WE ARE MUSIC: AN EXISTENTIAL JOURNEY TOWARD INFINITY

What is music?

Modern society has come to view music largely as entertainment and commodity. In response, We Are Music: An Existential Journey Toward Infinity provides the reader with a holistic starting point. Music has unlimited potential to transform and enlighten, and is only impeded when bound by materialism, physicalism, and reductionism. We Are Music is an attempt to bring music back to the core of humanity as an agent of positive empowerment, self-actualization, and beyond.

Embracing interconnectivity, music is more deeply experienced alongside the arts, science, social sciences, math, philosophy, history, and, above all, spirituality. An endless spiral, self-perception and identity can be vastly expanded, if not questioned and transcended.

Music is an infinite field and any attempt to define and describe it is problematically finite and consequently limited. Herein lies the impossibility of the book which both excites and disturbs; the paradox of being and not being.

A roadmap for music lovers toward self-realization, We Are Music is for those who desire to delve deeper into the power and illusion of self through music.

Contents:

• Preface
• Introduction
• Listening
• Time and Rhythm
• Sound, Pitch, Timbre, and Emotions
• Melody, Line and Structure
• Harmony
• Counterpoint
• Texture
• Form
• We Are Music
• We Are the Cosmos
• To Be AND Not To Be
• Appendix I: Sonic Microspacetime Perceptio
• Appendix II: Table of Tertian Chords up to the 13th (Non Exhaustive)
• Glossary of Musical Terms
• Author Index
• Subject Index
• Author Bio

Readership: Undergraduate and graduate students studying music. Musicians or individuals interested in the deeper aspects of music.

'We Are Music is an incredible testament to the vast knowledge John Sharpley has accumulated over a lifetime and painstakingly brought together in this astounding book. As a musician and spiritual seeker, I found myself revelling in the vastness of this book; some of it magically simple, and some of it so heady that I suspect I will need to reread some parts, or wait until a time that I have the ability to consider such possibilities. You will not be met with finite answers and lazy explanations, but instead, an experience like no other ... visceral, expansive, and exhilarating. I, for one, have been changed forever.' - Amanda ColliverSinger, songwriter, author, life coach

'In a highly ordered, yet fluidity of consciousness style, Dr John Sharpley invites the reader/seeker on a spiritual and philosophical quest in his deeply provocative book, We Are Music. The journey examines every aspect of music as expected, but more significantly, reveals the illusory nature of music, self, and all existence. The probing questions offered in each chapter are but a gateway to higher self-awareness, and ultimately point to spiritual liberation via recognition of the false separation between all things.' - Dr Elyane LausadeConcert pianist, lecturer, author

'There is a methodology in We Are Music where readers can find theoretical and practical ways to encounter the divinity of being human. The book aims to explore infinite possibilities and dimensions of music, revealing horizons far beyond the confines and expectations of contemporary society. It's a book for everyone who yearns to dive deeper into music and experience its impact on life. We Are Music opens the spiritual realm for everyone who reads it.' - Sabin MunikarMusician, educator, founder and director of the KathmanduYouth Orchestra, director of Kathmandu Music Institute

'In We Are Music: An Existential Journey Toward Infinity, there are hundreds of invitations to observe and experience sound, rhythm and time in new ways. There are practical exercises and improvisations at the end of each chapter that can be tried alone or with other musicians, as well as suggestions for further research and explorations. But John's book is more than a study of the components that make up our perception of what music is. In every page of We Are Music one finds John's humanity, optimism, openness and the universe-embracing-expansiveness of his thinking. It is a journey to explore our consciousness through the portal of music.' - Frank DeMeglioLecturer, Classical MusicSchool of Contemporary MusicLASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore

Key Features:

• A contemporary nexus and dialogue of music, all the arts, cultures, science, math, psychology, philosophy, religion, and spirituality in an attempt to find interconnectivity of music with all things
• Captures the zeitgeist for a new and yet ancient way of learning, experiencing, and making music. A vision for what is possible through music
• A guide for musicians to expand horizons beyond what may have been previously imagined. A trajectory that questions identity, existence, and "reality" in pursuit of spiritual awakening