Remembering David Darling by

Remembering David Darling by https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu Made with love and gratitude en-us 2021-02-28 13:23:27 UTC 2024-01-23 18:20:51 UTC hello@padlet.com Mary Knysh maryknysh https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250001972 I met David in 1990 at a concert in Philadelphia. I was blown away by that experience and after attending the workshop the following day I knew that this creative work would have to become a part of my life. I suppose the rest is history! David truly changed the course of my life that day and I will always be full of gratitude to him for this incredible gift!]]> 2021-02-28 13:32:30 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250001972 Your Name maryknysh https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250432136 Write your memory here...]]> 2021-02-28 17:28:02 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250432136 David Magellan Horth https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250682230 I first met David, at Omega Institute. I think it was 1994. I then attended one of his MFP workshops in Connecticut and my youngest son Marcus and I attended one of his day long workshops in Chapel Hill (or was it Raleigh) several years later

]]> 2021-02-28 19:38:55 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250682230 Jens Schumann https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250682915 I never met David personally but it feels as if he would have been always with me...

]]> 2021-02-28 19:39:15 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250682915 Joan Spear https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250683095 I met David at Omega in 1984. I had a nursing baby with me who came to many of the sessions! It was 'early days' and before MfP was established. Over the years I have attended many workshops with David - he always raised the bar for inclusion, community-building and honoring and listening to everyone with fresh ears and ready encouragement. When David told me I was great, I felt great. When he told someone they were a genius, I heard that genius in them, too. What a wonderful gift of love, humor and humility. I will so miss running into him around town, or visiting with him in his studio. What a marvelous creative soul.]]> 2021-02-28 19:39:20 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250683095 Jonathan Best https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250683591 I met David in 2007 after having devoured Return to Child. I went to a workshop on my way to Kenya where I worked with Maasai and found the deep connection between both worlds. I immediately signed up for the 4 year MLP and every trip I made from the southwest was coordinated with my trips to Kenya. They were completely intertwined and David became my co-mentor with Meitamei Dapash in Maasailand.]]> 2021-02-28 19:39:36 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250683591 Chuck White https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250683678 I met David at the Esalen Institute in the mid-late 2000s and took several workshops with him there. I was so inspired by his approach to music and he taught me so much about improvisation.
I also took several workshops with Mary in Santa Cruz and elsewhere in the Bay Area when Iived there.]]> 2021-02-28 19:39:39 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250683678 Nancy Salwen https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250683861 I had the good fortune to have David in my very first quartet at my very first MfP workshop at Stonypoint. I got to play the a hang and sing with David and his cello. He beamed his smile and music towards me and I felt all that support and love that he sends out in that way he does. I was ALL IN right away — completely changed my life. Now I get to do what I love for a living — so amazing. Thank you to David and MfP.]]> 2021-02-28 19:39:45 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250683861 Sharon Fisher https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250684017 I started going to M4P at Imaculatta in 2021 and got connected with Ron Kravitz and many new friends that changed my life and let me play with music with full acceptance and joy. This has become a spiritual practice. I am not a professional musician, but I take in and send out the miracle of healing sound in community.

]]> 2021-02-28 19:39:51 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250684017 Josée Allard https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250684093 I met David in 2003 at AOI in Fredonia. It changed my whole life in such a way that in my everyday life as a musician and teacher, his teaching and spirit guide me along the way. I can't thank me enough for encouraging me in my music making and for the wonderful human being and musician he was. IT' S YOU DAVID!

]]> 2021-02-28 19:39:54 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250684093 Betsy Bevan https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250684148 I met David in 1990 at Omega Institute. I had just come out of a long relationship and was feeling depressed so at the last minute I called up Omega to join David's workshop that I'd been thinking of attending for a while. Amazingly there was one space left so I knew I was meant to be at the workshop1 After 5 days of music making with David and everyone there, like Bonnie Insull, Jim O and Emily M I was filled with joy and loved learning easy, fun ways to create music in community.]]> 2021-02-28 19:39:56 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250684148 Kofi Donkor - Greenville, NY https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250684475 I finally met this amazing spirit force David Darling at the 30th Anniversary of MfP for the first time, though I heard so much of him from that Mary Kyrnsh and at my first MfP workshop in 2014 for Al and julie's graduation.
He was such a kind, gentleman, easily to bond with and filled with life and creativity with infinite ideas inviting me to play with him got everyone at ease to join in regardless of their musical ability with no wrong notes.
He was not only mesmerising in his simple phylosophy for music that there are no wrong notes and it is okay not to be okay but to be yourself and tap into your creative spirit. Wow, what a spirit! I never got to meet him to create some music with him in his studio after inviting me but I know he continues to create music through his legacy and can't wait to join h
im in spirit one day. ]]> 2021-02-28 19:40:06 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250684475 Clíodhna Ní Aodáin https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250684508 David and I first met at a String Teachers Workshop in Switzerland in 2007. His incredible charisma transformed the energy of the room in the shortest time. Everyone was smiling and having fun within minutes. I went to countless workshops in the following years. His generous spirit inspired me and transformed my music-making. I am so grateful to have spent so much time in sound with David.]]> 2021-02-28 19:40:08 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250684508 Eric Reinhardt https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250684530 I met David in 1988 in Litchfield CT. at a Paul Winter music camp which culminated in putting together tracks from all of us singing on "garden of the earth" with tracks recorded with the Dimitri Pokrovsky singers! while Paul had been in Russia. I believe the CD's name is "Earthbeat" it was the first album of original music created by Americans and Russians together! At the end of the camp David asked us all to ask ourselves what we wanted from the universe and I thought about it and asked David if I could teach with him and be involved in this new idea he was having for 'music for everyone". He said yes! I wound up teaching with him, helping him on several different occasions!
As is so true for so many of us, David Darling altered my timeline on this planet! Like David was known to say, “Music is the only source of energy that I have known in my life that gives humans a chance to be instantly transformed into spirit." - And David was music itself when he taught. Love you Brother man!

]]> 2021-02-28 19:40:08 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250684530 Thomasina Levy https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250685094 I met David in 1997 at Wisdom House. It has been a blessing to call him friend. He made me a better musician and person.

]]> 2021-02-28 19:40:29 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250685094 Mary Cohen https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250685311 David's niece Emily Darling (my first yoga teacher 22+ years ago) played her uncle's CDs during her yoga classes. I was WOWed! Learned about MfP through Emily & attended my first session in PN in 2014. It was a positive paradigm shift in my relationship to music-making & I use his tools & Return to Child with my music education students at the U of Iowa where I am a music education professor.]]> 2021-02-28 19:40:37 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250685311 JoAnne Spies https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250685496 I met David at Omega in '96.. joined MfP at Wisdom House and thank Betsy Bevan for encouraging my joining. Ever grateful for David, for this path and all mfP-ers

]]> 2021-02-28 19:40:44 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250685496 I meet David in 1979, while in college, when the Paul Winter Consort came to Chapel Hil. He gave a cello masterclass gave me such permission to honor my own voice in my music making. Years later in 1995 I came to MfP and went throught the leadership program and made many lifetime friends. I am forever grateful for his lifetime mentorship and frienship. https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250685662 2021-02-28 19:40:49 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250685662 Jim Abrams https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250687527 I attended MFP workshops in the mid-90s. I was living in a former steel production town in western PA and doing labor education with workers from the steel and coal industries. Lots and anger and disappointment there. MFP was such a beautiful refuge from the life I was living at the time. David was such an agent of healing and growth. Thank you.]]> 2021-02-28 19:41:53 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250687527 Jan MaGray https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250687680 2021-02-28 19:41:58 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250687680 Lynn Saltiel https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250688357 I first met David in 2010 at Stony Point. I feel tremendously grateful to have been in his presence and the community he has created changed my life. ]]> 2021-02-28 19:42:19 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250688357 Jimbo Talbot - Syracuse, NY https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250688851 Jan MaGray urged me to meet David and my tribe in 2011, so trekked from Florida to Fredonia for AOI. Life has never been so full and rich w/incredible music.

]]> 2021-02-28 19:42:36 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250688851 Suzanne Bernhardt - Willow Grove PA. As with everyone, David changed my life profoundly. I cannot imagine life without him. Gratitude is not a big enough word. I saw him in a session in NYC at an arts conference, 1994 I think. The following summer I tracked him down at Omega. My life changed so hugely in that first week with him and I joined the program that fall. I am grateful as well to all the wonderful people whom I met at MfP and are here today; all of you helped to nurture my life and music as well! I love you all. I hope we can all find ways to go forward into the future, gathering again, making music again - in honor of David, in honor of our own creativity. Love to all of you. And music! https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250689316 2021-02-28 19:42:52 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250689316 Sarah Swersey https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250689624 I met David in 1999 at Omega. I had been a classical musician my whole life but I had never really improvised. Music for People workshops truly transformed my approach to playing and teaching music. So grateful to have known David for so many years and to be part of MfP.

]]> 2021-02-28 19:43:03 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250689624 Benjamin Smith benjamins94wo https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250689826 I joined Music for People in 2006 and met David at Omega in Rhinebeck, NY. I immediately felt inspired and the more I got to know David, the more I learned just how inspiring and humanistic he was. ]]> 2021-02-28 19:43:10 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250689826 Eric Roberts https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250690680 Met him at Omega in the early 90’s and joined MfP after. Did his first workshop at Kiental and played with him and Paul Winter at the 20th anniversary. Was so grateful to David for letting me record my first CD, “In A Silent Place”, at his studio, and having him play with me on this CD was truly a gift from God. I’ll miss him and his joy and wonder of music.]]> 2021-02-28 19:43:31 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250690680 Henrik Stubbe Teglbjaerg https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250690785 Life is amazing, and David shared that reality with us all , creating this wonderful family, which I am so grateful to be part of. David you will always be in our heart.]]> 2021-02-28 19:43:35 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250690785 Roberta Truscello https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250691883 I met David at Wisdom House, then once more in Philadelphia. It changed my relationship with music forever.]]> 2021-02-28 19:44:10 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250691883 https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250694843 2021-02-28 19:45:44 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250694843 Emily Grissing https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250708483 I was blessed to meet David at an MfP Improvisation Workshop in 2009 at Fredonia! ]]> 2021-02-28 19:53:03 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250708483 Leanne Darling https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250712819 I singed up for the 1996 Improvising Chamber Music partly because it was run by someone with the same last name as me! Turns out it was 2 weeks after my own father died, and David stepped in to that musical void in my heart. I made so many life long friends that week. We agreed that we must be cousins somehow even if there's no direct relation. After that, any time I saw David we would exclaim "HEY CUZ!" I am so grateful he let me be a part of his world.]]> 2021-02-28 19:55:21 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250712819 Diane Lipartito https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250713116 In 1986 I found a flyer about MfP while in grad school getting my MM in the bassoon at SUNY Stony Brook. I paid for a year long membership to receive the newsletter, then forgot about it. About 10 years later I, out of frustration, had quit playing 6 years earlier and was struggling to find my way back into music and my instrument, but was wracked with inner criticisms and fear. Within a few months of not knowing what to do, out of the blue, a mailing came from MfP saying that they finally found me and asking if I wanted to join again. I saw there was a workshop in a few months called "Music for Everyone" and I thought it was possibly just the ticket I needed to find my way. I had heard of The Paul Winter Consort before, but didn't know who David Darling was at all. I took the workshop at Keene State College. David gave me so much attention greeting me with, "It's YOU!" or "It's the Bassooonn!" all week. (One afternoon I was sitting by the pond on campus eating lunch and David rode by on his bike and yelled, “Baassooooonnn…!" as he went by.) He encouraged me to stay on and attend the more advanced, "Improvising Chamber Music" session the following week because he said bassoonists were not a common occurrence for MfP and he got me a small scholarship so I could afford it. I went two more summers after that and each time, when I returned to the orchestra I was playing in in the fall, my co-bassoonist friend would say, "What did you do over the summer? Your playing is so different and more alive." I knew why. David and his classes transformed my interpretations and phrasing and gave them a life and spontaneity they never had before and that is still ongoing. I also got a chance to attend a 6 person weekend session at his home around 1999 to learn about how he used his studio and created recordings. I cherish that more intimate time getting to know him and play with him. There is no way someone that transformative in your life can ever really leave you.

]]> 2021-02-28 19:55:31 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250713116 Alina Plourde alinaoboe https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250725965 I first met David and found MfP in 2011, and his loving and authentic approach to music-making has opened doors and windows, and infused my performance, teaching, and everything I do, as well as bringing me to this amazing musical community.]]> 2021-02-28 20:02:58 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250725965 Denise Deig https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250728091 2021-02-28 20:04:06 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250728091 https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250728407 2021-02-28 20:04:19 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250728407 Sylvia Winsby https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250767009 I met David in Oakland in 2005; it was a catalyst meeting for connection to Chungliang 'Al' Huang, TaiJi master teacher. During that week, I re-embraced my love of instruments, and ventured to improvise with them in his presence and the space he created in the groups. I also met Mary there, yay, and have continued our connection to this day.... Chungliang, a couple years older than David, continues to teach, via zoom, and we are so blessed ! I'm forever grateful to David in my life. I'm sure the sound continues, wherever his spirit may be...]]> 2021-02-28 20:26:42 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250767009 For David & the MFP Family from Joelle https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250770673 My first encounter with David was in the early 1980ies, by first receiving from my sister Sylvie an unexpected little gift in the form of a cassette tape of AMBER, by David Darling and Michael Jones, which I LOVED/LOVE so much that I would listen to it all the time. Shortly afterwards, I saw David in concert in NYC twice in the late 80ies, which blew my heart-mind!!!

Fast forward to the mid90ies… . I had a series of dreams with the Beatles coming to my home, and singing to me, asking me to sing again (after I had stopped singing)…! I asked the Universe how and where… . Then was led to my first amazing improv teacher, Mia Deborah Shelton… . I did not realize Mia was from Music for People… . Then I opened the Summer 1996 Omega catalog earlier that year, and found “Music for Everyone” with David. At the time, I had no job or money, so I did a prayer from the Aboriginal wisdom tradition: “I ask Divine Oneness for permission to take this workshop if it is for the highest good of all.” A few days later, Sylvie called me and said “your birthday is coming up, so I was thinking that for your birthday, I’d like to offer you a workshop at Omega!” Participating in David’s week-long workshop was life transformational!! During that workshop, I recognized David as a TRUE TEACHER, both musically and spiritually, including from the beginning when he first sent us all outside to listen to Nature and improvise with It, with the added assignment to bring back an object from Nature with which to make sound at the end of the workshop… . I was also struck with how during break time one day, David received the visit of a mother with her little son carrying a cello. David immediately came down to the height of the child and started teaching him with total dedication. During that life changing workshop, I received a dream where the MFP staff team invited me to join them as a staff member. I joined the MLP program in 1997, graduated in October 2001, the same weekend when I became MLP Chairperson for the next 2 years. David is the most deeply and highly inspirational music genius, compassionate, wise, fun, funny, spiritual, and brilliant teacher. I am forever grateful for David, for his life-changing gifts, and for having been blessed as a fellow traveler on the beautiful journey. I am also forever for Music for People, the staff, and community. May David’s Soul Rest in Peace, Light and Love. With Lots of Love, Thanks and Blessings.

]]> 2021-02-28 20:28:43 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250770673 Catherine https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250785095 David encouraged me to improvise - the only thing, I really know ]]> 2021-02-28 20:36:55 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250785095 https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250785194 2021-02-28 20:36:59 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250785194 Suan Armstrong suanflute https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250786377 I met David at the weeklong. summer program Improvising Chamber Music in 1995 as a result of reading Don Campbell's book Music and Miracles. That summer was a miracle for me at MFP. The first three days I didn't take my flute out of the case. We arrived at the middle of the week and David said, we are at the top of the mountain, so if you have not taken your instrument out or played a powerful solo, now is the time. I thought David must be clairvoyant. So I took my instrument out and held it tightly with great trepidation. Every time I tried to get up out of the chair to play, it was impossible to stand up. I was glued to the chair. That day I broke down, crying by the pond on a bench. David came by and asked what was going on with me. I confided that I couldn't get out of the chair to play a solo. He said no problem. That afternoon he lead the solo session and he walked the microphone over to me saying - go wild, and the rest is history. He broke my heart open and set me free to be in the moment with the music. My life took a 360 degree turn into the magic of improvising through the MFP program and beyond into every aspect of life. I am so grateful to have been touched by this extraordinary human being, musician, teacher and mentor. David is truly a benefactor of humanity through the boundless spirit of his music, which embodies "The Soul of the World" in every respect. Many thanks and much love to all MFPer's for carrying on this beautiful legacy.]]> 2021-02-28 20:37:47 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250786377 Julie Wolfarth https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250791527 I first met David at a workshop at Omega in Rhinebeck NY...did several more workshops, including at Maho Bay where David let me play his cello looking out over the water. I did some workshops with Susan Osborn around the same time; the combination was transforming for me. Thank you to David and to all of MfP.]]> 2021-02-28 20:40:38 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250791527 Cindy Mueller https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250792254 I met David at an MfP weekend workshop in 2010. I was 50, and had lived a life as musician and teacher. I had never attempted music improvisation - I was always too afraid. That weekend with David changed my life and my music. I consider that weekend and the next 2 years of learning from him and the MfP staff my musical rebirth. My experience in making and teaching music is richer, fuller, deeper as a result of being in his presence. He was a Master, and I am so grateful that I had the blessing of being with him and learning from him.]]> 2021-02-28 20:41:01 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250792254 Irene Feher LivingYourMusic https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250802278 I came to Music for People in 2013, and my life changed completely. I will always remember that first warm Sunday evening in August when I stepped into the beautiful large space at SUNY Fredonia. Everyone was smiling, and even though I didn't know a single soul I was in awe - I felt like I was suddenly a part of something very special. The music was unlike anything I had ever heard. It was full of life excitement and love, not the idealized kind of romantic love, but the kind of love that grows as people come together and form lifelong friendships, a love that is filled with a multitude of feelings both light and dark, peaceful and turbulent. I found my fellow travellers, I found my tribe, and we travel down the path of music for humanity. I am so grateful that I had to chance to meet David at the 30th anniversary celebration at Stony Point, and that I got to play in an ensemble with him. It felt as though our quartet was riding on this incredibly powerful wave... This is living musical creation! I am grateful for David's legacy and for those inspired by his work who helped me restore my love for singing and believe in my musicality. I'm now giving those same gifts to others and my life is enriched in ways I never imagined possible.

]]> 2021-02-28 20:47:03 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250802278 Helen Yee https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250968456 In our lives we may each encounter only a handful master teachers who light up something within ourselves, leaving us changed forever. For me, David Darling is one of those masters. I first encountered him and MfP when I was feeling quite sour about my abilities as a musician. I'd been playing, studying improvisation, but not truly feeling purpose or vibrancy in music. My teacher recommended looking into MfP. The weekend with David and MfP opened my heart to a deeper and more meaningful place of making sound, and making music together. It touched me to witness the music of others, regardless of the amount of experience they had making music, and it was transformative for me to feel the depth of receptive listening that he cultivated in the community. I'm so grateful for David's way of lighting up so many musical lives, and glad that this welcoming flame lives on.

]]> 2021-02-28 22:37:55 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1250968456 Carolyn "Amala" Viola https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1255200665 STOP the talking! Get out of your head! "Put Your Story In Your Music" Those inspiring words from David which honor the value of authentic self-expression will resonate through me and through my music students and through their's for lifetimes to come! What a legacy he has given us indeed! As a K-8 music teacher I knew there had to be a better way to teach and engage something so innate in children other than what was in my music teacher curriculum handbooks. I was a passionate vocalist, yet I struggled not having an instrumental background to augment my music program; then I went to an MfP weekend at Immaculata and found David and Mary and Julie facilitating limitless possibilities for musical connection and simple accompanying upon any instrument! I instantly joined the MfP 4 year leadership program and was gifted a one on one with David as a makeup class for the first session I had missed in the fall. WOW! It was LIFE CHANGING! We were of one Sound heartSpiritmind🎶💕🎶 I was nearly 50 years old when I left his house that day realizing through the compassion of this extraordinary man I had at last come home to my very own sound self and in doing so now had found my true family! Family that embraces and encourages all colors of emotions for expresSING ones truth without judgement but with an abunDance of LOVE! YES! Thank YOU dear David and fantastic STAFF ALL for your nutritious dedication to growing our beloved MfP family for over 30 years... soon to extend throughout the whole world! David Darling YOU so live on in each one of us🌟🙏❤️🎶🎉 BRAVO MAESTRO🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟]]> 2021-03-01 19:49:00 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1255200665 https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1255432066 2021-03-01 20:41:33 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1255432066 Ted Zook https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1255659709 2021-03-01 21:48:47 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1255659709 I met him naked; having seen David awhile in the grounds of Esalen, the first words from him were funny, poignant and heart connected, while we were both in the showers at the old bathhouse there. I did get to participate in his workshops a few years later, and his influence has stayed within me as it obviously has for thousands of others since that first encounter with his droll elfin spirit. I have shared his ways of getting out of stress by guffawing cartoon-like before any overwhelming situation, celebrated others with that heartwarming enthusiasm he offered to each and every new venture into the realm of 'no wrong notes' and shared and swayed and danced and loved within his music for almost 30 years now. I bought a cello because of him, and spent a while trying to learn it with the 'wrong' teachers after feeling the glorious inspiration of the 'right' teacher.. I remain grateful for being moved by his enormous spirit, that was casting so much luminosity through his connection to his own vulnerable being. Thank you for fully occupying your time on this planet dear David. https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1275693920 Jo Cobbett ]]> 2021-03-05 21:44:13 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1275693920 Edie Mann marimba1937 https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1275994393 From Omega to Fredonia... improvisation is a way of life and living. I always like to wear my "No Wrong Notes" t-shirt and tell folks about David Darling and MFP. Listening to his CDs has such a calming effect...ahh. ]]> 2021-03-06 01:13:39 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1275994393 https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1276025985 Jackie Bhuyan

David Darling and I grew up together where we both were in orchestra, and both spent summers playing tennis at a park near our childhood homes. We reconnected in our mid sixties. I told him about writing piano music for decades and had always thought it would be nice to publish it. He asked me to send a recording ... I made a simple home recording...he liked it, thought others would too. He became my mentor, making me believe in my talent and erasing the negative comments from years ago.. I never ever expected to become a recording artist...but under his mentoring and inspiration, recorded two solo CDs, one of which he added his beautiful cello improvisations to four tracks. I went on to attend an MFP workshop in Stony Point where I met many amazing people and with whom I have remained friends. We went afterwards to his studio in Goshen and spent a day in private mentoring and improvising together. This led to our recording and publishing a two CD set of cello and piano duets in which we took turns passing the lead back and forth...it was a most wonderful experience. I dearly miss my old, close friend.]]> 2021-03-06 01:45:53 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1276025985 Matthias Rauh https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1276508161 Dear Music for People Community. I am so glad, that I met in 2007 David Darling in the Kientalerhof. At this moment Music came back in to my life. I dreamed since my childhood of this way making music together. To be accepted with my low music skills and be supported to trust to my inner wishes, to be encouraged to express my musical imagination, was like to be born again. "Give love" - "release" - "It's you - no, no it's about you :-)" - We are all musicians - to listen our voices, to feel the space between sounds - all his gifts and messages accompagne still every day. In 2013 I had the privilege to visite David Darling in Goshen. He told me about his education, his family and how he studies by Starker, how he was playing with Paul Winter, the first youth orchstra he was leading and every time the love of his mother was accompanyng him. Her love sounding still in his grandpiano in the studio.

Thank you David Darling you send us love, let's share this love.
2015 we founded an European Associaton for Music for People.

Thank you Paul Winter for your wonderful musicaly and researched tribute to David Darling.

Warm regards from our European community]]> 2021-03-06 11:50:28 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1276508161 Tina Smelser https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1385457846 Meeting David Darling turned my life in a different direction.
I first met him in January of 1991, at the Esalen Institute. I went to a workshop he was co-teaching with Chungliang Al Huang because I had taken some workshops with Chungliang previously. I didn't even know what David exactly would be doing in the workshop. The catalog said something like, "David Darling will be playing Bach on the cello". Almost as an afterthought, I brought my flute, which I had played a lot from 5th grade through the beginning of college, but hadn't played in many years. When I met David, I told him that I wanted to get back to playing, but didn't know what to play, and got frustrated because I didn't play as well as I used to. He told me, "just play one note, and play with all of your heart...That is so beautiful".
That was the permission I needed to approach music differently. After that workshop, I took several more workshops with him at Esalen in January of '92, '93, and '94, and then one in Keene in the summer of 1994.
When I first met him, I had been taking what I thought was a semester off from a teacher's credential program. After reconnecting to music, I changed my plans. I found a music group to play with where I happened to meet the man who has been my partner for 27 years. I went to graduate school and got a Masters in Counseling Psychology, with an emphasis in Expressive Arts Therapy. I am thankful that I got to take a workshop with David again at my graduate school (CIIS in San Francisco) some years after graduating. A great sense of connection.
Playing the flute continues to nurture me. I have been studying jazz for the past 14 years, combining theory and structure with the improvisation fist nurtured by Music for People. I am so blessed to have met David Darling, and inspired to realize that one person really can help change people's lives.]]> 2021-04-06 03:00:52 UTC https://padlet.com/maryknysh/wty73g6hg7b1p5fu/wish/1385457846