How Music Heals: What Is Deep Listening?

Back in 1992, I started college as a music therapy major. I really didn't know shit about music therapy at the time, except that it seemed like something I wanted to do. I loved playing the piano and the violin and singing, but I hated the pressure of getting it perfect every time. And because I was being graded on my performance and my technical ability, which, to be honest, ain't all that great, I eventually dropped out because I felt like I just wasn't good enough to major in music. (Even on one of my auditions, one of the judges noted that I was going to have to work "very very hard" in order to keep up.)

Years later, I found myself teaching kid's yoga a few times a week, and one of the exercises we did to get calm and centered was called deep listening. It's fun, really: I would ask the kids to sit cross-legged and comfortable, and put their hands on their knees. With their eyes closed, I would strike my little chime and as soon as they heard the tone, they would put their hands on their shoulders and listen...and listen...and listen...and as soon as they couldn't hear the ring from the chime anymore, they could put their hands back in their laps.

That is the practice of deep listening: like other forms of meditation and the spiritual practice of concentration (one of the 8 limbs of yoga), deep listening asks that we focus completely on something outside of ourselves. Really, it's an amazing way to shift energy. There's even a whole type of yoga dedicated to this practice, called Nada Yoga, or the Yoga of Sound and Vibration.

Then earlier this summer, I took five weeks of live instruction online with a musician and yoga teacher named Josh Brill, and lo and behold! Deep listening works for musicians, too. So here's how I've adapted my practice of deep listening every time I tune my ukulele:

1. Before I even begin to tune my uke, I sit quietly with it in my lap for a few seconds. Even if it's just one deep in breath and one complete out breath before I touch the strings.

2. Once I pluck the string that I want to tune, I let it ring out. I don't pluck it a million times over and over - just one, grounded motion with my finger and I let it go while I listen. If I need to adjust the pitch up or down, I do it one pluck at a time until my tuner tells me it's right.

3. I repeat for all four (or 8, depending on the instrument) strings. 

Next time you tune your ukulele, slow it down and try this! I've noticed that I feel calmer, more grounded, and way more present in my body when I practice deep listening before I play.

More info on Josh Brill and his Ukulele Mindfulness online sessions coming soon!