Lesson 4: Lessons Shared On Pulse-Based Music Education

My whole drive to do music education and my whole idea of coming up with Pulse is something of a personal journey for myself. My love for music keeps me alive and gives me perspective, but my love for mental health is guiding me to my true dream - happiness through honest, sincere connection through the medium of music, for everybody. It was these two passions that gave rise to this singular passion - Pulse and its effects on people. So you can view Pulse-Based Music Education on several different levels: on a musical level, on a technical level, on a psychological level, on a humanistic level; and they're probably all be correct for this is the reason why such an idea even spark.

So what has this got to do with anything? Pulse-Based Music Education is in its infancy stages and not going anywhere yet, so why am I saying so much? Simply because I want to share my vision who anyone who wants to read this too. =)

Lessons learned in music are not often exclusive to music alone; often times the source of the problem when we're playing music is not really a "musical" one, but instead a mindset issue, a psychological issue. So in the same breath, I'd like to also argue that great music is usually created from people who either actually made effort to deal with their own personal problems or made the effort to come to terms with one's weaknesses and strengths and to accept them. There were many great musicians with a wreck of a personal life, but that's actually where the grit in their stories when they create music comes from; they embraced their predicament and expressed it through their voice in music, rather than putting another front when they played music. This vulnerability and honesty is what gets people to connect, much like how we like to share stories of vulnerabilities with our closest friends and family; that's what makes art art, and the struggle to improve is also a great story to be told.

The fact that one is able to fully share one's true vulnerabilities, through whatever means of art, is cathartic, and is highly therapeutic to a person. At the same time, this release of emotions is precisely what keeps people attracted to the arts, where imperfection is perfection, because it is human. Pulse has one of the explanations as to why human emotions in the crowd greatly affect the abilities of the musicians to speak honestly through their music; and it has nothing to do with pride, instead the common Pulse that is generated by the musician and even the audience (such that if they're not matched the meaning is often lost) gives the energy and the experience to everyone, dictating what the final experience might be.

That can explain why a music performance can be life-changing to a "non-musical" person - it touches the very depths of a person's emotions and shares a common thread with him/her, but in his/her own perspective. That is the power of our auditory experiences when we listen to great music. That is also why we should always go to a performance with positive outlook and a willingness to let go of oneself to truly enjoy the music if we want to truly appreciate a performance.

So on the same line of thought, the pretense of a performer can greatly affect the crowd as well. As this is a public blog, I will reserve my (rather subjective) take on some particular types of music that are detrimental to a person's mental wellness by putting up false fronts, and everyone can get in on it, causing a mind-heart rift that will persist if one immerses in the music for too long. But this is for another day. =)

Back to the idea on why I wrote this post as well; the aim is to share why I'll be sharing a lot of personal life lessons that I hope will inspire and/or create discussion regarding personal growth and acceptance, as well as ways to a more mentally stable self. They will be covered during courses by me, or future license practitioners of this education system, but more importantly, they will be contextualised and repeated here, as many life lessons benefit from repeated learning.

Hope you will enjoy reading this blog. =)