Mat Creedon - Music Is Medicine

Episode 12: Music Through the Senses | Music Is MedicineDescriptionWhat if music could be experienced through more than just your ears?In Episode 12 of Music Is Medicine, we explore a different way of understanding music, through colour, texture, taste, smell, imagery, emotion and physical sensation.After many years of teaching, I've realised that traditional music theory doesn't connect with everybody in the same way. Some people understand notation immediately. Others connect more naturally through numbers, patterns, listening, movement, colour or feeling.That doesn't mean music theory isn't useful.Music theory is the map. Music is the country.In this episode, we explore what happens when we experience music first and give it a theoretical name afterwards.What colour is a note?What does a chord feel like?Can a bass sound feel enormous while a high note feels tiny?Can an instrument have a wooden, metallic, smooth or rough texture?Can music create an entire inner landscape?We also explore the connection between music, intuition and spirituality, and those moments when the thinking mind becomes quiet and we simply experience sound.If you've ever felt disconnected from traditional music theory, perhaps you don't need to give up on understanding music.Perhaps you simply need another doorway.There isn't only one way into music.Find yours.🎶 Music Is MedicineJoin the Mat Creedon School of Music:
https://www.skool.com/mat-creedon-school-of-music-4248/about

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mat-creedon-music-is-medicine--6295295/support.

Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia.
In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves.
Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea:
Music is not only something we listen to.
Sometimes, music is medicine.

What if the instrument you play could also become a form of meditation?In Episode 11 of Music Is Medicine, Mat Creedon explores the deep connection between musical practice, meditation and creative flow.Mat began playing guitar at thirteen and learned Transcendental Meditation at eighteen. Over the years, he began to notice that practising an instrument and sitting in meditation were doing something remarkably similar.Both could quiet the mind.Both could relax the nervous system.Both could bring him back into the present moment.A difficult musical phrase could become a kind of mantra. As the body relaxed, the phrase stopped feeling like a judgement of his ability and became nothing more than a collection of notes waiting to be understood.Mat also explores the mystery of songwriting and those rare moments when a song seems to arrive fully formed. Perhaps the muse cannot be forced into appearing. Perhaps we need to create the right conditions, become quiet and remain available.Drawing from his experiences with meditation, teaching, songwriting, altered states of consciousness and spiritual awakening, Mat shares how music can become a doorway into greater awareness.The episode concludes with a simple one note meditation that almost anyone can try, even without musical experience.Play one long note.Listen as it begins, changes and fades into silence.Then begin again.Whether you are a songwriter searching for inspiration, a musician struggling with tension, or simply someone feeling overwhelmed by life, this episode offers a quieter way forward.Explore Mat’s Sound Bath meditations and experiences here:https://www.matcreedon.com/sound-bathBecause music is medicine.


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mat-creedon-music-is-medicine--6295295/support.

Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia.
In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves.
Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea:
Music is not only something we listen to.
Sometimes, music is medicine.

My interest in brain health and music began during childhood. My older brother has lived with schizophrenia for as long as I can remember, so mental health was always present in our family.
When I discovered the guitar at thirteen, music became a kind of therapy that was cool enough to keep a teenager interested. Those long hours of practice gave me somewhere to place my attention, express what I could not put into words and calm my nervous system.
At eighteen, I learned Transcendental Meditation. Many years later, the teachings of Eckhart Tolle helped the power of presence truly land for me. Music and meditation began working together, opening the door to a depth of peace I had never imagined was possible.
In Episode 10 of the Music Is Medicine podcast, I share this deeply personal story and explore how music can support attention, emotional balance, nervous system regulation and brain health.
This is my personal experience, not medical advice. Music and meditation are not replacements for professional mental health care, but they can become valuable parts of a balanced and supportive life.
Sometimes brain health begins with something very simple.
A breath.
A beat.
A single note.
And the willingness to listen.


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mat-creedon-music-is-medicine--6295295/support.

Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia.
In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves.
Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea:
Music is not only something we listen to.
Sometimes, music is medicine.

Why do some notes feel settled and peaceful, while others create happiness, sadness, tension or a powerful need to return home?
In Episode 9 of the Music Is Medicine podcast, Mat Creedon explores three maps that can transform how we understand music:
• The alphabetical map gives every note a name.
• The tone-and-semitone map reveals the patterns behind scales.
• The number map reveals the function and emotional meaning of each note.
Using colours, shapes, friendships and a little humour, Mat explains how musicians use scale degrees to navigate music, train their ears and improvise with greater confidence.
Rather than choosing notes randomly and hoping for the best, we can learn to recognise their individual flavours and understand how they relate to the tonal centre.
Music theory doesn’t have to remove the magic from music. It can help us understand the language being spoken.
Music is a living language.
Your instrument is your voice.
And music is medicine.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mat-creedon-music-is-medicine--6295295/support.

Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia.
In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves.
Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea:
Music is not only something we listen to.
Sometimes, music is medicine.

What if we learned music the same way we learned to speak?Children do not begin with spelling, reading or grammar. They listen, babble, imitate, experiment and gradually find a voice of their own.Yet music education often reverses this natural process. Students can be introduced to notation, theory and rules before they have experienced music as a living language.In Episode 8 of Music Is Medicine, Mat Creedon explores how musical babbling, improvisation and curiosity can help students develop rhythm, listening and genuine musical fluency. He also considers why theory becomes more meaningful when it gives a name to something we have already heard, felt or played.Music is not merely a language of notes—it is a language of emotion. It can calm the mind, expand the heart and connect us with others. But its gifts should not belong only to professional musicians or those considered naturally talented.You do not need to become a concert musician to benefit from making music, just as you do not need to become an Olympic athlete to benefit from walking.Music is not a competition reserved for the gifted. It is a human language—and everyone deserves permission to participate.Join the Mat Creedon School of Music:
https://www.skool.com/mat-creedon-school-of-music-4248/aboutSubscribe to the Music Is Medicine newsletter:
https://matcreedon.substack.com/

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mat-creedon-music-is-medicine--6295295/support.

Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia.
In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves.
Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea:
Music is not only something we listen to.
Sometimes, music is medicine.

A confident young boy stands before his class to perform—and suddenly discovers that he can no longer control his trembling hands.Nobody laughs. Nobody seems to notice anything unusual. But inside his body, the experience is terrifying. What begins as a single moment of uncontrollable shaking gradually becomes a fear that follows him into adulthood.In Episode 7 of Music Is Medicine, Mat Creedon explores performance anxiety, fear of judgment and the invisible audience we sometimes carry within our minds. This is a story about learning to stop fighting the body and recognising that trembling hands may not be betraying us—they may simply be trying to keep us safe.Perhaps confidence does not mean eliminating fear. Perhaps it means breathing, feeling the ground beneath our feet and allowing the music to continue—even while our hands tremble.When I release judgment, peace can play through me.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mat-creedon-music-is-medicine--6295295/support.

Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia.
In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves.
Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea:
Music is not only something we listen to.
Sometimes, music is medicine.

Where do our most powerful ideas come from?
Sometimes a melody, insight or solution arrives so suddenly and completely that it feels less like something we created and more like something we received—a phenomenon often described as a “download.”
In this episode of Music Is Medicine, Mat explores whether these moments arise from the subconscious mind, our higher consciousness, a spiritual intelligence, a collective field of awareness or something we don’t yet understand.
Through music, sympathetic resonance and deep listening, we consider whether we might be more like receivers than we realise—and how leaving space between the notes may help us hear the guidance already waiting for us.


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mat-creedon-music-is-medicine--6295295/support.

Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia.
In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves.
Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea:
Music is not only something we listen to.
Sometimes, music is medicine.

A child once asked me a wonderfully simple question during a music lesson:“Why are the black notes harder?”I started to answer… and then realised I wasn’t entirely sure they were.That small question opened the door to a much bigger exploration of music, mistakes, comparison, creativity and the rules we gradually collect as we grow older.In this episode of Music Is Medicine, I share the story of teaching a young child at the piano—and what that child quietly taught me in return.Why do we call one musical key easy and another difficult?Why can a child play a wrong note, say “oops,” and simply try again, while an adult can play the same wrong note and think, “I’m hopeless”?When does curiosity become judgement?And when did playing music become something we needed to be good at before we were allowed to enjoy it?We explore the difference between notes and relationships, why unfamiliar doesn’t necessarily mean difficult, how comparison changes our experience, and why making a wrong note doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the person playing it.Perhaps children understand something about music that many of us slowly forget.Sometimes you don't need to reach the other side of the pool.Sometimes you can just float.🎵 Music Is Medicine with Mat CreedonJoin the Mat Creedon School of Music:
https://www.skool.com/mat-creedon-school-of-music-4248/aboutRead more and subscribe to Music Is Medicine:
https://matcreedon.substack.com/

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mat-creedon-music-is-medicine--6295295/support.

Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia.
In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves.
Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea:
Music is not only something we listen to.
Sometimes, music is medicine.

When we’re born, we don’t hear criticism, failure or rejection. We simply hear.Then, little by little, we begin collecting stories: “Don’t make mistakes.” “You’re not talented.” “Music is difficult.” Eventually, we stop responding to life as it is and begin responding to the meanings we have placed upon it.In this episode of Music Is Medicine, Mat Creedon explores how these stories shape the way we hear music, relate to other people and see ourselves.Through his experience as a music teacher—and the creation of the Easy Key—Mat reveals how music becomes simpler when we stop obsessing over labels and begin listening for relationships. The note names may change, but the relationships remain. Music becomes one universal language spoken with twelve different accents.Perhaps healing isn’t about becoming someone new. Perhaps it’s remembering the child who listened before every sound needed a story.Would you like to listen again?Join the Music Is Medicine School:
https://www.skool.com/mat-creedon-school-of-music-4248/aboutDiscover the Easy Key:
https://www.matcreedon.com/easy-keySubscribe to the Music Is Medicine newsletter:
https://matcreedon.substack.com/

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mat-creedon-music-is-medicine--6295295/support.

Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia.
In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves.
Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea:
Music is not only something we listen to.
Sometimes, music is medicine.

What if the greatest lesson music can teach us has nothing to do with music?
In the first episode of Music Is Medicine, Mat Creedon explores how music became an unexpected teacher of awareness.
Through stories from the music room, the Easy Key method, pattern recognition, performance, and everyday life, Mat shares how many of our struggles don't come from reality itself—they come from the stories our minds create about reality.
Why can two people hear the same piece of music and have completely different experiences?
Why does one mistake become "I'm not good enough"?
And what happens when we learn to listen without immediately judging what we hear?
This isn't just a conversation for musicians.
It's for anyone who's ever overthought a conversation, feared making a mistake, doubted themselves, or wondered why the mind seems so quick to create unnecessary suffering.
Music is simply the lens.
Awareness is the journey.
Whether you've been playing music for decades or have never picked up an instrument, this episode invites you to slow down, notice the stories your mind creates, and rediscover the quiet space that's been listening all along.
Thank you for listening.
— Mat Creedon


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mat-creedon-music-is-medicine--6295295/support.

Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia.
In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves.
Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea:
Music is not only something we listen to.
Sometimes, music is medicine.