MUSIC Monday: Raise Your Hands, and Your Spirit Higher

This story was written by Daryl Allison       www.muzartworld.org

We all do it. Admit it, you do too. What’s the saying? 90% of people do it, the other 10% are lying. We sing in the shower. We sing along with the radio while driving. For those who haven’t taken the plunge, some part of us secretly wishes for the courage to get up there and sing karaoke.

Try hopping on a treadmill without music. Booooring! Now put some headphones on, play some upbeat music, and run further then you thought possible. Where did the time go?

When thinking, we scratch our heads, but when we feel passionate about something we touch our hearts – where our spirits live. Music, in its purest form, is all heart and soul. We have natural rhythm built into us – our heartbeats. Soft, slow, peaceful music slows our rhythm, relaxes us. Uptempo music excites us. Our hearts dance along. Our spirit takes the queue, embracing what it hears.

When listening to the greatest works of music, whether your spirit calls to Beethoven or some of the best 70’s rock, we close our eyes, we feel it, it washes over us. We can’t remain in a down mood. We can’t help but feel inspired, invigorated.

What would movies be without music? The drama, the suspense, the crescendo, … gone. I could do without those jolting startles, but I’ll never sacrifice the many great experiences.

Try and tell me you don’t hear what I hear: Jaws – The great white, lurking somewhere in the dark waters. Terminator – The mechanical skeleton rising from molten metal, coming to replace us. Star Wars – Hope, regardless the odds.

Heck, imagine Tom Cruise’s career without some good Old Time Rock ‘n Roll. Rocky, he was all heart if not also the Eye of the Tiger.

Ever been to a birthday party where they didn’t sing? A wedding where there wasn’t music to dance to? The moments we celebrate in life, when our spirits are lifted highest, it’s music laying the red carpet. All languages. All cultures.

Turn the volume up on the inside. Take a moment to listen to your favorite song. Give your spirit something to celebrate.


http://www.muzartworld.org/blog/2011/12/raise-your-hands-and-your-spirit-higher/

photo by woodleywonderworks

WISDOM Wednesday: Whitney Houston - Inspired Contemplation

A  tribute written by Malati Marlene Shinazy

When I first heard Whitney Houston had died, I fleetingly thought, “Sad, another amazing talent has fallen to drugs.”  I had no evidence to support that thought.  I actually had no information at all.

Over the next 24 hours, however, my sadness deepened as I was deluged with non-stop broadcasts describing how her death impacted the music community, her family and fans … her vocal range and tonal purity and her struggle with drugs.

I decided to examine why I had such strong feelings over the death of a celebrity I didn’t even know.

Yes, “The Body Guard” is a favorite film.  Yes, years ago I downloaded most of her music.

Somehow, though, I my feelings related to Whitney Houston, The Person.  On the surface, our lives shared no semblance.  She was a singularly talented artist, a recovering addict, and a celebrity.

One layer deeper however, on the level of Person, she resembled many of us.  Her life was one of great capacity and noble challenges.  She was resilient.  She possessed unstoppable passion for her work and family.

We have lost a great talent – a younger member of our boomer generation.  So, how does that relate to me?  What have I gained from my exercise in contemplation?

Like Whitney Houston and many of us boomers, at all stages of the age spectrum, I see my life continuing to expand and deepen …Life is simultaneously more profound and joyous … serious and silly.

• The passion I have about my new business is more exhilarating than businesses I’ve launched in the past.

• My love is more than my heart opening.  It is multi-dimensional and felt at my core of my being.

• My community service is not simply a cluster of activities I “do.”  It is an integral part of me, who I “am.”

• My role as a mom, one I took seriously when my kids were young and actively needed me, has changed too.  I truly feel privileged when my young-adults ask for counsel or share a confidence.

Whitney Houston’s life gave me moments of song and tidbits of celebrity gossip.  In my contemplation of how I felt about her passing, I realized how wonderful it is to be fully engaged in life … 

Laughing, Crying, Loving and Sharing Wisdom with each other

Plus, I have this assignment to write stories for WISDOM WEDNESDAY – a forum for voicing all sorts of perception and insight.  It provides me an opportunity to continue to grow and learn from people everywhere – from folks of any age, culture, or rank in life.  Now how cool is that?  I get to be both sage and student.

Whitney Houston (1963 – 2012)

Singer, Actress, Mom and Person

  photo by Nathan B

MUSIC Monday: Evolving Taste in Songs

This story was written by Toni Duldulao

I grew up during the 50s when Elvis was the King of Rock & Roll.  I knew all of the words to all of his songs and still do.  Good memory?  No, in those days it wasn’t hard because the lyrics were extremely repetitive.  After all, what is so difficult in remembering: “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog, cryin’ all the time.” repeated at least four times in a twelve line song?  Thankfully, as I grew older my taste in music evolved too.

Post Elvis, Broadway musicals were being made into feature films.  I became a devoted fan of songs from West Side Story, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, and The Fiddler on the Roof.  Funny but I don’t remember the lyrics to my favorite songs.  It seems that that the older I become the less reliable is my memory.

There was a saying among my age group:  “If you remember the ‘60s you weren’t there.”  My problem is I do remember the ‘60s because I wasn’t there.  I was in the convent.  My songs in those days were religious ones in Latin.  I don’t remember those either.  Maybe it was divine providence that my taste in music gravitated toward the classics because it is usually just instrumental and without lyrics.

When I looked through the list of singers and groups from the ‘70s, and ‘80s I recognized names but couldn’t tell you what they sang.  Actually the only singers I really remember from that time are Barbara Streisand and Neil Diamond, but don’t ask me what were my favorite songs because I don’t remember.  Although I do remember Streisand singing some song with Neil Diamond complaining that he didn’t bring her flowers anymore.

What I can’t forget (and would like to) is later on there was a “new sound” called Punk Rock or Hard Rock and Rap.  “New sound?”  My heavens no, to me it was just awful screaming, instruments playing off key, and speakers turned up so high that the vibration moved them 5 feet with each beat of the “song.”

Now some sixty years later I have fun listening to an occasional Elvis, Streisand, Diamond, and classical music, but for the last few years my HEART HAS GONE COUNTRY.  Not long ago a friend asked me why I would listen to that “stuff.”  I don’t know but maybe it’s very similar to the old rock and roll AND I can understand the words being sung because they sing slower and use words and terms I understand.  However, other than the latest hit “Red Solo Cup” which is a repetitive song I don’t remember the lyrics except for the chorus…if I’m lucky.  

- - - - - - - - - - 

Toni,

 When I was 10 you introduced me to music  - you were crazy about Elvis. We sat in your room for hours watching the little black plastic circle go round and round on your new phonograph.  Now it ‘s my turn, let me introduce you to Everlast, a rapper whose music is influenced by the blues. Then there’s the Punk band, The Clash (they too have easy to remember repeating lyrics.) And, a favorite of mine, Metallica; their song ‘Bleeding Me’ is as soulful as any country tune.  Check out these bands on itunes and let me know what you think of the New Sound.

~  Shinazy, founder of BOBB

photo by shankar, shiv

MUSIC Monday: Public School Music Funding Needs a Hearing Aid

by Daryl Allison      www.muzartworld.org    

 

Do you hear that?  Listen closely, behind the silence.  This isn’t a sweet silence, not to frame a pin drop.  Missing are strings stretching, horns waking.  Missing are rising waves of creative expression, cacophonies of misplaced, amateurish, aspiring, beautiful notes.  That joyous, clanging clutter was what it sounded like before, when we took for granted the funding of our public school music programs.

Before long … The music room is empty save for old instruments collecting dust.  Few students know what’s behind that door, locked since before they first attended this school.  None would know the names of those strange contraptions anyway.

Do you hear it now?  It’s the lurking contagion of apathy. Echoing off the concert walls: Yawns. Bored students who don’t know that with our help school can be fun again, a place of personal and social creative exploration.

Big sports make big bucks.  We wouldn’t dream of cutting them.  Not every child is has athletic aspirations.  For all the others, what is their outlet?

We all know how integral music is in the developmental years.  Can you imagine a kindergarten class without it?  Countless facts sing music’s benefits on a child’s learning.  But we don’t need research data.  We know in our hearts this is true.  If we know music aids learning, and we wouldn’t dare take it from our kindergartners, then why are so many deaf to what is happening in our middle schools and high schools: funding for music programs being cut at an alarming rate.

The value of music:

·         SATs – Music Performance students scored 57 points higher on verbal, 41 higher on math; Music Appreciation students: 63 points higher on verbal, 44 higher on math.

·         A study of 237 second grade children used piano training and math software to demonstrate improvement in math skills. The group scored 27% higher on proportional math and fractions tests than children who used only the software.

·         Students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs).

The value funding places on music:

·         3 to 5 times as many schools see funding for music cut on a yearly basis than schools that see their funding increase.

Funding isn’t diminishing solely due to a rough economy.  The market crashed in 2007, right?  Check the charts linked in that last bullet.  The data looks the same since 2005, and probably before.  What was the excuse then?

Music funding is needed most in a down economy.  As funding is lost, so go talented teachers.  If we wait for things to turn themselves around, what then for the students who must suffer the consequences of actions too little, too late.

photo by minkymonkeymoo