The word set to music
Before it was written, the word was spoken, and before it was spoken, it was sung. Prayers, carols, doinas and mantras have carried people's deepest thoughts across the centuries precisely because they were bound to a melody. A melody holds a word in memory better than paper does.
The pieces here continue this simple tradition. The verses are short and set to a slow rhythm, to give each image time to reach where it needs to go.
Listening as a practice
We hear almost all the time, but we rarely listen. Music accompanies us at the wheel, while shopping, at work, and most of the time we no longer follow it at all. To truly listen is to give the sound your whole presence, without doing anything else at the same time.
Seen this way, listening becomes a quiet practice of attention. It asks for no preparation and no particular place. It asks only for a few minutes in which you are not somewhere else.
How to listen
Choose a single piece. There is no need to listen to all of them at once.
Sit comfortably, somewhere you will not be interrupted for a few minutes. If you can, use headphones and close the other windows and apps.
Do nothing else while the piece plays. Do not read, do not write, do not answer messages. Let the verses come, and let them pass.
When the piece ends, do not start the next one right away. Stay a few moments in the quiet that follows. Often, that is where what you have listened to is heard best.
Rhythm, breath and attention
Between rhythm and breath there is an old and natural bond. When you listen to something slow, your breathing tends to slow down as well, without your forcing it. And when the breath settles, attention becomes clearer too.
We are not proposing a breathing exercise or a method. We propose only that you observe. Follow how your inner rhythm changes over the course of a piece, without correcting it. Attention that observes without intervening is perhaps the simplest form of stillness.
You can listen to the same piece several times, on different days. The verses stay the same, but you will not be the same, and the listening will change along with you. Some images open only at the third or fourth meeting, like an aphorism reread after a while.