Tuning Slide 5.20- Music: A Great Gift

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.
― Confucius

It is the season when we think about gifts- getting and giving. Music has been a gift for me since I was young. I cannot remember a time in life when music wasn’t there. It’s fun to listen to; it’s fun to make music; it’s fun to share the music with others.

What an all-around gift.

As I was sitting down to write this holiday week’s Tuning Slide I wondered what Google would do with a question about music? So I asked:

What’s so special about music?

Life Hack said:

Enjoying music is unique to humans. Unlike food or sex, music isn't necessary for our survival, but it is extremely rewarding and pleasurable. It taps into the same parts of the brain that pleasure from sex and food does. Music floods the brain with a chemical called dopamine.

Moving down the list of Google-provided questions and links, I came to another answer for the same question from Muzo:

Unlike other pleasures in life, music has no intrinsic value, but with so many different genres it can reach out and move so many different people in all kinds of ways. Many say it causes intense emotion and overwhelming joy within them, influencing mood and actions, thoughts and feelings – which is why the power of music should never be underestimated.

The next question from Google was similar and gave me a little more information:

Why do we like Music?

A post on the BBC said:

Using magnetic resonance imaging [two scientists] showed that people listening to pleasurable music had activated brain regions called the limbic and paralimbic areas, which are connected to euphoric reward responses, like those we experience from sex, good food and addictive drugs. Those rewards come from a gush of a neurotransmitter called dopamine. As DJ Lee Haslam told us, music is the drug.

Next I found the question:

What role does music play in our lives?

The Creative Music Blog gave me this answer:

In the course of history, music is the greatest creation of mankind. Creativity in the pure and undiluted form is the true definition of Music. Music is an important part of our life as it is a way of expressing our feelings as well as emotions.
Some people consider music as a way to escape from the pain of life. It gives you relief and allows you to reduce the stress. Music is a powerful therapy that will make you calm down and in the moment of joy, it will make you cheerful.
Furthermore, it develops the mind and boosts your self confidence. Music plays a more important role in our life than just being a source of entertainment.

And one more came up:

Why do we need music?

Quora answered it for me this way:

Music helps us to find ourselves. It can reach our feelings and even change them. For example, music is able to reduce stress, caused by the outside world made stress, which is felt every day. Music can help to reach the deepest spots in our minds, for example, our memories, emotions.

I know that there are many researchers who dig into these questions. I know there are many writers who try to describe it. Perhaps novelist Kurt Vonnegut was right when he said:

Virtually every writer I know would rather be a musician.

I am fortunate enough to do both, which is why I keep writing this blog and playing my trumpet. I have been intrigued and moved by music and writing since I was very young. They have both given me countless upon countless opportunities to be happy, to be awed, to be frustrated, to be relieved, and finally to be filled with spirit.

So I will end this with a final quote, this time from the ancient Greek Plato:

Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.
― Plato

It answers all the questions I’ve asked, and any other that we could make up. Do I need music? Yes, I do. And I am honored to have been given the gift to share with you (in words) and others with my trumpet.

And to all of you- may the blessings of a joyous season lead you deeper into your gift of music.

3.26- The Tuning Slide- Whenever You Can- Share

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

When we share, we open doors to a new beginning.”
― Paul Bradley Smith

I am in the midst of three months of posts from the closing summary at this past summer’s Shell Lake Trumpet Workshop. I continue this week with the theme of the month- The Journey- and a quote that guides us in what we can and need to be doing on our journeys as musicians and humans:

✓ When given the opportunity to share- do it.

This is not a post of how to be a better musician or how to expand your range to triple High C. It will not give you any new insights into how to practice “The Carnival of Venice” or learn the secrets of “rhythm changes” in jazz improvisation. That quote from trumpet workshop is one of the classics from Mr. Baca and says more than at first meets the eye. Like so many such quotes, it is not about what to appears- it is a statement of the health of ones spirit or soul or life.

Let me repeat it:

✓ When given the opportunity to share- do it.

I was surprised when I started digging into the word that there aren’t a lot of synonyms, words that mean the same. Not that it is a unique word, but it is almost always the main word to describe a number of different things:

Share: To give a portion of (something) to another or others.
Share: To allow someone to use or enjoy something that one possesses.
Share: To use or enjoy something jointly or in turns.
Share: To talk about personal experiences or feelings with others.

Some words can be used in the sense we are talking about it here:

• communicate
• disclose
• impart
• reveal
• let somebody in on

Okay, I’ll quit playing fancy wordsmith here and get right down to it. Put all these together and it boils down to

• reaching out beyond ones own life and situation and helping, supporting, guiding, or giving to others.
• It means being caring and generous with others.
• It means it is more blessed to give than receive.

“What does all this have to do with a trumpet workshop?” one might be tempted to ask. As I said above it doesn’t directly unlock anything about the mechanics or process of playing the trumpet or any instrument.

Yes, I waffled there, didn’t I? I added the word “directly” to what it doesn’t do. So let me ask a couple of questions:

What good would a musician be if they weren’t willing to “share” their music and gifts with others? They would be a lone person playing notes in an empty room. Would they get anywhere in their musicianship? What kind of person does that tell us they are?

Such music would be self-centered and most likely even lifeless. Such a person who only wanted to play their music in a lonely room would perhaps be impressed by their own ability, but isn’t music meant to share? Of course we need to be able to enjoy our music ourselves, but we need to be performers- and that means to share what we have with others. We want them to enjoy it with us, don’t we?

I know there may be those who for various physical or other reasons may not be able to take their music and share it. I am not talking about those circumstances. I have a hunch that those persons will benefit from others sharing with them!

Which brings me to the real point of all this- how we do anything is how we do everything. If we become a sharing person- reaching out to others, not hoarding or being selfish- it will have an impact on our hearts and lives. Then, without a doubt, it will have an impact on our musicianship. There will be greater life in the music because there will be greater life in you.

Be a person who shares.

• Communicate with others in a way to uplift and give them hope.
• Disclose who you are in your heart to help others.
• Impart whatever wisdom and insight you have been given so that others can learn from it.
• Reveal the hopes and dreams, secrets and gifts of your life and others will share in your blessings.
• Let others in on the joys and hopes you have discovered in music, in reading, in life.

Have a great holiday season:
Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa
May joy, hope, and peace be yours!

The Tuning Slide- It's a Gift

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Music is God's gift to man,

the only art of Heaven given to earth,

the only art of earth we take to Heaven.

--Walter Savage Landor (16th C. English poet)

Gifts are on our mind today. It is the day before the day before Christmas. Any last minute gifts to buy? Any gifts I hope I get? What is a gift, though? The word comes from a word that means "give." Not a big surprise there. We know what a gift is, of course. The definitions come as no surprise:

1. a thing given willingly to someone without payment; a present.

synonyms: present, donation, offering, bestowal, bonus, award, endowment; 

2. a natural ability or talent.

synonyms: talent, flair, aptitude, facility, knack, bent, ability, expertise, capacity, capability, faculty; endowment, strength, genius, brilliance, skill, artistry

But the gift of heaven? Music? The only "art of heaven" that we can experience? I think I can agree with that, both as a listener and performer.

No great insights on that. Just a reminder that we as musicians at whatever stage of development we may be are gifted and givers of gifts. Be serious about your gift but enjoy it. The gift is useless if it isn't opened and used. The greatest gifts are shared.

Listen to music this week.

Make music this week.

Celebrate the "art of heaven."

The earth has grown old with its burden of care,

but at Christmas it always is young,

the heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair,

and its soul full of music breaks the air,

when the song of angels is sung.

--Phillips Brooks