"Music is a doorway to the divine.
Let us open the door."

The Principles of Music Education

•  Discipline : " A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn't like the tune. " Anon

I have a voice student in her 60's who, this week, had a major break through in her lessons. She's struggled with singing strong; with relaxing and letting her voice flow out. She has the hardest time with her upper register. Somewhere along the way, she got an idea in her head that said "You can't sing high," or perhaps, "You can't sing well." She became fearful and hesitant in her singing, trying to control and manipulate the sound . . . a sound which is longing to be free.

As we worked, I told her that it was perfectly normal to have fear, to acknowledge it and to push ahead. Sounds came out like no other, and shocked by the sound, she tightened right back up! "That sounds AWFUL!" she said. The truth is, it sounded different, and it actually sounded great. But we often lack the distance from our own experiences to be able to see these kinds of responses. We live from our fear.

In psychology, there is something called the observing ego . In yoga, it is called witness consciousness . In Zen philosophy, it is often called big mind/small mind . It is the capability to observe our own experiences. We've all seen a two year old so caught up in their emotions that there is nothing else. They throw a pure tantrum, unable to distinguish themselves from the emotion they are feeling. This was what my student was dealing with. This is what all of my students are dealing with, and what I find myself facing. We find ourselves sifting through our life, watching perfectionism, laziness, shifting focus. . . all of our preconceived notions about who we are, how we work, and what we are capable of.

The principle of discipline is the principle of creating consistent awareness. And music education provides ample opportunities for students to develop this discipline. What's more, just the act of listening to music can give us an opportunity to practice witness consciousness. We may hear a piece of music, and have an emotional response to it, perhaps associated with an old memory. We know that our sadness, our joy, or our disdain does not come from the music; it comes from how we relate to the music. Its what we are bringing to the table.

Over and over again, through music, we see ourselves, often seeing that which we kept hidden for ages.

•  Honest Self-Expression : " Music isn't just learning notes and playing them, You learn notes to play to the music of your soul." -- Katie Greenwood

So now we're seeing the world in a whole new light, full of space and awareness. But we don't want to just deny our emotional, reactionary experiences. They are an honest part of who we are as human beings. We feel angry, passionate, jealous, arrogant, tender. . . .we feel the whole range of emotions. And these emotions tell us much about how we relate to the world.

These feelings register in our bodies as the chemicals associated with them stream throughout our bodies. And they can get stored up if we don't have a way to release them. Music can provide that release. The act of making music gives us the opportunity to express our emotional feelings in a healthy outlet. When I was in high school and beginning college, I didn't have the capacity to deal with expressing my emotions openly, particularly anger, frustration, and sadness. I found, though, that I could express these emotions at the piano, and would often sit down and "pour my heart out" into my music. It was an opportunity for release, and one which I feel helped to normalize me during that time in my life. It kept me from being a ball of anger, and happy in expressing my care and concern for others, rather than resentful.

Other times, I find myself listening to a piece of music that resonates with an emotional time in my life. I'll listen to that song until I'm empty; until I don't have the emotional charge any more. I think most of us have done that with music at some point or another. Music is a clearing house for our emotional selves.

•  Open Mindedness : " If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all." -- John Cage

I love this quote by John Cage. If we are willing to look and to listen long enough and hard enough, eventually we will find something rewarding in it. We live in a world with an immense breadth of experience, and infinite interpretations of those experiences. With all of that possibility, there's usually something valuable that can be found; some lesson that can be learned, some way of growing. We just have to be willing to look and listen!

Witness conciousness. . . .being able to see ourselves, this is not the end. This is the beginning! Witness consciousness allows us to disassociate from our emotional, reactionary experiences, and this mental space that we create allows for us to look more deeply. Aware of our own reactionary responses and able to successfully release them in constructive ways, we are able to look at "Just the facts." We are able to look at what is going on without the added stories we live out about them. That doesn't mean our story disappears! We just have room for something more.

When we are looking at the "facts," limiting our own interpretations, we can develop our empathy. We can develop the capacity to understand the experiences and responses of those around us. This process is the beginning of Love.

•  Creativity : "If you can walk you can dance. If you can talk you can sing". - Zimbabwe Proverb

We've seen what's going on. We've cleared out our emotions. We've empathized with others. What's left?!

Once we develop the space and capacity for empathy, we must choose to act . We can choose to act from our compassion and our empathy. Our Love becomes an action. What's more, we have cleared the slate, and can look on the world with open possibility! We are no longer bound to the story of "I'm no good at this," "I can't sing high notes," or "I'm lazy." Our stories lose their power. Jiddu Krishnamurti once wrote an essay titled, "Total Action Without Regret." How great would that be? To live clearly and simply; acting fully, without hesitation from fear? From anger? From jealousy?

Let's use music as a way to nurture each other into a world where anything is possible. Where we are not bound to live out our past in our future. Where we can inspire a new way of living beginning in ourselves.

•  The Spirit in Motion: " Like everything else in nature, music is a becoming, and it becomes its full self, when its sounds and laws are used by intelligent man for the production of harmony, and so made the vehicle of emotion and thought." --Theodore Mungers

We look at our bodies and see them as solid entities. But the truth is that over half of our bodies are made of water. . . .of liquid. We think of liquid as a substantial, but when we look deeper at the atoms, we see a little bit of mass and a whole lot of electrical charge. And now, string theorists are suggesting that what we see as matter and mass, at the very smallest level, may be nothing more than energy.

Our world is made up of energy in relationship. We are often unaware of the internal side of our relationships, and what I have been discussing is the use of music and music education to develop that internal awareness, and channel that energy in loving ways. Let's use music to teach Love.

We also tend to identify ourselves with our stories. We identify with our emotions and experiences. We identify with our limitations. But I am not my limitations, nor am I my emotions and experiences. No one is. As we develop the capacity to live beyond our identifiers, we find ourselves living in the truth of who we are. We find ourselves connected to the truth of "God with us." It is in these moments of connection that we find ourselves divinely inspired, that the prophets speak to us, and that God's will for us is revealed.

As a Junior in College, I was walking with a friend and found myself living in my truth. In a moment, a thought came to me. Start a socially responsible school for the arts where there is a focus on service to the community. Through the Ark and Dove School of Music, I see an opportunity to manifest that divine inspiration into a reality. I see an opportunity to live my truth, and what's more, to inspire others to live their truth as well! I am passionate about my teaching. I am passionate about bringing others to their own truth. And I see an incredible opportunity here. We have the chance to provide access to music to all people around us. Not music in any old way, but music as we know it to be: Music as the truth of God in motion among us. Our music is a doorway to the Divine. Come, open the door with me.