            Harpsichord

Suite in D Major            Rameau

Sonata in B Minor            J. S. Bach

Ordre in B Minor            Couperin

Sonata No. 6 in E Minor            J. S. Bach

Rameau and Couperin

Couperin (Le Grand), 1668-1733. His music for clavecin was called “Ordres,” another name for suite. They were published between 1713-30 with varying numbers of movements, some with 10 or 15 and the longest 23. He was a master of a musical miniature and pieces include portrait studies and nature sketches, e.g. Les Tricoteuses and Les Petits Moulins a Vent.

Rameau, 1683-1764. He was the most prominent figure of his day in French opera but won fame in all musical arts including writing for the clavecin in which he followed Couperin. Picturesque titles of his music for harpsichord include La Poule and Les Tourbillons.            G.S.S.

Flute Sonatas J.S. Bach

Bach wrote six flute sonatas, the first three have a fully written up part for the right hand of the harpsichord and can, therefore, be regarded as trio sonatas with the harpsichord playing the solo melodic part as well as the base. No. 1 in B minor has a long first movement marked andante in which the flute and the harpsichord alternate in a long melodic line and, of course, often play the two subjects against each other. Indeed both subjects are played together in the very first line. The faster semiquaver subject can really be regarded as two parts in quavers, as is so common in much of Bach’s music, which looks like a single part. It contains no harmony but tonic and dominant till the third bar. The harmony changes abruptly when a chromatic movement is introduced. This is, of course, developed in the course of the movement. The middle section of the movement is a much lighter subject in quick moving triplets. This is perhaps the longest and one of the most beautiful movements in all the Bach sonatas. The 2nd movement, a largo, is really a development form the siciliano but considerable complications and additions have arisen in the rhythm by the second bar. The 3rd movement is a short movement marked presto and starts with a canon with the harpsichord following the flute nine bars later. This time there is a chromatic climbing movement. The movement is in the form of a fughetta without cadence to the end. The last movement is a jig but of the highly developed type and note suitable for dancing in so far as the first beat of the three semiquavers instead of being an articulated down beat is actually a sustained syncopation in the very first bar. Again this contains a canon but it is at the unison pitch instead of at the 5th, the harpsichord entering in the fourth bar. Bach’s flute sonata No. 6 begins with an adagio but which is a completely expressive work and it would be difficult to say that it was closely related to any of the dance movement but bears more resemblance to a slow movement by Quantz. The 2nd movement is allegro in straight-forward binary form and in the Italian style. The 3rd movement is again a siciliano. The 4th movement is allegro again in binary form.

[p 34/35]

The Harpsichord

While engaged in restoring harpsichords, Michael Thomas became interested in two types of this instrument, which seemed to him to be particularly fine: one being the Italian and the other the French type.

After much experimenting independent of any specific model, Michael Thomas constructed this instrument in which he has sought to incorporate the best qualities of each type.

He uses the light construction and small bridge found in the Italian model, thus giving it simultaneously a deep hollow resonance and an enormous harmonic range; and by bending the wood of the curved side only as far as it will naturally and easily go, he has obtained the depth of tone of the French instrument. A clear attack on each note is achieved by the use of quills for plucking the harpsichord.

Opera Today            Discussion 8.30 p.m.

Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael Tippett

Chairman: Harrison Birtwistle

Opera Today

Michael Tippett’s activities in the operatic field are already well known to all. His two works for the stage, dating from 1952 and 1961 respectively, for which in both cases he was his own librettist, are among the most striking and original contributions to opera this century.

Peter Maxwell Davies has for the past two years been working on his first opera, based on the life of John Taverner, and now nearing completion.

Alexandr Goehr began, and abandoned, his first opera some years ago. Its subject was the Women of Troy, and a fragment survives in the orchestral work Hecuba’s Lament. His activities in recent months as musical director of various stage productions at the Mermaid Theatre have resulted in his increasing absorption with music on the stage, and he has recently been commissioned to write an opera on the play Arden of Feversham.

[p 36]

[advertisement for Schott’s composers: Banks, Blomdahl, Davies, Franciax, Fricker, Gilbert, Goehr, Hamilton, Hartman, Henze, Hindemith, Huber, Nono, Orff, Rainier, Schoenberg, Schuller, Searle, Seiber, Stravinsky and Tippett.]

[p 37]

Thursday, 20th August

5.0 p.m. Recital

in the Assembly Room

8.30 p.m. Lecture

in the Assembly Room

[p 38/39]

Matinee for Erik Satie            Recital 5.0 p.m.

Susan McGaw            Piano

Four songs without words Mendlessohn

F sharp minor op. 19, no. 5

B minor op.67, no. 5

F minor op. 62, no. 3

A minor op. 38, no. 5

1st Gymnopedies Satie

3rd Gnossiemme Satie

Vieux sequins et Vielles Cuirasses Satie

Passion Sonata no. 6, A major            C. P. E. Bach

Allegro

Adagio

Allegro

Pieces friod 1st set            Satie

Airs a faire fuire Satie

Three songs without words Mendelssohn

G major op. 62, no. 1

D major op. 85, no. 4

A major op. 102, no. 5

Erik Satie: 1866-1925

The amount of discussion of a non-musical nature aroused by Satie’s eccentricities led people for many years almost to forget he was a musician; now, with the arrival of new eccentrics on the musical scene, most people have even forgotten Satie the lunatic. Even when, at the age of 54, he suddenly found himself hailed as leader of the Parisian avant-garde, it was less as a musician than as High Priest of a new aesthetic cult devised by Cocteau that he was worshipped, and rarely at any period since his death have any but a dwindling number of devotees taken the trouble to disregard the funny words and listen simply to his music.

This is a pity, because although undeniably a most interesting character in many ways, it is in the light of his contribution as a composer pure and simple that he new deserves to be considered.

Maybe he never produced a large-scale masterpiece, and maybe his influence is not as profound or as far-reaching as other influences this century; nevertheless, musically he is a true original, and the best of his work has a timeless quality that puts it in another category altogether from all the bizarrerie.

His was a fairly prolific composer, the bulk of his output being for the piano, either solo or duet, and this portion of his work contains his best and most characteristic pieces. Few of them are long; most are in groups, generally of three; and quite often, like the Gymnopédies and the Sarabandes, they are just three ways of looking at the same idea.

He had a way of anticipating points of technique in other composers by some 15 or 20 years. In his earlier piano pieces are to be found harmonic innovations used much later by Debussy and Ravel; slightly later pieces gave Stravinsky his mechanical accompaniment figures, and in later ones still, in particular the “3 Valses du Précieux Dégoûté” and the 20 “Sports et Divertissements,” his masterpiece, we find utilizes Messiaen’s techniques of incantatory repetition and the systematic juxtaposition of brief unrelated phrases.

The groups of pieces we are to hear this afternoon are among his best-known and least-known works. The Gymnopédies were published in 1887 and quickly achieved popularity; Vieux Séquins et Vielles Cuirasses (1914) belongs to a period of advanced buffoonery through which Satie went during the years following his celebrated return to the Schola Cantorum

[p 40/41]

Lecture 8.30 p.m.

Musical Characterization in Mozart Opera

with particular reference to Don Giovanni

Stephen Pruslin, Princeton University

Friday, 21st August

8.30 p.m. Concert

at Old Wardour Castle

Saturday, 22nd August

8.30 p.m. Concert

at Donhead St. Andrew Parish Church

[p 42/43]

Concert 8.30

Nocturnal

A concert in the open air* of English and Italian echo-music from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for brass and voices.

Given by: Gabrieli Ensemble and Choir conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Goehr.

Music by: Maschera, Isaac, A. and G. Gabrieli, Locke, etc.

* Under cover if wet

Concert 8.30 p.m.

Participants Concert

A concert given by the participants of the summer school

Conductors: John Carewe, Michael Tippett

Morgengesang C. P. E. Bach

Symphony Haydn

Sequentia Sanctia Evangeli Secundam Lucan, in illo Tempore XXII 14-20 Peter Maxwell Davies

(first performance written for the summer school)

Fantasias Gibbons

For these concerts a more comprehensive programme will be available on the day.

Sorry for the lack of writing folks, I been biiiiiiizzzzzzzzzyyyyyyy!

I am proud to announce that I am an official TMS provider!  My NeurostarTMS machine was delivered the first week of November and I spent the better part of last week being trained on how to use it in real-life situations.  From a professional standpoint it is awesome.  For the standard psychiatry part of my practice, the most technically challenging aspect of the day is clicking the top of my pen so I can write prescriptions.  Using TMS is a whole other world.  For those who have little understanding of what TMS is (which I would guess is most of you since this is brand new technology), it involves stereotactically mapping out the part of the brain that sends signals to your right hand, and then using those coordinates to estimate the location of the prefrontal cortex that would be most likely to cause mood improvement if subjected to a series of magnetic pulses.  The machine itself is amazingly awesome in how it is set up to make this doable.  That fact that it works to help people who are suffering feel better?  I cannot describe how that makes me feel.

The persistent suffering of my patients with non-responsive depressive symptoms is very difficult.  I am very skilled at not letting their sadness become my sadness, but I develop a very nice relationship with these people over time and it IS sad for me to see them suffer.  I have depression in my family, so I know first hand how frustrating it is for patients and their families to spend month after month not getting better.  I know how my decisions with the medicine can impact on lives and families and make or break them.  To have a new hope to give these people . . . brings tears to my eyes.  I have one patient already receiving active treatment and I have several more who are in the pipeline ready to start by the end of the month.  I will let you know how things go over time.

So, I’ll be back to writing soon.  I still have organizational issues to address to get TMS fully integrated into my practice.  If you want to learn more about TMS, go to the company website and see for yourself . . .www.neurostartms.com.

–Dan Hartman, MD

Dear American Airlines,

Wow we’ve been through a lot lately.  So many miles and so places we’ve traveled together.  You have been such a great airline for the past year.  I have been patiently waiting for my Elite Status to kick in so I can further experience the luxury that I know you can provide.  The anticipation of my most recent flight into LAX made me finally realize what a great airline you really were until this happened….

I mean…what could I have possibly done to you for you to tie my new bag to the luggage cart and drag it across the tarmac?  After all we’ve been through and thats how you treat me?  Was it part of your plan to have this happen on the day I graduate to Gold Status?  Did economy class put you up to this?  Are they jealous because I no longer have to sit in those tiny seats and wait in those long lines?  I mean all you had to do was come and talk to me about it.  Not destroy my bag.  What really tears me apart is that you made me have to deal with this inside of LAX.  I don’t think you could have put me in a worse place.  They dont want to help me in any way.  In fact they sent me on my way only to call you later.  I had to make the walk of shame to my car as the Chauffeur  and my colleagues are having a chuckle because my bag won’t roll straight and my clothes are hanging out.  Thanks American.

After calling AAdvantage I hear that you will take a look at my bag to see if it needs to be repaired or replaced.  I thought it might be beneficial for me to show you some pictures before you get my bag so you can go ahead and make your decision so I can get back to traveling.

Since all the zippers are gone I could not fly my clothes back home so I had to get a Loaner.  At my surrise you had one Large Hard Shelled Samsonite bag left for me.  You charged me $18 to have my loaner bag delivered to my hotel since I didnt have a car.  Why should I pay your delivery fee if you destroyed my bag?  I got to the airport only to realize I now have to pay to check my destroyed, GAFF taped, empty bag to get it home.  Right when time comes to pay….You surprise me with the waived bag fees and the Upgrade because I finally reached Gold Status!  Gosh American….My clothes made it home in the loaner but I’m going to hang on to that guy until I get my “replaced” bag.

Susan, in Baggage Claim at RDU, has assured me my bag will be replaced and delivered to my door.  She wrote me a check for my $18 and off went my crippled bag to be inspected.  So I ask you American Airlines, are you going to stand up and show what your made of, or are you going to have to make me start flying Southwest?

Sincerely,

A concerned customer

A former patient wrote this to check in with me . . .

As a former patient of your practice, what are your thoughts on treatment resistant depression?  Anything new or in the pipe line?   At present I am doing well with Pristiq ,lithium, and Depakote. I am also involved in a sleep study with a blind trial of rozerem with a Doctor at a local hospital. Best of luck to you. You should start writing a book by now.

First off, it always warms my heart to hear from former patients!  Thanks for taking the time to view my blog and to ask a very good question (great segue!!).

Managing treatment resistant depression (TRD) is one of the more challenging tasks for us in the mental health world.  But as challenging as it is for me . . . it is far more difficult for the patient who is living it . . . and their family.  It is near impossible to change how you feel when you feel as bad as you do with TRD.  The people around you feel so dis-empowered and, in many cases, progressively more angry, at your “lack of trying” or your “lack of caring”.  It is true that when you are at your worst, you feel like you don’t care and you may not try . . . but that is because of how impossible a task it seems.  When you are in the depths of your depression, you might as well be asked to pick up a truck.  Can’t do it.  Can’t smile . . . can’t laugh . . . can’t get out of bed.

Very scary for those around you who care about you.  They can feel hopeless and helpless.  Confused and angry.  And hurt.

So what is there to offer these days.

First off, how about just good basic treatment.  Even that can be in short supply at times!  It is vitally important that people get good basic treatment.  This would include solid trials with medicine (enough medicine for long enough) AT THE SAME TIME as you are getting good therapy.  Good basic treatment would also include combination treatments with complementary antidepressants, neuroleptics (Abilify is the most common agent here), lithium or thyroid hormone.  With everyone’s physiology being different, it is impossible to predict what is going to work for a particular person.  Sometimes things just click in and life is good again.  Sometimes, it is unsuccessful trial after unsuccessful trial.  Frustrating.  And potentially deadly.  Under treated depression is a potentially lethal disease that must not be minimized.  Any

In the past, repeated medication failures would indicate a need to consider ECT . . . Electro-convulsive Treatment . . . shock treatment.  The mention of this invariably scares the tar out of anyone who hears that it might be the only way out of severe depression.  Visions of Jack Nicholson getting shock treatment in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest are hard to get out of your head.  The stories of memory loss and cognitive impairment (a very real risk with ECT) has to make one consider if muddling along feeling like crap would be better than plugging in to ECT.  I have personally been an advocate of ECT for severe treatment resistant depression, and have told my wife that I wanted it if I was ever in a position of being severely depressed to the point of incompetence.  But now there is a new option.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) has been in use in Europe, South America and Canada for years.  It has been shown, when done carefully, to improve about half of the patients who have failed previous medication trials and bring a third of the patients to remission.  REMISSION.  Wow.  That means ALL BETTER.  And, it has virtually no side effects.  No memory issues.  No cognitive issues.  Just better.

It doesn’t get better than that.

Not everyone benefits from it, but the treatment is specifically for patients who have failed all conventional trials.  It is expensive still, because insurances are slow to pay for new treatments.  The company who has gained approval of their machine (Neuronetics) has a great patient advocacy program that tries to get approval through the insurance company and, if that fails and the patient has the treatments, tries to get reimbursement.  They have been successful in a handful of cases.  That is a start.  There are also financing plans in place to help people get the treatment while they wait for the insurance companies to get on board.

So, as an FYI to my wife . . . if I ever get severely depressed and am not coming out of it . . . I’ll take TMS, please!

–Dan Hartman, MD

PS     I’m working on the book!

I noticed another fellow talked about being on 3 mg on klonopin for 15 years. For me, it’s been about .5 to .75 mg per day for 14 months but I have still been unsuccessful coming off of it. Do you recommend using acupucture and meditation during a slow taper? I also take 60 mg. of celexa. Should I ask my psychiatrist to put me on an SSRI that is stronger or at least different to help with my k-pin weaning?

When I read your question . . . my head is filled with . . . why . . why . . . WHY????

Why did you go on the Celexa?  Why is the Celexa dose 50% higher than the typical maximum dose? Why go off the Klonopin?  Why have you been unsuccessful coming off?  Much of the answers to these questions centers on why you are on the medicine you are taking.  I must take some liberties and assume some facts here.  I will assume that you had a primary diagnosis of Major Depression that was accompanied by some anxiety.  I will assume that you got good resolution of your symptoms with the above medicines.  I will assume that you are tired of being on so much medicine and now want to wean off.  As I look at the regimen you take, my concern is not that you are on the Klonopin, but that the dose of the Celexa is so high.  Why is that?  There are certainly times where that aggressive approach is warranted, but not usually.  Too much of an antidepressant can, at times, precipitate MORE anxiety and feelings of edginess.  That could, perhaps, be at the root of your difficulty getting off the Klonopin.  If you are stable and doing well on the medicine, the first step might be to lower the Celexa down to a normal dose and then try to titrate off the Klonopin.  I will also remind you that some people just do better on Klonopin.   The doses you are using are modest, so unless you have a particular reason to come off (getting pregnant, wanting to drink alcohol, etc), there is no specific reason that you MUST come off.  I shy away from the view that Klonopin is a “bad” medicine that must be minimized at all costs.  It’s badness is really dependent on how the person taking it uses it.

Another factor that must be considered is what is your diagnosis.  If you had a strong history of anxiety before you had Depression (or developed it as part of the depressive complex), it could be that you will have persistent depression that could be addressed with medicine.  Sometimes the antidepressants work alone to do this, sometimes we NEED to use benzos.  While most antidepressants will work for most people, some do respond better to one than they do to another.  No way to predict this.  You mention a “stronger” antidepressant . . . ain’t no such thing.  It is not about one being stronger or weaker.  It is just about one working better for YOU.

Here is what I’d suggest.  First, have a planning session with your doctor about what you want to do and why.  Get him to outline steps to take and then you must stick to those steps without fail . . . or at least make no changes without re-consulting him or her.  It sounds like your primary desire is to get off the Klonopin.  Any taper should be exceedingly slow since you have been on the medicine for a long time.  I would go down by no more than .25 mg every month.  Your antidepressant dose should be no more than the maximum recommended dose (to avoid overstimulation).  If you cannot reduce the dose of Klonopin without getting anxious, put the dose back to the last comfortable dose.  You can then switch to a different antidepressant (the choices are many and you would have to work that out with your doc).  Once you are stabilized on the new antidepressant, try to wean down on the Klonopin again . . . very slowly.

Ultimately, if your experimentation leads you to conclude that the Klonopin is a must to keep you from feeling anxious, you must decide if you really need the antidepressant.  If the Klonopin is needed for anxiety, the only reason for the antidepressant is for depression OR to help keep the dose of Klonopin down.  You might, in the long run, do quite well with only a  low dose of Klonopin on board.  In any case, you will need to be patient.  You have been on the medicine for a long time and getting these adjustments made might take many months or even a year or more to figure out.  Work out with your doc your ultimate goal and stick to slow methodical steps toward this goal.

–Dan Hartman, MD

As a psychiatrist . . . as an empathic person . . . it is very difficult to hear stories like the one listed below:

My heart is broke and i Feel I will never leave this deep black dark hole that I cant escape… Im tearing up heavily as I write this message… Ive been on 50 different types of medications it feels like the past 4 years and im only 25…. no one understands… and as much as they think they do.. they dont….. I am taking myself off all my medications by weaning myself off… there is no point in being on them and still experiencing all the symptoms that i would as if i was not on them.. I feel defeated,, my only hope is in jesus christ, some sayy well its a chemical imbalance and I know it is, but i cant take these meds anymore.. i have failed over and over, though Im not giving up it seems failure still follows right behind me. with poor commitments , poor job history, poor relationships.. Im seriously heartbroken…………

Treatment resistant depression is a crushing illness for those people unfortunate to experience it.  People with seriously debilitating medical illness can still take solace from friends, family, activities, etc.  Not so if you have severe unremitting depression.  You feel very, very alone, and you tend to push people away so, for many people with this illness, you really are alone.  I have yet to hear of a “Beef and Beer” being thrown to help encourage and support someone with psychiatric illness.

The numbers for depression are staggering.  In a study done in 2003, Kessler et al. found that 14 million adults in the us experience an episode of Major Depression.  Of those, only about half (7.2 million) received treatment.  Of that 7.2 million who received treatment, only 3.2 million received adequate treatment.  If you extrapolate data from the STAR*D study (that is the “Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression” study–the nation’s largest depression treatment study) to this population, you get some scary numbers.   In the STAR*D study, only 67% of the patients reached clinical remission.  So, by those estimates, 67% of 3.2 million . . . or 2.1 million . . . got better.  Roughly 2.1 million out of the 14 million US adults who get depression receive adequate treatment and respond to that treatment.  That’s 15 %.  Pitiful.  Can you imagine the outcry if only 15 % of the 23 million adults with diabetes got adequate control of their symptoms.  Or if 15 % of the 1.5 million victims of heart attack reached remission of their symptoms.  It would not be tolerated.  With mental illness, however, the silence is deafening.  This lack of attention and lack of adequate treatment is why Major Depression is expected to be the second highest cause of human disease burden worldwide by 2020.

So, what are our options?

1.     Clearly we who experience or treatment mental health issues must stop being embarrassed by the illness and stand up for recognition and adequate treatment.  With the current battles going on in Washington, DC about health care, how many of you have contacted your Representative or Senator to urge them to make adequate mental health coverage mandatory?  If not, go to www.usa.gov and click on “contact elected officials” and let them know how you stand on this issue.

2.     Get yourself educated.  Or, if you cannot because of your illness, get a family member to be your advocate for you and attend some of your doctor’s appointments with you if at all possible.  The mental health system in this country is not good and you have to be savvy and on top of your treatment.  People bring family members to appointments regarding cardiac issues, diabetes, and irritable bowel disease all the time . . . because they need the support and the guidance.  Having an educated  someone go with you to the med check or evaluation can be equally vital to treatment.  If the doc is not willing to allow that . . . get a different doc.

3.     Make sure your med trials make sense.  Remember those numbers at the top of this blarticle????  Of the 7.2 million people who got treated, 4 million . . . more than half . . . received inadequate care.  It is vital that depression be aggressively treated.  One of the main causes of treatment failures is not getting enough medicine for long enough.  That can be from intolerable side effects or it can be from inadequate prescribing.  The end result is the same . . . persistent symptoms of depression.

4.     Use of adjunctive agents.  More and more, combination pharmacotherapy is able to help patients achieve improvement in their symptoms.  That can be innovative combinations of antidepressants or addition of augmenting agents such as lithium, thyroid hormone or second-generation neuroleptics.  Again, the more educated you can be, the better you will be to discuss these options with the doctor.

5.     Do all the right things . . . eat right . . . get enough sleep . . . exercise . . . pray or meditate . . . stimulate your mind . . .

6.     Get yourself a good therapist that is going to listen to you . . . work with you . . . and kick your butt when you need it kicked.  Too often we allow ourselves to fall into a pattern of negative behaviors that promotes our depression.  It takes a great deal of courage and a great deal of help to confront those patterns.  A good therapist is worth their weight in gold.

7.     Innovative approaches.  When all the right things are done . . . some people continue to have significant symptoms of depression.  For that population, we would, in the past, prescribe ECT.  That can work well for some, but can have very significant consequences for others with long term cognitive issues.  It is also a time-consuming and potentially hazardous invasive medical procedure.  But it was all we had until . . . Vagus Nerve Stimulators.  That was a bust, as far as I am concerned.  I tried to get several patients approved for it without success.  And the cost was prohibitively high (tens of thousands of dollars for the procedure) and the outcome was still questionable.   And it was very invasive (wrapping an electrode around your vagus nerve and implanting a pacemaker-like stimulator in your chest).  And NOW . . . . . . . . . . . we have TMS . . . Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation . . . which has been present in Canada and elsewhere for years, was approved by the FDA for a company called Neuronetics which developed a TMS system that proved effective for the treatment of Major Depression that did not respond to one adequate trial of an antidepressant.  More on that another time.

So, to the writer of the letter above, I do not know what the quality of your treatment has been . . . but my guess is that there continue to be other options available for you, but you must be open to these options . . . and you may need to get yourself some help in attaining these options.  My thoughts and best wishes go out to you.

–Dan Hartman, MD

45 seconds into this clip my boss realizes how awesome I am. Its kinda funny too so stop hating and press play!

He creado esta bitácora (blog) para identificar los descendientes del hermano de mi abuelo polaco, George Hartman. Después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, el hermano de George Hartman se mudó a Brasil o a Argentina. Es triste para mí tener esta rama de mi familia en el olvido, y es mi esperanza que esta bitácora me ayude a reconstruir su historia. En entradas próximas, pienso poner más información y hasta fotografías. Ojalá, con el tiempo, algún Hartman encontrará este blog…

En cuanto a mí, soy profesor de literatura latinoamericana en EEUU, y mi nombre es Christopher.

As time goes on, I become more fond of Vyvanse as a medication for my patients with ADHD.  As my loyal readers know, I am very hesitant to jump on the pharmaceutical bandwagon and I view all new products with great skepticism.  Especially when they are re-hashes of old medications as many of the “new” meds for ADHD are.  In recap, Vyvanse is just Dexedrine.  Dexedrine is one of the oldest products on the market for treating ADHD symptoms.  It fell into great disfavor (in certain circles) because of it’s abuse potential.  In the 1970’s and 80’s it was clearly the choice for too many people for weight loss, avoidance of needed sleep, and study-binges.  It’s use was frowned upon and it became unusual for psychiatrists to use it for their patients with focus and concentration issues. Which is a shame.  There is a segment of the population that only responds to and/or tolerates a dexedrine based product.  Those kids then received less than adequate treatment.   Over time, however, attitudes change and prescribing practices change and . . . most importantly . . . the pharmaceutical industry comes out with a new product.  Like Adderall.  

The wonder drug.  

(At least for Shire!)

With the advent of Adderall on the market, use of dexedrine based products shot up exponentially.  As you may remember, Adderall is a combination of four amphetamine salts (equal amounts of Dextro-amphetamine Saccharate, Dextro-amphetamine Sulfate USP, Amphetamine Aspartate Monohydrate and Amphetamine Sulfate USP).  It was followed quickly by the emergence of Adderall XR (imagine that) which is, to this day, my most commonly prescribed stimulant product.  Because it is good.  Works for most kids and adults (tho’ not all) and is very well tolerated (by most, but not by all).  In comparison, Vyvanse is a “simpler” medication.  It is a single agent (Dextro-amphetamine) attached to a lysine molecule (an amino acid) that is removed in the gut.  Once the lysine is removed, the Dexedrine can be absorbed.  Simple . . . simply ingenious . . . but simple.

In my arsenal of medication for ADHD, I use Vyvanse for those people who do well on Adderall but do not tolerate it due to mild to moderate side effects.  So those kids who’s appetite is too impaired, feel jittery and wired, feel “not themselves”, etc., often do quite well with a simplified product (which is what Vyvanse is).   The development of Adderall was, after all, a trick to get us to use dexedrine again.  It is nothing new.  Just a reformulation and a nifty delivery system.  The fact that it works comes as no surprise to me.  I guess I should be more surprised that more people don’t have difficulties with it.  It is bad enough when we give a single moiety to a patient, let alone a combination of four.  I think that it is the only product on the market that DOES come as a combination of four agents.  (There are lots of ‘double’ agents such as Symbyax, Vytorin, etc).  Seems to me it would increase the likelihood that a patient would not tolerate one of the agents.  By moving to Vyvanse, I am providing a significant simplification of the medication regimen to the patient.  The primary impediment to this is the insurance companies that want me to use something else that has been on  the market for a while before using Vyvanse (which is relatively new).  So I end up going to a Ritalin based product such as Concerta or Metadate.  Which is not the best for the patient . . . but something I do not control.  I certainly anticipate that, over time, there will be more use of Vyvanse as more docs become more comfortable with it as a product.  I know that my comfort level with it is quite high and I feel it is one of the better products out on the market at this time.

–Dan Hartman, MD

So how about yesterday (7/29) a few friends of mine and myself went to McDonalds in North Lima (because us classy folk hang out at McD.) Anyways we were a group of 3 guys and a girl (sounds like a sitcom don’t it?)  And we were just sitting in there. At the same time another group of 3 fags guys and a slut girl (who smelled a little fishy before she even ordered a fish sandwich) walked in and was acting like jack ass’s and well we were sort of dissing on that group pretty bad.

Anyways my one friend Corey (Who got laid off and goes places with a jar of pennies because paper money is to rich for him) goes up and orders some french fries and waits 5 minutes because they are morons. they delicately handle each fry with love and calories.

He gets them and comes back, while the other group continues to be a disgrace to the classy taste of McDonalds and starts shit with the workers.

We were actually behaving very well. Anyways that group left and hung out in the parking lot. (Fags.)  Shortly after they left the manager came over to us (I think manager, but by the looks of it, she also worked as a food tester.)

She started screaming at us and accusing us of ordering ice water and throwing it on the floor, and being “aggressive” towards the workers (which is bull shit). Later on Corey’s friend who works there texted him and said they would call the cops if we returned. 

But the point of this post is we are douche bags, and they were clearly profiling us against our douche baggery. And profiling is wrong damn it! lmao. Plus how can we be “aggressive”? We are the opposite of intimidating.

Whose more likely to be aggressive?

 
The other thuggin group. (Not pictured is slut girl)

            or……………….

Corey who is scared of the world.
 
Hannah who holds bunnies as a hobby

 
Yours truly.

Okay never mind. Beast is more intimidating then all of them. Get em Pyatt! LMFAO haha.

Dave Duarte:  Doing what you love with an online business.

Heidi Schneigansz:  Search Engine Optimisation

Justin Hartman:  Afrigator & Gatorpeeps.

Matthew Buckland: Incubating online innovation – the 20FourLabs story.

Adriaan Pienaar:  The Experience Web:  Why customer service can make or break a startup.

Marlon Parker:  Using social media for social change.

Andrew Rens:  Open Source:  Co-operative creativity in the knowledge economy.

Tyler Reed:  Mobile is it.

In the hustle and bustle of family life, it is inevitable that conflicts and arguments will occur from time to time.  The more kids you have, the more this is likely just because of the sheer number of personalities involved (but small families are hardly immune!).  This can be particularly difficult to manage for “the sandwich generation” . . . that group of us who are stuck between grown kids and our own parents and siblings.  We can get treated as “kids” by our parents . . . treated as an idiot by our siblings and considered a moron by our children.  It’s a wonderful life!  Trying to please everyone all the time is an impossibility.  Trying to maintain a sense of peace within yourself is equally difficult.  We in our middle age have a distinct advantage over our kids, however, in that we can see how family dynamics play out over time.  We can see . . . because we have lived . . . how small arguments and conflicts can grow into huge rifts that, over time, alienate sections of a family from each other.  We have lived the pain of this.  We have seen how brother and sister end up not speaking and how that leads to cousins not speaking and how all involved (and those on the sidelines) end up experiencing a tainted version of day to day living.  

Is this how your family is?  Is this the way you want it to be?  I put this question to the middle age crowd out there because you are the ones who are mature enough and experienced enough to see the big picture.  Kids (and I count most of you who are below the age of 30) don’t have the distance to see the big picture.  It is also a rare kid who will put their own interests and intentions secondary to a siblings (they are still vying for the emotional power that attention from mom and dad affords).  That leaves it to you to set the tone.  Our elder parents are often not psychologically sophisticated enough, or energetic enough to step in and create sweeping changes to difficult family dynamics.  It is up to you.

What I would suggest is that you put an end to your collusion with the petty arguments that your kids are involved in.  In the big scheme of things, most of the arguments don’t mean dookie.  Will it matter 100 years from now who insulted who at some party.  Will it matter 100 years from now if a debt is not repaid.  Not really . . . unless someone’s fragile ego or someone’s sense of what is right and what is wrong is so injured that communication is stopped.  Then, as noted above, cousins won’t know cousins . . . and someone will be eating Christmas dinner alone.  Is it really worth it?  Would you refuse to go to the funeral of your sibling . . . or of your sibling’s child . . . if your sibling said something that made you mad . . . or did something that really bothered you?  If you could forgive then . . . why not now when there is still time reclaim your relationship?  As Ronald Reagan said . . . ” my 20% enemy is still my 80% friend”.  If you are going to be alienated by something that is said by someone who is important to you . . . you are going to end up being alone.  ’Cause EVERYONE will eventually piss you off.  That is just fact.  As humans, we tend to blunder through our relationships and make mistakes.  If we are not willing to apologize . . . and accept apologies . . . we are sunk.

Forgiveness is oil for the machinery of friendship.  

Without it relationships grind to a halt.

I would encourage you parents out there to insist that HOME is a safe place.  Sometimes the kids live at home.  Some are out in the world and only visit occasionally.  Regardless, the family home is neutral territory.   Conflicts and arguments that come up are discussed peacefully or put to the side during family events.  It is about spending time with each other and reminding each other how important we are too each other.  It is about maintaining those relationships despite our human blunders.  And, ultimately, it is about being humble enough to understand that we all make mistakes and we all need a double dose of forgiveness.  

MANIFESTO DELLA FAMIGLIA

In questa casa, la pace regnerà supremo

In this house, peace shall reign supreme.  All are welcome and no one shall be excluded.  Differences of opinion that will lead to argument are left at the door.  Disagreements are managed with words of kindness and support and we treat each other with respect.  Mistakes shall be forgiven, errors shall be overlooked . . . for we all make mistakes and errors in our daily lives.  All will be given what they need to the best of our abilities.  Score will not be kept.  Sides will not be taken.  Forgiveness will be served in abundance, as will love . . . laughter . . . kindness . . . and peace.

–Dan Hartman, MD

I have long searched for new and different ways to settle my mind down and to remain centered and grounded.  In my work with people who are decidedly NOT grounded, it is imperative that I maintain my focus.  This is important not only for the welfare of my patients but also for my ongoing mental welfare as well.  But long before I was a shrink, I was a seeker of knowledge.  One who was always on the prowl for titbits of knowledge and wisdom.  Some I found through my practice of standard religion, but I have also been open to wisdom from other sources as well . . . the tao te ching . . . A Course In Miracles . . . Castaneda . . . Chopra . . . wherever I can find it.  Putting this knowledge into practice is another issue, tho’.  The many things I want to accomplish each day vie for my attention and, if I am not very careful, meditative time for myself is left to last . . . and then does not get done.  For me, meditative practice MUST occur before the start of the day.  If not . . . won’t happen.   I was recently sent an email from a site my wife turned me onto called the Urban Monk (www.urbanmonk.net).  It was another case of “right place/right time” and I have found it very helpful.  It, combined with some other recent influences, led me to this particular entry which has at it’s core a list of affirmations that I found very inspiring.   I have recently been encouraging my family members to slow down and to do some regular meditating.  I intend to give this particular entry to them and encourage them to follow through with this.  At the bottom of this entry, I have added relevant links to the Urban Monk and to a set of CDs put out by Jon Kabat-Zinn that I think are the best for teaching meditative practices.  I encourage all to slow down . . . and keep exploring and keep learning.

TRY THIS . . .

Sit in a comfortable position.  Either on a chair or on the floor.  There are no rules here, just be comfortable.  Sometimes a little bit of stretching beforehand can help you feel more at ease and relaxed.  Once you have found a position that is comfortable, do the following simple breathing exercise . . .

     1.     Close your eyes and begin to pay attention to your breathing.  

     2.     When you are ready, start counting your breaths.  With every breath in . . . one . . . out . . . two . . . out.  

     3.     With every count in, allow yourself to feel more relaxed and peaceful.

     4.     Count up to 50 breaths.  When you find you have wandered in your thoughts (and you will . . . expect it), start back at the number you can last remember.  It doesn’t matter if you are wrong.  There is no test and no right and wrong with this.

     5.     When you get up to 50 breaths, open your eyes and read the following affirmations either aloud or quietly to yourself.  Whichever is most comfortable for you.

AFFIRMATIONS:

I make the conscious choice to be free, and to hold my freedom as a priority, not to be compromised.

I take full responsibility for my happiness and know that it is never dependent on anyone or anything outside of myself.

I prefer my essential and intrinsic happiness to the temporary fulfillment of desires.

I value my inner peace more than I do winning, defending my identity, proving my point, or reactivly expressing momentary emotions.

I refuse to be reactive, and to let my emotions be controlled by others.

Anger does not guide my hand.  Fear does not inhibit my action.  Desires do not govern me.

Attachments do not bind me.

I do not engage in self defeating behavior.

I accept that which I cannot change.

I have no need to control or possess others.

I do not depend on others for validation or approval.

I allow others the freedom of being themselves, without judging them or attempting to change them.

I can forgive others because I understand that we all act according to our current level of consciousness and understanding.

I am complete in the present moment and therefore do not look to the future for fulfillment.

I am free to give love, without conditions or expectation.

I know that my identity is self defined and self imposed.

I see the impermanence of all things and so do not cling unnecessarily to them.

I realize that all perspectives are fragmentary and incomplete.

I allow others to be free by dropping all demands and expectations of them.

I learn from the past, but do not allow it to interfere with the present.

Though I cannot always control my thoughts, I can control which ones I pursue and give energy.

I understand the difference between what exists in thought and what exists in reality.

I see that if my thoughts have no correlative in physical reality that they are little different than imagination.

I know that all answers lie within and that they can only be obtained through experience.

I will help anyone that I can, knowing that ultmately the responsibility is theirs alone.

I realize that, when I become disturbed, that nothing is missing.  Instead, something has been added and is obscuring my inherent peace and stillness.  That my attention has deviated from the present moment.

I am a light unto myself.

BREATHE

     1.     When you have completed the affirmations, repeat the breathing exercise that you started with, counting again up to 50 breaths.

In completion . . .

I challenge all of you who read this (and myself as well) to do this every day for the next 30 days and see what difference it makes for you.   Write to me and let me know what you have witnessed in yourself.  As I mentioned above, I did not write the affirmations listed above and am just passing them along.  I encourage all of you to go to the source for this and read the entry on the Urban Monk entitled “A Light Unto Yourself/In Case Of Emergency”.  It was originally written by John J. Patton and is very good.  In addition, I have given a link to an excellent set of CDs by Jon Kabat-Zinn that teach meditation better than any book or CDs I have come across.  I am especially fond of the “series 2″ CDs and would encourage all to get those as well.

http://www.urbanmonk.net/777/a-light-unto-yourself/

http://www.mindfulnesstapes.com/

Have a peaceful and happy week.

–Dan Hartman, MD

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