BY GINNY PRIVITAR
WEST MILFORD — Exactly why do we listen to and play music?
Local musician and music therapist John Foley does his best to answer those questions, at least for himself, in his new book “Guitar Music for the Mid-Life Crisis (Music: Why We Listen, Why We Play).”
Foley, of West Milford, describes the book as a “look at how and why we respond to music.” The book is written for a general audience - from casual music listeners to hard-core fans as well as musicians, he added.
But the book is more than that. It is a knowledgeable, interesting jaunt through one man’s journey to find out why he lost his passion for music and his attempt to regain it. The book is filled with music history tidbits, philosophical musings and a delightful, self-deprecating sense of humor.
Foley works as a music therapist for kids and young adults with developmental disabilities at three of the Gramon special education schools in New Jersey and also for public schools in the Pompton Lakes and Ringwood school districts. He’s performed locally, around the United States and Canada. His recordings include rock, folk and children’s music.
The book was also an attempt to figure something out.
“After forty years as a music fan, student, professional musician and music therapist, I found myself losing interest in music,” Foley writes. “For years, I had played because I wanted and needed to. Now I played when I had to and wasn’t listening with much interest. Ironically, I was working as a music therapist, using music to try and improve the lives of people with everything from autism to Alzheimer’s disease.”
If music worked for them, why had it stopped working for him? The joy had gone out of it. He sat down to write as a way to collect his thoughts and try to make some sense out of it and the reader gets to enjoy the process.
The positive effects of music on many levels
Foley’s aim when performing is to get his audience to participate through music, movement and sound.
“We’re always trying to get some communication going — always trying to engage them," Foley said.
Most of the kids he works with have speech therapy goals; some are pre-verbal while others in the same class may be relatively high-verbal. To engage them all in the same activity, he wrote "The Ah-Mm Song," a Doo-Wop song with a story line.
"The kids start by singing 'ah-mm' 'ooh-wah' and 'bop-bop' while those who are able will sing the words,” Foley said. "It’s nice to see the progression as kids move from singing syllables to words and phrases. Obviously, the teachers, aides and therapists are doing the bulk of the day-to-day work but the music is doing its part as well. Music is the great motivator.”
Foley believes music evolved from our need, like other higher organisms, for play; for the sheer joy of it. The “why” of music goes even deeper.
“We have the sensation of time being altered, of senses heightened when listening to certain music and people in earlier times must have understood this,” Foley writes.
Everyone knows the power of music to connect with our emotions: to uplift, comfort, arouse, calm. We use music to celebrate, to mourn, to accompany our rituals and have done so since the dawn of time.
“Instinctually or not, humans have evolved a means of communication based, in part, on pitch and rhythm. Some of this we call 'speech' and some we call 'music'.”
Humor and insightFoley displays his sense of humor throughout the book, talking of being a mature musician as opposed to a young one.
As a mature musician reflecting on music, Foley says, “You start out playing guitar to impress young girls and you end up on a website talking to a bunch of middle-aged men about taking care of your fingernails. When looking for a new amp, you now scroll down past the features to see how much it weighs. I have done these things.”
Foley is married to Dianne. The couple has two children, daughter Maria, 23, and son James, 18. They all love music, he said, but he is the only one who plays.
Wonderful memories
Foley spent a good amount of time driving to performances. Once, he drove Richie Havens to a gig and sat in with him on an acoustic version of “All Along the Watchtower” – a favorite memory. On another occasion, his passenger was Odetta. The woman with a magnificent voice who had sung "We Shall Overcome" on numerous historic occasions favored Foley with “an a cappella version of 'Flat Foot Floogie (With A Floy Floy)' that you wish you had heard.”
Finding answersAt the end of his book, Foley realizes that, with changes in his life, we respond to music differently and that we all need to find music that speaks to us in our present circumstances.
“Deep connections to new music (or, at least, music that’s 'new to us') can only be forged with an awareness of life as we now know it,” said Foley.
Music helped him connect with family, friends and the world at large.
“Along the way, I was able to see connections between music and mythology, psychology, art, poetry, history, philosophy, science and, for want of a better word, spirituality.”
Editor's Note: “Guitar Music for the Mid-Life Crisis (Music: Why We Listen, Why We Play)” is John Foley’s first book, available locally at North Jersey Guitar in West Milford and Ye Olde Book Shoppe in Warwick, N.Y., as well as through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Foley and his Radar Rangers bandmates, Bob and Lisa Hammerstein and Barry Wiesenfeld, recently released a new CD "The Ah-Mm Song (Mama Daddy Baby)." See a sample of their music at Radar Rangers on facebook.
What does music mean to you? Go to westmilfordmessenger.com and tell us.