Hello Friends,
With the energy that summer implies, I have felt in full bloom this past month. Practice continues to dominate my time. Book-marking each day - rituals of meditation appropriate to their hour, relatively consistent in both time and form - aid in setting a tone for the solar and lunar energies to be navigated. For my morning/solar meditation, concepts of pattern and the flow of time are invoked, helping to usher qualities similar to these into my other conscious practices of the day. From the 5 minutes of hand pouring my coffee, to the 3 hours teaching or the 2 hours dedicated to practicing movement or music - initial examinations have been performed, a recipe created and followed repetitiously, results assessed periodically - new information examined and the recipe is revised accordingly. This is a metaphor made clear to me by my “Yoga” teacher Nevine Michaan, but a method I have seen performed by many of my greatest teachers such as “Music” teachers Magdalena Richter and Lee Snyder.
While my summer continues to be more solitary than most peoples February - I entertained more extroversion than recent memory; reconnecting with several friends, students and teachers. A trip to Nevine’s home helped to reinforce where my tide is shifting (ways of "stepping into the world") and movement in the company of colleagues solidified long held truths. The truth I most wish to articulate at this moment involves sharing these practices in the ways that serve. For Yoga and movement I’ve predominantly avoided performance as an economic driver (though internet culture seems to make that increasingly difficult to avoid), grounding my sharing of these topics as an educator. Music began with performance embedded into the structure of the practice (teaching came later) and yet my impetus for music, much like Yoga and movement was to feel - performing was a seemingly necessary part of that greater goal. Both performance and education look to help an audience understand what the “performer” or “educator” knows. Consider these terms, understand and know, as poles holding up a structure: “understand” (that which can be explained) representing an opposite pillar to “gnosis” (intuitive knowing); "knowing" represents a spark of insight that must be formulated into a map pf "understanding," were it to be shared.
My classes and private lessons in Yoga, movement and music will continue to serve as vehicles seeking to transmit gnosis - through practices and practical methods aimed toward personal knowing. On Saturday at 7pm, with my sister Brittney, I will share a performance - a representation of our own individual experiences and personal gnosis; one hope as performers is that you might "understand" our feeling as music and sound are channeled through us.
Though abstract forms of visual art exist, music at its core is abstract. Music has been referred to as the most abstract of arts, having no existing “thing” it is representing. Rhythm is found in natural cycles, tides and heartbeats and pitch might be heard in birdsong but “songs” rarely consist of tunes replicating sounds heard in nature. Music may be more easily linked to the spiritual than the material and so the culture that birthed much of the music we will share this coming Saturday has often divorced these two paths toward gnosis. Movement can be an art of most practical utility and a path toward transcendence. Saturday I’ll introduce some of the ways I’m bridging these disciplines, continually seeking to offer pathways toward embodiment and illumination. I would be honored to share this initiation back into music performance with you. Commencing the evening with a guided meditation, Brittney Sedgwick (voice) and I (violin), with Benjamin Hoffmann (piano), will perform music by Holst, Verdi, Bruch and Esmail w/poetry by Rilke at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 196 Woodbine Ave, Narbeth PA 19072 . We ask only your attention, though are happy to accept any financial support you might be willing to provide for our continued practice - allowing for future presentations.
Any donations of cash, check or venmo (@noahmoves) or PayPal (noahmoves@gmail.com) are appreciated
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I have also recently booked a workshop at Evolve Yoga and Beyond: “Breathing with Intention” September 17th 2-4pm.
If you are new to a breathing practice or have long appreciated the power of breath I welcome you to this two hour workshop and practice.
For the first hour I will introduce several techniques for pranayama (breath control) giving steps for personal progression with an individual’s practice. For the second hour we will use techniques introduced to create a physiological change in the body opening a doorway toward transcendent experience.
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Thank you for your continued support. I look forward to connecting soon and hope you will be able to join me for one of these upcoming events.
❤️🙏
Noah