Day 4 In the summer of 2011 I had a chance to sing with Afro Blue on a Bobby McFerrin concert during the annual DC Jazz Festival. We had one week of rehearsals prior to the show. The work that we did to prepare that music was absolutely exhausting. It challenged me as no other music had, and there were times when I seriously doubted that I would ever catch on. Yet somehow it all came together. I had to stop being my normal cerebral self and really focus on letting the music get inside me. Before I knew it, I had learned the music and I was able to really internalize the spirit of it. Afro Blue and Bobby McFerrin went on to give a fabulous concert. It was within that week that finally I realized something about music. I had always thought that God was using me to create music. And, in a sense, that is very true. But it had never occurred to me that He was using music to create me. Every experience, every note I sing or play, every melody that my ears digest: all of it coalesces into a defining force that shapes my very being. In that one week, I learned that I could do anything that I put my mind to. And after nearly 10 years of actively pursuing a deep understanding of music, I can truly say that it has been the impetus of countless other self-discoveries. Music has informed -- rather, it has fully rerouted my entire way of life. I think differently. I speak differently. The ways in which I understand other subjects like philosophy, history, psychology, physics, and faith are all directly and profoundly influenced by my understanding of the this phenomenon of arranged sounds -- this universal language -- called music. Were it not for the reciprocally creative relationship that I have with my art, I simply wouldnt be John. Music is more than just my job. It is my lens through which I see the world. And Im better for it. I thank God for music. #10GratefulDays
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 12:03:30 +0000
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