Relative silence

Relative silence - nMay 24, 2007nOK, now for our daily muse:nThis is for listeners, and musicians alike, part in response toncomments and complaints from performers, and part just blathering.nnRelative Silencenn"Do what your heart tells you to do."nThat's what she always told me. That loving guiding spirit ofnwisdom whom is always there, just under the surface.nShe says, slow down, listen, feel, observe, and then...give what youncan muster at that moment.nWe are always better off when we listen and allow our inner guidingnspirit to show us the way through the fog of life.nnThis morning, at around 3:30, I went to sleep after playing musicnfor a few hours past reason. It just took a while.nThe music was there, waiting for me, but I could not hear it. nI was too busy playing music. Sometimes the music gets in the waynof itself. Or rather I get in the way and forget to listen first tonthe silence.nThere's this space created when the phone is off, everyone else isnasleep, and the mind is quieting towards silence.nBefore real music can be channeled, for me anyway, I have to reallynhear the silence first. That profound silence is made up of all thencolors of the sounds and vibrations of the moment.nLike the color white, made up of all colors in the spectrum, all ofnthose little noises, and vibrations of the world, the night, thencritters, the humming of electricity, blood pumping through veins,nbreathing, cars on the highway, distant voices, all becomes a silentnpallet for creation of music.nnI'm always listening for that silence, not the absence of sound, butnthat white pallet, when I perform, write, compose, decompose.nnWhen we breathe consciously, like in yoga or martial arts, we bridgenthat gap between conscious body control and unconscious control. Wendraw attention to, and bring under our control, a process thatnhappens automatically, most of the time without our input. The samencan be done with conscious listening. nnWe can choose to focus on a sound, taste it, and then put it backninto the environment. Or we can hear all sounds as a whole sea ofnlife in which we swim, trying not to pee in the pool.nnWriting songs within the song of the universe is no small task. But,nlike jamming with other musicians, listening always comes first! It'sngreat to know what the conversation is about before adding to it. nOn stage, at shows, on the porch, in the studio, in my head, Inalways try to hear what is going on first. Sometimes there is morengoing on sonically inside my head, sometimes not.nWhen I do hear it, there is that short "Indra's net" connection tonall things that allows me to participate in the continuing dialog. nnNow the question is, as performers, in a society and a world madenup of noises, sounds, loud cars, Disco thumping, drink orders,ncappuccino machines, cell phones, etc., can we consistently createnthat pallet of silence in our environment of the moment?nAfter performing in all kinds of venues for over forty years,nI never expect, I just try to listen and do the best I can, at thenmoment. But I have no problem ever, in any size venue, politelynshushing the audience. ;-)