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harmony

From A Distance

by Brooke Leigh Sheldon on February 14, 2010

A campfire under a night sky blazing with stars.  It is both an opportunity to find your littleness and your bigness in the universe and to contemplate the significance of you – from a distance.

Music Credits:

From A Distance: James Galway, Vincent Fanuele & The Galway Pops Orchestra
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From A Distance: The African Childrens Choir

About the Song: From a Distance

At a small concert I was at in Boulder, Colorado many years ago, songwriter Julie Gold shared the story of how she created the song “From A Distance”. She explained to her audience that she had been composing on a small electric keyboard with poor sound quality during the years she had been living in New York, since she had left Philadelphia. But for her 30th birthday, in February 1986, her parents arranged that the piano she’d grown up with, an upright piano, be delivered to her apartment.

The day after her piano arrived, Julie sat down to her treasured reunion. And, as if in celebration of two dear friends rediscovering the synchronicity of each other’s sounds, Julie and her beloved piano brought forth that very day the ballad “From A Distance”.
She wrote it in one hour.

But when music publishers and record companies did not seem especially interested, Julie’s close personal friend, quick, witty performer and talented singer/songwriter Christine Lavin, shared the song with a close friend of her own, folk songstress Nanci Griffith. Griffith, liking the song very much, chose to record it for her 1987 album, Lone Star State of Mind. It quickly became a favorite of Griffith’s fans worldwide.

In 1990 The Byrds released a boxed set and chose to record only four new tracks as additional material for the compilation. One of those tracks was “From A Distance”.

Later that same year Bette Midler recorded it. Within weeks it hit #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and then went on to win the Grammy for Song of the Year in 1991.

“From A Distance” has been translated into numerous languages including German, French, Cantonese and Spanish, to name just a few. It continues to be translated and sung the world over and has, as of this date, has been aired over 4 million times.

And here are links to everyone’s versions of From A Distance:

Julie Gold’s version of From a Distance (Amazon) and (iTunes)

Nanci Griffith’s version of From A Distance (Amazon) and From A Distance
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The Byrds’ version of From A Distance (Amazon) and From A Distance
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Bette Midler’s version of From A Distance (Amazon) and From A Distance
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James Galway’s version of From a Distance (Amazon) and From A Distance icon (iTunes)

African Children’s Choir’s version of  The African Children’s Choir (Amazon) and at the African Children’s Choir Website Store

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The dramatic moments of our lives cause instantaneous and sometimes cataclysmic change. But even without drama, even in our calm we carry with us the power to create change in our world. Just as the ocean changes the surface of the entire globe by calmly and rhythmically lapping against the land, we carry with us our powerful ability to change life around us with slow consistent rhythms.

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Okay, okay!!
Truth’s out!!
I’m one of those people who turn their music up really loud in the car.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28481088@N00/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

No, I mean REALLY loud!!
Yup!

I won’t lie to ya’.
Make note of that.
I won’t lie to you.

But, back to the topic at hand, playing the music in my car….it’s reeeaaallllly
loud!
Why? You may be asking.
Well, honestly, I love the feeling of the vibe rushing through me, infusing me with the energy of the music’s intention.

And I listen to music that has intention.
Additionally, I embrace my own intention in approaching the music.

Music is with me in all things I do.
Music lights my scenes of thought, carving the canyons of my silent depths in subtle tones.
It dwells in me.
But never deny me playful beats or hip swinging rhythms,
because music also moves within me urging me to respond to its arousing invitation to a-a-a…..whatever.

I am addicted to music. Are you?

I so hope you are, because music is amazing!!!
Music is a rich art of all sound melded into melodies of our imaginings.
For music is in an easy whisper, a clap of thunder, a jangling of keys, the wind’s moan through huge trees, the persistent ring of an unanswered phone, the repetitious clack of a train track, a wooden door’s eerie creak, the burst of a firework’s color splatter.
Breath is music.
The slight soft echo of separation between the lips of lovers in gentle passion, this too is music.

Music is an art of sound structured by time and rhythm. It molds our emotions by expressing ideas with melody, arrangement, harmony and instrumentation.
It colors itself and us as it is absorbed within us. And we are changed.

Even music, as simply a mere sequence of notes arranged in time, can activate the same reward centers in the brain as drugs such as cocaine.
In PET (Photo Emission Topography) scans of the brain, music lights up the entire brain. This indicates that even with just basic exposure to music the full brain registers activity, shows excitation.

Now add to all of this discussion that music’s repeatedly demonstrated capabilities, validated by reliable research studies done by credible organizations and universities, to enhance learning, influence intelligence testing, assist in mental health, aid in memory retention, positively influence the comprehension of new information, mitigate the effects of immediate trauma and post traumatic stress disorder, quicken the healing in and throughout the brain and body, including severe damage from debilitating strokes. These are, literally, just a few examples I’ve chosen to name.

But now, my tendency to play my music (gulp!) extremely loud has definitely paid off!!! Come to find some wonderful researchers at Manchester University
have found that LOUD music stimulates a part of the inner ear known as the sacculus. The sacculus responds to the beat in the music.
Apparently the sacculus, is sensitive only to very loud volumes, those above 90 decibels. An expert in the scientific study of music, Ned Thomas, explains that the sacculus is not thought to have any direct hearing function in humans, but it seems to be a part of a primitive hearing mechanism that has slowly been lost, as humans have evolved. He further discusses it has a connection to the part of the brain responsible for drives such as sex, hunger and hedonistic responses. (Heck, guess you know a whole lot more about me now, huh! LOL!)
At any rate, he elaborates further that when these desires are satisfied, the brain is stimulated into releasing “feel good” hormones that make us calm, happy and responsive.

So, I say, embrace the theory!
Turn up the music!
Release the “feel good” hormones!
Light up your brain!
And let’s all get freakin’ high………..on LOUD MUSIC!!!!!

All right!!!! Now, this is an addiction worth embracing!!!!

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