music and focus

Each piece of music holds as many shifting patterns of a sunrise, or an afternoon thunderstorm, or a night of stars: listening, playing, or creating it, or even just hearing it as you are passing, you can move in and out of all the aspects it offers. There’s melody, there’s rhythm, tone, history, timbre, voice, newness and familiarity, association and reflection, there’s throughline which connects all of these. Music is framed in time, it’s true, and one of the things that matters is to give a piece of music its own time, to live with it, to allow it to speak to you as it will.

One of the things about the music we consider here along the music road is that much of it comes from heritage music, music that is handed down, either pieces which are directly that and played and heard in our own time, or music inspired by heritage. There’s a saying -- by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, I think -- that you can’t step in the same river twice because you will have changed and the river will have changed. That’s true when one listens to, plays, and creates music as well. There’s much to be learned from considering all of that.

To go along with these ideas you may wish to see
Through Wind and Rain
music, silence, and spiritual journey
music and intention

Though it’s been a bit quiet here along the music road of late, have no worries, there’s much more good stuff to come. As always, I invite you to explore the more than seven years of ideas here in the archives, as well.

Also, I’ve been working on several book ideas, and you may wish to take a look at several stories I’ve done elsewhere

At Perceptive Travel, an encounter with the Lewis chessmen and their Nordic history, and walk through the murals in the Bogside of Derry.

At A Traveler’s Library, music for a Canada road trip

At Wandering Educators, eight songwriters tackle an interesting challenge and come up with thoughtful, funny, and engaging songs in The Cecil Sharp Project, and more about Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, an artist you’ve met here along the music road, in West of Ireland to the World

photograph was made in Derry, Northern Ireland, and is copyrighted. thank you for respecting this.

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If you enjoy what you are reading here, I've recently begun publishing an occasional newsletter at Substack with more stories about music, the people who make it, and the places which inspire it. Come visit and check it out!