Why, to begin with, would an improvisational pianist and composer of healing music want to write words instead of notes? Shouldn’t the music be left to do its magic?

I asked myself these questions many times and had to conclude that,at some point, we need to go beyond.

Here is why:

While music often acts as a catalyst and helps release emotions that are stored deeply in our subconscious minds, we still need to work consciously on our hearts and minds to manage these high-intensity energies. When the notes fall silent, our internal music begins to play again and we all know it isn’t always harmonious.

Furthermore, most times this inner music is so subtle that we don’t hear it because in fact, we do not listen and so, the cacophony we create subconsciously, goes largely unnoticed and discreetly sabotages our health and well-being by creating lingering internal dissonance.

It took me almost a half-century to awaken to the inner conflicts I had produced and to begin listening. The music I improvised and composed on my piano certainly contributed greatly to start the process of transformation. Yet I needed to go further and crystallize my thoughts about the real meaning of life and about who I really was.

That is why I began to write 7 Keys to Serenity. The title came naturally since my music label bears the same name. Why seven? I reflected that all it takes in the western musical system to make beautiful music is to use seven basic notes: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. On a piano these seven notes are embodied by keys. Hence seven keys to serenity. They are played in chords and octaves, with sharps and flats and interact in many other combinations. When these combinations sound good, we are creating harmony. When they are wrong or ill chosen, we create dissonance and when this dissonance is lingering we produce a cacophony.

It is no different in life. The cacophony is called anxiety, stress and eventually “dis-ease”.

To transpose these seven notes into words, I chose seven “key-words” that would be essential in helping us create harmony within ourselves and therefore inner peace, which is itself key to serenity.

What are these seven keywords?

Stay tuned…

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