try using a neti pot<\/a>. It’s become a bit of a joke between us:<\/p>\n“Try using a neti pot, Mira!”<\/p>\n
“Nyet. Jamais. Ma-nimshish\u2026 Ma-n’hibush\u2026 No fucking way.”<\/p>\n
Which cracked me up\u2026<\/p>\n
Anyway, hence her suggestion.<\/p>\n
Option B is all nose aggravation all the time. Then “that THING” (the stopped passage) represents surgery. I couldn’t make it represent neti pot\/greater pain, because using a neti pot just doesn’t hurt. After surgery, we wandered through a bit of painful recovery. The affirmation bit was the feeling of breathing easily for the first time in I don’t even want to count how many decades.<\/p>\n
Here’s where it gets interesting. I emailed Mira that the recordings were ready, but I didn’t explain them. She sent her responses:<\/p>\n
[You can follow every line with the music, if you like]<\/p>\n
option A (seduction)<\/strong><\/p>\nSicily again!!
\nsuper-godfather-esque
\nThere’s a struggle\u2014
\nSadness\u2014
\nThe Complaint is stated
\nThere’s Consolation
\nGrandma (nona)’s lap
\nThere’s some comfort\u2014
\nBut anticipation\u2014
\nNo\u2014 it’s still okay\u2014
\nLovely
\nBut then \u2014 \u2014 wait for it \u2014 \u2014
\nOh fucking shit \u00a0[was going to edit this out, but no\u2014 it belongs there\u2014that’s exactly what they would have said]<\/span>
\nTroops from Verona in the distance!
\nBut you play on, regardless
\nIn the fields
\nAbove the sea
\nUpon the cliff<\/p>\nBrava!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
From mafia, complaint, consolation, comfort, anticipation, lovely, to [terrible words that\u2014as has been pointed out in comments below\u2014 don’t belong in our kaddish] (ouch!), fields, sea, cliff, Brava!, I’m gathering that she was right. This was not<\/em> a successful aural seduction. Apparently it verged but didn’t quite connect. I didn’t read joyful surrender of control in her response.<\/p>\nHer response had me laughing hard enough that the cats were worried about me, though.<\/p>\n
[Well, I disagree here.\u00a0 Giving someone visions \u2014 and visions that reach from Sicily to Verona and back\u2014 I mean, what could be more seductive than that?\u00a0 And, well, I should explain:\u00a0 I don’t really hear<\/em> music, I see<\/em> it, when it works for me.]<\/p>\n{[Well\u2026 hm\u2026 that’s gratifying! \u2014Erin]]<\/p>\n
option B (nose pain, greater pain, release from pain)<\/strong><\/p>\nWhere the FUCK am I?
\nCircus??
\nThere’re gonna be elephants.
\nYup, here they come
\nclump clump clump
\nOh. OK, we’re in the Ngorogoro (Crater)
\nBRAY! fucking BRAY!
\nCan’t get to the fucking water
\nPanther’s there
\n[EXPLETIVES]
\nHyenas
\nSomething I miss [POV elephants]
\nNo. No \u2014 it’s all part of the established order
\n[AND MORE…]
\nThe fucking park rangers gunning their motors again in the distance
\n[which gives the elephants automatic lengthy hard-ons]
\n[AND STILL MORE] [POV elephants, still]<\/p>\n
[DON’T BLAME ME\u2014THIS ISN’T MY VOICE AT ALL!! \u00a0So much for channeling…]<\/p>\n
The sun is setting
\nBummer day
\n[Elephants] clumping off \u2014 \u2014
\nStage Right<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I’m gathering from [all the expletives] followed by sunset and exit that the pain came through better than the relief, but the relief did squeak in.<\/p>\n
Once again, her response had me laughing hard. I think the cats might have tried to dial 911.<\/p>\n
At this point, I explained to Mira what I’d been up to and remarked upon the eerie synchronicity of her mentioning those two possibilities. And she wrote:<\/p>\n
You did ‘nose’ and I got ELEPHANTS’ TRUNKS!!!!!!
\nI’m laughing my head off!
\nThis really really worked!!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It was a fun experiment, so I suggested that she let me know any time she has an idea for the next “Kaddish” recording.<\/p>\n
[Okay.\u00a0 I need to say something here.\u00a0 I must confess.\u00a0 What we did in this experiment (suggested by Erin, I might add) is something that I’ve studied, worked on, been part of a three-year experiment on, and also something that I teach.\u00a0 It’s a version of Remote Viewing \/ telepathic resonance \u2014 although I had never tried it through the vehicle of music before.\u00a0 So.\u00a0 You might accuse me of cheating.\u00a0 But I must say, in my own defense, that I wasn’t trying to ‘receive’ at all.\u00a0 But I’m thrilled when it happens of its own accord.\u00a0\u00a0 I DO think, however, that years working with remote communication makes this less freakish or extraordinary, and more about two people in the midst of a focused practice.\u00a0 It also makes me reaffirm that the strength of our resonance in this project is enhanced by not having ever met each other.]<\/p>\n
Today she got some unwelcome news about an aging family member’s health\u2014cardiopulmonary trouble\u2014so she suggested a Kaddish “for a good prognosis.”<\/p>\n
My response was kaddish_2010.12.06_goodPrognosis<\/strong> and these words:<\/p>\n[Note: Kjersti is my chocolate lab and running coach, and the jingling of her collar is frequently heard in the daily kaddishim.]<\/p>\n
First Kjersti insisted that we take care of our own cardiopulmonary fitness, so we knocked off a quick mile together, and she did a few other things for her healthful functioning. Then we came back in and made your kaddish together. As usual, her role involved ethereal bell sounds.<\/p>\n
I realized while we were running that I do know what a good prognosis is. A good prognosis is that she spends the rest of her days, months, or years breathing easily, peacefully, and comfortably. These are things we don’t take for granted when dealing with cardiopulmonary problems, nor when people we love are dealing with them.<\/p>\n
May you both breathe easily.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Mira’s reply:<\/p>\n
aaaaaaaah. soft and warm and smooth, and yummy
\nmakes me want to curl up under a flannel comforter
\nlike a kitty
\nor with a kitty
\nlicking my chin<\/p>\n
very very sweet
\nthank you<\/p>\n
ah. I know the right word:
\nHealing
\nI will convey it!!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Perfect. A kaddish for healing.<\/p>\n
[I thereafter conked out under the blue flannel, with kitty \u2014 Vlad \u2014 tucked in behind my knees, and was out completely for a restful, healing antidotal hour.\u00a0 Thank you Erin!]<\/p>\n
[[Thank you!! I love it when I can be useful as a musician. Paul Hindemith was big on the concept of Gebrauchsmusik<\/em>, literally “useful music,” and I am too. This is one reason I actually appreciate opportunities to play at funerals and memorial services. Weddings can be another story; when they’re joyful, it’s fun, but so many weddings are stressed-out parades of mishegas where I worry for the couples, thinking “if they’re this worried about pomp and circumstance, how will they deal with relationship troubles when they come?!”\u2014Erin]]<\/p>\nKaddish requests are welcome<\/h3>\n
We have almost eleven months of daily kaddishim yet to go in this project, and on our yahrtzeit dates, I’ll be making multiple recordings. It’s a little daunting to imagine how I’m going to keep this one piece alive for almost four hundred recordings, so please\u2014if you have a kaddish request or idea, please let me know! It will be my privilege to play a Kaddish for your loved one.<\/p>\n
Also, we invite you to leave your remembrances in the comments on our “yizkor<\/a>” page. Please tell us about the loved ones you mourn as you join with us in the “kaddish in two-part harmony” project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yesterday Mira and I conducted an impromptu experiment, with interesting results. Today I played a kaddish for healing, at Mira’s request. We welcome kaddish requests from our readers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[250],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beitmalkhut.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beitmalkhut.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beitmalkhut.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beitmalkhut.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beitmalkhut.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/beitmalkhut.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2490,"href":"https:\/\/beitmalkhut.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions\/2490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beitmalkhut.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beitmalkhut.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beitmalkhut.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}