Hack Music Theory

Overwhelmed With Content? Use This Method.

One simple question can get your time (and your life) back!

I deleted all my social media accounts 11 years ago, yet every day I’m overwhelmed with things to listen to. And that’s just on Spotify. There are countless fascinating podcast interviews, and more and more being uploaded every day. If you’re on social media, I can’t even begin to imagine how many choices you have. It’s beyond overwhelming!

I’m obsessed with learning, and my main interests are philosophy, theology, psychology, anthropology, and history. But, all the waking hours each day aren’t enough to listen to all the podcast episodes I’m interested in. So I prioritize, then listen at a high speed in an attempt to learn as much as humanly possible. But this is utterly exhausting. Humans are not meant to take in this much information.

And as there are still only 24 hours in the day, despite the ever-expanding universe of things to watch and listen to, I’m realizing that the more podcasts I devour, the less time I have for music. And when I say music, I don’t mean background music. I’m listening to Beethoven’s beautiful and uplifting Serenade for flute, violin and viola in D major (Opus 25) as I write this. But, I’m not actively listening. When we give music our full attention, it rewards us by changing our mind, body, and spirit.

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Just a few minutes of music can change our biochemistry, which in turn changes our mood and our outlook. Or maybe it’s the other way round? Either way, music is magic. It’s arguably the most powerful thing that most of us have access to. If they could bottle the power of music, we’d all be rushing to buy it. Yet somehow, despite the fact that most of us have free music on tap, we spend hardly any time actively listening to it each day. That’s mad. I’m mad! Are you mad, too?

Or to put it more accurately, we’ve been mind-controlled. If the masses were spending many hours actively listening to uplifting music every day, instead of scrolling on their phones, it would be extremely difficult to keep everyone fearful. And if the masses aren’t fearful, it’s pretty much impossible to control them. So they feed us fear propaganda 24/7, which we gobble up like fiends, and then waste our one precious life being scared of everything.

This isn’t a new technique. It’s as old as civilization. They’re just getting exponentially better at influencing our beliefs and behaviour - thanks to progress and technology, which we’re constantly brainwashed into believing are great advances that make us so much better off than all the hunter-gatherers around the world who live happy and healthy lives without progress and technology.

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So here’s how I’m trying to take back control of my time, and therefore, my life. Before clicking on something to watch or listen to, I’m asking myself this simple question: Is this art, or is this merely content?

You can define art however you want, but at the end of the day, art nourishes and enriches us, while content only fills us. Not many of us need more content, but all of us could do with more nourishment and enrichment. Also, I’m thinking about what type of relationship I’d have with the thing I’m considering watching or listening to. Art is a two-way relationship, because it activates our imaginations.

For example, the author Alexander McCall Smith, whose writing I love, has a new podcast called Positive Distraction. Each episode is a short story, written and read by the author. It’s a wonderful way to take a break from reality for a few minutes and withdraw into our imaginations.

Content, on the other hand, is a one-way relationship: It feeds, we eat. Gobble, gobble, gobble.

Another technique I’m trying out before watching or listening to something is asking myself this question: Will I feel better listening to one of my favourite albums instead of this thing? If the answer is yes, then I know what to do. And when all else fails, I simply ask myself: Can I live without watching or listening to this, or is this thing actually vital to my wellbeing?

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So to summarise, when we encounter art, it invites us into an all-encompassing experience of heart, mind, and spirit. That’s how we can tell what’s art, and what’s merely content.

And by the way, here’s a little tip for getting the most out of your listening. Research shows that listening to music alone actually increases its intensity. Yes, listening to music with other people is great for communal reasons, but being alone with the music is more intense. So if you’re listening to music to change how you feel, then do it privately. Eyes closed and headphones on gives an extra boost, too.

Anyway, I hope that gives you something to ponder. And just before I go. If you’re interested in making great music yourself, you can download my Free Book and Free PDF Tutorials. I’ve got resources for songwriters and producers at every level, from complete beginner all the way up to advanced.

Lastly, if you’d like me to keep doing this work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber on my Substack, or making a one-off contribution. And a heartfelt thank-you to all my paid subscribers. There are currently 18 of you. I know each one of you by name. I see you, and I thank you for sticking with me through this difficult time. It means the world to me. And please know that I’m working really hard on overcoming my depression and anxiety, so I can post more regularly once again.

If you can’t afford to become a paid subscriber or make a one-off contribution at the moment, though, no problem, you can give the podcast a 5-star rating in your app. That helps support my work, too. Thanks for being here, my friend, you are truly valued and appreciated. I’m Ray Harmony, and I hope you’ll join me again next time. Until then, remember to stop and smell the music.

Photo by Mart Production

 

 

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About.

 

Ray Harmony is a multi award-winning music lecturer who’s made music with Serj Tankian (System Of A Down), Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine), Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad), Ihsahn (Emperor), Kool Keith (Ultramagnetic MCs), Madchild (Swollen Members), and more. Ray is also the founder of Hack Music Theory, a YouTube channel with over 10 million views and over 255,000 subscribers learning the fast, easy and fun way to make music without using AI, cos it ain’t no fun getting a robot to write “your” songs! Everything here is 100% Human and 0% AI.

 

 

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio