Music

The Nazis were masters of mass psychology, but they weren't the first to exploit the power of music. For centuries, armies have long recognized the power of drumming to replicate the human heartbeat. Drumming can put marching soldiers into a trance-like state. It can increase the heart rate and blood flow, and thus prepare soldiers physiologically for battle.
 * Music and Rhythm**

Page 21. "They stir his blood, call him to duty, make his legs long to run away from the table, away from the radio, and run down to the inner city to join the marchers."

Page 98. "Helmuth hates the drums, hates how they quicken his blood, how they belie his true feelings and try to convince him that war is good."

During the writing and researching of this book, I listened to Brahms's //Ein deutches Requiem//, or //German Requiem//. A requiem is a mass to honor the dead, but Brahms wrote this masterpiece as a "mass for humanity." He intended for it to give comfort to the living. The //German Requiem// opens with the line "Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted." It ends with the lines: "Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord, from henceforth. Yea, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." I thought Brahms's //German Requiem// fit Helmuth, and it inspired me during the writing of Helmuth's story. You can read more about the //German Requiem// and even listen to it here: [] How does the music make you feel? What does it make you think of? How does this music connect to Helmuth and his story?