Music Gardeners Almanac: Cultivating the Roots and Fruits of Every Body Music

About Music Gardeners Almanac: Cultivating the Roots and Fruits of Every Body Music

Each episode will explore the growth of Music Gardener Jonathan Best as he learns how to communicate in a new way that the world is asking of him.

Publisher

erjjb

Category

music

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

14 Nov 2021

Latest episode

16 May 2025

Latest episodes

18 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   16 May 2025

   Barry Barbe for Prescott Palette from KPPV

   Barry interviewed me for his radio show Prescott Palette on KPPV. We focused mostly on my play Blood on the Ivories, but got very biographical because that's what the play is. We followed many tributaries.

2. 

   29 Apr 2025

   Blood on the Ivories Interview

   Aaron Wren Wilson interviews me about my upcoming play at the Cosmos Theatre. Blood on the Ivories: a musical in one act written and composed by Jonathan Best Directed by Delisa Myles and Keaton Snyder Cast of Characters Rock (played by Jonathan Best) An Old man who thinks he is a rockstar performing his final show which is being broadcast to the entire world Doc (Played by Loring Snyder)Thinks he is Rock’s therapist in a psyche ward after Rock’s attempted suicide The Audience (played by you) What do you think? May 23, 24, 25 at Cosmos Theatre 222 North Marina St. Prescott AZ 86303 “Blood on the Ivories” is a genre-defying theatrical experience that blurs the line between play, musical, and collective ritual, inviting audiences to confront the complexities of trauma, genius, and healing.

3. 

   11 Sept 2024

   The Connection Co-op - Finding Our Way Back to Our Shared Humanity Through Community Art

   In this episode, I demonstrate community building through community art while we sing our transformation in our beautifully flawed way. And guess who wins. Love!

4. 

   12 Feb 2024

   E15 Music for Human Connection: a presentation I gave at Trinity Church

   One day Every Body Music will become a mainstream genre. In the meantime please support our work by sharing our podcasts, leaving comments, and contributing at everybodymusic.rocks/donate. In this episode, we delve into the profound impact music has on human connections and social relationships. Jonathan shares the belief that music transcends the barriers of language, fostering deeper communication and bonding among humans. We talk about the ubiquitous nature of music in our lives, emphasizing the inherent musicality inside each one of us and the crucial role it plays in our existence. We talk about music as a tool to understand life better and to work on personal growth. Our music is an essential part of that human connection, reaching places words fail to reach - a powerful form of communication that has become disconnected in the era of texting and computer interaction. I invite listeners to reconsider conventional stereotypes of musical talent bestowed upon a lucky few, and instead accept that we are all musical in our unique ways. We sing songs like "Repurpose Hate and Turn It Into Love" and "Beautifully Flawed", reiterating the importance of love in facing adversities. The discussion is enriched with a quote from Martin Luther King on the power of love. Individual stories are shared showing the commonality of experiences and the potential for change and growth. Throughout the discussion, Jonathan engages with the participants, encouraging them to recognize their individual skills and apply them in a musical context. Concluding the episode, we stress the transformative potential of music and how music aids in dealing with personal fears, stories, and expectations. The engagement ends with a resonating message that reinforces the power of love and music in our lives. Join us in experiencing the magic of music in human connection.

5. 

   7 Feb 2024

   E14 A Guided Musical Meditation

   One day Every Body Music will become a mainstream genre. In the meantime please support our work by sharing our podcasts, leaving comments, and contributing at everybodymusic.rocks/donate. In this immersive episode, recorded at the Trinity Presbyterian church in Prescott, AZ, USA, we take a profound journey through the rhythms and melodies within us, unraveling the musicality inherent in our bodies. Delve deep into this guided meditation structured around the music in and around us, as we attempt to slow our heartbeats and harmonize with the collective soundscape in the room. Close your eyes and feel the music within you ebb and flow with your breaths, tapping into the personal groove within your bodily rhythm. As we delve deeper, we familiarize ourselves with the truth that our bodies are musical and designed to connect with one another. Together, we explore the unspoken melodies in our bodies, the shared lyrics and sounds that our bodies produce in unison, stirring the silence and making this room come alive. Immerse yourself in the grand orchestration of collective breaths, individual notes, and shared vibrations. The rhythm of the room harmonizes with the patterns outside, seeping its essence into every breath. Perceive the minutest alterations within your vocal cords, just as the body gently responds to each breath. We meet at the junction of solitude and togetherness, creating a mesmerizing symphony where our shared humanity becomes a palpable entity. We dive headfirst into the beauty of dissonance, the pleasure of harmony, and the intricate web of notes that silence can weave. For the grand finale of this collective psalm, we release our notes into the universe, respecting and embracing our weird ideas. Tuning into this engaging guided meditation, we explore a world of music within us, connecting us deeper to our shared human experience. Now close your eyes and let the music guide you in.

6. 

   4 Oct 2022

   E13 Osingolio in Ngong’u Narok (bonus episode)

   Osingolio means singing and dancing in the Maa language of the Maasai. They cannot be separated in Maasailand. This episode is an excerpt from a video I made for the village of Ngong'u Narok in Amboseli, Kenya in 2008. You might hear Kaika talk about singing the dances. That's what they do there. That's how they flourish in drought and oppression. But this latest drought is really hitting them hard. I made this bonus episode to bring attention to a fundraiser I am doing. More details to follow.

7. 

   23 Sept 2022

   E12 From Guns to God

   This episode is a conversation with Jaden King who was a gun carrying MAGA guy til he found Jesus. I tell him that music saved me and we're off and running.

8. 

   19 Aug 2022

   E11 Seven UU Principles of Every Body Music at PUUF

   This episode was recorded at Prescott Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (PUUF) August 14, 2022. I talked about how the seven Unitarian Universalist principles can be applied to Every Body Music.

9. 

   20 Jul 2022

   E10 Jazz Musician/Historian Paul Ruffner Talks About Music & Revolution

   This conversation with historian and jazz musician Paul Ruffner shows the vital role music played in the movement that got Salvadore Allende elected in Chile and also how threatening music was to Pinochet’s coup that ousted him and also why it has been so hard to get Every Body Music going here in the United States. This conversation made me wonder if social change without music is really social change at all. Listen closely and click the links in the description. You will find yourself singing if you really listen to yourself. Here are some amazing links Paul sent me connected to our conversation: This is the first album where a whole political party's platform was put to music https://youtu.be/mqyzYx-p-PE The theme song to Popular Unity, 1970 election campaign https://youtu.be/57tWbzDdx2s El Derecho de Vivir en Paz ''The Right to Live in Peace  https://youtu.be/XkXise2bHE0 The Burning Sun Up Above  https://youtu.be/s2E9AXJozGw The people, united, will never be defeated https://youtu.be/w8UGs0rdhq8 This is V. Jara's first political album https://youtu.be/i9z2d_1ESto

10. 

    20 Jun 2022

    E9 My Life in Art - Jon Meyer of Prescott Center for the Arts Interviews Me.

    This episode from 2016 was culled from the comMUSIKey archives three years after comMUSIKey's creation.  It's fun to see the very roots and seedlings of Every Body Music.

11. 

    20 May 2022

    E8 Musical Stories with Marieke

    In this episode, I talk to Marieke Slovin who spent a number of years in Brussels turning stories of immigrants into songs. As I was listening to this conversation it made me think of a snowfall that seeps into the ground over time continuing to nourish the music garden. So Let this conversation sink in. You can get the whole story at guidingsong.com/migrationsong You can buy her book On the Move: Poems and Songs of Migration at Lulu. "Songs of Migration" is a collaboration between Marieke Slovin Lewis, Sarah Reader Harris, and residents of the Fedasil Petit-Château Arrival Centre between January 2017 and January 2020. During this time, Marieke and Sarah offered poetry and songwriting for asylum seekers at the center. The music in this songbook represents many hours of cultural exchange, discussion, vulnerability, creativity, and love.

12. 

    28 Apr 2022

    E7 Physics Professor/ Poet Wally Glickman on Relativity and Human Relations

    This episode is an interview I did with Wally Glickman May 11, 2021. Wally was my teacher at Skunk Hollow High School. He introduced me to Einstein's theory of Relativity way back in those days and I haven't stopped trying to make sense of it since. I thought I could apply the theory to music and human relationships. Here's what Wally had to say. Wally taught Physics at Long Island University at the same time he was teaching theatre, wrestling, and relativity at Skunk Hollow. He created a slide show on Einstein which was premiered at LIU. He co-produced two films on Albert as well and wrote a play in which Einstein made an appearance at a resort in the Catskills.  His love for Einstein might be matched by his love for Bob Dylan. Find out more at http://www.wallyglickman.com/

13. 

    27 Mar 2022

    E6 Seta

    I recorded this interview in my studio Sept. 8, 2019 with Seta. Seta was a student in my spring 2017 Prescott College class called Creating Community Through Music. Seta tells me many things about the importance of music in Native Black life. This interview feels like a song with lyrics that take me to different places each time I listen.

14. 

    20 Feb 2022

    E5 Jarvis Tyner Chairman of the New York Communist Party

    What I realized after the fact is that Jarvis Tyner and his brother McCoy Tyner, major influencer of Bebop jazz are both revolutionaries on the same coin when you realize that music is life and life is music.  I interviewed Jarvis in NYC 2019. Thank you Tina Nannarone for setting up this interview.

15. 

    15 Jan 2022

    E4 Sarah Crews - Rest in Perennials

    I visited Sarah and her Heart Land Prairie Cemetary in Kansas on my 2019 cross-country build the bridges. I interviewed her in her home and as we strolled through the cemetery. Her podcast called A Path Home inspired me to start mine even though it took two years. It's about reclaiming our innate right to care for our own loved ones at death in natural, and often, environmentally friendly ways. As you listen to our conversation, I encourage you to hear the music in our voices. Hear it as a song to allow feelings into our conversations around death and dying and loss and grief. I’d love it if you play and or sing along with it.

16. 

    15 Dec 2021

    E3 Playing with Asylum Seekers

    This podcast was recorded in May of 2019. I went down to an undisclosed church in Phoenix with my friend David Sorensen, a big bags of clothes, my piano, and a bunch of drums. The story of the Asylum Seekers is a story without an ending. It’s a story that will keep expanding as more and more people get displaced by the effects of the climate disaster which is interwoven with the effects of insane inequality. I’ve rarely been able to record my interactions with Asylum Seekers on either side of the border. As I recall, this time they let us keep the recorder going after we had this conversation over lunch. It was me, David, a volunteer from One Hundred Angels, and Jen Buck, founder of All Hands AZ As I listen to this conversation, it reinforces how much I want to keep learning how to talk to people. And how I want to keep learning how to share these conversations with a larger audience. I want to share how much I believe in the power of participatory inclusive music to evolve our relationships and ourselves into something sustainable on this planet.

17. 

    15 Nov 2021

    E2 Every Body Music at the Unitarian Church

    This episode was recorded June 23, 2019 at a talk I gave at the Prescott Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, affectionately known as PUUF. You might consider it an introduction to the Every Body Music Revolution. Special thanks go to Glenna, Dale, the Ricklefs, and everyone at PUUF who helped make it happen.

18. 

    14 Nov 2021

    E1 Introduction to the Music Gardeners Almanac

    The Music Gardeners Almanac Podcast is all about bringing All Inclusive Every Body Play Music into every conversation. Jonathan Best will host talks with movers and shakers all over the earth while spreading seeds and cultivating the roots and fruits of Every Body Music. Because we at comMUSIKey believe that the world can use a lot of musical moving and shaking. For lots of cool links and stories go to EveryBodyMusic.Rocks.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 7 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

15

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

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Guest appearances

Books guests

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