Wilderness Rhythms: Playing music to enhance the nature experience
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About this ebook
A well written work that outlines important aspects of the wilderness experience and how the addition of music can create surprising results. The book is divided into two sections. In the first section, the author shares his understandings of the nature and music experience independently by outlining relevant past experiences that set the stage for the benefits of combining music and nature. The second section is in the form of a journal that offers insight into the experience of injecting music to various nature activities. Through his journaling, the author uncovers a state of expanded awareness that can be reached regularly and quickly. This has enormous impact on the nature experience and on the amount of time that can be saved by ‘getting into’ nature sooner. The author’s knowledge of traditional woods survival skills and lore offer much insight throughout the book. This is a must read for all nature and music enthusiasts!
Chad Clifford
Chad has a keen interest in studying and facilitating quality wilderness experiences. He has numerous university degrees in his field and has performed various research projects. He has lived in various locations across Canada including a remote Inuit Village and enjoys teaching and learning land skills. Chad has taught wilderness related skills to people of diverse ages and back grounds and has done consulting for B.B.C.s survival challenge series: The Bare Necessities & other programs.
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Book preview
Wilderness Rhythms - Chad Clifford
Wilderness Rhythms:
Playing music to enhance the nature experience
by: Chadwick Howard Clifford
2012
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Published by Chadwick Howard Clifford at Smashwords
Copyright 2012 by Chadwick H. Clifford
Cover by Tania K. Marsh
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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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Table of Contents
Introduction: The River Runs Deep
Section One. Music and Nature
Chapter 1. To Be In Nature
Chapter 2. River of Song. Discovering a place for music in nature
Chapter 3. Ancient Cedar Branch Flute
Section Two: My Journal of Playing Music in Nature
Chapter 4. My Groove in the Grove
Chapter 5. Killer Bears and Blindfolds
Chapter 6. Ginger and Ginseng
Chapter 7. As Ancient as Fire
Chapter 8. Sitting Rock
Chapter 9. Mississippi Without Music
Chapter 10. Le Tour Music Combo
Chapter 11. Frail'n the Ol' Banjo
Chapter 12. Descending Mist of Awareness
Chapter 13. Last Note
About the Author
Other Books
*****
Introduction: The River Runs Deep
On a rugged hillside in the Highlands, waters trickle down over a series of steep rocks into a valley. It is here where a little stream called Nature forms. Its banks are covered with vines and its waters flow clear. This stream has yet to have been dammed or polluted. A ways downstream, a pool forms within a meadow. Another stream empties into the pool here as well. Like the first stream, it has never been polluted and its waters run clear. This stream's name is Music. The water of the two streams mix in the pool before travelling through the outlet. Enough flow is created at this point to declare it a river. The name of this river is Music in Nature, which comes from the two streams that formed it. Along its deeper sections, where the water is cool, a fog often floats over its surface, which seems to accent the sounds of the forest with distinct clarity. And like all rivers it flows to the ocean, but, the Music in Nature River does so at a tremendous speed—almost instantaneously. This ocean is also special and has been called many things, such as: Heightened Awareness, Inspiration, Connection, and Serenity. It is the Music in Nature Rivers speed and clarity on its way to the Heightened Awareness Ocean that make it special. Neither stream that formed the river, alone or doubled, equals the power of this unique combination.
The idea of music in nature is nothing new. Well, perhaps in the world of academic research it is—as I had found back when preparing a graduate thesis. In relation to my interests, music is generally known to be a most powerful leverage on our emotion. Likewise, experiencing natural spaces holds powerful benefits in terms of re-creation, rejuvenation and much more. The combination of playing music in the nature has otherwise been with us throughout history.
However, I suspect the awe-inspiring and exceptional benefits of music in nature too often go unnoticed or unexperienced by many today. One rarely hears anything about music in nature beyond campfire songs served up with marshmallows, or New-age like meditations featuring nature and music sounds on a CD. I do enjoy the fore mentioned on occasions myself. But, at a deep-rooted level where one approaches music in nature with purpose: the combination can equal something greater than its composite parts, propelling one to a sense of heightened awareness, serenity, intuitions and more.
Adding music to the nature experience is the quickest and perhaps the most powerful way I have found to connect with nature and the moment. It brings the clarity of a quieting mediation but goes beyond because it is emotionally charged from the power of music. It even captures some of the benefits reserved for those who would spend extended periods of time in the wilderness. The results surprise. It is during such positive nature experiences that people develop a bond with nature, which in turn brings one closer to an unfeigned stewardship over it.
For purposes of this book, Music includes playing instruments (i.e., live music), whether on guitar, banjo, fiddle, shakers, drums, and wind instruments like flutes or voice. It may be played by oneself in solitude, in a group, or simply heard as a listener (of live music). It is the timeless engagement of music that has entertained throughout cultures and the ages. Nature in turn, is any place that natural elements can be appreciated, but it need not be remote sects of wilderness. It may be in a national park, a local land-trust or simply the view of a spider in the grass. It is a place that guide one's thoughts and senses to dwell on nature.
In writing this book, I outline a collection of ideas and experiences that brought me to value the experience of playing music in nature. These experiences have been steeped in the knowledge gained from using music in nature when teaching outdoor skills and doing related research studies. Also included are various experiences with music in nature that coincided with the writing of this book. In as much, I hope there is sufficient opportunity for you to find insight and motivation towards including music in your nature outings and to find the unique benefits waiting there for you.
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SECTION ONE: MUSIC AND NATURE
The first section of this book outlines a trail of thoughts and experiences that led me to begin playing music in nature. Chapter One considers how the activities (excluding music) we engage in affects the nature experience. Specifically, how the items we surround ourselves with can move our thoughts closer to or further away from nature. The next chapter recounts certain influential musical experiences I have had with music in nature. Chapter Three catches up with the present moment as I collect wood for making an instrument from a special tree. In all, this section highlights how music in nature may offer powerful leverage on emotions, moods, and awarenesses. Section Two follows in-the-moment experiences of playing music in nature that shed light on the many benefits.
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Chapter 1. To Be In Nature
One underlying motivation for writing this book, and I would assume this stands true for many authors of nature related books, is to bring others to further appreciate and care about nature. It matters little if the book is a guide to identifying the local songbirds; a camp-skills guide on how to set-up a tent; or stories that romanticize a wilderness adventure or tale. The result is that readers take another step in developing their own connection with nature. These connections can lead to a lifelong, caring stewardship over nature.
Those who act pro-environmentally
doubtlessly learned to care about nature
through positive nature experiences.
It stands to reason that the higher the quality of nature experiences one has, the more likely that he or she will care about and protect those areas. So, it is important to have some understanding to which sort of nature experience offers the higher quality. Obviously, this boils down to an individual's interests and tastes but some broader generalizations can be made too.
Streams
As a canoeist knows, deep water is found where the current flows fast. This is where you go to avoid the rocks or getting stuck in the shallows. Activities focussed on nature are the deep waters flowing quickly towards a connection with nature. Some more obvious examples of activities focussed on nature include: wild edible plant collecting/viewing, bird watching, exploring animal tracks and trails, walking in nature, bushcraft, snow-shoeing, and star gazing.
The more the focus is on nature, or naturally occurring objects, the better the chance of developing a connection to natural places—assuming the activity is enjoyable and memorable. However, just because an activity takes place in nature does not make it a nature focussed one. Let us explore this just a little more, with a brief discussion on activities in nature.
Activities focussed on nature.
Many nature seers and writers of old have spoke of the timelessness of the nature experience and how activities that include motors, gadgetry, and even thoughts that belong to the urban centres, should be avoided during a wilderness experience. This is because all of the activities, gear and objects we involve ourselves with carry meaning and memories. So we do not want surround ourselves with mental ties to things unrelated to nature and our time there. For example, I am environmentally conscious and love to go canoeing. I also think that the canoe is an icon of the forest. I have two canoes, one is plastic and the other Birch bark. The plastic boat was bought at a local store in town, but was made and transported from hours away. The bark boat was made by hand and with friends in the woods over the period of a week. I also possess a lot of related camping gear, some homemade and others made from natural materials. I also have a lot of gear that is petrol-chemically based (e.g., plastics, nylon, tarps, camp fuel). I have little affection for the plastic boat and petrol-chemically based gear but appreciate their functionality—although mindful of these industries and their close ties to global warming. These items merely function as a means to be in the woods. When in the bark canoe, I find myself more in-tune with nature knowing that I could repair this boat or even replace it with nothing but my surroundings. Moreover I am excited to just step into it. This appreciation