mindfulness

March 3, 2017

Owning The Phenomenal World: Jeong Kwan On Creativity

“Creativity and ego cannot go together. If you free yourself from the comparing and jealous mind, your creativity opens up endlessly. Just as water springs from a fountain, creativity springs from every moment. You must not be your own obstacle. You must not be owned by the environment you are in. You must own Continue reading

analogies, Creativity, mindfulness, phenomenology, synesthesia, Uncategorized
December 9, 2014

Alan Watts On Deep Listening

In this excerpt (from the book Still The Mind and as heard in the animated video “Life Has A Voice” below), the philosopher Alan Watts (1915-1973) makes connections between deep listening, attention, and lack of self-consciousness: “The first thing we have to understand is what I call deep listening. And very few people ever really listen. Continue reading

listening, mindfulness

listening
June 4, 2014

On Music For Thought: Dub (Re)Mixing As A Metaphor For Mindfulness

After reading Paul Sullivan’s excellent Remixology (Reaktion Books, 2014), a history of dub music and dub aesthetics from Jamaica to their infection of electronic musics in cities and scenes around the world, it struck me that remixing is an interesting metaphor for cultivating mindfulness. Dub pioneers such as Lee “Scratch” Perry, King Tubby, The Scientist, and Continue reading

dub, groovology, mindfulness, perception, remixing, self-help

dub music
October 14, 2013

Running Music

(Listening on headphones recommended.) Continue reading

Electronic music, entrainment, field recording, film sound, groovology, mindfulness, music and body movement, perception, running, sensation, soundscapes
May 2, 2013

On How The Shape Of A Sound Shapes Us

I noticed a simple thing the other day while working on some music. The sounds I was working with were long tones with slow attacks and long decays. (Can you guess the instrument?) What I noticed was how instantaneously the shape of the sounds shaped me. The sounds literally slowed me down–making me feel as Continue reading

drone, listening, mindfulness, perception, resonance, vibration, wonder

mental-health
October 25, 2012

On Lessons From Long Distance Activities Which May Also Apply To Making Music

1. It doesn’t feel great at the beginning. 2. Take it slow at first. 3. Have a plan of action. 4. Add a little each week. 5. Allow time between sessions to recover. 6. The activity itself is discipline. 7. If possible, use the activity as an opportunity for exploration and adventure. 8. Alter your Continue reading

mindfulness, repetition, running

healthy-living, mental-health
March 13, 2012

Intangible Things: On Victor L. Wooten’s “The Music Lesson”

New Age : “an eclectic group of cultural attitudes arising in late 20th century Western society that are adapted from those of a variety of ancient and modern cultures, that emphasize beliefs (as reincarnation, holism, pantheism, and occultism) outside the mainstream, and that advance alternative approaches to spirituality, right living, and health” Victor L. Wooten’s Continue reading

concentration, ecology, ethnography, flow, improvisation, listening, mindfulness, music and discipline, music lessons, music theory, musical memoirs, perception, phenomenology, synesthesia
January 17, 2012

On Perception, Presence, And The Creative Process: John Berger’s “Bento’s Sketchbook”

“I’m taking my time, as if I had all the time in the world. I do have all the time in the world.” – John Berger John Berger’s Bento’s Sketchbook (2011) is a meditation on the connections between seeing, feeling, and drawing, and how these connections shape how we perceive and make sense of the Continue reading

creative strategies, ethnography, mindfulness, perception, phenomenology

john berger
January 12, 2012

On Motion, Repetition, and Transformation: Robin Harvie’s “The Lure Of Long Distances”

It is not down in any map; true places never are. – Herman Melville At the core of Robin Harvie’s The Lure Of Long Distances: Why We Run (2011) is a disturbing yet intoxicating idea: that you’re not really free in any endeavor until you no longer feel the gravitational pull of wanting to return Continue reading

consciousness, mindfulness, perception, phenomenology, repetition, silence
May 11, 2011

On Being Perpetually Mindful

There is an iPhone app called Countdown Pro which is a backwards moving digital clock that counts down from any duration in days, hours, minutes and seconds, allowing you to input multiple events on far off dates and then keep tabs on their impending arrival. I suppose the app is one way to grasp time’s ongoing flow and the metamessage Continue reading

mindfulness, time

Thomas Brett is a musician and writer who holds a PhD in ethnomusicology from New York University. He is the author of Principles of Electronic Music Production and The Creative Electronic Music Producer, a book described by Sound On Sound magazine as “a deep philosophical analysis of the various creative inspirations, ideas and processes involved in producing electronic music.” His essays have appeared in the journals Popular Music and Popular Music and Society, as well as edited collections by Routledge, Oxford, and Cambridge University presses. Thomas has played percussion on Broadway since 1997 and writes about music at brettworks.com.