Tag Archives: Music

Set the Tempo: The definitive power of rest in every season

22 Mar

I’ve been writing of late about how damaging habitual thinking can be, how important mind rest is.  And yes, this all sprang from a life-control DVR concept in an Adam Sandler flick, Click.

Today we’ll talk about how rest affects what you do when you’re not resting.  Eventually we’ll talk about the other steps to breaking thinking habits and renewal.  It’s okay to wait.

Why do we look at relaxation and rest like it’s a luxury, distraction, or a sign of laziness instead of what it really is:  A necessity to survive, essential to thrive.  The root of your drive.   Roses are red, violets are blue, I write prose and rhyme too!

The quality of rest actually defines our movement.  Think about it.  Not so long ago I developed a habit of scheduling recuperation time… After vacation.  Where my mind was at the time, I went so wild enjoying this so-called rest I was more tired after.

The quality of rest defines our movement.  If your rest is really exhaustion, a fleeting escape from reality, a hot second before you jump back on the treadmill… That’s how you’ll work: Worn-out, exhausted, purposeless, random, never-ending, never progressing.

Limited. Frustrated.  Ineffective.

The quality of rest defines our movement.  Rest defines rhythm in music.  Literally, a song has no beat, no structure, no progression unless there are hundreds if not thousands of momentary rests between notes.  Allyoudhaveisonelongneverendingnote.  And spaces between letters are what help us understand.  Darn hash tags.

Let’s dance a bit in music analogy-land. Remember we’re still talking about mental rest and how it helps us to change our thinking habits, renew us, and drive our actions toward success.

Music is written with attention not only to lyrics, notes and  rhythm, but also to tempo.

A beat, or pause, or rest in music is actually a relative idea.  It’s not like a second in time, which is relatively absolute.  Ha.

The actual length of time that passes with each beat, or pause, or rest in the song is defined by the tempo.  The beats and notes themselves are set by the composer defining the song, but without a set tempo, the performer could get real interpretive with the performance.

That’s why for example, you could sing Mary Had a Little Lamb fast or slow and still recognize the song.

Composers knew this and also made it clear what they expected the speed to be, by setting the tempo.

Technically speaking, tempo is the number of beats per minute.  Just like our heart rate.

So one beat in a song with a really fast tempo will go by very quickly.  One beat in that same song with a really slow tempo will drag out longer.

The tempo sets the quality of rest.  In music, it’s universally recognized that songs with a faster tempo, are harder to play and sing.  They also tend to have a lighter mood, and the sound of a major key which generally sounds happier.

You have to know what your tempo is, for every season of your life.

Classical composers didn’t write one 3- minute song at a time.  They were more like screenwriters, setting a story over an hours-long series of scenes, or songs, or seasons.  And each song within these longer, epic works had a different tempo.  Tempo is defined at the beginning of the work, and as needed after.  If there is no notation about tempo, it’s assumed to stay the same.

Rest in each tempo, or season is by definition, different from another.

If you know your mind controls your actions, and your mind is set to preferences you didn’t assign… And rest is the first step toward renewing your mind…

If rest is what brings structure and order to your life, and defines how well you work when you stop resting…

If rest is relative, with the length of time defined by you according to the tempo you’ve set for your life… And if your life is your most epic, dynamic, world-changing work ever …

Why would you live like rest is an annoying and distracting glitch on a recording of a bad pop interlude?

Recognize how big this is.  How definitively powerful rest is, to your action, movement and how free you are to define it.

Remember how non-negotiable it is for you to claim it.

 

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Habitual thinking: Resting so you can recreate, refresh, renew

15 Mar

I called myself vegging out, watching an Adam Sandler movie recently and ended up feeling like I was in a wildly entertaining master class about habitual thinking…  Inspired by a DVR control and a lot of banal humor.  So, I wrote about how habitual thinking is not in our best interest.

The movie (Click) centered around a DVR controller the hero (Newman) used to try to make his life better, only to find it just memorized his flawed patterns and kept repeating them no matter how much they hurt or what he wanted.

When we tune out, even a little bit, of our own thought processes we become robotic, leaving the best outcome to chance.  I talked in the other post about some pretty common ways most people go on thought default without realizing it, and why that’s not our best.

In the movie, when Newman realized this he was like, “Wait a minute!  So what do I do when this remote just follows my patterns over and over?”  Apparently, he went on autopilot.  He was physically there for his life but mentally, emotionally and spiritually vacant.

Yikes.

That’s what happens to us too… But there’s no blockbuster film distributed to warn others against similar behavior.  And just imagine… If we haven’t been giving life our very best, how awesome would it look if we did!?

We can unlearn bad thought habits, learn good ones and make them work for us instead of against us.  Just like any other habit, we are used to doing it before we decide whether we should.  When we take back that first choice, we can get our very best out of the most important control panel we’ll ever have: Our mind.

This didn’t just happen.  We’re trained for years to become habitual thinkers.  We’re conditioned to execute without thinking about thinking, based on a number of things:  Childhood, information, relationships, education, income, environment, health, physical needs etc.

That’s why before you realize what’s going on, you do certain things.  Maybe you rub your head.  Maybe you laugh joyfully.  Maybe you scream in pain.    Smile with love.  Flip your hair.  Hit in violent anger.  Maybe you do something you don’t think you’d do again if you had time to think about it first.  Maybe you do something amazing you didn’t realize you could.

How?  How do we begin learning good habits?

First and foremost, we rest.

When you’re physically exhausted your body shuts down. You fall asleep.  But first you get drowsy, and start moving less, conserving physical energy.  When we’re mentally exhausted our minds shut down.  But first our thinking gets hazy, and our mind starts moving slower, thinking less.

We can’t take in, receive, refresh, renew, restore or revive ourselves without being rested for the long haul first.  And that doesn’t mean you disappear forever, shirk responsibility, or check out of your life.  Your life is your magnum opus: The greatest work you’ll ever do, and like any epic musical arrangement, the song can not exist without rest.  Our minds can’t function without rest.

We can’t function without mental rest.

Intentional rest taken to refresh and restore is actually productive:  Taking a mental rest actually helps create form and order, not laziness or disorder.

Think about it in terms of classical music: Can you imagine how endless and predictable music would be if every song were one note or even one harmony, sustained forever? That’s our mind without rest.  Music is changing tones, shifting harmonies in time.  And those shifts, if they never have a rhythm of any kind attached to them, have no sense of structure or meaning.

Rhythm is defined by the amount of space between notes, the space (however fleeting or long) between sounds.  That’s our life with intentional renewal and refreshment, produced by rest.

Mind rest is critical.

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Why entertainers (including Beyoncé) should expose themselves more.

5 Feb

I watched the Beyoncé Superbowl performance and was struck by a few things:

  • She’s amazing.
  • I know a LOT (okay almost all) of her songs.  Word for word.  In harmony.
  • Apparently Beyoncé, along with Scandal, the presidential campaign, hate crimes and Chick Fil-A, is among the domestic news topics that expose the broad and opposing range of my social media connections.  During Superbowl I got everything from scripture to stripper references to praise to technical criticism to frustration.
  • Without substance, amazingness is a lot like a shallow action flick.  It’s entertaining, but you expect little or nothing by way of plot, depth or meaning.
  • Somewhere out there is a slumber-party video of me really badly imitating the Single Ladies music video wearing baggy, stripey satin pajamas and a feathered cardboard crown.
  • If they’d done a well-timed release of a Bey-Fit workout DVD to her and her hubby’s music, complete with co-ed workout team, the Carters would be making millions more.  Right now.  Who do I write to about that?
  • There don’t seem to be many pop stars around who don’t sing in panties any more.
  • I’m old.  Apparently I’ve reached the age where I call things like I see ‘em and am certain my sight is clear.

While I can appreciate shallow entertainment for what it is… It’s hard to understand why entertainers -including filmmakers, actors, musicians, artists, and the incredible Beyoncé as well- who are so brilliant, talented, edgy and great-looking… Would produce anything shallow intentionally.

Why would you want people to have low expectations?

Especially when you’re set apart.

Like, literally.

Folk like me, and Joe Blow, and Sandy Smith are set apart too.  But it’s far easier for us to pretend no one notices or expects much.

But if reported millions upon millions have their eyes on you, it’s unequivocally because they see more than you, something remarkable in you: Your creator.  All the shallow entertainment stuff is a distraction.

As costumes get skimpier and filming gets racier, I can’t help but lament over the little girls idolizing and mimicking their favorite singer… Men lusting or fantasizing about another man’s wife… The perverted confusion of using sexuality as a power statement… The self-defeating paradox of aspiring entertainers being held to the low bar of overexposure set by their counterparts…

I wonder.

What are we feeding?  Who’s responsible?  What and who’s expendable?  What’s sacred anymore?  While I’m thankful for the 1st amendment right that allows me to even share these thoughts, I’m sorrowful that our country clamors for a culture of poison, calling it delicacy.

How is an artist to see more from the billions of consumers and how are billions going to see more from artists?

The most popular stuff in America is what’s worst for you.  Music, movies, food, novels, news, clothing, products, vehicles, advertisements too often glorify sex, violence, manipulation, hatred, gluttony…

How did we get to the place where we want what’s bad for us?  Where we think it’s funny to mock someone’s pain or suffering and ignore our aching?  Where we don’t care who’s watching and are ignorant to our bondage?  Where it’s not our job, our concern, our role, our life or anyone else’s?

We’re in this together.

In this big world, shrunken by global internet, media, economics and military interests, every one matters.

And in this big world, it would be truly powerful if every person who had a platform of listening ears and watching eyes, believed they had a responsibility to use that platform to uplift their audience.

But it doesn’t seem like producers, filmmakers, songwriters, musicians, actors, or authors believe that.  And it doesn’t seem like sex, violence, slavery, perversion, spirituality or anything else is worthy of sensitivity or care.

Some use the excuse that it isn’t up to them, they have no control.  Others use the excuse that it isn’t their style.  Others say it’s not what people want to see or hear.

It should be.

I don’t know where exactly folks think their creativity and success comes from, but it ain’t fans, history, drugs, alcohol, fashion or TV.

So how exactly do you place responsibility for the management and shaping of your gift anywhere but with the One who gave it to you?

And is that God, who blessed you with talent, served by uncovering layer after layer of flesh?  Or by exposing layer after layer of spirit?

It’s scary to be truly naked.

Maybe that’s why so many artists hide behind fortresses of distracting shock value disguised as culture, art, entertainment.

We need a world where our leaders consistently expose increasing spiritual depth and inspire us to do the same.  

Where we build on the strength of the artists, leaders, and humans who came before us by deepening the quality of what we do, through a deepened connection with the source of creativity.

Not by increasing shock value for an increasingly tolerant and numbed audience we’re supposed to be healing through our God-given talents.

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Faith- Song lyrics

27 Jun

Pain:

A sweet and oily ominous warning.

Trust:

Abandon, all surrendering, nothing knowing.

Blood:

Poisonous, precious, life and death,

Slow coursing, cycling,

Pure and light-filled.

 

Love.

Of all these, love.

Love.

 

Touch of skin warm with life,

Laughter floating formed in strife,

Ever failing ever ripe,

Deeper, deeper, deeper, still.

Deeper, deeper, deeper, still.

 

Love.

Of all these, love,

Love.

 

Gaze at you lit with life,

Tears outpouring, all is right,

Always living all ways life,

Higher, higher, higher, still.

Higher, higher, higher, still.

 

Trust

Abandon all-surrendering, nothing knowing.

 

Love.

Of all these, love,

Love.

 

 

 

 

Written June 16, 2012

By Tina Watkins

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Remaining hope-filled: If it’s not good, it ain’t over yet.

29 May

This weekend, while absently allowing an advertisement to play, I heard a powerful quote: “It’s always good in the end.  So if it isn’t good, it isn’t the end yet.”
On Sunday May 27th, I listened to a friend of mine sing, tears springing forth as I listened to him pour out with passion and power,
“You hold my every moment,
You calm my raging seas.

You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease.

I trust in you.
I trust in you.

I believe
You’re my healer
I believe
You are all I need
I believe
You’re my portion
I believe
You’re more than enough for me…”

When I shared how moved I was with him afterward, my friend explained the day was the anniversary of his healing from a devastating medical condition that threatened to take his life.  Today, two years later, he’s an incredible dancer, singer and writer: An inspiration to me, to many.

Wherever you are, whatever you’re confronted with might seem insurmountable, impossible to cope with or overcome.

Here’s the thing: You’re alive.  You have life.  And life is always good, even if we can’t see it.

This is a reminder to be thankful for all you have, all you are.

This is a reminder that life is always good in the end. So if it isn’t good, it isn’t the end yet.

“In every death there is life.
This day two years ago (May 27, 2010) I almost lost my life; I almost died.
I was in the hospital a total of 40 days then another two weeks, had four major surgeries, 7 blood transfusions, heart failure, was in a coma for four days and awoke on a ventilator.
I went from 150lbs to 105lbs.
I had 16 feet of my small intestine cut out and now I have only 4 feet which technically isn’t enough for me to eat regular food and digest
YET HERE I AM LIVING A NORMAL AND HEALTHY LIFE.

I just want to share that God is amazing and miracles do exist.

Our lives represent God’s grace.

When we are willing to believe God can do anything.

When we make up in our hearts to live, even when death is knocking God does the impossible.

You never know what life will bring you but if you walk WITH God, you can be guaranteed a life worth living.”

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Billboard music awards: Using gifts to do good.

21 May

I don’t watch TV.  A couple years ago someone stole my TV and I didn’t notice it was gone.

I do work hard to be intentional with my time, spending it with purpose, on things of real value.  The little TV I do watch is recorded so I can fast forward to the relevant parts.  Imagine my surprise when, while accidentally touching down in live television-land Pog* and I discovered the Billboard awards were on.

Generally, we’re both intense music-lovers and have high expectations of artists, using their talents to make the world a better place.  We were simultaneously appalled, entertained, and amused by what we saw between fast-forwards as you’ll see:

(Enter LMFAO)

Me: “Is this LMFAO?”

Pog: “Is that a dancing bear?”

Me: “Is that a dancing zebra? Oh lord, no. Oh wow.”

Pog: “That’s it, I need concert tickets. I laughed out loud.”

(Enter Kelly Clarkson)

Pog: “You want to watch Kelly clarkson?”

Me: “Wait, just wait…”

(Cue climax in music)

Me: “Oh… Well, see… I was hoping this moment would be better than what it is.”

(While fast-forwarding through awards for best social artist)

Me: “Eminem, Shakira, Rihanna, Lady Gaga… Justin Beiber!?!? What?!?!  That was awesome in fast motion.  They have nothing to do with each other.  That’s like showing Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill, Black Eyed Peas, Aerosmith… And the award goes to Taylor Swift.”

(Enter The Wanton)

Me: “The Wanton?  Thats so British.”

(After watching half the performance)

Me: “Wait, pause. I’m going to reenact this. Pose… Slow walk. Pose, slow walk. That’s it. That’s their entire performance.”

Pog: “Wait. Is there more? There’s gotta be more.”

(Watching on fast-forward)

Me: “I think he jumped.  Yeah, that’s it.”

(Enter Wiz Khalifa, momentarily catching the tail-end of an award)

Me: “What’s a Wiz Khalifa? Oh!  He’s like a Dr. Seuss character.

(Listening to his acceptance speech)

Me: “Yes, praise God! Wait, is that a cannabis leaf around his neck?”

(Enter Brandi)

Me: “Oh how cute! It’s like a natural weave.”

Pog: “HA!!! Is that… Like jumbo shrimp?”

(Enter Chris Brown)

Me: “Is that a bike?”

Pog: “Why is he on a scooter? Who is this?”

Me: “I don’t know. Lord help us.”

Pog:  ”He’s a grown-a$$ed man, why is he in a fun-house?”

Me: “And why does he look so angry?  Is that cheetah print fur on his collar?  He’s like Little Scruffy, all aggressive and amusing.”

Pog: “Yeah, there’s so much going on right now.  I’m confused.

Me: “And that bandanna is much more mammy than gangsta.  Are those dancing astronaut skulls?”

Pog: “It’s just so confusing.”

(Enter Natasha Bedingfield, with Donna Summer tribute)

We watched, impressed, until they interrupted the tribute montage with advertisements.

Me:  ”Sigh.”

(Enter Taylor Swift)

Me: “Oh lord. They just cut to commercial during the Donna Summer tribute, please tell me they’re not honoring this child.”

(Enter Linkin Park)
Pog: “I still can’t believe all music sounds the same nowadays, the beat is the same (he pounds his fist, mimicking a house beat) Doosh. Doosh. Doosh.  Doosh.

(As he stops, Linkin Park begins to play, Doosh. Doosh. Doosh. Doosh.)

Me:  ”Well, finally someone’s really singing.”

(Enter Justin Beiber)

Me: “Oh! It’s the Central Avenue chalk circle.”

(Cue deep, rhythmic bass line)

Pog: “The mid-adolescent white boy comes out with the bass?!?!?!”

Me: “It’s cause we’re old.”

(Enter Carrie Underwood)

Pog: “Who’s that?”

Me: “Big red dress number two.  Also known as Carrie Underwood.”

Pog: “Absolutely not.”

(While fast-forwarding)

Me:  ”That was so strange.  There was all this wind represented and not seen.”

Pog: “Wait, so let me get this straight.  So for the real dope beats I have to go to Justin Beiber. For the real dope singing I have to go to Linkin Park? I don’t know babe, this world is not for us.”

(Enter Katy Perry)

We watched in stunned silence until aerial artists began performing oddly lewd movements on stage.

Me: “Oh, sweet baby Jesus in the manger. What?”

Pog: “Are those two guys?”

Me: “That’s a guy and a girl, but still.”

Pog: “What are they doing?”

(Enter, as introduced, Ceelo Green and the Goodie Mob)

Pog:  ”It’s bone thugs… It’s not bone thugs.  Goodie Mob.”

We watched in stunned silence, awestruck by the incredible dancer, Saddened by everything else.

Pog: “Wow.  Just… Wow.  There’s nothing more disrespectful than… Wow.”

Me: “Lauryn Hill and the Fugees?”

Pog: “Yeah.”

Me: “He’s creepy.”

Pog: “I mean.  Soulfood. Who’s that creepin in my window. Pow. And they’re backup singers?”

Next came the upswing of the show, with Usher literally doing magic tricks while singing minimally (albeit well) and dancing all over the place.

This was followed up by John Legend and Jordin Sparks, who each sang beautiful tributes to the late music legend, Whitney Houston.

We debated the merits of making an iconic song your own, versus attempting to mimic the original artist’s performance and not quite meeting their standard.  I fell asleep minutes later so can’t comment on the rest of the show.  Hopefully it improved.

All in all, it was a startling look into how random and purpose-free the popular music scene is, and into what folks are choosing to market.  Fortunately and unfortunately, the right marketing can sell anything, so I refuse to believe fans are setting the standards for music nowadays.

I’m blessed to know and work with many talented musicians, who truly work with the intent to uplift humanity and better the world.  So when I see purpose-less work celebrated, it underscores how important it is to change the face of the entertainment industry.

Yesterday’s show was a great reminder that everyone has a different gift and none of them are random.  Know what talents you have, and use them.  It’s never too late.  Unearth and hone your talents, share them.

Always make sure the focus is in using them not to profit, to entertain, to self-promote, or to control, but to do good.

That’d be a great step toward making the world a better place.

*Pog stands for Powerful man Of God (the m is appropriately silent.)

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The Cry

12 Mar

Have you ever joked to yourself that you must be getting old because the crap kids listen to nowadays is terrible?  That back in your day, music and movies were really good and it’s all going downhill now?  Ever changed the channel around little kids and a certain rock or hip hop song came on?  Struggled to find an appropriate movie to watch with your son or daughter, mother or father?

Radio, television, movies, cd’s, and video games are all media.  The hugest hub of media development on Earth is in Hollywood, California.

There are complex arguments about the impact of media on human behavior, thinking, and spirit but the bottom line is:

Media matters.

The singers, writers, crew, actors, designers, and dancers matter. What they’re doing matters.  How it’s produced matters, who watches it matters.

People around the world watch what comes out of Hollywood.

Can you even begin to fathom what it would be like if high quality, positive messaging was all you ever heard or saw on the TV, radio or big screen?

We have the power to do something more than be opinionated or even angry about the quality of media nowadays.

Have you ever stopped to think about what being opinionated and angry about something really is?  It’s cursing.

Cursing is why it hurts so much when someone says negative about you.  It’s why so many mental therapists are thriving professionals.  Speaking negativity over someone or something consistently produces a negative effect.

Is it any wonder that the film and music industries are so filled with negativity?

The power we have over this and any situation we intend to change is the power of prayer.

And I don’t mean a little half-baked wish on the fly.  I mean thousands of people of all walks of life, stopping what they’re doing and focus all of their energy intently on praying.

For change.

Prayer works.

Whether you want to call it the power of positive thinking, karma, receiving what you put out, hoping, wishing, energy transference or what doesn’t matter.  Believe what you want, there is something to this spirituality thing:  Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Hindi, Jewish, agnostic or other spiritual practice… The majority of living humans across all cultures believe life isn’t just limited to us folks and what we make with our opposable thumbs.

Prayer has been scientifically proven effective in positive transformation.

On Thursday March 15th, thousands of leaders of different faiths, people from different walks of life are gathering in Hollywood to pray for transformation.  You should be a part of it.  Even if you can’t physically be there, you can be a part of it where you are.

Spread the word.

Make a difference in a way that affects the rest of the world.

http://www.thecryhollywood.com/

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Video

A Capella Whitney Houston Tribute Medley

22 Feb

I work for a non-profit agency in Watts, CA: One of the most impoverished communities in the country. This morning I was humbly honored with the opportunity to sing for the senior citizen’s in one of our programs.

I asked whether it was appropriate to perform this medley, along with Strange Fruit and Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing and they agreed.

It was sweet and inspiring to make some new friends, including Ms. Red a sassy young spirit who’s favorite color is red: She intimated she’s always wearing red, even if you can’t see it.  Forever young at heart.

 

Hope you enjoy.

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