Conscious Musicianship
Conscious Musicianship
This section focuses on the subject of ‘conscious musicianship’. My intention is to illuminate important aspects of this field by comparing my own work and experiences to that of other musicians and guides who share a similar world-view. The report follows an examination of conscious musicianship and its relationship to three key elements:
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Self-Discipline
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Meditation
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Service & Planetary Stewardship
Music is as ancient as human history and from thousands of year old bone-flutes to modern music festivals we can extrapolate that it has played an important role in our cultural and creative evolution. The greek philosopher and mathematician Plato said, “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything”. How do we utilize such a precious resource consciously and responsibly? Plato also said “Musical innovation is full of danger to the state, for when modes of music change, the laws of the state always change with them”. 'Conscious musicianship’ is reflected by musicians who are able to see a level of depth and power in their relationship to music and how it effects one’s individual and collective experience. Therefore conscious musicians are those that honor their relationship to music and the community at large by responsibly utilizing it as a tool for elevating consciousness and bringing holistic benefit to the planet and its people.
What are some key elements which define a conscious musician?
An important tool for self-development and the perfection of ones skill in conscious musicianship, as well as in virtually any field of creative work, is the consistent practice of self-discipline. A musician who goes by the blogger name of ‘Echo’ points to the importance of self-discipline in relation to conscious musicianship while pointing to various tools and exercises one can utilize to create consistency within their personal process. On his blog entitled ‘Guitar Wisdom’, he states “...It is the process of making the habit and second nature actions to get you where you want to go. In the case of learning to play the guitar, it is not just about motivation and passion. Although those are very important aspects of practice and improvement, they are completely useless and non-existent without having the self-discipline to stick with it.”
In my experience, I have oscillated between extremes of feeling totally motivated towards perfecting my musicianship skills, to basically indifferent as to wether I improve or not at all. In recent months I have begun to see truly how important a consistent daily practice of anything music-related is profoundly beneficial for my overall well-being. Because I express my musical gifts through a variety of mediums (acoustic/electric guitar, drums, percussion, bass, flute piano, singing, song writing, recording, mixing, electronic styles, etc) I am beginning to develop a system throughout the week which caters to a practice with each one of these mediums based on the level of necessity, accessibility, and project related work that each one pertains to. For example, the instruments/modalities I have the most current development in is guitar, drums, and song writing. Seeing that these are primary channels of my musical expression, they are the foremost modalities which I intend to grow within and ultimately master. My ambitions are to essentially master all the mediums listed above, but in level of importance, I am focusing on playing and practicing these three on a daily basis, eventually creating a system in which the other modalities may fit into a consistent practice schedule as well, rather than the ‘when I feel inspired’ reasoning which has driven most of my practices in life until recently. I believe of course that inspiration and spontaneity are essential to efforts of conscious musicianship as well, though now feel that creating a more rigorous and consistent application of practice is crucial to my further development.
Another beneficial (and in my opinion necessary) tool in the practice of conscious musicianship is meditation. Practiced in a variety of ways throughout the ages, meditative modalities have stood as foundational cornerstones towards the progression of self-development and personal evolution in virtually every major discipline and spiritual tradition on earth. To me, music and meditation are actually inseparable. Playing as well as listening to music are there own forms of meditation, provided that we aim to remain conscious throughout the process. In my experience music, life, and spirit are deeply interconnected and can be seen as reflections of each other. A majority of my deepest, clearest, and most cathartic experiences and revelations in life have come through me while consciously engaging with music in some way or another. From feeling my body flooded with light and weeping tears of joy before the infinite bliss of existence while dancing to ‘Primal Scream’ or ’the Velvet Underground' in my bedroom to feeling my soul gaze upon a macrocosmic vision of the universe with eyes of unending love while an amazonian healer sang enchanting Icaros (traditional and/or ordained plant-spirit power-songs) in the pitch darkness of a traditional Ayahuasca ceremony, these experiences are forever forged as key vantage points upon the reflection of my ever-evolving personal journey of self-transformation and planetary stewardship.
Some refer to such instances as ‘being in the zone’ or ‘being in the flow-state’ which exemplifies the act of becoming one with whatever action we are participating in. This is an essential aspect of meditation and is intimately tied to the musical experience. This state is exemplified when for example, playing an improvised or even rehearsed instrumental solo which becomes so flawless and synchronized that time itself seems to stop and the experience becomes a life of its own while the witness and doer simultaneously merge in spontaneous sonic communion. A quote by the Indian spiritual teacher, Sri Chinmoy, speaks to the depth of musical experience in regards to meditation when he states “Meditation and music cannot be separated. When we cry from the the inmost recesses of our heart for peace, light and bliss, that is the best type of meditation, Next to meditation is music, soulful music, the music that stirs and elevates our aspiring consciousness. We cannot meditate twenty-four hours a day, buy we can meditate, perhaps, for two hours a day. At other times we can play or hear soulful music, psychic music, immediately we are transported to a higher realm of consciousness. When we play music soulfully, we go high, higher, highest.”
The final aspect of conscious musicianship I will cover is what I call 'sonic stewardship’, or, the responsible production, utilization, and dissemination of life-affirming and ultimately empowering music in service to the planet and its people. One powerhouse of a sonic steward, as well as one of my greatest musical role-models in the field of conscious musicianship is the guitar-superstar, Carlos Santana. In a 2007 interview with an online live-music promotional website,’Jambase’, Carlos was being asked all sorts of questions regarding world-view and spirituality and in one instance says "That's why it's good to turn off the TV once in a while, and maybe not even read for a while. Just sit with yourself and get beyond the monkey chatter and beyond the fishbowl with a bunch of fish… You start hearing the music from the other side, the music that is very good for humans because it brings a certain sense of unity and harmony. It reminds you, Aaron, that you and I, we're angels, that we traded our wings for feet. You know, we're beings of light. And then you hear the music. Then the music starts flowing through your heart and through your fingers, and then people know that… You start hearing all the other songs that transcend rock & roll or Billboard. Yet they get in Billboard, but they have a different kind of message. It's sunny even when it's raining when you hear those songs. To me, spirituality is very different than religion. I got to have it.” A quote like this from one of my musical heroes is profoundly inspirational because it speaks directly to the essence of what I want to accomplish and share through music on my personal journey of sonic stewardship. Carlos is a wonderful example to display here because not only is he an incredibly successful musician but a beautiful human and humanitarian as well. This is the kind of example that conscious musicians of today would benefit by aspiring toward, as being a healthy and whole human first and a successful rocking musician second is crucial for the holistic evolution of music and culture as a whole.
In regards to how this kind of sonic stewardship is applied on stage Carlos states "So, we meditate and pray fifteen minutes before we go onstage, as a group, those ones who are receptive. It's not mandatory. I notice that after we do it the music becomes more than the notes or chord changes or melodies. It becomes, I guess the best way to describe it is a wave of light that assaults the place, and from the first note people get up without [having to say], "Hey, how you doing? Get up," or "Hey, everybody say yeah." You hit one note and everybody gets off their seats, they start looking at each other and then they got chills. You see women crying and laughing and dancing, and you go into this kind of holy revival. And they're not faking it, man. They're possessed because you're possessed. I'm very grateful to God that I have seen this many, many times, that the band goes into this from the first note and then we go, okay, this is going to be good. That's the barometer, and we know that a two-hour or three-hour concert is going to feel like fifteen seconds, because the first thing that happens when something spiritual assaults the place [is] time disappears, gravity disappears, issues disappear.” Here Carlos gives an example of what I believe every musician who performs on stage, wether conscious or not, wants to give to the audience. Providing and participating in this kind of experience for people, in my opinion, is one of the ultimate services that we as conscious musicians can give to the world and in so doing, help to inspire humanity to bring those sensations into everyday living, bringing greater harmony, joy, and collective coherency to all of life on earth. My first full-length album, SunDog, marks my debut offering of a compiled sonic body of work to the larger community of earth. Since its release I have heard reviews, praise, and beautiful stories of peoples' transformational and transcendent experiences from listening to the record. This heartfelt and incredibly inspiring feedback is what I live for and continue to aspire toward as a conscious musician and sonic steward.
I hope that this report has brought benefit to those already and who have yet to embark upon a path conscious musicianship in service to the planet and its people. Music is my life and it means more to me than just playing the guitar or performing live. It is a form of divine expression which I use to uplift myself and the world. It is an alchemy that energizes and fascinates me the more I listen, play, and heed to its call. It is the cells in my body working with synchronistic coherency, the planets positioned in specific harmonic intervals, from the geometric patterns of flowers to the spiraling galaxies, be still and listen, the music of life if everywhere.
Source List
Plato Quotes from Quote resource sites
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/plato.html
http://ianchadwick.com/blog/plato-music-and-misquotes/
Guitar Discipline Quote from ‘Echo’ on his blog
https://guitarwisdom.wordpress.com/
Sri Chinmoy Quote from personal Website
Santana Quotes From JamBase Interview
http://www.jambase.com/Articles/11942/Spirit-Talk-with-Carlos-Santana