Conducting Mindfulness Exercises with Piano Works about Rivers

From these collated piano pieces that depict rivers of a particular place or as a general landscape feature, we can identify useful tool kits for conducting mindfulness exercises:

Thames Sunrise by Janet & Alan Bullard (2023)
Rushing River by Melody Bober & Glori Goranson (2006)
River and Rainbow by Walter Carroll (1933)
River Flows in You by Lee Ru-ma Yiruma (2001)
Shenandoah, traditional folk music about exploring along the Missouri river
The Watermill, by Esther Kahn (1922)
En Bateau, by Claude Debussy (1886)
By the Ruili River, by Shi Guangnan (1963)
Jeux d’eau by Maurice Ravel (1901)
Reflets dans l’eau by Claude Debussy (1901)
Yellow River Piano Concerto, Movement 1 – 3, by Xian Xinghai, Yin Chengzong, Chu Wanghua, Shang Lihong and Liu Zhuang (1969)
Má Vlast: Vltava (the Moldau), by Bedřich Smetana (1874)

Imagining Rivers in Mindfulness Exercises

The river sound has often been adopted by specialists in wellbeing and psychology to design therapeutic exercises to enhance adult mental health. For instance, the Leaves on a Stream is a mindfulness exercises frequently tested out and provided by Therapist Aid LLC. This exercise follows the acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), which uses leaves on a stream to teach the practice of defusion, or separating oneself from one's thoughts. The facilitator should narrate a prescribed speech in a limited timeframe to conduct the session. While the style of narration may vary by the experience and personalities of the facilitator, the facilitator can draw upon additional sound as guidance in navigating mindfulness.

In addition to field recording of river sound, the piano music of rivers collated above can potentially create an immersive ambience that can provide directions in the mindfulness imaginative process. For example, the facilitator of the mindfulness session can narrate the audio guidance speech following the rhythm and dynamics of the river piano music pieces, to depict a concrete scenery for participants to imagine themselves standing next to or walking along a river in a particular place.

orange leaf near body of water and mountains during daytime

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Related School Curriculum

If you encounter any technical and teaching-related problems in trying out this plan, or if you would like to work with us to develop other innovative curriculum, please get in touch with us via our email hello@ecomuse.co.uk

Comments and feedback are welcome.

Conducting Mindfulness Exercises with Piano Works about Rivers

Imagining Rivers in Mindfulness Exercises

First released date: 11 Apr 2025