Music - Corpus

Unity music

16 July 2018 1 Comment

Alison Denham

Eric Dozier, supreme musician and cultural activist, is a force to be reckoned with. His singing workshop in the southern New Zealand city of Dunedin over the weekend 12-15 July will be treasured for ever by Dunedin Community choir members and leaders, and those who came simply because they love to sing.

All of us – soaring sopranos, edgy altos, bluesy tenors and down and dirty bases – experienced such elation, and also intense moments of sadness, through the music and through the stories and teachings of this man.

Raised in a little town called Bakewell in Tennessee, Eric Dozier was immersed in gospel music through his family life, playing the piano in his local church at the age of five. Many of his extended family members and cousins sang, and the stories behind those songs are in his bones. Eric became involved in a programme helping young people to express themselves through music and drama. Following that, he became active in Unity Youth Choir, believing absolutely in music’s ability to unite the people of the world, one song at a time.

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A big yes!

21 May 2018 1 Comment

Clare Fraser

African drumming and African dance are my happy place. Everyone’s presumably got something: for some it’s gardening, for others it’s motor racing and for yet others it’s nature walks. Isn’t it neat, and also, somewhat strange, that we have these specialised passions? Weird animal.

West African rhythms feel good to me in a way that nothing else does. They’re the basis of much of the pop music we listen to today, having travelled to America with slaves, then evolved. They are complex polyrhythms – some beats are off the beat and placed in between others – and that gives them their groove.

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Monday night magic

16 April 2018 1 Comment

Susie Frame and Sue Mepham

Every Monday evening in a suburban Dunedin church we have the privilege of being part of a little bit of magic – Flagstaff Community Choir magic. FCC started in 2008 but prior to that we had been working together, teaching and leading music in various settings, both in schools and in the community. During this time, we observed the benefits of group singing. Not just a musical activity, group singing is a workout for the body and mind, promoting self-esteem, enhancing mood, and providing opportunities for friendship. [Read more…] about Monday night magic

A rhinestone cowboy in the waiting room

14 August 2017 6 Comments

Sue Wootton

From memory, for memory, and in memory.

I used to have a physiotherapy clinic in central Dunedin. One Friday evening I farewelled my final patient and began to tidy up before heading home. It had been a busy week and I was exhausted. Already mentally off-duty, I wandered into the waiting room to stack the magazines, and to my surprise and annoyance found two men sitting there. In an American drawl, one of them said, “My friend here needs an appointment.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, “but the clinic is closed.”

The man persisted. “This is very important,” he said. “He needs an appointment now.”

I glanced at the friend. He was certainly holding himself rigidly, as if in pain. But the very idea of treating one more patient that day was too much for me. “I’m sorry,” I repeated, “but I am closing now.”

The man amped up his appeal. It’s urgent; it’s necessary; it has to be done and you have to do it.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy – and a little art with our medicine

28 November 2016 1 Comment

Dr Cindy Towns

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is thought to account for 1-2 percent of acute coronary syndromes (ACS), ACS being medicalese for what most people would call ‘heart attacks’.

Takotsubo as a diagnosis got its name from a Japanese Octopus pot which looks a little like the Takotsubo heart on echocardiography (essentially an ultrasound). Takotsubo has some more creative synonyms, including acute stress cardiomyopathy, broken heart syndrome and ‘scared to death’. It mimics a traditional heart attack but is not due to coronary artery disease. Rather, the structure of the heart balloons in places. Classically, physically or emotionally distressing events precede the presentation, but the exact mechanism of the condition remains speculative. It has been associated with earthquakes in both Japan and New Zealand.

There’s a crack in everything – that’s how the light gets in

21 November 2016 1 Comment

Max Reid

This post was originally written late on Friday 11^th November 2016, after a week of struggling to come to terms with the American election result, only to hear that afternoon of the death of poet/songwriter/musician Leonard Cohen. Adjusting to that news with a glass of wine at the ready, and Leonard’s London Concert double album playing loud enough to send the cat and dog scampering for cover, the post originally began, “Just when you thought events in the world couldn’t get any worse … we hear news that Leonard Cohen has died…”

“Anthem” Leonard Cohen, Auckland 21 December 2013 (his last concert)

Well, events in the world invariably can and do get worse, and sometimes a wee bit close to home. Within little more than 48 hours North Canterbury and Wellington had been rocked by a series of devastating earthquakes.

So this post, which was originally drafted as something of a tribute to Leonard Cohen, now serves as much as a tribute to people of Kaikoura and the surrounding areas – as they wrestle to find meaning and hope in the midst of what for them is, in so many ways, a broken world.