Thought surrounding the music.
Sound affects our overall mood and tension level along with touch, smell, and sight. I keep an ear out for music with minimal jarring or uptempo sections suitable for use in my daily practice. Can music be hypnotic and interesting at the same time?
The spa music I hope to play isn’t AI-generated or Orientalist cover versions of traditional music. Sometimes I hear an entire album suited to accompany massage, meditation, yoga, sleeping, etc. Here are some tracks and musicians currently streaming in the studio.
- Robin Guthrie – Bordeaux
- Brian Eno – Ambient 1: Music for Airports
- Arvo Part – Passio
- Jakob Bro – Danish Guitarist and Composer
- Harold Budd – frequent collaborator of Brian Eno.
- Elisabeth Waldo
- Goblin – Composers of iconic 1970s film soundtracks (Dawn of the Dead and Suspiria for example.)
- Alice Coltrane – This article gives an idea if where to start in her back catalogue.
- Darbari Kanada – The Emporer of Ragas and the Raga of Emporers.
The Speaker System at Mama Earth Massage
The Mama Earth Massage studio’s Sonos system and the thoughtful playlist curation is as much of an amenity as the late century vintage decor. Paying attention to music and a curating personalized playlists is sometimes underutilized by massage therapists as a way to enhance their practice. I’m sharing my findings for clients and fellow therapists wanting to set up their own system.
Sonos Speaker Set Up
Worth knowing are the repeat and crossfade options. I found this Pocket Lint article on Sonos hacks detailing some interesting features for a massage therapist:
- pairing and unpairing speakers
- analog/optical/coaxial digital outputs for patching in existing high-fi systems
- upgrading older Sonos speakers
- playing vinyl
- muting a single speaker so you can take a phone call.
- The grouping and ungrouping function is useful for layering different tracks on different speakers, effectively creating a soundscape in your studio.
- Voice control and Crossfade are ideal for treatment sessions when you can’t stop using your hands to switch a song or adjust the volume, and also to avoid another thing massage therapists dread – clumsy, silent gaps between songs.
Playlist Hosts
- Tidal
- Sonos
Speakers
- Sonos Playbar
- Sonos One
- Sonos Play (3 speakers)
- Sonos Roam
CORE BELIEF: THE WELLNESS INDUSTRY CAN STILL PERPETUATE ‘ORIENTALISM.’
‘Orientalism’ (Edward Said from his text on the topic) is used to weaken people and their messages. It reinterprets ‘Other’ cultures for the Western world through a white lens and serves them up to the ruling majority. Orientalism speaks for a culture, rather than letting everyone speak for themselves. Through Mama Earth Wellness, I work to avoid any and all cultural appropriation or ‘orientalist’ mysticism attributed to talented artists and scientists of Non-Western origin.
Piano is simply piano solos. I like to play it alongside a recording of songbirds. During the summer, the studio gets plenty of real song birds out the window too!
MAMA EARTH LOVES SUGGESTIONS
There’s only so much time in the day listen to new music. If you have some tunes you feel are suited to accompany massage therapy or fitness training, or if you have suggestions for appropriate artists / genres to check out, please contact me! Finally, I welcome any opinions and discourse on my practice. Let’s chat!
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