Today's DailyOM Offerings...
September 17, 2012
The Shearing Piano
George Shearing
2011
The Shearing Piano is simply sublime. Over his 50-plus years as a major voice in jazz piano, the Brit who rose from an impoverished background and an education at the Linden Lodge School for the Blind to become an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and internationally acclaimed artist has been celebrated for a variety of accomplishments: as the composer of over 300 original works including “Lullaby of Birdland”; as a brilliant orchestrator; and as the inventor of the Shearing Sound, a cool, mellow, sophisticated flavor created by Shearing’s block chords harmonized with a vibraphone and sometimes with a guitar. Shearing could also swing, and he was a champion of Latin rhythms as well. On The Shearing Piano, however, what you get is unadulterated, virtuosic Romanticism-dreams and reveries with pronounced classical influence.
One could easily be forgiven for thinking the dial had landed on a broadcast of a classical recital from a symphony hall until the melody of “Stella by Starlight” or “My Funny Valentine” reveals her beloved face amidst the elegant filigree, or a riff on the show tune “The Street Where You Live” suddenly pirouettes across the stage. At once deeply emotional and mentally stimulating, this is the kind of music that penetrates subtly, adjusting your mood, sending you inward and gently spurring you on to contemplation.
Mostly, one is likely to melt into this piano work and leave the waking world behind to glide over its textures, but occasionally, a particular turn of style will rise forth and make itself it known in a more dramatic fashion. Shearing makes Billie Holiday’s deep-blue standard “Don’t Explain” sashay on padded feet, like a cat across your field of vision, coolly demanding your full attention.
September 17, 2012
Abundance in Appreciation
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
You may feel a sense of appreciation from those in your social circle today. You might be receiving expressions of gratitude from people you have helped in the past, or you could experience a stronger sense of closeness and camaraderie with your friends. One good way to enhance this feeling is by continuing the process of appreciation and gratitude with others in your life. You might write a note of heartfelt thanks to someone who has been supportive of your dreams and goals, or host a gathering to express your love and appreciation for friends and loved ones. Today would also be a good day to reach out and help others who may be in need, and pass along the spirit of goodwill.
By extending appreciation and goodwill to others, we contribute to an ongoing cycle of blessings and gratitude, which attracts more abundance into our own lives. When we make a conscious effort to pass along our gratitude and appreciation to others, and reach out to help others in the same way that others have helped us, we automatically contribute our energy to a higher process of growth, improvement, and gratitude that blesses everyone it touches. At the same time, the positive energy we put forth will begin to attract more abundance into our own lives, in the form of appreciation and generosity from others. As you reach out to others in gratitude and goodwill today, you are calling forth powerful energy to bless them, and yourself.
September 17, 2012
Accepting Your Family
Gifts from the Universe
by Madisyn Taylor
Our families help us see where we have come from so that we may more clearly decide where we’d like to go.
Families can contain a fascinating grouping of personalities. Despite the potential for so many to have similar traits, there are many different ways to express them. As people marry into families and have children, even more personalities enter the picture. There may be some people that we would not choose to be related to, but that’s what friends are for.
If we trust in a universe that has a higher purpose for everything, then we must believe that family members are in our lives for a good reason. These reasons may be easy to see and appreciate with some, but others may offer us a challenge. With those, we can look for something we can learn or perhaps teach. In the modern world where everyone seeks to be individuals, many move far away from their families in an attempt to escape them. But when we’ve successfully built a world around us that requires no one’s help, our families are the people who are still attached to us. We can still choose whether or not to honor the family ties, and how to treat each other, but the fact remains that we are energetically tied to our families.
Our families help us see where we have come from so that we may more clearly decide where we’d like to go. If we can learn to accept our families for who they are, then we go out into the world armed with the ability to deal with anyone. Some families are better than others at preparing us for the world. What we learn from our families, even if they are simply blank spots on our family trees, becomes the basis of our identities as individuals. Rather than denying our connections, we can choose to accept their presence in our lives. Acceptance does not mean we have to like them; we simply acknowledge that we are connected to them and honor that connection for like it or not, there is a reason. When we can embrace all that they bring into our experience, we may be grateful for all we have learned from them and have to learn, while we experience everything that comes with family fully and completely.
The Shearing Piano
George Shearing
2011
The Shearing Piano is simply sublime. Over his 50-plus years as a major voice in jazz piano, the Brit who rose from an impoverished background and an education at the Linden Lodge School for the Blind to become an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and internationally acclaimed artist has been celebrated for a variety of accomplishments: as the composer of over 300 original works including “Lullaby of Birdland”; as a brilliant orchestrator; and as the inventor of the Shearing Sound, a cool, mellow, sophisticated flavor created by Shearing’s block chords harmonized with a vibraphone and sometimes with a guitar. Shearing could also swing, and he was a champion of Latin rhythms as well. On The Shearing Piano, however, what you get is unadulterated, virtuosic Romanticism-dreams and reveries with pronounced classical influence.
One could easily be forgiven for thinking the dial had landed on a broadcast of a classical recital from a symphony hall until the melody of “Stella by Starlight” or “My Funny Valentine” reveals her beloved face amidst the elegant filigree, or a riff on the show tune “The Street Where You Live” suddenly pirouettes across the stage. At once deeply emotional and mentally stimulating, this is the kind of music that penetrates subtly, adjusting your mood, sending you inward and gently spurring you on to contemplation.
Mostly, one is likely to melt into this piano work and leave the waking world behind to glide over its textures, but occasionally, a particular turn of style will rise forth and make itself it known in a more dramatic fashion. Shearing makes Billie Holiday’s deep-blue standard “Don’t Explain” sashay on padded feet, like a cat across your field of vision, coolly demanding your full attention.
September 17, 2012
Abundance in Appreciation
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
You may feel a sense of appreciation from those in your social circle today. You might be receiving expressions of gratitude from people you have helped in the past, or you could experience a stronger sense of closeness and camaraderie with your friends. One good way to enhance this feeling is by continuing the process of appreciation and gratitude with others in your life. You might write a note of heartfelt thanks to someone who has been supportive of your dreams and goals, or host a gathering to express your love and appreciation for friends and loved ones. Today would also be a good day to reach out and help others who may be in need, and pass along the spirit of goodwill.
By extending appreciation and goodwill to others, we contribute to an ongoing cycle of blessings and gratitude, which attracts more abundance into our own lives. When we make a conscious effort to pass along our gratitude and appreciation to others, and reach out to help others in the same way that others have helped us, we automatically contribute our energy to a higher process of growth, improvement, and gratitude that blesses everyone it touches. At the same time, the positive energy we put forth will begin to attract more abundance into our own lives, in the form of appreciation and generosity from others. As you reach out to others in gratitude and goodwill today, you are calling forth powerful energy to bless them, and yourself.
September 17, 2012
Accepting Your Family
Gifts from the Universe
by Madisyn Taylor
Our families help us see where we have come from so that we may more clearly decide where we’d like to go.
Families can contain a fascinating grouping of personalities. Despite the potential for so many to have similar traits, there are many different ways to express them. As people marry into families and have children, even more personalities enter the picture. There may be some people that we would not choose to be related to, but that’s what friends are for.
If we trust in a universe that has a higher purpose for everything, then we must believe that family members are in our lives for a good reason. These reasons may be easy to see and appreciate with some, but others may offer us a challenge. With those, we can look for something we can learn or perhaps teach. In the modern world where everyone seeks to be individuals, many move far away from their families in an attempt to escape them. But when we’ve successfully built a world around us that requires no one’s help, our families are the people who are still attached to us. We can still choose whether or not to honor the family ties, and how to treat each other, but the fact remains that we are energetically tied to our families.
Our families help us see where we have come from so that we may more clearly decide where we’d like to go. If we can learn to accept our families for who they are, then we go out into the world armed with the ability to deal with anyone. Some families are better than others at preparing us for the world. What we learn from our families, even if they are simply blank spots on our family trees, becomes the basis of our identities as individuals. Rather than denying our connections, we can choose to accept their presence in our lives. Acceptance does not mean we have to like them; we simply acknowledge that we are connected to them and honor that connection for like it or not, there is a reason. When we can embrace all that they bring into our experience, we may be grateful for all we have learned from them and have to learn, while we experience everything that comes with family fully and completely.