Music for Focus

All of us have that special something that soothes the savage within us. Mine is sound and even more specifically music. It has been a part of my life since my earliest memories. I began music training at the age of six. I could not reach the pedals of the upright Gulbransen Piano that always occupied a significant space in the family apartment. Let's not forget the giant Hammond C3 Organ that sat across the small living room. Add the Grundig Majestic Stereo Console that took up the rest of the space and that was the room you entered. To really get the feel, the entire apartment was only a 950 square foot two-bedroom one bath. Cozy is a good word. The stereo was my fathers and looked like a giant coffin. It was his pride and joy with a nine-band radio receiver, a turntable, and a reel to reel tape player that never got used. The good news was that it was always on. I can't remember a time that my house didn't have music. It has been a continuous theme. Music comes in different forms. I am an avid walker now with the Covid 19 restrictions. I have found that I cannot walk comfortably without my music. Since I average around 3.5 miles per day in an urban parking garage, the tunes frame my world. I may only be seven stories up but with Lyly Lovett, Kacey Musgraves, Dr. John, LeAnne Rimes, Billy Strings, Eric Clapton, and J.J. Cale I am never alone, always upbeat and making headway. It is not by chance that when I meditate, and I do so twice a day thank you Calm, there is the sound of moving water in the background. My favorite outdoor pursuit is fresh water fly fishing always with the sound of moving water. When I hike, I look for trails near water. By chance in 2001, during the 911 crisis, we were in a cabin near Lake Crescent on the Olympic Peninsula. With the world adjusting to a new setting, we had the sound of water all around us. It was the music that gave us what little peace there was to be had during that time. Peace to me is sound and all of it is music. It's just the way I'm wired and that is the peace discovery I found during the most recent forced reset of how we live and interact. Find your music, find your peace. It may not be music but it won't be chaos.