The Whole Music Experience

Wikipedia One question we hear a lot from metaphysical teachers comes up, "do you like what you experience in your world?" And I would add, "do you like what you hear in your world?"  Do you believe strongly in the lyrics of your favorite songs or even your least favorite songs? And be honest, what type of reality are your favorite songs creating for you to experience? Now, I'm not going to label experiences as negative or positive. I'll let you decide.  What I will ask is this, what pleases you more, living a life of drama or one of joy? Again, you decide.  But maybe you don't believe a life of joy is possible or maybe you tossed out your dreams in favor of fitting into the status quo and not rocking the proverbial boat.  A small life seems comfortable on the surface and only requires a knack of putting up with situations, people, and events. What if I told you that the songs we listen to provide mantras in our lives? And what if I told you that...

Wikipedia Soulful lions Often we feel empty and we look to food to satisfy our craving or we escape into another type of addiction. Sometimes we feel disconnected from the life around us or we lose our connection to our Divine Source, whatever name you want to call it.  During those times, I recommend indulging in soul music, a term that came about in the 1960s or 1970s that categorized songs of African-American musicians. Roots for soul music vary going all the way back to the Mandinka and other ancient African kingdoms or most recently to the African-American Church or "Black Church" while finding inspiration from African-American spirituals, blues, jazz, and gospel (not be confused with spirituals).  Some of the favorite artists to come from the genre include Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Earth Wind and Fire, the Commodors, Bill Withers... The songs reached deep into our souls allowing us to feel an array of emoti...

By Patricia Herlevi Every song we've ever heard has a memory or memories attached to it.  Some songs remind us of first loves, choosing a partner to dance with at a middle school sock hop, or college graduation.  Some songs remind us of weddings we attended or scenes from favorite movies, while other songs cause our hearts to ache with the memories that surface. As to be expected, we gravitate towards songs with happier memories or that relax us some way or lull us into daydreams.  But, the songs with painful memories attached claim treasures too.  In fact, they act as a treasure map to our wounded places where we shed new light if we choose.  When we head over to these wounds, we give ourselves the opportunity to clear away old beliefs, patterns and the root of grief and depression.  Perhaps, these songs lead us to the releasing of repressed anger or sadness. I recommend working with a music therapist when dealing with deep wounds or deeply repress...

An excerpt from the introduction of my book Whole Music appears as an article in the May 2014 Issue of The New Spirit Journal.   Read the article, A Healing Music Journey. NSJ is also free at various locations throughout Washington State.

Does Wonder Woman have Power Songs? Wikipedia The phrase "save it for a rainy day" comes up when I think of Power Song kits.  This phrase refers to putting extra money in the bank, but it can also refer to having a list of songs to fall back on when a bad mood strikes. I actually came up with the idea of creating a Power Song kit post 9-11 when I had trouble sleeping at night.  Like many others, I wasn't just dealing with my fears, but all the fears around me which I soaked up like a sponge.  At that time, I found myself reaching for particular recordings, usually featuring world music and usually featuring women vocalists, but not always.  From these recordings I put together a list of songs to listen to during stressful times. On the list, I included Sharon Burch, Monica Salmaso, Arianna Savall, R. Carlos Nakai, Nawang Khechog and others.  Oddly, Mozart hadn't appeared on my radar yet so classical wasn't on my original list.  That list transformed...

I spend a lot of time at Hay House Radio and listening to free spiritual webinars, usually in the realm of energy healing and intuitive coaching.  Often, the spiritual teachers and coaches provide guided meditations or other mp3 programs that lack sound consciousness.  While I understand that production costs of online videos, online courses and mp3 affirmation or meditation giveaways could hinder bottom line profits, cutting corners on soundtracks or background music actually deters from the healing potential of the programs. Oddly, many of the spiritual teachers refer to Dr. Masaru Emoto's work with music and water crystals.  Yet, they don't apply the power of sound to their own projects.  It's as if hiring a musician, psychoacoustic expert or sound healer costs too much.  And the irony of this reflects on music treated as a cheap commodity and that it's not worth giving a musician a paying gig.  So the spiritual teachers deliver their powerful messag...

Wikipedia For as long as I know, humans have bonded with the natural world through songs.   This includes a human-non-human musical interaction or the human grabbing inspiration from bird or frog songs.  Within my own time, I've encountered musicians who either play music in a natural setting as an interaction with non-humans (David Rothenberg) or collect natural sounds to wed to sound healing recordings (Marjorie De Muynck).  And let's not forget indigenous musicians who play flute, drums or didgeridoo in the wild. While I could provide an exhaustive list of such recordings, today I prefer to focus on recordings of natural sounds such as birds, whales, and wind.  Okay, I sense a few yawns from readers of this post.  We remember those early new age recordings of nature sounds that we used to induce sleep or ease tension, am I right? And I prefer to spend time in a wooded or marine setting listening to nature in the raw.  However, that's hard to d...

Finnish Kalevala, Wikipedia Excerpt from Whole Music (Soul Food for the Mind Body Soul) Musical Treasure Hunt I started out as a folk-rock musician, but over the years, I have reviewed just about every kind of music on the planet.   For me my introduction to world music began when a music librarian in Seattle introduced me to nuevo (new) tango by the Argentine bandoneon (small accordion), player Astor Piazzolla and an owner of an independent music store introduced me to the Portuguese vocal tradition, fado.   Both tango and fado expanded my music consciousness, and eventually sent me on a quest exploring the world’s music traditions. Similar to treasure hunts from our childhood, I’m going to send you on a music treasure hunt in which the pleasures are many. Pretend that you are a song catcher visiting other cultures where you collect new sounds. While I mentioned sound healers earlier, another important player with music preservation a...

Raise music consciousness a notch in less than 19 minutes... One of the best days of my music research occurred when I discovered Ted Talks. I found talks on the brain and music, the benefits of music education for children, the elasticity of the brain, as well as, musical performances. I could give a list of music consciousness books, which I know most of you won't read.  Or I thought of including these touching and educational videos about the power of classical music. Granted, Ted Talks supplies us with talks on other music genres.  Some of the speakers such as Benjamin Zander use humor to make a point and others give delightful performances. Speaking of Benjamin Zander, I'm including his talk on The Transformative Power of Classical Music.   Next up,  on the same topic, here's violinist Tatiana Berman with an accompanying dance performance. Finally, for the last video, we end with violinist Deanna Choi giving an emotionally-charged perf...

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...

While we normally make the connection between virtuoso musicians and classical music, we find virtuosos in a variety of musical genres.  We could explore the lives of virtuosos and delve into the character traits and intelligence of virtuosos, but I have a better idea. Often when I feel depressed or in a deep funk, I head over to YouTube and watch a virtuoso performance. Usually, I watch a soloist performing a concerto with a symphony orchestra, but sometimes, I tune into folkloric or jazz virtuosos in which there are many to choose.  Ever watched a virtuoso Colombian or Venezuelan harpist perform?  As I watch these performances, often times holding my breath, I lose myself in the performance and by the time the video ends, I forgot my worries and fears.  I walk away feeling elated (and a bit envious of the talented performer that wowed an audience). To get you started, I'm including five videos representing five different genres in which we witness a virtuoso ...

Heads up, this coming April promises a lot of stress.  We'll need to pull back, gather our senses and find ways to relax.  Why not create a power music kit in the same way as a medicine chest or cabinet? Basically a power music kit provides us with a go-to music library during a crisis, a stressful experience or just for the sake of pleasure. I recommend including a variety of genres and music of higher frequency that raise vibration of minds, bodies and hearts.  The higher our frequency, the more centered we become and when we feel centered, world events don't devastate us. Below I'm including inspiration in the form of genre lists and some artists I have found helpful in my life.  I will list the music by moods or actions needed. Invigorate, uplift, help move tension out of the body through movement such as dance: Latin Music from the Caribbean, Mexico, South America, Central America, and the American Southwest such as Tex-Mex and Native American Chicken ...