Studio Newsletter with Calendar
JULY 2025
Welcome to our studio, Charles! The next group class is July 19 in Fort Collins. The Sharing will be on August 16, again in my home, and we’ll eat out together afterward.
Your heart's energy field extends beyond your body – and scientists say it affects others!
Recent research in neuro-cardiology from the HeartMath Institute:
The heart has its own network of 40,000 neurons and communicates directly with the brain, influencing emotional regulation, stress responses, and overall well-being. The magnetic energy field produced by the heart is 100 times stronger than the brain’s, and can be detected three feet beyond the body and interact with others’ energy fields.
Positive emotions like love and compassion promote a harmonious heart rhythm, known as “coherence”. This physiological state aligns the heart, brain, and emotions, enhancing learning, decision-making, and resilience.
Practices that foster heart-brain coherence — such as focused breathing and gratitude visualization —not only improve physical health, but also help us project calm and positivity to those around us. This emotional energy field may even be strong enough to influence a room, making the heart a powerful tool for healing, connection, and transformation in everyday life.
MUSIC HISTORY
Discovered in the ruins of Ugarit, the Hurrian Hymn No. 6 is the world’s oldest known complete song, bridging the gap between ancient and modern music.
This remarkable piece of history, also known as the Hymn to Nikkal, dates back to approximately 1400 BC. It was unearthed in the 1950s among a collection of clay tablets in the ancient city of Ugarit, which is in modern-day Syria. The hymn is inscribed in the Hurrian language, and is dedicated to Nikkal, their goddess of orchards and fertility.
What makes this tablet so special is that it contains not only lyrics, but, also musical notation. This makes it the oldest substantially complete work of notated music ever found.
[NOTE: As late as 2002, my last year of teaching college, the Humanities books we used still gave a Greek song from the 500 BC era as the oldest complete song. It was inscribed on a tombstone, a hymn of love to a wife. That one can be played, as there are also treatises explaining their notation at the time. Perhaps it took a long time to translate the cuneiform? NH]
The cuneiform script even includes instructions for tuning a nine-stringed lyre, offering insight into the musical instruments and scales used thousands of years ago.
While older fragments of musical instruction exist, like a Sumerian tablet from around 2000 BC, the Hurrian Hymn No. 6 is the most complete ancient composition we have.
The complexity of the ancient cuneiform notation means that modern scholars have different interpretations of how the hymn might have sounded, but its discovery provides a valuable window into the past. It shows the deep connection between music, religious practice, and daily life for the Hurrian people.
Sources: Guinness World Records; Wikipedia —Hurrian Songs
STUDIO CALENDAR
Second Trimester:
Jul 1, Mon—Monthly tuition due
July 4, Fri— Independence Day
July 19, Sat, 2 pm— Recital Rehearsal
Aug 1, Thur — Monthly tuition due
Aug 16, Sat 2 pm—Summer’ End SHARING/Dinner Out Together
Aug 17-Sept 1—STUDIO CLOSED, Summer Break, End of Trimester
Third Trimester:
Sept 1, Mon — Monthly tuition due, Labor Day
Sept 20, Sat 2 pm—GROUP CLASS
Oct 1, Tues — Monthly tuition due
Oct 2, Wed — Happy Birthday, Cecile!
Oct 3-5 — PAVA Conference (N attending online)
Oct 18, Sat 2 pm—GROUP CLASS
Oct 31, Thur—Happy Halloween!
Nov 1, Sat — Monthly tuition due
Nov 2, Sun — Daylight Savings Ends, Day of the Dead
Nov 4, Tues — Election Day
Nov 11, Tues — Veteran’s Day
Nov 15, Sat 2 pm— Recital Rehearsal
Nov 24-28—STUDIO CLOSED, HappyThanksgiving
Dec 1, Sun—Monthly tuition due
Dec 20, Sat, 2 pm —Holiday RECITAL/Potluck
Dec 21, Sun — Happy Birthday, Matt!
Dec 21-Jan 4—STUDIO CLOSED for Christmas/New Year Break,
End of Trimester