Why Music?

Music seems an almost unconscious response to daily life - as necessary as breathing. It is often created without thought - whistling or humming tunes that are heard only in your own head softly, or singing along with the radio or the headphones under your breath. I wonder if we begin to create music in the womb, or if that environment of sounds and rhythm is what creates this love of sound in us before we are born. Whatever causes us to love music, it is the rare person who doesn't listen to music of some sort every day.

Symphony orchestras are common in the US and "Western" cultures and
have great popularity throughout the world. When new lands were
being settled, having a symphony orchestra or an opera house was
considered an essential part of declaring a certain higher level of culture. 

Think back - evolution might not have pushed for the love of music, especially love that causes us to create sound unconsciously. Sound, when trying to avoid predators that are faster than you and who look upon you as prey, probably doesn't come high on the list of great evolutionary decisions. If you're trying to sneak across the veld, you really don't want the big cats to target you because Big Grass Stalk up front can't keep from whistling.

Sound also transfers knowledge and can serve as warnings in the form of agreed-upon signals. Sound carries farther than vision and can reach the intended focus even if the originator is in high grass or a deep ditch. Hunters can use sound to organize a raid, mothers can use sound to keep children close.

How did this funny dude know to come running? Someone probably
gave him an audio signal of some kind. (The drawing was so humerous,
I just had to share with all of you.) 

From basic sound comes choreographed and duplicated sound - singing songs, playing drums in specific rhythm, blowing through the spaced holes in a reed to create a progression of musical notes. When a catchy tune is composed, it carries through a social group and suddenly popular music is born. Popular music travels and teaches.

Taliesin is still renowned today, hundreds of years
after he roamed Wales. 

In olden days, bards held a position just below that of kings. They weren't just entertainment, they were messengers, teachers and spies. The great bards have gone down in history - Taliesin, in Wales and Coirpre Mac Etaine in Ireland are only two of many renowned bards, some of whose work still lives on in fragments of parchment today.

Modern days have codified music but we still have our bards, or at least we have those who pass words and music around the world, influencing people to think kindly of others, or inspiring them to bravery they never knew they had prior to hearing the drums of war. Music can do that - all of that. So as I listened to the music of the planets yesterday evening, it seemed that the bard had just gone one step farther and that the universe and all it in had indeed been created by a Song with billions of distinctive notes. Where do you fit into this symphony? Happy Friday!

In the Mood for Pretty Pictures

It's Saturday and I'm just not in a mood for deep thoughts. I finished my latest Community story last night, I'll look it over again tonight and send it off. I'm still struggling with the last two drabble prompts, so no action there. And I'm almost completely finished with the illustrations for Binky's story. So...I'm in the mood for pretty things. I thought I'd share those with you today.

So, I want to make one (or more) of these. These are aolian harps - wind harps. They are played by the wind running through the strings. I'm in love.

Although I don't live by the sea, I can imagine the winds that can drive the waves would do a wonderful job playing an aolian harp. So, a few pics of wind and waves to continue brightening your day.

So, I hope you have a weekend filled with magic.

Good Solstice to Everyone

Do I celebrate Solstice?  I certainly do, although I don't do specific rituals; I don't set up an altar, I don't pour libations (especially not with our snow of yesterday and overnight), I don't drum or sing.  But I do focus on the day - I do think of my friends and family and I do honor this day.  I honor it because in the Song, this is a day of import and the return of the sun to our skies is a sign that the year is coming to an and and a new year is beginning.  Today, in my part of this world, the sun's circuit across our skies will be the shortest of the entire year and the new year will begin. 

The sun, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere on it's
track through the sky on this Solstice Day.  Celebrate its'
return by re-lighting the fire of your soul. 

In the past, Solstice used to be a day where the fires were doused the night before and all fires were started anew when the sun rose again the next day - something that could not be taken for granted.  Sometimes Solstice sacrifices were made to help the sun rise, sometimes the night was spent in prayer or with loved ones.  It used to have many ceremonies surrounding it, and was (and still is) honored in many cultures and in many hearts.  I honor this world and the Spirit which created it.  I honor this larger universe and the Song and Dance which permeate it.  I live for the day when I can join that dance and perhaps have one small spot in the chorus reserved for me.  I honor the Power, the Rhythm, the Melody and am enfolded in the Love. 

Herne the Hunter.  I don't know the artist, but I love the image.

Traditionally, Herne loses his life either at Halloween or the
Winter Solstice, and is born again as the Green Man in the Spring

around the Equinox. 

Today's Solstice is remarkable, and if you are fortunate, you may see some of the other celestial happenings that will occur today.  We, of course, will have either the longest or shortest day of sun in our respective hemispheres.  We also have a full moon today, AND a full lunar eclipse today.  The heavens are full of portents for us, while our world tries its' best to self-destruct.  But, as you reflect on the Powers of the Universe. and them reflect on the small-mindedness of the earthly powers who can find no comfort in their weapons and repression, remember that evil still walks these lands and do your best to combat it where ever you find it.  This is your job as a Human Being.  This is your obligation as a note in the Song.  Walk your path truly with an open heart and a song for others.  Spead love around you - it is infectious.  You won't change true evil, but you can make your area of the world just a little better.  You can be one small flame to help lighten the hearts of others.  And, after all, isn't that the Purpose of us all?  So that's my celebration of this Solstice day, and I hope it is shared by many of you and that the world will be a better place because of it.  Mitakuye Oyasin (Lakota for "we are all related", the traditional ending for our prayers).

Balancing Act

Every woman knows the difficulty in balancing the many tasks and roles she must perform on a daily basis. Men know this also, but they don't multi-task as much as simply shift from one lane to another on the freeway of daily life. But women DO multitask. So, between being a good wife, an amazing Mom, the reliable worker and the chief cook and bottlewasher, you also need to exercise your creative muse. When are you supposed to be able to do that!?

There is a reason why I get up at 3:30 am. The primary reason is because I can get work done and some creative activities done before I need to leave the house at either 6am or 7am (depending on my schedule for the day). That creativity can continue when I get to the shop for another hour, sometimes two. So I can at least get some concept drawings done, work at the bench, or simply redecorate my habitat for my pet on Facebook. Even something that silly is still creative and still has my own stamp on it - a vision that is not shared by others but is mine, uniquely.

And after all, isn't that what we are all striving for? Unique creativity? The media in which you work is your own choice. Over my life I have worked in beads, embroidery, fabric, beads, leather, fabric, beads, metal, beads, more metal and now, enamel and more fabric. Throughout all of these varied media, my vision - my voice has become stronger. And now that I've lived a creative live for more than 50 years, I feel confident enough in my own vision that I do what I want artistically with a sidelong glance towards possibly selling some items in the future. My goal, however, is to satisfy my design muse and scratch my creative itch, and I am sure many others share that goal. So continue to multitask to pay the bills, but allow your own creativity to shine forth and proclaim your vision to the world. It will enrich the world's music with your own harmony woven within.

Tuesday - A Continuation

So, I ask you - the faceless reader, the other side of me - did you do your best to pass through positive thoughts and actions yesterday? Did you go through your day dancing from the joy of spending another day interacting with others or with your art? Did you do at least one really nice thing for someone? If you did - great! Fantastic! Let's do it again :-) If you didn't - why the heck didn't you? Whether you are being nice to yourself or to someone else, or allowing some joy to come through your work, these are positive ripples in the world. Right now the world is on the edge, and positive thoughts and actions are all that are keeping us around. So, work on the positive today!

I love music. I have always been disappointed that I have not kept up with my music, but my days shifted to the visual arts instead of the auditory. But I love music. And when my art is working well, I am usually humming or singing softly (or loudly if I am alone in my studio). I think that music also can come through your work because music is the foundation of the universe - the vibration that inhabits all things is music. So, if you are rippling through life in a positive way with music in the background....are you dancing? Why not!? Make your art dance today to celebrate another day on this Earth.

Stars and Song

Thank you to Hubble. Not the person (although he deserves thanks in the field of Astronomy and physics) but the telescope. Every day I wake up to an astronomy picture of the day (see the link to the right in my blog) and over the years, the 1000's of pictures that I have in books, calendars and have seen on-line have helped to make my days more pleasant. Not because they are so wonderful to look at, but because somewhere, somehow, there was something beyond all of my conception that allowed this to exist in all of its' multidimensional glory. Wow. I consider the stars to be the visual of a Song - the Song of creation.

That Song of life pulses through everything - there is a deep rhythm that underlies the universe. Some scientists might consider it to be the vibration of a molecule, or perhaps the undulation of the strings in string theory. I look at it as music - Divine Music - the Song. These vibrant notes, beyond the ability of mere humans to hear, underlie all within the universe. And the Song is, in essence, Love. I think it was Dante who ended his Divine Comedy with the belief that it is the Eternal Spirit - Love - that moves the stars and causes them to dance and sing (paraphrased). So, through Hubble, we have all been privileged to see this divine dance and see the underlying Song. And now that Hubble has been fixed, upgraded, and released once more, we will again have the opportunity to see phenomena that were never dreamed of by our ancestors. Thanks are completely inadequate, but all that I can do. I look forward to many more years of inspiration and introspection brought about by the views from Hubble.

Musings

Today as I awakened, I had been dreaming of standing in the center of a night-time garden, looking at a vault of luminescent stars above while the scents of flowers surrounded me. I didn't want to wake up. I wanted to turn 'round and 'round, getting dizzy with the awe of the beauty of the night sky. It is a sight that I have only seen a few times in my life. Where humans go, light follows, and light is the enemy of the nighttime sky. Without a doubt there is something wonderful about cresting a hill and looking upon a sea of colorful lights below where the city lies. The nightime views of Los Angeles that have been imprinted on generations of movie and television viewers are wonderful - the gridlines of white and red lights that appear on the freeways, the pools of vertical lights where the skyscrapers thrust high. I grew up with a similar vision when we would pull away from the western Rocky Mountains to enter the Denver area. It always took my breath away. But man has nothing on the stars.

So, in this time when Stephen Hawking is seriously ill, I will celebrate the stars. I am always amazed that there are so many of them. Millions, billions, trillions, and more. And how often can we really see them in all of their glory? So rarely that we have shut ourselves off from them and forgotten their glory. We have hidden away from the night in fear and have tinged it with the touch of evil. It is not the night that is dangerous and filled with evil. It is that we are creatures of the light. I adore the light and need the sun to be happy. But I forgot that the night also has its' charms - that I can look up and see the most tremendous lights of creation above me in wide swaths across the sky. I hope that someday, before I die and go to dance with the stars myself, that I can find at least one time when I am in a locale without light pollution and with a cloudless sky where I can just lay back and immerse myself in their song. Can you hear it?....