Cool on my Skin
A new CD by guitarist Sharon Carne and poet Cindy Waites, is a gift channelled from spirit to assist in our healing, clearing and transformational work. The tones are chosen with the intent to balance chakras, create deep relaxation and an expanded state of consciousness.
Sharon Carne
Sharon Carne has been a teacher for the past 30 years. For the past 20 years, since coming to Calgary, she is the city’s most well known and respected teacher for guitar, especially for children. She is a popular adjudicator at music festivals around Alberta and has spoken at local, national and international conferences on the guitar. Sharon performs at all kinds of events from recitals to receptions. Sharon’s expertise in sound, her sensitivity to energy, a near death experience and her fascination with spirit has created a passion for healing sound. This passion has led to the creation of CDs for healing and workshops on healing sound. Sharon is a certified sound healer, and reiki practitioner, in addition to having two degrees in music.
Testimonials:
What’s being said . . .
About “Cool on my Skin”
Having many years experience in working with energy frequencies, I find Sharon's creation evolutionary, powerful, yet gentle, affecting all that listen and feel! I believe it to be in the same category as Jonathan Goldman's "Chakra Chants." This CD is beautifully rhythmical for personal enjoyment and gentle comfort. Designed to move one gently through releasing from the inner core - out, allowing you to touch deep aspects of yourself consciously or subconsciously. It doesn't matter where you are on your path. Allow yourself to trust and let it flow. A beautiful masterpiece suited for all.
Anne F. Brunsmann, RMT, "A" Essence Massage
When I first heard Sharon's CD "Cool on my Skin" I thought it to be simply beautiful music played by an exceptional artist; and then I discovered more. I continued to listen... I felt my tension release and my energy levels harmonize. The music helped me "centre" and I continued to feel the deep soothing effects long after the last note was played.
Renae Barlow, Clear and Simple Living
Sharon Carne is a wonderfully gifted and inspiring talent who magically combines beautiful classical guitar with incredible poetry. If you shut your eyes and just listen, the healing will begin! -
Laura Young, Owner – Gifts For The Soul
Sharon's notes
Sometimes people enter your life bringing such amazing gifts. Several years ago I received a call from a young mother, Cindy, whose two year old son, Joe, told her that he just had to learn to play the guitar. She gave me a call and Joe started guitar lessons with me when he turned 3. I was privileged to be a part of Joe and Cindy's lives for the next 14 years. Cindy and I often shared our stories of spiritual expansion and growth with each other. We soon learned we had much in common. Her poetry and my music proved to be a perfect link.
The first time I became aware of Cindy's poetry was when one of her poems won a prize in a poetry contest in a local magazine. When I read it, I heard music inside. My curiosity was aroused by this musical response to her words and I asked her some questions about her poems.
I was fascinated as she described her variation of the ancient Malaysian Pantun. There are sixteen lines in each poem but only eight lines of text. Each line is repeated twice in a consistent pattern. If you give each of the eight lines a number, the corresponding numbers for the lines of the last (fourth) verse are seven, one, eight, and three. For me, these numbers represent spirit, unity (or unity consciousness), infinity and the trinity. I also feel that her use of images of the four elements (water, earth, air and fire) in her poems strongly grounds spirit, unity, infinity and trinity into my heart. I find Cindy's poetry deeply spiritual and completely human. A thought entered my mind about expanding this impact by accompanying her words with music.
My next encounter with Cindy's poetry was very personal. I was honoured to receive a poem for my birthday written by Cindy and two of her sons, Joe and Matt. It is called "Ode to Guitar" and appears on track seven on this CD. She also gave me copies of several other poems. I heard music inside when I read each one, but not clearly enough to write it down yet. So I filed them away, trusting them to the proverbial "back burner" to let them "cook" for a while.
Another four years passed before I would see the poems again. A gift of recording equipment got me thinking about them. I retrieved the file of poems to read again and the music started pouring through me. After I had written music to two of her poems, I invited Cindy to listen and to ask for her permission to use her poems for a CD. She was surprised and pleased.
With gratitude and her permission, I began a fascinating journey. I soon discovered how deeply I had to surrender to my intuition (spirit) to create this music. If I tried to add something or impose a structure that wasn't supposed to be there, I was completely blocked and would stare at a blank page for days. Track 12 on the CD, "Sea of Light Within," was the most interesting lesson. This piece consists of two chords built on the notes C G D A and A E B F#. To me, these two chords complete and integrate all that has come before. My years of formal musical training came to the fore and I was convinced that there should be a melody floating above these chords. After the fifth attempt at writing a melody and two weeks of being completely blocked, I finally surrendered to the notion that these two chords were all that were intended. It was supposed to be a meditation. This thought hadn't occurred to me until I performed all twelve pieces for some friends and they felt strongly that this last piece is a meditation.
I feel this music already existed on some other level. My job was to figure out how to hear it and manifest it into this dimension. If I tried to add anything that didn't belong it just didn't work.
The pieces appear on the CD in the order in which they were composed. When the music was complete for one poem, I selected the next in a completely intuitive way. I believe the pieces are most effective if heard from beginning to end in order. As I composed and recorded this music, I added strong healing intentions to each piece. As you find your own way to explore this music, I ask that you choose a piece that provides you with a sense of completeness or wholeness when you end your listening.
Circles are inherent in this music, as they are in the poetry. To me, a circle is representative of wholeness, unity and the soul. The set begins and ends with poems and concepts of unity, wholeness and the soul. It was also my intention from the beginning that there would be a total of twelve pieces for this CD. I was thrilled when I timed all twelve and discovered that they would indeed fit on a CD.
The number twelve has meaning for me in a variety of ways and I wanted twelve pieces on the CD to honour how this number has shown up in my life. Some of these include the following. There are a total of twelve tones and semitones within an octave, for example from the note G to the next G. There are twelve signs in the zodiac, a cosmic circle. I was born on the 12th. That's not a circle.
The tones and key areas used in the music intentionally follow part of the musical circle of 5ths. That is, if you start with the note C and count up 5 notes (including C) you end up on G. After G, the musical scale starts at A again. If you keep going from G and counting up 5 notes, etc, the tones line up as follows: C to G to D to A to E to B to F#.
The way the tones are used is also intended to match the tones associated with the energy frequencies of the chakras of the human energy system. There are seven major chakras. Each one is a spinning vortex of energy connected to a specific area of the body and running through the body from front to back. The root (first) chakra is located at the base of the trunk. The sacral (second) chakra is found about three inches below the navel. The abdominal (third) chakra is just above the navel. The heart (fourth) chakra is in the centre of the chest. The throat (fifth) chakra is located at the throat. The sixth chakra is located just above and between the eyes in the forehead and is usually called the "third eye". The crown (seventh) chakra is located at the top of the head. There are many sources of information about the chakras. If you are interested in looking into them and/or their relationship to sound in more detail, you might start with the works of Caroline Myss, Jonathan Goldman, Peter Michael Hamel and Ted Andrews.
The energy vibrations of the chakras also match the vibrations of musical pitches. The root chakra vibrates to C, the sacral chakra to D, the abdominal chakra to E the heart chakra to F, the throat chakra to G, the third eye chakra to A and the crown chakra to B. In this music I have used the note F# (in the thymus area) instead of F for the heart area. This note, to me, represents the sacred heart and is used to evoke that in the music. The tones or key areas usually appear in pairs in the music - C and G, D and A, E and B, A and E, B and F#. This arrangement also nicely pairs up a lower chakra (below the heart) with a higher one (above the heart), except for B and F#. This pairing matches up the crown with the heart. The heart is our centre and the crown connects our heart to our source. Some of the healing intentions in the music are created through these connections.
If you have been drawn to this CD, it is my hope that that it may add some enjoyment and support for your own journey through this amazing gift that we call life.
A project like this is supported by the gifts and inspiration of many people: my husband, Ed, who gave me the recording equipment; my sons, Will, who created the booklet, and Matt, who created the web site (www.sharoncarne.com); my sisters, with whom I share my entire life's journey; my students, whose gifts inspire me and teach me; my friends, who are mirrors of my beauty and the things I need to learn; my teachers, who move my soul. I honour you all and am so grateful for your presence in my life. I also honour the creator spirit that moves through each of us and connects us as one with everything. That is the greatest gift of all.
Namaste,
Sharon Carne
August 3, 2004
Cindy's notes
Poet’s Perspective
Poetry allows me to creatively and cathartically connect with and express the deepest part of my soul. In the variation of the Pantoum form that I use, derived from the ancient Malayasian Pantun, each line is repeated twice in a cascading sequence. This links the last stanza with the first, thereby creating a circular structure which lends itself well to musical interpretation. This format enables the poems to evolve slowly, like flower petals unfurling in slow motion. All lines must make sense in the context of their unfolding, and, in the repetition, two perspectives become congruent.
The repetitive aspect of the poem triggers a meditative state commonly induced by chanting. This form enables the poem to unfold similarly to the way a night dream unfolds. The unresolved ending has a lucid and open quality which adds an element of suspense and double entendre similar to that experienced in night dream images.
Watercolour painting is another transcendent medium that I use to similarly engage. I am also a school teacher in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. My gift to my students is to help them develop skills to connect with and express their passion. My three sons are the greatest joy of my life.
Find your passion,
Cindy Waites
07/01/04
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