During my doctoral study at the University of Minnesota I worked very closely not only with the music faculty, but also with faculty in the disciplines of cognitive science, psychology, kinesiology, and the UMTC center for spirituality and healing. During this time, I was also very committed to studying and practicing meditation with well respected Minneapolis certified meditation instructor Kimberley Lueck. I developed my doctoral thesis on the concepts of music and percussion with health, well being, the mind-body connection, and different learning styles from a scientific perspective, all forming together a concept which I eventually referred to as “Holistic Awareness”. 

After much research and the completion of my doctoral thesis, my commitment to this subject matter continued. To date, I have presented over 50+ lecture/clinic events on holistic awareness at universities and music festivals in the U.S.A., Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, Poland, Denmark, Portugal, and Greece, including the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music, and the Frédéric Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland. Furthermore, I have employed these methods in both my own personal music practice, and to hundreds of students in my teaching practice spanning almost 20 years, many of whom now are master’s and doctoral students, or successful professionals teaching at universities, performing globally as creative artists, performing with symphony orchestras, and teaching in public schools.

View the current list of references used in my lecture HERE, which includes peer reviewed articles from credible professional journals, and literary and video content from esteemed professionals in the subject matters.

One point regarding my relationship with this philosophy and teaching method is the very sensitive issue of credentials. This challenge has surfaced on many occasions as I have disseminated these ideas in various ways, and in various contexts, over the years. Whereas I stand firmly by my (only partial) education in the peripheral areas (cognitive science, psychology, kinesiology, body-mind disciplines, health and wellness), my carefully methodized academic research, the input from my colleagues whom have different qualifications, and my personal phenomenological perspectives and anecdotes, ultimately my professional credentials are in the areas of music performance and music teaching. I am not a licensed meditation instructor, doctor, psychologist, or scientist. With this said, I invite you to embrace my method and understand it’s complete picture while pursuing more specialized instruction/care/education from appropriate and credible sources at your own initiative. 

So let’s get started! …. 

The general model we use for our “Holistic Awareness” is “Body-Mind-Heart-Spirit-Culture”. I assert that each of the five is a primary component of each individual. It’s our responsibility to be aware of, educate ourselves about, and nourish, these five parts of who we are. I truly believe, and can justify, that as musicians, the stronger our commitment to this model, the more centered, powerful, and beautiful our playing and music will be. We need to constantly check in to ensure we are not neglecting the care of one of these 5 things for ourselves. The relationship between music and holistic awareness is bidirectional. Practicing this system may help our music, however music may also help us illuminate or even synthesize these various components of our being, too.

Holistic awareness is mostly of a humanistic, universalist, and educationally pluralistic philosophy. At present (2023) many concepts within “Holistic Awareness” are now well acknowledged, certainly more than when I originally completed my doctoral thesis in 2012. I consider myself someone coming out of inspiration of the legacies of such people as Matthew Ruby Shiphee, Madeline Bruser (Director: The Art of Practicing Institute) and Lesley Sisterhen McAllister (Author: The Balanced Musician), who paved the way for the music community to start thinking and teaching with a broader awareness of our full being. 

Largely, my humble efforts are mostly to organize many of these now popular concepts within this realm into a coherent and comprehensive system. In particular, placing a special stress on synthesizing more scientifically and pedagogically rigorous methods with more “eastern” modes of thinking/practicing such as mindfulness, meditation, and somatic wisdom, and other modes of thinking that emerge from certain disciplines within the humanities such as philosophy, spirituality, and phenomenology. This is an effort to bring together the usually separate “thinkers” (science and objectivity) and “feelers” (intuition and subjectivity), instead of categorizing them as belonging to separate “camps”. I may suggest the 2015 book, “Waking Up” by thought leader Sam Harris as a pillar guide to this emerging modern approach. I have also taken focus to explaining concepts such as optimal well being for musicians, and “flow states”, using scientific language.

The general outline I use when “teaching” the concept of holistic awareness in lecture, especially the way we can apply to it to performing and teaching percussion and music, goes as follows:

1.   Introduction, and approaching the controversial definition of “holistic awareness”

2.   Acknowledging and understanding the “body-mind-heart-spirit-culture” model 

3.   Learning styles, from a scientific perspective, stressing the distinction between declarative and non-declarative learning/memory, with a particular comprehensive review of non-declarative learning modalities and pedagogical strategies/activities  

4.   An investigation into eastern derived body-mind disciplines and both their philosophical and practical relevance to music practice and music teaching, and the relevance of a phenomenological, or “intuitive” perspective (this includes meditation, yoga and tai chi, and various forms of physical exercise)

5.   Cultural learning, and what it means to design ethical and effective cultural exchange and diversity

6.   Advisement into planning and executing effective teaching (for private lessons) and lesson planning (using the above knowledge and techniques, as well as more classic music pedagogy)

7. General guidelines and mentorship for students in developing habits for health and well-being 

The easiest way to start to “implement” holistic awareness into your life is to nurture your body-mind-heart-spirit-culture in the best ways possible. This below list of 11 items is my most current draft for what I believe to be the most important items as such. Below the list, I have included two guided activities in the form of youtube videos that I have designed, which I invite you to try to familiarize yourself with being more “holistically aware” in an experiential way.

1. Quality sleep - (about 7-9 hours)

2. Healthy diet - (mostly natural foods, avoiding artificial ingredients and inflammatories) 

3. Movement - (especially physical exercise, or some creative movement that uses your whole body like yoga, dancing, tai chi, or playing your instrument)

4. Relationships - cultivating relationships with family, friends, colleagues, creative companions, mostly through quality time spent and communication.

5. Education - the process of continuing to learn, ongoing for your whole lifetime, a large variety of disciplines and topics from educational institutions, socialization, public events, and self education/exploration. 

6. A philosophical, spiritual, religious, or faith/belief based practice - that cultivates direction, meaning, purpose, and hope without a dependency on rational reasoning or proof, or a meditation “mindfulness” based practice (I would like to invite some of you who have never given “bullet #6” much thought to try some of Deepak Chopra’s guided sessions. They are available at his youtube channel “Choprawell” here:  https://www.youtube.com/ChopraWell/videos , or many of the materials from thought leader Sam Harris’ app entitled “waking up”.

7. Work and responsibility - employment, generating income, teaching, duties and responsibilities, and helping others are fundamental to our sense of well being and duty as a global citizen and being in the universe. 

8. Cultural Exchange - Engage with other cultures, partake in cultural exchange (pluralism, diversity) 

9. Resources for health and well being - medical care, therapies, credible independent health practices, human resources offices, home materials and online materials by credible authors (Minnesota is home to one of the most advanced medical clinics in the world, which also has a large online database of readable medical information on symptoms/treatments/etc.. and I would like to recommend it as a “starting point” if you have a medical concern in preparation for visiting your doctor: www.mayoclinic.org )

10. Body Sciences -  Knowing how we work from inside through the study of physiology, neurology, cognitive science, psychology, pedagogy, (learning styles, in particular the distinction between declarative and non-declarative learning/memory) (this works with #5: Education)

11. Psychological Categorical Awareness - In addition to these behavioral guidelines, part of holistic awareness is the importance of “knowing thyself” by understanding our own psychology, or at the very least, understanding our general psychological stance, or “temperament” (personality traits, and psychological tendencies). Our psychological temperament largely shapes how we view the world, ourselves, and our interactions with it. Knowing our own temperament and traits will give us a clearer, more objective view on moving forward with our lives, and will remove some doubt and anxiety. (this also works with #5: Education)

The “OCEAN” model for personality traits (based on a theoretical model developed using psycho-metric data) is well accepted among psychologists. These give traits are the most general and prominent in large subsets of people. Typically individuals are strongest in one or two of these traits over the others.  

O openness 

C conscientiousness 

E extroversion 

A agreeableness 

N neuroticism

EXERCISES FOR YOU TO TRY! ….

1.  Musical awareness meditation exercise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_14XztCudk&t

2. Visualization exercise to prepare for performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQSzVOWq0fs