Practice It--Power Songs Make You Strong

-
Some music listeners prefer movie soundtracks for escape and healing purposes.  "The Sound of Music" gets the most mentions.  I have heard and read that the "Do re mi" song clears blocked chakras.  You can learn more about this in the late Ted Andrews' book, "Sacred Sounds".



While Julia Cameron promotes morning pages (journaling therapy), I promote the concept of the music diary (keeping track of music's effects on your mind and body).  One of the tools that derives from the music diary is a set of power songs.  By tracking different music styles and songs on your mind, body, emotions, and neurological system, you discover at least 5 must-have songs that help you with insomnia, uplifting hour moods, energy-building, or for catharis (unblocking emotions).

 I give you an example of 5 of my power songs and their uses.  You might include these songs in your music tool kit or choose your own based on your musical observations.  I also mention that you need to put this tool kit together before you suffer from insomnia, exhaustion, depression, or feel blocked.  It's not much fun guessing which music you need in the moment of a crisis.  Do the work and plan ahead.

 1. Confidence-building--Ruthie Foster's "Phenomenal Woman," from the CD "Phenomenal Ruthie Foster" (Blue Corn Records).

 2. Mood lifter--Mozart's "Clarinet Concerto" (No specific recording)

 3. Overcoming obstacles--Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony" (In its entirety or just the 1st movement)

 4. Empowerment--Bob Marley's "Exodus" (Power to the people...)

 5. Spiritual hope/escape--Earth Wind & Fire, "Fantasy" (Greatest Hits, Vol 1 & 2)

 This is just a quick example.  I actually have tons of songs in my musical tool kit with 600 albums at my disposal.

 If I want to connect to nature I listen to Native American or other indigenous music, especially drums and flute.  If I want to cure a headache or dealing with female hormone issues I listen to Anonymous 4, or the Wailin' Jennys, the Good Lovelies also work in this regard.  If I need mother energy, I listen to Mary Youngblood's albums and so on.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction to Peyote Songs & The Native American Church

-
Image
Father Peyote: Songs of the Native American Church Introduction to the Peyote Church Ceremony This is an archival article written in 2003.  It's not updated.  For more recent recordings, go to Canyon Records website, http://www.canyonrecords.com When some people speak of Native American ceremonies, the peyote ceremony or the ingestion of the hallucinogen peyote (contains mescaline) usually surfaces. However, there is too much false information being passed around in the non-native community surrounding peyote meetings. The first thing people need to know about the Native American connection to peyote is that the plant is sacred medicine ingested as a sacrament during healing ceremonies of the Native American Church. The second thing, people need to know is that the Native American Church is not a set structure like the Christian Church. The peyote meeting could take place in a Navajo hogan or a teepee. And finally, since the peyote meeting does in part derive from Nat
Read more

21st Century Musical Healer Series--Heather Hannan

-
Image
 Healing with Sound and Reiki Based in Toronto, Canada, Heather Hannan has proven with her own life healing experiences the enormous power of sound frequencies. She acts as a bridge between the mundane world (real estate) to other spiritual dimensions (past life regressions, quantum physics, Reiki, sound frequencies,  and other cutting edge work). I met Heather through my Linked In group Musical Healers and I'm delighted to include her work and insights on this blog. As you know, raising music and sound consciousness takes a world-size village of folks, just like Heather dedicating their lives to working with the healing power of sound.  Whole Music: When did you discover and begin exploring sound healing? Heather Hannan: Ten years ago I was at a crossroads in my life and looking for a group of like-minded people with whom to explore my gifts and talents through meditation. Little did I know that via the meditation group I joined I would be invited to
Read more

Talking about Timbre

-
Image
Wikipedia As I mention in my book Whole Music , when I was a child I fell in love with timbre and the voices of the individual instruments we listened to in music class.  Each instrument conjured a specific emotions or feeling in me.  The French horn caused me to feel majestic and the cello invoked melancholy.  My moods would shift with each instrument that I heard and my moods would shift quickly. Today, I listen to more than timbre, but I have an understanding of how tone, frequencies of the tone and timbre (the color of the tone) affect me on all levels.  And I wonder what listening to an entire symphony does with its many voices, themes, keys, musical passages etc... In the concept of "whole music" I prefer not to separate musical components, but in the case of this post, I will present solo instruments for your listening and feeling pleasure. If you keep a music journal (and I hope that you do by now), write down the emotions that come up with each instrument.  R
Read more