This week on the Monday Mash we share some great links on music, memory, and the martial arts.

• Aikido turns conflict on its head. I’ve been fascinated by Aikido for years but have never followed my fascination into a class. The last session exercise classes here at RRC didn’t offer the Ki-Aikido classes that were offered previously and I was kicking myself for not taking the classes sooner. And since I hadn’t learned any form of Aikido yet I didn’t know how to redirect my kick and flow around it.
• If you really pay attention. This is a completely lovely story about paying attention. If you read it you can be warmed by a memory-story about learning to listen with the heart.
• SoundCloud. The SoundCloud website is an online audio distribution platform that allows collaboration, promotion and distribution of audio recordings by users. [wikipedia]. You have to sign up so that means another darn password to remember. But it’s free (or you can choose to go the paid subscription route) and you can find treasures to listen to! Or upload your own sounds, music and stories. There seem to be new audio files of all kinds uploaded every day. If you are a listener you will never run out of wonder. If you are a sound maker you will have an enormous audience.
• Virtual Choir. I had no idea I was a fan of choral music until I heard and saw Eric Whitacre’s virtual choir version of Lux Aurumque. The virtual choir concept and what Eric Whitacre has done with it is stunning and fascinating all by itself. He describes how it all started and how the process developed in this TED.com talk. You can find performances of choir music he has composed and conducted, some with virtual choirs on YouTube.  I started with Lux Aurumque and continued exploring from there. Transcending is the word that floats into my brain when I think of this music.

If you have a link or a photo that you’d like to share send an email to mkrywy@rrc.ca and we’ll try to include it in a future “Mash” edition.