Still, Empty, and Full of Feeling (Cadencia): Musicality Book Club, Week 9
Short intro, because it’s one of those days! We’re on Chapter 8, Music on the Zen Elevator in W.A. Mathieu’s Bridge of Waves: What Music Is and How Listening to It Changes the World. I’m jumping straight to the sections that resonated with me the most this week:
Our word passion derives from the Latin passio, which means exposed to suffering or strong emotion, that is, being acted upon by them, and relates to passive, meaning emptied out and acted upon. As the dance stills and empties, it is filled with feeling. My mantra for music making is “Listen actively, play passively.” Listening actively takes great effort, but you will then be filled. [pp. 189-190]
And later in this chapter:
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The Positive Side of Anticipation: Play, Humor, and the Breaking of Expectations
We’re all taught that anticipation is a negative in the dance, especially when it comes to following. But once you have learned how not to, it can be fun (and funny) to consciously choose to anticipate. The other night I had a wonderful dance with a gentleman that was all about me anticipating, and enjoying the glorious feeling of jumping in and out of synchronicity with my partner. At times, we would be perfectly matched up in where we saw ourselves going. In other moments I would giggle at the difference in where our minds and bodies were moving and would find a creative way to jump back into his flow. I can’t remember the last time I felt so giddy in a dance. Playing with the natural expectations we form as movers, thinkers, and feelers is extraordinary, and I was lucky to be dancing with a partner who was able and willing (and skilled and flexible and fun enough) to play that game with me.
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Feel Out, Feel In: Musicality Book Club, Week 8
“We are the mirror, as well as the face in it…
the sweet, cold water and the jar that pours.” – Rumi / Barks
It’s finally spring in Alaska, so it seems fitting that this week’s chapter from Bridge of Waves - Music as Mirror - centers around the idea of music reflecting nature. The snowy white is melting, little by little revealing patches of green and blue, earth and water. We’re provided with only glimpses now, but in another month or so summer will be in full swing. Can hardly wait! But with this waiting comes reflection, both conscious and subconscious, about the significance of the passing of seasons and meandering of weather. Notice that these things have much to do with time, and so does music, so I am finding my thoughts about nature, humanity, music, and our inner worlds to be fluid and even interchangeable.
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