Music Is Medicine — What Playing an Instrument Does to Your Brain

Why We Learn Music Backwards | The Easy Key Story

In this episode, Mat Creedon shares the deeply personal story behind The Easy Key and the long journey that led to its creation. From traumatic childhood music lessons and obsessive key signature practice… to discovering American Jazz Theory, relative pitch, and the hidden patterns behind music itself… this episode explores why so many musicians struggle with music theory and ear training. Mat discusses: • why music is often taught backwards • the difference between letters and intervals • how the ear recognises emotional relationships between sounds • improvisation and pattern recognition • and how music can become intuitive when understood through relationships instead of memorisation. This is more than a conversation about theory — it’s an exploration into music as language, emotion, intuition, and consciousness. The Easy Key was created to help musicians see and hear music more intuitively, reducing overwhelm and helping students connect sound directly to understanding. Download The Easy Key: https://www.matcreedon.com/products Thank you for listening. Remember… Music is Medicine. Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia. In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves. Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea: Music is not only something we listen to. Sometimes, music is medicine.

Vesper — A 3AM Sonic Exploration

How does a guitarist end up making a sitar album? In this episode, I share the unexpected path that led me from songwriting and teaching… into the quiet, mysterious world of 3AM creativity. What began as curiosity — inspired years ago by hearing the sitar in The Beatles — slowly evolved into something more personal. From playing festivals alongside a tabla player in a Bollywood dance troupe, to navigating the space between tradition and authenticity, this journey has been anything but linear. At some point, I realised something important: The more I tried to sound like something I wasn’t… the further away I got from the music. But when I let go of that, and allowed the music to sound like me… something opened up. This episode explores that shift — and the role that early morning stillness has played in accessing a deeper creative state. Vesper was created during a 3AM writing experiment — a time where the mind quiets, the noise fades, and something else begins to come through. Some call it flow. Some call it intuition. Some might even call it connection to something deeper. Whatever the name… this is music from that space. — 🎧 Best experienced with headphones 🌀 Part of the Afterbath / Music is Medicine series Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia. In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves. Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea: Music is not only something we listen to. Sometimes, music is medicine.

Music Is Medicine — What Playing an Instrument Does to Your Brain

Why does playing music feel so powerful? In this episode of Music Is Medicine, Mat Creedon explores how playing an instrument reshapes the brain in profound ways. From neuroplasticity and predictive coding to the connection between logic and emotion, music engages nearly every part of the brain at once. Drawing from both neuroscience and personal experience, Mat reflects on how music can sharpen perception, support emotional wellbeing, and even play a role in protecting the brain over time. This is more than just practice — it’s a way of tuning the nervous system itself. If you’ve ever wondered why music feels so meaningful… this episode offers a deeper answer. Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia. In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves. Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea: Music is not only something we listen to. Sometimes, music is medicine.

Music Is Medicine: Why Songs Can Heal the Nervous System

Why does music move us so deeply? In this episode of Mat Creedon — Music Is Medicine, Mat explores the idea that music may be more than entertainment — it may also be a powerful way for the body and mind to process emotion. Drawing from personal experiences with songwriting, transcendental meditation, and the natural release of emotional energy, Mat reflects on how melodies often emerge when the nervous system begins to relax. In those moments, buried feelings can surface and transform into music. When emotions are expressed through melody, something interesting happens. What once felt overwhelming can become something we can observe, explore, and share. A simple melody can capture an emotional experience in a way that words alone often cannot. This may be why certain songs stay with us for years. They don’t just entertain us — they resonate with something deeper inside. Perhaps music is not only art. Perhaps music is medicine. Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia. In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves. Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea: Music is not only something we listen to. Sometimes, music is medicine.

When a Song Arrives — The Story of Orbita

Sometimes songs feel like they come from us. Other times they feel like they come through us. In this episode of Mat Creedon – Music is Medicine, Mat shares the story behind one of the best melodies he has ever written — a song called Orbita. The melody appeared suddenly after a long day of songwriting, arriving almost fully formed with a verse, pre-chorus, chorus and post-chorus. Moments like this remind us that creativity can be mysterious. The mind searches, struggles, experiments… and then suddenly something deeper appears. But the real lesson this experience revealed had nothing to do with songwriting. It was about resilience, perspective, and learning to appreciate the quiet miracle of simply being alive. Sometimes the greatest comfort in life doesn’t come from avoiding hardship — it comes from becoming strong enough to meet whatever life brings. In this reflection, Mat explores creativity, stoicism, and the strange way inspiration sometimes arrives when the mind becomes still. Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia. In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves. Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea: Music is not only something we listen to. Sometimes, music is medicine.