I am a Zen student but there are many Buddhist voices taking many forms and this collection of tunes is not intended to offer a unified set of beliefs, Buddhist or otherwise. Nor is it intended to provide metaphysical answers to what happens at death. The fact is nobody knows and I am certainly not pretending that I do. However, the views embedded in our music seem to have a ring of universal truth to them, and for whatever reason, provide me with some degree of comfort.
Was this experiment successful? I suppose I won't really know until the end. However, at this point, I do notice myself thinking about my mortality more often and using those thoughts to put whatever is happening in perspective. The underlying messages in all the tunes, whether stated explicitly or not, seems to be that if we are willing to fully face our own mortality then we are in a position to live more authentic lives. The understanding that I have the freedom to choose how I live the rest of my life is becoming more real each day.