Sad songs and a singing apprenticeship
The pleasure of listening to sad music fascinates researchers. Studies have been designed that measure our heart rate, our breath and our...
2019: Habits, happiness and Hindi singers
Make it easy to do the right thing and hard to do the wrong thing, that’s what they say now. That’s the only way to break an old habit or...
Everyday pleasures: Songs, invisible dancing, imagined passions and a bigger life without the boring
I’ve just been reading Paul Bloom’s 2010 popular science book, How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like, looking...
Dragonfly Silver
Ruth was behind glass and under a sheet. The nurse manager who took me to identify her was jumpy. I filled the uncomfortable pauses with...
Trav'lin' Light
Time to take the long view. I’m here alone in San Pedro de Alcantara. It’s a trip I’ve planned for and dreamed about. To be a long way...
‘Waterloo Sunset’, Memory and interiority: TSA Blog 4
I remember when I became entranced with ‘Waterloo Sunset’. It was a late afternoon in September 1982. I was in my grand high-ceilinged...