Reclaiming Music, part 2: Activating Innate Musicality
As humans we are made for music.
Our bodies are full of rhythms: breath, heartbeat, walking, skipping, circadian cycles. We are made for a back and forth flow from side to side of the body, the brain. Our cycles of activation and rest look just like sound waves, with peaks and troughs. We also are made to make rhythmic sounds: claps, snaps, stamps, thumps. If we weren’t so freezed up about it, we might notice that we are living inside of cycles of rhythm all day every day, and that we are improvising rhythmically to a larger beat.
We are also made to sing. Some animals do not have vocalization, but we do. We can discern pitch with incredible accuracy, we can mimic the sounds and songs of others, and we can harmonize. This is, when you think about it, absolutely incredible. In my opinion, to not use this life-made capacity to sing would be like a bird not using its wings. We have the ability, we’re meant to use it.
Due to our tool-making tendencies, we are also able to build and play instruments of a stunning variety and beauty all across the globe. We’ve made things you can strum, things you can blow into, things you squeeze like a bellows, things you can sing into, things you can bang on. That’s even before the technological piece, still talking about the analog level. As a group, we humans have really deeply delved into how we can make our musicality even bigger and more articulated.
So. I promise you - you, whoever you are, are made to make music, just because you’re a human being, and human beings are made for music.
My Invitation to You for Activating Innate Musicality:
If you would like to activate or refresh your innate musicality, here is an exercise you can do. It is a guided meditation that prompts you to remember a situation where you were already experiencing your musicality, and then reflect on it afterwards.
May it be activating for you :)
Continue Reclaiming Music in part 3: the Right to do it wrong.