The Genesis of Music

A very fine musician and composer tells me that her earliest memories are of singing songs with her mother. These memories go back to before she was two years old. She also says that her family tells her that from the day she was born her mother was always singing to her. For hours her mother would rock her in her arms and sing to her. Whenever she played with her or fed her or bathed her she would sing to her. All her mother’s baby talk to her was lilting and songlike. They say that whenever her mother sang to her she used to smile and gurgle, in her own way joining in. She also remembers that for many years every night as she lay in bed she would make up songs for her mother and she would imagine them floating down the halls to her. As I have studied her and followed her career over the years, I have felt that all her singing is basically directed to her mother. Not surprisingly, her first record was dedicated to her. And as her mother was dying she held her hand and sang hymns to her. Here I believe is a perfect example of the genesis of music in the performer and composer – and of the love of music that exists in all of us. Our first appreciation of music comes through the sounds of the mother, especially her voice and her lullaby. Our earliest musical expression, of which speech is a part, is in a sense a duet with her. And later in life we should still be able to discern the voice of love in the music. All music comes to us as a lullaby and we pass it on as another lullaby. It is given to us as an expression of love and we give it on as another expression of love. From the heart to the heart. ____________ Extract from the book "The Life Energy in Music, Vol. 1"rnavailable at https://www.LifeEnergyArts.com