Knowledge Through Awareness & Creativity

I decided to give life (again) to a series of workshops I presented while in St. Louis titled, “Orchestra of Life.” In these workshops I would lead students through a series of processes using music as a catalyst for transformation. In these workshops I would use classical music, meaning orchestral music (not the classical era of music) to bring about heightened creativity, productivity, or emotional balance to those attending.

It has been my experience that a direct relationship between orchestral music and the human body exists. Stephen Halpern has been the vanguard researcher in this area. He has shown that a relationship does exist between music and the body. I choose orchestral music because I know it so well. However, I am quite aware that many many other types of music can be just as effective.

I look at the choice of instrumentation and the harmonic processes a composer uses. Through the workshops I led in St. Louis, I found a consistent response to my theories within the attendees, and now I would like to formalize some of the research and its application. I also teach the principles I use to choose music, and students become more aware of what they are listening to in their immediate environment.

As an example, I am offering my readers this suggestion. Go to iTunes or your favorite music store and get a recording of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2. Another choice would be any of the J. S. Bach Concerti for Four Harpshichords. Play the recording while doing your work today – these should be excellent choices for heavy thinking. Would like to hear/read your comments on this!

I changed the name of my blog in order to more accurately reflect who and what I do. “From the Podium” reflected my training in music and conducting, and was a play on the idea of standing on my “soap box” which for a conductor is his podium.

There still may be more changes coming, but for now, this feels like a good fit for me.

There is a new kid on the block – at least new to me. It is called Ning. Yes, that is right, Ning.

I will let the people at Ning give the best description of what they are: “Ning is the only online service where you can create, customize, and share your own Social Network for free in seconds.” It is like MySpace and Google or Yahoo Groups and You Tube all rolled into one.

“Ning is a platform for creating your own social networks. Our passion is putting new social networks in the hands of anyone with a good idea. With Ning, your social network can be anything and for anyone.

You start by choosing a combination of features (videos, blogs, photos, forums, etc.) from an ever-growing list of options. Then customize how it looks, decide if it’s public or private, add your brand logo if you have one, and enable the people on your network to create their own custom personal profile pages.”

Ning is truly innovative, which is why I love it. I have not explored it yet – I just saw it today – and intend to use it. What the people at Ning have done is create what they call a platform, or collection of technologies that keeps expanding and is unlimited to its members. I and other members can create what I define as a social network as I perceive and desire it.

I am excited about this opportunity. They do provide businesses the opportunity to create a branding of a social network. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

I will be attending the Creative Problem Solving Institute Conference this year. The event is sponsored by the Creative Education Foundation. The event will be held at Calloway Gardens, southwest of Atlanta, Georgia.

“CPSI offers processes, tools, networking, challenges, stimulation, concepts and solutions for unlocking your creative spirit and implementing new ideas. Whether you’re looking to increase creativity in your business, educational or personal life, we welcome you and invite you to join us in a celebration of applied imagination.

Unlike most professional and personal development conferences, CPSI brings together a wide diversity of backgrounds and geography, which enriches the variety of ideas that will lead to insight. You’ll rub elbows and learn with teachers, business executives, students, writers, doctors, philosophers, entrepreneurs, engineers, artists, researchers, managers, inventors, consultants, conflict mediators, HR professionals, healthcare professionals, community leaders, explorers, thinkers and dreamers. At CPSI, regardless of background we all recognize that creativity comes in many diverse packages and has endless application. So please come join us in a beautiful setting that encourages relaxation, learning, thinking and exploration!”

For more information about this outstanding conference, go to cpsiconference.com.

Today I begin blogging again after a hiatus of several months. With the beginning of a new company, and a new web site, I chose to host my own blog, rather than allowing Wordpress to host it. I moved some of my past posts to this blog as a way to initiate the new.

I am in the process of selecting how to present this new blog. There is some discussion in the blogging community about whether a blog internal to a web site, like this one, should have a consistent look and feel. I am choosing to play with the look and feel and see what I like.

Welcome to the newest addition to my web site! I hope you will find interesting articles here.