Music Appreciation Seeds of Sound

Music appreciation goes beyond casual listening, it implies a focused intentional listening-a meditation if you will. Mostly when we hear the term “music appreciation” we conjure thoughts of listening to and enjoying different kinds of music.  Experiencing the dopamine release produced by melody, harmony and rhythm. Escaping mundane reality and language.  Inhabiting pure emotion, or our physical body being taken over by the music. 

Similar to the “why’s” for meditation, getting lost in music comes from a desire to be grounded in the body, to transcend life circumstances, or encounter bliss, release, and peace-to quiet the noise of being human-to celebrate the noise of being human.

What about the artist, the musician? What is it like for them to make the music? Is it a similar experience?

When we listen to music, noise enters us.  When Jeanette makes music, noise emerges from and through her. 

Where does the noise come from? 

Usually Jeanette’s music arrives as a seed of sound in her dreams.  Waking in the middle of the night, she will record this kernel of sound. Expanding upon this initial seed over time becomes her meditation practice.  She returns to the seed again and again, much like a mantra recitation. Sometimes, the seed of sound lodges itself somewhere in the recesses of memory and she awakes with some vague recollection.  When this happens she grants time and space, allowing the seed to bubble up to the surface before she records the new start and begins developing the next piece.

“Other times my music is sparked by emotion. Happiness, joy and love will spark these seed sounds that turn into my song. Or the worst times of life, when I experience loneliness and anger, or feel abandoned.” High emotions, both positive and negative, provide the raw materials for Jeanette’s meditations in music.

“Making music is meditation,” she says. “The process doesn’t feel like meditation when I start.  It’s more I need to get something out…a catharsis.  Making music is healing medicine for me. It’s therapeutic. I make music because I want wholeness and peace. When you meditate you want to ground, go within, let go of things that are making a lot of noise. Making noise provides the same access.  Putting that noise out into the world…love is expressed, sadness is shared and released.”