Reviews

“Mathieu has found the words to tell the power of music.”

— Pete Seeger, Composer and musician

“The dharma of sound - deceptively simple and visionary
 
Opening our ears is perhaps the most profoundly valuable practice for all of us, whether we are musicians, physicians, politicians, business-people, whatever we do in life. Learning to listen and respond is of vital importance. William Allaudin Mathieu provides easy yet profound pathways into this practice.
 
I heartily recommend these wonderful books, and their new incarnation as CDs. They make great bedtime stories, drive-time meditations for a calm, alert mind.”

— Stephen Nachmanovitch, musician, educator,
author of Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art

“A true gift for music-makers of any stripe. It offers us not only the insights of a master teacher and the instincts of a great musician, but it radiates with that wonderful quality of a man who wears his soul on his sleeve.”

— Paul Winter, Composer and musician

“Allaudin Mathieu is a musical poet, a tonal philosopher, and a rhythmic prophet. He opens windows in our ears that we did not realize were stuck shut. He enables us to listen across the spectrum of bandwidth . and beyond.”

— Julie Lyonn Lieberman, improvising violinist and vocalist,
educator, and author of eight books, including
‘Planet Musician’ and ‘You Are Your Instrument’

“Give ear musicians, music teachers, and music lovers to Allaudin Mathieu's readings from his wisdom books. Rich, rewarding and insightful, they help all of us recapture our love for music, activate our creativity, and reformat the way we listen and learn.”

— Don Campbell, musician and author of
The Mozart Effect and Sound Spirit

“It's great!”

— Peter Phippen, World flute recording artist
for Canyon Records

“In this collection of short, evocative essays, Mathieu offers playful and powerful suggestions for awakening to the music that is always around us and inside us ... His infectious passion for the melodies and rhythms of everyday life shimmers on every page.”

— Yoga Journal

“In this age of the couch potato, squatting bug-eyed at the boob-tube, this is a book on behalf of the unregenerate ear-minded person's protest against the eye-minded majority ... Mathieu offers suggestions and encouragement on many aspects of music-making, and provides playful exercises to help readers appreciate the connection between sound, music, and everyday life.”

— Spiritual Frontiers

“A wise and loving owner's manual for anybody who has ears. Mathieu offers a rare opportunity to re-discover a rich and often neglected channel that links our inner self with the world.”

— Jim Aikin, Keyboard Magazine

“This book is a gem. I've assigned six different books to my Free Improvisation class, and have now come back to this core work. My students, college music majors, are invariably impressed and changed by it. They come to it with their ears "trained", but are introduced to a whole world of sound they never really noticed before.
 
It turns out that they have been taught to jump through a series of increasingly small hoops in their ear-training classes, but might not have noticed all there is to listen to outside the hoops. They regain their curiosity, their narrow judgment gives way to acceptance, and their musical behavior becomes freer. I look forward to playing some of these exquisite tracks for them. Beautifully mastered by Clint Goss, and read by the author, this recording wonderful.”

— David Rudge, Director of Orchestras, SUNY Fredonia

“Mathieu is consistently proving himself to be one of the best in music theory.”

— John Coltrane, in 1962

“WOW!!! W. A. Mathieu has incredible insight and inspiration for all ... untrained and professional musicians alike. Yet one does not need to be a trained musician to grasp his concepts. In learning music, we are taught to listen to the music of others/read about/analyze it. But Mathieu speaks of total listening ... listening to everything ... for everything has vibrations and resonance, in order to express creative musical thoughts. Listen to nature: the fauna, the wind, etc; to the sounds of the city or of the countryside, and at different times of the day and night ... to immerse oneself in one's surroundings and hear the music all around us ... to transform the feelings, the sounds, from these moments to one's music making. How to walk in order to get the feeling of rhythm and meter ... to drum on different objects to get the sound. About silence ... which cannot find really ... but quiet moments: how even some music can give one a sense or impression of being in silence.
 
About one's fears of music ... of the way we let negative comments about our music-making during earlier childhood lead to one being afraid to play, to resist fully experiencing music. Mathieu gives great insight on how to see music-making, even mistakes!!! in a totally different way.
 
On teachers ... how everything is a teacher, even the trees and how to learn from everything. About practice periods: that the "purpose of music is to become who you are" through 4 different parts of practice: equal time "Playing the music of others, improvising, studying the theory, and listening", of paying attention to one's feelings with the goal being ‘achieving the sound’ ... yet even in a lifetime, will never know all there is to know about this sound/tones. Of how, when improvising/creating music to start with one note, spend time with it, its different aspects, before going on to second/added note(s), etc.
 
This is truly an amazing teacher/musician/ composer ... learning and using Mathieu's approach to music-making by all individuals will lead to great experiences and joy in the creation of music.”

— Jackie Bhuyan, musician/teacher/composer

“This newly mastered audio of Mathieu's classics is a must-have for musicians and non-musicians alike. Mathieu's message reaches across generations and cultures, revealing how to live in the moment with a positive attitude and a joyful heart. This is a message needed now more than ever.”

— Michael Brant DeMaria, Ph. D.,
psychologist, musician, author, and speaker

“When I was 13 (72 now) while at a summer camp in a beautiful location in the Ozarks, a minister from the nearest town came out to us for Sunday services, and instead of speaking about a Biblical or Christian subject, he chose to speak about LISTENING. There were long periods of silence in that sermon, and we were located on a high promontory atop a mountain. It was the loudest silence! It's amazing, what you hear, if you really, really, listen.
 
The wisdom, philosophy, and the physical location all came together for me that morning, and my life was changed. My friends and family all believe that my sense of hearing is extraordinary, because I do hear things that others around me do not. I hear sirens, for instance, a full minute or two before anyone else hears them ... but my hearing, tested, is only normal average. But I have practiced listening, actively and with intent, all my life since that day.
 
The consequences have gone into my choice of career (primary and secondary), into my music, into my spiritual path, and my choice of friends. Resonance is everywhere, in everything ... and in my current endeavors in energy medicine (teaching and practicing). Resonance is all. Resonance is way larger than the mere physical. So these audio tracks, and especially the one on Resonance, moved me to my core, back again to age 13, sitting on that mountain, listening to the Universe.
 
I am stunned at the beauty presented in these tracks! I took notes, stopping the audio and writing, then re-starting the audio again. I am doing a lecture-demo on my healing work to the MN. Theosophical Society next week, in the room where I sat and played flutes for 11 years, my favorite place in the world to play flutes. It's a circular sanctuary with a large dome, and the acoustics are perfect ... so I intend to take a flute with me for that demo. Much of what healing is about is resonance and entrainment.
 
Thank you thank you for providing these tracks. They have really touched my heart! Sweet music to you all!”

— Alice Hess, Certified Quantum Touch Practitioner

“I love The Listening Book and The Musical Life and have worked with them for a long, long time. They are the first ones I have my music students work with ... they are phenomenal; they have so much that one new to music hasn't thought of and so much one needs to know ... I teach music in this way as a spiritual path and Mathieu just nails so much right on the head. I so appreciate them. They are the best.
 
This new audio edition allows one to listen in the car or when one is washing dishes and much like music itself, allows the sound, the truth of those words to slowly seep into the body and the words to walk around and around the brain and penetrate like a gentle rain and then infuse one's own music on a deep level. Many, many thanks for these recordings.”

— Mary Lu Brandwein, Shakuhachi performer and
recording artist

“A remarkable and exciting work. An obvious labor of love. Mathieu's observations and perceptions are insightful, incisive and often startling. This could change the way we view music, and which could be of benefit to everyone from the casual listener or performer to the professional musician.”

— David N. Baker, Indiana University School of Music

“The Listening Book is an easy stroll into music, one that walks you along through tranquil, sound-lit landscapes or sits you comfortably in the family living room around piano and home hearth for a musically conversant evening.”

— Betina Lindsey, author

“This is very well done. He has captured in words what music is to the heart and mind. I have seen works that focus on one or the other, but never one that blends them into one concept.”

— Jeffrey A. Gegner, Native American Flute recording artist

“I love it that this resource is being reissued. What a treasure it is for adults seeking to deepen their musical understanding and expression! I loved reading the two books in print, but the combination of spoken word and musical accompaniment makes them all the more powerful. Thank you.”

— Martha Crowell

“To ‘listen’ to “The Listening Book” is a gift. We can hear the silence, the joy and the mastery Mathieu brings to his own music. Listening to his words and music together becomes an attunement. There are instructions for wonderment! There is a guide to mastering music!”

— JoAnne Spies

“This is really quite amazing. The sound quality of the spoken voice is very soothing/relaxing. ‘Wow’ seems to be the best word to describe it. It is a meditation and education all at once.”

— Richard Brooner, Composer

“I LOVE this ... and I KNOW this will assist me in teaching people to sing and play flute. I have used the way Mathieu teaches ‘The Tone Deaf’ how to sing and I have always believed anyone can sing. This has confirmed my beliefs.”

— Stephen W. Mc Natt, Music Teacher

“I am a long-time Gestalt therapist and this CD is perfect for our emphasis on immediacy and contact (the five senses)”

— Jim Doak, MSW, Gestalt Therapist, author of
Coming to Life, The Emergence of Self in the Human Life Cycle