1. Join a group sing. They meet weekly or monthly. You get together with other people and ... yes ... sing! Folk songs, rock and roll, spirituals.
2. Take lessons. Taking lessons as an adult can be a very meaningful experience. Find a good teacher, explain your goals, and practice, practice, practice!
3. See live music. Go to concerts. Widen your interests. Try out a bluegrass show or a classical concert. You might be surprised. Talk to other concert-goers while you're there. Develop a community.
4. Join a community choir. Yup. Lots of these are low-pressure and they don't require much experience. The amount of camaraderie in these is amazing.
5. Listen to music. While you're cooking, put on Mahler's Song of the Earth. During dinner, instead of the television, put on Giant Steps. When gardening, listen to the sounds of birds. On the subway/train/bus, listen to the sounds of other passengers or listen to the Flaming Lips. Whatever you listen to, listen with INTENTION!
Monday, May 21, 2012
A few thoughts on how music can help save the world
1. Making music together creates community. Community creates wisdom (knowledge + compassion = wisdom).
2. When you're making music, you're not hurting anybody or anything. You're not buying things you don't need. You're not watching news programs that try to distance our relationship to the world.
3. Music gets people in touch with their emotions. We live too much in the brain and not enough in the heart. Fairness comes when we combine the two...
4. Listening regularly to music can teach us how to listen to other people, animals, plants, trees, the wind, the water. Listening creates deep compassion.
_______
For those musicians out there, musicians must be advocates for their community and for the world. Tell the world about what you already know. Create work that brings people together.
For those non-musicians out there, make music more a part of your life (and your significant other, children, friends, etc.)! The act of making music activates more parts of your brain than anything else (except for, maybe, meditating). Music is good for you and good for the planet!
2. When you're making music, you're not hurting anybody or anything. You're not buying things you don't need. You're not watching news programs that try to distance our relationship to the world.
3. Music gets people in touch with their emotions. We live too much in the brain and not enough in the heart. Fairness comes when we combine the two...
4. Listening regularly to music can teach us how to listen to other people, animals, plants, trees, the wind, the water. Listening creates deep compassion.
_______
For those musicians out there, musicians must be advocates for their community and for the world. Tell the world about what you already know. Create work that brings people together.
For those non-musicians out there, make music more a part of your life (and your significant other, children, friends, etc.)! The act of making music activates more parts of your brain than anything else (except for, maybe, meditating). Music is good for you and good for the planet!
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