Symphonies of the Personas

I cannot resist using this classical music analogy and providing literal music examples with the Personas.

I was a professional trumpet player before moving into this world of the psyche. When running Persona workshops, I use Classical music to help convey the complex layers, energies and unique voices within each Persona. (Recommended listening lists are provided).

Everything and everyone of us have a rhythm, in fact several rhythms and song lines operating at the same time. We are all unique symphonies with at least 4 complex movements (moods-themes-expressive styles) that reflect different aspects of our being.

Our symphonies (lives) contain our 6 Personas. They’re our instruments and orchestration. When we add our 7th missing animal - lion, dog or beaver - we have the potential to become masterpieces.

In classical music there are usually 4 movements in symphonies which are played by orchestras. Symphonies are some of the biggest and most complex orchestral works requiring approx 50-120 players. They (and other musical forms) beautifully mirror and express the vast layers of nuanced styles within each Persona. 

Every Persona has their unique symphony of 4 movements:

• The 1st movement sets the story-themes-style for the entire work. It introduces an idea-theme, and various instruments and combinations of instruments, express this idea in their unique voices. There’s energy and vigour. Melodic foundations are set. Here our innately obvious Persona traits and fate establish themselves in our lives.
• The 2nd movement is usually the slow movement. Like winter... there are beautiful melodies and poignant sparse writing. After the flush of youth and optimistic exuberance in the 1st movt, life has delivered some knocks. There is often melancholy and sadness here... a sense of loss. Not in every symphony of course, as there are lighter, very sensitive beautiful passages too, but the slow second movt usually feels more contemplative. It’s a time to catch your breath... It’s a time to ponder and reflect upon what has been experienced, what didn’t work out as expected and go more deeply within. In the second movement we lose some childlike innocence... yet gain some wisdom and maturity about life.
• The 3rd movt is often gently or brusquely picking up the pace again. Springtime sometimes... though I’ve heard some beautiful slow 3rd movements too. The 3rd movements are not usually heavy. They are light of foot as if dancing and building momentum. There’s anticipation here... we are building to the climax and final revelation
• The 4th movement. We’ve emerged from the 2nd movementt and our hibernation-cave-dungeon (which can last years) and found something to get excited about. We’re re-entering the world… we’re not fully empowered yet, we’re evolving. The 4th movt is often a tour de force. Everything that has been experienced, felt and heard in the prior 3 movements gets a mention. The story being told is now more powerfully dynamic, even explosive at times. There is great emotional expression, volume, speed and rapid notes tumbling from everyone. Usually a very loud and significant statement is being made. A declaration of ‘ta dah!’. This is my story and what I’ve learnt. After living through the evolution and life of this symphonic performance, I’ve arrived here. It’s definitive. The 4th movt can end dramatically and forcefully, or quietly and reflectively, even sombrely, which can evoke even greater depth and wisdom... it all depends on where this particular story chapter takes us. We play our multiple symphonies endlessly in life... hopefully becoming more proficient at each outing-performance.

All symphonies contain the ‘summer - autumn - winter - spring’ themes in various orders.

What each Persona is like when young and starting out. The initial themes and story being told, the hope and potential... and the fateful knocks they encounter soon after they arrive. 

Here we have the hibernation and contemplation period... but if we attend to our wounds well here, we open our hearts further. We lose some of our headstrong b/w beliefs and childhood innocence, but we develop some exquisite tenderness through embracing our vulnerability. 

There’s a glimmer of hope... we’re coming alive, there’s a sense of rebirth. The momentum and rhythm of life is picking up pace. Some fun is experienced... we see light at the end of the tunnel. We start to believe in our Persona’s gifts and purpose again. 

And finally, we pull this symphonic chapter-performance together. We’ve had births before, but this is our most complete, complex and extraordinary performance to date... we have passion, wisdom, and a powerful sense of what we are and what we are not, and what we will no longer tolerate. We are full. We know more of who we are... and what we are delivering. We may end with a flourish and fanfare… or poignantly as if surrendering to a death of a way of being. 

We experience this life-death-rebirth cycle through our Personas’ symphonic 4 movements, throughout our life. It is OUR cycle of life.

If every Persona has their own 4 movement symphony, no wonder it takes a lifetime to learn how to play our 6 different stylistic symphonies-stories at once. And that’s not counting the 7th magical player, our missing animal.

Learning to play our 6 Persona instruments with technical and musical proficiency takes lifelong practice. And, we quickly get rusty and make more mistakes, when we stop practising! Then some time down the road in life, we find out we have to learn another instrument- the missing animal- of which we have absolutely zero natural ability.

When playing a symphony or any piece of music, every note and every moment matters equally. It’s not about the last note! It’s about the ENTIRE symphony – all 4 movements and their various moods, themes and journeys.... It’s about where we have arrived having hoped, wrestled, struggled, surrendered, created, imagined, lived, died and loved over and over again on our journey. It’s helpful to realise what time we are in at any given moment. Is it the pre-gestational unknown, gestation, birthing, reaping or death stage? Life is cyclic in nature and rhythm, as are we. 

Now as you read each Persona story you may like to listen to these recommended musical works as you go… or choose to listen to them afterwards in the preferred language section. Every Persona chapter ends with 5 more musical works as suggested listening. You will very quickly hear the Personas’ innate style in music. (Symphonies contain many Persona voices-themes of course). Even if not a fan of classical music, please allow yourself to fully emerge into the Persona energies this way at least once per Persona! You won’t regret it. The music says much more, far better than I ever can…This work - music seeks to help us open to our innate Soul depths within.

Recommended Listening: during the stories or in the preferred language sections:

Lion - Mahler Symphony no. 5. 1st movt; John Williams ‘1984 Olympics Theme’

Dog - Sculthorpe ‘Left Bank Waltz’; Beethoven 6th symphony 1st movt

Beaver - Prokofiev ‘Dance of the Knights’; Bach- Brandenburg Concerto no. 3

Swan - Khachaturian ‘Spartacus’ Adagio; Morricone ‘The Mission’ Orchestral Suite

Raven - Carl Orff - ‘Carmina Burana- O Fortuna’; Arutunian Trumpet Concerto

Owl - Barber ‘Agnus Dei’; Beethoven 7th Symphony 2nd movt.

Peacock - ‘House of Cards’ T.V. theme British edition. Handel-Arrival of Queen of Sheba.

Parrot - E. Meyer ‘1B’ - played by Yoyo Ma; Gershwin - ‘Rhapsody in Blue’

Nightingale -Shostakovich Piano Concerto no.2-2nd movt; J. Williams ‘Schindler’s List’ Theme

Sparrow -Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition- ‘Ballet of the Unhatched Chickens’; Ravel Jeax d’eau