Recently I was invited on to The Jaden Show on YouTube hosted by Jaden Cornelious to discuss my music and other creativity and it was so much fun. The interview was pre-recorded over Zoom and we had much to catch up on as we hadn’t seen one another for 7 years – isn’t that crazy?!
In the late 1990s Jaden was Lead Singer/Songwriter in the UK group B-YOND who were best known for their song, “The Key”. They also performed the song “Lighten Up” on an episode of the TV programme Blue Peter in 1997. These days, Jaden is a Classical crossover artist now based in Mexico. One of his ambitions is to sing in every state of the United States and he’s performed in three so far. He is also renowned for his work with animals and community projects including the non-profit organizations JC Fundraising and Power2Endure. He is Global Ambassador at Discover the Gift, owner of Selva Singing and Director at the London Room – Recording Facility. In 2009 Jaden and friends put together an evening of celebration of songs made famous by Olivia Newton-John with the aim of raising £10,000 within 6 months for the ‘Only Olivia’ Breast Cancer Charity.
Please visit Jaden’s Facebook page to find out more about him and his work:-
Every Sunday evening the Jaden Show features a special guest and showcases some of their work. Recent shows have featured US opera singer and ballet dancer Rachel Nash; the Indian Singer, Composer and Lyricist Shoolbhrit Darshan who, from a very young age, developed a mystical thought process which is reflected in his music; and the legendary Singer/Songwriter Thereza Bazar who was one half of the 1980s Stock Aitken and Waterman pop sensation, Dollar. A warm and approachable character, Jaden seems to have the knack of making you feel comfortable and putting you at ease which encourages you to stand in your best light, and the shows are always interesting and inspiring and delivered in a friendly, down-to-earth manner.
My turn was on Sunday 19 February 2023 and you can tune in here:-
I do hope you enjoy watching it and will consider subscribing to Jaden’s channel so you are notified of new uploads and stay in the loop. Again, I would like to thank Jaden for inviting me on to the show and for all his support, which means a lot to me.
Please feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts.
First of all, I would like to wish all my subscribers (and other readers of my blog) a very healthy, happy and empowering 2023. If you are new to my blog, welcome, and I do hope you enjoy reading my content.
I guess it’s true to say I’ve been gone a while; there’s been a lot happening the last few months; most notably juggling balls and spinning plates in the air (metaphorically-speaking), the whole festive thing with its gift-buying-and-wrapping, tree-buying and decorating and taking down again, cooking, washing and tidying up, making and editing videos for my various platforms, wading through mountains of admin and paperwork and accounts, doing my music, making and pricing up and photographing of items for my two pitches at the Petticoat Lane Emporium in Ramsgate plus my Etsy shop and my Ebay site (basically, doing what I can to earn some money whilst also running a household and helping my piano tuner husband to be a success in his trade), visiting nearest and dearest and those further away up and down the motorway . . . and looking after our two young cats and one diabetic, arthritic and incontinent senior tabby cat, our lovely loyal boy Merlin who follows me around or sits on his favourite chairs watching me with love hearts in his eyes. Merlin was diagnosed with diabetes in October of last year, following the suspicions I had carried around for a while, watching and observing his habits and demeanor. Several months had passed before Dan would believe me and when he did, he admitted he had been in denial. We have put a lot of work in with Merlin as it takes him time to adjust to change. We have had to change his mealtime regime to twice only daily – to which he was not at all receptive for several weeks – source wet food and biscuits for him that are diabetic friendly and made of the most natural ingredients (which of course are far more expensive than regular cat foods, but anything for our boy), inject him twice a day 30 minutes’ after he has finished eating, change his pee pad in his special tray sometimes multiple times a day and mop the floor, as he often dribbles urine when he’s finished his business. I sometimes cook him fresh chicken or turkey and he might get a little of this if he’s very hungry during the day and needs a small snack; the vet said it was better than giving him more biscuit. I also groom him regularly and massage extra virgin olive oil into his fur as he is prone to flaky skin. This he enjoys very much and likes to lick the oil on his fur. Twice we also give him a fish oil powder capsule which we break into his food and mix in well. This also helps to ease his skin condition though it seems to have made only slight improvement to his mobility.
He sees the vet once a month for a checkup, to get weighed, examined and bloods taken to monitor his insulin levels. This time we discussed his mobility problems which suddenly came on more recently and seem to affect his pelvis and back legs from what we can make out when we watch him move around awkwardly. The vet was very gentle with him when she examined him thoroughly and agreed that his hip joints appear to be arthritic and at one point we heard a ‘click’. She also said that the muscles in his back legs are weak, which of course is probably due to the fact that he is no longer to move about comfortably so the muscle is wasting. At home, he is no longer able to jump on to the side of the bathtub to drink from the cold running water from the washbasin tap, something he has enjoyed for most of his life; nor is he able any longer to run up the stairs when I call to him and instead he makes a slow hop up one stair at a time, which breaks my heart. One day last week he tried to jump up on to the kitchen chair beside me and was unable to do it, his claws caught in the fabric seating, so I picked him up gently and lifted him on to the seat though mostly he can still manage without help. It is, though, heartbreaking to see him in discomfort and unable to do some of the things he used to enjoy. The vet recommended a full panel of bloodwork this time to check that Merlin doesn’t have any underlying medical conditions other than the diabetes and to rule out anything else such as side effects from his insulin. If the results come back clear, we can perhaps start him on Metacam medication and see where we go from there, though she understands I prefer the natural way and she definitely thinks animal healing is a good idea and told me she used to work at a practice that encouraged it for their furry clients.
Anyway, I digress, since this is intended to be an article about goals and New Year’s resolutions. As we journey the days in the life of January, it is perhaps opportune to think about what we might all wish to achieve during the Chinese New Year of the Water Rabbit (ironically, in which I was born almost six decades ago, in 1963) when celebrations start on 22 January.
It is customary, as one year ends, to formulate our intentions for the coming year and this is often done at New Year’s Eve or it’s equivalent, for example the Pagan festival (Sabbat) of Samhain (Halloween) or, yes, at Chinese New Year. Whether we be adult or child, deciding to set ourselves a few tasks or objectives can be both life-affirming and empowering, however resolutions often fail because they are too vague and lack real focus. For example, a desire to “eat more healthily” or “take more exercise” is not specific enough, as neither address how you are going to eat healthier or how or what exercise you intend to do. However, if for example, you say: “I am going to grow and harvest my own salad greens” or “I am going to eat a salad at least five days a week and enjoy one glass of wine a week” or “I am going to go for a swim three times a week”, then those are specific goals. This is how New Year’s resolutions are more likely to be successful.
If living a more healthy lifestyle is on of your goals, perhaps you felt guided to give Veganuary and/or Dry January a try in order to kick-start the process and shift a few pounds after the excesses of the festive season. If, at the end of it you begin to feel the benefits of the initiative and find you are enjoying trying different foods and the creative aspect of preparing a healthy, balanced meal with fresh ingredients or can see the benefit of limiting an alcoholic drink to once a week then perhaps you might decide to make it part of your everyday life. On the other hand, if you tried it as an experiment and decided you missed some foods too much but you don’t mind cutting back on them a little in future and you did lose some weight and you learned more about yourself in the process then that’s good too. Everything in life is a learning process and one size does not fit all. Do not think either that you have failed if you despised most or every aspect of Veganuary/Dry January, you didn’t lose any weight or you just couldn’t ride it out right to the end; at least you gave it a try and know beyond doubt that what is right for one person is not necessarily right for another. We only fail if we think about doing something but don’t try it out at all.
I take on board that vague resolutions may work for some people, but personally I never found they worked well for me and I need the structure and clear intention that a solid goal gives me, something to aim for at which I can monitor my progress and at the same time stay positive and focused. It needs to be something that challenges my capabilities and mindset but at the same time is realistic and achievable. Here are a few of my goals:-
To grow my social media:-
Do at least one video per week for either my Rumble channel catevansartist or one of my three YouTube channels – @catevansartist, @catevanscuisine or @electrickwytchofficial.
To do at least one video a week for either my Facebook or Instagram on whatever topic feels appropriate
To do two Facebook or Instagram live streams per month
To upload a new blog at least twice per month
To drop one dress size this year by continuing my healthy regime. This includes going out for a walk or disco-dancing at home both at least three times a week. Also my newfound interest in sprouting seeds and fermenting, as well as continuing to eat a salad every day and by growing a wider range of organic salad greens in my back garden which I can pick what I need each day and when they are at their freshest. I have already made a start on this by purchasing four “growing tables” which are wide, wooden planters at table height with shelves below for storing compost – or even more planters containing healthful goodies, especially useful for tender plants which do not fare so well in full sunlight. I have called it “My Garden Project” and will be discussing more about this in a future blog post.
To focus more on my music by:-
Piano practice 5 times a week (often I manage four).
Composition/songwriting one half-day per week
Record the 4th movement of my sonata in preparation for the studio.
“How will you achieve all of this when you already lead such a busy life?” you may ask. As a self-confessed workaholic I take this on board and one of my tasks this year is to slow down a little and make more time by cutting back on activities that have the least importance. Non-negotiable are some household chores, seeing to the cats and meal preparation. Also, paperwork and general administration is vitally important; I do my husband’s as well as my own and failure to do paperwork will land us in a mess. Plus, at some stage it would need catching up on, resulting in a potentially stressful situation. However, I am able to free up a bit more time by the way I do it, for example spending an hour a day on paperwork and admin rather than, say, two or three hours twice a week. I am also able to fix crafting activity to maybe one morning or afternoon a week. I still have outlets and online to produce items for but I have fewer of them now and no longer need to hold larger quantities of stock and can therefore produce just as much or little as I need, which also increases efficiency and turnaround. I am also an avid maker of ‘to-do’ lists and have been using these more as an exercise to see exactly what I can achieve without filling up every second of my day, as being kind to ourselves and having sufficient rest and recreation time does help with focus and productivity. I can comfortably complete four or five tasks a day but if I complete any quickly or if I choose to push myself I can manage half a dozen. I am no longer minded to tackle more than that.
Neither do I need to concentrate on all goals at once. Some goals may be ongoing, others may be achieved quickly or may not work out as planned or may need to be ‘tweaked’, or put on hold, and new ones may present themselves instead. We should remember that personal and business circumstances may change either suddenly or over time and these circumstances may have a knock-on effect on what we are able to achieve. The point is, sometimes goals take longer to achieve even if we have put in some good work, but as long as the foundations and groundwork are there they can be picked up again in the future, by which time we may have more wisdom of experience and learning that will help bring our goals to fruition in a more effective way. As long as we enjoy doing what we are doing and gradually see some results or learn more about ourselves and our aspirations in the process it’s all good. If we don’t enjoy doing what we are doing, then perhaps we might find something else to try that might work better. We are all a work in progress and there is no need to beat ourselves up about it if something isn’t quite working out. Even taking a little time out might revive and refresh our vigour.
What are your goals in 2023? Is there anything that is going particularly well for you? Is there something you are struggling with or does not inspire you? I would be interested to know, as sometimes by sharing our experiences we might learn from one another.
Last year I composed a short piece of music which I named “Tranquillo” and recorded earlier this year. In Italian, Tranquillo means ‘calm’, ‘peaceful’, ‘quiet’ and I wrote the piece with meditation and relaxation in mind.
The recording incorporates natural wave sounds, sampled whilst visiting my local beach during the first Lockdown in 2020, not with anything particular in mind but with the idea that at some stage I might use the wave sounds for some kind of project in the future.
“Tranquillo” is written in C major with a 4/4 or ‘common’ time signature. It starts in the octave above middle C, in the Solfeggio frequency of 528 Hz which enables meditation, healing and transformation. To learn more about the Solfeggio scale and the role it plays in Healing and Sound Therapy, please refer to my previous blog here:-
The tempo is Andante, which in music means ‘moderately slow’ and is written as 120 at the top left-hand side of the music score, beneath the heading. It is an easy piece to play at beginner to intermediate level. Sustain pedal may be added for phrasing at the player’s discretion and the recording has been given echo to soften the tone.
The standard recording of this short piece is 2 minutes 28 seconds and this and the score is in Ternary Form, or 3 parts. Parts A and B are repeated and Part C is played once. To hear it, please visit my Bandcamp https://catherineevans.bandcamp.com/track/tranquillo
The extended (meditation) version has been looped to 11 minutes 11 seconds for YouTube (11:11:50 which they rounded up to 11:12) and the video comprises various random footage of sea and skies filmed over the last few years mostly around Thanet in coastal Kent, with certain of the sunset stills taken in Aberystwyth, South Wales in August 2019 while Dan and I were there for a family wedding.
Happy listening!
Catherine
My blog content is always offered freely but if you enjoy what you read, please tip me a peppermint tea by clicking on the PayPal button at the top of this blog. Thank you and blessed be!
I believe that in music we are often subconsciously drawn to frequencies that resonate with us or offer something which we need. Whether we simply enjoy listening to music or whether we write music or song, I believe we automatically choose particular frequencies and key signatures without necessarily intending to do so. In fact every note has its own unique frequency and wavelength. For example, I have discovered that middle C (otherwise known as C4) on the piano has a frequency of 262 Hz and vibrates to L4 – the fourth vertebra in the lumbar spine. I find this fact interesting; I have sometimes been drawn to playing pieces and indeed have composed music in this key signature without even giving it any deep and meaningful thought and simply going by instinct, despite my history of lower back problems stretching back nearly 30 years!
Sound therapy uses a variety of approaches to using vibrational frequencies to aid healing and therapy and even just playing or listening to music can help you to relax and focus. For example, Mantra is based on the resonance of specific chants. The mantra ‘OM’ vibrates to 432 Hz and has been used for thousands of years for meditation. However, if a piano is tuned to this frequency it sounds inferior to one tuned to A440 concert pitch due to calculations of the scale in the factory intended for A440 – determined by wire gauge, string length and tension.
Another tool of meditation is the use of Binaural Beats. The purpose of these frequencies is to play two slightly varying tones in each ear which then creates a third sound inside your brain in order to change the oscillation of brain waves and thus encourage a more positive state of mind and ultimately a greater sense of wellbeing.
The Solfeggio Scale is one we may be familiar with in the form of the vocal warm-up exercise: “Doh-Ray-Me-Fa-So-La-Ti-Doh” and please note the first syllable ‘Sol’ meaning ‘sun’, associated with warmth, growth, happiness and positivity. This scale is said to have been created by an 11th-century monk named Guido D’Arezzo, comprising a set of 6 tonal scales or frequencies for use in sacred chants in Latin – although in effect it existed in some form as far back as the 6th century AD. These chants contained special tones or frequencies which, when sung in harmony, and in Latin, were believed to impart tremendous spiritual blessings during religious masses. When these special frequencies were sung in harmony they were believed to bring spiritual abundance during religious masses; the combination of these ancient sacred tones and the Latin intonation had the power to penetrate throughout the recesses of the subconscious mind and support deep healing and transformation. “The Hymn to St John the Baptist” is renowned for being the most inspirational hymn ever written, featuring all six Solfeggio notes. At some point the Scale was lost only to be rediscovered in the mid-1970s by Dr Joseph Puleo, an American naturopathic physician and herbalist, and 3 lower tones were added making a total of nine, derived from numerology.
Our modern-day musical scale is slightly out of kilter from the original Solfeggio frequencies and consequently is a little more dissonant, as it is based upon what is known as the “Twelve-Tone Equal Temperament” and falls within the frequency of A440 Hz The ancient music scale was simply called “Just Intonation.” Furthermore, our modern music falls within the A 440 Hz frequency (concert pitch, as described above), which in circa 1914 was changed from A417 Hz. All nine Solfeggio frequencies together with their potential for healing and transformation are briefly addressed in turn.
174 Hz (F3 or 174.614 Hz, rounded up to 175 Hz) is the lowest of the frequencies and the first of the three more modern, lower tones. This frequency reduces and heals pain and lowers stress. It contains certain nodes and background tones that target the chakras and develop the healing power and energy to bring about a sense of wellbeing. This frequency can also help to lessen emotional pain and open you up to greater love and courage and may act as a natural anaesthetic or “painkiller”, so if you are feeling in a bad way emotionally and/or are still holding on to deep emotional wounds or scars, listening to music in this frequency may help you to release emotional damage and find the strength and courage to move forward more boldly in life, no longer holding on to ghosts of the past.
285 Hz is the second of the three lower frequencies and lies between C#4 (277.18 Hz rounded up to 278 Hz) and D4 (293.665 or 294 Hz) on the piano. This frequency is soothing and calming and “sends a message” through energy fields to heal and restore tissues and damaged organs in the body. The 285 Hz frequency also helps speed up the healing of burns, fractures, sprains, cuts, burns and other injuries to the limbs and boosts the immune system. It is believed that this frequency creates positive shifts to those near them so if, for example, you are recovering from an operation or injury or, say, you are recovering from an illness or have been feeling “under the weather” then listening to music in this frequency may help to support you in your recovery.
396 Hz is the third of the lowest frequencies and is found at G4 (391.991 Hz rounded up to 392 Hz). This frequency vibrates to the Root Chakra and also helps to balance that energy centre. It is good for letting go of grief and loss and for removing negative blocks such as fear and guilt. It is one of the fundamental frequencies in sound healing. When we have negative feelings our bodies start producing more cortisol which then affects our sleep and our general health and wellbeing. Listening to 396 Hz frequency music helps to create a strong magnetic energy field which gives us the power to achieve our ambitions, and its vibrations release us from the chains of negativity. The frequency is also used for awakening and turning grief and sadness into joy, and may be very helpful in helping to overcome bereavement particularly if you are finding it hard to come to terms with things.
417 Hz or note G#4 (415.3 Hz rounded up to 416 Hz) is the first of the original set of frequencies and vibrates to the Sacral Chakra located just below the navel. It is known as the ‘Frequency of Change’ and is used to cleanse and unblock negative or stale energy. A deeply transformative frequency, its powerful vibrations heal the brain, enabling us to overcome trauma and manage any negative thought patterns, thus it shares some aspects of its therapeutic power with the lowest frequency of 174 Hz whilst going the extra mile.
528 Hz or note C5 (523.251 Hz rounded up to 524 Hz), the octave above middle C and twice the frequency of C4, is the ‘Love’ frequency which is said to repair DNA. This frequency is equivalent to a piano tuned at A442 or C4 +16 cents on the tuning fork. I recently recorded “Tranquillo” which I composed in this key signature – again, I was simply guided to it – intended for meditation. It was only afterwards when I started looking more into the Ancient Solfeggio Frequencies when I discovered that 528 Hz music is the ultimate frequency for meditation and is best played softly. The 528 Hz frequency vibrates to the Solar Plexus. It increases positive thoughts and feelings and has been found to be the source of healing and recovery for the entire body, mind and spirit – so important for offering up the potential for DNA repair. It is linked to a natural, deep rooted link with the natural world and reinforces relationships with creativity and is perfect for when you feel in need of deep healing and to overcome traumas carried through from past lives as well as those of your ancestors. Now for an interesting scientific fact: if you tap your hand on a table, then you will have just been exposed to 528 Hz sound waves. White noise has no pitch and also has 528 Hz sonics and almost every sound except for a pure sine wave (a continuous wave as shown on a graph in mathematics, engineering and physics for example and with a smooth periodic function) contains white noise!
The 639 Hz frequency lies between D#5 (622.254 Hz rounded up to 623 Hz) and E5 (659.255 Hz rounded up to 660 Hz). This frequency is known as the Miracle Tone and vibrates to the Heart Chakra to manifest pure positive love energy. Listening to music in this frequency helps us to emotionally reconnect and attract love both from ourselves and those around us. This music can also help us to feel closer to universal consciousness, or self-realization by allowing us to look at a particular situation in a different way than before. Listeners may start to experience greater harmony in their relationships and navigate through life with better communication skills, deeper understanding, tolerance and love. Anyone struggling with turbulent or toxic relationships and co-dependency, or who is going through a rough patch in their personal life may find that listening to 639 Hz music enables them to heal and go on to transform areas of their life that no longer serve them well. The 639 Hz frequency may also be used to balance a blocked Heart Chakra which may manifest itself through low self-esteem, depression, lack of trust, low blood pressure, poor circulation and other heart and lung problems of the physical body.
The 748 Hz or note F#5 (739.989 rounded up to 740 Hz) frequency vibrates to the Throat Chakra and is used to cleanse all types of infections and dissolve toxins and electromagnetic radiations. It is directly connected to the Principle of Light – a higher form of bioenergy. Listening to music of this frequency may enable you to open up to communicate with your higher self, awakening your inner strength and intuition. It can also be used to cleanse blocked negative energy and overcome fear, overthinking and worry. Are you an overthinker? Do you spend hour after hour, day after day, week after week picking over and trying to analyze or make sense of a situation or an experience, whether it occurred recently or even long ago in your past? Then perhaps the 748 Hz frequency will enable you to take a step back and start to look at the situation more objectively and realize that’s where it belongs – in the past – and that today is for living without “what if’s” or regret. Nobody will think any the worse of you and even if they did, it is their issue to deal with, not yours.
The 852 Hz frequency (G#5 or 830.60 Hz rounded up to 831 Hz) corresponds with the Third Eye Chakra, which is known as the Seat of Intuitiveness. Music in this frequency may be used for clarity of thought, connection with the spirit world and a return to self-awareness, particularly if you have been feeling detached or disconnected from what is going on around you. In other words, if you have been feeling ungrounded or distracted and not always present in the moment.
The 963 Hz frequency lies between A#5 (932.328 Hz rounded up to 933 Hz) and B5 (987.767 or 988 Hz) and is also known as the ‘Frequency of the Gods’ or ‘Seat of the Soul’; its sound vibrates with the Crown Chakra and activates the pineal gland, which is a small pine cone-shaped gland found in the middle of the human brain, in between the two hemispheres of the epithalamus, and was one of the last glands to be discovered. The pineal gland is particularly important for the secretion of melatonin, a serotonin-derived hormone which regulates the body’s internal clock, or circadian rhythm, and sleep pattern. The gland is also rich in calcium levels, which act as a radiographer to find the middle of the brain in X-ray images. The 963 Hz frequency enables us to awaken the perfect state and make direct contact with the Universal Light, to which this frequency is attuned.
As I mentioned earlier, the contemporary music scale is a little out of step with the original Solfeggio frequencies, however there are ways of attaining a closer connection, particularly where the nearest notes on a keyboard lies further away from, or even where two lie between, the sacred frequency; for example in the case of 285 Hz, 639 Hz, 852 Hz and 963 Hz frequencies. Even note F#5 corresponding to 748 Hz frequency is a little further out than is ideal. Where a particular frequency lies between two notes, the lower of the two notes is usually taken but to the purist this is nowhere near perfect.
An alternative to the keyboard may be to apply a pitch-bend technique and/or by using a different musical instrument such as strings, pipes, gongs or Tibetan bells, for example, in order to reach the intended frequency more accurately. Please remember of course that the voice is a very versatile instrument capable of a wide variety of sounds and techniques. Holding a note at a particular frequency may be used in chant or as a popular warm-up exercise. You may try it for yourself and find that over the coming weeks and months your singing and speaking voice and vocal range improve significantly and out of that your confidence also grows. YouTube is populated by a wide variety of channels offering music full of love and light intended to heal, cleanse and uplift the body, mind and soul; if you prefer your music darker, check out the channel Atrium Carceri on YouTube for its more Gothic, sacred chants.
Please go to my YouTube Channel Cat Evans Artist to watch the video which accompanies this blog.
Thank you and Blessed be!
Catherine
My blog is always free but if you like what you have read, please feel free to “tip” me a herbal tea!
Catherine Evans 