The Whole Music Experience

Not everyone likes to meditate or has time to say affirmations.  For these folks, affirmative songs come to the rescue. Launch your day with these five songs. Many of today's metaphysical teachers such as Esther Hicks (Abraham), Sonia Choquette and Sandra Anne Taylor tell us to start our days on a positive vibe.  These teachers have their various methods involving affirmations, or talking ourselves into a better mood by making general statements.   Sound healers invite us to use sound healing tools such as flutes, Tibetan and crystal bowls or toning with our voice. However, most people I know will say that they don't have time to explore sound healing or practice meditation.  And it's like pulling teeth to get colleagues to say affirmations when they wake up each morning.  Fortunately, many musicians and music composers have written affirmative songs (uplifting melodies with affirmative statements) that anyone can find on YouTube.  Or we could learn t...

Django Reinhardt, Wikipedia (This excerpt comes from chapter 12, "Catching the Coletrane" of Whole Music Soul Food for the Mind Body Spirit ) Jazz Medicine  The story of jazz contains just as many tragedies as it does moments of elation.  Jazz musicians in general have personal history and early African-American jazz players in particular, carried the added weight of injustice, racism, illness, and addiction in the competitive music industry.  Societies in the west color any genre of music hailing from Africa with prejudices.  Early jazz as it emerged in the US and arrived in America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was viewed as a novelty in some cases, and primal in other cases giving listeners the license to adopt destructive practices (consumption of alcohol, loosening of sexual morals and exploring the seedier side) as portrayed in Jeffrey H. Jackson’s book, Making Jazz French . However, even local-grown European musicians harn...

Some of you probably start your day with a spiritual ritual such as meditation, yoga, toning, chanting or taking a meditative walk.  Some of you journal or set an intention for the day.  Perhaps, you do a little of all the above. I have found through my various morning rituals that starting the day with spiritual recordings including Gregorian chant, Buddhist chant, kirtan, or sung affirmations help me deal better with the stress throughout the day.  It's true that we don't have control over outside events except that we do have control over our thoughts, feelings, emotions and reactions to life's events.  With the Law of Attraction teachings our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions radiate vibrations that attract like vibrations. The problem arises when we have a tendency to think negative thoughts and find that we were not born Polly Annas or come from a family of upbeat people.  Training the thoughts in the direction of joy, peace, and balance is still possi...

Jazz Trish Hatley Sing, Ask and It Is Given Independent release Trish Hatley, a super fine jazz vocalist, first told me about her affirmations CD in 2010.   Since I had heard unsatisfactory affirmation recordings set to cheesy programmed music, I wasn’t too keen on reviewing a new affirmation songs CD.   I also balked at any mention of the law of attraction which I didn’t jive with at that time.   Fast forward to the tail end of 2012, when I invited Hatley to appear in my book Whole Music and she mentioned the affirmations CD--a gentle reminder.   Since I was further on board with law of attraction, I agreed to give the CD a listen. Hatley’s CD swings and she joins her regular band of jazz players who defy the new age music genre.   The songs you hear on Sing, Ask and It Is Given represent Hatley’s first time as a songwriter where she combines catchy lyrics with driving melodies.   The songs have style to burn too from swing to j...

Kristy My Romance Alma Records Canadian jazz vocalist Kristy Cardinali tackles those old jazz standards on her debut recording My Romance . Jazz standards only sound simple on the surface. The torch songs require a palette of emotions, and the voice must sing well-modulated phrasings, which is daunting even to veteran jazz vocalists. Kristy (she uses the singular name as her moniker), nails the faster numbers such as Just One of Those Things and Bye Bye Blackbird (which she delivers a breathtaking rendition), and now that I have downloaded an upgrade for Media Player, I can hear lovely nuances in her vocals.  Though I still think I've heard better interpretations of You Don't Know Me . In fact, the best version ever I have heard of You Don’t Know Me was recorded by a jazz chanteuse from my neck-of-the-woods, Trish Hatley, granted, a vocalist that is easily twice Kristy’s age. Hatley is among my favorite singers of jazz standards along with Greta Matassa (Seattle...