The Moonlight Adventure by Emma Thacker

 

The clock struck three,

 As the moon shone down.

 Drifting colours,

 Blinking in and out of existence.

 Swirls of darkness,

Pushing me further down the rabbit hole…

And nothing…nothing at all!

So long, yet no time at all,

As I fall.

One breath so fast, and here,

Here I lay,

But where is HERE?

Is it night or day?

The past, the present all combined,

Leaves questions floating in my mind,

Yet soon they vanish like bubbles in the breeze.

Where am I going?

Tell me please.

I find a door, I must go through,

Drawn inside, floating along as if my feet had no meaning or existence in this realm.

Drawn into a familiar place.

Before me waits a familiar face.

How long has it been since I have seen you?

Since I have felt your warmth?

Yet here you are!

Here you stand.

I don’t understand…

How can this be?

What more can I see?

As I reach for you and envelop myself in your loving arms,

All of time and space becomes meaningless.

The room fades into the emerald emptiness of a field in summer.

Sunflowers tower above me,

The yellow sea,

Stretching into infinity.

Marshmallow clouds toasted by the grapefruit sun,

Bring a smile to my face as I wander on.

I wonder…

The madness so ordinary,

So seemingly clear,

I leap and bound into next year.

See the world as it should really be,

I feel it looking back at me,

Yet it all falls away again,

Time, memories, images, pain.

Things that once were,

Things that will never be,

Things that make no sense,

Things I try not to see,

Things right now confronting me.

As I fall.

Into nowhere and nothing at all,

Like Alice by the riverbank with tales so tall.

Drifting colours,

Swirls of darkness,

Pulling me back to reality for evermore,

As the moon shone down,

And the clock struck four…

The Life and Legacy of Duke Ellington by Alice Ayvazian

 

The Life and Legacy of Duke Ellington

by Alice Ayvazian 

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington is considered as one of the key figures in Jazz history whose band and compositions shaped and influenced the musical genre in a profound manner, producing a huge body of work which includes original compositions within popular culture, as well as film scores, musicals, sacred music and suites.

Born in April 29 1899 in Washington D.C., Ellington grew up quite comfortably since his father, James Edward Ellington, was employed as a butler at the White House. At the tender age of seven, he gained access to musical instruments which intrigued him towards his early musical steps. Piano lessons followed from Marietta Clinkscales, which led to even a greater desire to dedicate and pursue a future and a career in music. His friends started calling him ‘Duke’, a nickname which would become his staple, due to his well manners and sense of style, virtues which were instilled to him mainly by his mother, Daisy (Kennedy) Ellington.

Young Duke started listening to ragtime and was greatly influenced by that style of music at first before entering the swing era. He attentively started to imitate other piano players, especially Willie “the Lion” Smith and James P. Johnson, thus slowly crafting his skills. From 1917 and onwards, he started performing around cafes and bars in Washington D.C. As time went by, he fully immersed himself in performing and established his own group ‘The Duke’s Serenaders’ and later on ‘The Washingtonians’. He later moved to Harlem, New York to be part of the Harlem Renaissance; a period of revival within the African American community concerning the arts and overall culture during the 1920s and ‘30s.

In 1927 a great opportunity appeared for Ellington and his group to start performing at the famed Cotton Club, since King Oliver, a well-known jazz cornet player, bandleader and Louis Armstrong’s mentor, had denied the offer of booking his own group. Thus, Ellington took on the engagement for the following three years with a series of very successful shows which mixed music with vaudeville, comedy and other dance numbers. Through the course of those years, he became very well known throughout the country, partly due to radio broadcasts recorded directly from the bandstand.

By 1933 the Great Depression had caused major damage within the music industry in the United States. Therefore, Ellington took his orchestra overseas since they had a major following in many other countries as well. Some of his well-known players were trumpeter Cootie Williams, cornetist Rex Steward, and saxophonist Johnny Hodges. Some years later saxophonist Ben Webster would join as well. The band’s tours would continue for more than 4 decades where they would perform all around the world. He first started working with Billy Strayhorn, a young arranger and composer, in 1939 and started a joint collaboration which yielded many hits. Out of the many now-regarded standards that were composed throughout the years of touring, are ‘Mood Indigo’, ‘It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing’, ‘Sophisticated Lady’, ‘I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart’, ‘Caravan’, ‘Take The A Train’, ‘Satin Doll’, ‘Cotton Tail’, ‘Solitude’ and many more.  

In the 1940s and 50s he started composing a series of suites, through an idea he had of creating Jazz pieces within classical forms. That body of work yielded, ‘Black, Brown and Beige’ (1943), ‘Liberian Suite’ (1947), ‘ Drum Is A Woman’ (1956), ‘Far East Suite’ (1964) and ‘Togo Brava Suite’ (1971). He continued creating his compositions and participating in performances for as long as he could, until he succumbed to illness in 1974 and died from pneumonia and lung cancer.

Ellington’s musical legacy as a pianist, composer and Jazz orchestra leader, is a timeless contribution to American music, which has transcended to various audiences around the world. His love for his craft of composition and performing made him into a legend within the Jazz world with a career that spanned more than half a century.

“If jazz means anything, it is freedom of expression”. – Duke Ellington

The changing face of internet radio and the death of the chat room! By Steve Sheppard

 

The changing face of internet radio and the death of the chat room!

By

Steve Sheppard

 

What was once seen as a gimmick, perhaps in the same way as CB radio, Internet Radio has now gone from a train spotter’s paradise, to a multi-platformed broadcast service worldwide, what was once seen as a little fun, a chance to be a pirate radio station, or an opportunity to invent the most crass and vulgar shows, has now developed into a truly serious business that unless you know your stuff, you will be gone in less than 60 seconds.

BBC Sport Steve

 

However back in the day internet radio was at times a lot of fun, but until 2004 I’d never heard of it, during the 90’s I spent most of my time on sports reporting live at events with the B.B.C., we were still not using the internet much at all in the late 90s either, and by the time we have all got past the rather uneventful millennium bug, I was then working for commercial radio on FM an experience that has nothing to do with music, but where cash is king!

I must be one of the few presenters who also had a show on the old AM wave band, which was to the say interesting, but the inevitable happened, one of the fellow DJ’s at the station mentioned to me that at night he lurked in the dark shadows of the evening, creeping through dank alleyways and for 90 minutes became a pirate radio DJ! I asked for more details, and I blame him for this whole internet radio journey, which started for me in 2004 and on to this day.

It all seemed rather nerdish when I arrived at this station, it was owned by two very odd individuals and housed in an industrial estate for small businesses, which I guess gave it a strange form of credibility; later I would go onto find out that they had none at all, oh and no license, not a single legit thing that would make them legal in any aspect.

It was that time that I became infected with the technology called a chat room, a place where people could come into at any time it was open, to leave your messages and suggestions for tracks to be played, and if you could get passed the perverts, the spam links to grow your penis to a mile long, and copious amounts of porn sites, it strangely worked.

By 2005 I worked by day as a postman, at weekends for the BBC, during the afternoons as the weather and travel presenter for a commercial radio station, and at night, I would slip into my anorak and become, internet radio man, this was exciting, I could e-mail all of my 11 friends and 7 of them would turn up in the chat room for 90 minutes of music I wanted to play, which was amazing as on commercial radio at that time the computer choose for you and Motorhead back to back with the Spice girls never worked.

There were some fun times it has to be said, but as it was largely unregulated, those who would never get a job on local or national radio, now had a voice and the vulgarity and vile language was so bad, that at times, the radio authority would phone the studio to complain, which I found strange as this station was illegal, but never once did they ever turn up to check them out, but here I was  playing the music I wanted to get heard, and I was getting a large following even back then, but let’s get back to the seedy world of chat rooms and the internet stations.

Apart from my own, QBR as they were (they now no longer exist, which is no surprise as they were run so badly that at times, they wouldn’t even bother to turn up to the studio to open it), I have never graced another internet based station. I have broadcast via the net for various BBC stations but that is under the regulation of the same body for the main stations output.

So the chat room and emails were at that time, they way of generating listeners, word of mouth and the occasionally lucky listener who had been surfing the internet would be your audience. I stuck it for some 3 years or so until I was asked to open up my first spiritual radio station, at that time called Southern Spiritual Radio, with reflection that was a huge mistake, as listeners expected to tune into pastor Steve from the deep south, laying his healing hands of his brothers and sisters from his shack in Alabama, not hear some British guy talking about Reiki, Shamanism and healing Crystals.

A salutary lesson in getting your brand right, this was now 2008 and the internet was the place to be, lot of stations were springing up, but most others were amateurs and lacked the professional training of myself, but the chat room was now at its height, although this station was not mine, I was appointed station manager, we now had a radio station with a working website and an abundant chat room. Unlike today, then you could judge your shows listeners by how many people were in the chat room, one I may add that was purpose built and on the front of the website.

By 2010 the owners closed the station and I opened up my first business online which would at that time be called One World Radio, due to my contacts over the years it didn’t take us long to establish the following again, and soon I was hitting 5000 listeners a month, now note, even in this short time of 2 years, chat rooms were on the wobble, MSN had closed their groups and the Behemoth of what was now known as social media, and Facebook was on the rise.

But, let’s just give a fading tip of the hat to MySpace which was huge back then. Chat rooms, were a way of meeting up with your friends, listeners and even the musicians all in one place, and apart from those wishing to indulge in cybersex and other such bizarre dirty rain-coat menageries, were now largely on the wane, so much so, that the website company we use, and still do, Moonfruit, really couldn’t be bothered to compete anymore and simply stopped the function themselves, and farmed it out to other companies if you wished to have one, so communicating with your listeners was fast becoming a changing operation.

Interestingly enough, one has to stand back when talking about chat and chat rooms; I remember working for BBC Surrey once and asked how the listener figures were for last week’s show, and he said something that made me think to this day, “Last week it was a bit quiet Steve, we only had 25 thousand listening” for him that was light, for me, for a 30 minute show, 25 thousand was beyond huge, so that many people wanted to listen to me for half an hour and not turn off, wow, so it indeed it is all a matter of perspective, and what you want to get out of the experience of being a radio presenter.

One World Music started in 2013, we had developed away from the static servers like Ice Cast etc. and chose Mixlr, a service you could literally transport anywhere, and we trialled this before moving to Cyprus. During one whole month in 2014, we broadcasted using Mixlr from our new home, easy. By now social media had pretty much removed the need for a chat room, so much so that we tried to invent one on Facebook, which for a while was pretty successful, but internet radio had changed so much by then, that swimming in the small pond was no longer an option, and the best way to communicate with your audience was your output. A good example with my falling out of love with chat rooms was that I found myself conducting one a few years back for one of my shows, and found myself virtually typing my entire broadcasted audio onto a Facebook chat room, a complete waste of time and frustrating as well.

So now we see the arrival of podcasts, thanks to PRS our licensing company, they called me one day to ask me about my stations license and to see if I had the correct one, during the conversation they informed me about this sparkling new world of keeping everything on a cloud, now this actually started for us back in 2013, and as a company Mixcloud did me a big favour, as until then I would be only able to keep 10 podcasts up on my website, now thanks to this cloud kingdom it was virtually limitless, and sure enough it has worked brilliantly for years now. I have a feeling we have somewhere in the region of 4000 shows you can access on our podcast service as of today, and it is constantly growing.

So we now had Mixlr as our portable server to the world, if we wished to use it they also had their own purpose built chat room, and Mixcloud had its own purpose built forum for every show uploaded, social media had exploded, but so had the APP world of the internet, this was now the latest big thing, what was once thought of as a hard thing to communicate with your end listener, is now a virtual impossibility not to do so, which is a nice thing for us at OWMR as 98% of them are lovely people.

So we stand above the coffin now, and look at the casket marked chat room, I do think we banged the last nail into the most eager of woods, by changing to our all singing and dancing responsive website, and inventing the 6 hour constant live play of all shows on OWMR, listeners now can now not only choose how to listen, but where and when they wish as well, for example, those who wish to find me online during the week, can do so by logging onto and listening to the shows on the first of our of 6 daily broadcasts on Cyprus time, you will find me there listening, but now we have arrived at a very interesting juncture in intent radio and chat, as most stations in 2020 just stream endless ice cold streams of music, with no real soul.

The personality has gone out of radio, I’m now also a musician and I adore it when I get one of my tracks played and they mention my name on LIVE RADIO, oh yeah baby, massage my ego, there, you missed a spot, ah yes, that’s better, but seriously we broadcast live warm content and include real people to do it. I once listened to a station locally who tried to broadcast a show with chat, and playing his music from Spotify, let’s just say it was a little embarrassing. Imagine “So let’s go to our next track, this is Queen and We Will Rock You” big build up and big silence as we hear “And we will be with Freddie and the boys as soon as my Spotify stops spinning in circles, wait, oh, almost there” You get my point, though things have changed, the skill set of being organized and professional hasn’t.

So internet radio is now a technologically driven industry, which at our age how we keep up with it is a miracle all of its own, but we love what we do and I hope it shows. Gone are the days of emailing your mates and basing your shows popularity on how many people roll up in a chat room; only recently in fact last week this happened, Tuesdays is our main stream rock and pop day, and let’s say that we were just short of 1000 listeners for 3 live shows that evening, but with hardly anyone chatting in our Facebook group, and this is where we enter the last phase of this never ending story, as there are now so many platforms out there now on social media, allowing us to all pick and choose our favourites, the biggest growth I have seen for us is Instagram, Facebook is now just another fish in an already overcrowded pool, and perhaps one day someone will go the same way as MySpace again, into the void of irrelevance.

The one thing that is certain in life is change, we can all testify to that; while Chrissie and I are not getting any younger, I have a feeling we will still be around in the once murky old world of the internet for a few years yet, and instead of sitting up till the wee small hours talking in a chat room, I now enjoy waking up each morning and answering all the messages and e-mails I have got from listeners regarding my show, so the moral of the story is, make technology work for you, never become a slave to it!

Through the Trees by Emma Thacker

 

Through the Trees by Emma Thacker

 

The warmth of sunlight

Melting like butter on my winter worn skin,

New yet comfortably familiar

Like a glow from within.

Blossom by blue,

All so new,

Branches waving,

Buds bursting through.

A call to awaken from tree to tree,

As the birds look around and feel what I see

As I walk on my way 

Through the trees.

 

Before long the spaces between skeletal branches

Will be filled with green upon green,

The arc of those budding fingers 

Reaching for the blue,

Reaching out to the warmth and hope 

Of life itself.

Leaving behind the darkened crisp shades 

Of all their yesterdays.

I crunch them beneath my feet.

The past feeding the new, 

Green on blue,

Sounds unseen,

So pristine.

As I wind my way

Through the trees.

 

I breathe in to fill my soul 

With the newness, the hope.

Memories of woodland dreams

Dance playfully through my very consciousness. 

Scents remembered as dreams become reality,

The slumber of winter soul's shut down

Finally ceasing.

Smiles and music,

Droning planes, 

Insence and wine,

Time repeating time,

As I sit on a fallen tree,

On my way 

Through the trees.

 

The golden glow of sun on outstretched fingers

Reaching for life in the cloudless sky,

Striped white by the trails of journeys above

As life outside just passes on by.

The breeze intensifies like a warming hug,

Washing away the clouds of yesterday,

Washing away the tears,

Hope for the futre

Understanding the past, the fears,

Reaching for the cloudless sky

Green all around as birds fly on by.

Smiles and music,

Blue upon green,

Memories of all the happiness I have ever seen.

Nature's power blown on the breeze,

As I finish my walk,

My walk through the trees.

 

Where Do We Go from Here? The new normal is a painful reminder of yesterday By Natalie Jean

 

Where Do We Go from Here?

The new normal is a painful reminder of yesterday

By Natalie Jean

 

As I lay awake at night, something that has become the new normal, I pinch myself to see if this is all real. Staring at the ceiling, I ponder whether we will ever be normal again. How did we get here, a pandemic, no real leadership, systemic racism, police brutality, rioting, looting, lynching, marching, protesting, masks, and no human touch? Am I to never walk alone, because someone will attack me, because of the color of my skin? I wish it were all a bad dream, but apparently it is not. These thoughts plague my mind. At one point, I was told to see a therapist, that I shouldn’t internalize these atrocities. This is true, but how can I not internalize things? I am black and living in America. What effects one, affects me as well. But I am OK with me. I love me. A therapist cannot answer the question, “Why do people hate me, because of the color of my skin?” What have I done to people that have never met me? How do I deal with someone wanting me dead? I do know that it is deeper than the skin, but I would like that question answered. I do believe in the notion that everything happens for a reason. Are we supposed to learn something from all of this? If you believe in God, how do you keep your faith? How do we keep a loving heart, and not wander down the road of darkness? I look at music and think this is the one place where we can’t and should not be divided. It should be a place where we can come together as one, enjoying a moment. Unfortunately for some music genres this is not the case. Country and Americana say they except all people, but is this truly the case? It’s interesting that it is alright for Country/Americana artists to cross-over into other genres. But when a person of color decides to create Country/Americana music, there is outrage. It seems as though the doors are shut. You have to be extra special to be seen and heard. I remember when Beyonce performed with the Dixie Chicks (now The Chicks) at the CMA’s one year. There was such an uproar for one little performance. How dare someone black try to crossover! But Beyonce wasn’t even trying to crossover. It was merely a collaboration. Could you imagine what would happen, if she wanted to become a Country Artist? Race has no place in music, in my opinion. If you like what you hear, why should it matter? It always seems as though, black people always have to fight for something. We always have to prove our worth. Well, I Am Americana. I am here to break down barriers. I am making my mark in the Americana genre.

 

I am an award winning multi-nominated independent artist. The music world can be very tough. Always trying to compete with mainstream artists. Always trying to be heard and be seen. Last year, I decided how I really wanted to be perceived as an artist. I want to be an effective player in life. So, I decided to create a social message impact album. But what would I call it? What would it be about? I often attend music seminars. They say the same thing over and over. Artists are not writing or singing about the times, like they did a long time ago. So, I decided to create a 15 song Americana Social Impact album. I must have had a premonition, because all of the songs, deal with everything that we are all dealing with today. Rape, racism, homelessness, gun violence, police brutality, female empowerment, the environment, self-love, and immigration, etc.. I decided to call it, “Where Do We Go from Here? It was released on February 14, 2020. I don’t know if I had a premonition of what was to come, but after all of this, I believe that it was meant to be. So, the question is “Where Do We Go from Here? How do we (all of America) rise from the ashes and create a better world for today and tomorrow? Can someone tell me? “I refuse to give into your fears, nor will I give you any of my tears” – I Am

New Habits for Success by Rosie Hamilton McGinty

 

New Habits for Success

Sometimes the only difference between being successful and being average is having successful habits. Some examples of successful habits could be getting up earlier, doing things when they need to be done, being prepared, or good effective time management.

So how do you start to build these success habits in your life? Here are some A Winning Attitude tips on creating successful habits.

1. Identify - Find the areas in your life that need changing, and be honest. Write down these new habits that need to be formed. Don’t become overwhelmed at trying to figure out how you are going to form all of these habits at once. One step at a time is my motto.

2. Pick 2 - Most people sabotage themselves by trying to change everything at once. Instead, pick one major and one minor habit that you want to form. For the next 30-90 days these will be the success habits that you will create.

3. Start small - Now that you have your two new success habits, create a daily or weekly routine that is easy to follow. For instance, let’s say that you want to wake up an hour earlier so that you can get more successful things done. Instead of setting your alarm an hour earlier right at the beginning, only set it 5 to 10 minutes earlier every morning until you reach your goal. This way it would take you 30 days or 12 days respectively to create your success habit.

4. Repeat - Once you have created your new habits move on to the next two success habits that you want to create. Before you know it you will have created a whole new life full of success filled habits.

Note: Take a look at a successful person in your life and look at their habits; they will have a strict routine of when they go to bed, when they awake, and a planned day ahead of what they wish to achieve before the end of the day. Anything that isn’t accomplished would be carried over to the next day as a priority.

Just imagine where you will be in one year if you follow these A Winning Attitude keys to creating successful habits. If it takes you up to 30 days to create 2 habits, you will have created 12 success habits in just one year.

With a positive attitude to create new successful habits into your life you will find both your energy levels and well-being will improve enormously. A definite win-win situation for everyone who steps out of their comfort zone and into a new life and new way of thinking.

Until next time.

Rosie

www.awinningattitude.com

Kerry's Corner #9 The Rise of New Age Music

Kerrys Corner – The Rise of New Age

Hello Music Lovers it’s “Kerry’s Corner” time again, this is my 9^th article, where I delve into the lives and works of the GREAT COMPOSERS!

Claude Debussy

The Rise Of  A New Age

The harmonic tonal framework of the Baroque and Classical eras remained common currency until the turn of the 20^th century, when the magic of impressionism came to the fore. Of course we all know of Debussy, and how he loosened the hold of tonality.

And…….at the same time in Germany, the Expressionist Arnold Schoenberg was working on a completely new harmonic system, based on the principle of the ‘equality’ of the 12 notes of the Western scale.

Arnold Schoenberg

Schoenberg’s 12-note system destroyed common harmony as we know it, and a lot of people didn’t like it, even to this day he is considered a ‘difficult’ composer, however he had a lot of influence on future composers such as Berg, Webern and Messiaen.

The innovations of Debussy and Schoenberg, coupled with raw and exotic harmonies and rhythms of Russian folk music, went on to massively influence Stravinsky, and especially his works entitled The Firebird and The Rite Of Spring.

Stravinsky

Stravinsky always tried to keep in fashion with his music, and near the end of his life produced a string of original masterpieces and constantly reinventing his style, to accommodate changing tastes.

Prokofiev

His compatriots Prokofiev and Shostakovich made great strides and offerings to music of the 20^th century…..Prokofiev-ballets, operas and concertos, and Shostakovich-symphonies and string quartets.

Shostakovich

Moving into Central Europe now with two others, namely Bela Bartok and Janacek, Bartok was a maniacal collector of Folk Songs, and Mr. J’s operas are now very famous masterpieces.

Bartok

Janacek

The political scene in Europe in the mid-20^th century, drove many fine composers into exile to America, including Schoenberg and Bartok, (must interject here with a little memory I have of Mr B ……as part of my studies many years ago now, I had to study the score of Bartok’s “Concerto for Orchestra’, on the face of it that doesn’t seem so bad, but unfortunately Bartok never used ‘key-signatures’ in his work, one of the first to do so, consequently then virtually every other note had a sharp or flat sign in front of it which meant the score looked like a million baby spiders crawling all over it!  Certainly concentrated my mind), but the USA had its own home-grown composers such as Aaron Copeland, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ives and John Cage. The latter experimented with new composing techniques like the ‘Prepared-Piano’ where he attached many bizarre objects like laundry pegs to the piano strings to see what that sounded like … and of course his ‘silent’ composition’ where nobody plays anything for over 4 minutes!

John Cage above, ‘preparing’ a piano!

And then there was Aleatory music (music by chance) and Polytonality (music played in different keys at the same time), blimey what a cacophony!

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed my rather ‘alternative’ article, and I’m off to compose some silence at the piano … brilliant, just finished it.

Enjoy this marvellous video below of part of Stravinsky’s “Rite Of Spring”

The Prescription is Music: Piano – the Grand Emotional Equalizer

The Prescription is Music: Piano – the Grand Emotional Equalizer

By Darlene Koldenhoven, M.M.V., B.M.Ed., iLs-APP, NLP, GRAMMY®, Indie Music Hall of Fame

The Piano is the orchestra of the soul. It has the frequency range, the dynamic depth, the rhythmic pulse, the expressivity of an orchestra although it cannot “sing” like a violin even though it has strings. It is considered to be in the percussion family because the strings are struck with its hammers. Its limitation is that it can only sustain a tone for only several seconds even with the use of its sustain pedal. But if played with the intention of singing, an excellent pianist can make that piano “sing.” The human voice, whether singing or speaking, expresses and evokes emotion. The human pianist best evokes emotion when the thread of his/her preparation is in alignment with his/her intention and feeling, whether improvising a piece or having learned one from memory, whether played by ear or learned from notes on a musical staff. The author Malcom Gladwell in his book Outliers tells us that it takes 10,000 hours to become a master at one’s instrument or skill of any kind; but, even at 2,000 hours, one can begin to enjoy their efforts. The more one became skillful at the instrument, the more it allowed the facilitation of the freedom of expression to thrive musically. Although sometimes just banging on the piano, like a toddler, has its place in the spectrum of emotional release.

My relationship to the piano began at age 7 when my parents brought a lovely upright piano into our home. I was not allowed to touch it all and never did; but my mother would have me lie down under the piano bench with coloring book and crayons while she practiced her beginning lessons. One day, out of exasperation, I got up and told her she kept playing the wrong note and I showed her what note she should be playing. She looked at the music, looked at my finger on the correct note (an E above middle C instead of her F, as I will never forget), freaked out, banged the lid down on the keys and never played the piano again! The local piano teacher unfortunately told her not to start me on lessons until I was 9. My curiosity and frustration began, yet, I never touched that piano. When I finally began lessons, I hated that she made me practice diligently everyday, but only my lesson, and never just to improvise or play to have fun. That was a big mistake on her part. Never-the-less, later in life she told me that when I was having a bad day at school or I was frustrated about something, I would “take it out on the piano.” I would play my lesson pieces extra loudly, for example. As the minutes elapsed, my emotion would subside as it transferred out of me and into the musical vibration of the piano and life would be better. Not realizing what was happening until I was much older, I had innately figured out that the release of one’s emotions in a good way, enhances physical and mental health.

Now as I prepare for the release of my first solo piano album, The Grand Piano Spa and upcoming concerts, all the practicing I hated as a child, I now selfishly enjoy immensely, because I am aware of how much joy, release, grounding, and connection, it brings to me. As a sound healer, my intention is to transfer that pleasure to my listeners. Playing the piano has become my emotional equalizer, my daily dose of good medicine to get me through the isolation of this pandemic and all the baggage that comes with it. As a listener, perhaps the solo piano is good medicine for you too, like having a good friend with whom to make a healing connection.

There is something about listening to a solo pianist that is almost voyeuristic, as if peering into the soul of that person. Even more so if listening from another room of the house or with your eyes closed in an auditorium. The privacy is enthralling. A unique place of audience is lying down under a grand piano while the player plays. It can be a most relaxing, even meditative, experience, almost other worldly, as one can be totally immersed in the vibration of the instrument. I’ve invited many a friend to undergo (as it were) that sensation to their utter delight. Sometimes, I will use it as a gateway to using vibration for healing purposes with my clients. If you can’t find your way underneath a grand piano being played, there are many solo piano albums by a variety of artist from Classical to New Age to help you achieve balance and connection in life. Just put on the headphones if you have them, lie down, listen and imagine you are under that grand instrument, that grand emotional equalizer, that carries away all the stress and cares of the day . . . almost like being at a spa, enjoying a lovely, restorative bath of sound.

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Darlene Koldenhoven, M.M.V, B.M.Ed, NLP, iLs-APP certifications, Grammy Winner & 3-time nominee, Indie Music Hall of Fame Inductee. Recording artist with several multi-award winning, #1 New Age albums, some played in hospitals and hospices worldwide. Author, “Tune Your Voice: Singing and Your Mind’s Musical Ear.” International speaker and workshop facilitator on music education and sonic therapy. Private practice in voice and sonic therapy; in person or remotely. More info at DarleneKoldenhoven.com, ListeningMatrix.com, TuneYourVoice.net, WellnessVoiceWorkshop.com.

©2021 Darlene Koldenhoven. All rights reserved.

Art for Art’s Sake By Steve Sheppard

 

Art for Art’s Sake

By

Steve Sheppard

 

I can remember the days when album or single art was as important as the music itself, the cover art spoke volumes on what was going to be found deep inside by the buyer, and I can also remember even buying an album or two based solely on the art work, I would bet that never happens now.

Whilst some are producing some amazing graphics to represent their musical collections, others can simply, or so it seems, not be bothered, this lackadaisical and indifferent attitude to music needs to be reversed, and quickly, as art surely goes hand in hand with art doesn’t it?

I can remember the good old days of the 70’s with artists like Roger Dean, a man who created many a masterpiece, think of the band Yes and you will surely be in agreement, or maybe the sometimes surreal works of Hipgnosis with his sublime creations for Led Zeppelin, Sabbath, AC/DC and many more.

Whilst thankfully to many, those days have evolved, especially in the New Age music market where I can point to several album covers that are quite expressive in their intentions, like Carl Weingarten’s Ember Days or Andy Rogers album from last year with Where The Land Meets The Sea, a manifestation where it does what it says on the can, and sets the listener up for a perfect experience. After all, is it not what as musicians, we’re striving to get over, we want our listeners to feel and be completely connected with what we have produced musically, and album art is the creational panacea to cure all artistic ills, but however the tower is burned to the ground when it comes to the new and ever expanding new age and instrumental singles market, it is like art work is an alien concept, if indeed there is anything included at all.

I cannot express my disappointment strongly enough, when as a radio host I am given a single composition only to find zero art work, when I listen to the music, I want something to gaze at, that is the foundation for your musical processes, but it’s a very rare thing indeed.

In fact in many cases we have contacted an artist who we assume has forgotten to put any art work into the media pack, let alone a description on a sheet as to what the song is about, and the answer we get is sometimes stunning, with responses like, “Art work, why, it’s only a single” My thoughts, so your happy to allow one of your children to walk out in the street naked? Or the ever popular, “Ok here you go, this will do”, as they send me a picture taken from a google search of fluffy clouds.

The sad but ever growing indifference to single art is shocking at times and this is even worse, we get a picture with no artist name or title of the composition, nothing, to me that seems to be the lazy direction were going now, same as social media, everyone is so hooked up on their smart phones, they cannot be bothered to take some time over creating something meaningful, that reflects them and their musical narrative they want us to buy into.

Fortunately this lethargic languor is not shared by everyone creating singles, for example there have been some truly artistic masterpieces created last year, like Chrissie Sheppard’s Raven Cove, art work that takes you to the hub of the content, or Annie Locke’s A Gentle Day, a picture that is idyllic and who wouldn’t want to be sitting on that bench by the lake?

I always have and always will be a believer that art work is a vital ingredient to the manifestation of a musical creation, it is the artistic clothing you wrap your musical child in, it is the tableau that describes your song, it is the tapestry of time and experience that is the tale of your arrangement.

So please, before pressing send for your next single to be uploaded to multiple platforms, give a careful thought, does the art work contained within best reflect my personality and my desire for you to fall in love with my creation, please show us your love, not your laziness, after all it shouldn’t just be art for art’s sake!