Catherine Marie Charlton created River Dawn specifically to be background music for meditation, relaxation, massage, and any number of other activities. When Ms Charlton and I spoke about doing a review, she suggested that I not actively listen to the CD, but to keep it in the background while in the process of doing something else. I know many, many people do this, but I can’t. As a piano teacher and music journalist, I find it impossible to keep music in the background - I am compelled to listen to it. Be that as it may, I experienced River Dawn in the car, doing my best to not listen to it too carefully. It is an hour of solo piano music, one continuous track, that meanders and flows without much in the way of dynamics or musical surprises. When I focused on the music, it was kind of lackluster (as it is supposed to be!), but when I was able to keep it in the background, it was really very pleasant. Apparently, quite a few practitioners of the healing arts are finding this music very helpful in their work. It was an unusual listening experience for me, and is probably what Erik Satie and some of his peers referred to as “furniture music” during their own time. If you do massage or mediation or yoga, or would like a musical backdrop for your other daily activities, River Dawn could be a nice enhancement to the experience. It is available from www.catherinemariecharlton.com and amazon.com