​New Year’s is an inspiring time of year. We love reviewing the past year and even more so, dreaming of how to make our lives better for the coming year. Many people make New Year’s resolutions, and honestly, the vast majority of people do not keep them. One of the biggest reasons why resolutions are neglected is because they are too vague, such as lose weight, eat better or stress less.  If you follow my blog or have read my book, you know about all the different ways music can inspire, heal, bond you with others, help you learn, highlight great character traits, or just create enjoyment. Don’t you want more of these things in your life? This week I’m giving some ideas for specific goals for how to become more musically literate in 2016.
 
Musical literacy is a term I use throughout my book and blog; it does not just describe knowing how to read and write music, but also how to understand and appreciate music. There are different levels of musical literacy, and just because you are not an experienced composer who knows the ins and outs of writing for all instrument types or a long-time performer who knows her instrument better than any other object, doesn’t mean you do not have musical literacy. But regardless of your level of music understanding, there is always more to learn. Knowing and understanding more will give you more pleasure listening to or playing music.
 
There are several ways to increase your musical literacy on your own or with the help of an instructor. There are simple things you can do, like expanding the kinds of music you listen to, or going to live performances.  If you want to delve in a little deeper, read about music, or find music to meditate to. If you have more time on your hands, find an instrument you like and start taking lessons. These are great ways to make you a happier and more well rounded individual.
 
Although these examples sound great, they are not specific enough. Spend some time this New Years weekend or even a couple weeks planning out how you can follow through with these resolutions. Here are some ideas. Steal one or all of them!

• Buy music every payday!
  • Depending on your paycheck size or budget decide whether to buy a full-length album, a $5 album or even just a 99¢ song every time you get paid.
  • Get excited about it! Plan ahead and chose an artist that you’ve heard on Pandora or Spotify, or pick something spur-of-the-moment.
  • Try a genre you haven’t heard or a song that is out of your comfort zone.
• Go to concerts!
  • Splurge on an opera, symphony or ballet, or find a free concert put on by a university. Go to one of your favorite touring bands’ shows or check out some local artists playing at pubs or coffee shops.
  • Get excited about it! Plan ahead for a night alone with your thoughts, make it an after dinner date night, or invite some friends.
  • Make it a habit. Vow to go to at least one concert every month. Plan ahead by checking out the symphony or university season (Fall through Spring) and check to see where your favorite artist is touring this summer.
• Read about music!
  • Go to your nearest library, bookshop or search amazon.
  • Before picking something, decide what interests you the most. Is it music history, biographies of your favorite musicians, theory, musical psychology, musical therapy, how-to books or teaching music?
  • Get excited about it! Can you plan to read a book every month or two? What about every season? Pick out a book for winter, spring, summer and fall.
  • Here are some starting points:
    • Music Trends of the 21st Century: Technology Influencing Culture by Anna Brake—learn about how technology has impacted music in the last 15 years from streaming to music software, attitudes about buying music to how pop artists are confined, learn about why music is still important, and more ways on how to be more musically literate
    • This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel Levitin—learn about how music effects the brain, why musician’s brains are bigger than non-musicians, and why we get songs stuck in our head
    • The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross—learn about the history of art music in the 20th Century in a modern tone viewing musicians as people and how they related to others, rather than just what they wrote or played, and learn how their music has influenced pop, rock music, and movie soundtracks of today
    • The Power of Music: Pioneering Discoveries in the New Science of Song by Elena Mannes—learn about how children and animals relate to music, how much of musicality is instinctive and how much is absorbed, and how music can heal

                All available on amazon.

• Meditate with music!
  • Let music relax and de-stress you by intently listening to it or putting it in the background while meditating.
  • Get excited about it! Find music that you find particularly relaxing: acoustic strings tend to be best, especially harp music.
  • If trying music to meditate to, find music that balances chakras or aligns with specific brainwaves.
• Play music!
  • If you don’t play an instrument, find one that you are interested in.
  • Definitely take lessons to avoid bad habits or poor technique that will hold you back from playing well or even cause injury.
  • Meet with the instructor beforehand to make sure you will get along and to discuss your goals. Determine whether you plan on meeting weekly or twice a month.
  • Think of practice time as a way to wind down or let go of stressors in your life.
  • Get excited about music! Make a goal to play a certain piece or sing a certain song. Maybe plan on playing for friends, family or a gathering of people by a certain date.

 
Take these ideas to bring more music into your life and become more musically literate. By following through with these resolutions, music can make your 2016 more thrilling, relaxing or enthralling. Happy New Year!

​This can be a hectic time of the year. Students are studying for and taking finals, while educators are giving and grading finals. Some people are working required overtime as members of the retail industry, while others are finishing up 2015 business. Several people are rehearsing and performing lots of holiday concerts. Some are spending their free time on decorating, baking, volunteering or buying gifts. Many people, whether religious or not, are probably doing many of these things with Christmas music in the background.
 
Much of this genre works well for background music. It is cheery, simple and worth singing along with: “Let it Snow,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and countless others. Others however, are more meditative, and it is important to remember to have meditative music, especially during the busy times.
 
In order to really listen to music, and appreciate it, we need to stop everything else we are doing and absorb it. This used to be the norm. Before we used digitalization to bring music with us everywhere to soundtrack our lives, people only heard music when they went out to find it. Whether that was in a concert hall, a university, a salon, or at home, it was sought out and relished. When we listen to music, rather than just hear it, we can appreciate it at a different level. Now, we have to make a point to be alone with music. By absorbing the music, we hear the harmonies (and dissonances), chord progressions (or stagnations), dynamics (and articulations), shaping (or bluntness), texture (or solidarity), and granted (or delayed) expectations. We don’t hear these aspects of music if we don’t really listen to it.  Furthermore, we miss the entire message. “Reading a book entails not only looking at the words but also seeing them, converting the printed words into mental constructs in order to understand the narrative,” Daniel Barenboim, pianist and conductor, interprets, “Likewise, listening to music entails hearing it as well, in order to understand the musical narrative.”[1] Listen to what music is saying.
 
We have amazing musical technologies that bring us nearly anything we would want to listen to anywhere and anytime, but oftentimes the music becomes just another window open on our desktop. In order to enjoy, benefit from, and meditate with music, we must bring it to the foreground and get rid of whatever else is in the background.


[1] Daniel Barenboim, Music Quickens Time, (London: Verso Books, 2008), 31.