Welcome to my Wonderful World of Music.

There is nothing like a great meal, a couple of drinks, and a good old-fashioned Sing-a-Long to forget your troubles. I must admit that it is the interaction of the crowd that makes it so much fun.

This season will be a truly difficult one for many of us in Maine having lost 3 wonderful people that really supported the piano bar;  Sally, Joe and Steve — you are missed and loved by so many. However, we must continue on as they would want us to do, and they will be with us in spirit evermore. At least we were able to finally release a Live CD with the Sing-a-Long and a few featured selections from our Angels. If you do not have one of these keepsake CDs, I will have some of them with me, or you can purchase or download them from my distributor, CD BABY. See you soon as I’ll be back for Patriot’s Weekend.

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By the way, I’ve just gone mobile.  Scan this code from your mobile phone and bookmark the page for easy access.

Well, it’s that time of year again and I am making my travel plans to return to Ogunquit. I am leaving March 27th, with stops  in Tucson, St. Louis, NYC, and arriving in Ogunquit on Friday the 13th of April. Please check my calendar for the latest updates.

See you soon.

Can’t remember the lyrics to your favourite songs? A new iPhone app might help.

Shazam Player, released last week, is a music player that, in addition to playing songs, shows the lyrics too. The app also provides access to the song’s music video, album reviews and artist tour dates.

Shazam is already well-known for its song identification app that uses the smartphone’s built-in microphone to gather a sample of a song being played in a room, and then instantly reveals the title and artist name. The service has over 60 million users in the United States and 175 million users globally.

View the complete article: http://www.firstpost.com/fwire/music-player-app-lets-users-sing-along-with-lyrics-191238.html

This is Wanda, Jon Revere, and my mother – their first visit to Maine. When I picked them up in Boston the sky was full of hundreds of colorful balloons – they thought I had planned this great reception for them. It turned out that it was Rose Kennedy’s 90th birthday.

My dear friend and mentor Royal Harrison Cloyd passed away last night. Founder of the Boston Center of The Arts, hero to many an artist, great insight, devoted Unitarian, founder of many causes and of great intellagence. Rest in peace Royal, you will be greatly missed.

b.May 21, 1925    d.February 23, 2012

Many studies have been conducted to find the deeper benefits of listening to and playing music. From sci-fi notions of increased fetal development to everyday emotional healing, the growing field of music therapy is presenting increasing amounts of evidence that points toward the greater powers of music.

Emotional benefits

The right song can put anybody in a better mood and soothe emotional turmoil. We all go through our phases, and most people will turn to certain songs to improve their moods. The main reason behind this phenomenon is that music has the ability to verbalize and express our feelings better than any other medium. Additionally, we have favorite songs for particular situations because we tune into the melodies that capture our vibe the best.

To enhance the relationship between your emotional state and music, try creating associations among songs and moods. This way, when you feel a certain way, you will know exactly which song or CD to listen to in order to give you the lift or the calm you need in any given moment.

Music and exercise

Have you ever noticed how pumped you get when listening to an AC/DC song while doing a chest press at the gym? Now flip your iPod to Nana Mouskouri and take note of how much heavier those plates got. It has been suggested that stimulating music can actually increase muscle tension, while sedative music decreases the muscle tension.

It has also been documented that music can improve motor skills. An experiment conducted on a handful of elementary students proved that children learning basic motor skills such as throwing, catching and jumping while listening to music did better than those who practiced the same exercises with no music. Maybe if MLB players were given some headphones during a losing season, such as the Royals in 2006, they could turn that season around.

Chronic pain relief

Music has the ability to ease the perception of chronic pain. In fact, according to a paper in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, music can reduce chronic pain by up to 21%. The paper reports that 60 patients participated in a controlled clinical trial and were subdivided into two groups — music and no music.

The results revealed that people who listened to music for an hour each day for a week had improved physical and psychological symptoms compared to those who were deprived of music.

As stated earlier, music can put you in a better mood, which can advance recovery time since a positive-thinking patient almost always recovers better and faster than a patient filled with negative energy. Music shouldn’t be considered a first-line treatment for your chronic pain, but once medical treatment is underway, a healthy dose of your favorite tracks can help ease the suffering.

Better grades

According to the American Music Conference (AMC), music won’t rot your mind — in fact, it’s actually good for your thinking-cap. The AMC has cited research that has shown that studying and creating music may help improve your capacity to learn other subjects and get better grades overall.

Apparently, the human brain works very much like musical note patterns. Whether or not the style and depth of the music plays a role has yet to be determined. All we know is that the thought patterns that arise while creating music help increase language learning, math skills and social skills – among others.

Developed interaction within the brain

Short of mentioning the cortex and the subcortical layers, some research shows that people who play music have a more developed interaction between their left and right sides of the brain.

The experts claim that music functions as an exercise for the transmission of signals in your noggin. These transmissions are used for the activation of other mental duties.

The “Mozart effect” is the most popularly known notion, in which it was demonstrated that listening to classical music, more specifically to a Mozart piano sonata, increased the measured results on the Stanford-Binet IQ test by eight to nine points.

In a similar exercise, rats were exposed to the same music and displayed an increase in their skill in a maze experiment.

Universal language

An obscure band from Australia, The Cat Empire, once said that, “Music is the language of us all,” but there has to be more to music than the simple grooves that accompany our drinking habits while we incessantly try to procreate. And there is: ask any American backpacker what subject comes up when they are at a conversational-standstill with an Argentinean that doesn’t speak English — invariably Led Zepplin, Metallica, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, and Pearl Jam will be discussed.

The one underlying fact throughout all of the research is that music plays a positive role in many areas of human development. Also, it is unknown exactly what the specific effects of different rhythmic patterns play in each of the areas discussed here. Let’s not forget pitch frequencies, harmonies and arrangements among numerous other variables that make music research difficult to pin point. The world of music is infinite, and establishing patterns in its effects might take a little longer than expected.

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Whether it is fact or fiction, the great powers of music are undeniable. From trying to increase you’re learning ability to simply kicking back to your favorite song with a cold brew, music seems to have a positive effect on absolutely every individual who can hear a harmony.

Steve Craine

Stephen William Craine, of Arundel, ME and Largo, FL, died unexpectedly on Saturday, October 8, 2011 at his residence in Maine. He was born in Boston, MA on October 21, 1945, to Truman William and Doris Mary (Peck) Craine. He was a member of Needham High School 63, Babson College 66 & studied Classical Studies & Archaeology at Harvard. His entire career was spent in the fields of human resources and healthcare administration. For almost 20 years, he worked with MAVERIC cancer researchers at the VA in Boston as National Coordinator and Director for Administration. In addition to his family and his cat, Steve enjoyed traveling in Europe, opera, and theater. He played the piano as a hobby and loved to sing Broadway tunes. For many years he was regular at the Front Porch piano bar in Ogunquit, had season tickets to the Arundel Barn Theater, and in the winter attended many performances at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. He is survived by a sister, Linda Craine Laros & her husband Hal of West Lebanon, NH, and their 2 children, Curtis Alan Laros and his wife Patricia, of Coventry, CT, Curts oldest daughter Jillian Adkins, her husband Thomas, and their daughter Mayah Elizabeth Laros, and Curts youngest daughter, Sarah, and her son, Kobi; niece Barbara Laros Griswold and her husband Daniel, of Canaan, NH, and their 4 children, Jeffrey, Brittini, Steven & Hannah. Steve is also survived by Cornelia (Neil) Craine of Spring Hill, FL, wife of his father (Truman W. Craine, deceased). Because Steve was a performer and so well traveled he leaves behind an untold number of devoted friends. There are no calling hours. Life Celebrations to honor Steves memory will be scheduled at a later date. Should friends choose donations may be made to www.animalwelfaresociety.org in West Kennebunk, ME, or to your charity of choice. Arrangements are in care of Bibber Memorial Chapel, 67 Summer Street, Kennebunk.www.bibberfuneral.com

Joe Villani

WESTBROOK – Joseph M. Villani, 57, passed away Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, surrounded by those who loved him at Springbrook Center, Westbrook. He was born Dec. 21, 1953, in Milo, beloved son of the late Arlene (Hamlin) Villani and Joseph Villani.

He is survived by his father, Joseph Villani; half brother, Robert Hamlin and his family, half sister, Eloise (Hamlin) Hathorn and her family; and his business partner and dear friend, Paulo Alves Carvalho.

He was educated in Lenox, Mass., and Rochester, N.Y., earning a double degree in piano and voice. He did masters studies at Westminster Choir College in New Jersey. Joe shared his talent, skill, love of music and expertise as a musician with the schoolchildren of Maine and New York by teaching music, producing musical shows, and his middle school and high school vocal ensembles performed around New England. He spent many summers playing piano at The Front Porch, Ogunquit, surrounded by singers and music lovers who quickly became his friends. Joe’s skills were evident in his ability to make any singer sound wonderful by adjusting to their key, rhythm and style. His talents were also put to good use in his development of The Musical Wonder House, Wiscasset. There he expanded on the business side of the museum, by doing appraisals and repairs for music box owners, while giving tours of the museum, and demonstrating the many and varied music boxes, victrolas, and other mechanical music instruments.

Celebrations of life will be held 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at Independent Death Care, 660 Brighton Ave., Portland, and in Milo at a later date. Donations in Joe’s memory may be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Sara Ann Litchfield, 73

MOODY — Sara Ann Litchfield, 73, known as ‘Sally’, of Moody, died unexpectedly on March 28, 2011, at her home.

Sally was born on Dec. 8, 1937, in York, the daughter of Ashley and Eleanor (nee Moulton) Litchfield. Growing up, Sally worked with her mother and grandmother at their four generation Moulton Store, now the site of the Wells House of Pizza. She graduated from Wells High School, Class of 1956, and attended one year of beauty school in Portland.
Sally worked in retail in Portland for several years. In 1966 she became an assembler in quality control at National Semiconductor, South Portland. For the next 27 and a half years, she made early Intel Pentium processors and checked computer chips for the Patriot Missle and other government projects. She received an award from Margaret Chase Smith for her dedication to quality work.

In 1993 she returned to Moody to be with her mother, providing home care for the elderly through in-home senior service through York Hospital. Working at the Moulton Store enabled Sally to know all of the local family histories, from marriages to divorces to children, events, etc… and would point out their homes and recite hysterical stories as she rode up and down Route 1.

Her grandmother Litchfield had 12 children. The Moulton side of Sally’s family were a family of small shipbuilders. During the 1800s, with two other local family shipbuilding enterprises, built and launched small vessels into the ocean from behind the family property. Sally was proud to be the fifth generation to have lived in the family homestead.

Sally loved the songs of the 1940s, having sung them as a child at home next to the piano with her mother. She developed an uncanny ability to remember all of the words. Listening to the radio and phonograph added to her repertoire. It was during her years at Fairchild that her co-workers first took Sally to several piano bars in Portland and Portsmouth, N.H. She became a regular patron. One evening she was asked to sing a song, and Sally became an instant hit. After that, she was always encouraged to perform. Sally had perfect pitch, a mellow tone, and an unassuming way that drew your attention to the words.

In Ogunquit and Wells Sally sang at Valerie’s & Litchfield’s Restaurant. Around 1992 Sally was encouraged to come to the
Front Porch by Roger Kent, the pianist at Litchfield’s, who also performed at the Front Porch in Ogunquit. Although cautious, she went with Roger, and instantly found a place where there was a lot of music and singing, both solos and groups, and many times with harmony. She never looked back. When the Front Porch was open she was there from 5 p.m. till closing. She loved the music and the people. She became the Porch matriarch, a fixture known to be sitting at the first seat next to the pianist and singing songs. People from all over the country would come to the Front Porch and remark that everything was OK if they saw Sally at her first seat with her signature drink, black coffee. Patrons would often come right to her and say hello before doing anything else. She was often asked to sing her classic songs as well as her fun songs with ‘different’ lyrics, all of which pleased her audience.

Throughout her life Sally loved to crochet afghans, both following patterns and creating her own variations. She loved to go out to eat. She loved to get in the car and ride anywhere. Sally traveled across the USA and went to the Caribbean several times. She loved her cat.

Sally was predeceased by her father in 1943; her brother Neil in 1990; and her mother in 1998. Sally is survived by her long-time companion of 13 years, Joseph M. Villani; her beloved cat of six years, Midnight; three aunts, Berle DeCato of Kennebunk, Lurlene Morris of Sanford, Rebecca Litchfield of Barrington, N.H.; two cousins, Judi Reed of Oviedo, Fla., her brother, John Litchfield of Palm Harbor, Fla.; as wells as numerous other cousins.

There are no visiting hours. A memorial service will be held on April 9, at Bibber Memorial Chapel, 111 Chapel Rd., Wells, at 10 a.m. A private interment will take place in Ocean View Cemetery, Wells. A celebration of Sally’s life will be held at The Front Porch in Ogunquit at a future date. Arrangements are in care of Bibber Memorial Chapel, 111 Chapel Rd., Wells www.bibberfuneral.com.
In lieu of flowers, you may donate to:
The Sally Litchfield Scholarship Fund
Care of Kennebunk Savings Bank Wells, Maine 04090