Just listening back to ‘Cycle of the Sun’ at the BBC Maida Vale Studios in London. The team at the BBC and members of the Aurora Orchestra have been great. The gong and bells along with the waters of the Peace Gardens at the Chalice Well created alchemy along with Spitfire’s London Contemporary Orchestra Harmonics – Woodwind and Strings.
A special moment.
The broadcast on the BBC we think is going to be Monday next week – we’re just waiting confirmation!
Love and Light, Maddy and Sam. x
Hi Everyone,
Wow! We cannot believe it’s been so long since we last did an update!
Hope everyone is well and enjoying whichever season you’re in depending upon where you are on the planet!
It’s mid-Summer here in England and we’re enjoying experiencing the Sunlight as it shimmers through the trees and organic plant life that is now in full bloom.
This update is a little longer than usual – hope that’s OK but there’s so much to catch up on!
BBC Proms
The breaking news is that we’ve just found out Maddy has won the BBC Proms Junior Composer of the Year 2019! It’s the most famous Classical Music Festival on the Planet with an audience of millions. And hopefully a great opportunity to bring the healing power of music to a larger audience.
This is an extract from the Proms Programme introducing the ‘Cycle of the Sun’ by Maddy;
I wanted to write a piece that could be used as a meditative mandala to celebrate the ebb & flow of seasons – leaving the listener contemplating the cyclical nature of life.
By appreciating the cyclical nature of life and realising how much it is at odds with the modern world’s linear way of thinking, I hope it will allow us all to make better, more environmentally sound decisions in the future.
***
The shimmering timbre of the piano’s high register represents the energy of the sun as it brings nature to life. The electronic drones ebb & flow to represent the surges of growth and decay as each season peaks and fades. The Moon Bowl and Prayer Bell represent those sudden moments of seasonal change – which seem to appear suddenly after much anticipation. The shimmering gong and lower registered notes on the piano are designed to root us firmly to the earth – appreciating that this organic, life force, this miracle of creation, is ultimately our home.
***
You can listen to ‘Cycle of the Sun’ on our website at https://thishealingplace.com/ (please scroll down the home page to find it!).
You can follow the seasons as they appear in the piece at the following timings;
Winter Solstice (0.00)
The Light of the Sun flickers into life again after the long winter
Life returns and the first flowers of Spring appear out of the frozen earth
Spring Equinox (1:50)
Day and Night are in perfect balance as the first day of spring arrives
Fertility and the potency of the life force reaches its peak
Summer Solstice (3.10)
Mother Earth is expansive and organic growth is rife
The Summer’s peak brings the harvest, the sun king dances in the warm evening shadows
Autumn Equinox (4.22)
Day and night are in perfect balance, nature’s harvest is complete
Nature prepares to rest and take shelter
We’re travelling down to London to Maida Vale Studios to record the piece live during August. We’ll send news and timings once we know them – and links to where you can hear Maddy’s interviews and the piece being played live at the Proms.
New Releases
We’ve also released two new albums during the past 12 months.
The latest being ‘Weeping Snow into Blossom’
You can hear the complete album at https://thishealingplace.com/sound-journeys/
Album Statement…
“At a time when we are constantly told the world is in crisis, we need to raise our sights to the future & to what is possible. We need to find new visions, new stories, new ways of organising our lives that are sustainable and in harmony. We need to transcend the Winter of the old and find the Spring of the new.
This work explores the vibrant energy of change. The transition from the dark to the light. The shift from the old to the new. The transformation from Winter to Spring. The journey from Snow to Blossom. To save our planet and live in harmony with the natural world – it is time to weep snow into blossom”.
We also released ‘First Circle’ which captures the atmosphere of our live concerts during the magical Summer months of 2018. This was something new for us as it includes meditations and visualizations written by Maddy and Sam…
BBC ORCHESTRA COMMISSION
Maddy has been commissioned by the BBC to write a piece for full orchestra. We’re due to be briefed during September so we’re very excited to find out what the theme will be! Again, once we know the timings for broadcast we’ll send over the dates and details!
WHAT WE SEE IN THE STARS & SKY
“What we see in the stars & sky” is a meditative piece written for piano & harp – along with orchestral textures and harmonics. It will also feature recordings of the earth’s ‘ambient energy’ we’ve captured and recorded in certain magical places – one being the sacred Swallow Head Spring at Avebury as the sunlight flickered through the willow trees and another an evening sky high in the hills – notice the Moon on the picture – a magical moment! https://thishealingplace.com/2019/07/what-we-see-in-the-stars-sky/
A MESSAGE FROM EARTH
Two happy experiences have come together to inspire a new piece we’re currently working on;
The first was we recently discovered a poem by Brecht, called A List of Pleasures via a BBC Radio 4 Programme (which we’d recommend listening to as it’s a beautiful reminder of what a gift it is to be alive in the moment – https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07gc78p). The programme explores why the poem is such a powerful reminder that life is a gift.
This is the poem;
First look from morning’s window
The rediscovered book
Fascinated faces
Snow, the change of the seasons
The newspaper
The dog
Dialectics
Showering, swimming
Old music
Comfortable shoes
Comprehension
New music
Writing, planting
Traveling
Singing
Being friendly
The second source of inspiration came from the “Golden Record” – the gold-plated copper record disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. It was launched in 1977 in the hope that one day, in interstellar space, intelligent life would come across it.
***
We immediately thought it was time to update this interstellar message. To collect people’s special moments given our enlightened state 2019, by recording those special, simple experiences that remind us what it a gift it is to be alive.
To date we’ve had entries such as ‘Morning sunlight streaming through my bedroom window’, ‘The smell of fresh bread at home’, ‘the smile of a new born baby, ‘the dance of autumn leaves in the wind’.
We are looking for recordings no longer than in 7 words – all of them depicting the magic of being alive.
Please send in your ideas. Each one will be acknowledged on the album. We are hoping to have the piece played on BBC Radio 3 before Christmas so it will be fun!
A LIVE CONCERT IN THE HILLS OF THE WELSH BOARDERS
We’re planning to video a live concert at our place in the hills. There will be no charge – it’s a big thank you to everyone for supporting our creative output – we truly appreciate it.
We’ll be playing live in our gardens, they’ll be simple, vegetarian food, open fires and wonderful conversation – Maddy and Sam will play early evening.
We need to ensure the sunlight is just right (a bit hit and miss here in the UK!).
Please email us at hello@thishealingplace.com if you’d like to come along. It’s going to be before the end of Sept.
We’ll send along accommodation suggestions for those coming from further afield.
Think that’s everything!
Please get in touch with your ideas – with love hearing from everyone!
Love and Light,
Maddy and Sam. x
“What we see in the Stars & Sky” is a meditative piece written for piano & harp – along with orchestral textures and harmonics. It will also feature audio recordings of the earth’s ambient energy’ we’ve recorded a certain magical places – one being the sacred Swallow Head Spring at Avebury.
You can hear twos extract of the orchestral textures & harp at our website journal https://thishealingplace.com/journal/ (the photo of the sky was taken at our place – notice the Moon – a magical moment!).
This is an orchestral texture ‘work in progress’ – the video is the sunlight dancing through the willows at the Sacred Swallow Head Spring, Avebury.
Love and Light,
Maddy and Sam. x
Maddy – July 2019…
This is a new composition I’ve been working on. It’s great to share it at last (please click on the video below to hear it)!
…….
I wanted to write a piece that could be used as a meditative mandala to celebrate the ebb & flow of seasons – leaving the listener contemplating the cyclical nature of life.
By appreciating the earth’s cyclical nature and realising how much it is at odds with the modern world’s linear way of thinking, I hope it will allow us all to make better, more environmentally sound decisions in the future.
The shimmering timbre of the piano’s high register represents the energy of the sun as it brings nature to life as Spring approaches. The electronic drones ebb & flow to represent the surges of growth and decay as each season peaks and fades.
The Moon Bowl and Prayer Bell represent those sudden moments of seasonal change – which seem to appear suddenly after much anticipation. The shimmering gong and lower registered notes on the piano are designed to root us firmly to the earth – appreciating that this organic, life force, this miracle of creation, is ultimately our home.
After recording the natural sounds at the Chalice Well Gardens (thank you to the birds singing and flowing the gently cascading waters) in Glastonbury we walked to the top of Glastonbury Tor.
Looking out from the summit over the Somerset levels, it reminded me of two soulful chords in ‘Little Shepherd’. I decided to add them to the piece! I hope you can spot them!
I also discovered that the Tor has a 7 level labyrinth that runs up it. This gave me the idea of the 7 / 8 theme that appears three times during the piece. I wanted to give the piece a sense of climbing the Tor – almost as those each level is a rising level of consciousness.
……
Glennie Kindred’s book ‘The Earth’s Cycle of Celebration’ helped formulate ideas for the complete cycel and give a sense of the different energies each season offers;
‘’The Sun’s Cycle waxes and wanes over the course of a year.
It reaches a peak at each Solstice, stops and begins a change in direction, which affects all life on Earth.
The Solstices are a time to stop, to look back on where the half yearly cycle has brought you, and to look forward to how you will use the developing energy.
At the Equinoxes, day and night are equal in length. The outer and inner worlds, light and dark, are equal and balanced. They provide an opportunity for us to work with this integration within ourselves”.
Quotation from; The Earth’s Cycle of Celebration, Glennie Kindred
This is the timing for each of the seasonal changes during the piece;
Winter Solstice (0.00)
The Light of the Sun flickers into life again after the long winter
Life returns and the first flowers of Spring appear out of the frozen earth
Spring Equinox (1:50)
Day and Night are in perfect balance as the first day of spring arrives
Fertility and the potency of the life force reaches its peak
Summer Solstice (3.10)
Mother Earth is expansive and organic growth is rife
The Summer’s peak brings the harvest, the sun king dances in the warm evening shadows
Autumn Equinox (4.22)
Day and night are in perfect balance, nature’s harvest is complete
Nature prepares to rest and take shelter
I hope the piece inspires you to walk the Tor and experience the magic of the Peace Garden at the Chalice Well.
Love and Light,
Maddy Chassar-Hesketh, May, 2019.