Storms and the Story of Ancient/Future music

Well....it's time that a new blog writing went up. We are again in the midst of wonderful, incredible storms. I was working away this morning and it was thundering lightly, but nothing too alarming. Then....a HUGE kabaam and it felt like we were hit right outside my window. Luckily my computer survived. However, shortly after that hit, I heard many, many fire engine sirens, so someone close was not so lucky.

The Ancient/Future Symphony was fully recorded on Wednesday, June 18. Here is it's developing story.

The first movement of the Ancient/Future Symphony (Velvet Blackness) has undergone three tweakings since that first recording. These are subtle things...like adding two notes to the end of the music...then making sure they are feeling like an echo...then making sure there are no foreign noises in the wind that moves at the end of this movement....then adding more wind between the first and the second movement. The extra notes and the extra wind give the energy of the music time to settle into the listener's field. The subtle things deepen the energy of the music so that it's essence can shine through.

The feel of this first movement is the same as the feel of velvet on your skin.
In the place of darkness where all is created, the energy surrounding me has this velvet feel.

What: Velvet Blackness starts with my large and awesome wind chimes singing out. Then the slow strings of the Kurzweil create the velvet energy of the cave...or the womb...or the Milky Way....or the black of the jaguar. Near the end of Velvet Blackness, the wind begins to blow and carries the listener into the next level of the second movement. This wind was recorded by Tom Tempel during one of our many recent wind events. It is a beautiful wind. This music starts in the Key of B flat (crown/transpersonal) and ends in the key of d minor (relationship).

The wind brings you into the second movement called Wisdom's Heart. The second movement has also been tweaked twice. The coyote flute from Central America plays (I play...it plays) during the beginning, opening the wisdom, and then it plays throughout this movement. In the tweaking, more flute needed to be added. Some of the slow strings needed to be edited out. In the last tweaking I added four notes to the beginning of the strings, and two notes to the end of the strings.

What: Wisdom's Heart continues the journey that was begun in Velvet Blackness. Wisdom speaks and her heart-beat supports. This music is in the same key of d-minor and the same style of slow strings as Velvet Blackness. The coyote flute opens the portal of wisdom and then sings at various times throughout. The wind continues to carry the listener all the way to the end of the movement. The very large drum begins the heart beat, and it is joined by the Copan drum about half way through this movement. The Wisdom Heart music has a vitality and an energy that is irresistible.

The third movement is called Carried on the Back of the Deer. It was tweaked just once to add the jaguar.

What: The ancient and modern Maya dance the Deer Dance. The jaguar is always with the deer in this dance, so you will hear the jaguar call. In the dance The jaguar and the deer become one. The jaguar is the creative force that supports the person who is carried by the deer in our life journey. The deer also carries us between worlds when we travel in meditation. The music begins with the call of the Mayan flute from Teotihuacan sounding over running water. The water was recorded here. You will hear the sound of my favorite bird call from Copan, and later, the call of the Macaw. I recorded both of these in Copan last year. As the music develops, the keyboard and the Copan drum carry you on the back of the deer. This music is in C major (root).

The fourth movement is called ONE. The oneness of our connection to Spirit as we LIVE is celebrated through three Mayan flutes playing an ancient sound in concert over the sound of thunder, rain, and drum. We tweaked the thunder to bring the volume down a bit, and the rain to bring it in after the thunder. I also edited the flute call just a bit for a cleaner energy.

What: ONE begins with the crack of thunder...Chak cracking open the sky (or in Mayan belief the turtle's back) with his sky cracker. For me, this is the cracking open of the seed for growth to happen, or of my creativity for something new to emerge.

Then the flutes begin to play. The sound is not western tone or even North American Native flute sound, but Mayan tone. There is no western "musical key" to this movement. Underneath the flute, the Copan drum begins to play in the 3/4 time that is Maria's beat. Maria is the sacred feminine energy that is the life-giving force for all of humanity.

ONE is all about the human person living in both worlds...living the journey in a sacred creative way, and supported totally by all of the spiritual forces that love and care for us.

The fifth movement is called Within Maria's Mantle.

This movement is pure compassion.
It is in the feel of the first movement and is in the same musical key. The slow strings play by themselves. There was no need for tweaking.

With much love.