I HEARD the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."
​
-H. W. Longfellow

"Five key points derived from recent psychological and neuroscientific findings are (1) Network Science is a new technique that allows researchers to examine the brain’s interconnectivity as people listen to music; (2) the Default Mode Network is a set of interconnecting brain networks that are involved in conscious awareness, self-reflection, and autobiographical memories and emotions; (3) when people listen to preferred music, there is dynamic interconnectivity in the Default Mode Network, linking music to self-awareness, along with associated personal histories, core emotional memories, and empathy; (4) musical training leads to numerous changes in the brain that have implications for music learning; and (5) scientific evidence supports the powerful role that music plays in enhancing quality of life."

http://mej.sagepub.com/content/101/4/41.short?rss=1&ssource=mfr 

Your views:

What are your experiences of listening to music? 

Is there a particular type of music that helps you link to self awareness and emotional memories?

Two recent singles are now available to buy online from iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. You can preview them here. Remember if you sign up to the newsletter, you can download a free MP3 today. 

So here is the new website - I hope you like it. I think it helps express what I'm doing with the music much better than ever before. All the social media feeds are available on the homepage. You just have to scroll down. Let me know what you think by visiting the Connect The new website aside, I know a lot of people have been keen to know when the new album 'To The Beach' will be arriving. It has been something of a labour of love and has taken far too long, by my own admission. In my defence, this type of music is lovely but doesn't yet pay the bills, so I must work on it when time allows...Rest assured, I will try my best to get the new music out this year and will keep you updated! For now, there is a sample of the new album to listen to here.

Sam.

Having upgraded the website, cleared out much of the old and welcomed in plenty of the new, I was reminded of an article I contributed to Evita Ochel's online magazine, Evolving Beings, on a similar theme. You can read it here.

I chose to continue sharing the gallery images from the old website, because photography, mainly of the natural world, is still a great source of inspiration for the music. It's a little bit of a hobby and I took these images with a view to turning them into music. Hopefully you will see some of the connections. And if you'd like to see more, you can view them on my Flickr page, which I will update periodically when I've taken new photos...

Keep up to date with Sam Joseph's twitter page here. Follow and post Tweets here and at the bottom of the homepage, alongside all the other Sam Joseph social media feeds from YouTube, Facebook and Pinterest too.