Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness ~ Maya Angelou

Creativity Prompt #29: Music Moves in Us | 30-Day Creativity Challenge

Two Dancers, Half–length painting in high resolution by Edgar Degas. Original from The MET Museum.

Good morning, creatives! Today, on our second-to-last day of the creativity challenge, we once again have a prompt from Billie. Tomorrow, we’ll conclude with something I’ve been looking forward to as a kind of a quirky, joyful, strange (of course it must be strange), and uplifting grand finale … just wait! Until then, today we have Creativity Prompt #29: Music Moves in Us from Billie of Dumpster Yoga.

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Throughout this winter I spent most of my Saturday mornings with my two-year-old  foster son, Z, at toddler music class (“Homies in Harmony” at Walker West if anyone is looking for great kid’s music programming around the Twin Cities). The thing about toddler music class is that it is always a bit chaotic. A sharp departure from how I used to spend Saturday mornings pre-single-parenting a 2-year-old. 

Toddler music class is chaotic. Because of the toddlers. And also the parents. 

So sometimes I’d find myself there–chasing Z yet again down the hallways back toward the classroom, or herding children away from the piano–thinking things like why or is this even worth it? But the magical thing was that nearly every class there would be this moment where the music caught and the air shifted and all the eyes (young and old) were still. And our bodies moved effortlessly to the beat. 

I used to feel a similar magic in late hours of the night or early hours of the morning at dance parties or shows when the whole crowd suddenly merged and melted into one. This is an experience I am sure almost everyone has felt before. The uncontrollable swell of emotion and connection–either with others, or yourself–produced by listening to music. 

In part, that is because of how our brains perceive music. As Psyche Loui, a professor of creativity and creative practice at Northeastern University, writes: 

As far as we know, of all species in the world, only humans have spontaneously evolved musical and linguistic cultures side by side. Thus music, just like language, seems quite unique to humans.

Researchers Schulkin and Raglan note that:

Music also cuts across diverse cognitive capabilities and resources, including numeracy, language, and spacial perception. In the same way, music intersects with cultural boundaries, facilitating our “social self” by linking our shared experiences and intentions.

Also:

Music is like breathing—all pervasive.

And because of how powerful music is, it is also inescapable. It surrounds us constantly–in the grocery store, on the radio, in the background of shows and movies. But as with all things, when we can’t give it our attention it loses its hold on us. And cannot move our brains or bodies in the way we need. 

Today’s prompt is about cutting through the noise and letting what is already within you rise to the surface. We’ll complete the whole prompt in three distinct parts, which you can complete in total in 10 or 15 minutes max.

The basics: You’ll  listen to music. You’ll move. You’ll write. Don’t worry. I’ll walk you through the whole process–even offering some imperfect screengrabs from past time-lapses of myself in motion to prove this need not be serious and can in fact be whatever it wants to be for you today. The idea is to give yourself permission.  Let’s see what happens.

Creativity Prompt #29: Music Moves in Us