In a Safe Place, the Creative Spirit is Freed

I'm working via SKYPE with students in the Cakike Music Program in Bogota, Colombia.

Over the past six weeks, the students have been sharing with me stories of their lives, of their greatest happiness, playing little songs that they're learning on guitar, piano, xylophone. I'm helping them connect to themselves--to their source of identity, strength and confidence--to that which nothing in their often difficult lives can touch.

For each child, I'm improvising a special piece inspired by his or her life and story. This morning's session with a class of young students exceeded my expectations. Two boys--brothers--entered into a spontaneous duet on xylophones, each taking turns improvising as the other accompanied. They used what they had learned to take a leap and begin to create their own music. The respect they extended to the other made this possible. That respect and care allowed the space for something new to happen. The Cakike teacher, Paola Medina and I were deeply moved to witness this! In that safe place, the spirit inside of us can ignite and come forth in such beautiful ways! This morning was an inspiring example!

More to come...

Inspiration at the Right Moment - Barry Lopez, Writer and Naturalist

A year and a half ago, I gave my first transformational retreat in the Berkshire Hills of Lenox, MA. Together with the participants who'd enrolled for the weekend, we'd explore the power of duet improvisation to awaken our creativity, to hear our unique "voices" as expressed through improvised music, and finally to leave--I hoped--with a new sense of life and its possibilities.

The night before the retreat began, I was nervous as I contemplated the schedule, the myriad practical details, our activities together, my aspiration for the weekend. At 11pm, something compelled me to turn on the TV, which is unusual. There on PBS was the final episode of Bill Moyers' "Journal," a show in which each week he would interview a person of note--an artist, public figure, spiritual leader. I had heard of his guest, author, Barry Lopez, and vaguely recalled that I'd been inspired years earlier by something he'd written. As Lopez began to speak, however, I realized that I had been blessed. Here was EXACTLY the right message, the right person to strengthen and affirm my vision just as the weekend was about to begin.

To give you a sense, this is an excerpt from the interview. He is speaking about writing; but, really he is encouraging us to CREATE. There are real and positive effects that our creative acts can have on another human being:

"And when you can open up (to your creativity) and come out of your own little small tiny place in the world and...you try. And you get something on paper. And you give it to somebody. And you say, "Well, what do you think?" If it really works, they (will) read it and they will say, "I think I'm going to be okay."

Barry Lopez was expressing what compels me to do my work, my reasons for encouraging others to trust in themselves, in that which lies often untapped in each of us--one's own true voice!

It was no wonder that Bill Moyers chose Barry Lopez as the final guest. Moyers said in his introduction to the interview: "So many people have inspired my own work that I had a difficult time making that choice. But i finally decided to ask someone whose curiosity about the world, and pursuit of it, have set the gold standard for all of us whose work it is to explain those things we don't understand"

You can watch the interview in its entirety here on the PBS website:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04302010/watch3.html

Music Reaches Across Cultures

I want to share with you extraordinary evidence that music DOES, indeed, heal people, no matter what they have experienced and regardless of cultural background.

My good friends, Debora Prieto and Mick Quinn are working to better the lives of impoverished children in Guatemala. Debora decided to show a group of her teenagers the video of my piano duet with a 15 year-old girl named Hope Garner, who has Down syndrome. (This photo shows the teenagers as they are watching Hope's video.)

Debora explained how she came up with the idea to show the video: "When the teenagers first told me of their backgrounds, I had to make a huge effort not to cry in front of them. Every story was so sad and painful that just listening to them was like torture....I decided to use this video because I work in an environment where there is not room for vulnerability on the part of children. Any sign of "weakness" would open a huge space for abuse. The only way I could bring that intimacy back to my kids was to show them the video of you with Hope."

Here is the video these teenagers saw:



Hope's video had a profound impact. Debora described it to me this way:

"What happened was amazing. Most of the children couldn’t even talk, others said that they didn’t have words to express their feeling; it was too big for them to explain and to understand. One was almost crying. Then they began to express a deeper self-confidence. They began to realize that THEIR voice was important, too!"

Debora and Mick interviewed me recently for their "Ordinary People, Extraordinary Action" series. I highly recommend that you listen to the audio below, Debora describes these children in more depth and the extraordinary effect that seeing this video had on them. It is a VERY special conversation. Indeed, when music speaks from the heart, it touches the heart in another and gives a new sense of self-worth and of possibility, even amidst extreme hardship.

Click Here to Listen

Mick and Debora run "The God's Child Project," a sponsorship program in Guatemala, which makes it possible for children in need to have their basic requirements met--shoes, a bed, books for school. For $25/month your sponsorship will give them new hope. Please see this website to learn more about these children and how you can sponsor a child in Guatemala.

For more information on Mick Quinn, author of the award-winning book, The Uncommon Path, and Debora Prieto click here.