I am a journaler.
I have kept journals off-and-on during my life, but in the last year I have been more on than off. Going through the book The Artist’s Way last winter helped me establish the habit more strongly. Since then, I have learned more and more about journaling through people I follow on YouTube. And, even better, my best friend and professional writer Kristen (who calls herself K.) started a guided journaling business.
All successful people journal. That doesn’t mean everyone who journals is successful, but I don’t think one can be truly successful without journaling. (Journaling helps you define what success means to you and set specific goals, so you’re more likely to achieve them.) There’s something about journaling that helps you tap into your deeper motivations, goals, and hang-ups – and then do something about them.
For me, journaling can also help me focus on what I am noticing in life and develop my inspirations.
Kristen started a month of journal prompts for June, and I have already been able to find inspiration through that. Day two of the challenge was to write about what we love about summer.
I have to admit, summer is not my favorite season.
It is just too hot. Even Rhode Island was too hot for me. (One might ask why I would move south if I don’t like the heat, but being at a higher elevation makes up for that!) During the summer, I am religious about avoiding the heat of the day, only going outside in the early morning or late afternoon/evening. If I must go out during midday, I try to keep to the shade.
But I had committed to taking on this challenge. So, I took five minutes to write about what I love about summer.
I realized that what I love about summer are the sounds.
Which got me thinking.
There’s a lot of discussion about what exactly music is.
The experimental 20th Century composer John Cage argued that all sounds can be considered music. In a way, he is right.
Essentially, the difference between what is art and what is not is how it is framed. The frame creates the focus. Ultimately, art is communicating to the viewer/listener, “Pay attention to this. Focus on this.“
A bird in a tree is a bird in a tree. But when it is photographed, the photo becomes a piece of art. The camera lens literally focuses on the bird and then urges the viewers to pay attention to the bird.
Music, being a temporal art, lasts for a period of time. The beginning and end of that time period mark the frame.
One of Cage’s most famous (or infamous?) pieces was 4’33”, which has no written notes. The “performer” marks the time through a movement. A pianist will shut the keyboard lid at the beginning of the movements and lift it at the end of movements. The audience is encouraged to notice the sounds during this time. By bringing attention to those sounds, the frame creates the art, the piece of music.
At one point in time, I scoffed at this piece and said, “That’s not music!” I still question if it is music, because I feel very strongly that music is a performance art and I don’t consider the person on stage marking time to be a performer. But I would call it a form of sound art. John Cage called it a “silent” piece. I would call it a frame for listening.
Tomayto, tomahto.
(If you’d like to read more on this piece, this is a great article by Kyle Gann, excerpted from his book, No Such Thing as Silence: John Cage’s 4’33”.
My philosophy of art has morphed through the years, but as I read and experience more, my ideas about art continue to expand and become broader rather than narrower. At this moment in time, I believe art has more to do with the purpose of it than the qualities of what is made. After knowing the purpose of the art one can judge whether or not the artist was successful in the creation of that art.
The Ancient Greeks proposed the concept of the music of the spheres, the musica universalis or musica mundana, the idea that the ratios of the movement of the heavenly bodies create a harmony. The Roman senator and philosopher Beothius, expanded this concept generally to “unheard music” and contrasted it with musica humana, the music of the human body, soul, and spiritual harmony, and musica quae in quibusdam constituta est instrumentis, the music made by singers and instrumentalists.
We know that every atom vibrates, so every thing vibrates. Vibration makes sound. Most of it is beyond the capacity of the human ear’s detection. But that doesn’t mean the sound is not there. Most of it simply goes unnoticed, even when it is within our range of hearing, by wavelength or proximity.
I have read that Pythagoras first came up with the concept of the music of the spheres because he noticed patterns of intervals in the pounding of a blacksmith’s hammer against the metal.
Sound is happening all around us. Too often, we are not paying attention. As I have written in recent posts, inspiration comes from paying attention. Attention is the frame we create when we stop to notice.
What does this have to do with summer?
Summer gives us a chance to slow down and pay attention to the sounds, to frame our world by setting aside time to pause, listen to and meditate on what is around us. By doing so, we are creating art – not necessarily art that is made for others to consume, but art made out of pure joy like a child’s uninhibited, spontaneous drawing. It is a personal expression of gratitude for the beauty in the sounds we are experiencing.
Here is a list of some of my favorite sounds of summer (in no particular order.) Conveniently, the list forms a poem.
Sounds of Summer
The crackling of a campfire
The tweeting of songbirds in the early morning
The hoot of owls at night
The sizzle of grease falling into the flames of an outdoor grill
The splash of water in a pool
Children laughing, playing chase
Thunder booming
Rain falling on soft ground
Crickets chirping
Doves cooing
The crack of a bat hitting a baseball
Wind rustling in leafed-out trees
My June challenge for you is to set your timer for 5 minutes (or 4’33” if you like) and sit outside (in different locations if possible) and simply listen. Give thanks for each sound, even if it is something you might normally find unpleasant, like a car horn or an airplane going overhead, which represent our technological achievements in travel.
Try it. Then come back and let me know what happened.
To join Kristen’s journal challenge, visit her Facebook page here to follow each day’s prompt: Kristen Castrataro.
Hi Heather!! Your blog today made me think of the verse in Rogers & Hammerstein’s song from Oklahoma! “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'”. Third verse: All the sounds of the earth are like music. All the sounds of the earth are like music. The breeze is so busy, it don’t miss a tree, and an old weepin’ willow is laughing at me!”.. Every time I sing it I’m struck by what it’s saying, and the truth of it.. Great blog!!
Hi Judy! I love it! That fits so perfectly with this post! I love Oklahoma – such a superfun musical – but this line did not come to mind when I was writing! Doesn’t that verse just embody the idea of noticing and appreciating all the sounds in nature?!?! Thanks for sharing!