Music Cares Serves Those Who Sing For Their Supper
Elton John and Cheryl Crow Photo: Lester Cohen/WireImage.com (c) 2010; Courtesy of: The Recording Academy(r)
It’s a typical sunny day in southern California, unseasonably – yet expectedly – warm. The sky is clear, the trees are blooming. I’m on my way to live my passion: to teach, to guide a class toward bliss and soak in the energy that Yoga liberates. I sling the backpack over my shoulders and turn on the iPod shuffle. There’s sass in my step as I smile at the hummingbird that crosses my path. Then, the music stops. Merely blocks away from my destination, my iPod runs out of juice.
Music is the soundtrack to our life: to our love, as we fall in and out; for our postures, as we cultivate strength and fall in and out of balance; and to our gait as we place one foot in front of the other. Music fills the space between words as we lock eyes with our best pal at the coffee shop. It is the driving force that unites our out-of-tune accompaniment to the in-tune soprano on stage belting out the lyrics of a pop song while we laugh and hold up our hands in the dark, smoke-filled concert hall. Music provides camaraderie as we struggle through traffic; music inspires the moments during which we melt into our couch and smile while watching Glee and feel goose bumps while calling in our vote for American Idol.
In the quiet moments after my iPod went quiet, I began to wonder, what would my life be like without the practice of Yoga? Yoga is something that is as important to me as the soundtrack of music that accompanies nearly every move.
Yoga can bring together the most unlikely collection of people to unify energy and inspire peace. Music transcends barriers, bridging political, religious, generational and linguistic gaps like nothing else. Both Yoga and music celebrate life in union at every level, providing us the space to release and let go, a place to belong and a place to stand on our own.
Henry David Thoreau said: “When I hear music – I fear no danger, I am vulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times and to the latest.”
A yogic perspective, for sure.
Again, I ask, “What would life be like without music?”
This month, when we are aglow from holding true to our resolutions in practice, on and off the mat, the city is aglow with award season, glimmering with stars and flash bulbs.
Behind one of this month’s signature events, the GRAMMY Awards, is the MusiCares Person of the Year Award (held on February 11, 2011). It’s a red carpet event that shines like a diamond, illuminating more than the hits, by providing a soft cushion for the hits people making music sometimes take. The evening is the capstone fundraiser for a series of yearly events that are produced to raise money for all music people in need.
Everyone needs support. Just as a compassionate, attentive teacher offers inspiration to guide you deeper into practice, MusiCares broadens the potential for music professionals and musicians to move on from hard times and continue producing the magic we love, connect to, and appreciate and which provides the bounce in our step as we walk the streets.
This year, Ms. Barbra Streisand will receive the Person of the Year Award. It’s a tantalizing appetizer to the GRAMMY’s main course on February 13 (airing live on CBS).
The Person of the Year Award honors not only a person’s creative accomplishments (Ms. Streisand has won already won eight GRAMMY Awards) but also their philanthropic contributions.
Tony Bennett, Kristen Chenoweth, Matthew Morrison, Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall, Barry Manilow, Donna Summer, Steve Wonder, Nikki Yanofsky and Glee’s Lea Michele will perform songs from Ms. Streisand’s catalog in preparation for her performance at the end of the evening.
Proceeds benefit MusiCares, the nonprofit extension of The Recording Academy, founded in 1989, with the mission to provide critical assistance, addiction recovery, and medical and financial tools to keep the music alive. MusiCares also directs attention and awareness to issues that impact the health and welfare of people in the music community.
“We serve everyone from the guy performing on the streets of Santa Monica, to the legendary jazz musician that needs help with his addiction, the one in charge of lighting on tours to the assistant at the record label. We are here for anyone who has contributed his or her life’s work to the music industry in a professional way,” says MusiCares Senior Director Erica Krusen.
Communications Manager Christina Cassidy adds, “MusiCares is a nonprofit with a for-profit attitude. We are a small, efficient and nimble team that work hard together to serve our clients with such discipline because we believe so much in them.”
MusiCares’ twelve city chapters across the country and ongoing fundraising efforts supply the guidance and leadership necessary to care for a community and build awareness. They partner with physicians and healthcare clinics nationwide to offer low or no cost medical testing and screenings, mammograms and addiction and recovery treatment, resources and educational information on affordable insurance options to keep music people in the know, healthy and fit.
They reach a captive audience. “Last year, we served the largest number of clients to date besides Hurricane Katrina,” says Cassidy.
Krusen adds, “The money our events bring in keep us going year to year. We’re always looking for new health resources: teaming up and creating panels or workshops with physicians, nutritionists, chiropractors, Yoga instructors and other alternative health and wellness professionals are all beneficial. It’s the necessary safety net we can provide offering preventative care for our clients to get them on the path of healthy living now.”
With this support, artists who have at least five years of professional career experience can turn to MusiCares. Krusen mentions, “Some clients who are battling cancer need a couple of months of their rent paid while undergoing treatment. We can provide that and give them the peace of mind they don’t need to worry about one more things while on their path to healing. And then there is the person that calls who is finally coming to terms with their addiction…”
Cassidy adds, “It makes it all worth it to know you can help people continue to do what they love with confidence.”
When we feel a sense of isolation on our paths, our Yoga practice can provide a place to be in community and find the elements we need to heal our bodies and minds, overcome injury or conquer a challenging pose. On the worst of days, you can come to the studio, lay down your mat and work it all out.
For the people working at MusiCares, the assistance they offer is a form of seva, of selfless service. And for a dispersed community of musicians, MusiCares holds an important space, like the floor of the studio in our lives.
Krusen mentions, “When I’m having a rough day and I come into work, it all goes away when I hear from an eighty-year-old client who tells me his story. He’s still out there looking for work to support his monthly living expenses on top of Social Security. He says, ‘Honey, back in the ‘40s, well, you probably weren’t around but…’ I hear that passion in his voice for music that’s never waned. We can make a difference for people. It’s the stories and the people. That’s what keeps us going.”
Hearing their passion and their inspiration fuels my own. It reminds me that the tunes emanating from my headphones were produced and sung, written and performed by people, and we all live in this interconnected community. We all vibrate when we feel the buzz in the air, the dreams and the glitter and the gold and the possibility.
My pace shifts without the rhythm of sweet melodies in my ear and I turn my attention to my breath – the safety net that supports my stride. It’s my own personal soundtrack. I re-organize my thoughts and prepare for class where the studio has a charger to energize my iPod. When you need it and ask, you can always find support.
For more information on MusiCares or to donate services or funds, please contact Erica Krusen, Senior Director at Erica.krusen@grammy.com or 310-392-3777.
Top: Barbra Streisand, Photo: Deborah Wald; Center: Ronnie Wood, Photo: Jordan Strauss/WireImage.com (c) 2010; Bottom: Flea, Anthony Kiedis, and Ronnie Wood, Photo: Jordan Strauss/WireImage.com (c) 2009. All images courtesy of: The Recording Academy(r)
Laurie Searle is an international yoga teacher leading workshops and trainings with Yoga and Fitness to Go and the Sphota Yoga school. She’s the creator of Lady Yoga, Superhero and F.E.D. Fight Eating Disorders, a 501(c)(3) in Los Angeles: YogaAndFitnessToGo.com.
Meet Lady Yoga and her Super Hero Wellness Team. Follow them on exciting adventures as they promote healthy living and well being. Learn fun easy ways to relax, stay fit and enjoy life. Watch out for their arch enemy Cookie Couch Man. The big meenie who tries to turn everyone into couch potatoes with his powers of persuasion.