I have over and over again heard people who have been invited into some form of singing or music making, say essentually,
"I am not musical",
"I couldn't sing to save my life",
"I can't carry a tune in a bucket",
"I have no rhythm",
"People would be ill if they heard me sing".
I can both strongly relate to these statements and I feel a great sadness and outrage that this is the state of music making in our society. Now, sadly music making is religated to 'the few' - 'with talent'. And everyone else best be 'good listeners'.
I have had the good fortune of being offered an other way of approaching music. I have the blessing of being part of communities which encourage and celebrate the musical expression and participation of each person. In this fertile soil, much beautiful and heart felt music has bloomed.
From these experiences of both the celebration of our music and condemnation of it, I have developed a method of teaching and facilitating music that support the expression and celebration of our innate musical sensibilities. This method aligns people with the natural way people learn to speak. This method begins with engaging our natural instincts and helps one free up their natural expression. This expression can then be cultivated into composition, and group improvisation.
In music making, it is important, even vital
to engage the full body. It is in and through our
bodies that we perceive and understand flow.
To make music, it is important to engage one's emotions and one's heart. For
what is music but an evolved form of emotional
expression and communication. I believe that
many if not most people who give up on making music,
do so because their fear or frustration has
over taken their sense of joy. So to stay
in the game of music, we must find a way to
embrace our fear and frustration and allow
it to transform.