The flute is a versatile instrument that has come to help define the parameters of New Age music with its gentleness, range, and emotional breath. It can cry like a hawk in the desert or sparkle like an animated flourish of color in a tropical forest, alive with delight, even whimsy, while at the same time being ultimately serious, deep, and healing. A longtime master of an array of flutes, Terry Oldfield is one of the key figures behind this association, creating and producing a bevy of wonderful albums over the years and improving and perfecting with each one, even as he soars bravely off into ever-new directions. With a backdrop of gentle fountains and supporting instruments, Oldfield effortlessly conjures the feeling of a tropical spa, creating a protective, soothing space ideal for acupuncture, Reiki, or massage. Oldfield’s albums are so often used in those situations that they’re almost ubiquitous. You may hear it, play it, or know it from your healing sessions, but keeping a copy of Reiki Healing Energy at home is a good way to see just how much of your blissed-out post-bodywork state is due to Oldfield and your own openness to music’s healing power.
Hoisting sail on lovely arcs of light, Oldfield charts a Far East course for the tantalizing arabesque “Secret Cove,” creating windswept coasts and the mental image of a wise shaman–goatherd at the lip of his cave, serenading the setting sun. “Gentle Forest” hoists Oldfield’s flute into the steamy tree boughs full of colorful wings and beaks full of berries, running brooks, and distant forest chatter. But Oldfield can also go unafraid into the land of the orchestral sentiment and sweep, as in the almost Morricone-esque lyricism of “Ancient Waters.”
For Reiki healers or those in need of healing, and especially if they like classical music, Oldfield’s album is a perfect solution to a lot of problems, being diverse enough in its scope (even including female operatic singing on “Troy”) to be consistently engaging, even after many plays. Add extra dimensions to an outdoor excursion by playing Reiki Healing Energy outside, so the crickets and birds in your backyard are woken by the recorded voices of their brothers and sisters from far-off lands. Oldfield’s blessed flute will play for them all as well as for you, and unite all the life within hearing distance under his Pied Piper spell.
