Living Music (2018)

Tyler Carson has been playing the violin since he was 5 years old. From an early age, he toured with his sister, Kendel, playing country fiddle music to large audiences. When she was unexpectedly offered a record deal, Tyler was left to find a new musical career path of his own. While attempting to build momentum as a country singer, Tyler was faced with the sudden loss of his voice due to spasmodic dysphonia, an under-researched, rare vocal disease with no cure known to modern medicine. He decided to broaden his healing approach, studying nontraditional techniques of mindfulness and meditation to rehabilitate his voice. Working with several different vocal coaches could not bring his voice back to its original strength, ending any chance of being a vocal musician, and causing him to suffer a severe mental breakdown. Tyler then decided to turn back to the violin. As part of his healing process, Tyler was invited to travel to India to further his studies of meditation. Opening himself up to new thoughts and ideas led Tyler to experiment with his violin as well, strumming and plucking the strings to create a new sound unlike anything he had played before. He learned the importance of keeping oneself in the present moment, improvising music from his emotions, crafting melodies from a quiet, focused place in his mind, a technique he dubbed "Living Music". After returning to the West with his newfound musical direction, Tyler started playing to small audiences in bars and nightclubs to very positive reception. A chance encounter with an audience member connected him with a new doctor, who was able to properly diagnose Tyler with dystonia, a neurological condition where the brain causes an overload of muscle contractions in the larynx, causing patients to lose their voices. Using what he had learned through his meditation and musical discovery, Tyler has been able to begin healing his voice by re-teaching himself how to speak, completing a transformative artistic and personal journey.