An Unusual Book on Meditation

     I just finished an interesting book on meditation with an unusual twist:  it uses music as a bridge to meditative states.  No, I'm not talking about listening to New Age music while meditating, but rather using certain musical principles to help induce meditative states.  Interested?  Read on.

     Written by Richard Wolf, In Tune: Music as the Bridge to Mindfulness could be a valuable resource for a people who would like new and different methods for their meditative practice.  Richard Wolf, by the way, is an Emmy Award-winning composer, music producer, and professor at UCLA's school of music.

     Of course, I think this book would be best suited for people who have at least some musical training and know what a beat is, what a 4-beat measure is all about, and have some familiarity with intervals (measuring the distance between two pitches).  I've had a bit of musical training, so most of this book made sense to me.

     First, this is not at all like Anthony de Mello's books on meditation, where he gets right to it and describes one method after another, along with helpful hints and caveats.  No.  Wolf gently leads the reader from one concept to another, sometimes offering inside looks at his interactions with various famous musicians over his long career.  This is a gentle, leisurely book.  However, I did find a few of his meditation techniques very helpful and I often come back to them again and again.

     A recommended book, especially if you have a little musical training and want some new and unique techniques for your meditation practice.