The inspiration for this month’s Composer’s Choice music download was unavoidable – it’s spring here and the blossoms are out. Gazillions of them. And I’m looking at my orchard and thinking: Goodness me what a lot of fruit is on its way! Pears, apples, cherries and peaches. So much to do, I’m going to have to learn how to preserve and bottle them, maybe I’ll just take my share and leave the rest to the birds and the worms to replenish the soil…Maybe I’ll just sit here instead and compose some music for One Mind Live… There are a few elements worth mentioning about this month’s music, aptly called “Cherry Blossoms”. It’s unabashedly Asian-sounding – which forms a large part of my musical and visual aesthetic anyway (a psychic once told me that this life was my ‘first western incarnation’ and I thought at the time, “No wonder I love sushi so much!”). However that could explain the reccurring lucid dreams I’ve had since childhood, of living in a Tibetan monastery….hmmmm, but that’s another story… I always start a composition for OML by sourcing my mood or state. I can never compose when distracted or grumpy, though I can oftenCherry Blossoms – by Stephen Fearnley
Lotus Opening – by Stephen Fearnley
This month’s Composer’s Choice, “Lotus Opening”, is a meditation on a painting by Frank Wesley called “Krishna and Radha”. (see the full image below) It was painted by Frank for my 21st birthday in 1982. This is what I’ve said about it in other blogs: “This painting came about from long discussions with Frank about the origins of religious deities and the connection I saw between Pan and Krishna. The drawing alone took 3 months to complete. Another 3 months to paint. Frank Wesley was a prime influence on my creative and philosophical development. He taught me drawing, watercolour and calligraphy over the 6 years I’d visit him, once a week , after school. It was only after I left home, that he revealed that as a young man he was commissioned to make the funereal urn for Ghandi’s ashes.” This astonishing painting (more so if you know how difficult it is to paint watercolours!) resonates with me on so many levels: Krishna and Radha are dancing into being – the universe itself. To do so, they have to be synchronised- separate in their identities, unified in action. It reminds me of the love I have for my wife, CelesteLotus Opening – by Stephen Fearnley
The Magic of 432 – by Stephen Fearnley
Vibration underpins all matter in the universe. No matter can exist without sound and vibration. cymascope.com Yes, it’s official. One Mind Live is going 432! From now on, there will be a difference in all the music I compose for our meditations. And, as the weeks go by, I will be remastering ALL the music to date – for the radio and the Composer’s Choice – and rolling it out. So what is this magic 432? Why get so exited about it? It’s all about vibrations – specifically the ones that fall into a frequency that measures 432 HERTZ. It’s called “scientific tuning”; It is a measurable thing that instruments and orchestras around the world used to use – an ancient tuning system. It was quantified by Pythagoras, though used thousands of years before he was able to measure it, right up to 1953, when for no reason that makes sense it was universally changed up to 440 Hz and became a world standard. Everything you hear on CD and on the radio and on streaming music stations is 440Hz. The difference its almost imperceptible – but the difference is organic and real. 432 Hz is a mathematical harmonic ofThe Magic of 432 – by Stephen Fearnley
The Natural Human Gift of Meditation – by Stephen Fearnley
I live in a most beautiful place. This ancient escarpment, part of the Great Dividing Range which runs done the length of the eastern side of Australia, rolls down to the pacific Ocean. Like a bird my mind travels East, out across the vast Pacific Ocean, and if I continue I will have to traverse 11,340 km of ocean before finally reaching landfall in Santiago, Chile. I see meditation as a natural human gift – the ability to uncouple the mind from the psycho-psychical world – allowing expansion and exploration into a deeper, kinder and wiser ancient Self. This greater YOU is from whence comes all your beauty, insight and genius. I make music to help us uncouple from the “smaller self” of day to day activity and reconnect with the deeper state. You can dip in and out – constantly refreshing yourself from this well – as you travel through your busy day. No need to compartmentalise. It can be an easy thing. That is why the 10 minute meditation is so handy. It helps remind us that we have the ability to constantly draw from the deeper part of us – whenever we need it – to pullThe Natural Human Gift of Meditation – by Stephen Fearnley