Welcome To The Creative Act

A pro-musician making sense of the creative process within the context of his life experience.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Yehudi Menuhin and Andres Segovia - Granados - Danza española - Andaluza



Spanish Dance #5 by Enrique Granados is one of my favorite pieces. I have been performing this selection for many years having been inspired by Segovia's rendition. This video contains two versions of this amazing piece. Yehudi Menuhin on violin accompanied by piano and Andres Segovia on solo guitar. If music is a healing balm, Spanish music is like an application of 'ICY HOT'!

Friday, May 28, 2010

JOSÉ ROMANILLOS | Classical GUITAR MAKER - Part 01



This is a great find. The great Jose Romanillos invites you into his shop while he makes a guitar and talks about the craft. José Luis Romanillos Vega was born in Madrid in 1932 where he learnt the craft of cabinet making from the age of thirteen. He moved to England in 1956 to work in psychiatric hospitals in Epsom and North London. He made his first guitar in London in 1961 and in 1970 he moved to Semley, Wiltshire, where he began his professional career as a guitar maker encouraged by Julian Bream, who played Jose L. Romanillos guitars for many years. In 1987 he published the biography of Antonio de Torres, the first book written about a Spanish guitar maker. He has lectured on the history of the Spanish guitar as well as giving courses in many countries on the development and construction of the Spanish guitar. Although he has retired from guitar making he keeps in close contact with his son Liam Romanillos who continues with the family tradition in Gillingham, Dorset. He has settled in Guijosa, Spain, where since 2001 he has organised, with his son Liam, a course on Spanish guitar making. He also continues with his research into the development and the history of the vihuela de mano and the Spanish guitar.

Here's part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8iZBACWSDQ

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Our Father



Skyfather,
Holy One,
Let all your creation love and honor you.
Give us today what we need,
not what we desire.
Forgive us when we offend you,
remind us to forgive all who offend us.
Lead us on the good road,
pick us up when we stumble and fall.
Aho!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Yellow Hammer - Otoe Encampment Song



Yellow Hammer has been one of my favorite Southern drum groups for many years. This Otoe Encampment Song is a strong song full of power. The Otoe were once part of the Siouan tribes of the Great Lakes region, a group commonly known as the Winnebago. At some point, a large group split off and began to migrate to the South and West. This group eventually split again, coalescing into at least three distinct tribes: the Ioway, the Missouria and the Otoe. The latter settled in the lower Nemaha River valley. They adopted the horse culture and semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Great Plains, making the American bison central to their diet and culture. For well over a century, since 1881, an annual Otoe-Missouria encampment is held every July in Red Rock, Oklahoma.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Native American Spirituality - How "Indians" Think



Mike Tarbel has a really good message. Living an authentically spiritual life is not easy, it takes work. It means solving our own problems with the gifts that Creator has given each of us in the depth of our own being. Sing your songs, dance your dances, tell your stories and dream your dreams. Listen, seek and you will find.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Legend of the Hopi Boy & the Eagle



I saw this movie when I was a boy and it made a great impression on me. It is the story of a gifted boy who was the object of derision by the other boys in his village. The story gave me hope at a time in my young life when I was dealing with bullies. After I saw this film on TV, I dreamed of Eagle later that night and was reminded that Eagle would always be with me. No one would have power over me if I would remember that my power was in my gifts. There was a time in my life when I forgot this lesson and the result was a great unhappiness. I was visited by Eagle in a dream years later. Eagle reminded me of the power of my Creative Spirit. This is a big reason why you can now hear my musical gifts. These songs are now offered to you so that you might feel their power to help make you well. Aho!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Arrow To The Sun



This animated short by Gerald McDermott is colorful and beautiful. It tells the story of a young boy and his search for his father. There are also some elements of the story which resonate with Christianity.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

The Ecstasy of St. Theresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini: 1647-1652



The Ecstasy of St. Theresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini: 1647-1652

The two central sculptural figures of the swooning nun and the angel with the spear derive from an episode described by Teresa of Avila, a mystical cloistered Discalced Carmelite reformer and nun, in her autobiography, ‘The Life of Teresa of Jesus’ (1515–1582). Her experience of religious ecstasy in her encounter with the angel is described as follows:

"I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying."