Music as a
path to Resonance and Reception
As with many
other "concepts" we are accustomed to the idea or "feeling" that we
know what "music" is. As with many such "concepts" the truth is that
we never have truly delved into the question or even attempted to answer it. We just
assumed that we knew at some point when we were children and kept going in that direction,
without ever looking back. Maybe it's time to look back.
At its most
general we could look at "music" as "structured sound" or "sonic
architecture" travelling through a pathway that moves in only one direction (at least
from our perspective): TIME. Music starts and ends, music repeats, music grows and fades.
All of this happens in the sequential experience of time. Within this sequential
experience, the sonic structures we perceive as music or simply rhythm can affect us and
touch us in very intimate and transcending ways. It is this effect that is at the heart of
our experience of music and sound.
When we listen
to music as a group, the whole group slowly fades into one mind through the common
experience of beat, rhythm and melody. Depending on individual sensitivities and
perception, this unifying process can take a long time or it can be almost instantaneous.
But in any case, the music works as a force of unification on the human group, whether
consciously or unconsciously. We will use this knowledge in a very conscious way, first to
simply unify the separate units of "I" that pervade the group. Later we will use
particular structures and moods to invoke a single new "I" which will take over
the group for spaces of time. This new large "I" is the shaman or angel and each
of its faces has a particular key that will allow it to come forth. But this will come
later. We will start by simply experimenting with music as individuals and learn to use it
and perceive it in new ways.
As individuals,
our first experiments with music will involve allowing the sounds, beats, harmonies and
melodies to flow into us freely and to permit ourselves to respond subtly, internally and
"beyond mind". A stumbling block in this process will be our general tendency to
constantly "talk to ourselves". Through various exercises we will attempt to
turn this block on its head and make it a tool. The quiet voice within us that
constantly chatters away about any and all subjects will become our private companion in
listening voyages. Once we can listen together, the very experience of listening will
change and previously forbidden territory will open up into rainbow colored explosions of
time.
Experiment:
- Put the First Voyage disc on your CD player. For this Experiment, play on loudspeakers, not on
headphones.
- Allow the sounds to fill the room, stand in the middle of the room and
witness how the vibrations create a specific and special chamber around you. Notice that the music is filling up the room
as liquid fills up a receptacle, or energy fills up a dynamo.
- Ask yourself what organ am I using to perceive this chamber? Perhaps is one of your five senses, perhaps is
your overall body, perhaps is one of your charkas, or perhaps is no organ youve ever
noticed before. Regardless, ask yourself the
question. If the question has no immediate
answer, dont worry. Just ponder it.
- Now, move the organ of perception throughout some of your known senses. Try to perceive the energy filling up and moving
inside the chamber with your eyes, after doing that for a while, try to perceive with your
ears, then your sense of smell, then the tip of your fingers.
- If you like, you can also try to use other organs to sense the energy.
- Finally, interact with the energy. Do
this by touching it with the tips of your fingers, allow it to slide through your fingers,
and caress it with the palms of your hands. Play
with it for a while, you can move around the room a bit, or stand firm on the same place. Move your arms around, and touch the energy. Play with it.
Move it around. Mix it up. Stir. Have
fun.
Experiment 2
- Stand up straight in a quiet room or a quiet lonely area of a
forest.
- Take a deep breath. As you inhale concentrate on the word
"Something"
- As soon as you stop inhaling, exhale slowly and concentrate on
the word "Nothing".
- Repeat this cycle consistently. Use the same amount of time to
inhale and to exhale and continue to focus on the two words.
- Feel each cycle as a beat. Let the beat become stronger, more
insistent, louder. The word "something" becomes deeper and heavier. The
word "nothing" becomes lighter and almost invisible.
Don't allow the beat to slow down or speed up. If you feel it doing either one,
slowly move it back to the initial speed.
- After a few minutes, stop the cycles and rest, but continue to
hear the beat in your head.
Experiment 3 : 4 beats
To do this Experiment as well as others, you will need a
metronome. You can get one for less than $20 at any local music store.
- Set the metronome at a very slow comfortable pace (60bpms or
so).
- Stand in the center of a quiet room. Face East.
- Take a few deep breaths.
- Say the word "EAST" as you face east and give
yourself to the feeling/sensation that comes from that direction.
- Allow 4 beats to go by. At the 4th beat turn to the south.
- Say the word "SOUTH" as you face south and give
yourself to the feeling/sensation that comes from that direction.
- Allow 4 beats to go by. At the 4th beat turn to the west.
- Say the word "WEST" as you face west and give
yourself to the feeling/sensation that comes from that direction.
- Allow 4 beats to go by. At the 4th beat turn to the north.
- Say the word "NORTH" as you face north and give
yourself to the feeling/sensation that comes from that direction.
- Repeat the whole cycle for about 15 minutes. Feel the 4 beats
that you stay on each direction as one cycle and the larger cycle of 4 directions as a
second all encompassing cycle.
As you try this Experiment, allow the impressions to come
in whatever manner they come. You might get impressions of colors, sounds, visions,
textures, smells, thoughts, ideas, people, or cognitions. The manner in which the
quadrants appear to you could be different each time, or they might appear in the same
manner for a while. Once you do this Experiment for a few times, try to keep a
temporary record of the manifestations and how they change. If you do this with
other people, compare notes at the end. For this Experiment, "taking
notes" can be either in the form of writing, drawing, painting, sculpting, etc.
Experiment 4: 4 Beats Part 2
Sit at a piano, guitar or any other kind of
instrument. It doesn't matter if you can play this instrument or not, as long as you can
make some kind of sound with it.
Set your metronome at about 60 beats per
minute. Set your timer for 10 minutes.
Now extend your hands over the instrument
and start to count the beats in your mind.
Each 4 beats, make some sound with the
instrument. It can be a single note, it can be a chord, it can be any kind of sound you
can make with the instrument. If you can do this with your eyes closed, even better!
Keep going for the 10 minutes until your
timer sounds.
Remember, you are not doing a performance! You
don't need to sound "good" or in any way conform to your or anyone else's idea
of what is "good" music. Simply make a sound every 4 beats. Lose yourself in the
process. Let your hands guide you.
The sounds you make also don't have to start
abruptly right as the metronome sounds. You can allow them to flow around the beat of the
metronome, sliding in or sliding out, as long as you make one sound per beat.
Duo Experiment: Sound Bridge
If this is a large group, divide into pairs.
Otherwise find one other person interested in doing these experiments and try this with
them.
Sit opposite each other, but facing away.
Set the timer for 15 minutes. Agree before starting the timer on who will begin the
experiment.
Start the timer.
The one who starts should evoke a strong
emotion, through memory or inner emotional posture alone. Once the emotion is there, make
a sound that communicates this emotion.
Keep making it as your partner begins to
imitate and resonate with the sound you are making.
Slowly fade your own sound as the sound gets
taken over by your partner.
The partner now, while mantaining the sound
going, evokes a variation of this emotion and changes the sound accordingly.
As the sound changes, the first one responds
and resonates.
Keep on alternating roles, while maintaining
an ongoing stream of sound, until the timer sounds.
Take several deep breaths and stay in
complete silence for at least 10 minutes.
Music as structured frequency, harmonization and resonance,
music as a way to make different human machines operate as one for short periods of time |