Ideas About Music

“IAM” from Christopher Dawes

Hi, I’m Chris Dawes: let’s talk about music.

I want to tell you about my 20-30 minute weekly video podcast, Ideas about Music. It’s me doing what I love best with music – sharing it with others who love music. You’ll see and hear a lot of me talking from my office, and playing in the sanctuary here at Rosedale Presbyterian Church in downtown Toronto, Canada – and I’ll also sometimes take you on the road, to the places and people wherever my musical work takes me. But Ideas about Music is about something much bigger.

Whether you’re religious or not, “Sacred” probably means something to you, and a lot of us can attach that meaning to music.  “Sacred” is a way of saying how important something is – how it can intrigue, grab and touch us – can refresh, enrage, or redeem us.  And how the world would be poorer without it.

• Your ‘desert island’ album or playlist; the music you want at your wedding – or your funeral;
• The music that just says you, or what you believe – or the music that says the opposite;
• That one piece of music others might be surprised to learn means something special to you. 
• Maybe a song that takes you back to the best – or the worst time of your life.
• Or a piece that, from the first time you heard it, gave you goosebumps just from its sound? 

These are just some of music’s Sacred roles in our lives.  

But rather than simply saying music’s great, and embracing the broad and wide definitions of it, maybe we could just ask – why does music matter?

We can love music while knowing little or nothing about it, but, like anyone, or anything we love, it’s worth getting to know a bit better – THAT’s Ideas about Music.

I-A-M or “I AM” is one name people attach to God.  Ideas about Music is a way to consider the sacred power of music to thrill, to heal, to unite, and to transform our hearts, minds and societies. 

Whether you’re religious or not, “Sacred” probably means something to you, and a lot of us can attach that meaning to music.  “Sacred” is a way of saying how important something is – how it can intrigue, grab and touch us – can refresh, enrage, or redeem us.  And how the world would be poorer without it.

The Ideas about Music video podcast is coming in May, 2025. You can find and subscribe to Ideas about Music through the usual places you get podcasts – like Spotify, Apple and Google Podcasts – but you can also watch the video version on YouTube, which will be especially great in performance, interview and location recordings.

Its 20-30 minutes will drop on Tuesdays: follow the show on its YouTube channel and Facebook page, and on my personal Instagram and Bluesky accounts.  All of that information is at ideasaboutmusic.ca, where you can see more information about every episode, sign up for a weekly email taking you to the latest episode, and tell me what music is sacred in your life, and why it matters.  If you’re watching the video version of IAM right now (or ever) you can scan a QR code, which will take you right there.

During my 40-year career as a professional musician I’ve played, written and talked a lot about music – but I want to invite you to join me in thinking more about music at a time when we can all use a boost of our spirits, a bit of fascination with a thing we love and may take for granted – maybe every now and then even a bridge to the divine.

I’m Chris Dawes: join me to get a bit deeper into something we both love in just 20 or 30 minutes a week: join me for Ideas about Music.