Interview:

My vision of music and spirituality has grown significantly since I was three. I knew then that I was here to sing, but I had no idea what that would look like. As I grew through my pre-teen years, I was connected to a higher awareness of my connection to the Universe when I sang, but that changed over the following twenty years. I learned that my voice was easily loved and adored, as well as abused, used, and criticized. This led to a deep sadness and disconnect with Universal Source. I “lost” my voice, developed nodes, and went from singing within four octaves to singing in less than two, I lost the drive and determination, and I thought I was finished with singing for good. During this time, I was also teaching and supporting others in their journey to find their voice! I was also writing music hoping I might one day “find” my voice again. In 2007, I decided to follow a calling to move to Portland, Oregon, and a new journey began. I started singing again, and within the following year, I was singing also every Sunday in New Thought Churches. Today, I am being asked to sing more places and more often.

My voice did not “come back” as I had previously prayed for. It has ascended to a whole other level! This new level of connection to my voice has helped me understand something I have been teaching others to get for many years. Your voice is in your heart, let it sing! I believe if I had not let go into the flow of Universal Source Energy, I would have continued to try and find my voice, as opposed to truly connecting on a deep spiritual level to my voice. I find that this journey has been one of such deep personal awareness, and I have no idea what might be around the next corner. And, THAT EXCITES ME! I never though I would say that. And here I am admitting that I LIKE being out of control! I LOVE being so connected to the Universal Source that flows through me, around me, as me, thus allowing the music to come out the way I felt it when I was a child.

This leads to the question; “What spiritual significance does music hold for me?” For one thing, I believe we are all here to connect to our feelings, our emotions, and music makes you feel, right? And connect, emote, remember, dance, release, and embrace. What else can do that like music!? Music is one of the Universal languages. It speaks in every tongue. A drum, a rattle, a voice, strings, the river, an ocean, birds, and laughter. It feeds us, it fills us up, it empties us, and it fills us up again. It is given, received, shared, and experienced on so many levels. I know how I feel when I listen to my favorite piece of music, which changes all the time and could include not just a song, but sitting outside and listening to the wind through the trees, I notice myself let go. I feel emotion well up in me. Be it joy, sadness, peace, anger, frustration, laughter, and love. I am able to recognize and allow myself to move through it in just a few minutes, or even a few seconds, and sometimes I like to be with it for hours. But no matter what, music moves me. It moves me to love, it moves me to laugh, it moves me to cry, and it moves me to FEEL! My spiritual growth is guided by my feelings. If I “feel” bad, I can decide to hold on to it or let it go. How best to let it go? Get a massage? Meditate? Go out with friends? Exercise? Talk to a therapist or my mom, dad, or friends? Sure, any of those things would help, and HAVE helped at various times in my life. But, it seems like music has always had some part to play during all of those times. Playing in the background, or listening to it while I walk, or noticing it in the voice of the person I am talking to. There are also times when I just want to sit in my room and play a song as loud as I can and sing along with it at the top of my lungs. Or, sit next to water or under a tree, or go camping and listen to all the sounds of nature around me. And when I “feel” good, I can do any of those same things! When music is around me and flowing through me in a consciously aware state, I am free. When I notice the sounds, or listen to the voice, or the song, or play a drum, or sit with my brother as he plays his guitar and sings, I am fully embracing my life. I am present, I am alive on so many levels. For me, Music IS Spirituality.

“When music is around me and flowing through me in a consciously aware state, I am free… I am present, I am alive on so many levels. For me, Music IS Spirituality.”
– Terra Bundance, singer-songwriter