Active ingredients
Below are some links to in depth study into the effects of music and intentional sound making on the mind and body. If you’ve read this far then you are probably interested in finding out more specifics in this field of knowledge. Let me begin with two anecdotes.
I remember attending a lecture by Deepak Chopra who explained (in much greater detail) that a thought can be viewed as being connected to your next thought by a tiny gap. Our busy lives often involve developing routines that move us automatically from one thought to the next jumping over the gap. Although routines are considered healthy for the mind and body, too much routine can put us into a rut preventing us from growing into a diverse life. If we could only pause in the gap for a brief moment, our next thought could be any possible new thought and inviting change. Meditation is a technique to essentially slow our thoughts down enough to pause in the gap making us aware of new options or choices. Meditative music with its improvisational nature also sends you on a path of discovery and growth.
What you think about while you listen is very important to us. Dr Edward de Bono, who coined the term lateral thinking has stated that the brain is a self-maximizing system; essentially meaning that your mind will always try to make sense of things even if they seem like gibberish at first. How you choose to process that can have profound effects on your state of being.
Here are links to websites, individuals and organizations doing amazing work in the field of music, meditation and science.
Dr. Shari Geller
Mindfulness without boarders
Most important though is that we are musicians; musicians that are comfortable and free to explore all genres of music and to explore in a caring way. I have been hearing the term “the healing power of music” the saying of which makes me nervous. I don't believe you can heal yourself of a malady by listening to music. If anything, I would prefer to say that certain types of music are greatly beneficial in self-care by giving insight, inspiration and opening up channels for choice. The first choice you make in a long list of choices should contribute to what will hopefully reverse the effects of your malady. Maybe it’s an argument in semantics but an important distinction.
When you are sad or troubled, I find it’s hard to listen to the world around you having a good time. Perhaps this is not the time that you want to be cheered up just yet. Maybe it’s time to dwell in the turmoil as the poet David Whyte would say, “When your eyes are tired the world is tired also. When your vision has gone no part of the world can find you. Time to go into the dark where the night has eyes to recognize its own.” but wouldn’t it be nice if a handful of your closest friends would dwell in the darkness with you. To walk the dark forests and grieve. It does not need to be a long time. However long it takes to digest the experience and expel it. You could hold onto an old pattern since it gives you great comfort, but maybe it’s the past pleasantries holding you hostage in the present?
In listening to this music you may get an underlying theme of death and rebirth; of letting go; going with the flow or being in the moment. Musically we are promoting self-care by playing with intention and not automating the process in any way. This is not to make a therapeutic statement but to share with you something that as a musician I have known for a long time. I “know” that after a hard day, I can put on a good tune and feel better. Or better yet, sit down at the piano and “noodle” around for a couple of hours and really feel better. We are grateful to have played a part or have facilitated the transition. Some of our concert attendees have shared anecdotes of how they came to a decision of a question that had been troubling them for a long time. Some were able to end old relationships or begin new ones whether it be a person, a job or a new geography…. Change can be frightening and cues of resistance are ever present.
The most impact you will derive from our compositions is from the first listening. At that point you will be in the moment. Upon subsequent listening, memories will put you slightly in the past and then as you find your favorite parts and not so favorite parts the music will become “past” music not “in the moment” music.
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