The Whole Music Experience

When I suffer from anxiety attacks or fear in general, I listen to particular vocalists because their voices act like an audio massage. The tone and texture of voices differ for each of us. Some people find male voices more soothing, some find women's voices more soothing; some people enjoy the singular voice while others lift their vibration with vocal harmony. I find the African and the African-American vocals most soothing, followed by Native American vocals and then women's harmonies. But this all depends on the day and my circumstances as well as, the strength of the negative emotions I wish to relieve. Some times sacred music lifts me higher and other times I find comfort in a nostalgic pop song. Here's an example of an African song that soothes my anxiety by Samite When I was going through a particular rough time Native American musicians Mary Youngblood and Joanne Shenandoah came into my life (post 9-11). I recall listening to Youngblood's Under a ...

photo by Patricia Herlevi, Happy Flowers Consider how music affects our moods.  When we listen to songs from our formative years, we wax nostalgia, but this can have therapeutic effects too.  We hear of people listening to romantic music to get them in the "mood" and marches and political anthems often accompany rallies.  But how conscious are we of shifting or creating moods with music? I've already mentioned rhythmic entrainment and resonance on this blog so we're not heading in that direction today.  Hopefully, you have kept a music journal where you have tracked emotional and physical responses to music and sound exposure.  I would even go as far as asking you to listen to music you heard as a child, even if this music was the favorite of a sibling or parent.  Then track your emotions, feelings, and thoughts. Where does your mind wander to, which memory surfaces? How does this memory cause you to feel? Do you feel angry, sad, or elated? And ac...

 Muse Frequencies Musicians talk about getting into the flow or about channeling music.   Some musicians such as Mary Youngblood in an interview I once did with her saw herself as a vessel of the Divine or God.   She mentioned her two-word prayer, “use me.” Then she would pick up her flute to record or perform live.   The Canadian virtuoso pianist Glenn Gould cited in biographical books and movies, which he had to transcend through the music in order to survive a performance on a badly tuned piano. This brings up a good point and that musicians often need to contend with drafts, overheated venues, noise from audience members, problems with an instrument (I had my guitar pickup die on me once while I was giving a performance in London) and some musicians have to deal with awful sound engineers, bad microphones and the list goes on. Fortunately, we have muses who come along to keep us inspired and to open doors for Divine energy to flow through all...

Feeding the Fire with Music Conversation with Mary Youngblood Native American all-around musician Mary Youngblood's third CD, Beneath the Raven Moon arrived on my doorstep on a warm September evening of 2002. The timing couldn't have been more perfect since I had just performed my music on stage in between sets of a musical group I greatly admire. And I hadn't performed music for anyone in 6 years. No one until now, will know how long and hard I worked to get my chops up to par and how difficult it was to sing my songs in Spanish instead of the usual English. Yet, I believe as a musicians we must stretch our talent and give our best to others who care to hear our songs. When I read the press notes for Mary Youngblood's recording, especially about how she was developing confidence as a performer by including her poetry and singing on one of her albums for the first time, I could relate. I stayed up late that night listening to Mary play her flute and sin...