Experiencing 'Sleep'

My Zen playlist is a little different. It includes only one artist and features just one composition. It lasts eight hours and twenty-four minutes. Maybe the most unique thing about my Zen playlist is that the first time I listened to it, I experienced it in person, during a live performance.

Susan, my wife, and I were among the fortunate 150 people who watched and listened to Max Richter, the ACME string ensemble, and soprano vocalist Grace Davidson perform Richter’s composition Sleep in its entirety at Bass Hall on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin at SXSW 2018.

We waited outside the hall for more than four hours to make sure we had a bedside seat. We entered the hall at around 11 p.m. on March 12, 2018. The performance began at midnight on March 13, continuing into the early morning, a full eight-hour concert experience.

Along with the other audience members, we watched the performance from a Beautyrest queen-size mattress. After the performance, the mattresses were donated to local charities.

Sleep includes 204 tracks with titles like “Never Fade Into Nothingness,” “Return 16,” “If You Came This Way,” and “Dream 0 (til break of day).”

According to an interview with NPR, Richter said he wrote Sleep to “provide a landscape or a musical place where people could fall asleep." I can testify from my experience that night in Austin that he accomplished his mission and then some.

Richter’s Sleep mission is a worthy one. According to the CDC, one in three American adults doesn’t get enough sleep. The Cleveland Clinic reports that short-term effects of a lack of sleep include impaired memory, lack of alertness, and relationship stress. Longer-term risks include high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease.

By contrast, regularly getting a full seven hours of sleep each night boosts your mood, helps control your blood sugar and weight, and fights germs, according to WebMD. In many ways, this Zen playlist not only helps you focus and relax but it can also improve your health.

Sleep begins with “Dream 1 (Before the Wind Blows it All Away),” a slow, calm meditative solo keyboard performance by Richter. Listening to “Dream 1” now, I feel my heart slow and my breath steady. In Bass Hall that night in Austin, I had an immediate similar feeling. About 20 minutes into the performance, as the string ensemble joined Richter’s keyboards, I felt myself fading into a blissful state between wakefulness and sleep. Finally, I gave in and drifted into a deep slumber.

Then, all of a sudden, a warm, bright light entered my dreams. It was like I was being visited by angels. My brain felt like it was floating. It was as close to an out-of-body experience as I’ve ever had. This was my reaction to the smooth, soaring vocal performance by Grace Davidson at the start of “Path 3,” track 15 on the Sleep playlist. That night, I sat on the edge of the bed, not entirely awake, but not asleep either, in blissful awe. I treasure and enjoy every track on Sleep, but to me, the Davidson performances are a highlight.

As the night continued, I flowed between restful sleep and peaceful mediation. Finally, Sleep concludes with “Dream 0 (til break of day), part 13.” “Dream 0” sounds like day-breaking. I feel the energy of a new day rising in my heart as I listen to it.

That experience of lying, sitting, simply being in one place for eight hours while this remarkable music washed over me will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Fortunately, I can experience Sleep again anytime by listening to my favorite tracks or the entire composition on most major streaming services. I return to Sleep often and find it the perfect playlist to help me focus, relax, meditate, change my mood, and yes, sleep.