In Honor And Tribute To Mom

On Mother's Day, we all stop to say 'thank you' to a very special lady in our lives.  For each of us, it is different in how we celebrate and honor this day.  Our moms mean so much to us and to list all they do would take many hours, days, or weeks.

My mom put up with a lot from an abusive husband, an older brother that constantly challenged her and people who just didn't get her.  She had so much to offer, but was often overlooked because of how mild and meek she could be.

I remember my mom saying "sometimes it takes a stronger person to just not say anything" when another individual is yelling and screaming and being obnoxious.  She knew that when the going got tough, the tough got going and that was one of her favorite thoughts.

She was a lady of class, but very simple and down to earth.  She knew how to whip up a beautiful dinner, and go outside and do lawn work.  She knew how to put her all into a job, but come home to a family that she so cared for deeply.

Relax To Piano Music

I just wanted to highlight some relaxing piano music.  Something that helps you just let the stress melt away and zone out from every day life.  Some people have shared with me that they just love to sit in a nice warm bubble bath while listening to this music.  They have told me that it just helps them relax after a stressful day.  Others have shared with me that they listen to this music at work to help ease the tension and stress throughout their day.

For me, I use it in massage and for times when I just need to chill out.  It really is perfect for any time that you want some relaxing piano music playing in the background.  As one person recently stated, "It sounds like elevator or doctor office music".  I'm sure they meant that in a positive way, but the point is, this music is relaxing.

Unlike other CD's out there you can buy, Relaxing Spa Music is all piano music and it is played and created from the emotions of my heart.  There is no singing in it as it is entirely 100% instrumental.  So, go and check it out on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody or any of your favorite places where you listen to music.

By the way, if you don't find it on the service you use for music, let me know and I'll see what I can do to get it distributed through that site.

The Piano My Mom Bought For Me

Relaxing Spa Music:
Mother's Day

Many years ago when I was only about 8 years old, I wanted to learn how to play the piano.  While there are many kids that say they want to do such things, I was one that just knew I had an attraction to the piano.  Keep in mind that I did not come from a musical family or relatives who were music.  If there were, I am not aware of them.

My mom wanted to make sure that I got every opportunity to play the piano.  When she was a little girl, she explained to me that she wanted to play the piano. However, her father would not buy her a piano because he needed the money to buy his booze.  So, for years she longed to play the piano and when I came along and expressed my interest, she made sure that happened.

Buying a $35 piano from a neighbor was my first piano.  It was a big upright piano that took several people to move it from the neighbor's garage into our house.  It did need a little tuning but overall, the sound that this piano put out was as beautiful as angelic music.  Even electronic keyboards do not measure up to the sound of this piano.

Relaxing Piano Music For Valentine's Day

Just a break for today from our regular programming to let you know (in case you did not already know this) that I have some very relaxing piano music available for sale. It is music that I created and is extremely relaxing, perfect for those quiet moments alone or when you are with that special someone in your life.

Of course Valentine's Day is Monday, Feburary 14, 2011, so guys, you've been told and warned! You can't say you didn't know it was coming. Don't wait until the last moment to plan a way to show the one you love, just how much you do love them. I'm not saying you have to go out and spend a load of money but see if you can't think outside the box and find something that really shows just how much you do love them. Give them something deep from your heart.

If you need help in that area, you're more than welcome to go and download some of my music on iTunes, Amazon or many other digital download sites. It is truly relaxing, peaceful and all of my music is played deep from within my heart.

If you go to my website, www.donshetterly.com, you can listen to a few sound clips on the front page. There are links to iTunes, Amazon, CDbaby.com, Napster and Rhapsody if you wish to purchase and download it or you can buy the physical CD on Amazon.

Here are the CD's I have available:

1) Dancing With Life












2) Focusing












3) Relaxing Spa Music













@mindbodythought on twitter


Blog Post & Images (c) 2/8/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

Piano Meditation Music

Meditation - the moments you spend in solitude and silence with reflection and a listening ear. Yet, these moments sometimes seem to me to be one of the hardest things to embrace in any given day. Between everything that is going on and all that I need to get done, the minutes fly by.

Today as I was sitting there playing my piano, I thought back to all the days that this has been a constant in my life. No matter how difficult the days or the events got in my life, there was always the piano. In fact, between the piano and my pets, I can always find life's center with these things. When nothing else in life gives me a moment of peace or stillness, I always have my piano.

When I was a child, my house was never dull and quiet. There were constant times of screaming, yelling and criticizing. In addition to that, love, touch and companionship, were shown to us in ways that were abusive, harmful and full of evil. It was in those moments, that the only thing I could do was to find a way to escape. For I could not deal with what was taking place at that time and it was not like I could just run away from the situation. There was no place to run to and no place to hide.

During these times, I would turn to my piano and play the songs that I so loved. Most of these were church hymns and choruses because that is all I knew and about all I was ever allowed to work with. Their easy melodies and harmonies along with the gentle and peaceful words found in the verses of the songs, made for some beautiful moments of connectedness for my life.

Today as I was playing some of these songs, I noticed that the pain and turmoil of the past are brought up within the notes. For the pain and turmoil was as much a connection for me to these songs as the peaceful moments were. And while the pain and turmoil is sometimes still overwhelming to me, there is a side of these songs that takes me into a space unlike any other. It is a place of deepness, far removed from this world.

One could say it is a place of meditation or spirituality but to me it goes much deeper than that. It is very hard to describe. I know I have read that Yanni talks about going into a black space when he creates. I'm sure what he is talking about and what I'm talking about are our own similar experiences with this. I'm sure each artist knows first hand what this space is.

It is a beautiful place to be and travel into. It does give me the opportunity to be deep in meditation. To me, meditation is not only about sitting cross legged in silence. It is much more that that. Meditation is a deep connection to what is not readily seen or heard. I'm always amazed at just how much insight, awareness and communication I receive when I'm deep in the meditative moments of playing my piano and creating.

May you find those deep moments within yourself that give you reset, renewal and a different outlook. May your own meditation bring you deeper within yourself.

While I don't record most of what I play in these moments, some of the music has made it on to my CD's of relaxing piano music from the heart. This music often comes out of those times and sound clips can be found on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify.

For More Information on Don Shetterly, Visit his website at http://www.donshetterly.com


*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Multidimensional Music

Music is one of those things that the love of a particular song lies in the eye of the beholder! No two people have the same musical taste or likes and dislikes. And music that one person may consider relaxing or invigorating may be like fingernails on a chalkboard to someone else.

When it comes to new age bodywork modalities, the common perception is that it must be non intrusive music and have a certain sound to it. Without some of the normal nuances one would expect to hear in "spa music", many consider it not worthy to be played with body work.

I remember several clients over the years who have asked I do massage to all kinds of music from Jazz, to Classical to Rock or whatever was playing at the time. At first, I began to wonder how I could do it. Than I realized that the music was for the client, and not necessarily for me.

As I did the massage, I began to notice that I picked up on various beats within the beat of the music and various sounds within the notes. I used whatever rhythm or musical sounds I needed to help achieve what it was that I was doing at the time. I learned that I could do massage to just about anything and mix in what I was doing, what the body needed with what that client was hearing on the table and where they were at in that moment. What came through to my hearing was matching the vibration of the body at that moment.

When I hear a song, whether it is fast or slow, I hear many parts of it. To my ears, there are notes and sounds within the notes of the song. It is what lies between the notes that are played which I pick up. One could call this the vibration or resonance of the music. In addition, my ears pick up various layers of the beat or the rhythm of a song. There is the main rhythm of the song but to my ears, they pick out different beats or sometimes my ears knock out certain beats so in effect, I'm slowing the rhythm down. For a song that may sound too fast to some, it sounds much different to me.

For me, I take it one step further when I'm doing bodywork sessions with clients. I begin to match my movements and what I do with the tempo or the sounds that their body needs in that particular moment. In the next moments, things may have already changed in their body and so then I began matching the things together again. It is like a flowing melody where the tempo and sounds change but they match together with the movement and transition of the body. All of this happens automatically without even thinking about what I am doing. If I thought about it, most likely it would not happen as easy because it is just part of where I connect with the client and their body.

Music is more than playing a few notes with a rhythm. It is multidimensional and if we stop and listen, we will hear things within the music that weren't not necessarily intended but they are part of the song. This gives the richness and fullness to the song and gives it life that connects from one heart to another. I am very moved by music and when I've used my own music in bodywork sessions, I've had people tell me that they felt as if my hands were playing their body just as if I was playing my piano. It was as if I was creating music with the body just as a musician would do with an instrument.

Here's a homework assignment. Take some music that you listen to and some that you would not normally listen to. See if you can pick up the other rhythms and beast within the songs as well as the notes between the notes. See if you can play with what you hear to achieve a different effect in your own body or that of a client. It is an amazing experience if you allow yourself the opportunity to do this. It adds so much more to the music experience.

*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Swimming Dolphins & Relaxing Spa Music

Vilano Beach, near St. Augustine, Florida - http://www.donshetterly.com. Video was taken on a recent trip to St. Augustine Beach (FL) where we saw dolphins playing and swimming within a few feet of us. It was a beautiful site to see and a treat. I put this video to a sound clip of one of my relaxing piano songs called "Swimming Dolphins".

Music As Medicine

MSNBC recently reported in an article titled, "Music As Medicine" how Doctors are using music to help their patients heal. From heart surgeries to brain disorders and cancer, music is being played to help heal their patients.

This article of course touches me deeply because of the music I create on the piano. I classify it as "relaxing piano music from the heart", for it is truly music that comes from my heart. It is healing and life changing for many people who have heard it. If you get a chance, check out the music sound clips on my website at www.donshetterly.com or you can also check out my CD, "Relaxing Spa Music" at Amazon or iTunes.

Music Connects Us

Music can lift us from our current plane into a world where nothing matters, where no stress can be found and where true peace abounds. The individual notes combined together can transcend our hearts and minds.

We all have a favorite song, CD or band that picks us up when we are down and energizes us. Have you ever stopped to consider this and consider just what the music does for you? How does it take you from your current state and leave you feeling fulfilled, ready to fight whatever it is you need to or just feel empowered?

I firmly believe that music is the way that the innermost parts of our lives and the universe communicate with us. Music speaks where no words are found. Music creates a language where there is a void. Music knows no boundaries put in place by cultures, governments or laws.

For a long time in my life, I have played the piano and created music of all kinds. In recent years, I have focused on letting my innermost soul release the sounds that it holds. Just a few years ago, I would find a piano and sit down and play for hours at a time. I never used sheet music as I did not need it. I would just play whatever came out of my fingers. This music was a combination of notes that had never been heard before. And yet I found, that I did not really hear the music that I was playing until one day I recorded a session. When I listened to what I recorded, I could not believe what I heard. I did not realize just what I was creating.

Up to this point, I’ve not been able to replay anything that I have created. It is like the music I create is a conversation and we all know that you can never repeat a conversation once it has been spoken. You can paraphrase it but there is no way to repeat it. This is why I believe that music which comes from deep within our souls is such a pure form of communication and it goes where words can not form.

I began to share my music with a few trusted friends and saw their reactions. It was at that point that I decided it was time to share my music with the world. The more I have shared the music, the more I have seen the effects of it upon the lives of others. I can see when someone hears it and it affects them in such a deep way. For I know that when someone’s ear tunes into the songs I create, I know that they have connected with the deeper language found deep within the music and they have connected with a much broader source, the Universe.

My music and the music of many others that I know, come from a greater source than we find in ourselves. It is the universe that provides this music and it has the ability to do whatever we need at that moment in our lives. For the universe provides peace, healing and power to everyone and one of the ways it does this is through the music that it provides. I’ve seen how my music reflects the times I am in and how it has changed as I changed. Each song I create gets a title so as to keep it separate from the next song and reference it to what actually was taking place in my thoughts while it was created.

So as you go about your day, stop for a minute and think about the music you listen to. What is it trying to tell you? What is it connecting you to? What is your mind and body needing at this very minute. Remember we are all connected to something greater than ourselves and that connection is kept together by a force called music.

If you haven't had a chance to hear my music, you can check out the link to the left "Relaxing Spa Music" on Amazon
or you can listen to it as well on iTunes and Spotify.

© Don Shetterly 11/9/05