Music... Healer of the Soul

1 Chron. 15:16 “And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy.”

Music… healer of the Soul

“This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.” ~ Pete Seeger

Have you ever listened to music that made you happy? Sad? Melancholy? Have you ever wondered why music does that to every single person alive on the planet, young and old? Growing up I always wanted to play an instrument but lacked any encouragement as my house was flooded with marijuana smoke (older brothers), cigarette smoke and beer cans. I feel it hindered any growth in the musical aspirations I might have had but one thing I DID have? My Holly Hobbie record player where I would sit in my room and sing my heart out listening to music of the day.

I trained my voice early on by listening to the likes of Barbara Streisand and Karen Carpenter, two of the greatest singing teachers I could ever ask for. My musical likes were influenced by my older brothers (Beatles, Clapton) not necessarily my parent's music (Sinatra, Patsy Kline) and my likes in later years would turn out to be a mix of them all. I have four brothers so the music spanned many generations from the early sixties until today where my tastes have grown like a vine climbing the tree.

It’s amazing how times have changed and technology allows you to teach yourself amazing things instrumentally. Grace Vanderwaal, twelve years old, taught herself (via YouTube) how to play the ukelele and if you don’t know who she is, now it is my turn to say, get your head out of the sand! She is the America’s Got Talent winner of one million dollars and a contract with a recording label.

As you all may or may not know, I don’t watch television so how I clicked this child from a rare visit to YouTube is beyond me but I connected with this little girl the moment I saw her cherubic face, seeing what happens when your family surrounds you with love and nurtures your blossoming talent.

I may have missed the mark on a singing and dancing career but music, was well absorbed into my soul from a very early age. I wonder if that is the reason I write poetry? Is it a form of music to my soul via words? Hmm now that’s interesting, isn’t it? 

Music whether instrumental or filled with words touches the soul! I do believe since the beginning of time a simple hum filled the humans and they had to get it out of their system so they began designing instruments. While the age of a musical instrument may be off since some believe the earth to be 6,000 years old, either way, music has been around since the beginning of time.

Biblically we know as early as the book of Genesis the singing and instruments were alive and on the scene. Imagine that, we were created to bring forth music from the very beginning, I wonder if it was the first form of medicine, psychologically speaking.

Gen. 31:27 “Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp?”

1 Sam. 18:6 “And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick.” 

I can honestly say that had it not been for the healing properties that music has brought to my life, I would not be the woman I am before you today. Poetry, singing and writing, (I no longer dance because of my disability) are my outlets to the musical healing, while I have SEVERAL friends who play the guitar, piano, keyboard, drums, flute, violin, and a husband who plays the sax or they are avid singers professional or otherwise. Is it coincidence that God surrounded me with this palette of friends? I don’t believe in coincidence! 

So let me tell you of healing that takes place via music. Whether praise music, hymns, rock, country, soul or jazz each avenue is an outlet if internal healing that you WILL carry with you AFTER death.

Music Divine

Divine is the dancing pirouette of sound. 

Bathing in the luminosity of space. 

A bastion of baubles blazing boldly. 

Rhythm masking in the ticker-tape of time. 

Reverberating in reverent chime. 

Compliant to the composer of conceit. 

Fastidious to the feasible feast. 

Notorious notes nourish in sync. 

Melody meets a measure combine... 

Divine is the dancing ~~ pirouette of sound!

Copyright ©joni zipp

Creating Tension

James 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

***

Creating Tension
Guest Author: Steven Brandt

Okay, how many times has this happened to you: You start reading a book that sounded really good to you, but halfway through, it gets boring and you give up on it.  Most of us have experienced that frustration, and probably more than once.  Why does it happen?  Well, obviously, the author didn’t keep us interested.
 
So what can you, as an author, do to keep your readers interested?  You add some tension!  Turn up the heat a little!  Tension creates an air of suspense, and suspense is what keeps readers turning pages.


There are lots of little ways you can create tension in a story.  Foreshadowing is a good one.  Consider the following:


Mark kissed his wife good bye and left for work.  That was the last time he ever saw her.


That’s what I call "extreme foreshadowing.”  In my opinion it’s a little on the blunt side, but hey, Stephen King does it all the time, and it works.  It almost seems like that is giving away too much information, too early in the story, but is it?  Why do they never see each other again?  Does one of them die?  Does she pack her things and leave while he’s gone?  There are lots of things that can happen here, and the reader will be dying to know more.


Since Stephen King is my favorite author, let’s talk about him a little more.  It seems to me that King’s favorite method of creating tension is using the weather.  He just loves to put storms in his stories.  Take "Bag of Bones" for example.  As we begin to approach the climax of this story, the main character sees thunderheads building on the horizon.  The storm clouds slowly come closer and closer, then thunder begins to rumble.  We know the storm is going to hit, and it's going to be a big one.  The plot reaches its crescendo just as the storm breaks.  Thunderclaps seem to echo the gunshots as one of the main characters is brutally gunned down.  King does this better than anyone else I’ve read.  The approaching storm is an excellent way to create tension in a story.


It doesn’t have to be a thunderstorm, though.  King has also used snow storms in several of his stories, most notably "The Shining."  Jack, Wendy, and Danny are the only three people at the secluded Overlook Hotel in the Colorado mountains.  As the snow, and Jack's dimentia, grow deeper and deeper, you just know something bad is going to happen.  Stephen King also uses snow storms in "Christine", and "Dreamcatcher" in similar fashion.


Let’s look at some other popular writers.  In Dean Koontz’s "Odd Thomas" series, the main character has a sixth sense that allows him to see the spirits of dead people.  Odd’s unusual ability also allows him to see bodocks.  Bodocks are wraith-like spirits that gather around people or places where death is imminent.  Koontz uses the bodocks the same way King uses storms.  As Odd Thomas begins to see more and more bodocks, you just know that something great and terrible is going to happen.


Storms and bodocks are great ways to increase the suspense in a story, and there are probably lots of different variations on that theme.  It doesn't have to be anything quite that grand, however.  Friction between two characters can add a lot of tension to a story.  Louis L'Amour favors this method.  Two characters start out as friends, but then maybe they argue about something.  Maybe one of them finds a bigger chunk of gold in the stream, or one of them gets a prettier girl.  In L'Amour's stories, this almost always ends in a gunfight.


These are only a few examples of how you can create tension and suspense in your story.  I really like King's storm method, and I like Koontz's bodock variation.  Give it some thought, I bet you can come up with a great method of your own.


About the author: Steven has recently gone blind and is finding joy in writing of his journey. Overcoming many obstacles he is a true inspiration to everyone who thinks that their life is horrible, or that they can't overcome anything. You can read his blog at, The Drums in the Deep. 


Thank you and God Bless

Angst in Writing

Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
***

Often times while I’m writing non-fiction, the true me surfaces. I try to write fiction but even there my characters take on my pain. It is through their windows that I peek in and let out emotional turmoil and make angst theirs instead of mine.

Writing is a healing tool; has been all of my life. Whenever I was feeling down I could always count on my pen to guide me into a poem of healing, or a story to help in the healing of others.

I never had a computer up until about seven years ago so I had to have a really good ball-point pen and many notebooks. I had a sketch pad too where I could sketch out my pain in way of a tear, or a tree, but it was my trusty pen and notebook that got me through many days and nights of sadness.

As I sit here now, with the keyboard keys tapping I realize that writing will never stop being a healing tool. I watch as my beau writes, after he has gone blind, and I do believe that this has been his healing tool also. The Drums in the Deep, is his outlet for the turmoil he goes through and as I watch and read his words I realize even more, that writing is an all powerful healing method that not only writers use, but that all should use to help in healing the pain or hurt that lurks within the sheltered walls of, you.

Many of my followers are not writers, but for some reason they are drawn to wanting to learn to write. I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to be a writer to sit down and let it out. Write your heart out and release it to the world. Even if it doesn’t get released to the world, read what you’ve written and find a place of healing in your heart that you know you’ve come to overcome.

I have a friend who went to a psychiatrist, the first thing the doctor told her was to get a pen and notebook and write it down. Write a letter to your mother/brother/sister/friend, anyone who’s hurt you. “Don’t mail the letter, just release what is in your heart,” the doctor said.

Even the psychiatrists and psychologists of the world know what I’ve known all my life without a P.H.d, writing is a medicine that is empowering, addictive, and not a drug! Drugs are used to ‘hide’ and ‘shield’ pains of the emotional kind, writing is a medicinal healer that you don’t need a doctor to prescribe.

In my writing days, I release what ails me. I don’t sit, fret, and wonder, I release it and it makes me feel good enough to take on the world and new characters. It makes me a better writer, and it makes me a better person as a whole because no longer is my soul seeking...I’ve found all that I’m looking for and I have the tales to prove it.

Write and heal...that is my motto for the day.

and a big P.S. here: I’m not advocating that you shouldn’t use meds when and if they are needed, I’m just suggesting an addition/alternative for you to look into.

Thanks and godspeed friends...

A Blind Mans Journey

Drums in the deep....

As many of you may or may not know, my fiancé Steven, has gone blind. It has only been four months since he’s been completely blind and before that it was slowly diminishing. He can no longer partake of the beautiful sunrise, he can no longer see the breathtaking blossoms of spring. All he has, are drums in the deep. Challenges are at our doorstep with every waking day and we endure.

Our lovely government has been of little help in helping us. We have food, for that I am grateful. But the medical help has been a no-show. We’ve applied for assistance of every kind so that this man can become a productive working man in society once again, but our Government would rather have him disabled for two years before they offer him Medicare.

He needs a cornea transplant and a cataract transplant, of which we’ve found help in the Lions Club. They are willing to pay for the operation, but it’s the prior visits and infections and the follow-up treatment that we need help from the government with. I realize now that our government isn’t for the disabled of society and that is truly sad in the “Land of the Free”.

With all of this surrounding us, we have turned to the only thing we know and that is our Lord and Savior. Without our faith, I’m certain we would have been washed up and left on the shores for the crabs to pick at.

Steven has started a blog of his own, which will document his journey into the depths of doom, only to be lifted by spiritual growth that comes from all trials. He’s a pretty good writer if I do say so myself, and his path is one for all of us to admire. He’s strong, brave, and quite the exceptional man, and he’s mine! lol

I do believe everything happens for a reason, and through his blindness, I can see. John 9:39 says: And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

I cannot imagine my sight being taken away, and I think we all take for granted the gift of sight. As an experiment, blindfold yourself for an hour. Just one hour. Through this experiment, you’ll learn that our sight is a gift and one we should treasure. Imagine life where you can only use touch,taste,smell, and sound. Life without the fifth sense would be quite a challenge for any of us.

My journey is far from over and my blogging days have only just begun. As followers of mine, please take a peek at this wonderful new blog, The Drums in the Deep. Leave a comment if you’d like. Support your fellow brother and let him know... he’s not alone on this journey.

John 12: 40 states: He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.