Teaching Music Through Nature with Victor Wooten Pt 2 (of 3) - Nature Advantage Podcast Episode 3
“Nature is one of the best things we can do for ourselves. In all aspects of life, nature is connected to everything.”
Join us as we continue the conversation with Grammy-award winning American bassist Victor Wooten, as he explores his personal connection to nature and music.
The Nature Connection
Love for nature was in Wooten’s DNA. It was awakened by reading The Tracker by Tom Brown Jr. Wooten went on to study with Tom Brown Jr. for 10 years, taking classes with him.
His earth-shattering moment was when he realized that as Tom Brown discussed nature and tracking, and awareness, he was actually teaching music.
Wooten realized that the traditional process of learning music was unnatural. Wooten understood that knowledge is best learned through experience, so he took these principles and created his own nature classes that are highly interactive.
As time has evolved, we have become more technologically connected, but we’ve been more disconnected from nature. But to become natural, nature is key.
The 3 Part Harmony – Nature, Music, and Life
The benefit of nature doesn’t need to be proven. Nature is refueling and giving, it brings us back to ourselves.
Wooten Woods, the outdoor setting where all of Victor’s camp are held, provides the perfect learning environment away from the usual daily distractions and media. These camps allow others to fall in love with nature. It blends a unique mix of nature studies to help each student realize and reclaim their “naturalness,” not only in music, but also in life.
Nature is one of the best things we can do for ourselves. In all aspects of life, nature is connected to everything.
Staying Intentional
Nature provides more than a recharge – it allows us to level up. To catapult forward, you need to pull back and step away.
Wooten stays intentional because of a team of people around him that allows him to do and be who he is. His team makes it easy for him to address the world with music. Because of this, he can focus on playing to his strengths.
The biggest way to really understand yourself is by understanding Mother Nature. Sit in silence to allow nature to talk to you. It is important to tune into every part of nature, starting with our own human nature.
“When nature feels listened to, she’ll start to talk to you. When music feels, listened to... You start to talk to you also.”
“And if we really listen to ourselves, we'll realize that we're also talking, but in many cases, we're not saying things that we like. We try to shut it off, but when we can change that even talking to ourselves is the most wonderful thing, so it's tuning into everything, every part of nature, starting with your own human nature, so it's almost like we have to tune out for a moment to do that right now.”
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