RockOm Blog

Thank You, Good Night

Posted on November 17, 2009 at 10:35 AM

If somehow you reached this page without first visiting the splash page at www.RockOm.net, please click on this link to read about RockOm's decision to go on indefinite hiatus. Thank you again for all your love and support!

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Songs About: SURRENDER

Posted on November 16, 2009 at 06:25 AM

Why is it that it most always takes a major crisis in our lives to bring about the wisdom and ultimate peace found in the act of surrendering? Here are some songs (with reflections) that can help us open to the idea of surrender with new eyes, ears and hearts.

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FLASHBACK: What is Sacred Music?

Posted on November 14, 2009 at 09:59 AM

In RockOm's short existence on the web, we've posted a number of compelling articles and blog posts that have since found their way into the inner archives. There are many new readers and users since those "early days" and so occasionally we will pull out old posts for you to read (or re-read) and meditate upon. Here is an excellent article posted during RockOm's very first week by a musician in France named Joseph Rowe.
The dictionary definitions are not enough for those of us who are alive to the sense of the sacred which we find in so many unexpected places ... and are often disappointed not to find in so many expected places. Perhaps a better question is: what is the sense of the sacred? What does this word mean to us in a universal sense, in the context of our contemporary world of pluralism and multiculturalism, a world in unprecedented evolutionary crisis?

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Stripping Away

Posted on November 12, 2009 at 01:38 PM

In this week's podcast episode (#66, "Stripping Away"), musicians Carly Simon and Heather Maloney share interviews with RockOm. Carly talks about stripping down her hits for the new album Never Been Gone and singer-songwriter Heather Maloney shares about the stripping away process that occurs in meditation. CLICK HERE to visit our Podcast page to download this and other episodes of the RockOm Podcast. While you're there, be sure to hit the Subscribe link to get automatic downloads of episodes as they come available.

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What's Rockin @ RockOm: 11/10

Posted on November 10, 2009 at 08:41 AM

As it turns out, Academy Award-winning singer-songwriter Carly Simon has a mystical side that is rarely made public. She shares with RockOm this week about using music to connect with others, as prayer and as a way to heal the world in Carly Simon Hears the Voice of God. Also in this interview you can preview and find out details about her latest album, Never Been Gone.

Also be sure to check out our new Featured Track of the Week from indie-folk rocker Heather Maloney. Hear Heather's song "Let It Ache" - about realizing that pain is just part of the human experience - all week long in the right column of the home page.

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Meditation as Modulation

Posted on November 9, 2009 at 07:41 AM

Modulation, in music, is the act or process of changing from one key or tonal center to another. According to Sufi Master Pir Vilayat Khanodulation, modulation is also great description of what happens during meditation and other forms of spiritual discipline. More thoughts on the subject, including an exercise for this week, after the jump...

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RockOm Round-up

Posted on November 7, 2009 at 07:44 AM

RockOm Round-up is a quick glance at what's going on this week around the world in the areas of music and spirituality. Today's batch of articles includes: the potential end of Christian music?; Dhani Harrison dedicates album to yogis; Blasting the US with punk Islam; An Israeli metal band; and Yusuf Islam previews his new musical...

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Previous Posts

Let's Talk About Your Big "But"

Posted on November 6, 2009 at 05:01 AM

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Through the Frame of Faith

Posted on November 5, 2009 at 11:51 AM

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Overlapping Circles

Posted on November 4, 2009 at 08:35 AM

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What's Rockin @ RockOm: 11/3

Posted on November 3, 2009 at 04:34 AM

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Healing with Sound

Posted on November 2, 2009 at 07:13 AM

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Welcome!

RockOm is an online community to celebrate, share and explore the common ground of music and spirituality, inclusive of all faiths and all musical styles. We at RockOm have created this venue to be a haven for spiritually-inclined musicians to share and promote their art, for listeners to encounter the power of their musical expressions, and all to forge new friendships, help each other, and discuss and further explore the bonds of music and the spirit.

Featured Track of the Week

by Heather Maloney

Visit Heather at...
MySpace.com
Buy the new CD

At the age of 21, Heather Maloney began her musical career performing as a jazz singer alongside Grammy nominee Hui Cox in Manhattan. Her varied musical interests over the years (Joni Mitchell, Bobby McFerrin, Billy Holiday, The Beatles, Phillip Glass, Ravi Shankhar) began to shape a sound that would become distinctly her own. After studying classical operatic vocals, classical Indian and jazz, she booked it up to the woods of Massachusetts to focus on her growing interest in meditation. Heather has been living at a meditation retreat center for the past two years, where her current album, Cozy Razor's Edge, has slowly brewed in her solitude - a compilation of folk/indie/pop-rock songs directly affected by her experiences in meditation.

Featured Track: "Let It Ache"


Click to Play

"I was sitting a week long silent meditation retreat and my heart was aching. For a couple of days I was coming up with a number of stories as to why it was aching. Then came a moment when I said to myself, 'Oh this is just heartache. I can be with this. I don't need to figure it out to make it go away.' This song serves as a reminder that suffering and pain is part of the human experience and it's OK. Not only is it OK, it's fertile ground to grow from." (Heather)

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