Picture of Jacob Collier conducting his audience in singing harmonies.

Jacob Collier Creates Community Harmony

A community sound leader today is Jacob Collier. By creating beautiful, improvised harmonic experiences, Collier brings his audiences together in music.

Take a moment to notice how you feel right now, then listen to this extraordinary sound (2 min):

Do you feel differently after hearing this music? How so?

Harmony is heart opening, and it’s also mathematics. A surprising fact about this technique is that it’s quite simple. The sonic result is layered, so it may appear complex to create. But more than anything, harmony requires simple listening.

You can bring harmony to your family, friend group, classroom, office headquarters, courtroom, restaurant, Zoom call — anywhere you are, whenever you’d like — by listening differently.

You don’t even need to conduct the music. All you need to do is be the one who’s tuning into the overview, paying attention to where harmony already rings, where notes meet in the space between.

Two practical examples.

You manage a corporate team. You notice the common ground of disparate factions at a group meeting and speak up to say, “One thing we all agree on here is…” A single commonality serves as the strength of unison and the necessary first tone upon which to build harmony.

You’re a waitress at a restaurant. You begin to pay attention to the rhythm of co-working where timing is key — chefs to servers to patrons. Just by noticing the dance and your part in it, you begin to create a level of community harmony in your workplace.

Naming and noticing. Seems so simple. It is.

That is living as music.

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Looking for a creative way to navigate a transition in your life? I’m here to help.
💛Emma

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Human Sonar

When you feel you’re in the dark and can’t clearly see a path forward, use sonar to navigate. How so?

Creatures like whales, dolphins, and bats use sound frequency and echolocation to navigate towards food, away from predators, and into the free, open sea or air.

Pause now and experience the amazing song of whales and dolphins (less than 1 min.):

You can call on your intuition, gut instincts, and spiritual perceptions. These are human sound frequencies that allow us to use vibration to feel our way forward.

When your vision is blocked by fear, or you feel lost and disoriented, try not to panic. Literally vibe it out. Drop your attention into your gut, check in with your intuitive spider sense, or open your inner hearing.

For example, wondering which of two choices is best?

Your answer may come through the words of a friend’s passing comment, or a visceral letting go in your belly when you consider one option over another. Hearing and sensing are both vibrational phenomenon.

Sound frequency exploration, like human sonar, can bring guidance, wisdom, and protection.

Through sound, we can still navigate life with greater ease, even when we can’t see clearly.

That is living as music.

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Milky Way Symphony

Music is alive in the universe. Are we listening?

NASA scientists paired with musicians to turn a photograph of the Milky Way into music by matching light wavelengths to sound wavelengths.

An expert in astronomy visualization collaborated with several musicians to create this musical interpretation of a photograph from the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Pause now and experience the symphony (1 min.):

How are you changed by listening?

I believe experiencing galactic music can help us navigate more easily. As we face daily challenges by growing bigger, wider, deeper—expanding our awareness out into space—our problems shrink.

We can be awed and comforted by our galaxy’s music rather than fixating on petty annoyances or becoming overwhelmed by true suffering.

We are not alone, but live amidst an infinitely larger, more beautiful sound. Blessedly, we are a part of this stardust. Doom and gloom are not the only realities that exist.

Today, you can listen for the sound behind all sounds in daily life. Pause to hear bird songs, a firetruck siren, or your loved one’s voice as part of this universal music.

Know that the Milky Way ever sings its lullaby to humanity.
That is living as music.

P.S. More amazing NASA collaborations in music:
https://www.system-sounds.com/nasa/

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