Kay Gardner Concert

By Susan Woodward

Kay Gardner is one of the founding mothers of women's music, and her wonderful concert here Octc er '11 confirmed her place in the roots of that music. Her style and presentation are an excellent representation of the tenets of women's culture. More than a concert, her performance had elements of a workshop that drew the audience into her process as a musician. The presence of the Cleveland Women's Choir also confirmed her commitment to the collective talents of women..

In the first set she briskly set the tone and mood of the performance. She played with the piano, demonstrating the possibilities of the instrument beyond sitting down and playing. She invited the audience to help her create her improvisations by suggesting 5 notes in a sequence. She also asked for and got descriptive phrases and moods to use as material for improvisations. She led the audience in a droning exercise while she again did flute work. Her skill and dexterity with two flutes and the piano made the improvisations seem effortless. She closed the set with a piece from Emergence, her most recent album.

The performance continued in the same vein after intermission. As a performer Gardner's accessibility

to the audience was total; no question or comment was too insignificant or personal for response.

Again, she asked the audience to provide improv material and percussion on one number by using keys from their pockets. The climax of the second set was the performance of the Cleveland Women's Choir. These fourteen women had rehearsed hard and long for this performance, and their poise and familiarity with the material showed. Two beautiful songs with an encore floated through Harkness Chapel. The expert accompaniment of Mudslide and Rainsong on

Healing and Music Workshop.

By Randi Powers

Historically women have been healers. Witches practice their religion and healing in accordance with the natural cycles of their bodies and of nature now as they did in ancient times. In a music and healing

photo by Lesley Rogan

workshop, flutist performer Kay Gardner presented Sappho's and Pythagorus's music and healing theories to 75 woman and one man. Kay Gardner pointed out that colors, musical notes and chords

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relate to moods, parts of the body and healing. She also discussed the relation between women's 28-day menstrual cycles and the cycles of seven found in nature. According to the theories of Sappho and Pythagorus, colors correspond to the seven notes in a musical key. Each has a particular wave length and causes various sensations in different regions of the body.

Some women present were knowledgeable healers; others were just learning and curious to hear more about the concept of healing and music. We warmed up by humming different notes in accompaniment to Kay's flute to feel different pitches resonating in different parts of our bodies. We felt and looked at people's auras, the magnetic energy flow which surrounds every bit of matter, especially our bodies. It is an experience to learn that heat is generated more at injured parts of one's body and to actually feel that heat! As a group we observed volunteers' auras (as they were set off by a white background) and dis-

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oboe and piano added an extra depth to the harmonies.

As an opening concert for Oven Productions, Kay Gardner has set another landmark for Cleveland audiences in the history of fine performances. Her integrity, musicianship, and spiritual commitment to women shone through her performance. For those of us who waited for years for Kay to come to Cleveland, the wait was well worth it.

cussed what we let ourselves see. Women who were under a lot of stress in their lives and women who were leading centered lives had very different auras. Since the auras of women with less stressful lives are sometimes cone-shaped, Gardner speculated on the traditional image of witches wearing pointed hats.

in the unhealthful state I was in that day (sore throat, swollen glands), anything I could have done to feel better would only have been temporary. At one point, people with throat or chest ailments lay down and were encircled by the healthier people. Kay played the flute and people on the periphery hummed at a given pitch with their mouths open to give off healing energy, while people lying down hummed with their mouths closed and relaxed. Some women and healers went around touching the less healthy people. This ritual definitely gave me temporary relief. The potential for healing that we have is powerful.

A Rainbow Path

By Becky Levin

"When we made the music, the world stopped to listen..." and we moved through a new rainbow. On Sunday, October 12, Kay Gardner took about 75 women and one man through a 90-minute exploration of the healing potentials of music, color and touch. She explained that the human body is thought to be composed of seven energy centers or chakras; the chromatic scale is composed of seven notes; and the rainbow spectrum is composed of seven colors. The fact that seven is considered a magical or lucky number is no coincidence. Following is a diagram showing the relationships between the different notes, colors, energy centers and psychic attributes:

C Red D Orange

Base of Spine Spleen, belly

E Yellow Solar Plexus F Green

Heart

G Sky blue Throat

A Indigo

Pineal gland

B Violet

Crown

長

Action, passion

Gut feelings

Wisdom

Love and healing

Utterance, making sense Insight

Connection with the cosmos

Also, keep your eyes and ears open for Kay's next album A Rainbow Path where the music has been consciously composed for healing. A key will be included with the album to guide you on how to use the music.

"And as the circle grew, each woman learned to rise like the tide, like the tide, like the tide.”

For those who wanted to participate, the rest of the workshop was devoted to seeing and feeling auras, using color and music to heal our sore throats and discussing personal experiences with various healing modalities. To close, we formed a circle and focussing on love, we hummed the note F while Kay played an improvisation on her flute. Unconsciously, as we hummed with eyes closed, we had modified our circle into a heart shape. Hardly a dry eye was left as we left the room.

Some resources for further study include The Finding of the Third Eye, by Vera Stanley Alder, The Therapeutic Value of Music, by Manley P. Hall, and The Rainbow Book, edited by F. Lanier Grabam..

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