What is music to you? What would you be without music? Music is everything. Nature is music (cicadas in the tropical night). The sea is music, the wind is music. The rain drumming on the roof and the storm raging in the sky are music. Music is the oldest entity. The scope of music is immense and infinite. It is the ‘esperanto’ of the world.
- Duke Ellington
Without a doubt, I believe Music is one of the most powerful and profound healing tools the world has been given. Do you remember a certain soothing feeling listening to a parent, a friend, hearing a live performance or piece of recorded music that has moved you so deeply you’ve lost sense of time, space or even yourself? Have you experienced a feeling of serenity or simple joy through music? For as long as there’s been human civilization there seems to have been a history of music used to heal, celebrate and even document people’s stories. Physicists have even deduced that everything is vibrating on the quantum level throughout our universe. Where does it start and where does it end, no one can tell? But, it can be felt in the deepest parts of our being. I could go on and on about the incredible nature of sound and its healing properties, but what I love to do is simply sit down at the piano and play something in the moment truly from my heart to yours.
Background
I started playing healing improvised music for myself when I was a child. I felt I had a pretty normal childhood with loving/caring parents, but like most kids I felt the emotional ups and downs of fitting in sometimes (let alone the pressures and challenges of simply growing up). Music became my after school escape and refuge whenever I was feeling anxious, stressed or any type of challenging emotion. I just put it into the music and the type of music I would tend to create was music I improvised (music I came up with in the moment). I didn’t know what a muse was or if I had Guardian Angels or whatever, all I knew is I felt drawn to simply create and transform whatever feeling I was having into music somehow.
As I studied music more seriously in High School and later in College my skills for exploring a much larger pallet of colors, rhythms, genres, etc. became more finely tuned. It’s been especially in these last 15 years of my music journey that I feel I’ve honed a higher degree of channeling a “vibe” and really developing it in an authentic and gentle way. What started out as several late night whiskey-swirling-singalongs and fun jamming with friends, soon started evolving into ideas of doing channeled music therapy for friends. I’d often have friends sit on the couch near the piano and I’d just ask them what they might be experiencing lately or what thoughts they might be pondering in their heads. I’d try and listen for anything stressful or challenging in their shares and then start to play whatever came through my fingers in that moment. It’s as if I’m some kind of vessel of a piano player player piano! Ha! What surprised me though is that many of my friends said they felt so relaxed and peaceful after listening and quieting their minds. This told me something was happening and of course I wasn’t a stranger to the powerful experiences people had at live performances I did with several of my bands over the years…experiences that led them to either dance, give a standing ovation at the end or feel so moved to come up and share their experience with me. This isn’t some kind of woo woo phenomena that is speculative…this is a real human experience for so many people when they “feel” the music moving through them. It’s awesome.
How It Works
I welcome anyone who may be interested in talking about doing a session or possible remote channeled piece of music. I haven’t fully structured how many songs or the duration of certain pieces yet, but I think we could come up with either a 30-60 min. session time where I play music or a certain number of pieces I create for you, record and then send you via email. I’m extremely interested in discovering what music could be born from a simple conversation and open mind. I’m confident that whatever is creating could be very meaningful and transformative for you…if not just simply peaceful, relaxing and meditative.
Please take a moment and fill out the questionnaire form below to let me know more about you and when we can discuss what sort of healing improvised music would best suit your needs.
I should also mention that I’m interested in the ability of creating portrait music pieces for loved ones, friends, family or even special events, places, things, etc. I believe there’s really no limit to improvised music when it’s applied to something meaningful and is done in a heartfelt manner.
Thanks again for your interest and I look forward to hearing from you!
Sincerely,
- Josh