In the Feburary 2007 issue of EQ magazine, there’s an interview with the artist Richard Melville Hall, better know as Moby (nicknamed for his great-great grand uncle Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick).“‘My goals are almost painfully simple,’ he says. ‘Honestly, all I want to do is just make music and make records. What the records might sound like, I have no idea; whether they’ll be good or not, I have no idea; whether anyone would ever want to buy them, I have no idea. But my biggest hope is to hopefully make music that I love and, maybe inadvertently, somehow make music that other people will love as well.’”

On Dr. David Hawkins’ Consciousness Scale of zero to 1000, Moby’s music in general calibrates at 256.

Seeing that the level of 200 is where Integrity and Positive Energy begins, Moby’s music calibrating at 256 helps to explain why his 1999 release Play (the only record in history to have all of its tracks commercially licensed) has sold over 10 million records.

Considering the overall level of consciousness of mankind is currently at 205 (as per Dr. Hawkins, as of August 2006), Moby’s music benefits a large portion of the population of humanity. To be specific, by Moby being fully who he is, and expressing himself in this way, 68% of the population of humanity is benefiting from his music = by virtue of the power of the field of consciousness that is being expressed.

What are you listening to?

Is the music you are listening to helping you? Is it helping to make you healthier? Is it helping to expand your awareness?

Music helps to create a certain type of environment. What are you creating? How is your environment affecting you?

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of being in a workshop/lecture with Kenny Werner at the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) conference in New York City.Kenny is one of my mentors, through his book Effortless Mastery, video, and CD’s. He is a living example of someone who performs Consciousness Music.

Kenny has been writing and teaching about playing from “The Space” for over 10 years. His playing is a perfect example of what it sounds like to be in “The Space” when practicing, playing, and performing.

Anyone who has done meditation, quiet prayer, contemplation, or Qi Gong practice, will recognize “The Space” = it is all the same. “‘The Space’ is a place beyond the mind,” Kenny said. As a musician, when one gives up the need to sound good, the need to impress other people, the self-judgement that comes with being a performer, it is at that time that one is able to achieve a “liberated performance,” the thing that all artists and fans strive to feel and hear.

The problem is that many musicians become “top-heavy” with ego = playing from their head = which makes their performance sink just like The Titanic.

If, as a performer, one can be completely fulfilled and satisfied with whatever comes out = one note, many notes, consonance, dissonance, whatever = then that person is taking the right steps towards letting go.

It’s not just about playing from “The Space” either. It’s about living and playing from The Space. It’s about making a profound contribution to your own life and the lives of others. “People are being drawn to things that have meaning,” Kenny said.

Some students will ask, “Does all this being in The Space and playing from your heart mean that I don’t have to practice?” Kenny’s answer: “Someday, you might want to play in a different key or time signature. Playing in an odd meter of 7 or 5 should be as good and easy as playing in 4.” The whole point of practicing to continually become more technically proficient is so that Spirit can flow through you while you are in The Space. If you are having to think and struggle to get an idea out while you are playing, you have left The Space.

“Mastery is that which you do without thought. It is playing without thinking.”

“The Space becomes your teacher. The Space tells you when you’re done with something. The Space gives context and meaning, and removes the tyranny of styles.”

Sitting in the front row, I asked the question, “Can The Space tell you where to start?”

Yes, he replied. Find the smallest bit or piece of music that makes you relax = where you sink into The Space = and start there. See how you feel when you look at the page. It might be the whole page, half a page, two lines, or just two measures. Keep reducing it down until you relax. It might even be just two notes. Or one note.

Just relax. Play that one note from The Space. Tell yourself, “Every note I play is the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.”

Just breathe. Feel it.

That’s Consciousness Music.