The Whole Music Experience

Even when we think we are listening to silence, we still hear ambient sounds of our urban and rural environments.  Scientist Gordon Hampton, with his research project One Square Inch has traveled the world in search of pockets of pure silence.  He found one such spot in the Hoh Rain Forest in Washington State. I found the article on scientist Gordon Hampton's research about sound in the Hoh Rain Forest in Washington Magazine , (Summer 2010) or issue #5. While I don't have the online link to this article, you can learn more about this research at www.onesquareinch.org

I read an article on Canadian songster Sarah McLachlan in a back issue of Yoga Journal and learned about Sarah's music outreach program. Here is the website http://sarahmclachlanmusicoutreach.com/ I applaud these sorts of efforts.  Music also saved my life and I would have never survived my childhood without music lessons and music.

I don't know about you, but since I exist in a society that maps out the life experience with calendars, two days in the year act as clean slates for me, January first and my birthday.  On these two days, the first song I listen to makes all the difference in the world to me.  Music is after all energy and energy is the currency we use in the practice of manifestation.  So ask yourself if you want to manifest love or fear in your life. Personally, though I don't feel it all the time, love is my favorite feeling/emotion.  How can you argue with love, a kind of chocolate balm for the soul, not to mention, the mind, heart, and body.  Believe me when I tell you that all the cells in your body prefer to love and be in love with the world, and if you can't find love through any other means, find it through music with loving intention. So ask yourself, what song kick started your year? Did you have control over what song was chosen, or did someone else choose i...

I Love You said to anyone in any language. Say these words and sing these words often.

I'm compiling a list of songs with references to the moon or have moon in the title.  I can use your help.  Genres I'm looking at are: World, traditional, classical, Broadway musicals, movie soundtracks, jazz, and blues. I'll get us started: "Clare de Lune," "Moon River," "Blue Moon,".... Please leave a comment with the song titles.  Thanks.

My article regarding music for early childhood development has been published in the Skagit Food Coop newsletter. http://www.skagitfoodcoop.com/newsletters.html  (click on December 2010), p. 6 & 12. The article features Oran Etkin, Hilary Field and Gary Kvistad of Woodstock Chimes.

I'm already looking at 2011 and what I seek regional music of France (and Corsica), Italy, Spain, Finland, Norway, and the Americas (especially Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina). I encourage labels that release this regional music to contact me by e-mail and then we'll go from there. I look forward to exploring this music. By the way, I'm always interested in acoustic music from Mali, Senegal, and Cuba. WME

I found the Film Movement series movie, The Wind Journeys at my local library.  Directed by Colombian Ciro Guerra and featuring accordionist Marciano Martinez, a road flick marries music exploration. While the Colombian rural music, vallenata takes centerstage, other regional musical traditions appear in the movie.  Highly Recommended. (Especially for the students who enrolled in my Songs of the Americas course). http://www.filmmovement.com/

According to a short news clip in the April 2010 issue of Natural Solutions magazine, denists are now employing music to relax patients.  "A 2009 study in Canada found music reduces pain and anxiety in children undergoing dental procedures; and a 2007 study in Spain found music as effective as diazepam (Valium) at relieving preoperative anxiety..." http://www.naturalsolutionsmag.com/ April 2010, p. 75.

A visitor to this blog forwarded this article to me . I was surprised to find this on a mainstream news site. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30990170/