My blog name 'Con Fide' is Latin for 'With Faith'. Con means WITH and Fide means FAITH. The word Confidence is derived from it as well. The concept of faith is something that takes up a lot of my mind space and will probably be a running theme throughout my posts. I'm not referring to faith within a religious or spiritual context although the two are absolutely interrelated. I am interested in what happens to a people's lives (physically, mentally, emotionally) when they walk by faith. The reason this is on my mind so much is because for the last 7 years I have been developing a theory/method of music therapy and psychology. The very foundation of the theory involves the idea of what happens when we live mentally, moment to moment in the unknown or rather in present time, which is basically the essence of faith. The actual method involves using music improvisation in a specific way as a tool to develop this presence of mind. People seem to have a basic understanding of music and its power, but society in general does not yet know how to harness that power and use it as a tool to bring mental/emotional balance. Due to the abstract nature of music, it is generally viewed as an 'alternative' measure to be explored when other options do not work. This is interesting to me due to its ability to rapidly and drastically shift our physiology in natural and unobtrusive ways. We witness these shifts constantly at concerts, while watching movies, at church, etc. Music is something we have unlimited access to and yet the question is How? How do we go about using the elements of music on a daily basis in specific, concrete and reliable ways to bring balance to ourselves as a whole? I'm searching for the answer to this question.