Music for Creative Expression
Like everyone else, I was busy raising a family, making ends meet, and trying to stay sane in the process. In my soul, I’m a born performer who’s never been able to jump on stage—one of those people who can’t sit still in the audience. Just give me a tambourine and I’ll make a fool of myself, but I never did. Now’s the age when making a fool of oneself is advised, especially if it gives us permission to try new things or go for the dreams we’ve never taken the time to fulfill.
Aside from on-stage performance, turning 65 got me thinking about late-stage performance— the performance of my brain as I entered midway into my seventh decade. That was when my research uncovered the two most powerful strategies to delay dementia: 1. Learning a foreign language, and 2. Learning how to play a musical instrument. Determined to do whatever it took to keep the brain in good working order I decided to learn the language of music by playing the guitar.
In spite of the calluses I developed and my fledgling attempts at songwriting, I soon gave up on the guitar, eventually selling it and bringing my career as Bluesmamma making time to find her groove one of my abandoned life trajectories. The written word won out once again. Still, I cannot live without music. It gets me out of bed in the morning and helps me move through the day.
I believe of all the arts, music is the most accessible to the most people. Listening, making music, moving to it, reaches and releases our creative juices in a way nothing else does. Music has the power to create world peace because it crosses all borders. It is beyond words, a salve that can heal if we only listen. Hopefully, this issue of Monthly Musings will inspire you to pick up that musical instrument you’ve wanted to play for years now. Maybe reading Michael’s, Bobbi’s, or Justine’s words about their love for music may motivate you to seek your own creative groove, whatever it may be.
Read the full newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/2dfd51c0fffb/get-your-creative-juices-flowing-in-2021its-good-for-your-health-8030418
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