Finding Home, Chapter 8; Music

Music
Have you ever listened to a piece of music that gets inside your soul, filling you with happiness and the desire to dance, run, or just enjoy the feeling of sound penetrating your body? Music is such a great tool for healing and finding balance… when it is the right frequency.
When we were camping in B.C. beside Upper Arrow Lake I recall having a wonderful and very soul lifting experience with a song while sitting alone on the beach watching a storm roll in. Lucas and Patrick were back at the campsite several hundred meters away. I was spending my time beading and reading in the sun with my headphones on, listening to Canon & Gique in D Major by Pachelbel.
I stopped what I was doing when the song began, sitting up with my legs crossed allowing the music to pour into me while I watched the approaching storm. The music seemed to amplify its force. I just closed my eyes and let the power of two forces take me away. It was such a beautiful experience! Replaying the song the experience continued until I was finally forced to take cover from the beautiful lightening and deafening thunder, filling the air and absolutely energizing me. Truly wonderful!
So many beautiful songs from so many different cultures around the world. I have made it my worthwhile endeavour to seek them out and enjoy as many as I can. I have a theory if we could all enjoy music from other cultures, especially ones we least understand, we would be better able to accept our differences. Music is a light bridge transcending all. Listening to a beautiful piece of music sung in a crystal clear voice and resonating pure joy, you will surely find it does not matter who they are or where they come from. The exceptional voice, the unique instruments you may or may not recognize, the harmonies and rhythm, this is what is important and nothing else.
I have listened to music from all around the world, most of which I did not understand, the languages foreign to me. But the energy of each song is the attraction, uplifting me and drawing out my own creativity. Music is all about patterns and frequency, some of which our untrained ears are unaccustomed. Yet just as new foods and flavours can require time to appreciate, it is surprising what we may end up enjoying if only we make the effort to try. A whole new world awaits if we only open our hearts to let it in.
I often listen to music while working on an image as it helps me stay focused and the beautiful energy lifts me up, encouraging me to keep working. Often when the children would return home from school they would come in the door and hear me singing away to different songs. Usually I had my headphones on and would not hear them arrive, surprising me. I could not help but notice they were gleefully laughing at what they heard. Of course they would because I cannot carry a tune and I’m sure I sounded awful, but the spirit was there so what did it matter?! Of course I toned it down to a whisper when everyone was around.
Music has been such a great gift to me over the years and so grateful I am to be fortunate enough to explore so many different avenues of creativity and inspiration.

Here are some of the musicians/bands that I listen to. Some you may recognize, some are from my youth, some are Canadian, and all of them bring me joy! It was very enriching to go to the library and discover so many talented people, their names unheard of to me before this. I have not listened to the radio (except at work when I had to) for almost 30 years now. I love music, but am not a big fan of what is played on commercial radio, it all sounds the same to me. Listening to world music introduced me to a wide selection of instruments and vocals that blew me away. Once we open up the door to new possibilities, we truly enrich our lives……

Richard Bona

Angelique Kidjo

Oscar Lopez – Canada/Chili

Jesse Cook – Canada

Ottmar Liebert

Vanessa Mae

Paul Simon

Chris Rea

Secret Garden

Van Morrison

Johnny Clegg – South Africa

Baka Beyond