Waldorf News

The Importance of Listening

Be Still!
Listen to the Silence.
The Silence which is sounding
creates in us the will to listen.
We listen with our will
and thereby touch the Universe.
The Universe resounds in us,
Bequeaths to us our Listening Will.

-Channa Andriesse Seidenberg (1939-2020),
anthroposophical music therapist,
composer and teacher

By Shannon Boyce

In today’s times there are so many things coming towards us fighting to draw our attention.  You can’t seem to go anywhere anymore without a screen staring you in the face.  Even at the gas pump there is a screen showing some advertising.

With all that there is to distract us today, attentive listening has fallen by the wayside.  And of course, trying to keep up with everything coming towards us is exhausting and it clouds our thinking. If we consider all the conflict in the world today, one could say that part of the conflict comes from the fact that we are no longer listening attentively because we are so distracted with the electronic fast pace of modern life.  All this information rubbing up against us trying to get our attention in an over saturated world is numbing us.

Learning to pay attention, or to attend to the important things in life, also known as executive function, is a skill that one must work on to stay healthy and balanced and as a way to build healthy connections with others.

In his lecture series The Inner Nature of Music and the Experience of Tone Rudolf Steiner describes how our souls are living in the time of the interval of the 2nd.  For those of you not familiar with music, the interval of the 2nd is a very tight interval.  There are two versions of it, the minor 2nd and the major 2nd, or also known as, the half step and the whole step.  We experience the tightness of both versions of the 2nd as if the two tones are rubbing up against each other.  It is like the experience of a group of young children all trying to get your attention at the same time and creating a feeling of being overwhelmed, or trying to squeeze into clothing that is too tight, or like fingernails going across a chalkboard.

This makes sense when you think about it.  All the stresses of daily life press up against us and all the divisiveness and confusion that is going on today socially and politically affect us all.  However, it is necessary for us to go through this conflict at this time in the evolution of humanity.  We have to rub up against each other or humanity will stop developing and growing.

It’s the same reason our children must push up against us and even pull away from us, or they don’t develop and grow.  This rubbing ultimately will lead human beings to harmony with one another: – To the feeling of the Octave or the Prime (as Steiner puts it).  One day when human beings have a full understanding of the experience of the Octave in their souls, they will know their true higher “I” nature in themselves, in the world, and in the cosmos.  And each human will be in harmony with every other human.  We have a long way to go.

The question is:  How can we develop ourselves towards this feeling of unison within ourselves, others and the world?  It is through learning to be with one’s self in an artistic way, and acknowledging and connecting to the world of spirit through art.  And this is particularly so with music.

Why music? What makes it so special?  The world of musical tone is an art form that occupies a very special place among the arts because it doesn’t live in the physical world.  You can’t hold it or even see it.  Yes, we can see notes on a page that represent the music, but the music itself is purely invisible.  It lives in the spiritual world.  But through the power of listening, we can invite it to join us through playing an instrument or playing our own instrument the human voice.  When we sing with a free tone we are connecting to the cosmos or the music of the spheres.  Yet, much of what we call singing today is not free.  It is bound too strongly to the physical.

Steiner remarked, “A musical tone lies at the foundation of everything in the physical world”.  If we learn to listen, we can become better creators in our world.  True listening, as the verse states above, can be our super power to repel all the distractions.  It is this kind of listening that is the doorway to the free creative healing power of tone.  It is a tool for transformation.

Therefore, the study of singing is so very important no matter whether you consider yourself a singer or not.  Through singing study that involves active listening, everyone can experience restorative healing energy.  The cosmos begins to sing you.  Your consciousness is awakened and you begin to stand in your higher power.  You become more present in everything that you do.  And you learn to unite with others and heal conflicts and turmoil within yourself and those around you.

Learning to listen in this way trains your thinking, feeling, and willing, allowing you to find balance in yourself so you stop swinging so wildly between your sympathies and antipathies.  This kind of listening as described in the verse allows you to find the middle way, the balance conscious way.

This summer there are several opportunities both online and in person for you to begin to experience the creative and healing power of the tone and listening with “The School of Uncovering the Voice”, the singing school developed and founded by Valborg Werbeck-Svärdström supported by her 11-year relationship with Rudolf Steiner.

In Person Offerings

After two years, Christiaan Boele is returning to the USA for in-person summer singing retreats, both in California and New York.

Annual Singing Retreat July 2-3 at Marin Waldorf School San Rafael, CA

Online Offerings

New Cohort Beginning June 27th, Foundational Course #1 “Awakening to the Breath with the Exercises to Forget the Breathing”- taught by certified Uncovering the Voice Teacher, Shannon Boyce.  Click here for more details www.uncoveringthevoice.com or contact shannonaliciaboyce@gmail.com.

Free Online Introductory Lessons choose either June 18, 19, 20, or 25.  Click here for more information.

Contact Shayndel Adler at: healing.round@gmail.com  or click the link www.Werbecksinging.com

Summer Singing Retreat July 17-20 at Threefold Educational Foundation, Spring Valley, NY
Contact Shannon Boyce at: shannonaliciaboyce@gmail.com or click this link
East Coast Summer Singing Retreat