The Power of Music

Music is powerful. It can unite people from different backgrounds, provoke powerful reactions, stir up memories, and be therapeutic for stress or depression. Charles says producing music is not only therapeutic, but also adds to the fulfillment of life.

People fill their lives with variety of experience, intellect, and passion unique to their own character. Many seem to be searching for a Fountain of Youth elixir; no one wants life to run out without first experiencing everything they can. Charles feels he’s found the solution: More music!

Music affects nearly every sense in the body. It is physical in that the beats create a desire to dance and move. It is emotional in that it can provoke memories and feelings. Music is healing and can help people overcome obstacles in their lives, or simply relax. For example, Charles’ music has been used to treat cancer patients, premature babies, and Alzheimer’s patients. Music has the ability to improve cognitive abilities and relieve tension throughout the body.

Though music can be used as a healing tool for people dealing with illness, it is also an important stress reliever for people who need to let loose. The positive effects of music can be felt with listening or playing music, but Charles says there is nothing quite the same as playing one’s own music. “Improvisation is a moment in time,” says Segal. “Music is ageless.”

At 82 years old, Charles has dedicated his long life to perfecting his art on the piano keys. He says music has given him immense knowledge and discipline all while teaching him lessons about love, loss, and strength. Charles attributes his character to the life struggles and accomplishments he has experienced. In all that he has been through, his music has remained constant in his life and his heart, acting as a testament to his experiences.

Music is ideal in treating stress, but is also relatively easy to start. All a person needs to succeed in playing music is drive to start and the passion to keep going. Many people may feel intimidated when beginning to play a new instrument, but “People shouldn’t be afraid of the piano, it is more than just white and black keys,” says Segal.

Though Charles is a talented pianist and songwriter, he is also a lover of people and things. This love for life can be heard in his recordings, and musicians of any level or expertise can learn how to have the same appreciation for their art.

Getting High On Life

Exposing Yourself to the piano

This lesson will be just familiarize you with the piano.  When you look at a keyboard, don’t be intimidated by the seemingly disorganized jumble of black and white keys confronting you.  You will learn that the keyboard is actually organized brilliantly, making it so much simpler than it looks at first glance.  The black keys are very important, because without them, you wouldn’t be able to find your way around the instrument.  Looking at the groupings of 2’s and 3’s of the black keys allows you to identify the position of your hand, as you are moving along the keyboard.  This can be done without looking down at the keyboard simply by feeling along the keys.       

Black keys ([#]sharps/[b]flats):  There are two groups of black keys.  There are the two’s and the three’s huddled next to each other.  Your index finger and middle finger go on the two black keys.  And your index, middle and ring finger go onto the three black keys.  As a general guideline, you will never play the black keys with your thumb.    

White keys:  For this exercise only your thumb will be touching the white keys. 

The first two notes that I want you to find on the keyboard is C and F.  C can be found on the white key just before any group of two black keys.  F will be found just before any grouping of three black keys.  Now put your right index finger onto the first of the two black keys.  Hit the next black key with your middle finger.  Now cross your thumb over to F on the white key.  And now play with your three fingers on the three black keys.  Roll your thumb underneath once more onto C.  And finally come to rest on the next black key with your index finger.  After you have done this try to go all the way up the keyboard in this way and then all the way back down.  Now try it with the other hand. 

Your left hand will be a mirror image of what your right hand did.  Put your middle finger on the first of the two black keys.  Then your index finger.  Put your thumb on F.  Roll your ring finger over to the next set of black keys and play them with your three fingers, hit C with your thumb and rest on the next black note with your middle finger.  Learnt to go up and down the keyboard like the right hand.  After you have finished all of that, you should then try to play with both hands at the same time.  

   

Two Unlikely Meetings, and Lost Opportunities

Hal Shaper

Hal and Charles first met on the Muizenberg beach in Cape Town 1954.  Hal was a lawyer and Charles introduced him to song-writing, encouraging him to try write lyrics for some of Charles’s melodies. Charles introduced Hal to his original lyricist, Anton De Waal, who wrote the lyrics for and published their first song.  There were many more Segal-Shaper collaborations to come, but the relationship between Charles and Harold was always dynamic, with Hal’s tendency to be controlling of every aspect of their professional relationship and friendship.

 

Hal enjoyed the life of a lyric writer so much that he devoted more and more time to doing that and eventually moved to London and joined a music publishing company.  Hal’s big hit was “Softly as I Leave You,” for which he translated the lyrics of a popular Italian song.  Hal’s version was recorded by top artists, such as Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Matt Monro.

Charles and Hal kept in touch over the years, collaborating on more songs such as “Michelle Meets Mark”, “Reeve’s Song” and “Melanie,”  which was recorded with Charles when visitng Hal in London. 

Herbert Kretzmer

In an equally unlikely meeting, Charles sat next to South African journalist, Herbert Kretzmer, on a plane traveling to Israel and they talked nonstop throughout the trip.  There was a genuine connection between the two of them and Charles came away from the trip with a real friend. 

Then on one Saturday afternoon in London, Charles Segal was looking out the window of Shaper’s South Kensington home and was excited to see Herbert Kretzmer approaching the building, presumably to meet with Hal.  Charles told Hal how much he liked Herbert and was excited to get together with him.  Kretzmer rang Hal’s doorbell, but Shaper refused to answer.  Both being lyricists, there might have been a sense of rivalry between these two men.  Charles tried to convince Hal to let Herbert in, but Hal replied, “This isn’t your apartment, I can do as I please.”  Little did Hal know, Herbert Kretzmer would later become the English lyric adapter to the hit musical Les Miserables.  Since this adaptation, Herbert Kretzmer had become bigger than Hal ever hoped to be. 

The lesson that Charles took away from this incident is that one should always be nice to people you meet, whether you perceive them as important or just ordinary.  You never know what life may bring and how important that person may become in the future. 

Necessary Business

Morris was in the business of making flax, a cotton-made fiber used in clothes.  Many young Lithuanians were forced by the soviets to join the military, to which Morris was a part of.   Ever since his time in the military, he never ceased to carry a gun on him.  About a month after Charles was born, Morris went on a business trip with a friend from Joniškis to Vilnius to sell his material.  Despite the fact that this was many miles away, it was a necessary trip financially.  When he came upon the location, he told his partner to wait outside while he goes in to make the deal.  Upon walking into the building he was immediately suspicious about the place.  The men he was speaking with there were edgy, and he saw about four open doors.  They asked him if he had the money on him for his purchase.  As soon as he said so, a series of men started coming out of these doors.  Immediately Morris pulled out his pistol from his coat pocket and ordered them to move up along the wall.  He then called upon his partner and they hit the hell out of dodge!  When Morris arrived home, he said to his wife, “MER MUSSEN LEFAN!”                                                                                                                                                   

Born into a World of Fire

Charles Segal’s father, Morris, also referred to be the family as “Mash,” met his mother Riva in a play called “Tevia Der Milchaker.”   This was the original play inspiring the musical we know today as “The Fiddler on the Roof.”  Around 1924 they married and moved to Joniškis Lithuania.  Louis, Charles’s older brother was born in 1925.  Charles Segal was born in Joniškis Lithuania in June 15^th 1929.  Three months latter, the soviets had invaded Lithuania.  

The atmosphere was very depressing.  To the east they had the Soviets, and to the southwest there was Germany, where Hitler was biding his time for supremacy.  Being held by the soviets was enough already, but in all honesty there was more fear of Hitler than anything else.  Being Jewish in Lithuania was even worse, Jews were hated by Lithuanians and the Bolsheviks alike because of their perceived wealth.  

Bolsheviks would commonly go on progroms (riots) targeting the destruction of Jewish stores, and individual Jews were selected and murdered by the Bolsheviks.  Since most Lithuanians were poor, they were quicker to steal from their “wealthy” Jewish neighbors than their own kin.  Morris sought to find a way to get his family out of Lithuania. It didn’t matter where it was they were going, they just needed to get out.  But the soviets were not letting anyone out unless they had family on the outside.  So for the time being, the family had to wait it out.   

Can one CD save America $63.2 billion? (How to fight sleep deprivation)

                                                

In the Wallstreet journal article: “Decoding the Science of Sleep,” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443866404577565781327694346.html

It has been found that sleep deprivation is costing American businesses $63.2 billion of work productivity.  While it raises many factors that contribute to sleep deprivation, it poses only a few realistic ideas to ease the individual into a sleep state.  The old saying, “How do you sleep at night?” has some wisdom to it, in that stress literally keeps you up at night.  Even after you’ve gotten home from long hours of work, you’re mind frequently is still focused on one thing, work.  Lying in the dark void leaves your mind the freedom to wonder and to worry. 

My solution:  Listen to light relaxing music when going to sleep.

Doctors have been using our music for years to ease patients into surgery.  Like the lullaby, the mind focuses on the music, instead of life.  Yet the music is subtle enough so as to not overwhelm the mind, allowing the user to naturally ease into sleep.

Use this relaxing CD called: “Relax to the music of Charles Segal”

To learn more about our relaxing series of music go to:

http://charlessegal.com/CD_series/relax/relax.html