Does someone in your family show an interest or talent in music but you feel unqualified to offer encouragement? Music can be an exciting concept. This book will offer simple tools that provide fun and worthwhile communication. It can create encouragement for would-be musicians.

What if we didn't have any music? We would have no birds singing, no melodies in our hearts, no sweet sound to our ears, no lilt to our voices. What would remain?

Music is our health food. It nourishes our soul. It gives us strength and a reason to function.

Talking or just reading about music does not communicate the feeling in the moment. May I suggest listening to something soft and instrumental as you read this book?

"You asked me where I get my ideas. That I cannot tell you with certainty. They come unsummoned, directly, indirectly - I could seize them with my hands - out in the open air, in the woods, while walking, in the silence of the nights, at dawn, excited by moods which are translated by the poet into words, by me into tones that sound and roar and storm about me till I have set them down in notes." - Ludwig Van Beethoven

Nature forms music. Trees turn wind into music through the rustling of leaves. The wind swishes and roars. Gurgling water is music. We hear up to twelve perfect notes as a clock chimes. Whales and dolphins have a song. Silence, amidst a snowfall, is music. A crackling fire. The tap, tap, tap of rain on the roof offers musical enchantment. Children frolicking and laughing is music.

The gathering of birds in our back yard can offer a veritable symphony. Bird songs and calls inspire tribal religious chants as well as symphonic compositions.

The hum of voices in a in a large restaurant, in a telemarketing firm, or in a busy mall create music.

A brood of chickens laying eggs creates a lovely chorus with the rooster's solo adding a special touch. When other farm animals, cattle and hogs, are ready to be fed, they cry out their songs. A cat purring is offering its song.

Music surrounds us when we are willing to take time to hear it.

Through this book, we will travel through the years and around the world to see for ourselves the part music plays on the stage of life.

There are natural rhythms within each geographical region of the world. Each race or tribe forms musical rhythms with nature that form philosophical and religious attitudes of that region.

There is a Oneness with Nature throughout the world, if we take time to listen. Music provides the feelings. It allows us to express our feelings, whether they be of a religious nature or of the common bond we have with our surroundings.

"...It's oh, so sad to see the summer end. And though the changing colors are a lovely thing to see, if it were mine to make the change, I think I'd let it be. But I don't remember hearing anybody asking me."

- John Denver, "Season Suite"

With our Western World busyness, are we losing this connection with nature? Does music continue to reflect this bond?

Music is simply sound arranged into pleasant and fascinating formations. It plays an important part in our lives.

Each of us may have a different definition for music, depending upon how it affects our lives. What I am presenting in this book offers expanded food for thought.

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