Organ Donation Awareness to Mood Changing Music

Blogcatalog are running a 'Community Organ Donation Awareness Campaign', which, as the title suggests, plans to highlight the need for more organs for transplantation.
For more information on the UK statistics visit 'UK Transplant'.
How does this fit in with the life of a classical musician you may ask?
Well I'll tell you.

We have first hand experience of the benefits of organ donation.
A very significant person in our lives was lucky enough to be one of the few on the waiting list to receive a new heart.
As you can imagine this was preceded by years of failing health and distress to all concerned.

The 'call' from the hospital informing us a match had been found was equally difficult to comprehend.
Hospitals have strict assessments for anyone on a waiting list, as they have to be able to cope with not only the physical strains of the procedure, but also the emotional ones.

After many tense hours, the operation was completed, but it was a few days until the worry started to subside.
It's actually quite amazing how quickly someone recovers, and within a few weeks, are back at home in a much better state of health than prior to the operation.

Robin was obviously involved with the whole event. Regular visiting, boosting moral, and generally supporting the rest of the family, not to mention continuing his performing career and looking after son number one, as we went through this stage of our lives.
One thing that remained at the front of all our minds was the 'gift of life' we had been given - literally. We had the pleasure of Tony's company for seven more years, it would only have been days or possibly a few weeks at most without the transplant.

The donor family were, and still are, often in our thoughts.
This is a difficult concept for anyone to deal with.
Their loss was our gain. But we never forgot that.
Little information is given about donors, but we did know that it was a 19 year old boy.
The strange thing is, that Tony suddenly developed a liking for pizza, which he had never previously enjoyed.
I've heard of other cases where likes and dislikes change. So I hope that donors can take some comfort from the fact that part of their loved one very definitely lives on.

But could musical taste also be altered. We know from research that music can most certainly affect mood. There's a very interesting article by Nic Fleming discussing just this. Listening to music releases dopamine which results in a sense of happiness. You can read the article here.

Can musical memories be passed on? I'd love to be able to give you an answer to that one and tell you that Tony suddenly developed a taste for rap music, but as I don't know the musical tastes of the donor, and, Tony had a hugely eclectic taste anyway, I'm afraid I can't say.

Suffice to say that making more organs available for transplants can only be a good thing. And music, well all the surgeons I know, play music in the operating theatre to aid their relaxation. This can be anything from Meatloaf to Beethoven...
Tony's surgeon listened to Oscar Peterson for his operation...

From, Fish - Brain Food for Musicians, to Oscar Peterson, to Elgar

We had an interesting discussion last night.
Robin declared that prior to each concert on board the QM2, he had the desire/need to eat fish, salmon for breakfast, and whatever was available for lunch.
Now, it has long been known that fish is 'brain food', and this, Robin felt, was the root of his need.
One could think that it was maybe caused by a return to the basic hunter/gatherer instinct, he was after all mid-Atlantic, and therefore, presumably, surrounded by many thousands of our scaly friends.
But I think not.
His body was telling him that his brain needed a little extra on the days of his concerts.
During the talk, I went down the path of, 'well, you have a good, balanced diet, and the majority of the need must be in your fingers and their agility.'
No.
Robin is adamant, and I'm sure he's right, that when performing, the hands are acting in a well rehearsed, mechanical way, with both motor and neural memory involved.
But what makes a performance special, is the mind. It's here that the interpretation takes place, the fingers are merely following orders.

To quote Glenn Gould:
"One plays the piano with one's mind not one's fingers."

Robin's theory seemed to serve him well, after all, he delivered two hugely successful guitar concerts.
Naturally, I now get the feeling, that I will be required to add exciting, lovingly prepared fish dishes, to the agenda, as a pre concert ritual.
I'd better go and acquaint myself with the local fishmonger.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, 'Oscar Peterson Misses His Own Tribute'. Simon Houpt reported on a sell out concert in the main auditorium of Carnegie Hall. Unfortunately the jazz legend wasn't well enough to make the journey.
However, a large photograph of him at the piano and smiling broadly, was placed on the stage.
His wife, Kelly, and daughter, Celine, were both in attendance, and were touched by the whole evening.
I'm sure they will return home and tell him how much the public appreciate his contribution to music.

Also, there has been a lot of talk in the UK about Elgar and his 150th anniversary, with many saying that celebrations of Elgar's works, may not necessarily be found abroad.
I was therefore pleased to see this report in the 'Chicago Tribune', 'Elgar At 150. Anybody Care?' by Alan G.Artner.
Artner feels that after 40 years of listening to Elgar's music, that people should care.
Well done.