Learning Through Sound, Not Symbols
Music, in ancient cultures, was passed down through the oral tradition. No sheet music. No charts. Just sound, vibration, memory, and human connection. That way of learning music reaches us in a different place. It speaks more directly to the part of us that knows—not because it read it somewhere, but because it’s felt it in the bones.
The Subconscious Knows More Than We Think
The subconscious mind is way smarter than we often give it credit for. It’s always listening, always absorbing. While the conscious mind—the part that tries to “figure it out”—works at the surface, the subconscious is quietly picking up on patterns, relationships, meaning. That’s where the real magic happens.
From Repetition to Intuition
When you learn by ear, or through imitation, or by immersing yourself in the sound of something until it starts to live in you—that’s subconscious learning. You don’t need to understand it intellectually to reproduce a note. You just need to feel it. And the more you do, the more your intuition gets involved. Suddenly, you’re not just repeating—you’re responding, expressing, creating.
Training the Mind Through Deep Listening
That’s why I often say the oral tradition is not just a way of passing on songs—it’s a way of training attention. It invites us to really listen, not just to the notes, but to the nuances, the spaces in between, the energy behind the sound. That kind of listening shapes the mind in a different way. It doesn’t just teach technique—it awakens creativity.
The Sound Is the Music
The written page is a step removed. It’s a useful tool, sure. But it’s not the music. The sound is the music. And when we tune into that—when we really let ourselves receive it—it takes us closer to something essential. Something spiritual, even. Because sound, vibration, music—that’s where we touch the source.
Tapping Into the Deeper You
And that’s where the subconscious mind shines. It’s not trying to control or analyze. It’s in flow. It’s making connections we could never “figure out” on paper. It’s what allows improvisation, inspiration, and those surprising moments when something new comes through you and you think, “Where did that come from?”
It came from you. But not the thinking-you. The deeper you. The listening you. The you that knows without knowing how.
That’s the place I try to return to when I’m creating music. And it’s the place I want to help my students reconnect with too—because that’s where the real song lives.
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