02/20/2020
What's new for 2020
Meet Denise Meyer: Snow Pond Music Festival 2020
Denise Meyer began studying taiji over twenty years ago, first with world push hands champion Stephen Watson, then with Cheng Man Ching’s senior student, Maggie Newman. A classical saxophonist by training (Northwestern University), Denise has worked in public relations and communications as an independent consultant and at Yale University. She is working on a book, From Masters to Mortals: the Taiji Path to Nonduality, based on experiences of modern practitioners whose changes in body, mind, and spirit are a window to the Dao and has published in the Journal of Daoist Studies. She presented at the International Daoist Conferences in Beijing in 2018 and Los Angeles in 2019. We are extremely excited to welcome Denise to Snow Pond Music Festival this year.
I had the opportunity to ask Denise a few questions about taiji, qigong, meditation, and the importance of these rituals to the performing musician.
GBL: Denise, for those who don’t know about Dao, taiji, or qigong can you give us a brief summary on this is and its relevance to the performing musician?
DM:
Dao is a philosophical, cultural and spiritual belief system with roots in Neolithic times. It fostered traditions in martials arts, theater and healing that live on through these practices and are relevant to us today regardless of our spiritual beliefs.
Every musician I know who has practiced taiji has said it made them a better musician. Like other mindful practices it trains body-mind integration. It helps performers counteract suboptimal physical tendencies as well as facilitate freedom of breathing and quieting the mind. Taiji practice often results in changes in consciousness, described as a flow state in modern times. William James, the father of psychology called that ‘sciousness,’ or a state of consciousness without a sense of self. That state is familiar to musicians and with this practice they have tools to access it more quickly and reliably. Cheng Man Ching is famous for telling his students that every art informs another. I think that is quite true of taiji and music.
GBL: I know you are planning several sessions throughout the day, including a “Sunrise Sitting Meditation”. What else are you planning?
DM:
There is nothing quite like the air in the wee hours, so I hope some folks will join me in the early morning for some lakeside inspiration.
Later in the day we will get a bit more active, with a standing meditation and qigong and taiji form. If there are any experienced practitioners, we can have an open workout/afternoon session with push hands (two person taiji sparring) and sword. The selections of qigong (energy work exercises) will emphasize alignment and easing repetitive stress on the back, shoulders, arms and hands. I believe that if I’d adopted some of these healing exercises when I was young, I may have avoided the hand issues that led me to stop playing.
GBL: What brings you back to Snow Pond?
DM: Snow pond pulls together so many threads from my past, so I’m really touched to be part of it. The three most formative summers of my youth, I was at NEMC as a young saxophonist. I discovered my identity as a musician and for the first time I had a peer group.
I later found myself at Northwestern and Dr. Hemke’s studio. Ron Blake and Susan Fancher were in my class. When Fred was in New Haven for the premiere of the commissioned concerto by Gusty Thomas (another NU classmate!) in honor of his retirement, he came to my house for dinner. He was quite interested in my wooden taiji practice sword and I like to think he would have enjoyed doing a little qigong.
When I graduated at Northwestern, I landed in New Haven, Connecticut and earlier in my career was an arts administrator at Yale. Sara Laimon, of the chamber music program, is an old friend. Snow Pond feels like homecoming.
