Dharma and a double bass

After years in the Florida Orchestra, now he's trying to help give other patients the healing he found in music.

By JOHN FLEMING, Times Performing Arts Critic
Published March 17, 2006
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/03/17/Artsandentertainment/Dharma_and_a_double_b.shtml

TAMPA - Lloyd Goldstein lugged his double bass to a spot in the woods around the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa and began to play a simple melody. The low, resonant tone of his enormous stringed instrument fit right into the ambient sounds of the outdoors on a bright, breezy morning.

"I didn't plan it this way, but the name of the piece is A Walk in the Woods," said Goldstein, who will play it and other works he wrote as part of an unusual concert Sunday at the church. The program combines the bassist's interest in yoga and music for healing, which he puts into practice as a volunteer musician in the arts and medicine department at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.

"The first half of the program starts out with me in a yoga pose, and I'll weave together yoga, some of my writings and music," said Goldstein, who will be joined by a poet, several other musicians and a movement therapist. "Hopefully they all connect and flow in a way that's meaningful."

Sunday's concert represents a milestone for Goldstein, 49, who was a member of the Florida Orchestra's double bass section for 22 years, until resigning a year ago. "It was really, really hard to leave the orchestra," he said in an e-mail, remembering the day he sent in his resignation.

"The day that I pressed the "send' button on the computer, my wife (who was out of town) was on the phone with me holding my hand, but it has all been good. I have had the time and the freedom to develop as a player, composer and person in ways that I probably would not have had the chance to, had I continued working with the orchestra."

It was back problems Goldstein had from playing bass that led him to yoga several years ago. What started as therapy grew into a passion, and now the musician wouldn't dream of starting his day without doing yoga. He is working toward becoming a certified yoga instructor.

Goldstein also credits yoga for helping him remake his performance technique, under double bass virtuoso and teacher Francois Rabbath. He has made four trips to Paris to study with Rabbath.

"Between yoga and Francois, I was given this second chance to be fulfilled in the instrument," said Goldstein, who will play several pieces by Rabbath on Sunday. "I wasn't out to be an impressive concert artist. I just wanted to make a beautiful, effortless sound."

That approach has been ideal for Goldstein's work at Moffitt, where he plays for cancer patients, some of whom are near death. He is a certified music practitioner through the Music for Healing and Transition Program.

Playing at the bedside of a patient, he said, "I just offer the music on whatever level they want. My main goal is to match their mood and energy level. Often that means just playing soft tones."

Many studies indicate that music has a beneficial effect on the ill and dying.

"The vast majority (of patients) are open to it," Goldstein said. "After the first couple of notes, you'll see their facial muscles relax."

Sunday's concert will include some of the music Goldstein has written for healing as well as other pieces that work well in hospital and hospice settings, including Amazing Grace, With a Little Help from My Friends, Over the Rainbow and Fly Me to the Moon.

Goldstein keeps in touch with friends in the orchestra and attends concerts. He misses the complexity of the music he used to play.

"For 22 years I was in the presence of transcendent music like Beethoven's Ninth Symphony," he said. "There's no question that being in the middle of such genius was hard to give up. But there's another side of it, too, that being bombarded by the sheer physical beauty of the sound, it's possible to become inured to it, and I don't miss that. I love that I can now go to hear the orchestra and enjoy it on a different level."

PREVIEW: Bassist Lloyd Goldstein performs at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa, 11400 Morris Bridge Road, Tampa. $10. (813) 988-8188. [Last modified March 17, 2006, 12:21:02]