Eyes Closed Musician and Music Teacher Retreat: Beginning Winter 2023

The Retreats over the coming two years are intended to bring together a body of musicians to form the Eyes Closed Ensemble. We are searching for open minded long standing experienced musicians who are seeking to understand a new depth to their art. Do you seek a new direction? Do you feel you have plumbed the depths of your instrument or of music as a whole, as far as you can go?

Do you wonder what really is happening within us when we play music?

Where does creative inspiration come from? How and why?

What is our importance and purpose in the role as a musician?

What is the foundation of performance anxiety? How do we overcome it?

Who, exactly is playing…?

I have been a musician since the age of 3 and a music teacher for almost 20 years. I do not have a memory of a life without Music. My experience has been that the music world is a wonderful world to live in amongst wonderfully respectful and thoughtful open minded, easy going people.

Most musicians remain dedicated to music for a lifetime due to the many benefits in wellbeing and inner joy which it offers. It could be indeed, for many, considered an addiction, but a healthy one! I am multi instrumental, and by crossing all musical disciplines, I have spent my life working in many different musical settings and genres. In my musical forays, whether in orchestras, brass bands, jazz bands, sax quartets or in fiddle sessions around a pub table, I have observed one common trait: most musicians become stuck in a particular genre or instrument, for life. So many musicians play the same staid, out-dated repertoire and never venture outside the confines of that particular sound world or the ensemble dynamic and musical conventions and social circle which accompany it.

Many begin with the standard classical training and never leave the narrow visual dominated notational experience it offers. How many classical musicians can only play their instrument with a sheet of music in front of their eyes? Only a few migrate into the more vernacular genres of folk, rock, jazz and pop. Of those who do embrace their fear of the unknown and step over the invisible boundaries, they are awarded a great gift: the gift of Feel, both on the outside through touch and the inside through emotion. The gift of playing from the heart. It is a wonderful sense of Freedom far removed from the Classical Path.

Usually only those who began their musical life in infancy are gifted the Grace of moving all the way through and beyond the art of music into the great depth of what lies beneath, at it’s foundation. The Great Silence out of which all Sound is born. The sublime Peace and Stillness which lives there.

Musicians inhabit this realm whilst practising and playing but often leave and return to being dominated by mind affected by the world when not with their instrument.

These retreats offer professional musicians and music teachers an extensive insight into the very essence of music and how it can become a manual or a road map for life. We delve into all aspects of music and discover the deep wisdom laying within as well as what lies beneath and between the notes. Ultimately this leads to a great understanding of Oneness; the Essence of Life, and how to understand and embrace this allows one to move through life with great ease and contentment, both on and off the stage.

If you are interested in attending one of our retreats, please email info@awakenedlearning.space