This post has received over 4,000 hits in since it was originally posted.
I find that amazing and thrilling and a bit frightening all at the same time! I hope that as many people have found a little something worthwhile in the prose to carry on. Hopefully 4000 accepted this challenge and are better for it. In any case, I felt that it bears repeating.
If you have not read yet perused this wisdom, here is your second chance….enjoy the read, and bring on the tunes!!!
Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without. –Confucius
Art is Courage, Music is Art. As Creative People, we often NEED our music. We need it to help grease the wheels of creativity, to motivate us to get to the studio, to relax us so we can write or get us jamming for hammering on our benches! Music and all other arts are intrinsically intertwined. Therefore if Music is Art and Art is Courage…let’s get our Courage on!!
The universe is full of music, it is the only common denominator within all cultures of humanity. Although with all the types of music, it truly is all one and the same, just arranged differently and played on different instruments. The sounds of music have been around since the dawn of time. Music (and art) are basic human functions, and we as know that humans and art (all art, not just music) cannot function without one another.
Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence. – Robert Fripp
Music is grounded in our imaginations, our interactions with sound are unavoidable; we simply choose whether to create it or enjoy it. All people have found music significant in their lives, whether writing, creating, performing, listening or for the emotional experience. Some artists and creatives can even close their eyes and see colors while they are listening to music. I am one of those people, and I am certain my experience is different as everyone’s is…but the colors move and dance for me depending on the type of music I am listening to….it’s another benefit of music in my life that I greatly appreciate.After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. – Aldous Huxley
Here’s an amazing fact: Simple anticipation of a song or musical composition, will cause the brain to release dopamine, which is literally the “Feel Good” chemical! How fantastic is it that this type of reaction is created by simply anticipating something so abstract and intangible? Scientifically this action is actually biologically reinforcing the brain and our happified emotions! Music is actually thought to be linked to all emotional, spiritual and physical elements of the universe. Here are a few facts for us to remember…
Facts:
Music Reduces Stress: It helps to relax our muscles as well as reducing our breathing rate; both of which are directly related to reducing emotional stress. This is regardless of the type of music, as long as we enjoy listening to it.
Music Alters Brain Waves: Like the wonderful dopamine reaction, music also alters our brain wave patterns and therefore elevates our mood…most wonderfully – even after we stop listening to it! I can even do so while we are simply “singing” the song in the corners of our minds.
Music Motivates: There are so many songs, different songs to different people that will motivate, move, stimulate and encourage. We’ve all got them, you konw which ones they are! Try to think of a few, write them down…remember them! USE them!
Music Happifies: Seratonin is another neurotransmitter that will physically affect your mood, so on top of the dopamine and the altered brain waves, music actually helps to release seratonin it as well!! What a wonderful triple threat!
Earworm: The name that references those songs that get stuck in your head that you can’t seem to remove until it is replaced by another earworm, or deep thought! Yep, there is an actual word for it!
Words make you think a thought, Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought. – E.Y. Harburg
Some of this may not be actual “new” information to most of us, but just as earworms, they fade after time…and those facts seemingly become just the white noise in the background. We’ll, let’s bring that background music to the forefront this week!! Let’s bring out the music. Let’s turn off the t.v. and turn on the iPod, stereo, radio, whatever you have! If you don’t have something to bring music to you, then create it yourself. Yes you can!
I am a horrific whistler, although I know a great many people who are wonderful whistlers….so whistle while you work! Some of us are more of a singing in the shower, or jamming in the car kind of music person….sing your heart out! Sing it out loud!! If you prefer to hum your tunes, then do so while walking down the street, running errands or working at your bench! My personally most revered of singers, are the ones who can sing soft and low with sweetness in their voice that can calm the wildest of beasts! Those people amaze me, and you are one of them, you best be working that talent!!
One more thought and added benefit of the sound of music is that all music (as well as your mood) are contagious; you are able to make others feel good simply by using music to make yourself feel better!! We’ve all walked past someone whistling while walking…it makes us smile, yes? Who hasn’t seen someone singing to themselves while sitting in traffic?! Playing Air Drums on the steering wheel? That always gives me a giggle – and not in a mocking way, it actually a visual reminder for me to live with abandon…and generally after I giggle, I find a good song and rock it out too!! Let’s all of us, just try to do a bit more of that this week! Will you must the courage?! Will you bring more music into your life? Live life with abandon, filled with tunes of anything you like! I actually have several playlists on my iPod, some are arranged by music type: county, celtic, meditation; but most of it is organized by mood or activity: dance, relax, every day, studio work, happiness, mello, shower, bubble bath….. because certain moods and activities naturally are accompanied by the music that moves us for that mood or activity. Truth.“Music is an essential part of everything we do. Like puppetry, music has an abstract quality which speaks to a worldwide audience in a wonderful way that nourishes the soul.” - Jim Henson
This week in your studio, your shop, your kitchen, your car, on the street, in the office, wherever you are…bring more music into your life. Even if you listen to music (or create it) try adding more, or a different type! Instead of the television, turn on the radio –NO talk radio does NOT count!! Wear your iPod or other musical device whenever you can. Listen to music that makes you feel good, that calls on you to shake your bootie or tap your toe! If you feel like swaying (or jumping) to the music – go ahead and DO IT!! Have enough courage to sing it out loud! Demonstration the audacity to perform in you car, sing wildly in the shower – with the radio on if you prefer, dance down the hall with a song in your head! Resonate music this week…HEAR the sound of music, even if it’s simply the earworm of the last elevator song you heard!! Allow yourself to listen to music of your teenage years, remember what it was like to jump around at a concert, or a school dance. Remember playing air guitar like we were really on stage! Remember and have the courage to DO THAT this week!! I promise you that your creativity will definitely benefit – as well as your physical and emotional bodies!
Go on now…listen to the sound of music, dance to the sound of music, sing sing a song, sing out loud, sing out strong….
JeaneMargherite Meria McMahon Murray Schintgen
(yep, that’s my name, don’t wear it out!)
I would love for you to “check me out” in my other realms…..
