This blog is a collaborative gathering of dreams that contain Obama as a figure in the narrative or as an image. I post the dreams here anonymously, without my comments, where they can be viewed as expressions of the collective world psyche.

Inside Out Concerts

Listening to classical music can be a creative and imaginative experience!

From 2006-2008, I collaborated with classical musician Eli Epstein in an interdisciplinary project. Blending music and concepts from depth psychology, we developed an active listening approach, presented at our "Inside Out" concert series. At each uniquely developed live-music presentation, concert-goers were guided through narration and demonstration to listen imaginatively into the emotional layers of music. As memories and associations were evoked through the music, connections were made to universal emotional themes. Many audience members reported that their Inside Out listening experience was unique, meaningful, and changed the way they think about classical music.

Background

Inside Out Concerts were first presented in 2001 by Eli Epstein when he was a French horn player with the Cleveland Orchestra. As a seasoned performer, he noticed that the emotional depth of music often got lost when performance technique was overly-emphasized. When he began conducting and educating musicians and audiences, Eli presented emotional associations to the themes in a piece. He found that this approach greatly affected performers' and listeners' ability to engage more deeply with the music.

My own work in depth psychology has helped me realize the importance of emotional experience for people in a variety of settings. Depth psychology focuses on the importance of personal emotional growth through life, not just when someone is in crisis. Listening to music can bring up a variety of images and feelings that are relevant to a person's life-long growth process. Music, like dreams, can be viewed as opening a door into the unconscious that can take us deeper into emotional experience.

Inside Out Concerts are now an annual series at the historic Arlington Street Church in Boston.