ARCANA V
ARCANA V
MUSIC, MAGIC AND MYSTICISM
EDITED BY
JOHN ZORN
HIPS ROAD 2010
DEC 1 5OT®
HL
Copyright ©2010 by John Zom/Hips Road
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means
without express written permission of the authors or publisher.
CONTENTS
Preface
John Zom
V
Book design by Heung-Heung Chin.
Chapter 1
De Harmonia Mundi
Vo
William Breeze
Chapter 2
Ornithology for the Birds
First published in 2010
Gavin Bryars 30
33
ISBN 978-0-9788337-9-4
Chapter 3
Regarding the Sonic Symbolism
of When and Where
ISBN 0-9788337-9-1
Printed on acid-free paper
Steve Coleman
Printed and bound in the United States of America
Chapter 4
Hips Road
200 East 10th Street #126
When I Saw Kosugi Get Into a
Large Duffel Bag with his Guitar
Alvin Curran 9S
104
New York, NY 10003
Distributed to the trade by D.A.P. / Distributed Art Publishers
Frank Denyer
155 Avenue of the Americas, Second Floor
New York, NY 10013
Orders; (800) 338-2665 Tel: (212) 627-1999
Fax:(212)627-9484
Chapters
The Musician Myth
and the Failed Quest
http://www.tradik.com
Chapter 6
Walls & Ladders
Jeremy Fogel 114
129
Chapter?
On Dirt, Revelations,
Contradictions, and Breathing
Through Your Elbows
Fred Frith
Chapter 8
Yoga and Music
Sharon Gannon 133
151
Chapter 9
Music, Mysticism and Spirituality
Peter Garland
Chapter 10
Music Extensions of Infinite Dimensions
Milford Graves 171
187 Chapter 11
The Crazy Voice
Larkin Grimm
i
327 Chapter 25
Chapter 12
Music and Mysticism,
Rhythm and Form
A Blues Romance in 12 Parts
Holy Ghost
Tim Hodgkinson 191
227 Chapter 13
Sigils
Jerry Hunt
Chapter 14
Hyakintos and Pardeh
Jessika Kenney and Eyvind Rang 334
239 Chapter 15
Adam Rudolph
Chapter 26
A Silence that Speaks:
The All-Embracing Unification
of Space and Mind
(With Sound Meditation in 3 Parts)
David Chaim Smith 336
Musings on the Hermetic Lyre
344 Chapter 27
William J. Kiesel
Harmonie Aphanes
Phaneres Kreitton
Chapter 16
Trey Spruance
In the Name of God
the Gracious the Merciful:
Recognition of the Beloved
Chapter 28
Yusef A. Lateef 248
254 Chapter 17
Notes (To Whoever is Listening)
Frank London
The Dread of the Knock:
A Ceremony of
Auditory Hallucinations
for the Dead of Night
David Toop 386
396 Chapter 29
Chapter 18
Horn O' Plenty
The Sacred Power of Music
Greg Wall
Dary John Miz elle 260
265 Chapter 19
Chapter 30
The Soul's Messenger
The Perspectival Lute
Meredith Monk
Peter Lambom Wilson 401
408 Chapter 31
Chapter 20
Metaphors, Mythos and Metaphonics
Death: The Father of Creation
z'ev
Tisziji Muñoz 269
286 Chapter 21
About the Contributors 440
Trash
Mark Nauseef
Chapter 22
The Collective Intelligence
of Improvisation
Pauline Oliveros 292
297 Chapter 23
Thee Splinter Test
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge
Chapter 24
Music-Myth
Terry Riley
314
ii
iii
PREFACE
JOHN ZORN
The creative act is a complex and elusive enigma. Shrouded in mystery, large
ly misunderstood, many attempts have been made to describe, analyze, and
define it in an effort to explain the inexplicable. The preceding four volumes
of Arcana have presented the voices of 125 creative minds discussing the
processes, thinking patterns, idiosyncratic techniques and breakthrough
methods involved in the magical act of making music. Ranging from peda
gogy and magic squares to extended techniques, chord voicings, advanced
technologies, surrealist games, esoteric research, ethnomusicology, dream
diaries, structural analysis, acoustics and more, the essays and manifestos
included within those tomes help provide clues to how musicians think
about their work, the world, and that which they love most—music.
Despite articulate and passionate answers to probing questions,
misunderstandings persist, abound and proliferate—and the divide between
musicians and the rest of the world remains largely undiminished. The out
side world continues to look upon artists and musicians with a strange and
complex combination of admiration, jealousy, contempt, love, suspicion,
awe, anger and hero worship. The contradiction is quite understandable—
creation is an unknowable act. In addition to the the nuts and bolts involved
in the craft of sculpting a piece of music, there is the divine spark of inspi
ration that gives it birth, which often is just as much of a mystery to the
artists who experience it as it is to the uninitiated who have not.
This unfathomable element of the creative equation is rarely spo
ken of by musicians, perhaps out of the belief (or fear) that to speak of it
would cause it to vanish, never to return. But it is there, equally veiled as it
is vital—at times overwhelming. Described alternately as being in the zone
or the flow, channeling the muse, self hypnosis or the piece writing itself,
the feeling is a universal yet ineffable one of being in touch with something
outside or larger than oneself. The manifestations of this can include unusu-
ZORN
PREFACE
ally intense concentration on one's work resulting in a lost sense of self, a
merging of action and awareness to the extent that successes and failures
become immediately apparent, a perfect balance between ability level and
challenge, a powerful sense of personal control rendering the process effort
tinguished modern practitioners and greatest occult thinkers, providing
insights into the esoteric traditions and mysteries involved in the composi
tion and performance of the most mystical of all arts.
—John Zorn, NYC 2009
less, and often an altered or lost sense of time. Goals become so clear as to
be almost absent—one exists inside the hot crucible of creativity itself, con
nected with a spirit, energy or historical lineage that is overpowering, exhil
arating, frightening. One is one's goal, and the creative act is existence—
rewarding in and of itself. At these times freedom (so normally equated
with artists) becomes obeisance. One does what one is compelled to do,
inevitably resulting in something beyond your known capabilities.
What is this place? Whose is this voice? From whence does it come?
How does one make contact? Can it be called upon at will? How long will
it stay? Will it ever return? In a recent discussion with a friend, we were both
surprised and delighted to leam that we were not alone in our experiences—
that we both had heard this voice, been visited by this angel. We also agreed
how impossible it would be for the uninitiated to understand or even accept
its existence. Is it indeed best to keep these voices private? Are they real or
imagined? Who can truly understand how a song can appear complete in
a fleeting moment, so quick that you rush to write it down before it disap
pears, or that a composition can actually write itself. Unless you have
actually experienced this remarkable phenomenon, it sounds suspiciously
like romantic fantasy.
But it is real. There are places beyond thought, beyond thinking;
places where intuition merge with destiny—^places of transcendence—and
in our newly formed, hi-speed, digitized world of the multitask, it may be
that the only way to retain our innate inner-born humanity is in taking on
and tapping in to the challenge of the unknowable stream of the eternal.
Mysticism, magic and alchemy all come into play in the creative
process. For many centuries composers have accessed things spiritual,
embracing ritual, spell, incantation and prayer deeply into their life and
work. From Sappho and Hildegard von Bingen to Biber, Bach, Mozart,
Liszt, Scriabin, Messiaen, Rudhyar, Sorabji, Coltrane, Ayler, Ito, Pärt,
Rautavaara and beyond, the connection of music to mysticism has been
consistent, well documented and productive. Far from an historical
overview or a musicologist's study, this Arcana Special Edition illuminates
a fascinating and elusive subject via the eloquent voices of today's most dis
vi
vii
ARCANA V
CHAPTER
1
DE HARMONIA MUNDI
WILLIAM BREEZE
I
00. One is the Magus: twain His forces: four His weapons. These are the
Seven Spirits of Unrighteousness; seven vultures of evil. Thus is the art
and craft of the Magus but glamour. How shall He destroy Himself?
0. Yet the Magus hath power upon the Mother both directly and through
Love. And the Magus is Love, and bindeth together That and This in His
Conjuration. —Aleister Crowley, Liber B vel Magi sub figura /, The Holy
Books ofThelema.
Why is Love called a Magus? Because all the force of Magic consists in
Love. The work of Magic is a certain drawing of one thing to another by
natural similitude. The parts of this world, like members of one animal,
depend all on one Love, and are connected together by natural commu
nion.. .. From this community of relationship is born the communal Love:
from which Love is born the common drawing together: and this is the
true Magic. —MarsiUo Ficino, Commentarium in Convivium Platonis de
amore., oratio VI, cap. io {Opera omnia, p. 1348), trans. Frances A. Yates,
from Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (1964), p. 127.
Microntonal tuning has a long-established connection with occultism and magick. The occult doctrine of correspondences has its roots in the protoscientific philosophies of mediaeval Europe, with deep roots in Arabic,
Byzantine Greek and older confluent cultures. It had its greatest resurgence
during the i 5 th century Renaissance Neoplatonic revival led by Marsilio
Ficino, and its essentials were codified by Cornelius Agrippa in the 16th
century. Epitomized by the "as above, so below" axiom of the Emerald
Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, the doctrine posits a one-to-one correspon
dence between the celestial and earthly realms, and to its initiates, between
the inner and outer worlds. The elements, humors, planets and zodiacal
11
BREEZE
DE HARMONIA MUNDI
signs were understood to cross the macrocosm-microcosm boundary, with
include a state of high vibration akin to electricity coursing through the
counterparts in the human body and spirit. Rehgious theurgists such as
body. The same phenomena are described in analogous terms in Hindu
Ficino employed a variety of means, but especially music, to harness these
yoga {kundalini), Taoism and other traditions. The ability to "tune" these
magical correspondences in the quest for health, happiness and a deeper
vibrations harmoniously, to "play" the energies internally as you would a
understanding of God and nature. These correspondences have left linguis
musical instrument, is one of the most important tools available to the
tic traces in our languages that remain signifiers for aesthetic qualities and
magus or yogin (as in mantrayoga) for enhancing and directing the trance.
emotions. We can, in discussing music, speak of a fiery or earthy work, a
The "subtle body" of the magus or yogin is a microcosm of the vibrational
choleric or sanguine performance, a jovial or martial brass passage, or recog
world of the macrocosm; it is tuned by the same principles as those found in
nize music evocative of the seasons. These are not just linguistic fossils of
microtonal music.
extinct magical thinking preserved in language; these influences, and their
underlying occult correspondences, still live in us and through us.
with astronomical conceptions of planetary order and motion, theological
In addition to Thrice-Greatest Hermes, the Hermetictheologi
constructs like the angelic hierarchies of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
or spiritual fathers included Pythagoras, who had taught that vibration
proved the primacy of ideal numbers. His initiates could demonstrate inte
(the cherubim, seraphim, etc.), and then-recent borrowings from the
Hebrew Qabalah, to shape the syncretic paradigm of the music of the
ger ratios in the harmonic series using a monochord. These ratios and those
spheres. Magical applications of this evolving occult philosophy involved
elaborated by other theoreticians became the basis for ecclesiastical music in
ceremonial practices and meditative thought-experiments that essentially
mediaeval Europe. As further elaborated by the Renaissance Neopythagoreans,
"tuned" into one or more corresponding qualities to achieve a precise magi
Neoplatonists and Hermeticists, and epitomized in the influential De
cal result, in the world with talismanic magic, in the person with healing
Harmonia Mundi (1525) of Francesco Giorgi, these ratios were understood
magic, or in one's own consciousness with religio-theurgic magic. Employed
to reveal the mind of the creator and give the measure of heaven and earth.
in music, they provided a magical means of invoking and directing discrete
The worlds were understood to co-respond; the magical link between them
divine energies on earth. A note sung in a Renaissance Orphic hymn, or
was made through sympathy, the affinity of like for like. This sympathy
was mediated by number, epitomized in the harmonic series.
played on a monochord, lute or viol, could stand for a planet in the heavens,
But the network of correspondences traced pathways with two
ick of correspondences is thus analogous to sympathetic vibration, where
directions. As number and vibration permeated all created things, including
strings tuned to frequencies that bear whole number ratios to the frequency
man, they provided a means of return up through the Hermetic hierarchies
of creation to the direct experience of God. This was a divine right of return,
of the vibrating air resonate, at a distance, in sympathy with the sound
not a mediated salvation or redemption, and required initiation, i.e. experi
implicit in the circuit created by the magical link; the influx of descending
ence, not simply grace. Magick proved that God was listening through His
influence after invocation reinforces the originating "signal"—a phenome
created agencies, the ensouled angels and demons appropriate to the various
departments of magical works.
non that Crowley called the reverberating or reciprocating formula.
The world presented to our senses teems with vibration, and our
The goal of Hermetic magic was a trance in which the body of the
magus was stilled with its senses closed, while the spirit was exalted to com
There are laws of harmony which our brains are hard-wired to decode, per
mune with the mens, or mind of God. This trance is an advanced form of
what, since late 19th century Theosophy, has been called astral projection,
forming what amounts to fast Fourier analysis to hear whole-number ratios
as meaningful harmonic relationships. We have evolved to hear most of
and was termed "rising on the planes" by the Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley. Accounts of this trance almost always
these harmonies as beautiful, and consciously or unconsciously, we respond
to them emotionally and imbue them with meaning.
12
13
In the Renaissance, Neo-Pythagorean number theory combined
imbuing the musician and listeners with its energies and qualities. The mag
source. There is also something analogous to an audio feedback loop
senses are specialized organs that interpret the vibrations to our brains.
BREEZE
DE HARMONIA MUNDI
In the decades leading up to the dawn of the Enlightenment there
with the electric blues. The subtle harmonics present in all vibrating strings
was renewed interest in Neoplatonism and the mathematics of music. In the
were boosted by pickups, amplifiers and effects, bringing them into the
early 17th century, when not singing with his monochord, Robert Fludd
foreground and making tone and spectrum control a new element in the
wrote about cosmological music theory, and argued it in print with contem
tonal palette.
poraries like Johannes Kepler, who like his predecessor Ptolemy, combined
astronomy with an abiding interest in music.
II
The Baroque period developed a better understanding of sympa
thetic vibration. One result was a newly-invented string instrument that
flourished in the late 17th and i8th centuries, the viola d'amore, with an
undercourse of strings that vibrate sympathetically with the bowed strings
much like those of the Indian sarangi or sitar. Its sympathetic strings are
expressively responsive but very subtle and ethereal—the amplitude of
sympathetic vibrations drop off with interval distance in whole number
ratios from the sounding string. A later conceptual breakthrough was
the discovery that a vibrating string includes its full harmonic series in its
sound envelope, however faintly, giving rise to an understanding of timbre.
This was not known previously, even to the Greeks, though they had long
known how to isolate the individual harmonics.
In Europe, the evolution of instruments with sympathetic strings
stopped with the ascension of equal temperament and the pianoforte, musi
cal handmaidens of the Enlightenment. By the 19th century the piano had
become a concert instrument, and singers, string and wind players had
adapted to its equal temperament by modifying their techniques, most
especially by introducing vibrato to mask tempered dissonances. With the
industrial revolution the piano became ubiquitous as a home entertain
ment center for the emerging middle class. Interest in nontempered tuning
was generally limited to specialists, who were often non-musicians.
Blues musicians have long had nontempered approaches to playing
that are rooted in careful listening and pitch bending. Some players used
open tunings to improve the response of the guitar and compensate for tem
pered fretting. Resonator guitars and slide technique were developed. Slight
adjustments of pitch were made because they sounded better, and conveyed
more feeling. The musical form itself was conducive, as the 12-bar I-IV-V
blues progression is the next best thing to a static drone for exploring sub
tleties of scale. The physicist Hermann Helmholtz never heard the blues,
but he knew why tonic-subdominant-dominant chords were the most har
monically stable, even in equal temperament. All this came to the forefront
14
If even the universe is in sympathy with and harmonizes with itself, its
parts must fit together agreeably, since these equal parts are of a single
whole. It is surely worth consideration whether the charms and spells of
magicians do not answer to such unity. Indeed just as the things in the
world are mutually betokened by one another, so they are reciprocally
affected. The true sage understands the parts of the world. Using voices,
substances, and figures near at hand as tokens of things far away, he
attracts one thing by means of another. —Synesius of Cyrene, De Insomniis
(from Ficino, De Somniis, in Opera omnia,, p. 1969), translated in Gary
Tomlinson, Music in Renaissance Magic; Toward a Historiography of
Oilers (1993), pp. 129-130.
And what is a diagram? A representation of a musical system. And we
use a diagram so that, for students of the subject, matters which are
hard to grasp with the hearing may appear before their eyes. —Bacchius
(translated in John Curtis Franklin, Diatonic Music in Ancient Greece:
A Reassessment of its Antiquity, Memnosyne, series 4, 56(1) (2002), pp.
669-702.)
Music theorists and occult philosophers are alike in this: they have a very
wide field of discourse, and theories that are frequently tangential or at
cross-purposes. Both have had ascendant dogmas, blind alleys and periods
of stagnation, as well as old and vigorous traditions that enjoy renewal
and rediscovery, with occasional breakthroughs. In both, ancient truths
are perennial.
My frustration with western classical training began as a music stu
dent in the 1970s, especially with the way music theory was taught. It led
me to drop reading and notating music for improvisation, and to try to
rethink theory from first principles. My parallel pursuit of practical and the
oretical occult magick became interwoven with this. What follows was
developed when studying North Indian music theory privately during
1975-1976 with the American, Indian-trained bin and sitar master Peter
15
BREEZE
DE HARMONIA MUNDI
Row, who used an algebraic notation of his own devising to describe Just/
Mercury is the god of communication, travel and commerce. Words
Pythagorean intervals. I preferred geometry, finding that it shed Hght on
interesting aspects of music theory and yielded good mnemonic aids for
like "merchandise," "market," "mercenary" and "commercial" all share an
ing color diagrams are the result. The clock model used as a starting point
etymology with the god-name Mercurius. In the Crowleyan magical
tradition. Mercury or Hermes is the Lord of Magick. These traditions are
not necessarily contradictory; trade is after all the simplest means of trans
had long precedent as a map of the chromatic and enharmonic keys in mod
forming matter. His symbol is the caduceus (Figure 1), which has dual
ulation. I now know that music psychologists, beginning with Bachem
serpents around a winged central staff suggestive of a string or air column
(1950), used a spiral helix pitch-space model first advanced by the German
theorist M. W. Drobish in 1855, a model that has since gained nearly univer
vibrating in harmonic ratios. Its facing serpents, suggestive of mirroring, are
more than merely symbolic, and the mirror is explicit in some early forms
sal acceptance in textbooks for music psychology and psychoacoustics
of the symbol. Some images of meditating yogins (Figure 2) show the spinal
(examples are given in Selected References). But although I found occasional
column with intertwined energy channels suggestive of harmonics in a
circular diagrams and spirals in the music theory literature, I did not turn up
string. Eliphas Lévi's image of Baphomet (Figure 3), with one hand pointing
anything precisely similar to the theoretical arrangements given in Figures
to the heavens and the other to the earth, embodies the Hermetic "as above,
so below" formula with its operative corollary "solvè et coagula." He has a
theory and improvisation. The simple systems illustrated in the accompany
8-10. But geometrical clock-based music theory was one of those ideas
whose time had come, and seems to have been elaborated independently in
interesting ways in various places. Books making serious use of clocks
caduceus for a phallus, hinting at the importance of vibration and vibration
include one by a serialist, Peter Schat, De Toonclok (1984, EngHsh trans.
tions" to the "shrill scream of orgasm." Employed externally, rather than
The Tone Clock, 1993), and the innovative Guitar Grimoire training books
internally in trance or vision, the forces indicated by these symbols relate to
by "Adam Kadmon" published by Carl Fischer (whose title and pseudo
nym suggest their author might be a practicing magician in private life).
the siddhis of Yoga, and in magick and sorcery, the powers of fascination
and glamor.
control in sexual magick, from the slow frequencies of the "ophidian vibra
Geometry is not an approach that will suit everyone. It may be that
One of the mysteries of physics is how vibration in time doubles
the so-called hemispheric "left brain/right brain" characteristics (e.g. verbal
= left, spatial = right) correlate to different approaches to music. If one
and redoubles to create the entire spectrum of vibration. When singing or
accepts for discussion purposes that conventional notation and theory is
linear and essentially verbal, then perhaps geometric music theory more
same order again and again, from octave to octave. The simplest representa
fully engages the other (supposedly more intuitive) hemisphere.
playing up and down an instrument's range, we pass the same notes in the
tion of this effect is a spiral, where each return to a particular radial point on
the circle represents a doubling of frequency, or in the other direction, a
halving. Given enough turns, the whole universe of vibration can be encom
passed, from long slow cycles of galactic rotation to orbital planetary
motion, through the long waves of earthquakes up to sound and visible
light and on into the upper electromagnetic spectrum. The harmonic laws
obeyed in each realm are the same. Engineers have learned to detune sus
pension bridges so that they do not collapse in high winds; crystals are used
to isolate radio frequencies; lasers are used to tune coherent light. This even
holds true at the quantum mechanical level; it has just been learned that two
widely separated pairs of atoms, when induced into quantum entanglement
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
16
Figure 3.
by laser, vibrate sympathetically at a distance Qost et al., 2009). Quantum
neurology is exploring how our brains process consciousness of the uni17
BREEZE
DE HARMONIA MUNDI
verse of matter-energy, and is beginning to find correlations at the deepest
levels of neurology and physics. Vibration may yet prove to be the basis for
our perception of an external world, and the means of its continual (re)creation. Religions of the manifesting word, from the Vedic vak to the Greek
logos and the Hebrew berashith, suggest as much.
0
Figure 5.
Figure 4.
The musical range we hear, about ten octaves, is a tiny subset of this
vast continuum of vibration. Taking the spiral, transposing all its octaves into
one octave, and dividing the circle as a common 12-point clock (Figure 4),
gives a simple but accurate representation of pitch and interval space. The
main difference between this clock and a normal time-keeping clock is the use
of 0 at the top. In modulo-12 arithmetic, 12 is the modulus of 0, just as 10 is
Figure 6.
Figure 7.
the modulus of 0 in our usual counting system. With precedent from Drobish
(1855) and Bachem (1950), the music psychologist R. N. Shepard (1982) pro
Alexander J. Ellis established a convention for subdividing the
jected this helical model on a cylinder (Figure 5). While comparativism absent
octave into a logarithmic scale of 1200 "cents" in which the twelve equally
a transmission context is speculative and usually at best merely suggestive, the
helical model does resemble a Phoenician coin (Figure 6), whose designer sig
tempered tones are subdivided by 100 in his extensive appendices to On the
nalled his awareness of the serpent's spiral symbolism by the inclusion of a
seashell. The vibrational spiral also has a symbolic affinity with the traditional
representation of the Orphic world-egg (Figure 7). The doubling and redou
Sensation of Tone (1875, 2nd ed. 1885), his translation of the 1875 4th edi
tion of Hermann Helmholtz's Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen. This
octave division into 1200 provides a practical scale for describing micro-
bling by octaves to return to the same note is a simple observation that can be
tones; humans can't normally hear differences of one cent or less. Cent
values for natural integer ratios are rounded off in this paper; they are irra
demonstrated by singing or whistling a glissade while tracing circles in the air.
It would be more surprising were it not known in antiquity than otherwise.
tional numbers. Oddly, considering the division into 1200, Ellis did not
employ an overt clock analogy. That became a standard much later with
18
19
BREEZE
DE HARMONIA MUNDI
frequency meters calibrated in cents arranged around a circle. Ellis' conven
circle. But its effects are nontrivial—they show the "mirroring" implicit in
tion was practical, but it really comes to life in a clock representation.
Mercury's caduceus. This mirroring points up philosophical and even theo
The clock model collapses all the octaves into one simple represen
tation of an abstract clock, making possible the study of notes in pitch space
without the up/down duality of the octaves. Thanks to the sexagesimal
logical questions. The horizontal correlation of intervals and their inver
sions on the clock face shows how duality reasserts itself, often in unexpect
system of the Sumerians and Babylonians, we all know how to do base-12
ed ways that are arguably integral to music theory. One of Crowley's most
important esoteric doctrines—his initiated solution to the ancient
arithmetic in our heads. Telling time requires that we mentally compute the
nihilism/monism/dualism arguments and ultimately the problem of evil
hours of the day forwards and backwards in modulo-12. Extending this by the
itself—teaches that dualism is a characteristic of the world of manifestation.
finer scale of 1200 cents is just a refinement, one that refrains from overdraw
Hardly novel, but Crowley was not your garden variety antinomian gnos
ing the analogy to employ minutes and seconds. The comparison between
time clocks and music also breaks down because there is no real equivalent to
tic. He went further, teaching that dualistic ideas can be transcended by a
process analogous to Hegelian dialectics—what he termed the "0 = 2
the 24 hour day in music beyond the comparison to two octaves. If we could
Formula," i.e. +1 + -1 = 0, where 0 forms the new positive or negative term
hear a range of fourteen octaves one niight make a trivial analogy to the week.
of a new equation. As the star-goddess Nuit says in The Book of the Law:
While musical frequencies expressed in cycles per second increase
geometrically with each octave up in pitch (A = 110,220,440,880, etc.), on a
"For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union." {Liber AL 1:29).
modulo-12 clock or 1200 cent logarithmic scale the note values increase
{Liber AL 1:45). This dialectical synthesis continues until one transcends
arithmetically by 12 or 1200 for each octave, respectively. The arithmetic
both human rationality and manifestation, crossing an Abyss beyond which
scale makes mental computation and transposition practical, so that it is
is an ideal world transcending duality in which any true thought contains its
possible to compose using modulo-12 numbers. Many composers have
opposite. One can catch glimpses of this process at work in particle physics
done so, and although some theorists object to intervals having the same
names as notes, the method has its advantages.
as well as music theory.
Coming on the heels of the renewed interest in Neoplatonism and
The clock has interesting and useful properties in number theory.
esoteric music theory, the young Descartes studied the works of his prede
One is shown by imagining a vertical line from 0 to 6 as a "mirror" that
cessors and near-contemporaries, especially music theory. No stranger to
reflects notes from one side of the clock to the other, horizontally. Thus, the
questions of duality, he used interval-divisions of the circle to illustrate his
Vth is horizontally opposite the IVth if you draw a line across the clock to
connect the mirrored 7 and 5. Now add the two numbers on any horizontal
first complete work, the Compendium musicae (written 1618, published
row; they always equal 12, i.e. 11 + 1 = 12,10 + 2 = 12 and my favorite 9 + 3
the fourth as the "shadow" of the fifth; it seems reasonably clear that he was
= 12, etc. Just as the values opposite one another on a clock face add to 12,
fully aware of the symmetry of the intervals and their inversions, and his
when thinking of musical intervals, any given value down in pitch corre
diagrams show that he understood how they could be mapped on a circle.
sponds to its horizontally-opposite number up in pitch, and vice versa.
He also introduced the notion that the higher ratios were included in the
Thus one semitone up yields the same note as eleven semitones down
fundamental from which they derived, prefiguring the later discovery that a
vibrating string includes its subtle harmonics in its sound envelope, the
(though in another octave), and so on for the rest of the horizontal pairs.
This is what is meant by "non-dual" intervals: they can be thought about
without respect to direction in pitch by this method.
"The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none!"
1650, English trans. 1653). In a famously confusing passage, he discussed
same harmonics that the Pythagorean monochord was used to isolate.
Mapping the western major scale onto a clock with C at the top will
make the fourth mirror the fifth of the major scale, but will not fully explain
It might appear trivial that the distance clockwise from the top of
the clock to a given point, when added to the clockwise distance from the
top to the point horizontally opposite, should give the circumference of the
interval symmetry. To do this we must return to the ancient Greek Phrygian
mode, equivalent to the mediaeval ecclesiastical and modern Dorian mode.
20
21
BREEZE
DE HARMONIA MUNDI
An approximation in equal temperament is the scale from D to D on the
note name (D through C), and by the I-VII note convention, where 0 = D
white keys of a keyboard. This was probably the first full scale described in
= I. As explained earlier, intervals are not understood to be "up" a certain
Western music theory, in the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville, dating from
around 700. Later mediaeval church theorists considered it the first of the
ecclesiastical modes, and the last great mediaeval theorist, Bartolomeo
number of tones or "down" a certain number of tones, but instead are
"non-dual," understood as simultaneously "up" one number and "down"
the corresponding inverse number, or vice versa.
Ramos de Pareia, attributed the Dorian mode to the Sun. Kepler and
Newton, in describing their correlations of scale intervals to colors, also
chose this scale. All must have been aware of its natural symmetry.
Circle of Fifths
Days 0) ttie Weei<
Figure 8.
To illustrate the interval symmetry of this scale it helps to give the
non-dual intervals as colored lines connecting the notes, as in Figures 8 and
9. Each non-dual interval is given a unique color, keyed to the legend given
in Figure 8. The scale is mapped onto a clock with the D at the top position.
(Note that both figures also show the C Major scale, but D is placed at the
top to exploit the natural correlation of the clock to the D mode's internal
interval symmetry.) The notes are identified by modulo-12 number (0-11),
22
Diatonic Scaie
Qabalistic Sephiroth
Ptoiemaic Order of Ihe Pianets
Modes of fiamos
Atomic Weights of frétais
Figure 9.
Visualizing the intervals in Figure 8 as colored lines connecting points on the
clock permits a mathematically accurate geometrical understanding of the
spatial relationships of the tones in an "idealized" single octave that disregards
inversions. This diagram can help one to form an intuitive understanding of
how interval inversion works in musical space (the octaves) without losing
23
BREEZE
DE HARMONIA MUNDI
An approximation in equal temperament is the scale from D to D on the
note name (D through C), and by the I-VII note convention, where 0 = D
white keys of a keyboard. This was probably the first full scale described in
= I. As explained earlier, intervals are not understood to be "up" a certain
Western music theory, in the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville, dating from
number of tones or "down" a certain number of tones, but instead are
around 700. Later mediaeval church theorists considered it the first of the
"non-dual," understood as simultaneously "up" one number and "down"
ecclesiastical modes, and the last great mediaeval theorist, Bartolomeo
the corresponding inverse number, or vice versa.
Ramos de Pareia, attributed the Dorian mode to the Sun. Kepler and
Newton, in describing their correlations of scale intervals to colors, also
chose this scale. All must have been aware of its natural symmetry.
D
I
Circle ol Fifths
Days ol the Week
Figure 8.
To illustrate the interval symmetry of this scale it helps to give the
non-dual intervals as colored lines connecting the notes, as in Figures 8 and
9. Each non-dual interval is given a unique color, keyed to the legend given
in Figure 8. The scale is mapped onto a clock with the D at the top position.
(Note that both figures also show the C Major scale, but D is placed at the
top to exploit the natural correlation of the clock to the D mode's internal
interval symmetry.) The notes are identified by modulo-12 number (0-11),
22
Diatonic Scale
Qabalistic Sephiroth
Ptolennaic Order of the Plahets
Modes of Ramos
Atomic Weights ot Metals
Figure 9.
Visualizing the intervals in Figure 8 as colored lines connecting points on the
clock permits a mathematically accurate geometrical understanding of the
spatial relationships of the tones in an "idealized" single octave that disregards
inversions. This diagram can help one to form an intuitive understanding of
how interval inversion works in musical space (the octaves) without losing
23
BREEZE
DE HARMONIA MUNDI
sight of the simplicity of the underlying "abstract" (non-dual) intervals. It gets
the planets, and the atomic weights of the metals. Also included are the medi
around the complexities of chord inversions—clearly an oversimplification,
aeval modes, as attributed to the planets by the founder of Just intonation,
since the same note behaves very differently depending on its pitch placement
Bartolomeo Ramos de Pareia, from his Musica Practica (1482). These are all
in a chord or melody, but a useful simplification. These sorts of clocks may
traditional attribution systems, most of which have been correlated before in
be used to analyze many musical problems such as chord triads without the
complexities introduced by inversion, voicing and arrangement.
alchemical and magical literature, though this is probably the first diagram to
The scale's interval counts and properties are highlighted by anoth
have tried to directly absorb the outer planets Uranus and Neptune, and
harmonize all of the systems represented. Some modern magical theorists
er phenomenon in number theory—one inherent in the diatonic system
sometimes Pluto, into a comprehensive system of attributions. I agree with
with or without a clock model, though the non-dual graphic representation
Crowley's position that the septenary should be preserved, as explained in
of a clock makes it readily apparent. The diatonic scale has one tritone
his General Principles of Astrology (2002). He treated the then recently
(which, like all non-dual intervals, is understood as including its inversion,
discovered outer planets as "superior governors" that modified the seven
also a tritone), two Major Vllths (with their inverse minor Ilnds), three
classical "personal" planets, considering their energies to be essentially
minor Vlths (with their inverse Major Illrds), four Major Vlths (with their
transpersonal.
inverse minor Illrds), five minor Vllths (with their inverse Major Ilnds)
In equal temperament, twelve fifths or fourths either up or down in
and six Vths (with their inverse IVths). This accounts for all of the "nondual" intervals in the scale. Expressed in modulo-12, they are: one of 6/6,
with nontempered fifths and fourths, there is no circle. The circle never
two of 11/1, three of 8/4, four of 9/3, five of 10/2 and six of 7/5. The nondual interval counts, when summed, give 1-1-2 + 3 + 4-1-5 + 6, or 21-6 = 36,
the magical number of the Sun. Such "magical numbers" are considered sig
nificant in the Crowleyan Qabalah; see Sepher Sephiroth (1912), §36. Aside
from any possible Qabalistic significance, the full interval system is undeni
ably elegant in the symmetry of its interval distribution.
pitch form a circle that will bring you back to the note you started from. But
closes; a discrepancy of just less than two cents (an irrational number,
1.955...) accumulates with each interval jump, so you never return to the
starting note.
Figure 10 is an expansion of Figure 8 to show Just/Pythagorean
microtuning. Unlike Figures 8 and 9, the connecting lines in Figure 10 show
only untempered non-dual perfect IV/V intervals, with each of three inde
Figure 9 is a simplification of Figure 8 that distributes the seven notes
around a clock of seven equidistant points on a modulo-7 clock, where the
octave is expressed in diatonic notation (I-VII). We all know how to do sim
pendent cycles of perfect IV/V intervals given in a different color. The
ple modulo-7 arithmetic, again thanks to the Sumerians and Babylonians, in
notes. It helps one appreciate at a glance how three independent and sym
this instance because of their seven-day week. The intervals are in equal tem
metrical cycles make up Just/Pythagorean tuning, which is not obvious
perament as before. Its disadvantage is that the accurate spatial relationships
from a table of pitches and ratios.
between the equally tempered tones are lost. There are three ways of doing
this sort of diagram of seven points, e.g. with the fifths moving clockwise to
every point, every other point, or every third point. Each yields a different
arrangement for the same attributions. There are also several ways of distrib
uting the attributions with a chosen arrangement; I prefer the version given in
the diagram as it derives from the previous figure, and keeps the scale a simple
purpose of this diagram is to show the symmetry of the multiple cycles of
fifths or fourths in the context of a circular map of the Just/Pythagorean
Figure 10 also illustrates how the Pythagorean pitches, derived
from the third harmonic (the Vth, ratio 3:2, and IVth, ratio 4:3), all fall into a
single connected series that proceeds in both "directions"—up and down in
pitch by fifths and fourths simultaneously (and symmetrically) from 0 at the
top. This is represented in the clock diagram by the pattern of interval lines
clockwise circle. Added to this figure are correspondences for seven of the ten
running from the top and splitting to trace the two mirrored branches of
this series, ending in the tritones. These fifths/fourths are all shown by lines
sephiroth of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, their associated planetary attributions
in Ptolemaic order, the associated days of the week, the metals associated to
of the same color (purple). Just pitches were introduced because the
Pythagorean Illrds and Vlths were judged too harsh. They all derive from
24
25
BREEZE
DE HARMONIA MUNDI
the fifth harmonic (the Just Major Ilird, ratio 5:4, and Just minor Vlth, ratio
8:5), and form two independent but mirrored cycles of fifths, given as green
The resulting diatonic Just/Pythagorean scale thus has four versions of the
and red lines in the diagram. One Just cycle starts with the Just Acute IV
Major), rather than the usual two (minor and Major) familiar from equal
temperament.
and the other with its mirror, the Just Grave V. (They can also be thought of
as starting on the Just Major Ilird (ratio 5:4) and Just minor Vlth (ratio 8:5),
and proceeding up and down in fifths simultaneously until reaching their
endpoints.) Both cycles end in the tritones, just a very small ratio (the skhisma, 1.953 cents) distant from the endpoints of the Pythagorean cycle. (The
II, III, VI and VII (Pythagorean minor. Just minor. Just Major, Pythagorean
It is often said that the tonic-subdominant-dominant are the most
harmonically stable diatonic tones. Even when understood as being cen
tered on the D mode, this diagram shows why, and underscores the simplic
skhisma is defined by its discoverer, Ellis, as one Just Major Ilird plus eight
ity of the I-IV-V 12-bar blues progression and its stability in natural tuning.
Even when equally tempered, the I-IV-V series falls sufficiently within
fifths up in pitch, transposed into the same octave.) The notes of the two
the limits of human pitch discrimination to approximate microtonal Just/
independent, mirrored Just cycles thus have harmonic relationships to the
Pythagorean tuning. Making a copy of the diagram as a transparency and
pitches in the Pythagorean cycle that are primarily based on Just Major
Illrds (4:5) and Just minor Vlths (5:8).
rotating the copy over the printed diagram to the fourth or fifth shows why:
the I, IV and V all have their own harmonic series, and these interlock.
Ill
Amazing work is being done today by microtonal composers and perform
ers of all persuasions, but most of this music requires an extremely high
degree of training to play properly. Indian music has long shown that one
can play great microtonal music one microtone at a time. I believe that
the blues show this as well. It is not necessarily more difficult than tem
Pytti m VI
16:9
pered music.
The magician-in-training is urged to observe the four powers of the
Sphinx: to know, will, dare and keep silent. The present paper is primarily
concerned with the first power, to know. The maps to the territory offered
here are intended to help players gain a working knowledge of music theory
without being overwhelmed by its particulars, which can inhibit creativity.
The second power, to will, relates to intention: knowing a system
and using it with intent communicates that intentionality in the resulting
Just m VI
8:5
music. Even when the execution is imperfect, it counts for a great deal.
814
Pyth m V!
128:81
As for the third power, to dare, free-pitch playing in microtones is
792
Just-Pytti IV
Just Acute IV ^=3
27:20
520
"ISS
inherently risky. But many musicians do it very properly all the time, often
without really thinking about it. It may be, with will, more reliable in the
last analysis than knowing.
As for keeping silent, this is normally prudent. Magick is an inher
ently private matter, and it is so easy to be misunderstood that it is usually
wise to say as little as possible or nothing at all. Tacit understanding has
Figure 10.
always been part of the etiquette among magicians. There is little shop talk,
26
27
BREEZE
DE HARMONIA MUNDI
the fifth harmonic (the Just Major Ilird, ratio 5:4, and Just minor Vlth, ratio
The resulting diatonic Just/Pythagorean scale thus has four versions of the
8:5), and form two independent but mirrored cycles of fifths, given as green
and the other with its mirror, the Just Grave V. (They can also be thought of
II, III, VI and VII (Pythagorean minor. Just minor, Just Major, Pythagorean
Major), rather than the usual two (minor and Major) familiar from equal
temperament.
as starting on the Just Major Ilird (ratio 5:4) and Just minor Vlth (ratio 8:5),
It is often said that the tonic-subdominant-dominant are the most
and proceeding up and down in fifths simultaneously until reaching their
endpoints.) Both cycles end in the tritones, just a very small ratio (the skhis
harmonically stable diatonic tones. Even when understood as being cen
and red lines in the diagram. One Just cycle starts with the Just Acute IV
tered on the D mode, this diagram shows why, and underscores the simplic
ma, 1.953 cents) distant from the endpoints of the Pythagorean cycle. (The
skhisma is defined by its discoverer, Ellis, as one Just Major Ilird plus eight
ity of the I-IV-V 12-bar blues progression and its stability in natural tuning.
fifths up in pitch, transposed into the same octave.) The notes of the two
the limits of human pitch discrimination to approximate microtonal Just/
independent, mirrored Just cycles thus have harmonic relationships to the
Pythagorean tuning. Making a copy of the diagram as a transparency and
pitches in the Pythagorean cycle that are primarily based on Just Major
Illrds (4:5) and Just minor Vlths (5:8).
rotating the copy over the printed diagram to the fourth or fifth shows why:
Fundamental I
Even when equally tempered, the I-IV-V series falls sufficiently within
the I, IV and V all have their own harmonic series, and these interlock.
Ill
Amazing work is being done today by microtonal composers and perform
ers of all persuasions, but most of this music requires an extremely high
degree of training to play properly. Indian music has long shown that one
can play great microtonal music one microtone at a time. I believe that
the blues show this as well. It is not necessarily more difficult than tem
pered music.
The magician-in-training is urged to observe the four powers of the
Sphinx: to know, will, dare and keep silent. The present paper is primarily
concerned with the first power, to know. The maps to the territory offered
here are intended to help players gain a working knowledge of music theory
without being overwhelmed by its particulars, which can inhibit creativity.
The second power, to will, relates to intention: knowing a system
and using it with intent communicates that intentionality in the resulting
music. Even when the execution is imperfect, it counts for a great deal.
As for the third power, to dare, free-pitch playing in microtones is
inherently risky. But many musicians do it very properly all the time, often
without really thinking about it. It may be, with will, more.reliable in the
last analysis than knowing.
Just Tritone
64:45
610
Just Tritone
45:32
590
As for keeping silent, this is normally prudent. Magick is an inher
ently private matter, and it is so easy to be misunderstood that it is usually
wise to say as httle as possible or nothing at all. Tacit understanding has
Figure 10.
always been part of the etiquette among magicians. There is little shop talk,
26
27
DE HARMONIA MUNDI
BREEZE
and often subtle hints of shared experience suffice to establish a mutually
Deutsch, Diana. The Psychology of Music, isted.. New York; Academic Press, 1 9 8 2 .
respectful camaraderie. Also, by talking too much one runs the risk of being
Ficino, Marsilio. Opera Omnia. Basel, 1 5 7 6 . Rpt, 2 vols., ed. M. Sancipriano,
a bore—like dreams, drug-trips and genealogy, personal magical narratives
are generally only of interest to their subjects. Finally, those who profess
magick have always courted ridicule and marginalization; these days, it usu
ally comes from rationalists who will never have the experiences that distin
guish magicians from noninitiates. The worst offenders used to be Protestant
theologians; nowadays they are more likely to be poststructuralists.
But it is a New Aeon; so perhaps for musicial magicians the formula
is to know, to will, to dare, and to play loud.Recent history suggests as much.
This paper is dedicated to Joscelyn Godwin, whose untiring work
in explicating the Perennial Tradition has benefitted so many—at least those
Turin: Bottega d'Erasmo, 1959.
Franklin, John Curtis. Diatonic Music in Ancient Greece: A Reassessment of its
Antiquity, Memnosyne, series 4 , 5 6 (i) ( 2 0 0 2 ) , pp. 669-702.
Giorgi, Francesco. De Harmonia Mundi. Venice, 1525. Reprint with introduction
by Cesare Vasoli, Lavis: Editrice La Finestra, 2008.
Godwin, Joscelyn. The Harmony of the Spheres: A Sourcebook of the Pythagorean
Tradition in Music. Rochester, Vermont.: Inner Traditions, 1 9 9 3 .
. Music, Mysticism and Magic: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge and
Kegan Paul, 1986.
. Robert Fludd, Hermetic Philosopher and Surveyor of Two Worlds. London:
Thames and Hudson, 1 9 7 9 ; rpt. Grand Rapids, Phanes Press, 1991.
with eyes to see and ears to hear.
Hargreaves, John David. The Developmental Psychology of Music. Cambridge:
Selected References
Helmholtz, Hermann. On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the
Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Bachem, A. Tone Height and Tone Chroma as Two Different Pitch Qualities.
Acta Psychologica 7 , 19 5o, pp. 80-88.
Campbell, Murray and Created, Clive. The Musician's Guide to Acoustics. London:
Dent, 1 9 8 7 .
Christensen, Thomas, ed. The Cambridge History of 'Western Music Theory.
Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2 0 0 2 .
Crowley, Aleister. The General Principles of Astrology. York Beach, Maine:
Redwheel Weiser, 2002.
The Holy Books ofThelema, ed. Hymenaeus Alpha and Hymenaeus Beta.
New York: Weiser, 1983.
. The Law is for All: The Authorized Popular Commentary to The Book of
the Law, ed. Louis Wilkinson and Hymenaeus Beta. Scottsdale, Arizona:
New Falcon, 1 9 9 6 .
Liber AL vel Legis sub figura CCXX, The Book of the Law. Centennial ed.,
Boston, Massachusetts: Redwheel Weiser, 2 0 0 4 .
. with Mary Desti and Leila Waddell. Magick (Book 4, Parts I-IV), ed.
Hymenaeus Beta. Rev. 2nd ed., York Beach, Maine: Weiser, 1 9 9 7 .
. with Allan Bennett et al. Sepher Sephiroth sub figura D. The Equinox 1(8)
(i 912), special supplement, and in 7 7 7 and Other QabalisticWritings.
7 7 7 and
1977,
Other Qabalistic Writings, ed. Israel Regardie. New York: Weiser,
rpt; York Beach, Maine: Weiser, 1 9 9 3 .
Descartes, René. Renatus Des-Cartes Excellent Compendium of Musick: with
Necessary and Judicious Animadversions thereupon by a Person of Honour.
r^eoryo/AΫ5îc, trans. AlexanderJ. ElHs. 1 8 8 5; rpt. New York: Dover, 1 9 5 4 .
Jost, J. D. et al. Entangled Mechanical Oscillators. Nature 459(7247), June 4 , 2009,
pp. 6 8 3 - 6 8 6 .
Patel, Aniruddh D. Music, Language, and the Brain. Oxford; New York: Oxford
University Press, 2 0 0 8 .
Ramos de Pareia, Bartolomeo. Musica Practica. Bologna, 1 4 8 2 . English translation
with commentary by Clement A. Miller, Neuhausen: American Institute
of Musicology; Stuttgart: Haussier-Verlag, 1993.
Révész, Géza. Introduction to the Psychology of Music. Norman, Oklahoma:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1954; rpt. New York: Dover, 2000.
Schat, Peter. De Toonclok. Amsterdam: Meuhlenhoff, 1 9 8 4 . English translation,
The Tone Clock. London: Taylor and Francis, 1993.
Shepard, R. N. Geometrical Approximations to the Structure of Musical Pitch.
In Deutsch, pp. 343-390.
Tomlinson, Gary. Music in Renaissance Magic: Toward a Historiography of Others.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Walker, D. P. Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella.
London: Warburg Institute, 1958; rpt. University Park, Pennsylvania:
Pennsylvania State University Press, 2 0 0 0 .
. Studies in Musical Science in the Late Renaissance. London: Warburg
Institute, 1 9 7 8 .
Yates, Frances A. Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition. London: Routledge
and Kegan Paul, 1 9 6 4 .
London, 1653.
28
29
CHAPTER
2
ORNITHOLOGY FOR THE BIRDS
different ways, there is considerable mystery in the process of musical
invention, and though the term "invention" might seem a little mechani
ORNITHOLOGY FOR THE BIRDS
GAVIN BRYARS
cal, it was one used by Bach about his own music, and by Schoenberg
speaking of John Cage.
In the case of improvisation, there is little time for reflection on
one's mental state, rather it is a question of being in the right condition
before embarking on the activity, though having some degree of consistency
with previous work. With composition, on the other hand, that consistency
L here is a degree of fear in trying to look at the inner workings of one's own
creative mind—a fear that this self-reflection will inhibit and ultimately
can come about through a set of beliefs or procedures, whether conscious
or not.
prevent the flow of ideas—^the oft-stated reason for the resistance of non-
In the worst cases this can result in predictabihty, in the case of
improvisation, or formulaic routines in the case of composition—and we
reading musicians to studying notation, for example, and thereby accessing
can all point to individual cases in both areas. For composers there can be
written scores is an aspect of the same fear. In my own case a refusal to use,
external and seemingly irrelevant elements, almost like a kind of lucky
by now, relatively straightforward computer software for musical compo
charm or fetish. In my own case I have used the same kind of pencil for
sition is related to that same anxiety (though I can happily justify my anti
quated practice with reasons that make sense to me).
twenty-seven years (I work with pencil and paper), called an Aztec
Scoremaster 101, only available at Associated Music on West 55 Street in
The most poetic expression of this situation comes from the
painter Barnett Newman who, in Emile de Antonio's wonderful film
New York. When that shop closed down a few years ago the pencils disap
peared and I am now down to my last half box. In a similar way, there is
Painters Painting, says "aesthetics for an artist is like ornithology for the
the establishment of routines.
birds"—and he is right. If a bird were to start to focus on why and how
But these are the mechanics of composition, not its essence.
Ultimately what one sets down on paper, as a composer, can come about in
the wings work, and the sequence of events that produce elegant flight, it
would either fall from the sky, or never get off the ground. It is partly,
many mysterious ways. For myself I let the form compose itself, like a
however, a question of speed of thought in relation to action that would
Renaissance composer, without any sense of formal planning or preconcep
cause the malfunction but not the thought itself, or the acquisition of
self-awareness.
itself be led by text in the case of vocal music. A phrase which an old friend
When I stopped working as an improvising musician in the mid1960s, after an intense period of work with Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley,
it was in order to work in a more reflective way—without the intensity
being in the midst of fast, decisive music making. I even developed for a
tion, only being led by the consequence of each musical gesture—^which can
Albert Pountney, a traditional sculptor and the head of the fine art depart
ment in which I taught for a number of years, used to use to describe the
moment in the studio when facing the work in hand, was being "confronted
by one's own creativity." I found it a somewhat quaint expression at the
time an almost pathological aversion to improvised music, which I view
time but subsequently realized that it describes perfectly that moment of
in retrospect as a somewhat adolescent reaction where I pointed the
finger at the music rather than at myself—a bit like the old Zen adage of
confusing the moon and the finger in the act of pointing. I did find the
sitting at a desk in front of a blank piece of manuscript, when the idea of
letting the music compose itself, moving from one gesture to another, is the
only way possible.
two musical activities, composing and improvising, to be fundamentally
different. I neither found one to be a slowed down version of the other,
The university philosophy department in which I was a student
specialized in what was called "ordinary language" philosophy. When
nor the other to be an accelerated version of the first. In each case, and in
ideas are complex the last thing one needs is confused language. Ultimately,
30
31
CHAPTER
3
BRYARS
if something could be expressed through language then we wouldn't use
music, where the blending of apparently incompatible elements can pro
duce a new and unforeseen reality that would be inconceivable to the
ornithologist.
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM
OF WHEN AND WEHERE
STEVE COLEMAN
The purpose of this article is to discuss and demonstrate how musical symbol
ism can be used to generate a feeling, sensation or idea that is of a meta
physical nature. The focus will be on concepts of dynamic equilibrium that
exist in Nature which can be reflected through musical languages. Examples
will demonstrate how symbolic thought in one field of study is apphcable
to another. The basic approach is that creative artists can use everything at
their disposal, including—but not hmited to—music, myth, science and
various exoteric and esoteric approaches. Exoteric means capable of being
understood by most people, while esoteric is that which is difficult to
understand, or that which is intended for or understood by only an initiated
few. There are quite a few esoteric references in this article, and admittedly,
this is not everyone's cup of tea.
Nature
"Our philosophy is celestial, not worldly, in order that we may faithfully
behold, by means of a direct intuition of the mind through faith and
knowledge, that principle which we call God.... "
We will start with a discussion of what I perceive
^
as the approach of Nature towards creating, a
°
concept I refer to as windows or orbs. There are
. .
I
l
l
'
many definitions of the word orb, but in astrol.
.
.
-
- .
ogy an orb is the number or degrees that an aspect
J
•
r
1 / 1
1
deviates irom an exact angle (between two plan~
ets or dynamic points in space) that symbolizes
—^Trithemius^
l. George Ripley and the Abbot Tmhemms
(Noel L. jorann, Amhix, vol. 26, no. 3),
pp. 212-220,1979.JohannesTrithemius
authored a major work on cryptography
^nd steganography, disguised as a book
niagic. H e w a s a l s o t h e teacher o f
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Paracelsus.
T h i s quote is f r o mJohannes Trithemius'
commentaries on the Tabuia Smaragdina
( T h eE m e r a l dT a b l e t ) ,i nal e t t e rt oG e r m a n u s
deGanay written on August 24,1505.
an astrological effect. This concept, which appears everywhere in Nature,
is based on windows of time and space, occurring on every scale from the
microscopic to the macroscopic.
32
33
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
The tendency of the human species is to quantize, as the mind
tive wetness and dryness. Most of us have in our minds an ideal of what we
divides its analysis of nature into discrete increments. Nature seems not to
would call wet or dry, but there are also conditions where there would be a
work in this manner, as most phenomena are part of a continuum, in which
lot of disagreement. The same is true of color, pitch, heat and many other phe
the quahty of phenomena change gradually over time. Even the human
body works this way, as humans are but a product of Nature.
nomena. So what humans do, either by agreement or by force, is to specify an
ideal which defines a particular phenomena, and what that ideal should be
Human activity that develops along natural lines tends to operate
named (for example a definition of what exact pitch is to be called A). Groups
according to the same principles. If one could walk from Paris to Berlin, one
of people then estabhsh symbols (words, numbers, shapes, etc.) that represent
would not encounter an artificial national boundary where the spoken lan
these ideals. For instance, modern scientists define the exact moment of
guage would suddenly change from French to German. What occurs is a
sunrise or moonrise, and use the language and symbols of mathematics to
gradual transition from one language to another, and inevitably there would
describe this agreement. But these agreements change over time and vary in
different cultures.
be a region where the spoken language would contain elements of French
and German proper. In fact, what is called English is an ideal. The actual
This is not reality, it is based on what is established by convention,
spoken dialects that classify as English resemble the ideal in various degrees,
cultural usage or other means. The Universe is a continuum, and the human
but contain a large amount of slang, in addition to loan words and expres
faculty that seems best able to directly come to terms with the relative quali
sions that originate from other languages. In many cases, different languages
ty of the continuum is intuition, which is best represented in transcription by
stem from a common ancestry that is itself a combination of several more
some form of symbolism. As an example, musical performers for the most
ancient languages. The boundary between languages are mutating orbs,
part do not rely on scientific definitions to tell them which pitch is A or A^;
moving windows where there is a gradual blend between Hnguistic ideals.
this is done using the part of the mind that interprets data from the ear, using
This is what I call the merging principle. Over time, this blending of lan
memory to compare the experienced pitch to images held in the mind of
guages may develop a character of its own, distinct enough to be itself called
a dialect or even a distinct language.
recently heard pitches, or remembered pitches from past experience. This is
What is really happening with the merging principle is modulation.
Cleonides states that "[...] it is necessary for every modulation to contain
some common note, interval, or scale".^ And all
musicians know that good (i.e., smooth) mod2. Stmnk's Source Readings in
.
.
11
•
I
r
ulation usually involves some sort of common
elements between the structures involved in the
M mie
History (edited by Oliver Strunk, 1950,
revision edited by Leo Treitler, 1966), p. 45.
a relative operation that to a large degree is internalized.
These mental images are symbols that represent the physical world.
When the symbols represent figures that can be seen by the eye, they typical
ly take a form that is close to the physical object that they represent. Similarly,
when the symbols represent objects identified by one of the other senses
(sound, smell, touch, taste, extra-sensory perception or any imagined experi
ence), then the mind uses association to identify symbols with the physical
movement, along with elements of the structures being within a certain
sensation, and much of this imagery is acquired through cultural exposure.
proximity to each other to facilitate smooth motion between transitions.
For example, high and low pitches are today represented by symbols that are
This is generally what happens in Nature, for example with the transition
from one identifiable state of the weather to another. Using this concept
we can imagine not only modulation of harmony, but also modulation of
physically higher and lower in terms of two-dimensional height, especially if
as a beginner a musician simultaneously learned how to read and play music.
However, according to surviving written evidence, the ancient Greeks repre
melody, of modes, of rhythms, of rhythmic cycles, of tempo, of instrumen
tation, of forms (rhythmic, melodic or compositional), of color, of symbol
ism, of ethos, genera, species, etc.
sented high and low pitches as tense and relaxed respectively. In the music of
the ancient Greeks, these pitches may have been associated with the action
Other examples from Nature follow this same principle. There is no
sharp demarcation between wet and dry, there is only a gradual scale of rela
would represent higher pitches, and slack strings represented lower pitches.
This idea was continually extended, where humankind developed
34
35
and means that produced them, where tense vocal chords or tense strings
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
the abihty to represent a symbol or group of symbols using another sym
Symbohsm: I include numbers in this category, but also geometric
bol, and then to repeat this process—creating an abstraction whereby the
shapes, color, and any other idea that is representative of some
final symbol is several levels removed from the original physical sensation.
thing, including writing and notation. I caU this the mental aspect,
Symbols were then transcribed into physical form and came to represent
as it aids in the transcription of rhythm, a way of holding the rhyth
ideas of a more abstract and esoteric nature. In many cases, the symbols
mic forms in your mind.
could still be traced back to the original association. The ancient Egyptians
were masters of the transcription of mental images into symbolic form, and
their hieroglyphic writing system was a particularly advanced demonstra
tion of this. These ancients seemed to have a multidimensional conception
of time, and our current systems of navigating time have their roots in
Egyptian temporal concepts. The Egyptian civilization developed various
calendars and methods of negotiating time that are still in use today, such as
dividing the day into twenty-four hours and the sky into thirty-six 10° seg
ments (i.e., 360°). If we take their developments together with the neigh
boring Mesopotamian culture (Sumerian, Babylonian, etc.) we arrive at a
combined technology that was very advanced in the ways that it dealt with
time and space, in both its exoteric and esoteric forms.
I would say that the first two are innate to the object in the outer
physical world, and the third is the province of the mind, the inner world.
However, they can all be systematized and converted to symbols.
Regarding the first, we are made (by Nature) to be able to create
utterances,
as are animals, plants and other animate objects of the natural
world. How these utterances are interpreted is another matter. Language
is a subset of these utterances, and formal language is just the part that has
been agreed upon. One example would be the rhythmic utterances of crowds,
which I find fascinating. At a sporting event, the rhythms and reactions of
the people in the crowd feel like the sounds of a single organism, as the
members of the crowd become entrained to each other's pulse. I frequently
find myself rewinding a recording of a boxing match or basketball game to
listen and check out the rhythm of the spectators' responses. When humans
Rhythm
get together like that in large groups, they really remind me of animals that
"Any regularly recurring pattern of activity such as the cycle of the seasons,
gather in large herds and create collective utterances, birds, cows, horses,
night and day, the repeated functions of the body—or the characteristic
whatever. But this kind of thing is very difficult to systematize and notate,
pattern of a particular activity."^
and therefore difficult to symbolize.
3. Encarta World English Dictionary,
Rhythm falls in the category of when, and is
Microsoft Corporation.
related to timing and speed (fast and slow), i.e., location and movement
through time. Something that has really helped me in the area of rhythm is
the metaphysical connection. I work a lot with astronomy/astrology, seen
in ancient times as Nature's rhythmic system (i.e., natural rhythms), and
I've been applying what I have learned to music, tonally and rhythmically.
One way of thinking of this is an approach of dealing with rhythm which
could be broken down into three categories:
Utterances: I include language in this category, as well as the calls
of animals.
Movement: Not only dance, but all movement, the movement of
animals, plants, melodic substances (tones, intervals, pitch struc
tures, etc.) and any other objects, such as planets and stars.
36
Movement
is present all around us and in us; everything moves.
Dance is a form of systematized movement by humans, and it can some
times have symbolic significance. Movement can also be a form of and an
aid to language, for example the use of gesture to assist in conveying mean
ing. As with utterances, many movements are habitual and seemingly mean
ingless. But utterances and movement are innate to us; even as babies we
make utterances and we move, even if it is just a reflex, and most of these
movements have meaning even if we are not conscious of it. The same
follows for animals, plants and even objects like planets.
The principles underlying utterances and movements have been
studied and, through the process of correlative thought, symbols have been
developed to express and transmit the fundamental concepts. This is one of
the unique abilities of the human species, to be able to develop symbols
using intuition, emotion, logic and analogy, and then to use these symbols
as tools to extend the understanding of a principle. Many of these symbols
37
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
already exist in nature, including types of movement, geometric shapes, col
mie figures, etc. This is similar to how pitch is organized in music, where
ors, sound, Ught, the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms, qualities such as
evenly or unevenly spaced pitches (i.e., tuning systems) are then further sys
heat, cold, moisture and dryness, the natural elements such as fire, air, earth,
water, and the Sun, Moon, planets and stars and their stellar motions. Long
tematized as tetrachords, modes, scales, ragas, other melodic figures, etc.
So we have three elements here: rhythm, the thing that is being
ago, humans made associations that both extended the idea of these objects
rhythmed, and the template we use to identify and measure the rhythm. The
to facilitate correspondences with other concepts, and made further abstrac
tions to connect to new ideas.
Symbolism, particularly geometric shapes, colors and numbers, is
first two exist in the natural world, the third is a creation of our imagination
to help us discern the dynamic order.^
Rhythm is probably the most dynamic
5. A rephrasing from Rowell, p. 67.
one of the most used and flexible of the abstract forms. Symbol is impor
element in music. According to Lewis Rowell, the ancient Greek philoso
tant for meditation on the higher principles and for developing a conscious
pher Aristides Quintihanus "called melody the passive, feminine aspect of
connection to Nature. But we should never forget that these symbols are
music, rhythm the active, masculine principle that imposes form upon the
just tools to help us connect with ourselves and to communicate with oth
melodic tones. This agent/patient principle was the cornerstone of the
ers—an aid in the organization and transmission of ideas. We are the source
of the symbols, and the symbols are meaningless without us.
Peripatetic theory of perception."^
^
^
Numbers are symbols that can represent quantity and/or quality. It
The function of musical rhythm depends
upon the dynamic relationships between rhythmic substances with each
is a great tool for representing displacement, the perception that the position
other as they move through time in space concurrent with the relationship
of something has changed with regards to location and time (temporal per
to ideahzed forms in the intellect and memory. If we can discern rhythmic
ception). In other words, we are dealing with the concept of change and
function, analogous to the functions of pitch in melody and harmony, then
how this can be symbolized, and change is universal, everything changes
it should be possible to apply further esoteric symbolism to rhythms and
and everything moves. If there is a change in the location of something, and
if we are able to systematically organize the space where the change took
rhythmic structures (two different phenomena).
In the words of Henry Macran, referring to the 4th century bce
place, then number is a great tool for representing that change. As a result,
Greek writer Aristoxenus, "[...] they (the Pythagoreans) missed the true
number is also one of the primary symbols used to aid in the organization
and expression of music.
formal notion of music, which is ever present to Aristoxenus, that of a sys
In the musical perception of rhythm—indeed in all perception of
rhythm—we. have certain primary elements, the rhythm, and that which is
being rhythmicized. This is comparable to motion and that which is being
does, and in which a sound cannot become a member because merely there
tem or organic whole of sounds, each member of which is essentially that it
is room for it, but only if there is a function which it can discharge."^
Later, we will return to the idea of using
-
,
1 1 «
•
• 1
T ' l •
•
H a r m o n i c s o f A r i s t o x e n u s (Henry
moved. Rhythm is a dynamic principle that deals with the order and struc
ture of motion, or dynamic displacement, of a moving thing."*
With rhythm, we are also dealing with
the form of the template we create, against
a. rephrasing from AHstoxenus
rhythm as symbolism to transmit ideas. Ihis is
Macran, 1902), pp. 88-89.
not a new concept, as this kind of work was devel
oped to a high level in the great riverine societies of the Nile Valley
Which we discern and measure the movement,
and this template can itself change or move.
initiated in these great civilizations developed the basic principles of nego
1 • 1
J.
t
.
on
Rhythm{X.QvÁs'9<owé[yJoumalof Musical
Theory, vol. 23, no. 1, Spring 1979) p. ¿8.
Complex, Mesopotamia, and Sarwaswati Indus Valley Civilizations. The
Musicians use the template to describe the rhythm, the order and structure
tiating time and space that we still use in our modern societies thousands of
years later. They also developed the basic symbolic approach for how to
of the dynamic displacement. In music, this template takes many forms, the
most common being evenly (or unevenly) spaced pulses that are then grouped
communicate these ideas. These ancients appear to have taken an exoteric
and esoteric approach in dealing with symbols. It was important not only
into various units: measures, rhythmic modes, meter, talas, clave, other rhyth-
to know the quantity of something but also its quality and meaning.
38
39
coleman
regarding the sonic symbolism of when and where
Esoteric significance was given to figures, using colors, shapes and numbers.
Using this information, various divinatory practices developed.
The first forms of astrology arose from systematic observations of
the night sky, the earliest type probably being some form of lunar astrolo
In different areas on Earth people developed a variety of approaches
to divination, largely based on cultural needs and environmental necessities.
gy, based on the phases and movements of the Moon. It appears that a form
This lead to distinct forms of divination being developed in particular loca
stars) was developed, where the ancients noticed which stars and planets
tions. The word mancy means divination by means of, with the specific kind
were rising, culminating or on the meridian simultaneously.' This tech
of divination being specified by attached prefixes, for example geomancy,
nique was certainly well developed in ancient Egypt
sciomancy, chiromancy or necromancy. Although many people do not
and Babylon, and the ancient Greeks learned of
believe in divination, most of the world s major religions have some aspect of
it from these earlier civilizations. This was a sys
divination as a part of their history, foretelling events that will come to pass.
tem based on the horizon and meridian, and of
In ancient societies there was an exoteric and esoteric part to almost
of what the ancient Greeks c-3}i[eàparanatella (meaning with or alongside the
course it was geocentric in concept.
9. Great significance was given to moments
when stars or planets were either on the
local horizon (i.e., rising or setting) or on
the meridian (the great circle which passes
through the north-south axis and the
zenith). Therefore, when ancient observers
noticed that a star or planet was either
rising, setting or on the meridian—at the
same moment when another star or planet
was rising, setting or on the meridian—
then these bodies were said to be in paran,
and where considered to be symbolically
connected in some way.
every subject, and frequently divination was a part of the esoteric applica
The heliacal rising (literally, rising with the
tion. In his 1962 book The Tarot, Mouni Sadhu, while discussing the
ancient initiatory centers' transmission of the highest ideas through symbols,
Sun) of a star is when a planet or a star is first seen
suggests that "the symbohsm of colors" is "a feature of the initiation of the
by the Sun's rays. This occurs just before sunrise.
The heliacal rising of the star Sirius was extremely important in ancient
Black races," "the symbohsm of geometrical figures and cards" is a feature
of the initiation of the "the Red-Skinned races," and "the symbohsm of
numbers" is a feature of the initiation of "the White races."^ Although his
summary is simphstic and not backed up with
.
any examples, and wmle his choice of words
8. The Tarot (Mouni Sadhu), p. 33.
to rise after it has been hidden for a period of time
Egypt, but this concept was also used with other stars, constellations and
planets in a complex system of astronomy, the workings of which are begin
ning to be revealed by recent discoveries.'®'
10. For more information see The Naos of
the Decades: Underwater Archaeology
in the Canopic Region in Egypt (AnneSophie von Bomhard).
would probably not be politically correct today, I understand the basic prin
ciple underlying what Sadhu is expressing. In studying music, I have noticed
11. The Lion Path: You Can Take it With
You (Musaios, aka Dr. Charles Muses, 5th
edition 1996).
that various cultures in different places on the planet have for the most part
concentrated on and contributed different elements to the world's music. This
is particularly true if we concentrate on the so-called Old World cultures on
the continents of Africa, and Eurasia.
Astrology
I will devote more space to this subject here as well as in the section on music,
Figure. 1. Im^e from the Second Shrine of Tut-ankh-amun.^^
as these disciphnes are complex and related. Also, it has been my experience
that it is this subject that relates most to music, both from an exoteric and eso
teric perspective. It is also a subject that many people are unfamihar with.
12. Musaios, back cover. The image in
Figure I is one of many that support the
claim that astrology existed in ancient
Egypt. In Serpent in the Sky, p. 91, John
Anthony West writes "But however puz
zling the text and the reliefs, the astrologi
cal significance of this drawing cannot be
misunderstood. Rays of force or energy
connect the consciousness of the human
individual and the stars; there is no other
possible interpretation of this figure."
Some evidence of the existence of astrology has been found in the
tombs of ancient Egypt. (See Figure 1.) Astrologer Bernadette Brady beheves
While I do not pretend to be a professional astronomer or astrologer, the
study of the movement and symbohsm of celestial bodies has been a pro
that the ancient Egyptians considered the last star to rise heliacally before
found influence on my music, particularly in recent years. To emphasize this
connection, I will occasionally mention the relationship between astrology
and music, both in this section and in the section on music below.
This was the star that you were bom under, and it
symbolized the gifts that were bequeathed to you
40
your birth to be the main star ruling your life.'^
.
1
1
i
41
l
*
i h . B r a d y ' s B o o k o fF i x e d S t a r s ( ^ t m d Á e t í t
Brady), pp. 43,334,345,339,381.
R E G A R D I N G T H E S O N I C SYMBOLISM O F W H E N A N D WHERE
COLEMAN
by your ancestors (such as genetics)—in short, this star symbolized the
theme of your life.
For example, at the location of Ulm, Germany (Albert Einstein's
place of birth), the last star that rose heliacally before the time of Einstein's
birth (March 14, 1879 NS) was Deneb Algedi (meaning Tail of the Goat) in
the constellation of Capricorn. This star symbolized the Andent Law
Giver. The approximate time of Deneb Algedi's apparent (visual) Heliacal
Rising was March 5,1879 at 7:08:17 AM. Also, when Einstein was born on
March 14, Deneb Algedi rose at the same time as the planet Jupiter was
rising. Clearly, the symbolism that this star represents would have been
considered very important for Einstein. Astrologer Bernadette Brady gives
the following astrological interpretation:'"'
T-v
1*1
!•
TTf
It»**
Deneb Algedi—Heliacal Rising Star
14. Starlight Software: The Heart of Visual
^Isfro/opy, Brady and Branswood, Ltd.
^
Interpretation; Seeking the legal, physical or metaphysical laws that
govern the world. Trying in some way to use wisdom and knowl
edge to protect and help people.
The Babylonians made considerable contributions in the area of
lunar studies, in particular eclipse patterns which deal specifically with the
relationship between the orbits of the Sun, Earth and Moon. Because of the
dramatic visual, emotional and psychic effect of a Solar or Lunar eclipse,
these phenomena became strong symbols in the minds of the ancients, and
great effort was expended to determine their patterns. Through long obser
vation, It was learned that these eclipses occurred in various cycles. The
most well known cycle is called a Saros Cycle, a harmonization of several
Earth-Sun-Moon periodicities: the synodic month, the draconic month,
and the anomalistic month. Eclipses that are related by the rhythm of a
Saros Cycle share a near identical Sun-Earth-Moon geometry. Each Eclipse
in a particular Saros Series is separated by approximately eighteen years, ten
to eleven days, 7.5 hours, (always around 6,5851/3 days) and there are typi
cally about seventy-one or seventy-two eclipses in a particular Saros Series.
The Solar Eclipse of July 22, 2009, 02:35 GMT is part of Saros
Series 136. This family of eclipses is also called Saros Series llS (11 South
using Bernadette Brady's ahernate numbering system) because the eclipse
Deneb Algedi was rising as Jupiter was rising (orb 01 mins 34 sees)
takes place near the South Node of the Moon. The January 5, 1685 NS (NS
— Gfegonan calendar), Hybrid Eclipse is also a part of Saros Series 136, and
at the time of Albert Einstein's birth.
Interpretation: The reformer or expert who paves the way for others.
this is the eclipse whose influence would have been felt at the time of the
births of both J.S. Bach (March 31, 1685 NS) and George Frideric Handel
(February 23,1685 NS). Saros Series 136 was bom (i.e., when the first eclipse
in this series occurred) on June 14,1360 OS, 05:47 UT (OS = Julian Calendar).
Bernadette Brady believes that the positions of the planets at the
moment a Saros Series is born symbolically colors the energy of each eclipse
in that particular series. Therefore, to obtain additional information about
the symbolic character of an individual solar eclipse, one would need to
look at the symbolism of the first eclipse in that Saros Series, and then com
bine the Saros Series symbolism with the position and symbolism of the
individual solar eclipse.'^ Brady interprets this
eclipse from a geocentric point of view, with a
.
.
1
• 1
T T
U
Mars/Pluto conjunction and with Uranus at the
midpoint of Mercury and Venus.'^ A midpoint is
The Eagle and The Lark A Textbook
o/ Predictive Astrology {Bernadette Brady),
pp. 223-228,307.
17. Ibid., p.
the middle position, in ecliptic longitude, between
Figure 2. Co-Rising of Jupiter and Deneb Algedi at the time of Albert Einstein's birth.
15. Ibid. Deneb Algedi is the star in
Capricornus closest to Jupiter in Figure 2.
42
two celestial objects along the shortest arc.
The true positions of the inner planets
(Mercury, Venus, Mars) in relation to the Sun
43
324—Brady's
interpretation
"tò'Lke''sudden°reforms.
need
r^ul^í tTl'Ì tlTe
new
ways of handling the issues."
COLEMAN
R E G A R D I N G T H E S O N I C SYMBOLISM O F W H E N A N D W H E R E
by your ancestors (such as genetics)—^in short, this star symbolized the
theme of your life.
The Babylonians made considerable contributions in the area of
lunar studies, in particular eclipse patterns which deal specifically with the
For example, at the location of Ulm, Germany (Albert Einstein's
place of birth), the last star that rose heliacally before the time of Einstein's
dramatic visual, emotional and psychic effect of a Solar or Lunar eclipse,
birth (March 14,1879 NS) was Deneb Algedi (meaning Tail of the Goat) in
these phenomena became strong symbols in the minds of the ancients, and
relationship between the orbits of the Sun, Earth and Moon. Because of the
the constellation of Capricorn. This star symbolized the Ancient Law
great effort was expended to determine their patterns. Through long obser
Giver. The approximate time of Deneb Algedi's apparent (visual) HeHacal
Rising was March 5,1879 at 7:08:17 AM. Also, when Einstein was born on
vation, it was learned that these eclipses occurred in various cycles. The
March 14, Deneb Algedi rose at the same time as the planet Jupiter was
rising. Clearly, the symbolism that this star represents would have been
Earth-Sun-Moon periodicities: the synodic month, the draconic month,
considered very important for Einstein. Astrologer Bernadette Brady gives
the following astrological interpretation:''*
Saros Cycle share a near identical Sun-Earth-Moon geometry. Each Eclipse
Deneb Algedi —Heliacal Rising Star
14. Starlight Software: The Heart of Visual
Astrology, Brady and Branswood, Ltd.
most well known cycle is called a Saros Cycle, a harmonization of several
and the anomahstic month. Eclipses that are related by the rhythm of a
in a particular Saros Series is separated by approximately eighteen years, ten
to eleven days, 7.5 hours, (always around 6,585Î4 days) and there are typi
cally about seventy-one or seventy-two eclipses in a particular Saros Series.
Interpretation: Seeking the legal, physical or metaphysical laws that
The Solar Eclipse of July 22, 2009, 02:35 GMT is part of Saros
govern the world. Trying in some way to use wisdom and knowl
edge to protect and help people.
Series 136. This family of eclipses is also called Saros Series IIS (11 South
Deneb Algedi was rising as Jupiter was rising (orb 01 mins 34 sees)
at the time of Albert Einstein's birth.
Interpretation: The reformer or expert who paves the way for others.
using Bernadette Brady's alternate numbering system) because the eclipse
takes place near the South Node of the Moon. The January 5,1685 NS (NS
= Gregorian calendar), Hybrid Eclipse is also a part of Saros Series 136, and
this is the eclipse whose influence would have been felt at the time of the
births of both J.S. Bach (March 31, 1685 NS) and George Frideric Handel
(February 23,1685 NS). Saros Series 136 was horn (i.e., when the first eclipse
in this series occurred) on June 14,1360 OS, 05:47 UT (OS = Julian Calendar).
Bernadette Brady believes that the positions of the planets at the
moment a Saros Series is born symbolically colors the energy of each eclipse
in that particular series. Therefore, to obtain additional information about
the symbolic character of an individual solar eclipse, one would need to
look at the symbolism of the first eclipse in that Saros Series, and then com
bine the Saros Series symbolism with the position and symbolism of the
individual solar eclipse." Brady interprets this
eclipse from a geocentric point of view, with a
Mars/Pluto conjunction and with Uranus at the
midpoint
of Mercury
and Venus.'^ A midpoint is
i
•'
the middle position, in ecliptic longitude, between
Figure 2. Co-Rising of Jupiter and Deneb Algedi at the time of Albert Einstein's birth.'®
15. Ibid. Deneb Algedi is the star in
Capricornus closest to Jupiter in Figure 2.
42
^
X
o
two celestial objects along the shortest arc.
The true positions of the inner planets
.
(Mercury, Venus, Mars) m relation to the Sun
43
The Eagle and The Urk:
„ j.
A Textbook
17. Ibid., p. 324—Brady s interpretation
for Saros Senes 136: "Eclipses concerned
ÇQ make sudden reiorms.
Old ideas or methods will fail and new
systems are required to deal with the
events brought by the eclipse. As a consequence the person will need to think of
new ways of handling the issues."*
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
are distorted using the geocentric perspective. When using hehocentric
goes back at least 4,000 years to the Babylonian mundane astrological
omen tablets called Enuma A n u Enhil (early second millennium B C E ) .
coordinates Mars is not conjunct with Pluto, and Uranus is a Httle bit
further away from the MercuryA^enus midpoint.
This tradition lasted for 2,000 years in Mesopotamia and was also trans
The Sun is at the center of our solar system; it is the Hfe-giving
force, the entity that is the cause of the existence of the solar system, and
demonstrates various techniques for calculating the positions of various
the main force through which the solar system functions. The ancient
stellar phenomena, including the prediction of solar and lunar eclipses and
Egyptians understood the importance of the Sun and based their entire
the positions of the planets, as well as omens. The Mul.Apin texts suppos
edly influenced the ancient Greeks.
mitted to India. Another group of texts complied later, called Mul.Apin,
culture around this principle. Therefore, I use esoteric interpretations which
are based on the heliocentric point of view.
The major difference between the symbolism today and these
The planets that orbit the Sun (actually the Center of Mass of the solar
system, which is always very close to or inside the Sun) appear to have some
effect on the magnetic field of the Sun, solar flare activity, sunspot cycles, etc.
With the development of horoscope or nativity astrology, a means of sym
The resulting solar winds that are created in turn affect all of the planets as
bolism was developed that pertained to prognostications relating to indi
they move through the solar system. It has been suggested that these effects
viduals. Horoscope is derived from the Greek word horoskopos or hour
watching {hora = hour, skopos = watching). This referred to the hour and
ancient texts is that the ancient Babylonian astrology was, at least in its
early stages, concerned with the country as a whole, and with the King.
could account for much of what astrologers have traditionally attributed to
more esoteric phenomena. Today s mysteries are tomorrow's science.
location of a person's birth, which is represented by the ascendant (location
Looking at the first solar eclipse of Saros Series 136 from a helio
centric perspective,Jupiter is square Saturn (i.e., at a 90° angle) and Neptune
of the eastern horizon at the time of birth). This innovation made it possi
ble to link the positions of celestial phenomena with an individual person.
is opposite Saturn. This places Jupiter at a heliocentric longitude that is very
In geocentric astrology, the ascendant functions as a kind of tonic
close to the midpoint of the longitudes of Saturn and Neptune. Here are
that grounds the symbolism as it relates to an individual. The ascendant rep
some brief interpretations from the book of astrologer Ruth Brummund
resents a person's outward identity, how they appear to others. The Sun,
(from The BTUTnmund Rulebook), composed of individual keywords that
suggest the symbolism of the individual planets involved:'*
JU=SA/NE (Jupiter at the midpoint
1 XT ...
\
•
r
r
Brummund Rulehook
OI baturn and Neptune) cautious
free of
Brummund, English translation
limitations or restraints—empathie—highly
Pinky), Aureas Software,
however, symbolizes the generator, the true inner identity. In modern
imaginative
pragmatic—nonphysical—spiritually mature—skeptical—
needs self-discipline (along with a range of other keywords.) Another
interesting configuration is the Uranus and Mercury longitude midpoint
music, the tonic of a key serves a similar function to the ascendant, that of
(Ruth
by L.
grounding a group of pitches from a sensorial (outward) point of view,
bringing them into a sonic relationship relative to the tonic pitch. However,
the true inner relationship of the pitches is governed by the generator.
Astrologers who use midpoints sometimes use a 90° dial to facilitate
calculations of 4th harmonic aspects (i.e., 0°, 90°, 180° and 270°). Here are the
appearing exactly opposite the longitude midpoint between the planets
Neptune and Earth. We could write this as UR/ME=EA/NE.
positions (rounding to the nearest degree) of Uranus, Mercury, Earth and
Neptune during the Solar Eclipse of June 1360, shown first as they would
appear on a 360° dial, then followed by their positions on a 90° dial:
These interpretations are formed from what are called Phznetary
Pictures, which are geometric formations of the planets in space. This is a fur
360° Dial
ther development of the work of astrologer/astronomer Johannes Kepler,
whose work in harmonics was extended by the astrologer Alfred Witte and
his followers. Ruth Brummund is a part of this lineage.
This keyword technique stems from a divinatory tradition that
44
Mar = 169°
Nep = 338°
Ear = 27°
Ura = 79°
45
AND WHERE
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN
COLEMAN
Here we can see that on the 360° dial, the midpoint of Uranus/
Mercury (the position of the pointer at 124° or 4° of Leo) is opposite the
midpoint of Earth/Neptune (304° or 4° Aquarius), because 304° - 124° =
180°, which is an opposition.
Next we look at the position of these planets on a 90° dial, where each
of the four 90° quadrants on the 360° circle are mapped onto a 90° circle. In
other words, if a planet is not already at a position between 0° and 90 , then
we keep subtracting 90° from its position until its new position is between 0°
and 90°. Using this method, the new 90° positions for these four planets are:
90° Dial
Mer
= 79° (169° - 90°)
Nep
= 68° (338° - 90° - 90° - 90°)
Ear
= 1° (271° - 90° - 90° - 90°)
Ura
= 79°
Figure 4. 90° Dial.
Using the 90° dial, Uranus/Mercury appear to be conjunct at
79° and Earth/Neptune now have a midpoint of 34.5°, which is a position
opposite 79° on the 90° dial, because 79° - 34° = 45°. Therefore, the 90° dial
allows an astrologer to see quadrature angles more easily. Whereas Uranus
and Mercury were in a 90° relationship when plotted on the 360 dial
(169° - 79° = 90°), they are now seen as being conjunct when plotted on the
90° dial, so their quadrature relationship is very easy to see at a glance:
Soiar Partial Eclipse
Natal Chart
June 14, 1960. Sun
5:47 am GMT +0:00
Greenwich
Musically, the same principle is used in the simplification of function
in the matrix of tones. Taking the chromatic gamut of tones as 360°
te
Figure 5. Gamut of tones as 360°.
and dividing the tones into four 90° segments
51»N29'000°WOO'
Heliocentric
C
Tropical
0° Aries
True Node
= 0°
Ö = 30°
O
O
E
1^
11
D
El-
= 90°
= 120°
O
o
II
G
N>
11
00
oo
F 1 = 150°
F»
= 240°
Figure 3. 360° Dial.
46
A
= 270°
B''
= 300°
B
= 330°
47
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
Here we can see that on the 360° dial, the midpoint of Uranus/
Mercury (the position of the pointer at 124° or 4° of Leo) is opposite the
midpoint of Earth/Neptune (304° or 4° Aquarius), because 304° - 124° =
180°, which is an opposition.
Next we look at the position of these planets on a 90° dial, where each
of the four 90° quadrants on the 360° circle are mapped onto a 90° circle. In
Solar Partial Eclipse
Natal Chart
June 14,1960. Sun
5:47 am GMT +0:00
Greenwich
51°N29'000°WOO'
Heliocentric
Tropical
0° Aries
True Node
other words, if a planet is not already at a position between 0° and 90°, then
we keep subtracting 90° from its position until its new position is between 0°
and 90°. Using this method, the new 90° positions for these four planets are:
90° Dial
Mer
= 79° (169° - 90°)
Nep
= 68° (338° - 90° - 90° - 90°)
Ear
= 1° (271° - 90° - 90° - 90°)
Ura
= 79°
Figure 4. 90° Dial.
Using the 90° dial, Uranus/Mercury appear to be conjunct at
79° and Earth/Neptune now have a midpoint of 34.5°, which is a position
opposite 79° on the 90° dial, because 79° - 34° = 45°. Therefore, the 90° dial
Musically, the same principle is used in the simplification of function
in the matrix of tones. Taking the chromatic gamut of tones as 360°
allows an astrologer to see quadrature angles more easily. Whereas Uranus
and Mercury were in a 90° relationship when plotted on the 360° dial
(169° - 79° = 90°), they are now seen as being conjunct when plotted on the
90° dial, so their quadrature relationship is very easy to see at a glance:
ru
WJ
J
Figure 5. Gamut of tones as 360®.
and dividing the tones into four 90° segments
C
= 0°
C» = 30°
It
O0
E'-
O
o
0\
il 1
D
E
= 120°
F
F»
= 150°
G
= 210°
= 180°
= 240°
A = 270°
= 300°
Figure 3. 360° Dial.
46
B
= 330°
47
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
we can fold the tones over each other so that each of the 90° segment is
the surface of the Sun (1.05 solar radii), and the 360° heliocentric positions
superimposed on the others, to form one 90° segment, which we then treat
as the entire circle (i.e., the 90° dial). For example, all the tones at 0°, 90°, 180°
of CM, the jovian planets Qup, Sat, Ura, Nep), and the Earth were as follows:
and 270° would be equivalent in function, the same with the other tones.
II
II
F A'' C^
o
ÛSO
D
Oo
ßU. = 0°
c
ci E G
Earth
299.3
CM
309.9
Jup
319.8
Nep
324.8
Ura
353.9
Sat
172.9
So at the time of the solar eclipse, CM was at the longitude mid
é
0°
30°
"''i
point of Earth and Jupiter. In the diagram below, the circle with the cross
60°
inside of it represents the Earth-Moon system, which is in syzygy with the
Sun, i.e., lined up as Sun-Moon-Earth.
Figure 6. Gamut of tones as 90°.
In this way, we arrive at three relationships: tonic, dominant and
subdominant. Any one of the tones that are in a quadrature relationship is
equivalent in function. If we assign a particular function (tonic, dominant or
subdominant) to the four pitches at one position (either 0°, 30° or 60°), the
remaming two positions would then be the two remaining functions. For
example, if the tones C e'' gI"
were taken to be the tonic function, then
C' E G b'' would take on a dominant function, and the subdominant function
would be assigned to the tones D F
ck There does exist a subharmonic
world where all functions are inverted and all the movements are in the
opposite direction, but this subject is an entire essay in itself. Suffice it to
say that the principles remain the same as what I describe here. I call these
series of functional relationships (including the harmonic and subharmonic
realms) the musical matrix. I will make more references to the subharmonic
world later in this article.
At the time of the July 22, 2009 solar eclipse, Jupiter and Neptune
were close to being conjunct in longitude (heliocentric perspective) and on
the same side of the Sun that the Earth was on, but around 20° further along
the zodiac. Uranus was an additional 30° from Neptune.
The collective gravitational pull of Jupiter and Neptune, aided by
Uranus, exerted a considerable influence on the location of the solar system
Center of Mass (CM). During the July 22, 2009 solar eclipse CM was near
48
Figure 7. Position of planets during the total solar eclipse of July 22, 2009.
There are many such cycles in Nature. The rhythms get more com
plex when we look at the multiple interacting cycles. For example, there is
an orbital resonance involving Neptune and Pluto, that results in a 3:2 rela
tionship. Yet this simple relationship is complicated by the movement of the
other jovian planets, resulting in a dynamic interconnected network. In
many ways, the relationship of musical rhythms and tones functions in a
similar fashion, with the movement and resulting dynamic functional posi49
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF VviHEN A N D WHERE
tions constantly shifting in relationship to each other.
Another example of resonance is the 5:8 Venus cycle ratio, which
at 12 o'clock, and Earth is at 9 o'clock. So, in terms of this representation
of the zodiac, where traditionally planets are seen as moving counter-clock-
was tracked by the Maya Civilization of Mesoamerica (approximately from
wise along a circle," Earth would be 90° further along the zodiac than
central Mexico south to Nicaragua). The Maya placed great importance
Jupiter, and moving further away. This is what is called a waxing square.^®
on the Venus cycles, which actually reflect the relationship between the
Now imagine breaking the circle at the
orbits of Earth and Venus. Later in this article, we will show how this
position of Jupiter, and straightening it out into
a line. Let the entire length of this line, between
important relationship may have a profound effect on Earth and the rest
of the solar system.
From our perspective on Earth, in a single 584-day cycle of EarthVenus conjunctions Venus goes from being an Evening Star (visible just
f T
•
1
• 1
•
•
•
nodes A and B (both
of these nodes correspond
^
^
to the position of Jupiter), represent a string on
^
a musical instrument whose vibration sounds
after sunset) to a Morning Star (visible just before sunrise). There are five of
the pitch C. In order to raise the pitch of this
these 584-day cycles of Earth-Venus conjunctions in 8 Earth years (584
days X 5 = 2,920 days, and 8 years = 2,922 days) and 13 Venus years. 5:8 is
string by an interval or a fourth, sounding the
also the ratio of the minor 6th, when this musical interval is expressed in
string lengths, as the ancients would have expressed it. Johannes Kepler
recognized the sesquiquadrate (135°) as being the astrological aspect that is
the equivalent to the 5:8 minor 6th.
-
,
_
I
. .
.
1•
<
1
.
.
pitch F, the musician presses the string at position Al (creating a new node, corresponding to
19. That is, moving counter-clockwise
^hen
when the solar system is viewed from the
perspective
perspective of bemg above the north pole
of the Sun.
j
the position of Earth), effectively shortening the string by one-quarter.
The vibrating portion of the string (the effective length) would then be
three-quarters of the length of the entire string, between nodes Al and B.
A square (or quadrate) is an aspect of 90° (the 360° circle divided by
4). Sesqui is a Latin prefix meaning more hy half (i.e., one and a half times
1/4
IS also
3/4
A
more). So 90 -l- 45 (half of 90) is 135°, hence the name sesquiquadrate, which
A
called the sesquisquare. And why would Kepler recognize this aspect
as corresponding to the string length ratio for the 5:8 minor 6th? Because he
was following the method of the ancient Greek philosopher Claudius
Ptolemy, who believed that the significance of the aspects could be deter
mined by analogy with the ratios of musical intervals. Ptolemy arrived at
five astrological aspects and related them to musical intervals:
A
if-
Al
B
\
©
Figure 8. Musical-Astronomical String—nodes A and B.
If we formed the string back into a circle, we can then see Ptolemy's
analogy. The original nodes A/B would now be one point on the circle
Aspect
Interval
Ratio
Conjunction (0°)
= Unison
1:1
Opposition (180°)
= Octave
1:2
Square (90°)
= Fourth
3:4
Trine (120°)
= Fifth
2:3
Sextile (60°)
= Minor Third
5:6
representing the position of Jupiter, and new node Al would represent the
position of Earth. Jupiter and Earth form the astrological aspect of a wax
ing square. Therefore, the vibrating portion of the string is analogous to an
angle of 270°, thus the ratio 270:360 = 3:4.
Lets take as an example the 90° aspect called a waxing square.
Ptolemy used, as a musical ratio, the left-over part of the circle (i.e., 360°
- 90° = 270°) in relation to the entire 360° circle, i.e., 270:360, or 3:4. To
make an analogy to music, suppose that Jupiter is at the top of the circle
50
51
,
2(J. Kegardmg waxing and wamng phases:
^'^en considenng aspects between two
planets, the faster moving planet (i.e., the
«ne with the higher velocity and smaller
orbit) always determines the phase. The
aspect is waxing when the faster planet is
ahead of the slower planet, and moving
towards opposition. The aspect is waning
when the faster planet is behind the slower
planet, and moving towards conjunction,
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
V
Aspect
Interval
Ratio
Quintile (72°)
= Major 3rd
4:5
Biquintile (114°)
= Major 6th
3:5
Sesquiquadrate (135°)
= Minor éth
5:8
Again, sesquiquadrate and sesquisquare are synonymous terms. So
we can see that the subject of harmonics in astrology (divisions of the cir
cle) and harmonics in music (the science of musical sounds) are related. The
sounds that we call musical are in large part due to their cyclical nature. It
is the consistent cyclical aspect of certain sounds and their movement that
contributes to how we relate to these sounds as music. This is true with the
basic elements of pitch and rhythm as well as the macro elements involved
in composition, both spontaneous and preconceived. When these concepts
are examined closely, it is amazing to see that these simple principles can be
combined in seemingly infinite ways.
As in nature, these complex dances play out on every level, from
Figure 9. Musical-Astronomical Circle—nodes A and B.
the microscopic to the macroscopic, so the knowledge of one particular
kind of cycle, be it musical or astronomical, is only the beginning. It is the
I have not read where Ptolemy or Kepler discuss this, but it would seem to
rhythm of all of the cycles in nature and in the universe, as they form
me that using this analogy, there should be a difference in astrological
dynamic relationships, that produces their exoteric and esoteric influences
and musical quality of the waxing (increasing) versus waning (decreasing)
upon us. Taken as a whole, the resulting complex of cycles interact to form
squares. But this would be a subject for another time. Suffice it to say that,
a mass of oscillations that initially appear to be chaotic, but in fact are real
in this example, it is the positions of Jupiter and Earth in waxing square rela
tionship that represent the interval of a fourth.
ly a continuous cosmic composition that is being created by Nature. It may
Kepler followed this same method of calculating musical intervals
from aspects. For example, a sesquiquadrate is 135°, which leaves 225° left
order in the apparent chaos, thereby predicting the results of the interac
over from the circle, and 225:360 = 5:8, an interval of a minor 6th. Kepler is
The scientist, astrologer and climatologist Theodor Landscheidt
credited with introducing this aspect to astrology, along with two other new
published research that suggests that there is a scientific basis for astrology.^^
aspects: the 72 quintile and the 144° biquintile. Using their knowledge of
Landscheidt was essentially a modern-day Johannes
harmonics, both Ptolemy and Kepler were able to recognize these corre
spondences. So, in introducing these new aspects to astrology, Kepler used
Kepler (himseli a modern Claudius rtolemy, and
so on...) and his work is within that tradition.
musical thinking. He wanted to include aspects that would represent the
rest of the imperfect consonances, i.e., 4:5, 3:5 and 5:8. And it is because of
Landscheidt suggested that the solar system is in many ways a conscious
Kepler that these aspects have now become standard in modern astrology,
although most astrologers do not realize the musical origin of these angles:
appear spontaneous but, when studied closely, the initiated can discern
tions and their effects on the Earth and life on Earth.
T7-
1
/I •
ir
1
1•
Ti
1
1
21.
Sun-Earth-Man: a Mesh
(Theodor Landscheidt),
self-regulating organism, and that there is a reciprocal relationship where
by the planets in the solar system have some effect on activity within the
Sun, by exerting gravitational influence on the center of mass of the solar
system (CM, also called the solar system barycenter). He also believed that
some planets have a tidal effect on the Sun, which in turn affects the
52
53
COLEMAN
R E G A R D I N G T H E S O N I C SYMBOLISM O F W H E N A N D W H E R E
amount and. intensity of solar flares, sunspots and other phenomena.
thest away from the Sun around April 9, 1804, and here we see that the
Landscheidt believed that the combined gravitational and tidal influences
jovian planets are all on the same side of the Sun and fairly close together in
of the planets in turn affect the timing, direction and intensity of the mas
sive solar ejections of ionized particles called solar winds, which bombard
cosmic tug-of-war.
the same longitude quadrant. This is analogous to a giant balancing act or
the rest of the solar system (including Earth) and cause various effects.^^The
imagery of solar winds is interesting; the four
^
their influence on the position of the center of mass of the solar system. It
winds were thought by the ancient Egyptians
is not only important when the outer planets conjunct, but also when they
to move the stars, and the winds were also associated with divination.
The Sun and the rest of the planets orbit around (or, in the case of
make other angles of heliocentric longitude (and, to a lesser extent, latitude).
We can particularly notice 3rd harmonic aspects (i.e., 0°, 120° and 240°) and
the sun, oscillate about) CM. But by using the Sun as our reference point,
4th harmonic aspects (i.e., 0°, 90°, 180° and 270°), although others are
we can say that CM is changing position in relation to the Sun. Sometimes
important as well. What is involved here is a continuum, with the discreet
CM is above the surface of the Sun, sometimes below, depending on the
points only serving as markers. These aspects function as tools that can be
configuration of the planets in the solar system. Landscheidt proposed that
used to help determine the position of CM, and characterize the meaning of
when CM is near the surface of the Sun, there appear to be significant dis
turbances in the Sun's corona and photosphere. It is possible that the rhythm
the planetary configurations.
Although the heteromorphous oscillations of CM—along with the
of these disturbances can be predicted by calculating the positions of CM.^^
This can be done by paying special attention to
fluctuations that occur in the structure of the Sun—may at first appear
random, the research of Theodor Landscheidt and others points to a high
the positions of the giant jovian planets (Jupiter,
er intelligence at work, a consciousness that is far beyond the limits of
human awareness. In his book entitled Sun-Earth-Man: A Mesh of Cosmic
Oscillations, Landscheidt goes on to present data that supports his more
Saturn, Uranus, Neptune), which exert the greatest influence on CM, partic
ularly Jupiter, the most massive planet in the solar system. In fact, except for
So we can see that outer planet configurations are important for
the Sun, Jupiter alone is almost 2.5 times as massive as the combined mass of
all other objects of the solar system. As the most massive planet, Jupiter has
the largest influence on the position of CM:
Ibid.
esoteric claims.^^ This information provides a
_
_
_
^
solid basis for why the ancients would have
noticed some of the effects that have been traditionally delineated through
the art of astrology, based on thousands of years of observation. Though
Relative Mass of Jovian Planets
Jupiter
Saturn
Neptune
Uranus
= 317.8 Earths
= 95.152 Earths
= 17.147 Earths
= 14.536 Earths
there are many interacting cycles involved, the results sum to a gestalt that
can be identified and is somewhat measurable.
These same principles are noticeable in other areas: color, the
weather, language and also music. We must never forget that music is really
just a reflection of what it is to be human. Music is also composed of many
interrelated cycles and elements, which we respond to as the total sound of
When Jupiter is on one side of the Sun, and Uranus, Neptune and
Saturn are on the other side of the Sun, then CM is beneath the Sun's sur
the music. The more complex the music, the more we hear it as a whole.
I see astrology as a mancy of geometrical shapes in motion, the
face, near the center of the Sun (but closer to the side of the Sun that Jupiter
symbolism of which is interpreted through numerical representation. Being
that this art was developed through observation of Nature, all ancient civi
is on). When Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn are on the same side of
the Sun then CM is above the Sun's surface, and at its farthest from the
center of the Sun.
Between 1801 A D through 2600 A D inclusive, CM was the far
54
lizations had some form of astrology.
Most present-day versions of astrology are primarily based on the
idea of a zodiac which consists of twelve 30° segments. These segments are
55
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
based on the motion of the Earth s yearly passage around the Sun, which
together with the tilt of the Earth on its axis relative to the Sun, is the cause
So it is the intervals of time and space between these defined points,
how they related to each other, and the Earth's movement through them
of the seasons. Humans have always identified the seasons using certain
that gives us our sensation of quality during the cycle of the year. But this
positions of the Earth in its path around the Sun. These points, called
equinoxes and solstices, were recognized many thousands of years ago by
is a complex relationship as the Sun itself goes through structural changes
various ancient cultures based on observations of the changes in the lengths
Composition is analogous to all the various cyclic relationships that play
of day and night. An equinox (meaning equal night) is a time in the year
where day and night are the same length, and a solstice (meaning Sun stands
out in our solar system. These include the complex Sun-Earth-Moon pat
still, the point at which the Sun seems to stand still or stop) is a point in the
ing the other planets (the five 8-year Earth-Venus cycles, various outer
that have an effect on Earth, as well as on the rest of the solar system.
terns (lunation cycle, Saros cycles, etc.) as well as the various cycles involv
year where the apparent motion of the Sun seems to stop moving in either
planet cycles, solar system barycenter movements, 11-year sunspot cycles,
its northerly or southerly direction and reverses itself. There are two
equinoxes and two solstices in a year.
etc.) as they all relate to each other.
Through observation, the ancients noticed the apparent motion of
the Sun, and the difference in the structure of each of the four cardinal
melodic cycles and rhythmic cycles. For example, there is a resonance
Many of these cycles are similar to musical interval relationships,
between two revolutions of Saturn and five revolutions of Jupiter in a 59-
points (equinoxes and solstices) was documented, along with the intervals
year period. This 2:5 relationship is an octave of the 4:5 relationship that is
of time that each cardinal point initiated. Symbols were then developed to
the string length ratio that sounds a major 3rd interval. There are many such
represent these four cardinal points and their relationship to the seasons.
relationships among the planetary cycles, such as the 2:3 resonance of the
orbital periods of Pluto and Neptune within a 494-year period. There are
This was very important, as humankind s survival depended on being able
to predict these natural rhythms.
basically two resonance groups of planets, the inner planets (Mercury,
These four positions of the Earth relative to the Sun are called
vernal equinox (VE), summer solstice (SS), autumnal equinox (AE), and
Venus, Earth, Mars), and the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune,
winter solstice (WS). In the western astronomical/astrological system,
Most of the inner planets (Earth, Venus, Mercury), together with Jupiter,
each of these four seasons are further divided into three equal segments
creating further divisions of the temporal intervals between the equinoxes
and solstices.
appear to have an effect on solar tidal forcing,^''
Pluto). There seems to be no strong resonance between Mars and Jupiter.
while the outer planets seem to have more of an
influence on the position of CM in relation to
Beginning with VE, spring is divided into Aries, Taurus and Gemini.
Starting with SS, summer is divided into Cancer, Leo and Virgo. From AE,
1
Q
28
tne OUn.
autumn is divided into Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius. Finally from WS,
winter is divided into Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.^^
of the inner planets of the solar system, in order of
their influence on solar tidal forcing, we find sev-
From an exoteric point of view, the
seasons are simply divisions of the year
charac*
terized by changes in weather, while in esoteric
studies these four seasons are interpreted as twelve astrological signs repre
senting twelve metaphysical archetypes. Although most people associate
these astrological signs with the stars, they are actually related to the seasons,
which are a result of the Earth's yearly passage around the Sun, combined
with the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of the ecliptic.
56
^
and Solar Cycles
^
27. Apparent Relations Between Solar
Activity and SoUr Tides Caused hy the
Looking at the relationships of the orbits
eral resonances with musical implications:^'
perspective of the northern hemisphere.
26. Orhiul Resonance
JtlSC
Landscheidt
„ .
29. Semi, pp. 2, 7-8, 15-20.
Earth-Venus: possibly the most important factor for influencing
solar tidal forcing. These planets have a 13:8 resonance, that is, five
conjunctions in 13 Venus years or 8 Earth years.
Mercury-Venus: not a very strong resonance, but appears to have
some impact on solar tidal forcing. There is a weak 23:9 resonance,
fourteen conjunctions in 23 Mercury years or 9 Venus years.
57
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
Mercury-Earth: not a very strong resonance. There is a weak 29:7
junctions in 20 Saturn years or 7 Uranus years.
resonance, twenty-two conjunctions in 29 Mercury years or 7
Earth years.
Uranus-Neptune: the sixth most important factor for influencing
Mercury-Mars: There is a weak 39:5 resonance, thirty-four con
junctions in 39 Mercury years or 5 Mars years.
conjunctions in 51 Uranus years or 26 Neptune years.
Venus-Mars: Mars does not appear to have a significant effect on
solar tidal forcing. These planets have a 3:1 resonance, two con
junctions in 3 Venus years or 1 Mars year.
conjunction in 3 Neptune years or 2 Pluto years.
the position of CM, a resonance of 51:26 (close to 2:1) with thirteen
Neptune-Pluto: These planets have a resonance of 3:2, with one
As explained earlier, none of these proportions in Nature are ever
exact, the real relationships are within a certain orb of the precise ratio.
Earth-Mars: this resonance is also not very strong. These planets
These proportions could be seen as musical intervals and, as is customary
have a weak 15:8 resonance, thirty-seven conjunctions in 79 Earth
years or 42 Mars years (79:42 is 5.5 cents larger than 15:8).
for musicians, all of the ratios can be octave reduced for ready identification:
While there is no apparent resonance between Mars and Jupiter,
Earth and Jupiter have a 5:2 resonance, with eleven conjunctions in 12 Earth
Inner Planet Resonances
Mer:Ven
= 23:9, 424 cents (major 3rd + 38 cents)
years or 1 Jupiter year. A slightly more complicated relationship between
Venus, Earth and Jupiter is discussed below.
Mer:Ear
= 29:7, 61 cents (less than a semitone)
Mer;Mar
= 39:5,1,156 cents (44 cents less than an octave)
Looking at the relationships of the orbits of the major outer plan
ets of the solar system, in order of their influence on CM, we find several
resonances with musical implications:^®'
Ven:Ear
= 13:8, 840.5 cents, natural minor 6th
Ven:Mar
= 3:1, 702 cents, perfect 5th
Ear:Mar
= 15:8,1,088 cents (actually its 79:42 which is 1,094 cents)
30. Ibid.,
Jupiter-Saturn: this is the most important factor for influencing the position
pp. 9-14, 20-21.
of CM. These planets have a 5:2 resonance, three conjunctions in 5
Jupiter years or 2 Saturn years.
Jupiter-Neptune: the second most important factor for influencing
the position of CM, with a resonance of 14:1, thirteen conjunctions
in 14 Jupiter years or 1 Neptune year.
Jupiter-Uranus: the third most important factor for influencing the
position of CM, with a resonance of 7:1, six conjunctions in 7
Jupiter years or 1 Uranus year.
Saturn-Neptune: the fourth most important factor for influencing
the position of CM, with a resonance of 28:5, thirty-two conjunc
tions in 28 Saturn years or 5 Neptune years.
Saturn-Uranus: the fifth most important factor for influencing the
position of CM, with a resonance of 20:7 (close to 3:1) thirteen con58
Outer Planet Resonances
31 Landscheidt,
Jup:Sat
Jup:Ura &
Jup:Nep
= 5:2, just major 3rd, 386 cents
= 7:1 & 14:1, septimal minor 7th, 969 cents
Sat:Nep
= 28:5, small septimal tritone, 583 cents
Sat:Ura
= 20:7, large septimal tritone, 617 cents
Ura:Nep
= 51:26,1,166 cents (one octave = 1,200 cents)
Nep:Plu
= 3:2, perfect 5 th, 702 cents
All of these cycles interact in very mysterious ways, but there are
clear harmonic relationships among the various orbital periods.
The aforementioned Earth-Venus connection appears to be par
ticularly profound. The opposition of Earth and Venus places the EarthVenus Center of Mass (EVCM) near the Sun (where it is nearly stationary
for approximately a two-week period). In fact, during these oppositions
EVCM is closer to the Sun than Mercury. The rhythm of the quadrature
angular relationships (0°, 90°, 180° and 270°) between EVCM and Jupiter
59
COLEMAN
R E G A R D I N G T H E S O N I C SYMBOLISM O F W H E N A N D W H E R E
(which is the same as the angle between Earth and Jupiter, since EVCM
relationships to each other can have a quality and effect similar to what
is always on the Earth side of the Sun) appears to approximately match
occurs during the relationships of planetary cycles. The esoterically inclined
the rhythm of sunspot cycles (sunspot = 11.4 years, EVCM-Jupiter
could study the effects of such combinations and apply the appropriate
quadrature cycles = 11.19 years). The EVCM-Jupiter relationship seems
symbolism, in the same manner as this is done in other esoteric studies. In
to have an effect on the intensity and frequency of p-modes, extremely
this way, it is possible to refine the idea, quality, meaning and possible
low-frequency sound waves (i.e., pressure waves) traveling inside the
Sun.^2 Mercury-Jupiter quadrature relation
effects of rhythms, melodies or harmonic progressions.
ships, at the times of Earth-Venus oppositions,
well as the relationship between pitches and their movement (space and
may also play a role in these phenomena.^^
These Earth-Venus, Mercury and Jupiter cycles,
together with the absolute positions of these
planets relative to the Sun, may have some
effect on both sunspot cycles and solar flare
intensity.^'*'
Also significant is the Jupiter-Saturn
pair, the two most massive planets in the solar
32. Semi, pp. i, 57-61. The frequency of
some of these p-mode waves are more
than I milhhertz (i mHz = i,000th of a
hertz). These are very low sound frequen
cies, the most powerful measuring around
I cycle every five minutes, or 1/300 cycles
per second (3.33 mHz). By comparison
the human ear can only hear as low as
approximately 20 Hz (maybe 14 Hz max),
so a sound wave that is five minutes long is
about 6,000 times lower than the lower
limit of human hearmg. These extremely
low frequency pressure waves ring the
entire Sun like a bell.
33. Ibid., pp. 53-54.
system which together have a very significant
34. Ibid.
influence on the location of CM (solar system
35. Hung, p. I.
center of mass).^^-
36. Landscheidt
These two planets have a
854-year resonance cycle (forty-three conjunc
tions in 72 Jupiter years and 29 Saturn years)
which possibly influences the entire solar system
angular momentum cycle.^® And there are much
keys and modes could be analogous to the various configurations of plan
ets in our solar system which astrologers call planetary pictures.
One example of using music with astrology was the work of the
17th century mystic Athanasius Kircher, who developed a method of com
position using the symbolism of planets related to specific voice-leading. In
a major work entitled Musurgia Universalis (Universal Music) Kircher
The Mancy of Colors
29-32. 43, 61.
II, 43, 61.
39. Personal communication with astrologer
Simon France.
larger harmonic cycles, such as the twentyone-conjunction Uranus and Neptune cycle that plays out over a 3,602year period, after which both planets conjunct in virtually the same area of
the zodiac.^'
All of these relationships in turn affect the intensity of the solar
winds emanating from the Sun, and affects all of the planets in the solar
system. So there is a reciprocal relationship, a back-and-forth influence
between the planets and the Sun.
The Venus:Mars (3:1) and Neptune:Pluto (3:2) resonances are sim
ilar to each other, both being close to 3:2. The 12:1 Earth-Jupiter orbital
relationship is also an octave this same 3:2 ratio. Astrologically, there are
similarities in the relationships of all of these planetary pairs.
There have always been attempts to use astronomy/astrology and
music as one discipline. Different rhythms that move in cycles with specific
60
time relationships), that are partly responsible for giving the sensation of
quality and color. The systemization of the pitch relationships into various
described parts of his system, which definitely had an astrological basis."*®
37. Semi, pp. 9-11,
38. Ibid., pp. I,
In our musical system, it is the intervals and their combinations, as
"Perhaps the highest language that comes to
man, through Nature, is through geometric sym
bol and color."
—L.W. de Laurence.''^
40. The Harmony of the Spheres: A
Sourcebook of the Pythagorean Tradition
in Music Qoscelyn Godwin), pp. 273-275.
41. The Great Book of Magical Art, Hindu
Magic and Indian Occultism (L. W. de
Laurence, 1939), p. 571.
Similar to the symbolism of geometry in motion that we call astrology,
there was developed a symbolism of colors that appears to be drawn from
Nature. Esotericist Thomas Goodwin constantly refers to an ancient Kemetic
system called the Mancy of Colors and it was Tom
that first introduced me to this subject.«
>
mcations).
The human species greatest gift is the
ability to create and manipulate symbols. Symbolism can also be used to
generate a feeling, sensation or idea of a metaphysical nature. This is done
through colors, figures, numbers, etc., and their motion.
Earlier, I referred to the merging principle as being equivalent to the
concept of modulation, the idea of change from one form or condition into
another. One reason color is an ideal esoteric language is because it repre
sents the merging principle more accurately. There is typically no absolute
boundary between different shades and colors, and it is partly because of
61
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
this that color is for the most part interpreted by the use of intuition. In
contrast to color, number may primarily be seen from a logical perspective,
and figures may be approached from an intuitive-logic point of view as
well. This does not mean that color cannot be organized and approached
from both an intuitive and logical perspective simultaneously. Never
theless, color symbolism appears to have been developed in part using
more intuitive approaches.
The use of color symbolism for divination purposes is exceedingly
rare. Psychics who use their third eye to see auras around people are said to
be able to see colors in the different auras."*^
Much of this color symbolism is based on the
1
-NT
T-'
11
•"^tnan response to iN ature, ir'or example, the
.^oo^^;.,^."«
Í »L
1
^A/r
•!
•
association of the planet Mars with aggression,
war and death may originate in part because of
The Human Aura: Astral Colors and
T'¿OKg¿t/br»ís (Swami Panchadasi, 1912),
e-bookversìon, p. 2. (Panchadasiisapseudonym of esoteric writer William Walker
Atkinson.)
humility, love of truth, contemplation (indigo).
http://en.wikipedia.0rg/wiki/Biue#
Mysticism accessed September 9, 2009.
Yellow "represents the intellectual phase
49. de Laurence, pp. 569-570.
of mentality. That is to say, it stands for that part
of the mental activities which are concerned with reasoning, analysis, judg
ment, logical processes, induction, deduction, synthesis, etc. In its various
hues, tints and shades, it is manifested by the various forms of intellectual
activity, high and low [.. .1"^ Keywords: selfish
50. Panchadasi, p. 8.
intellect (dull yellow), higher unselfish Intellect
(brilliant golden or luminous lemon or primrose yellow), pride, ambition,
irritability (orange), analysis, logic, reasoning, deduction, great intellectual
teachers (gold).®^'
51. Ibid. p. 10.
White "stands for what occultists
52. Leadbeater, p. 83.
know as Pure Spirit, which is a very different
thing from the religious emotion of 'spirituali
its reddish color (which is based on the large amount of iron oxide on its
ty,' and which really is the essence of the All that really is. Pure Spirit is the
surface). Quite early in history. Mars was associated with iron, the metal
for weapons.
positive pole of Being."^^
Here is a sampling of the symbolism of color:
Red "represents the physical phase of mentality. That is to say, it
stands for that part of the mental activities which are concerned with
physical life. It is manifested by the vitality of the body, and in other
hues, tints and shades, is manifested by passions, anger, physical cravings,
etc."'*'' Other keywords include: blood, aggression, energy, life-force, vigor, spiritual love
Panchadasi,p.8.
(crimson brilliant rose-color tinged with lilac),
selfish love (crimson tinged with brown), selfless love (crimson rose-red),
fire, devils, physical, masculine, summer, hell, passion, lust, sexuality or
sensuality (lurid, sanguinary red), courage, anger (usually deep red or tinged
with brown selfish anger), stop, hatred, pain, honor, leadership, sports.'*^Blue "represents the religious or spiri
tual phase of mentality. That is to say, it stands
visible and invisible (c.w.
r
1
r 1
t
. . .
.
tor that part oi the mental activities which are
J
«1
1 •
1
•J
1
1
.
t
.
COncerneQ Wltll nigh ideals, altruism, devotion.
reverence, veneration, etc. It is manifested, in
its various hues, tints and shades, by all forms
of religious feeling and emotion, high and low [..
Leadbeater, 1909), p. 81.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red#
Symbolism accessed September 9, 2009.
47. Panchadasi, p. 8.
Black "stands for the negative pole of
53. Panchadasi, p. 8.
Being—the very negation of Pure Spirit, and
54. Ibid.
opposing it in every way."^ Keywords: hatred,
55. Leadbeater, p. 8i.
malice, passionate anger.^^
56. Ibid., pp. 81-82.
Brown-, autumn, earth, wood, greed
(dull almost rust brown), industry, materialism,
accumulation of wealth, selfishness. Greenish-brown denotes jealousy.^
Green: nature, life, love, erotic, envy and jealousy (greenishbrown), trickery/deceit (grey-green), health, charity, altruism, sickness,
healthcare, physician, nurse, spring, growth, environmentalism, nonviolence,
social justice, sympathy/compassion (pale luminous blue-green), charity,
adaptability/versatility/ingenuity (bright emerald-green), tolerance of
other viewpoints, diplomacy.®^'
57. Ibid., p. 84.
Grey: deep depression, gloomy, sadden
58. Panchadasi, p. 11.
ing, fear (livid grey).'°
59. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green
When we look at some of the associations
accessed September 9, 2009.
of color with zodiac signs, we can see the sym
60. Leadbeater, p. 82.
bolism of each merged into a single system:
Keywords: water, ice,
cold, sadness, winter, boys, religion (dark clear blue), morality, spirituality,
62
63
COLEMAN
R E G A R D I N G T H E S O N I C SYMBOLISM O F W H E N A N D W H E R E
From Westcott"
Aries
white
Taurus
white and vellow
Gemini
red
Cancer
green and brown
Leo
black and blue
Libra
black or crimson
yellow or green
Capricorn
black or brown
Aquarius
Pisces
Aries
orange^^
Mercury
yellow^^
65. de Laurence, p. 566.
blue^^
Mars
red''
66. Ibid.
Jupiter
violet^'
67. Ibid., p. 569.
Saturn
green, brown and grey^°
68. Ibid., p. 565.
blue-green^'
69. Ibid., p. 571.
indigo^^
black73,74
70. Ibid., pp. 568, 571.
Neptune
Pluto
71. Based on actual color of the planet due
to its methane gas, and the colors of
Aquarius, which Uranus rules.
Historically, at the time that most of this
62. de Laurence, p. 571.
white and rose-pink
symbolism was developed there was a belief that
red, yellow and blue were the primary colors
-
J
.
1 1
\
• 1
1
(based on pigments and dye) with the secondary
colors being violet, orange, green. In modern color
red and lemon-yellow
red, blue and white
Cancer
green and russet-brown
red and green
64. Planets, Colors and Metals (Patrice
Guinard), ht^://cura.free.fr/22plcome.htinl
accessed September 9, 2009.
Venus
Uranus
white
Gemini
Leo
white, silver or grey^^' ^
Sun
blue
From de Laurence'^
Taurus
Moon
brown
Sagittarius
63. The Arkana Dictionary of Astrology^
(Fred Gettings, 1985), pp. 378-379.
Planet-Color Correspondences
red and green
Virgo
Scorpio
61. Numbers: Their Occult Power and
Mystic Virtues (W. Wynn Westcott, 1890),
pp. 103-104.
72. de Laurence, p. 571.
73. Gettings, pp. 378-379.
Guinard, http://cura.free.fr/22pIcome.
html accessed September 9,2009.
theory, since the prism experiments of Isaac Newton, the main colors are
recognized to be red, green, blue (additive primaries) and cyan, magenta,
gold-yellow and dark-blur
yellow (subtractive primaries). If the ancients had started with the modern
crimson and blue
theories then maybe the symbolism of yellow and green would be a little
golden-brown and indigo
different, similar to the way astrologers have adjusted their symbolism after
Sagittarius
gold, red and green
the discovery of Uranus (1781), Neptune (1846), Pluto (1930) and a host of
Capricorn
dark-brown or grey
other planet-like bodies in our solar system:
Aquarius
blue, pink and green
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Pisces
white-pink, emerald-green or indigo
Historical Primary Color and Complements
red
green
The above appears to be a mixing of the symbolism of brown and yellow.
yellow
violet
Based on these symbolic descriptions, a more logical association using the
Elements may be:
blue
orange
Modern Primary Colors and Complements
Fire
reddish
red
Earth
brownish
green
Air
yellowish
blue
Water
cyan
magenta
yellow
greenish and bluish
What has been done here with colors is the same as what has been
attempted with planets, signs, midpoint interpretations, eclipse symbolism,
etc., in astrology. The approach is to determine some basic characteristics of
64
65
COLEMAN
R E G A R D I N G T H E S O N I C SYMBOLISM O F W H E N A N D W H E R E
the main quantized points in the continuum. Then, when the various combi
The Mancy of Sound is related with the ancient
nations of the cycles or vibrations manifest, the esoteric artist then intuitively
merges the meanings of each point to regain the feeling of the continuum.
concept of musica universalis^^ "an ancient philo
It is also possible to relate colors more directly to music, as
movements of celestial bodies—the Sun, Moon,
opposed to simply using color as an analogy. The most obvious example
and planets—as a form of musica (Medieval Latin
would be the correspondence of color to pitch, chords or keys, similar to
for music)."^^ Although musica universalis is not hterally audible music, the
sophical concept that regards proportions in the
76. Literally universal music, or music of
the spheres.
77. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musica_
universalis accessed September 9, 2009.
the work of the great esoteric composer Alexander Scriabin. A less obvi
approach of creating music using the philosophy and symbolism of musica
ous example would be the association of color with movement, specifically
universalis has been practiced for thousands of years, analogous to a
rhythmic, melodic and harmonic movement. This is partly because it is
dynamic sacred geometry projected through sound.
through the movement of musical passages that musicians typically refer to
the concept of musical color. Sometimes chords are related to color, but
We have looked at the symbolism or characteristics that were
even in these cases this usually involves the movement of the chords in
applied to celestial phenomena in the form of planetary pictures (geometri
cal formations) and at symbolism applied to color. Since ancient times,
progressions. Of course there is no such thing as melody and rhythm
without movement.
musicians have also applied symbolism to rhythms and groups of pitches.
As in everyday experiences, color is seen to be something of a
modifier, an extension to more concrete forms. This is also true in
in the form of the Doctrine of Ethos and even as late as the time of J.S. Bach
music, where color can modify the elements of rhythm, melody, and
Doctrine of Affections. Not so obvious is the role music plays in divination.
harmony. However, color can also have its own internal logic, for
The most obvious forms of the foretelling of events using sound is
example as presented in color theory, which is based on ideas of color
mixing and combinations.
China (Han dynasty). In ancient Rome, augury was used to interpret the
Plato and other ancient Greek philosophers discussed this in their writings
musicians still related to symbohsm through rhetorical devices and the
the example of divination by bird cries and bird song in ancient Rome and
Our perception of color is based on specific light receptors in our
eyes, therefore color is a phenomena of light. Light is a rather ethereal
will of the gods by studying the flight directions and patterns of birds
phenomena, more easily grasped through the faculty of intuition. There are
the musical sounds created by humans, which is the subject matter of our
vast areas of music that are readily understood using intuition, and in this
discussion of the mancy of sounds.
sense the marriage of color and music is very important. In particular, color
can aid in the projection of the emotions as this is the mode through which
Previously I mentioned colors, geometrical figures (shapes) and
numbers in motion. It has been said that the study of music is the study of
many people experience the power of color and music. Though a complex
subject, this is certainly a matter well worth investigating.
number in motion, similar to astronomy being the study of geometry in
motion. There is a progression to these areas of study; all are related and
The Mancy of Sound (Musica Universalis)
interact with each other, forming one body of knowledge:
"Is it not true that all things flow from one thing, from the goodness of
the One, and that whatever is joined to Unity cannot be diverse, but
rather fructifies by means of the simplicity and adaptability of the One?"
What is born from Unity? Is it not the ternary? Take note: Unity is
unmixed, the binary is compounded, and the ternary is reduced to the
simplicity of Unity. I, Trithemius, am not of three minds, but persist in
a single integrated mind taking pleasure in the ternary, which gives birth
^
to a marvelous offspring." -Trithemius^^
66
together with the sounds that they made. However, this does not involve
• Study of number (arithmetic)
• Study of shapes (geometry)
• Study of light (e.g., color, etc.)
• Study of number in motion (music)
• Study of geometry in motion (astronomy)
These are the exoteric fields of study. But in ancient times there was
always an exoteric counterpart to any exoteric subject:
67
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
COLEMAN
• Study of geometric symbolism (geomancy)
ity of those moments in which it was created, for many reasons.
So why not the reverse, where music projects not only the quality of
• Study of the symbolism of light (mancy of colors, color symbolism)
the time in which the creator of the music lives, but also qualities of periods
• Study of the symbolism of number in motion (mancy of sound,
of time in the future? Much of what we call the future is directly related both
• Study of number symbolism (numerology)
to the activities of the present and to the human imagination, which has a
musica universalis)
• Study of the symbolism of shapes in motion (astrology)
vibratory projection of its own that is very powerful. It may very well be that
the human imagination is structurally a part of some phenomena that we have
The power of musica universalis is that, being holistic in nature, it
contains and gives voice to all of these arts. This is the esoteric form of music
and many master musicians produced some of their greatest works using
little understanding of today If a musician possesses enough knowledge
about the structure of time, then this idea should not be too far fetched. And
the more specific the study and information that the musician possesses, the
this approach.
I need to pause here to explain my understanding of divination.
more specific the musical description will be of the particular period of time
Although in earlier times divination was definitely used for the purpose of
describes the moment of birth of a person that is not yet born, if the musician
predicting future events, I believe divination has more to do with timing,
with determining the most favorable and harmonious moment to initiate or
that is being sounded. Therefore, it should be possible to create music that
knows enough about when that moment will be, the characteristics of the
person in terms of their parents, culture, etc., and the characteristics of the
carry out a particular activity. This is somewhat similar to the principles
upon which the discipline known as Feng Shui are built. On an esoteric
time that is leading to the moment of birth (a kind of temporal voice-leading).
If this IS possible in Nature then it should be attainable for humans,
level, this has to do with resonance. In my opinion, all of these things are
who are but a part of Nature. Returning to the quote from L. W. de Laurence,
we do our highest work when we recognize our unity with Nature.'»
related. Again, today's mysteries are tomorrow's science; much or what we
call esoteric or mysterious is just something that is partially understood.
Since the nature of the universe will always be partially understood by
humans, then there will always be mysteries.
Humankind is a product of Nature, and throughout our existence the initiated have attempted in
Laurence, p. 571.
Therefore, my idea of a mancy of sound has less to do with using
their creations to emulate Nature as much as possible.
I believe that there exists only the present, which has different qual
music or sound to predict the future, and more to do with timing, using
ities. What we call the past lives in our memories, even if inaccurate or selec
music to project or create the quality and character of a moment (even a
tive. What we call the future lives in our imaginations and expectations, even
moment in the future) as well as the reverse, being able to interpret some
if unreaUzed or unrecognized. If we can use the remembered quality of the
thing of the quality and character of a moment by listening to the music.
This, as well as using music to express ideas and intent is the essence of the
previously mentioned Doctrine of Ethos and Doctrine of Affections.
past to interpret the quality of our sensation of the present, then we can use
a combination of memory and present sensorial experience to tell us some
thing about the quality of the future. Furthermore, our imagination pos
Generally speaking, you can definitely hear the character of a time
that music was created in. While some may say that this is based solely on the
sesses its own vibratory power, which helps to realize that which is actual,
memory of that time, I would disagree. Even music that is from a time when
while our expectation shapes the quality of what has been realized. But, as
mentioned, the future only lives in our imaginations and expectations, we
I was not actually living carries for me some core essence of that time period.
For sure this music would carry more specific meaning for persons who actu
ally lived during that time and experienced the vibrations. Nevertheless, we
never truly experience the future except in our psyche.
Technically, humans have always used motion to negotiate time.
are all related as a species, and there is some information that carries forth
sage of time, so the ancients learned to systematize and symbolically tran
scribe these natural rhythms. These same principles of motion were used as
from generation to generation. The music from previous times, in particular
if preserved by recordings, carries much of the vibratory essence and qual
68
The rhythm of celestial objects was the obvious choice to describe the pas
69
COLEMAN
R E G A R D I N G T H E S O N I C SYMBOLISM O F W H E N A N D W H E R E
a basis for the rhythmic concepts of much of the world's music, and this is
years and 8 Earth years (note the Fibonacci relationship of 5:8:13). We have
still true today. Our modern ways of keeping time, clocks and calendars,
also noted that the hehocentric opposition of Earth and Venus places the
although not as complex in terms of negotiating time as interlocking cycles,
Earth-Venus Center of Mass (EVCM) near the Sun, closer to the Sun than
are the by-product of the ancient methods of negotiating time. However, in
the planet Mercury. The heliocentric conjunction of Earth and Venus places
ancient times these temporal symbols did not only designate the quantity of
EVCM at its furthest distance from the Sun, between Earth and Venus, but
time; they also represented the quality of time. This could be accomplished
because their dynamic clocks were the natural movements of objects in the
closer to Earth. The distance traveled by EVCM between each alternating
heavens in relation to Earth. The sheer multitude and complexity of these
the heliocentric zodiac. It is important to note that the zodiac location of
cycles and how they related to each other provided an ideal symbolism
EVCM during each Earth-Venus opposition and conjunction is always in
which was used to represent the complexities of human existence. From
the same longitude location as Earth, as any syzygy relationship of Earth
the ancient point of view, first there is the symbolism of the individual
and Venus places EVCM on the Earth side of the Sun.
79. Musaios, p. 96—Musaios refers to
"certain patterns of sound frequencies at
certain times". Here I reference natural
rhythms to mean an integrated astrological/
musical approach using spontaneous and
pre-conceived composition. The philoso
pher's approach to this area of music almost
always involves working with tonality
through manipulating the structures of
tuning systems. In contrast, the musician's
approach, for the most part, is to manipu
late the accepted musical tunings of the
then current era, through actual movements
(i.e., rhythms) of melodic and harmonic
structures. Therefore, the ideas behind
placement, duration and combinations of
pitches, as well as what they symbolize,
are important to the musician for the pur
poses of the practical expression of musical
metaphor. In this respect, the form that the
sonic symbols take are various kinds of
musical motion.
80. "The origins of the tones and music go
far back into antiquity. They are produced
from the measurements of length and
weight; their root is in the Supreme One.
The Supreme One produced the Two
Exemplars (heaven and earth). Two
Exemplars produced yin and yang. Tmand
yang change and transform—one ascends,
the other descends—and coalescing, they
take on shapes. Mixing and blending, they
separate out, only to coalesce again. They
coalesce only to separate out again. This is
called the regularity of heaven...." "Any
form or body occupies a position; all of
them make a sound. Sounds are produced
from harmony. Harmony comes out of
what is fitting. It was by this model of har
mony and what is fining that the early
kings composed music; it developed from
this." —Timing and Rulership in Master
Lii's Spring and Autumn Annals—LUshi
chunqiu Qames D. Sellmann, 2002), pp.
95-96 (quote from Lüshi chunqiu com
plied by LÜ Pu-wei's,c. 2 3 9 BCE)
orbits of the five classical planets, the Moon and
configuration of opposition and conjunction is approximately 288° through
The times when Earth and Venus are not in syzygy relationship
the apparent path of the Sun. Then there were the
reveal an interesting pattern. If we were to trace the movements of EVCM
various relationships between the planetary cycles
over time.
and create a mandala of the shape formed by these movements, it would
Today, knowing the true heliocentric
structure of the solar system—along with more
recent technology—^we can construct symbols
form a five pedal flower. The following diagrams were created by the
program Ephemerides Viewer.»' These zodiac
81. Epheme^s VttwiT(Petr&miSemerad)
charts follow the color symbolism of Elements
http://semi.gurroa.cz/EphView/ accessed
September 9,2009.
mentioned above: Fire = reddish. Earth = brown
that impress upon our minds the various geomet
ish, Air = yellowish, Water = blue-greenish.
ric shapes that represent these complex relation
Six of the snapshots trace the movements of EVCM during the
ships. Similar to the way a beautiful image can
inspire great artistic works, these complex sonic
moments of syzygy between Earth and Venus, over a 4-year period (i.e.,
impressions can, when used in conjunction with
half of the 8-year Earth-Venus cycle), beginning with Figure 10 on July 8,
1904, when Earth is approximately at 16° of the sign of Capricorn (just vis
specific natural rhythm principles, function as a
ible over the glyph for Capricorn) and in opposition to Venus in Cancer.
kind of acoustic acupressure to remove blockages
Mercury can also be seen in Cancer, on the Venus side of the Sun. Although
Jupiter is not shown at this scale, it is at 16° of Aries, in a 90° relationship to
in the psyche that prevent access to the thought
patterns that lead to higher consciousness."
These blockages are produced by imbalances in
the mind, body and spirit. In ancient China, the
systems of thought in the Qin and Han
Dynasties were based on balance and appropriate
timing; even the origins of music itself were
described in terms of descending from Nature,
through timing and balance.»®
We have already seen that the orbits of
Earth and Venus are in a 13:8 resonance, where
Earth-Venus syzygy line.»^
Figure 15 shows the Earth-Venus con-
junction 4 years later on July 6, 1908, when both
planets are in Capricorn (Earth is again just visible over the glyph for
Capricorn). In both Figure 10 and Figure 15 EVCM is at the same degree
of Capricorn as the Earth, however EVCM is closer to Earth in Figure 15,
during the conjunction of Earth and Venus.
Figure 16 shows the position of these planets 8 years later on July
6, 1912, when Earth and Venus are again at the same locations as in Figure
10 on July 8, 1904.
the two planets conjunct five times in 13 Venus
70
82. Here the solar system is viewed from
the north pole of the Sim, so the planets
move counterclockwise in their orbits.
71
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
9.6 months later. Earth and Venus are again in opposition, and the
trace of the trajectory of EVCM again leads in between the two planets, but
closer to the Sun:
07/00/JS04 (ÜTCi
Figure 10. 7/8/1904.
Approximately 9.6 months later, Earth and Venus are in conjunc
tion, and the trace of the trajectory of EVCM can be seen to lead directly in
between these two planets:
02/lS/190fi (VTC)
Figure 12. 2/15/1906.
This process continues for the remainder of the 4-year period, and
the shape of the mandala develops:
.\
1J,
V
V
V
^
/•
«
n
A
o
04/27/190S (OTC)
Figure 11.4/27/1905.
u / o i / i M t itrrci
Figure 13. 12/1/1906.
72
73
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
1».
07/06/1912 19)04:3« klZPlZ (VTC)
Figure 14. 9/15/1907.
Figure 16. 7/6/1912.
As can be expected of Nature, this five-pedal flower
pattern is not
static, but rotates through the zodiac throughout time, giving a kaleido
scopic expression of colors against the movements of the other planets. This
movement progresses in 72° segments that slowly rotate throughout the
zodiac. The relationship of Jupiter against this Earth-Venus cycle adds
another layer to the rhythm. If these cycles remind you somewhat of music,
then you are not alone. Many people have noticed and explored the
Harmony of the Spheres, and in fact I believe this is the historical name used
to reference the mancy of sound.
Musically, it is possible to symbolize the geometrical configura
tions of the planets. For example, we could look at the angular relationship
of Earth-Venus oppositions to the planet Jupiter. There are multiple per
spectives from which we can look at this, each point of view yielding dif
ferent insights. If we make an analogy to the solar system, taking the Sun as
Figure 15. 7/6/1908.
the center and Jupiter as the main counterweight, then symbolically the
interval of a perfect fifth would best represent these two bodies, the most
Skipping ahead, here is what the complete EVCM pattern would
massive objects in the solar system. By association, the function of the gen
look like approximately eight years after our starting opposition. The peri
od of time is 7/8/1904 to 7/6/1912:
erator is represented by the Sun, and Jupiter is symbolized by the dominant.
I use the term generator in the same sense as it is used by composer
and theorist Ernst Levy, as the tone that generates
,
,
the tonal system.^^ Levy's concept is astrological in
74
75
83. /I Theory of Harmony (Ernst Levy,
1985), p. ij.
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
that it is based on laws of tonal gravity that function very similar to univer
Levy calls this point of view absolute conception—as opposed to
sal or absolute gravity, in the solar system and elsewhere in the Universe, in
telluric adaptation, the terrestrial perspective that most musicians have
addition to containing qualitative symbolism. This is a concept of gravity
where objects with mass are being attracted to one another from all sides, as
learned.*'* But there is more involved here
Ibid.
functionally that also simulates astronomical
opposed to the terrestrial perspective of gravity viewed as being generated
gravity. These two triads are not only symmetrical, but both triads gravita-
from the ground. I will explain using a bit of the musical logic:
tionally attract each other. The absolute point of view of tonal gravity must
In terms of function, we start with a melodic realization of this
concept, where we have three tones in a tonic (C), dominant (C') and subdominant (B) relationship (the genesis of the functions in our musical matrix)
be studied to fully understand this.*' The C
Ibid., entire text.
major triad functions as the dominant to the F
minor triad, which is really a negative C major triad. Likewise, the F minor
triad functions as negative dominant to the C major triad. The result is a
pendulum effect around the generator C. Both triads of course have the
C
/\
B
same structure, but are generated in two different directions, positive
(harmonic) and negative (subharmonic). Throughout the history of music,
a
composers—spontaneous and otherwise—have long had knowledge of
Figure 17. Tonic-Subdominant-Dominant.
this approach.
Obviously, in terms of structure this is a symmetrical point of view,
which can then be extended harmonically using the interval of the 5 th, the
foundation of tonality:
but this concept is symmetrical in function as well, and it is extendable to
the entire tonal system. First we can extend to positive (harmonic series
generated upwards) and negative (subharmonic series generated downwards)
dominant 7th chords, approximating partials 1, 5, 3 and 7:
Figure 18. Tonic-Subdominam-Dominant.
Here, the G functionally replaces the
as the dominant, and the
F, as subdominant, replaces the B. The result is the tone C generating an
Figure 20. Dominant 7th chords extended.
upward and downward fifth. We could say that the G and F are orbiting the
generator C. Following the ancient example, we then place positive and
which now gives us two other functions, the major third and the natural or
negative harmonic means between the generator and the two 5ths to arrive
dominant seventh (natural not in terms of accidental, but in terms of its
at two major triads of differing polarity. If we think of the pitch C as the
approximate 7:4 frequency relationship to C. In this example we have two
Sun, then the triads are generated outward from the C as follows:
dominant seventh chords generated upward and downward from C. The
result is C7 on the top and negative C7, more commonly called Fmin6, on
the bottom (the root of the bottom chord is F, not D).
Previously, I stated that Ptolemy and Kepler associated the opposi
tion aspect (180°) with the octave. Although this may be in some ways
geometrically accurate, and geometry was the strength of Ptolemy and
Figure 19. Tonic Triads extended.
Kepler, intuitively and in terms of musical function I find this correspon-
76
77
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
COLEMAN
dence troubling. Functionally, the octave does not exhibit the same qualities
D=Gemini, etc. This is what I call the physiological (physical or outer)
as the opposition. The feeling I get from the octave is virtually identical to
direction. In this direction, the cycle of dominants progresses as descendmg
the unison. However, with the interval of a tritone there is some feeling of
5ths (same as descending semitones):
opposition, yet still a strong relationship in terms of function.
This third and seventh are of course in a tritone relationship, mak
Sun = C and Jupiter = G
ing them ideal to symbolize our opposition of Earth and Venus, relative to
D:A1' (Ear-Ven) = waxing square of Ear and Jup. This is based on
the Sun (generator) and Jupiter (counterbalance or dominant). Astrologically,
BhD:Al' being the dominant and C:G being the tonic, EVCM=Bk
it is the planet Jupiter*' that most represents the
energy of the aspect called a trine (120° angle),
E^:B (Ear-Ven) = opposition of Ear and Jup. This is based on C':E^:B
0/
r
\
o
astrologers also say Venus represents the energy or the trine.
which according to Ptolemy is equal to the
musical interval of a perfect fifth (see the above section on astrology):
0
Figure 21. Dominant 7th chord tritones extended.
It will take a little imagination to visualize this entire dynamic
gamut from a 3-dimensional perspective, with the Sun-Jupiter combination
as the main stabilizing force in our musical solar system, while seeing the
various configurations of pitches as orbiting in relation to the Sun. But with
the aid of various configurations of pitches representing the quadrature
angles, entire constellations of dynamic pitch relationships—in the form of
pitch collections, triads, tetrachords modes, scales, extended chords, etc.—
can orbit around any one particular generator (keep in mind that the Sun
and Jupiter are also in motion around an invisible solar system barycenter).
Continuing with our analogy, imagine that the Sun-Jupiter line
represents the tonic tonality C:G that we are progressing to. And the faster
moving planets, in this case Earth and Venus when in opposition to each
other, symbolize the tritones of the dominants that are progressing to this
tonic tonality (with Earth functioning as the 3rd, Venus functioning as the
7th
and the generator of the dominant chord functioning as the Earth-
Venus Center of Mass, or EVCM).
From the perspective of observing from above the Sun's north pole,
the planets are moving counterclockwise through the zodiac, and the pitch
es are moving upward through the zodiac, with C=Aries, C^Taurus,
78
being the dominant and C:G being the tonic, EVCM=C^.
Gto (Ear-Ven) = waning square of Ear and Jup. This is based on
E:Gto being the dominant and C:G being the tonic, EVCM=E.
B:F (Ear-Ven) = conjunction of Ear and Jup. This is based on G:B:F
being the dominant and C:G being the tonic, EVCM=G.
When the dominant chord is G7 (progressing to C:G), the associa
tions are EVCM=G, Ear=B, Ven=F. So the conjunction is between the gen
erator EVCM and Jupiter. When the dominant is C*7 (progressing to C:G)
then EVCM=C*, Ear=F, Ven=B, so Jup=G is in opposition to EVCM=C*.
EVCM^bI»
is ahead of Jup=G in the zodiac (waxing square, approaching
opposition), and EVCM=E is behind Jup=G in the zodiac (waning
square—approaching conjunction). Of course the Sun and Jupiter can be in
any of the twelve positions in the zodiac, and EVCM:Ear:Ven will have the
same functions with the same relative relationships.
Since there is no up and down in space, we could look at this entire
configuration from the point of view of a different polarity, from the per
spective of observing from beneath the south pole of the Sun. We don t have
to maintain a northern hemisphere bias in space, we are thinking from the
absolute position.*^ From this perspective, the
planets move clockwise through the zodiac, and
the pitches are moving downward through the zodiac, with C=Aries,
B=Taurus, BÍ'=Gemim, etc. This is what I call the psychological (psyche or
inner) direction. In this direction, the cycle of dominants progresses as
ascending 5ths (same as ascending semitones):
Sun = G and Jupiter = C
a I ':D
(Ear-Ven) = conjunction of Ear and Jup. This is based on
79
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
CrA^D being the dominant and G:C being the tonic, EVCM=C.
seventh chords, by viewing tempered approximations of partials 1, 5, 3, 7,
F:B (Ear-Ven) = waxing square of Ear and Jup. This is based on
9, 11,13 and 15 (i.e., reordered harmonic series—odd partials)
A:F:B being the dominant and C:G being the tonic, EVCM=A.
D:Gf (Ear-Ven) = opposition of Ear and Jup. This is based on
F^:D:G# being the dominant and C:G being the tonic, EVCM=F*.
Ckp (Ear-Ven) = waning square of Ear and Jup. This is based on
Ekckp being the dominant and C:G being the tonic, EVCM=Ek
The phase of the aspect, waxing or waning, is always expressed in
Figure 22. Harmonic Series in ßrds (odd partials).
terms of the relationship of EVCM to Jupiter. Remember EVCM is always
on the Earth side of the Sun when Earth and Venus are in syzygy.
I do not mean to imply that these are the only configurations that
exert great influence over our musical solar system, they are by far not all of
and the negative dominant chords (reordered tempered subharmonic series
—odd partials)
the effective configurations. The majority of Earth-Venus oppositions are
not in quadrature relationship with Jupiter. There can be anywhere from
three to six Earth-Venus oppositions which are not in quadrature relation
ship with Jupiter, between every occurrence of Earth-Venus oppositions
which are square or conjunct Jupiter. A musician must also diligently study
these situations, as this is where the merging principle comes into play, and
various non-standard configurations occur which, though unidentified, still
represent powerful functions.
Figure 23. Subharmonic Series in 3rds (odd partials).
This is all based on the heliocentric model of the solar system.**
With this concept, Jupiter is always in a
and finally the entire constellation of pitches together:
5th
relationship to the Sun, and in this system the
Id""''
^
Sun has no sign. It is the Earth that is in a sign.
When Jupiter is in Aries and conjunct Earth, then the Earth is also in Aries.
The geocentric point of view is an illusion, as it represents the situation as
seen from Earth.
Likewise, it could be said that our geocentric (i.e., telluric adapta
tion) musical point of view is an illusion. The absolute conception in music
is the equivalent of the heliocentric reality in astronomy. As with most
astrologers, who are still caught up in the geocentric perspective and refuse
to change, so too have many musicians (but not all) been unable to recog
nize the absolute conception, the musical equivalent of the heliocentric
viewpoint.
Going further, we can view an extended version of the dominant
80
\> ^0^
Figure 24. Harmonic and Subharmonic Series in 3rds (odd partials).
Partials 9,11,13 and 15 are what the composer Hindemith referred
to as the Holy Region. These partials are themselves dominant constella
tions of an opposite polarity to the primary dominant, represented by
partials 1, 5, 3 and 7. Olivier Messiaen called these partials resonances, and
81
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
COLEMAN
referred to the general subject as natural harmony, analogous to natural
can more smoothly slide in different directions. A musician therefore
rhythms, which was also explored by Messiaen. He learned these and other
could study both the general structure of the pathways, possible paths
harmonic techniques from three of his teachers, Jean Gallon, Noel Gallon
that can be taken, and the objects that are responsible for forming the
and Marcel Dupré. Most of the great creative musicians have created their
own terminology for this area of music, as developing your own point of
pathways.
For example, dominant and subdominant trajectories function as the
view is one of the by-products of creativity and self-examination.
possible calculated pathways that can be traveled, with rhythmic cycles
The pitches are colored red and blue to complete the symbolism, as
fulfilling
a similar function. What is less obvious is that the melodies and
red represents the physiological and physical and blue the psychological
rhythms could correlate to the actual choices made during travel, negotiating
and spiritual, as we saw in the previous section on the mancy of colors.
between the objects whose mass is responsible for the creation of the path
Symbolism for characteristics and attributes could be developed for tonal
ways. As mentioned, the Lagrange points are balanced areas of equilibrium,
configurations in much the same way as has traditionally been done in
nodes where changes in direction can be made with minimum energy.
astrology. I will speak more on this later in this section.
Therefore, what is required as our musical analog is that there is balance
Another musical model could be based on gravity forces in the
between whatever two objects we assign as corresponding to pairs of bodies in
solar system. For example, one of the main instruments for measuring the
space, and then define possible equilibrium positions relative to these bodies.
pressure waves that move inside the sun (p-modes) is SOHO (SOlar and
The two pairs of tritone nodes could also represent these Lagrange
Heliospheric Observatory), which is a spacecraft located near the L-1
points. In this case, the tritones are not bodies such as planets; these tritones
Lagrange point, a point of balance about L5 million kilometers towards the
symbolize points orbiting in balanced sync with the planets. As we are
Sun from Earth, where a small body could theoretically remain stationary
concerned with negotiating pathways, our focus is on rhythm and melody.
relative to the Sun and Earth. There are five of these points relative to any
The Lagrange points are not completely stable, as they are acted on
two large bodies orbiting bodies, so in effect there are many of these loca
by centripetal and centrifugal forces. There are many ways to formulate
tions throughout the solar system.
musical correspondences to the ITN:
One possible analogy to the musical matrix is the Interplanetary
Transport Network (ITN), which is "a collection of gravitationally deter
mined pathways through the solar system that require very little energy for
an object to follow. The ITN makes particular use of Lagrange points as
locations where trajectories through space can be redirected using little or
no energy. These points have the peculiar property of allowing objects to
orbit around them, despite the absence of any material object therein."*'
The nodes of the musical matrix function simliar to
Lu^TUTlg^n pOltltSy
11
.
.
in that these are pre.
cisely the points where the change of direction
89. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Interplanetary_Transport_Network
accessed September 9,2009.
\. The tonic of the main dominant corresponds to the centripetal
force, the other tonic a tritone away being symbolic of the cen
trifugal force.
2. The positive dominants represent the centripetal force while the
negative dominants symbolize the centrifugal force.
3. The positive and negative dominants correspond to the cen
tripetal force. The positive and negative subdominants symbol
ize the centrifugal force.
Different logics may serve different symbolic purposes. Like Nature,
is more easily accomplished. An analogy could be made to the ITN, where
there need not be one static approach. The concept that has most perplexed
by a player could engage in musical travel (melodic or rhythmic) from one
modern man's attempt to understand the approach of the ancients was the
location to another using very little energy (i.e., less tension). In musical
circular thinking, the multiplicity of approaches that were used in perfect
terms I call these Invisible Paths, through which one can easily slip from
one tonal location to another. The tonal locations functioning as loci of
harmony with each other.
The Lagrange points could represent the positive and negative
balanced energy are the nodes, through which melodies and harmonies
harmonic means between the tones C:G:C ascending (E-ßl*) and G:C:G
82
83
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
COLEMAN
descending (EI'-A) respectively. This idea is based on the musical gravity of
the two objects C and G. Depending on how they are functioning, their
respective gravitation attraction are not equal.
In this concept, the Lagrangian points are the equilibrium points
Bmaj7 D7 Gmaj7 hh El'maj7
This is basically composed of ahernating static and dynamic struc
tures, respectively. Functionally, if we remove the quadrature angles, this pro
gression is the same as a descending cycle of 5ths (or descending semitones)
within the constellation of dominants. They are the points where a musician
could either pivot within a path (using a minimal amount of energy), or
Bmaj7 B7 Emaj7
E7
Amaj7
continue on and be pulled in the direction of a particular musical mass.
Bmaj7 B7 Bl'maj7 BÌ'7 Amaj7
Using musical correspondence number 3 above, a pull in the dominant
where the A/D^ and D/G^ tritones (2nd and 4th chords) have the function of
direction means being attracted by the gravitation pull of tonics (centripetal
the Lagrange points, and act as pivot points for the changes in direction.
motion). Escape velocity is required to move in the centrifugal direction,
However, in the same locations, C/I^ and F/B—^which are at quadrature angles
and this requires more energy, and musical cunning.
to the previous tritones—^would have functioned in essentially the same way.
The results of these movements are similar to the result achieved by
Nature, a kaleidoscopic assortment of energy, color, and polarity that
Bmaj7 Amin6 Emaj7
influences the movement of the passions of the soul. This arrangement of
Bmaj7 E^'minó Bl'maj7 Dmin6 Amaj7
Dmin6 Amaj7
colors and moods is reflected in music, from simple to more complex pro
There are many variations. For example, we could extend the num
gressions, all determined by the needs and purposes of the musician. Here
ber of Lagrange points while still serving the same functions, but traveling
is a very simple extemporization based on the last four measures of the song
along very different paths (e.g., colors) that lead to the same destination.
Cherokee, where the descending tritone pairs E-B^ and E^'-A are presented
in alternate opposition containments:
Bmaj7 Amin6 Gmin6 Bmin6 El'maj7
AWnó Cmin6 Emin6
Bmin6 El'maj7
And this is just assuming that we keep the harmonic rhythm the
same, and of course the timing can be changed as well. Here we can use the
analogy of weaving to symbolize this process. Weaving, in ancient Egyptian
Figure 25. Cherokee last four measures.
culture, was symbolic of the act of creation. The Egyptian neter Neit sym
bolizes, among other things, the creative function of weaving, e.g., the
I will present a few more complex examples below. I would like to
drawing together the spiritual essence and instinctual functions (while the
state that, though this example is simple and may be familiar to many in the
Memphite neter Khnum, the divine potter, apportions and allocates
form of another concept, what I am discussing here is not about playing on
instincts to physical forms of life). The weaving deity Neit also symbolizes
top of a particular chord. Although there is clearly some overlap between
the idea of weft and warp, the invisible Matrix of the world (analogous to
these approaches, the concept discussed here is about the pathway that will
the musical matrix). Even the name Neit means to weave or to knit. There
lead gravitationally to the desired destination.
is also symbolism relating to the weaving of the cocoon, which symbolizes
What makes the above example simple is that it does not take full
rebirth, regeneration and spiritual transformation. In many West African
advantage of the quadrature relationships. Coltrane's composition Giant
cultures weaving was symbolic of the act of creation; this was true among
Steps is a perfect example of these kind of pathways, only because in its orig
the Dogon, for example. There have been many connections made between
inal form it already contains alternate dominant-tonic pathways. The orig
the ancient Egyptian and Dogon cultures, both in terms of symbolism and
inal opening progression is as follows:
in terms of the speculated migration routes of the people of ancient Egypt
after that culture's dissolution.
84
85
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
COLEMAN
Moving on to the temporal realm, for many years I have been work
ing with musical expressions of what can be called natural rhythms, where I
not only imagine dynamic rhythmic structures that in many ways imitate the
motion of our solar system, but also attempt to emulate the symbolic ener
gies associated with these structures. Here is a graphic representation, recre
ated by computer programmer/musician Takahiko Suzuki, of a composition
of mine called Wheel of Nature."^ The graphic
represents the rhythms and rhythmic time span
relationships in my composition, which are
symbolized as objects orbiting counterclock
90. Suzuki's work was inspired by a graphic
created by Benoit Black and programmed
by François Reme, which in turn was also
inspired by and represents the composi
tion Wheel of Nature.
wise around a shared barycenter. The graphics
below are frozen shots of the animation that Takahiko programmed. Each
Figure 29. Wheel of Nature—Rotation 10.
Figure 28. Wheel of N<i£«re—Rotation 2.
graphic represents the moment in the cycle where the bass is returning to its
original position, called a return in astrology.
The red objects on the red inner circle represent the movement of the
bass, the green orbit and objects represent the clave, while the blue and white
orbits represent the path of the bass drum and snare drum hits respectively.
The resulting charts of sixteen rotations are symmetrically related in pairs.
Each one of these configurations is a static symbol, each an orb in a dynamic
process, representing the movements just before and after the frozen moment
represented by each symbol. Even though there is a lot of time between each
rotation, these symbols represent what all symbols of movement represent,
discrete increments that represent states within a continuum:
Figure 31. Wheelof Nature—Kaution 11.
Figure 30. Wheel of Nature—Rotation 3.
Figure 27. Wheel of Nature—Rotation 9.
Figure 26. Wheel of Nature—Rotation 1.
Figure 33. Wheel of Nature—Kaution 12.
Figure 32. Wheel of Nature—Kounon 4.
86
87
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
COLEMAN
1^^
Figure 34. Wheel of Nature—Rotation 5.
Figure 35. Wheel of Nature—Rotation 13.
Figure 40. Wheel of Nature—Rotation 8.
Figure 41. Wheel of Nature—Rotation 16.
while it is possible to analyze the rhythmic sentences in a manner
similar to that developed by Ghanaian scholar Willie Anku,'^ it is also
possible to interpret the symbolic form of these
figures in a similar approach as is utilized with
astrology, geomancy, numerology and other divinatory practices.'^ This could be done through
the use of correlative thought, by corresponding
the configuration of the musical structures with
philosophical principles, and associating the
musical geometry with the laws of nature.
The art of corresponding moving geome
Figure 36. Wheel of Nature—Rotation 6.
Figure 37. Wheel of Nature—Rotation 14.
try with philosophical ideas is well established
within the discipline of astrology. Those who
91. Structural Set Analysis of African M usic:
i-Adowa, i-Bawa. (Willie Anku-Legon
Ghana).
92. These figures have somewhat of a
geomantic appearance. Geomancy is a
divinatory system that uses markings on
the ground of patterns of soil, rocks, sand,
lines or figures. Both Ifa (West Africa) and
the I Ching (China) are forms of geoman
cy. Numerology is an esoteric system based
on the occultstudy of numbers, their mean
ings and their influence on human affairs;
it is frequently used in divination. The
general principle is that symbolized in the
numerical value of a thing's name can be
found an idea related to that name's essence
or essential force.
study these arcane matters describe in symbolism
the character of geometric angles, based upon the division of the circle. In
general terms, the circle divided by 2, 4 or 8, produces angles of 45 , 90 ,
135°, 180°, 225°, 270° and 315°, representing a kind of stress or tension. The
division of the circle by 3 or 6 produces angles of 60°, 120°, 240° and 300°
(not including the 180° opposition), symbolizing more of an equilibrium
that implies a flow of energy with a minimum of resistance.
Though we identify cyclic relationships of
planets using the aspects formed during their
orbital periods, the truth is that most of the time
these relationships are in a state of becoming, a
Figure 38. Wheel of Nature—Rotation 7.
Figure 39. Wheel of Nature—Rotation 15.
88
constant state of applying and separating.'^ The
89
93. When the distance between two plan
ets in aspect is narrowing towards an exact
aspect, the aspect is said to be an applying
aspect. When the distance between two
planets in aspect is widening away from
the exact, it is said to be a separating aspect.
htlp://www.djay.com/astrol/ap_ 12.html
accessed September 9, 2009.
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
harmonic state is mostly an ideal in our minds,
II:
94. This is related to the concept of seeking,
the idea that Nature is constantly seeking
conditions of equilibrium. However, this
is a fluid principle, as once a state of equi
librium has been reached it is immediately
counterbalanced by other conditions, caus
ing the seeking to begin anew. This is a
constant process which can be observed
everywhere in nature, including in the
motions of the planets in the solar system.
This was also a concept used in music
where, theoretically, imperfect intervals
and rhythms were thought to seek perfect
intervals and rhythms. In practice, I believe
that the music of J.S. Bach, John Coltrane
and others in part attempted to reflect
Nature, in thesense that the seeking process
is continually renewed, therefore producing
what appears to be varying degrees of ten
sion referencing moments equilibrium.
and in any case the exact harmonic state is the
briefest of moments. If music is to be a reflection
of the methods used by Nature, it should spend
the vast majority of its time in this dynamic state
of becoming, in various degrees of what could be
called tension, with only brief references to is?^
Still, it is through quantizing that the human
mind most quickly comes to terms with Nature.
So, it may be instructive to start with fixed posi
tions and angles as yardsticks or landmarks, in
order to keep one's bearings.
Most modern notation is based on a
95. The bass cycle is shorter than the clave,
so I think of the two bass repetidons as being
one cycle. In other words, the bass and clave
together are one rhythm, the length of which
is equal to the length of the clave.
linear concept; this is the approach of the dom
inant cultures today. Therefore, it is much easier
for people trained from this perspective to grasp
96. The keywords listed after rhythmic
patterns A through H, are paraphrased
from Full-Phase Book (Michael Erlewine),
e-book, pp. 40-^0.
the circular diagrams above if they are notated
in a linear fashion. Since the harmonic relation
ship of the clave and the bass is 1:2 (clave = 1,
bass = 2), I will only describe the relationship of the clave to the drums.
The clave of Wheel of Nature could be notated as follows:'^
II:*
X
X
X
X
of die cycle, every symbol written is one tick on the time scale, including "a"):
X _ x
X x x _ X
X _ _ X _ _ : I I
If we combine the cycles of the clave and the drums, then we
get the following patterns, when notated usmg the linear approach:
II'*
*
*
II-
a X x x _ X
X
*
x _ : l l = clave
X _ x
X
aXxx_X
X_:ll = drums D
(waxing sesquiquadrate—135°—adjustment)
II; X
X x x _ X
X
X
:ll = drums E
(opposition—180°—full experience)
l l : a X x x _ X
X _ x
X x x : l l = drumsF
(waning sesquiquadrate—225°—facilitate, adapting)
II: _ X
•
X
X
a : X x x _ X
;ll = d r u m s G
(waning square—270°—objectivity, beyond manifestation, metaphysical)
II:
X _ x
X x x _ X
X_:ll = drumsH
(waning semisquare—315°—preparation for closure)
W: _ X
^ X X X _ X
X _ X
:ll = drums A
(conjunction—0°—seed impulse or new start)
;ll = drums A
(conjunction, same as top, but with the second beat sounding)
When considering rhythmic cycles, the shorter cycle always deter
mines the phase of the angle. The angle is waxing when the shorter cycle is
ahead of the longer cycle, and moving towards opposition. The angle is
waning when the shorter cycle is behind the longer cycle, and moving
towards conjunction. Because of the rhythms involved, it is difficult to tell
when one cycle is ahead of another, so it is best to think of waxing as grow
ing and moving towards opposition. Then waning means shrinking and
moving towards conjunction.'^
x_:ll
The drums would then be notated (X = bass drum, x = snare, "a" = start
l l : 2 ^ X x x _ X
X
In Wheel of Nature it is the clave, in rela
97. See note 20.
tion to the drums, that determines the nature of the angle. One way of know
ing that you are coming to the opposition is that the two short hits of the
clave (the hits separated only by one tick) hit together with the bass drum
then the snare drum (just before you come into opposition). This point is a
kind of resolution, a point where balance is temporarily achieved through
rhythmic voice-leading. Similar to tonal harmony, rhythmic harmony
occurs around the points of simplest proportions, e.g., 1:1, 2:1, etc. In this
case, the moments near the conjunction and opposition are the most har
monious, with the square angles being the next harmonious relationships.
Other than conjunction and opposition, the angles listed above
l l : _ X x x _ X
X
X
& X x x : l l = drums B
(waxing semisquare—45°—overcome resistance)
II: - X_
X _ x
X x x _ X
(waxing square—90°—initial manifestation)
90
(square, semisquare, sesquiquadrate) are called 8th harmonic aspects (the
circle divided by 8), and these angles represent a series of rhythmic mid
:ll = drums C
points. The opposition is the midpoint between two conjunctions; the
square is a midpoint between the conjunction and the opposition; the semi91
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
square is a midpoint between the conjunction and the square; and the
by looking at the configurations of clouds, feeUng the wind and humidity,
sesquiquadrate is a midpoint between the square and the opposition. It is all
and in ancient times watching the reactions of animals. We know that a
about balance, a principle that is innate to Nature. The 8th harmonic aspects
storm is coming because of the many times an actual storm followed simi
symboHze some kind of challenge, tension and action, while the 6th har
lar combinations of conditions. This intuition is based on the memory of
the experience.
monic aspects (sextiles and trines) symbolize physical growth, harmonious
flow of energy and rest.
For centuries, humans have paid homage to Nature by creating in
If you stare at Figures 26 through 41 long enough, using them in
Nature's image and according to what is perceived to be the laws of Nature.
the way one would use yantras, you will see patterns emerge, symmetries
Many use the ancient maxim "as above, so below" to illustrate the connect
that can be used to balance and focus the mental faculties (thought, memo
edness between principles governing the cosmic world and the natural
ry, perception, imagination, consciousness, intuition, emotion, etc.).
world (on Earth), otherwise known as the macrocosm and microcosm,
Rhythms that cycle at different time spans have a quality that is similar to
respectively. However, care must be taken with these analogies, for even
what occurs during the relationships of planetary cycles. It is even possible
though the same universal principles may be at work, a different attitude
to construct a rhythm that has the illusion of moving faster at certain points
is required to approach the various realms. Therefore, in the spirit of Sokar,
of its cycle, similar to the eccentric orbit of Pluto. The esoterically inclined
we need to adjust our orientation when making correspondences between
could study the effects of such combinations and apply symboHsm much in
the laws of Nature and the laws of humans."
the way that astrologers have done. The main difference between the musi
This is the meaning behind the second part of
cal realization and the astrological perspective is the temporal spans
the maxim "as above, so below, yet after another
involved. With astrology, these aspects have an effect over time period of
manner."'^
hours, days, months and even years; with rhythms, however, the effect is
Musicians can use this same approach
measured in minutes and hours. This is similar to the difference in the vibra
to transcribe the quality and characteristic of time
tions of pitches over periods of time measured in seconds versus rhythmic
cycles measured in minutes.
into music. This is not something that you just
create out of thin air, it is also based on experi
98. According to Peter Tompkins and
Livio Stecchini, in Old Kingdom Egypt,
Sokar v/zs the god of orientatioi^ see Secrets
of the Great Pyramid (Peter Tompkinswith
appendix by Livio Stecchini), pp. i8i, 297.
99. The Astrology of Local Space (Michael
Erlewine), e-book, pp. 71-73. Also, in a
personal communication Erlewine stressed
to me the importance of the second half
of this phrase "yet after another manner,"
in his description of the different perspec
tives that were necessary in consideration
of the various astrological coordinate sys
tems, or as he referred to them; wheels
within wheels.
In the development of the art of astrology, the practice of associat
ences, the memory of the events and effects
ing effects with geometric configurations was developed from centuries of
that occurred during particular arrangements of
experience and observation, primarily based on the memory of which
dynamic pitch and rhythm configurations. This
events occurred during particular celestial formations. This knowledge was
knowledge is also recorded and passed down to future generations, who
recorded and passed down to future generations, who then added their own
then add their own observations based on their experiences. Like Kepler,
empirical observations. Even if the actual physical cause of characteristics—
we may not always know the reasons why some configurations and move
correlated with a certain celestial formation—^was not known, it was accept
ments have the effect that they do, but lack of specific knowledge should
ed that there was a connection, and usually the actual cause was attributed
not prevent us from using the information, although we should always
to the intervention of a supernatural being or god. Humans still do this in
current times.
strive to learn more about the mechanics of our craft. Everyday we use
For example, Johannes Kepler, in disagreement with his contempo
In the section on astrology there was a description of a tonal
rary Galileo, knew from observations that there was a connection between
system that has some analogies to the solar system. Also discussed was the
the phases of the Moon and the tides on Earth, even though the explanation
importance of syzygy and quadrature relationship« among the planets,
machines whose mechanics we have Httle knowledge of.
of the cause had to wait until the theories of Isaac Newton. We even do this
which lead to a demonstration of the 90° dial and its relationship to the
intuitively; we learn the feeling of when there is about to be a bad storm just
musical matrix. Earlier in the present section we discussed the musical and
92
93
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
COLEMAN
symbolic significance of quadrature relationships in regards to melody, har
It is mostly a matter of the musician being able to shift perspective to imag
mony and rhythm, giving some examples as well.'°° It is clear that these
ine these points of views (the Sokar principle):
angles appear to hold some cosmic significance
(effects on the Sun, and the resultant influence on
the solar system and on human affairs), and they
also appear to affect humans psychically and
emotionally. This may be because natural princi
ples of dynamic symmetry may produce very
strong effects on organic and inorganic matter, as
well as on a variety of non-physical phenomena,
100. Among the topics discussed were
Earth-Venus oppositions and conjunc
tions in quadrature relationships with
Jupiter (their effect on solar tidal forcing
and also some analogies to music), the
Interplanetary Transport Network^ Coltrane's
Giant StepSy and the composition Wheel
of Nature.
101. These non-physical phenomena include
as yet undiscovered types of energy, feel
ings, thoughts, behavior, metaphysical
phenomena» etc.
about which we know very litde.'°'
Regarding the musical transcription of temporal characteristics,
similar dynamic symmetry techniques could be utilized to derive melodic,
Figure 43. Musical Psychic Effect 2.
harmonic and rhythmic formations that, by analogy, could function in com
parable ways. These tonal configurations tend to function in ways that not
Again, it is not necessary to experience this in physical form, no
only color music, but also produce psychic effects and changes in perspec
more than we have direct experience of Jupiter orbiting the Sun. It was
tive that can be disorienting:
through deduction that humans arrived at the hehocentric point of view of
our solar system, confirmed by subsequent experiments. We can do the
same with music; the melodic expression can be some combination of the
exact balancing of the melodic tones (i.e., exact melodic symmetry) and an
approximate balancing of tones (e.g., following Nature s method of using
elliptical orbits). Here we show this technique using rhythm changes in
as our template:
Figure 42. Musical Psychic Effect I.
The Moon orbits the Earth while other moons orbit other planets,
as these planets orbit the Sun. So it is with melody, where we can have tones
orbit other tones, which then can be seen to orbit in groups around pivotal
pitch collections. The balance of melodies (melodic symmetry, contrary and
obUque motion, etc.) has been practiced for centuries in music, and was dis
cussed in ancient times. It is basically theory derived from the proximity of
tones to others, the movement of tones, and how pitches are perceived to
attract and repel each other in a local environment, that is, local in pitch
space and local in time. In this sense, melodies can also be seen from the per
Figure 44. Effect 3 on Rhythm Changes.
spective of absolute tonal gravity, analogous to how the solar system works.
94
95
COLEMAN
REGARDING THE SONIC SYMBOLISM OF WHEN AND WHERE
The accidentals are intentional, giving a clue for those interested to
music as a symbolic language to communicate ideas of a metaphysical
decode the Invisible Paths. The astronomical concept that we could use as
nature, particularly by the use of analogy to the laws of Nature. However,
an analogy is that of the ITN (Interplanetary Transport Network). With
there is more to this than the symboUc representation of qualities of space
spontaneous composition, there is a certain amount of calculation done
and time, through the use of sound, shapes, color and their movements. A
beforehand, and a certain amount that is spontaneous. We need to internal
musician can slowly develop another kind of sensibility that allows for see
ize fundamental functions if we want to increase the percentage of sponta
ing things from different perspectives. Better yet, when a musician can alone
neous creations. The development of our memory of shapes, sounds and
(without the aid of a band) physically express the harmonic relationships of
touch is extremely helpful towards accomphshing this.
tones and movement (rhythm) that were previously beyond reach, there is
Memory is important for musicians. The major types of memory
a certain kind of joy in the way the internal passions move as a result of the
are visual (relating to the sense of sight), audile (relating to the sense of
changing relationships. I believe that when you learn something new, a
sound), motile (mental imagery relating to moving and motion)—along
reordering goes on inside the psyche, new neurons are generated and new
with the lesser used gustatory (relating to the sense of taste), olfactory (relat-
neural pathways are constructed within the mind in unfamiliar configura
ing to the sense of smell) and tactile (related to the sense of touch). To these
tions that somehow reflect the relationships being internahzed. The result is
physical senses I would add the memory of emotional and spiritual impres
that, slowly, you become a different person. And it is possible that listeners
sions. Developing and refining the senses and memory aids a spontaneous
who are psychically, intellectually, emotionally or spiritually in proximity
composer in expressing a particular quality of a moment.
to the same vibrations may also have something of a revelatory experience.
I have experienced this time and again, and I know others who have as well.
Conclusion
In fact, it was listening to the music of past masters that led me in this direc
Much of human activity has been devoted to the concept of balance. The
tion in the first place.
ancient Egyptians saw the neter Ma'at as representing the principle of bal
In ancient Greece there were three styles of rhythmic composition,
ance, which they equated with truth, order, law, morality and justice. Their
and three styles of melodic composition that balanced each other: contract
entire civiHzation was based on the principles of timing, placement and
ing {"through which we move the painful passions"), expanding (^through
being in balance with Nature. The concept of balance was also of vital
which we awaken the spirit") and soothing {"through which we bring
importance for the civilization of the ancient Chinese, who saw the universe
the soul round to quietude").The use of
as consisting of forces of dynamic equilibrium called yin and yang, comple
mentary opposites that exist inside of a larger whole. For example, the prin
102. Strunk, Treitler, p. 65 (Aristides) and
p. 45 (Cleonides).
103. Strunk, Treitler, p. 65 (Aristides).
ciples behind acupuncture are designed to bnng the body's energy into a
thesc styles gave the composition in qucstion
,
.
Its characteristic ethos.This was the basic
1
1 •
1
•
•
•
approach used in many other ancient societies.
This reminds me of a conversation that I had
state of balance between yin and yang.
Balance, placement and timing are also very important for music,
with saxophonist Sonny Rollins. He told me that there are only two types
being fundamental to the temporal and tuning systems of world cultures.
of music, that which expands consciousness and that which contracts it.
Rhythmic, melodic and harmonic concepts are born out of these ideas,
Sonny also said that much of what a person hears everyday acts to contract,
examples being the development of the rhythmic and melodic modes, coun
but that he wants to be a part of that tradition that performs music that
terpoint and the concept of the triad. For example, dual and triple qualities
act as counterpoise to each other in music, and this is also reflected in
expands consciousness.^'^ This statement elo104. Sonny Rollins (personal communications, C.2001).
1
1
•
quently sums up the entire paper.
ancient myths, religions and philosophies. Various symbolic languages have
been created to express these forces of dynamic equilibrium.
In this article, I have given examples of various approaches to using
96
Many thanks to Patricia Magalhaes for the invaluable help in proofreading and editing this essay. However
unclear my presentation appears, it would have been a lot worse without Patricia's help!
97
CHAPTER
4
WHEN I SAW KOSUGI GET INTO A LARGE DUFFLE-BAG WITH HIS GUITAR
when does ecstasy kick in? When do we leave for Ain Sof?
Christian Wolff had already intuited it: take some sticks, take some
WHEN I SAW KOSUGI GET INTO A
LARGE DUFFLE'BAG WITH HIS GUITAR
stones; just as the Aborigines have done for millennia, incorporate these
ALVIN CURRAN
to cue another player to imitate, ignore, follow, or simply play nothing,
humble instruments into your life, your soul, divine your "song-lines" with
them, chant with them, move, dance, step into time, step out of time, nod
maybe a long tone; hold your breath, hyperventilate, walk through walls,
disappear. My first memory of Stones was a '60s performance by Cornelius
Cardew and friends at the old Roundhouse in London; exquisite simplicity
get into a large duffle-bag with his guitar, have himself
focused on these utterly ubiquitous humble rocks found on any unexploit-
zipped up and start his rolling across the floor of John Phetteplace's living
ed surface of our planet. Volcanic vomit, geodes, crystals, compressed
room, overlooking Hadrian s magnificent Pantheon in the heart of old-
sea-life, prehistoric animal behavior, lithophones, bang, scratch, tap, slug,
WhenlsawKosugi
Rome, I thought, who is this meschuganah Houdini, this Zen Dadaist, this
rub smash pound stones. Rzewski's glass plate (in the shape of a piano),
Fluxus Troubadour. In truth, I really don't remember what I thought
contact-amplified, screeched with plastic scratchers, buzzed with a sex-
because in the late 1960s all this avantguard behavior of going-nowhere in
vibrator, drummed with the fingers like a dumbeg, struck with soft mallets,
snail-like pathological concentration, was not only new to me, but as
comes from the same Instrumentarium. Annea Lockwood heaved old TV
attractive and beguiling as it was distressing. Is this the new music-theater?
monitors in the midst of her divine glass installation in London's Middle
The future weather of music composition? Who needs it? What am I get
Earth, later she took whole rivers and re-tuned them, renamed them in
ting into? Will he come out alive? Today, I ask only: how close can you
sound. Robert Ashley came from Dust, got up and howled like a wolf with
get to the sound you make, how intimately fused? In performance, how
shades on; Joan Jonas took a mirror and viewed every part of her naked
invisible can your body and instrument become? And how long can you
body in silence as she moved adagio in quasi dance stasis in a Borromini
fly like this, unseen?
Chapel; Meredith Monk enchanted us with nina-nanas sung over the edge
Kosugi rolled a tempo d'avanguardia slowly, unevenly and inex
of her tuned brandy-glass. Lucier sat in a room (wall to wall carpeted) and
orably for some thirty esoteric minutes until the 21' path between the
captured its resonant breath; Maryanne Amacher magically moved the
spectators ended. All we heard was a muffled succession of shwooshes,
sound of the room around your head, making you look behind you to find
vroomps, thumps, plinks, crunches and rhetorical chance-induced silences,
the hidden speakers—there weren't any. Joan La Barbara sang in seemless
made by his small body in contact with the guitar casing, strings and his
looped circles while breathing in as well as out. Teitelbaum went straight
body bag of ritual performance-art. The floor, the clothes, the bag, the body,
into the brain without surgery to extract its tricky Alpha waves; Pauline O
the guitar, the air, the space, the audience, all suffocatingly enclosed, all
went into caves or resonant abandoned wells and got people to sing the
rolling in the dark, all sounding. Kosugi kidnapped us, zipped us all in there
space, play the space, become the space. Chiari, when tired of standing still
with him, blind, cramped, aleatorie, meschugah, claustrophobic, sounding.
before a piano keyboard, let gravity determine when he would fall on it.
Who dared stand apart objectively, and simply watch wait and listen unruffled?
Cage went straight to the hothouse and made the amplified cactus plant his
We were not only a transfigured part of the artist's mimetic act, but our
orchestra. Diamanda, wielding steak knives, spit menstrual blood into the
selves bag-people, turning over in the preposterous fetal action with him.
public's face through two mics. MEV attempted to liberate whole audiences
Where he went, we went, what he unintentionally plucked, we plucked...
by inviting them into the music—de facto making them the music; police
Admittedly, nothing new in Absurdity; but where does the theatrical ritual.
and fire departments were often called in.
Art's big ego, and all the mumbo-jumbo end and the transcendence begin?
98
These were no mean times, those cambrian '70s, they were experi99
CURRAN
WHEN I SAW KOSUGI GET INTO A LARGE DUFFLE-BAG WITH HIS GUITAR
mental. Nothing was downloadable, it was already there—^you just had to
human activity which provides (without any guarantee) that by becoming
find it. So everyone was searching for every imaginable audible vibration,
sound we can and do momentarily disappear into an un-nameable space of
every concept and sounding object; everyone it seemed was poised for a dis
ecstatic potential.
covery, nay, a reconfirmation, that any sounding experience can be a simple
Is it after all a big leap if we sail from Hildegard von Bingen's fiery
means of transport out of our commonly shared reality. Any musician
monophonies to Beethoven's late string quartets and piano sonatas, Scriabin,
worth their chord-changes knows this anyway. This is essentially what all
Busoni, Sorabji, Sousa to Webern, Ellington, Billie Holiday, Pranath,
music is, a universal system of transport, which in special conditions enables
Thelonius, Coltrane, Cecil, La Monte Young, Branca, Braxton, Riley, Partch,
both the players and the listeners to momentarily disappear—step out of
Palestine, Evan Parker, Messaien, Zorn, Carter, Um Kalsum, Xenakis, Ligeti,
quantifiable time and space, simply by becoming the sound they are mak
the Dagar Brothers, Gubaidulina, Amacher, the Mevlevi, Jonathan Harvey,
ing and hearing, sharing.
Ustvolskaia, Karlheinz, Scelsi, Nono, and Feldman?... what links them but
Once during a student occupation of the National Theater Academy
for their singular concentration of sonic energy and their means to construct,
m Rome, I asked 150 students to lie on the floor, and start to quietly gurgle
focus and release it. And while they may appear here as just a few names
their vocal cords on the lowest possible frequencies. This ended ninety min
dropped out of my own hat, they've all given me repeated free rides out
utes later with all of them wailing, howhng, singing a spontaneous Living
space and time. But the mystical experience is not just limited to these
Theatre Oratorio no one could have foreseen; the whole room seemed to
well known artists and their inimitable diverse musics—many of whom
levitate in an amalgam of renaissance architecture, walls of sound, ceilings
consciously, willfully inhabit these "altered states" obsessed with artistic
of robed muses, floor dirt, unclassified mold, human breath, saliva and
carefree student sweat.
fervor, spiritual imaginings and verifiable magnetism. It can happen just
These sonic fireballs
walking down the street, driving a car, having an orgasm, dreaming.
were common in MEV music where the
There is no question in my mind that as professional musicians, we
primitive means of amphfication and the raw ground beef of oscillator gas,
fill a societal role not unlike that of dedicated spiritual and religious leaders.
screaming reed mash, thwanging bedspring booms rocking the pavements
While the latter—using only the spoken or sung word—may guide their
in the lowest Hz cellars, made the art of spontaneous collective music-mak-
hsteners to predictably desired places, the musicians guide their listeners
ing, the art of becoming music itself. True, the symphonists, as the Tibetan
through pure sound of any making, aimed at reaching remarkable but
monks, and the Inuit throat-singers and Uighur Shamans and the Coltranes,
unpredictable states of extreme well being, and they do this clearly without
do this too, but they are a coordinated body agreeing expectedly to play a
any sermons, hype or guarantees of any kind. This is the real musical gift
known and more or less repeatable "score." Free improv, through wÜlful
and gift of music and the only area where the adjective "free" applies—the
mutual trust, hyper-attentive listening and an informal belief in street-
trip is always free.
magic, is the collective creation and realization of a "score" in real time—
Music inspired by the order or disorder of the cosmos or other nat
a fusion of multiple minds and bodies into something no one, yet, has
ural phenomena is evident in anthropological studies... mimesis of this kind
adequately been able to describe. In the early MEV times, states were
arrived at that can not be found on any maps.
can be found particularly in the music of western composers such as Hoist,
Scriabin, Hovahness, Rudhyar, Messaien, Stockhausen, Scelsi, Oliveros,
It is no wonder, that after food and water, music can be the most
Evangelisti; but the real mysticism in our music lies much less in these par
important Hfe sustaining substance, intangible as it is. And if I understand
allels of structural simulacra or in awesome events than in the ordinary
mysticism and its universal potential for social unity and material transcen
experience of human musical perception, where inexplicable sequences and
dence (primarily through sound, I'd say), all of these tales contain some
combination of tones, densities, timbres and durations can simply and
thing of the mystic, the inexplicable, numinous, unknowable. Music—some
momentarily melt away the physical sense of being and leave us for a
kind of socially purposeful resonating of objects and people, is the one
moment egoless in ecstatic nakedness.
100
101
CURRAN
WHEN I SAW KOSUGI GET INTO A LARGE DUFFLE-BAG WITH HIS GUITAR
Since 1945, as in all post cataclysmic times, we have been living—
contemporary species of the mid-'60s, it felt at home in all the
musically speaking—an extended period of mourning and extraordinary
Meteorological quadrants N/S/E/W of our planet and in all time-zones
reconstruction. The world then, as we westerners knew it, was broken.. .the
especially those unmeasurable by science. Mine was a generation of
landscape one of endless death, destruction and rubble. Young musicians
overnight-Utopian-practitioners who imagined they could re-invent the
like Varèse, Cage, Babbitt, Beno, Boulez, Maderna, Nono, Goevaerts,
wheels on their VW buses. SpirituaHty—with a capital S, was in; gurus
Xenakis, Ligeti, Stockhausen, Carter, Nancarrow, Partch—ali honorable
were in every store-front. Everything was "natural, " and from Granóla to
anti-fascists, set themselves the immense task of cleaning up and putting
gamelans, didgeridoos to the Doors, yoghurt to yurts, all alleged to be free
some artistic order and meaning back into the horror-filled streets. Their
tickets to an ecstatic experience.
music assumed the massive psychophysical task of renewal; it let go of
My own work, whether simple monophonies, or wailing-walls of
Beethoven the father, and grasped on to the revolutionary hands of
contrapuntal voices, or solo piano works knitted in sequence for six hours,
Schoenberg and Webern. But even in its muscular determination, expressed
or even harbors full of hocketing ship horns, never consciously sohcits the
often in violent fits of clustered fragmentation and hurled canisters of aton
mystical, but knows intuitively it's out there, and that in certain "atmos
al madness, the music of these new young lions always let rays of transcen
pheric" conditions anything audible may combine to produce the disori
dent lyricism break through the intentional disorder—exuding warmth,
enting but pleasurable sensations of not having a body or a mind that
security and humanity; but these musics with their fresh 12-tone warran
responds to you and your name, and without an identity—no papers—you
tees, imagined themselves momentarily to be like pure science, beyond the
momentarily step out of time into another space; If this is not mystical, it is
fuzziness of human emotion, intuition and spiritual longing. Their basic
indeed very mysterious phenomena.
message remained largely free of religion and sentimentality and humor; it
While I personally have no key or even license to produce these
focused relentlessly on the "never again" mantra, and through years of
states at will, such occurrences are understandably among my most trea
inspired musical destabilization led to a persuasive musical order—a new
sured artistic memories; they might even explain why human beings, who
common practice and universal second language.
by definition are musical animals, may appear in forms of flesh and blood
My generation, born in America, was in fact musically schooled in
and pure sound simultaneously.
this Gesang der Jünglinge Gulag and Second Viennese Concentration camp
(i.e. forced retrograded inverted permutation marches). Here we made
rational music from second-hand bails of barbed wire and buckets of
shards that got dumped willy-nilly on the graves of Bach and Beethoven—
without really knowing anything about where this all came from. We were
in fact all pretending to be mathematicians posing as composers dropping
names like Boole, Bernoulli and Fibonacci to give us street-creds. But by the
end of the 1960s many of us turned in our 12-tone Union Cards for plates
of comforting C major sushi-downtown-style. The minimaHst bombshell
together with the improv s maximal-liberation theology opened an unan
nounced breach into the already volatile contemporary music world, chal
lenging the entire Eurocentric construct.
My own music was born speaking all of the above languages at
once from Dixie to Xenakis, Braxton to Terry and La Monte, the Shted to
the Kitchen. Like a plant with multiple grafts on one stalk—a common
102
103
CHAPTER
5
THE MUSICIAN MYTH AND THE FAILED QUEST
an inviolable inner sanctuary of ascetic purity from a celebration of the
abundant cornucopia of the natural world. In this arena all are continually
THE MUSICIAN MYTH
AND THE FAILED QUEST
forming and dissolving. Nothing is fixed. It is a place of constant metamor
FRANK DENYER
tug of war between gods and demons in an ocean of milk. The hidden
phoses where anything can in a moment become its opposite, a sea of
limitless potential. In the Mahabharata, this primal state is shown as an epic
conflict beneath the ocean's surface is the power that churns the milk and
produces the nectar of immortality, and ultimately all the blessings of civil
isation including language and music. Saraswati, the specific goddess of
imagining new emotional/aesthetic territoriesfor music and attempting to bring
them into existence makes the musician susceptible to very particular, occa
sionally life threatening occupational hazards. It is these that I will attempt
to explore in what follows.
music and self- knowledge, is a river, whose inherent nature is similarly
fluid, and like music, an endlessly flowing source of fertiUty and growth.
Not surprisingly, therefore, the most frequently found symbols
associated with music are intermediaries between this "other" fluid state
It is obvious that music can provide a door to imaginative and
and our dry one, creatures that are at home in two or more different phys
emotional spheres to which there are no more direct routes. At the simplest
ical environments. Water birds for example, like ducks, geese, or herons,
level, music can be a special stimulus for the recovery of distant personal
have strong musical associations in many cultures and it is therefore natur
memories and can thereby bring the dead back to a sort of ephemeral life,
al that swans should embody the Greek Muses, as well as being depicted in
as we can see from even a casual glance at the part music plays in the lives
India at the feet of Saraswati. Amphibian reptiles like snakes, with their
of individuals, or as it appears in poetry and literature. And yet its efficacy
ease of transit through both earth and water, are similarly ubiquitous. We
is not limited to memories of a personal past, for it seems equally effective
might cite the carved snakes that are usually crawling all over Bahnese and
at conjuring up collective pasts as well. We can all testify to music's uncan
Javanese gamelans, or the European serpent, or the nagas of India, the latter
ny ability to articulate the essence of a specific time and place, providing an
imagined as giant serpents beneath the sea guarding a secret treasure and
insight that is different from any gleaned through the written word or
known for their special musical skills.
visual representations. Furthermore, music can face the other way too, and
All such creatures can be seen as helpful guides through whom
like Mephistopheles bring us potent intimations of futures towards which
musicians gain their knowledge of other realms. As musical instruments
we are attracted or repelled by our deepest unformulated instincts—worlds
yet to come.
they become their means of transport. One amphibious reptile, the turtle,
From here it is but one small step to those stranger inner worlds of
Egyptian/Greek story. The Indonesian kaçapi may be a zither but its name
through death and resurrection, became the original lyre according to the
poetry and die imagination that present limidess horizons where aesthetic
and form proclaim it to be a crocodile. True amphibians like frogs and
and moral imperatives are part of an always fluid potential, and where
salamanders, marine mammals like dolphins, fabulous creatures like the
qualities such as insight, dedication, enlightenment, grace, conscience, com
dragon (e.g. Japanese koto) and the phoenix (e.g. Chinese shêng, Japanese
mitment and sacrifice may be intimated, even demanded, but where they
shô) easily fulfill similar symbolic roles. Demi-gods who are not too dis
nevertheless remain permeable. For here there are no inherent divisions
tant from our world can also appear as intermediaries, and therefore they
separating past or remote worlds from our most personal and present
too are known to be the supreme musicians. Yakshas, gandharvas, the
desires; nothing that divides our immediate and pressing social concerns
muses, the choirs of angels around god's throne, angels with harps, angels
from more abstract constructs; or the vaguest intimations of poetry from
with trumpets, even certain bodhisattvas fall into this category, each reveal
the practical real world; or control from chaos; or even the need to protect
ing another facet of the essential but hidden nature of music itself.
104
105
DENYER
THE MUSICIAN MYTH AND THE FAILED QUEST
The human musician becomes the fulcrum for such journeys, a
can be cultivated.
mediator who by definition must be on the brink, poised precariously "in
The Japanese folk story of Hoichi, a blind Heike biwa player, out
between. The critical fault line may be caused by the passing of time, cre
lines this situation with absolute precision. It was collected at the end of the
ating Its ever changing definitions of past and present, the living and the
19th century by Lafcadio Hearn and published by him in 1904.* The story
dead; or it may be between gods and humankind. Both are subsumed by the
was memorably filmed by Masaki Kobayashi as
most important of all, which is the continuous renegotiation of the bound
ary between the known and the unknown. All such boundaries are points
of exquisite instability and psychic danger, essentially not quite here and not
r 1 •
4 rty A
c
Tjr
' 1
p3,rt 01 niS 1964 portmânteâU reâture, K/WUldclTl^
I ' l l
J J J L
1
r
which has the added bonus or an astonishing
L Hearn, Lafcadio; Kwaidan: Stories and
Studies of Strange Things^lokyOjÇhsjXGS
E.Tuttle Company, 1904,9th edition 1971.
r ^ ^7
;r/
sound track by Torn Takemitsu.^
quite there, in the margins, on the strand, at the door, immanent.
Like all Heike biwa players, Hoichi
In folklore travellers at such junctures require special protection,
recites the history of the conflict between the Heike and Taira clans but is
perhaps a sacred image like the crucifix placed at crossroads in Catholic
particularly famed for his re-telling of the battle of Dan-no-ura which took
parts of Europe. Those that would be mediators between worlds, like
place in 1185. One hot summer night, while practising his biwa on the
priests or musicians, often find it necessary to wear special clothes or vest
porch of the remote Buddhist temple where he lives, Hoichi is approached
ments, effective in separating their activities from the mundane world
by the awesome figure of a samurai. (The story does not suggest that
trapped by time and place; or they wear a magic ring, carry a lucky talis
Hoichi's playing is responsible for summoning the samurai but in light of
man, or perform within a clearly demarcated and dedicated precinct, not
later events we might well suspect it.) The samurai orders the bHnd musi
quite in the real world. Despite such precautions musicians are still often
cian to follow him into the night in order to give a performance for certain
destroyed by the very place they seek to inhabit, the place that is the key
to their efficacy.
aristocratic nobles who are visiting the area. Being blind he is unable to
Therefore, Orpheus was sometimes portrayed as a crucified Christ
an élite gathering, and on a formal platform he recites his tale. However,
like figure unifying the powers of the cosmos by the power of harmony, but
what he believes to be a group of courtiers are in reality the ghosts of the
he was also a figure ultimately torn apart by the forces he had himself
unleashed (the Furies).
historical figures from the musical epic he is presenting, and he is not seat
The popular romantic portrayal of the musician as a glamorous
understand where he is being taken but eventually he finds himself before
ed at court but amongst their tombstones in a deserted cemetery.^ The per
formance continues on the subsequent night.
,
maverick lurking on the fringes of society but always curiously transient,
peripatetic, the perennial rebel, reflects some of the elements outUned so
far. However, it is only a partial image, surviving numerous reteUings as it
T>
J 11 •
•
1
*1
The Buddhist priest who presides over
I
I
I
T T • 1 • 1•
1 1 1
the temple where Hoichi lives gradually comes
1
r
1
* 1 1
r
1
is adapted and updated to fit contemporary lives. Artists sometimes col
to know ol these nightly performances and
realises the Immanent danger for the musician.
lude in this but the inherent glamour of such stories masks the reality.
He says to Hoichi:
3. Compare with the Chinese Story given
by van Gulik p. 157 (see footnote 6):
"Another evening w h e n H s i K'ang w a s
playing his lute, there suddenly appeared a
m a n m o r e t h a n t e n feet tall, clad i n black
doik w
Wt-wta H.i
^ 8°''''" "
Anxiety, loneliness, disease or even mental instability and premature death
are frequent concomitants that can hardly be said to represent a fun
lifestyle choice.
At the fault lines between categories," it is easy to confuse past and
present, the living and the remembered, the concrete and the immaterial.
This is an activity that requires an expanded arena and cannot readily flour
ish within too narrow a view of human sentience. In the rational world
precise definitions are necessary to keep things apart so that discrimination
Your wonderful skill in music has indeed brought you into strange trou
ble ... All that you have been imagining was illusion—except the calling of
the dead. By once obeying them, you have placed yourself in their power.
If you obey again, after what has occurred, they will tear you in pieces. But
they would have destroyed you, sooner or later, in any event.
As a magic protection the priest instructs that Hoichi's whole body
be covered with the text of the Heart Sutra {Pragna-Pâramitâ-HrdayaSûtra) which will make him invisible to the dead. Tragically his ears, that
106
107
DENYER
THE MUSICIAN MYTH AND THE FAILED QUEST
most significant part of any musician's body, are completely overlooked, so
ly covered with all kinds of fish. Amongst them was a mermaid. This gave
when the ghostly samurai next appears, all he can see of the musician are
poor Maurice more than he had bargained for. The mermaid, by whisper
these two unprotected ears and his biwa. He rips off Hoichi's ears to take
ing gently into his ear, enticed him and the fish to follow her back beneath
with him in order to show to his lord that he has dutifully fulfilled his task
the waves and he was never heard of again.^
as far as he was able. In conclusion the narrator informs us Hoichi survived
this tale and it made him famous.
In the Bhagavata Purana we read of
Krishna, a musician god, subduing the demon in
Obviously the desire to act as a mediatnx demands knowledge.
7. Croker, Thomas Croften;fa!r5'iegen¿5
and Traditions of the South of Ireland,
London,;. Murray, 1838.
the Yamuna river known to be destroying the
From a carefully chosen position or demarcated precinct the musician
land's fertility and killing the fish. The story says that Krishna first peered
focuses on that other world into whose dark waters his hook has already
into the depths, then plunged in, and an epic underwater fight commenced.
been deliberately dropped. Fishing provides a useful musical metaphor, and
Eventually he re-appeared above the surface performing a fantastic dance of
not surprisingly in folklore and mythology the two are strangely interHnked.
victory on the serpent's head while the music was provided by the waves
Not merely fishing and music, but fishing (or influencing water creatures)
against the shore keeping pace with the beat. Under this relentless pound
through music. Both require unusual degrees of patience and perseverance,
ing the demon Kaliya was overcome. Maybe his divine status allowed him
precise knowledge, expertise with those devices that can facilitate the transi
to succeed where so many human musicians seem to fail. Drowned, made
tion between the two worlds. Both can easily become myopic occupations.
mad, lost in a labyrinth, overcome by forgetfulness, such fates are usually
Here are a few more or less random examples:
ubiquitous for musicians.
The Indian musician Sagga finds himself on a sea voyage as part of
Saraswati was not the only musical deity to be a river. Orpheus too
his quest to find Queen Sussondi, and being a musician, the sailors insist that
had water in his veins through being the son of the river god Oigos and the
he entertain them. Sagga warns that his music may disturb the sea but they
muse Calliope.® It is said that he could divert
don t beHeve this to be more than an excuse. Reluctantly he plays his viña
8. Pindan fragment 126.9.
the coursc of a rivcr by his music as well as
and indeed, it causes the sea to become turbulent and a great sea monster to
being able to charm fish. His image as the
rise up, destroying the ship in which he is travelling and all those on board."
archetypal musician, important as it is, is almost rivalled by his portrayal as
Arion, another lyre playing musician,
some say a student of Oipheus himself, also
Orpheus the Fisher. In the temples that were dedicated to his worship
L"'
there were tanks of sacred fish tended by the priests (sometimes flute
has problems with the crew while travelling
on board a ship. The sailors intend to rob
and kill him but he is saved from drowning
orig.
5. Herodotus:
w.
playing priests).'
Creativity in art is often nothing less than
a lifetime's endeavour. It is a quest whose goals are
LnS.¿ Wa'tLfSr?. ís'
by his music, which attracts a helpful dolphin on whose back he rides to
the shore.®
seldom fully achieved. In this context the motif of failure plays a significant
Shêng Hsün, a 12th century Chinese master of the ch'in, built
Connor, his tragic end verifies the unimpeachable authenticity of his art,
himself a playing pavilion over a stream. One day while performing there,
distinguishing it from feebler simulacra. In other cases the acceptance of
a storm arose and in the middle of the downpour his ch'in changed into a
possible failure is one of the pre-conditions for entering new realms. The
huge red carp. Riding it, Shêng Hsün disappeared into the sky and was
final disillusionment that comes from knowing that despite every effort,
never seen again.^
6. Gulik, Roben van; Lore of the Chinese
¿aie, Tokyo, Sophia University and Charles
E.TuttleCompany Inc., 1940, revised 1969,
pp. 157-158.
rpi
important goals remain unconquered is also very real. In the latter sense I
t • i
Ine irishman Mauricc Connor was a
r
L1-
J
-
role and will repay a little more scrutiny. In a case like that of Maurice
T T
I
.
am reminded of Michaelangelo's words at the end of his life expressing his
lamous blmd piper. He merely played his pipes on
regret at having spent too much time pursuing the chimera of art, or
the seashore and soon every inch was miraculous
Graham's Greene's remark that for a writer, success is only delayed failure.
108
109
DENYER
T H E M U S I C I A N M Y T H A N D T H E FAILED Q U E S T
Significant quests or searches that have ended in failure include
these perennial cultural cycles are infused by the colour of whatever
the search for the flower of immortality, or the comparable hunt for the
MacGuffin collectively grips the consciousness of the time.
dragon s pearl, the search for the fountain of everlasting youth, for Atlantis,
One of the basic articles of faith driving the arts today that has
Shangri-la, Camelot and other lost cities, the experiments to discover the
arisen mainly in western societies during the last two centuries, is the belief
philosophers stone or indeed the whole history of alchemy insofar as gold
that art is in and of itself significant, the bearer of unique truths about life,
was never actually produced even after many centuries of earnest endeav
however difficult these might be to describe. This idea, we might note, took
our. To these we might add the mediaeval quest for the Holy Grail with its
hold during the exact period when formaHsed rehgions were beginning to
promise of renewal and redemption, conducted by the knights of the round
lose theirs. It has been a powerful motivation for artists and those interest
table in a strange world where the real and the fantastical were often impos
ed in the arts. As Morton Feldman remarked: "The truth is, we can do very
sible to disentangle. Such failure is precisely the subject of Robert Bresson's
1974 film, Lancelot du LacP
well without art; what we can't live without is the myth about art".'^
,
,
The film starts with the final return of
. ,
.
the kmghts to King Arthur's court. Meeting at
Robert; Umelot du Uc, film
1974 DVD 2CX38 Artificial Eye.
A MacGuffin is something to which we
aspire. It is coveted, desired and valued for its
.
1
•
1 r
i\
1
mystenous power (however that is denned) and
12. Feldman, Morton; Conversations
Without Stravinsky in Morton Feldman
Essaysy Cologne, Beginner Press, 198 5, p. 61.
the end of their adventures they realise many have died in the pursuit of
must to be won, stolen, possessed or by some
the Grail, but none have actually succeeded in bringing it back. Deeply
means acquired. The Golden Fleece is a good example. It was the overt goal
disillusioned, spiritual malaise engulfs the whole of Arthur's court, further
of Jason and the Argonauts in the most famous mythological quest of all.
exacerbated by the effects of Lancelot and Guinevere's illicit affair. Petty
One of Jason's band of intrepid robber-adventurers was none other than
squabbles break out and the knights plot against each other. The king
Orpheus again (remember Hermes/Mercury was the god of both musicians
seems lost in indecision and can only advise prayer. But the knights' quest
and thieves), and at one crucial point it is his musical skills that save both
is over, their vision spent, nothing can save them. They cling on to their
him and his companions from the Sirens singing.
past beliefs, but eventually all are killed by the ruthless emissaries of a
But let us stay with the musician. The story that makes Orpheus
more modern world that is unconcerned with their archaic visionary aspi
one of the most significant figures in Greek mythology describes how he
rations. The final image shows the knights' dead bodies, still encased in
their armour and piled up like some monstrous
gains access to the realm of the dead, to Hades itself, and does so through
his music that softens the hearts of Pluto and Persephone. They grant his
heap of scrap metal. This story is bleak indeed
11. Truffaut, François;
a^id oirers no alleviating balm.
edition, 1983, p. 138.
Perhaps the grail was never much more
than what Hitchcock caUed "a MacGuffin,'
Alfr«l Hiicheock; -Moh of Kipling's sto-
¡SarirSJl'íJítíí
something that the protagonists believe to be of
Âf;h::is::' btde! M^/rSerwe':
Perhaps, like Hoichi in the Japanese tale and stories of countless
crucial importance but whose actual role is
merely to motivate the plot without havine an
l^^ÄrtftotJaiThT.erZnt
^ fortress. The theft of secret docu-
other musicians since, Orpheus too, ultimately confused the imprinted
J
<*r
11
•
•
t
t
O
intrinsic meaning itself." Is this just too cynical
-
_
..
.
a view ? One thing is clear, sooner or later all
r
^ cr
1• •
,
.
MacLiUrnns, even rehgious ones, lose their
„rr
A
•
•
1
III
eincacy. A reincarnation is demanded that can
hookthesensibilltiesofancwage.Theproducts
and Noughts characterising each revolution of
110
Hitchcocky
New
York, Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, rev.
nients was the original MacGuffin. So the
'MacGuffin' is the term we use to cover all
that sort of thing: to steal plans or documems, or discover a secret, it doesn't matwhat it is. And the logicians are wrong
'Ting to figure out the truth of a
MacGuffin, since it is beside the point.
The only thing that really matters is that
plea that Eurydice, his dead wife, be allowed to follow him back to earth.
However, despite this seeming success and despite some very specific
instructions, his quest too ends in failure when at the last moment he turns
back and looks directly at Eurydice.
memory brought alive through his artistry with the mundane reality of the
material world. For him the shade of the dead was real when viewed
through all the complex reflecting devices, all the mirrors and echoes of art,
but the shade of Eurydice inevitably dissolved back into the darkness when
looked at directly in the cold light of day. This is not a new thought,
because as long ago as the 4th century BC, Plato recorded the opinion of
Phaedrus that Eurydice on her return from Hades was indeed only an
111
DENYER
13. Plato: Symposium, 179,1
THE MUSICIAN MYTH AND THE FAILED QUEST
apparition.» This failure of Orpheus and his later
fate at the hands of the Furies (which certainly
underlined his wider failure), nonetheless led to his separated but still
singing head floating out to sea, and its recovery by the women of Lesbos,
so that It could finally become an oracular source of knowledge. In this
way Orpheus did indeed transcend the world of time, space and death but
in a way he himself never imagined.
Orpheus s confusion is comparable to that which leads sculptors to
fall in love with their own statues. It reveals a chronic inability to distinguish
art from life, or to separate the proclaimed goal, the MacGuffin, from the
deeper ongoing processes of art, which despite their fluid and impossibly
elusive character, remain the real issue at hand. I say "proclaimed goal",
because artists do know the true quarry they stalk (unless they have forgot
ten), one that must remain secret and unspoken.
The work demands that failure or the possibiHty of failure is
embraced in order to proceed, because failure is the Hberating door to the
unknown for which they yearn. ("For art to succeed, its creator must fail,"
in
Monon'Md^ &L>r'cofogn"
Begmner Press, 1985, p. 91.
coming intermittently over his car radio (in the play through an Ouija
board), it is every artist's hope to pick up some such resonance.
In Greek mythology Echo was a nymph who had profound musical
skills, for she had been taught by the Muses. As a supremely gifted musi
cian, she too suffered the typical musician's fate and was finally torn apart.
In her case it was at the hands of Pan, who was driven by frustration because
her beauty was so unattainable. The many parts of her body were scattered
across the whole earth, but by the intervention of the Muses each part, like
all great art, still continues to sing, imitating whoever calls.
She had fallen in love with Narcissus and could have divinely
inspired him except that Narcissus, gazing into the pool, never noticed any
mystery in its depths, so mesmerised was he by his own reflection on the
surface. He escaped the dangers of the artist's pre-occupations for as the seer
Teiresias foretold, he would live to a ripe old age just as long as he never
knew himself. Narcissus didn't so much spurn Echo's love as just fail to
notice it, hearing her voice merely as a pale reflection of his own.
Unhke Narcissus, the aspiring musician, guided always by carefully
said Feldman.") These are entrances to interior
honed instincts that go further than conscious knowledge allows, must look
places for which there is scant vocabulary and can
inevitably make the traveller prone to all manner
past his or her own image, their personal concerns, if they are to gather
of self-delusion.
Complete dedication to such an art will in the long run mould a
very particular sensibility. It may also lead to an acute and unsustainable
vulnerability, a quite fearful fragiHty. Arrogance and egocentricity occasion
ally provide a useful carapace and even if such armour results in ludicrous
self-aggrandisement, it can partially deflect some of the arrows and anxieties
that might otherwise hinder the work. Paradoxically however, it also traps
the individual in a tight self-referential space, seemingly impregnable, but
Hke the armour of the clanking knights in Bresson's film, it gradually
degrades the person. Nonetheless, the knights themselves appear to be
echoes from a more extensive past and from other hidden worlds that lie
beneath. These in turn mask others still farther back, each level clamouring
for a voice. A certain faith is necessary for Echo has no voice of her own but
merely reflects ever darker and more distant resonances from this greater
mystery. She is the mirror that offers secret apertures through which we
might step like Alice or Orphée, into that other mirror world but through
which "the other" may likewise step into ours. No wonder artists often
confuse the two.
It is perhaps surprising that the artist's quest, like Princess Turandot,
remains alluring even when the dangers are known.
unaware that this protective shell has caused their gradual metamorphoses
into dehumanised metal automatons.
If the artist survives the journey, the work itself requires a constant
gaze into the depths of the pool until a line can be cast and the faint echoes
of an unknown presence makes itself felt. T .ikp
Cocteau's Orphée,'^ listening obsessively to the
w
mysterious and incomprehensible messages
112
113
CHAPTER
6
WALLS & LADDERS
WALLS & LADDERS
JEREMY FOGEL
cious Italian porn broadcast in abundance elsewhere & by the delicate
hypnotic voices of the Vatican channel telling the teachings of Jesus in
meditative tones, gracefully accompanied by gentle close ups of Medieval
devotional art, I did not see all of it but I did, by the grace of God, see Elvis
^Qiáorm American Trilogy in 1973 & immediately understood why Elvis is
that he is.
What we're dealing with here are images shot in the Coca-Cola
reality of an oasis of plastic coins, a seeming dungeon for the spirit, where
dressed in white, a golden Phoenix symbolizing rebirth, resurrection & the
The Parable of the Barriers tells of a merciful & magnanimous King who in his
gaining anew of paradise lost on his back, jewels all over him, a white scarf
generosity & grace invites all who yearn his presence to join him in his inner
round his neck which like Tibetan Buddhist holy men he takes off his
court. Many come and climb a first wall & find behmd it great treasures;
mythological shoulders to sanctify audiences with, the legendary red white
sapphires, jewels of silver, cups of gold—attracted by these, many travelers
stallion, a bull of a man, the fat Elvis, the shaman, who had become the
choose to stay, but some do climb over the second wall, and behind it find
silver back of the American tribe, its very own Son of Man, raises, through
even greater riches; diamonds, gold, stock options—^which again many pil
the enumerations of his Gospel singing, his & the audience's awareness to
grims succumb to—only one of them climbs the last wall & enters the
the blessed realization that the realm divine permeates our lower realms
King s inner court. Looking back from within the truly royal realm, this
through & through. Yes, I told myself, yes, this is a religious moment—this
traveling soul realizes all the walls it had climbed, those behind which
is the healer leading the participating audience into a trance—^This is the
treasures had been found, were an illusion. The Baal Shem Tov—amazing,
Tzadik raising his followers to realms supreme by the force of his devo
beloved Jewish mystic of 17th century Eastern European poverty, smiling
tion—^Why are these ladies crying, suddenly, on this mysterious eve in their
m virgm woods & enthusing about absolute unity with God, blazing paths
middle age fulfilled by the American dream, why? Not anymore because of
for each and every poor innkeeper, each and every wandering bum, to walk
the sudden burst of sexual liberation gained by partaking in Elvis' young &
unto realizations divine, an absolutely devoted soul—told this story at the
innocently sensual swashbuckling movements, as Holy as those were, these
climax of every Jewish new year, when the ram's horn is about to blow &
aren't the teenage years of hysteric outbursts to repressed puritan lust—
symbolically create the world. He would tell this parable at this crucial
these are tears of Gospel, of the all encompassing reality of a moment of
moment, I ve let myself be told, to teach his followers that there are no
grace, tears cried in the presence of the divine—a spiritual orgasm too
walls, no barriers, between this world, our world, and the world divine. The
intense for eyes to remain dry—tears cried because Elvis draws his audience
world of light, of mercy, of compassion, of love, the realms supreme can
with him into the inner court and they become engulfed in the ensuing
be realized by us all in the very very here, in the very very now—yes—the
overbearingly powerful sense of beatitude—"O I wish I was in the land of
vision conveyed by the parable of the barriers holds that when one's aware
cotton"—not the cursed ground that generates empires on the broken backs
ness is raised to the realm divine, it becomes apparent that all is it and that
nothing, therefore, is empty of Divine presence.
of slaves—the sweet golden clime where the traveler's journey is done—the
The King
fervently enough & doing so with the right kind of band—Elvis takes his
ultimate Graceland—where the law is Hallelujah & the fact is His work is
marching on, no matter what & who—By praying for that land of cotton
I never understood who Elvis Presley was until I saw, late one night,
towards the end of a long shift as a night watchman in a small hotel in
Rome, an Italian documentary about the king. Being distracted by the lus
audience with him to the inner court & by giving a performance so clearly
within the inner court of the King on high, the king shows that chamber can
exist even in a Las Vegas concert hall & hence also anywhere else.
This is, therefore, a prophetic performance and Elvis here performs
114
115
FOGEL
WALLS & LADDERS
as an ecstatic mythological dragon symbolizing the nation before God—a
are served at this banquet with great generosity—Music would not be as
walking car industry a breathing Empire State Building—the prophet of
readily available to us otherwise.
American obesity in all its senses—Its dearest son crying all the pain of the
civil war & a brutal midlife crisis at the same time—the perfect U.S. Pope in
the Vatican of capitalism
beatitude now
taking a stand in this world for holiness now, for
in this world! Yes, one finds sometimes in music, in magic,
in alchemy, in words, men taking a stand, becoming a human lighthouse in
this dark world where poverty wipes out masses silenced by the entertain
ment of the rich, where releasing all sentient beings from suffering is
infinitely less important than creating a positive business climate—YesElvis here is a knight of faith, performing his visionary voice and standing
up—standing up, amid the catastrophe, in the heart of the flood, amid drugs
& solitude, and the incessant yearning to join mama in her lonely death of
barbiturates, in this crazy crazy world, and raises his voice to raise our spir
itual essence
Elvis, the American David dethroned by the nation he gave
birth to, human all too human in his lonely Cadillac pantheon, prays, like
in the Jewish Kaddish, for reality to keep unfolding through the cosmic will
expressed by the work of God—Glory Glory Hallelujah—His work is
marching on
His work is marching on—this is a religious moment—^The
morning after I witnessed these things I took a train at the Termini train
station with a Japanese friend who had worked that same night at another
hostel & we rolled our tired selves to Assisi & as we walked on a winding
path to the quiet town I sang with Elvis, Glory Glory Hallelujah &
Takuyo sang the Buddhist chants of his mother & I fell asleep on a hill in
the drizzling rain overlooking Assisi & then we walked into & fell asleep
in many of the churches of the wintry town of the kind and humble saint
ly man that was Saint Francis & finally came into the grotto where he lays.
Saint Francis, and circled his tomb three times & felt him welcoming us
strangers in his grotto where we fell asleep in the heat of the torches sur
rounding the grave & woke up together at exactly the same moment, leaving Assisi with the true flowers of Saint Francis in our peaceful hearts.
Elevation through music is a fact—one you can experience—like suddenly
hearing the Muslim call for prayers at four in the morning when your own
religiosity is bringing you back to your rented room wired to electricity
and in the distance the muezzin draws with his singing the faithful to the
mosque—Mystical experiences are magic plants in the jungle of reality—
they can be plucked, they can even be cultivated—they're abounding and
116
Wo
Once I was living in a cabin in the Zen garden of a charming old lady in
Paris & I was new in town & it was a dark winter's eve & a Finnish philoso
pher I had drunk with the night before had lent me a long distance wave
radio. Sitting on a comfortable chair, there also was a mattress and a table, I
was listening to the programming of the BBC world service, hearing
England, missing the time I too was living in the High Holy British Isle,
receiving her voices through short waves making it across a cold sea &
becoming all moved at that beautiful elocution, wondering whether it's the
weather forecast or poetry I was hearing. They had on, that night, a show
about the bodily, poetic & mystical bonds of women & the moon & later,
an audio documentary about a place at the border of China and Russia.
"There is nothing here" the reporter said "but some junkies and shacks
where prostitutes live and are visited by the incoming soviet truck drivers".
She sounded, that exhilarated & brave woman, as if standing at the end of
the world. I remember she interviewed a Chinese heroin addict. "WO" he
said, the Chinese word for I, a long tortuous Wo, one lost in the flow of the
opiate, the poor man's epiphany, "Woooo" he said & yes, I thought,
Wooooo, but what kind of Wooo are you, O Chinese junky at the world's
end, who & what are you, my fellow prophet, my fellow human—^There
was so much pain in this open and wounded I, a desolate cold, a vast empti
ness, but so much truth too—^yes, a truthful I it was, because it had been
annihilated—^wholly dedicated to the presence of the drug—^it was no more
an I, it was an addiction, it was pain, it was something else—a Wò trans
formed beyond the boundaries we usually impose on it—^yes, my friends,
so much truth I heard in this poor man's opened, wounded & deconstruct
ed I—because, though in a sickly way, the illusory I, walled in strict bound
aries of solitary confinement had been destroyed—^What is it we are? What
are we? What is I? Too often something we get stuck on, a prison cell,
another wall, another barrier. I need, I want, I feel, I, I, I—^that crazy char
acter encouraged by advertisement—^you need to bleach your asshole. Yes I
need to bleach my asshole, you need to pay 15,000 dollars for this proce
dure, yes I need to pay 15,000 dollars for this procedure, you need to own
an oil guzzling dangerous 6c destructive machine when living in a city, yes
117
FOGEL
WALLS & LADDERS
I need to own a big jeep in an urban environment, you need to look like an
raises your own poor being to realms blessedly beyond the illusory bound
eighteen year old even though you're sixty-five, yes, I want to etc., etc.,
aries, of your illusory self—it could be in church, it could be at a karaoke
etc.—this I monster created by demonic forces of the Moloch of greed &
bar right before you puke the whiskey you shouldn't have drunk after all
Ignorance—IS that who we are? What about, to state the obvious, the Wo of
that wine—^Anyone who has drifted away even if just a few minutes into
Coltrane, or better still the collective Wö of that legendary quartet, rising
music, singing a tune in the shower, digging Mozart's requiem for the very
together to a Love Supreme in miraculous New Jersey ascend? Is the Wo
first time & endlessly again, becoming engulfed in the mystical smoke
here involved still within the bounds of narrow I hood? Of course not—like
blowing from every syllable of Um Kulthum's Enta Omri, playing your
the junky back at the Chinese border with Russia, Trane's Wö is a decon
first four chords & recreating a Beatles moment in your early teenage
structed one
but, ecstatically this time—a Wo that ceases to be so that
hometown room—knows that for a few moments of blessedness, you climb
finally it too might be God—the exalted eternal & endless Wo—the Wö in
a ladder of notes to a realm beyond confinement, beyond trickery, beyond
the inner courtyard
Words, sounds, speech, men, memory, thoughts,
the degenerate I the entertainment industry wants you to live in. You don't
time—all related... all made from one... all made in
have to be one of the genial saints of music for that to happen—music is a
one. Coltrane wrote in his ecstatic psalm—Like with heroin, in music you
communicative & communal energy & you can be drawn to the realm by
find release in becoming something else, in realizing the mystery of
participating with your mind in the magic created by such saints—& even
Rimbaud s Je suis un autre—I am someone else—you cease to be you &
as a visitor to the realm of music, even if like my own wee self, you play but
hence undergo the annihilation of the conventional I hood, a process which
don't master music or its instruments, even then, at your own pace, with
tends to precede deep mystical experiences—yes—Coltrane is elevation
your own few notes—elevation awaits. This is why Socrates, though not a
fears and emotions
through music—becoming something else through music—something
musician, expressed, in his last hours, regret for not having played more—
divine & all encompassing—this has been known for ever & has had impli
This is why they say that even if you sing out of tune, you've got to partic
cations in the lives of millions, of whole nations, that preceded our presence
ipate in the ritualistic singing accompanying the Hebrew Pesach—this is a
here now on earth
celebration no one is excluded from.
Like early bluesmen turning their pain into music &
leading their selves to a powerful & magnanimous realm wherein, even if
just for a moment, the weight of their existential sorrows is lifted by hauntingly beautiful songs
transcendence—like Andalucian miners who
through their song made difficult fates more bearabl^how powerful such
magic
check out, if so inclined, the youtube holiness of Camarón De La
Isla & Tomatito performing a Minera in Malaga 1990 & become exposed to
one of these Miner songs—I feel the sun on my face, he howls—the sun
beyond the cave
the sun of liberation—^The sun miners sing to when rais
ing their awareness through song to kinder realms—Look at Cameron &
Tomatito raising their own to a unified energy—Yes, Cameron here blazes
with his voice through the realms & elevates like a proletarian angel, like a
martial arts master & does so through all the genes of his gypsy soul—yet
this voodoo of elevation is not exclusively in the hands of the musical elite
of this world
it belongs of course to all their listeners—even further, any
one who has joined others in music knows what it's like to lose yourself in
music, how the music being greater than any individual participant in it.
118
Love Abounding
When I was sixteen a friend gave me, while we were traveling in Poland &
witnessing abandoned death factories, the Songs of Leonard Cohen—it was
a Messianic moment & I soon realized I had found, through this truthful
voice, the poetic vision I wanted to develop & ceremonially sang these pearl
like songs like prayers hoping to immigrate into these landscapes & set out
to learn the language that had given me a horizon & became a student in the
Holy British Isle—^which is how I found myself a few years later, awake
deep into a gentle English summer night doing my very best to try and
understand an essay about Immanuel Kant—^for hours I had tried to focus
on the paper, but its intricacies were still eluding me & I was becoming tired
& restless. I put on Dylan's Nashville Skyline and let his liberated smiling
peaceful silken voice soothe my tired brain—If music is energy then
Nashville Skyline carries in its sound the energy of love in all its barely graspable simplicity—After a while I sat back at the desk, thinking I'd give that
119
FOGEL
WALLS & LADDERS
mandala of logic another go—bending over the book again I focused over
ed to elevate the soul—but I have had the wisdom to, in my own little way,
its dense sentences, but Dylan s blissful voice suddenly engulfed my con
lean on music in my struggle to widen my awareness and climb up them
sciousness like snow sometimes engulfs the busiest cities and makes even
rungs & have been blessed with encounters with great mystics who, a thou
them quiet
"love is all there is" he sings with an absolute ease "it makes
sand rungs above me, follow the sound they listen to & create, to realms we
the world go round"—I tilted my head back "love and only love, it can't be
should all be lucky enough to visit—^these men are giants, but what they
denied"—the poetic genius whose mystical verse & prophetic heart had
assume we shall assume as every atom belonging to them might as well have
fascinated me through intensely passionate & spiritual expeditions into the
belonged to us—their angle, their poetic vision, is one we too can adopt—
riddles & symbols of the horizons of the cosmic mind, here, in a language
They ascend a path we too can follow to the irmer chamber where the lower
as plain as running water, sung in a voice of milk & honey from which love
& higher realms unite at last—I'd like to, in a few lines, introduce a few such
for life emanates endlessly, touched something in me which must be like a
teachers & some of what they taught me about the path of love abounding.
light switch of sorts
Yes—at that moment, leaning away from the desk,
Having become firmly addicted to moments of grace, and seeking
these words so sweetly sung fell unto me Hke drops of light that cleared my
a life wherein the creation of a home for beatitude is a primordial priority, I
mind of all doubt and raised me to realms where one learns that which
soon realized more practical measures needed to be taken. As a teenager I
words, logic & even thought can never teach. It was a beautiful time in wò's
had encountered the music of Yair Dalai whose meditations on the oud &
life, wandering the fields of the nation of Blake, invited by true poets at the
quiet mystical songs drove a close friend in high school & myself mad—
banquets of the soul where Sufi pints are served in abundance, singing the
neither of us ever recovered. Years later, in Paris, a city kind to the poor, I
blues like a dog with friends & red wine, realizing, with the gates of mercy
came to think I could reach the infinitely profound & tranquil mystical
open, how Billy & Nina's Jazz makes even used condoms look irresistibly
ecstasy emanating from the music of all masters of the oud by playing, even
romantic, symbohzing themselves near smoked up cigarettes in dying ash
if infinitely less delicately, their instrument myself. I bought an oud and
trays, experiencing divinity in the early morning rain—In short, wö, in this
went to study with a teacher who made his instrument roar like a lion &
period colored & widened by the horizons of the prophets of the heart,
with Hussein, an Egyptian musician who, having failed to obtain an official
realized the illusionary nature of his doubts concerning the reality of the
license (no money for baksheesh) was playing in the Metro near the actual
mystical. You know, some academicians, some writers, some clergy and a
trains (as opposed to the quieter subway hallways where the official Metro
wide variety of intellectual perverts will keep moments of clear mystical
musicians play), harassed only by police in his sad & meditative music that
insight behind the fog of their lectures, in the cages of history, confined to
accompanied busy Parisians coming & going in the eternal underground
the experience of others. BuUshit. Every human blessed with the opportu
rush hour. I was taught some Farid El Atrash tunes and some Arabic scales,
nity to develop her awareness, I'm dead certain of this, has, if she thusly
though I chose to focus for my own little meditative moments on Hijaz in
directs her consciousness, full & free access to moment of grace wherein one
Re—Re Mi-bémol Fa-dièse Sol La Si-bémol Do Re. As my ambitions were
is raised to realms supreme, and which eventually lead to a life lived in these
more mystical, playing to reach the meditative state I could sense in oud
realms; or m other words, by widening the realm of awareness, one allows
music, I chose to focus fully on just one scale & then try to climb it up
it to be flooded by the divine. Awareness, of course, that old holy whore,
loves to be opened.
the rungs. And indeed, lost in the fragrance of hash & in my little cabin,
You know, I ain't no ecstatic saint with the key to eternal well being
the privilege of playing that instrument, the privilege of being alive—Later,
up his ass-Human all too human, the Fogel, human all too human;
in this Parisian realm, I got hooked to ecstatic klezmer music, and sought to
masturbatory Wednesdays, the occasional lie, vanity, existential hair loss or
reach the state of awareness of them old Jews clarinet joy, which seemed to
WÖ floated
through the realms with long slow sounds & realized, through
penis dimension quandaries, moments of intense cowardice, horrible
dance well within the inner chamber. I left Paris for Israel, where a friend gave
thoughts sometimes—you know—The human lot—much more work need-
me a clarinet and the phone number of a true master; Peter Wertheimer—a
120
121
FOGEL
WALLS & LADDERS
gentle giant hailing from Romania wherein during communist era, being
raising all thoughts through sound onto realms divine.
forced to study only classical music, late at night, hidden in his student
Through a circle of friends with whom I had been sitting in grape
room under a thick blanket clutching a Soviet radio, he listened with friends
fruit orchards wherein we played together till the early morning, I came
to the ecstasy of jazz on free American airwaves & heard his calling
across a holy man by the name of Ravid Zigdon, or as I have come to call
warmly welcomed me to his home & invited me to sit on a chair fit for a
him, Ravidian Hashaman Hashmanman. The first time I met him was at a
king m his little room filled with instruments, offering a thick strong coffee,
jam in a studio with loud guitars and drums, he was playing a variety of chil
and talking about music as an old lover, complete with passion, anger, dis
dren's instruments. I went to him and quoted Lorca, not for a moment have
appointments and unrelenting love-took it upon himself, this man who is
I ceased to see your beard filled with butterflies—^Yes—immediately, I had
probably one of the busiest musicians in the holy land, to teach a clown,
been struck by the Whitman like sanctity of this fellow. Ravid, a Hebrew
already twenty-five by then, not exactly some kind of child genius to whose
son of a carpenter, a Zion Buddha Lion, had, when coming back from India,
historic development you'd like to contribut^to get a clean sound out of
where he had adopted a strict Bramachari existence (small meals of rice and
the clarinet. At lesson's end, I ask the master how much this session costs.
vegetables, comprehensive and relentless meditation, yoga, etc.), spent three
"No, no" he says "The first lesson is free". Next Friday, I come again at ten
years in his parents' attic studying marimba and composition. A few weeks
in the morning & again he lets me into his warmth, a thick coffee, a throne,
later, another friend suggested we meet and play with him up there in the
tales of Louis Armstrong and Hasidic recording sessions, of L'Olympia
attic, so up we went. That first meeting, I came with Serge & Allen Ginsberg
and following a father's musician trade, and a first scale or two for wo,
to inspire Ravid with, Ravid came with music by Dekoboko Hajime to
barely managing to get the notes out. Two delicate hours pass "How much
inspire me with. Ravid, it turned out, does that often—he asks you whether
do I owe you?" "You can't pay now" he laughed & in his beautiful accent
you'd like to listen to inspirational music and, if you're wise enough to
continued, "I don't know yet how serious you are. Learn the scales, come
agree, he very ceremonially says, "we will listen to..." (using the less com
back next week—then we'll see about how much I'll charge you". At the
mon "Maazin", which has elements in it of "paying attention")—and puts
end of the next session, when I asked again for fees due, he told me I had to
on something from his library of more than ten thousand hours worth of
work harder if I wanted to pay. I did my best to come prepared to the
music of all kinds with heavily ethnic and experimental presences—It is
lesson after that, and when I insisted I should really start paying, Peter
almost inevitable that what Ravid chooses to play will in some ways open
feigned anger "What's wrong with you! Did you come here to argue
your mind—he will inevitably tempt you towards his more enlightened
over money?" I never paid a shekel for Peter's lessons. Once, during our
kind of awareness. At the end of our first session we decided we would do
encounter, Peter played me a Romanian Doina but that experience, friends,
my words cannot describe.
great things, us three proud poor single men with serious sentimental afflic
Later, when I moved to southern Tel Aviv, I decided to refocus
running hungry in the streets as the third decade of our human lives drew
my efforts on one scale, as my lifestyle made a more wholesome approach
to a close in the suburbs of the Holy Land. Whenever we'd play, we always
difficult, hoping I would still be able to pursue the mystical intention of my
started with long Hijaz in Re or Ahava Raba moments where we sought
practice of music. So off I went, looking for a scale (or "Sulam" as they say
common ecstasy. The first time we did our song Jesus Christ the Nazarene
in Hebrew, wherein "musical scale" and "ladder" are denoted by the same
Runs in the Streets of Tel Aviv Shouting Allah Hu Wakhbar, wherein that
word) that would suit the purpose & found a Sulam named Ahava Raba—
mantra is repeated again and again, Ravid's electric organ caught fire.
Love Abounding—essential in klezmer music. Ahava Raba, it turned out,
Suddenly, during the invocation, we saw smoke appearing from the instru
consisted of exactly the same sounds as the Hijaz in Re I had been climbing
ment. It never worked again. Once, in India, Ravid was riding a bicycle he
with back in Paris-D, E^, H G, A, 1^, C, D. Enthused by this discovery,
had rented, reaching after several days a distant temple wherein he shared
whenever I felt I needed to pray, I played the scale focusing my mind on
the holy Charas with several Babas or Holy men. The Babas were impressed
122
123
tions, only very rarely getting laid & either still living with our parents or
FOGEL
WALLS & LADDERS
Ravid was still seated with a back, straight & head towards the sky after
many long hours of ceremonial smoking and soon realized this extraordi
nary person had been blessed with the realization of the deep mysteries of
me with all her grace—^when suddenly, the reed curtain opened and in
walked, silently, with a deeply peaceful smile through all the long lines of
her face, a dark naked damsel who quietly slipped in the spring. She kept on
the union of Shiva & Shakti & of the human & Divine presences—the pierc
smiling and with eyes all sparkling she asked me my name. "I'm Jeremy" I
ing of the veil. They invited him to join them, offering him a Baba bus
mumbled. "Are you" she laughed "I am Natanyah". As we talked, as she
ticket (free eternal wandering) and robe. Ravid didn't join them because he
spoke, I became entranced by her crystal like voice, her dove like eyes, her
had to return the bicycle to its rightful owner. If not for the bike, I think
scarlet lips and her smile comely, innocent and pure. What on earth is this,
he'd have stayed. More friends joined our efforts & eventually we sent our
I thought, what miraculous event am I being invited into? What kind of
demos to Tzadik in New York—Several weeks later, we were hosting at our
angel is hosting me behind the veil & in the vineyard whose splendor no one
flat, a beat mystic living in Amsterdam by the name of Gabriel, who claimed
can even speak of? I soon realized I had been taken by a spirit & force
to be a descendant of the Baal Shem Tov. He had traveled to Israel with 150
greater than I and as Natanyah's presence dawned over me, as she delicate
dollars, a saxophone with acid on its reeds, and in a deeply Hasidic way, no
ly drew me into the song of songs of womanhood, I let go of myself &
worries about the tomorrow dealt by the same hand that dealt your birth—
drowned in the ocean this moment had suddenly become. I am writing this
he found us and we sheltered the spirit of the Tzadik. During that time, we
because while completely conquered by the sweetness of her dark breasts,
received word our work had been appreciated & were offered to record our
her voluptuous thighs, her mystic belly, the scent of her skin, the delicacy,
album for Tzadik. These too are, I realized, the ways of the world.
fervor and devotion of her movements & the soft prayers of her inner
A few months later in this life our band had a gig immediately after
skin—she was singing her desire to my ear. Every movement, every
which we all made our way to the Dead Sea in a rented minivan our drum
moment of passion, she expressed with a melodic moaning deep into my
mer was driving on a dry and hot Friday night. Once at this eerily quiet spot,
ear, which to me was the most beautiful music I had ever heard—her voice
the lowest on earth, and its pond of salt, we camped on the pristine South
lifted itself freely in this world—as if her soul were a bird—as if her soul
Western part, far from the Hotels and nearer to an actual desert silence—the
were a fully fledged swan that while flying entrances the ears of men and
holy desert silence—In the morning we woke up, had our breakfast tea and
gods with the music of its song—yes—^The melodic moaning of this delicate
wondered of into this crater of mystical surrealism, floating on the oily sea
Yemenite daughter of Jerusalem deep in my grateful ear was a whirlwind of
and seeking out the pristine springs of fresh water scattered in the area,
beauty, a voice with a light immensely poetic in scope & power raised aloft
all inundated with healing mud which we all covered ourselves with, sud
by her trembling breath—a sensual song that when slow drew the tender
denly becoming aliens—Later my friends went for a trip on the desert
ness of troubadour romance, when fast the trance vision of the space age
mountains, but I was still too wired from yesterday's pre gig intense Yogic
Zion temple of the heart, and in its climax the swiftness of the fawns
breathing exercises & ensuing ecstasy & so chose to stay near the sea, and
swirling in gardens where once a lover sacredly loved a woman and laid for
find more springs of fresh water to linger in. I walked through lunar land
her sanctified roses on a pillow of words. When wo was, for a few moments
scapes interspersed with sudden forests of high green reeds, and found signs
in this life, living through the light of Natanyah's love & her music sublime,
of a lovely freak encampment—coffee paraphernalia, a book by
when I let my own voice join her in this prayer, I felt tangibly I was fulfilling
Knshnamurti, an old guitar—I walked on for a while and heard the sound
of flowing water
I followed that sound & behind another forest of high
reeds I found hidden in that sudden oasis of green, a circular spring of sprinkling fresh water. All satisfied, I sat m mother nature's prime bathtub and
engulfed by the Holy Land reeds I looked at the clear sky above me and
thought it doesn't get any better than that—The Shabat queen had blessed
124
the Baal Shem Tov's advice to climb to realms exalted through the sound of
every note, be it the notes of music, song or of every single spoken word, of
every moan—rise with it to the realms supreme—^yes—the crystal like pres
ence of her splendor & her voice weaved itself like an orchard of pome
granates ripe
& pleasant round me & blessedly, effortlessly raised wö
through the rungs & gave wö a taste of the wine you seldom taste—
125
FOGEL
WALLS & LADDERS
Considering the source of this magic, this should be no surprise. Natanyah
angle—seeing in it all that is supreme—Sometimes I look at a flower and
it turned out, when finally I followed her out of the spring, was a woman
barely see it, but when wo takes the time to embrace its existence well &
firmly planted in both this world & the highest one. She was staying at that
sing to myself the soft tunes of Natanyah's ecstasy while doing so, I see all
encampment with a couple of other friends and their kids, all of which were
the miracles of creation—the memory of her angelic voice, like all exhila
naked too when I met them. Natanyah's more permanent habitation was
rated melodies of this earth, are an age old alchemy, one that turns every
small desert town where she studied Persian music with a recluse master,
thing it touches into beatitude.
worked at the local kindergarten & lived in a rented caravan. I told her I
It would be foolish & imprudent for me to try & reveal much more
had to go back to my friends, that we were going back to the city soon.
of whatever conclusion I may have come up with, as the little I may have
She kissed my lips & sang a Shabbat tune—Shalom aleichem, malachei
understood is quite certainly overshadowed by all that which far eludes my
Hasharet—Peace be upon you, ministering Angels—a tune I had been
own musical & spiritual awareness. Moreover, music, like all mysticism,
playing in Ahava Raba on both clarinet & oud—her voice revealing with
must be experienced—great music, like all mystical experiences, cannot be
indescribable grace the miraculous scale of Love Abounding in all its splen
put into words, except, maybe, sometimes, in the words of God or of his
dor. When I came back to my friends I was there with them in the minivan
inner guard. But let there be no doubt; Great music comes to you from
but I was also in the realm divine, where Natanyah's voice shows that love
the inner chamber & draws you there & it teaches you the realms from
is all there is, and as I looked through the window at the scenery of this land
which this life can be experienced & therefore teaches you how to see &
filled with pain, I could see also the merciful weight of a love abounding &
how to be & yes. Like Peter, Ravid, Natanyah and countless other great
supreme and realized Natanyah's trembling voice had given me, even if for
souls, there are in this world people who climb their holy music to realms
a moment, a key to the inner chamber.
that are tangibly exalted.
Yes friends, this is where music leads to—this is the beatitude
voices, truthful voices, take you to—this is the poetic vision they bless you
with—^Yes—In a world where Mickey Mouse's pungent plastic vomit is
splashed on everything that was once true & airwaves broadcast mainly
continual propaganda in form of decadent mass produced delirious pop
whose half hidden purpose is to turn every living soul into a stupid, selfish
hungry ghost damned to eternally consume that which he will never need
so that another sentient bemg may have his second indoor swimming pool
finally equipped with an underwater sound system—there are voices that
draw you up—there are ways to listen your way to a wider awareness—this
is of the most critical importance—^we've got to lean on all the light we can
muster to find a path—to create our own system, lest, as Blake warned, we
be enslaved by another man's—^to learn how to experience things, how to
sense them—to create a poetic vision—^When truly exalted music, voices,
sounds, all of which are abounding in spite of the state of this world, merge
into our awareness, they take us to the King's inner court & through this
widened awareness raise our perspective to new levels—^This is why when
looking back from the King's inner court, the wandering soul realizes all is
Divine—her awareness has become able to look at this world from the right
126
Where Were Wef
On this earth, in this realm, involved with existence, alive alive alive, but
soon, decomposing bodies whose very memory has turned into butterflies
& us, reborn into the great mystery at last—there's a way to walk this path,
to direct it towards salvation. These are facts of old—the genial voices of
humanity have not been lying about this. There are ways with more light &
less suffering. There's an awareness that is undisturbed by treasures of gold,
and diligently climbs to an inner chamber of bliss. Music often can take you
there. Yes it can. But caveat emptor, my friends, let the buyer beware—
Music is ineffable & so what I am writing does not contain the essence it
tries to convey—it only tries to encourage whoever is reading this to be
guided by music on this mystical path of a life. To let music do what it can
do. To pick up the instrument you always wanted to play. To listen with the
proper care to the music you love, to give it a place of honor in your life—
To work on the development of your appreciation of music. To beware of
the demon of unbridled consumption, it's on your ass even in this realm.
To be aware of & not doubt the mystical dimension of daily life and the
mystical powers of music—for you are where your thoughts are & when
127
CHAPTER
7
FOGEL
your thoughts are with music they are in the irmer chamber & so are you—
These are things I believe in & try to live by—^Yet, the moral of this story
only appears when while listening you suddenly find yourself being raised—
& Yes—^it only appears when, while playing, you suddenly realize you're
being played & thusly rejoin your rightful rank on the side of creation.
ON DIRT, REVELATIONS,
CONTRADICTIONS, AND BREATHING
THROUGH YOUR ELBOWS
FRED FRITH
Starting when I was 19,1 spent a lot of college vacation time working in a men
tal hospital. The patients of this hospital were severely disabled, mentally
and very often physically as well. I mostly worked with kids, kids with
Down Syndrome or cerebral palsy or other conditions deemed untreatable,
lumped together indiscriminately, left there by families unable to cope. The
job consisted of administering enormous quantities of drugs, feeding and
cleaning up after patients, watching out for epileptic seizures, and trying to
help the kids to live as much to their potential as possible. In this depress
ing atmosphere music was a force that created an excitement and well
being that was almost shocking. We soon noticed that these kids, with little
to look forward to beyond a regimented life in a rundown institution,
would beam with joy and shiver with excitement when they heard music,
especially music with a strong pulse to it. That was all the encouragement
we needed, and we were soon having music sessions every day. What I
experienced during those ecstatic minutes is hard to put into words.
Essentially it was an understanding of music as a pure force, a healing
power, a joy of being. It brought us together, touched our souls, and gave
us hope. It was also a humbling experience. In these naive initiatives we
volunteers were supported by a couple of the most dedicated and extraor
dinary human beings I have ever met, professionals who had chosen to
work in this career dead end because of a combination of gentle selflessness
and deep compassion. Along with the children of all ages in their charge,
Paddy O'Rourke and Robert Keyes—singers and dreamers—helped me to
reconstruct my world from the bottom up, to redefine what it meant to be
alive, to be human.
My neuroscientist brother Chris tells me that our brains learn by
seeking out what they don't know. When I play I feel as if I'm caught
between wanting to know, and not wanting to know. So many times you
128
129
FRITH
ON DIRT, REVELATIONS, CONTRADICTIONS, AND BREATHING THROUGH...
discover something not by the act of looking for it, but by accident, at the
an apartment building in the lower east side of Manhattan. This basically
very moment when you'd forgotten all about it. As a performer, I know
meant giving up a few days a week for about a year carrying sheetrock up
that in order to arrive at that mysterious place I'm always trying to reach, I
six flights of stairs, laying floors, digging drains, and generally carrying out
have to be in a unique state in which control and lack of control have equal
any other tasks that were assigned to me. Walking over there from my own
weight. I know what I'm doing, but I don't know what I'm doing. This is a
apartment ten blocks away took me through an area where several buildings
beautiful contradiction. You learn how to improvise not by being full of
had recently been demolished, leaving a wasteland of detritus—not just
ideas, but by emptying yourself of them. As Robert Rauschenberg said, the
rubble, but details of personal histories, lives lived. Torn photos, dolls'
trick is not to "run out of curiosity." Technique is simply a matter of being
torsos, fragments of cups and plates, cassette tapes, broken chairs, fridges,
able to do what you want to do at the moment when you need to do it.
syringes, wheels. In this landscape, in which absence and presence were
Everything you do or have done prepares you for that moment. When it
on an equal footing, I would walk slowly, examining each square inch of
comes, you are probably thinking about something else.
ground. This dirt seemed more beautiful to me than anything I'd ever seen
The first time I picked up a guitar it felt like a miracle. I could just
play it, or more precisely, it seemed to play itself. Since then, that feeling has
in a gallery or museum. It was a metaphor for everything I wanted to do in
music. It still feels that way.
never been far away. Part of me wants to (re)discover or even reinvent the
Music is an act of transformation—air moves, waves travel, mem
instrument every time I get my hands on it. When I lose touch with that
branes vibrate, bodies are altered. When I use objects to produce sounds
basic "curiosity," the guitar is all too familiar. I know exactly what is going
from a guitar, I'm also transforming them. The paintbrush, the clothes
to come out of it, and nothing seems to make the slightest difference to the
brush, the doweling rod, the alligator clip, the ball of string, the bag of rice,
predictable reiteration of any moment except this one.
the chains, the tin can, these may all be familiar objects. When I use them as
There are moments that happen when you improvise—^it may be
mediators, though, they can no longer be defined by their intended func
with a playing partner of many years, it may be with someone you never
tion. Instead they become magical objects with mysterious powers, and
worked with before—^where you experience an uncanny synchronicity:
although at first you may laugh at the idea of someone playing the guitar
identical pitches out of the blue, simultaneous timbre shifts, abrupt and
with a paintbrush, eventually you won't notice it any more. The brush has
shared changes of dynamics, unforeseen steps up in intensity. There may
become, not invisible exactly, but altered beyond recognition.
even be sustained periods when the music becomes a seamless, breathing
Why is it that apparently dry and mathematical procedures often
entity that appears to have a life of its own beyond the intentions of its
lead to the most profound and moving results? An experiment with some
makers, a shared journey to an unknown and magical destination. Such
numerical series or other, applied to form or harmony out of idle curiosity,
moments often lead to talk of channeling a higher force, of acting as a con
proves astonishingly emotional and touching. It reminds me of how much
duit for spiritual and healing power. This usually strikes me as a kind of false
I hate it when players or composers demonstrate how full of "feeling" they
humility. In the end music making is rooted in practice. The more you work
are. It's like bad acting. Music that resonates with me doesn't have anything
away at it, the more options you have, and the more likely you are to make
to prove, it simply is. As a composer I sometimes find myself saying to
inspired choices. Performers of composed music attain such visionary
performers: "Let the music be what it is, you don't need to add anything to
force by years of practice, which eventually allows the music to flow as if
it, just stay out of the way and let it speak for itself."
improvised by the composer in front of you. You have to practice for years
Recording music is a revelatory process, like sculpture. The act of
before you're free enough for accident and intention to resonate equally. It's
patiently stripping away results in what was concealed being revealed.
not that there aren't mysteries making their presence felt in what you do. It's
Further, the inevitability of the result suggests that it required that very
just that you're more likely to illuminate them when you've worked on it.
process in order to be revealed. Or the process may not be stripping away
In 1986 I put in a few hundred hours doing construction work on
at all, but accumulating, patiently waiting to discover what "images" will
130
131
CHAPTER
8
FRITH
signify when there are enough of them there. In both cases, you shouldn't
interfere beyond what is absolutely necessary. Defining something before
it has revealed itself wÜl permanently limit it to the foreseen, but the unfore
seen is an important part of every process. It's down to looking (or listening)
for what you don't know, again (and again).
Between the ages of nine and twelve I spent a lot of time fishing. As
YOGA AND MUSIC
SHARON GANNON
time went by, the actual fishing part became less important, and it became
more about time alone, observing the minutiae of life and listening to what
was going on around me. Through listening I became fascinated with birds,
and was soon a passionate if strictly part-time birdwatcher, which I still
"Divine sound is the cause of all manifestation. The knower of the mystery
am to this day. I love to get up at 5 on a Sunday morning and make the two-
of sound knows the mystery of the whole universe." —Hazrat Inayat Khan
hour drive to Limantour Beach at Point Reyes, to walk by the ocean for an
hour with only the wind and the birds for company.
Most of the time in the modern industrialized urban landscape
The world is sound. All that is manifest proceeds from sound and continues to
pulsate as sound vibration.
we're surrounded by music that's imposed on us—in elevators and lobbies,
Many years ago a reporter from a major New York newspaper
cafes and restaurants, supermarkets and other people's cars—a more or less
came to our Yoga School to do an interview, and she graciously accepted
permanent addition to the usual chaos of vital signs. When I lived in New
our invitation to take a class first. At the beginning of the session, accom
York I spent a lot of time trying to "compose" this whole racket into coher
panied by the harmonium, I led the class in a Sanskrit chant to the guru and
ent forms in my head, breaking it up into layers, seeing how much detail
explained a bit of what the chant meant. During the chanting, the reporter
I could uncover. I'm still fascinated enough with that sound world to keep
was fidgety, which happens to many people in their first yoga class when
on trying to situate my work within it, to record West Oakland from the
they are asked to sing or listen to spiritual teachings. But soon enough we
window of Myles Boisen's studio, for example, and juxtapose it with a
were off and running... jumping back, twisting, bending forward, bending
sax quartet.
backward, standing on our hands, our heads and even our elbows, all to a
The mysteries of music and life that resonate most deeply within
playlist which included music by The Beatles. After the class was over, the
me lie somewhere between Limantour Beach and the Lower East Side,
reporter excitedly just about ran ahead of me on my way to my office,
between being alone in the world and being part of a teeming anthill, over
where our interview was to take place, asking, "Did you hear that? Wasn't
coming the Imiitations of words and reaching for the extravagant impossi
it amazing? Did you know they were going to sing that?" As we sat down,
ble, turning base metal to gold. Looking, listening, touching, smelling, in
I asked, "What do you mean? Sing what?" "The chanting!" "Oh I'm glad
awe, aware and unaware, present and absent, breathing through your feet
you liked it. Was that your first time?" "No, no, not me...The Beatles—
and your elbows, falling up, falling down, picking yourself up and dusting
they were chanting the same thing that you had us chant at the beginning of
yourself off, screwing up and giving it another shot, curious, persistent,
class, didn't you hear it?" "Oh you mean jaya gurudeva in Across the
questioning, optmustic, in it together whether we like it or not. But in it.
Universe and guru Brahma guru Vishnu... in My Sweet Lord}" "What?!
Did you know that those chants were already in those songs? I didn't! I
never ever heard it before and I must have listened to those songs thousands
of times! This is amazing!" Producer, composer and bassist Bill Laswell
once told me that he liked composing music that he knew would be played
in a yoga class because he knew it would really get listened to: "People are
132
133
GANNON
YOGA AND MUSIC
more relaxed and receptive when they practice yoga, so they are able to hear
all, which, according to the yoga scriptures, is the nadam—the supreme
the music better." That's what happened to the reporter. She had actually
sound of God. Close your eyes and open your ears and feel, as my teacher
heard music for the first time that she had been listening to for years but had
Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati would describe, "the current of electricity, the
never heard before.
current of prana, the pulsation of life, all around and within you—the sound
How can you tell if you are making progress in your hatha yoga
of God."
practice? When you can touch your toes? Stand on your head? Control
In the vast spiritual literature of India, two types of sound, or nadam,
your breathing? Control your thoughts? Be able to relax in a stressful situ
are spoken of: anahata nadam and ahata nadam. Anahata nadam means
ation? Well all of those accomplishments could be seen as signs of progress,
"unstruck" sound—it is not heard by just the physical ears, and no one can
but according to the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the book penned in the 13th
make this sound. It is the primal essential nature of the universe; it is the
century that is widely accepted as the official authority on hatha yoga, the
sound of God. Yogis hear/feel this sound during deep enUghtened states of
way that you can tell if you are making progress in the practice is by the
meditation. Ahata nadam means "struck" sound—it is music that we can
sound of your own voice. According to verse 11.78, your voice will become
hear with our physical senses; it refers to sound that is made by striking two
clear, melodious and resonant; you will be able to control its volume and its
things together, like when a musician strums an instrument or blows through
pitch; but even more than that—^people will listen to you when you speak.
a horn or hits a drum, or when a singer sings—air strikes against the vocal
Your words will become totally captivating. You will be able to say what
folds, and sound is produced. Ahata nadam in the form of music can lead
you mean and to mean what you say. This is a natural outcome when all
one to an experience of anahata nadam—transcendental awareness—if the
aspects of one's being come together and are no longer fragmented. Your
listener as well as the musician playing has that intention in mind.
thoughts, your words and your actions will be aligned. You will feel in tune.
It was through music that the ancient teachings of yoga entered the
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika declares that samadhi (enlightenment)
American psyche. I think if it weren't for The Beatles, the current popular
is achieved when the anahata nadam, the "unstruck sound," can be heard.
ity of yoga in America, and the world, for that matter, would not have come
The aim of hatha yoga practice is to realize sound as the source of creation.
about. We have George Harrison to thank in particular. But how did
This realization is the outcome of being in tune with the source of creation,
George Harrison come to be interested in India, its music, yoga and all
which naturally occurs when the yogi achieves harmony with the earth and
things magical and mysterious? I suppose we will never know the complete
all things manifest. Yoga asanas (postures) are commonly thought of only
answer to that, because how can we begin to fathom the depths of true
as physical poses that yogis practice in order to prepare themselves for more
genius? But we do know that he had a most excellent teacher in the form of
spiritual practices like meditation—as if the physical were something less
the great Indian sitar player and composer Ravi Shankar. But how did Ravi
than the spiritual. The physical and spiritual realms are one and the same;
Shankar, a man from one of the oldest cities in the world, Varanasi, come to
they are both expressions of sound at different rates of motion. Matter is
teach classical Indian music to one of the most famous Western pop stars?
sound slowed down so that the eyes can see it. The subtle realms of spirit
God works in mysterious ways. As with all meaningful innovations in
vibrate at a faster rate of motion. The Sanskrit word asana means "seat," or
culture, certain things catch on simply because they are contagious. For
connection to the earth." Earth is all of manifest creation. This definition
something to be contagious there already have to be receptors, predisposi
of earth includes the air, water, soil and all species of plants and animals, as
tions inherent in a person or in a group, that enable them to "pick up" the
well as subtle beings like the elemental, deva, fairy and angelic forms. The
innovation and hold on to it long enough for it to "catch on."
perfection of yoga asana is realized by aligning oneself with nature for the
During the '60s many young people were craving change and
benefit of all—^it is the perfection of one's relationship with all beings and
willing to experiment in various ways to shift consciousness and explore
things. A harmony can be achieved that emanates from the yogi as sublime
identity. The time was ripe for Eastern spirituality to be embraced by the
music, touches everyone and reminds and uplifts them toward the source of
West. Indian spirituality not only appeared exotic and colorful, but it
134
135
GANNON
YOGA AND MUSIC
seemed accessible to young people due to its welcoming concepts like "all
every cell as we return daily to the attack, unlocking and liberating capaci
is one" or "God is love." The Indian gods were hip and cool, and they all
ties otherwise condemned to frustration and death. Each unfulfilled area of
seemed to be able to dance, sing and play instruments in their cosmic band:
tissue and nerve, of brain or lung, is a challenge to our will and integrity, or
an attractive teenage boy who seductively plays the flute and makes love to
otherwise a source of frustration and death."
thousands of women whom he arranges to meet clandestinely in a magical
During that first trip to India, Menuhin heard Ravi Shankar play in
forest or by the banks of a mystical river (Krishna), a beautiful young woman
an informal performance at the home of the director of All-India Radio. He
whose dexterous hands can finger a fretless viña without even glancing at
was so profoundly affected by the music that he resolved to find a way to
her mstrument (Sarasvati), a chubby boy with an elephant head who plays
share it with the world. An opportunity came in 1955 when he was able to
the tabla and loves to eat sweets (Ganesh), and a wild pot-smoking-long-
invite Ravi Shankar to come to America to perform and record an album of
hair-dread-locked dancer whose choreography is known to have set the
classical Indian music for release in America. Shankar was unable to accept
world in motion (Shiva). In the Judeo-Christian atmosphere of the West,
due to other commitments, but he recommended that his friend Ali Akbar
God was not someone you had fun with. Nor was God someone who lived
Khan go instead. (AH Akbar Khan and Shankar were both students of
in harmony with animals and nature and was comfortable with His or Her
Khan's father, the great music teacher Allaudin Khan.) So with the help of
(or Its) own body. Not even art or music was viewed as a means to reach
Menuhin, who provided a spoken word introduction, Ali Akbar Khan
God; rather, they were perceived merely as entertainment—one more com
released the album Music of India on the classical music label Angel
modity in the established capitalistic system.
Records. This was the first major time that Indian raga was presented to the
During this time of cultural change, the West was even hungry to
American public. Prior to this, in 1910, Sufi teacher and master musician
embrace Eastern dress. The Indian musicians didn't perform in Brooks
Hazrat Inayat KLhan had come to America and performed on the viña at
Brothers suits and ties; they wore loose, comfortable, colorful clothing
Columbia University in New York City. He also became an accompamst
made of natural fabrics, sometimes embeUished with embroidery and beads,
for Ruth St. Denis and her dance company. The wider success of Ali Akbar
and they had long hair and went barefoot! During the sixties and into the
Khan, however, was probably due to the fact that his performance was cap
seventies, the influence of India on Western fashion was huge.
tured on a record which could be distributed widely, though perhaps more
But the seeds were planted for George Harrison to embrace Indian
importantly, he had the support of a renowned musician in Yehudi
music even before the sixties. In 1951 while he was on tour, the violin mae
Menuhin. Ravi Shankar played his first concerts in Europe and the United
stro Yehudi Menuhin picked up a book on yoga asanas in a doctor's office
States in 1956.
and started practicing yoga on his own in hotel rooms. The following year,
In 1965, The Beatles met David Crosby and Roger McQuinn from
he was invited by Prime Minister Nehru to play some fund-raismg concerts
the band The Byrds at a party. The Byrds were very enamored with Indian
in India, and during this trip, he met the great yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar
music and jazz, especially the music of Ravi Shankar and John Coltrane.
and Ravi Shankar, two people who would become important gurus to him
The prior year, David Crosby had attended a recording session in Los
and who through him would go on to have a decisive influence on the
Angeles where Ravi Shankar was working on an album, and at the party, he
spread of Indian spirituality in the West. He studied yoga with Iyengar for
enthusiastically described the music to George and John, while Roger
many years and in 1966 wrote the foreword to Iyengar's ground-breaking
McGuinn demonstrated on his guitar, trying to imitate some of the
book Light on Yoga. In it, Menuhin describes yoga in musical terms, and he
string bending techniques of the sitar. A year later, in 1966, it was Patricia
reveals his profound commitment to both disciplines: "The practice of yoga
Angadi, wife of the founder of the Asian Music Circle of London (whose
induces a primary sense of measure and proportion. Reduced to our own
president happened to be Yehudi Menuhin), who actually personally intro
body, our first instrument, we learn to play it, drawing from it maximum
duced George to Ravi Shankar. George asked Ravi if he would accept him
resonance and harmony. With unflagging patience we refine and animate
as a student. Ravi Shankar went on to directly influence the pop music
136
137
GANNON
YOGA AND MUSIC
world through his association with George Harrison who was his student,
classes were always practiced to music and still are. The musical compo
the jazz world through John Coltrane who also studied with him, as well as
nent is a major part of Jivamukti Yoga—^forming one of the five tenets of
the classical music world through his student, friend and collaborator,
Yehudi Menuhin.
the method.
The sitar began to appear in Western pop music in the mid-1960s,
These days, it would be difficult to find a yoga class in America or
but with the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The
Europe that did not practice to a recorded soundtrack. The music would
Beatles in 1967, it gained wide recognition. That album turned pop music
most Hkely include Indian ragas, Indian musicians or at least (or at best)
upside down and inside out, particularly George Harrison's track Within
Western musicians playing Indian instruments or singing to Indian gods.
You Without You, which not only used all Indian instruments, but also
But in my experience of yoga this was not always the case. When I started
introduced into mainstream pop music the yogic teachings of "emptiness"
to practice yoga in America in the 1970s, there was no music played in yoga
(reality is not absolute; it is a projection of the mind): "Try to realize it is all
classes. When I went to India in the 1980s to practice yoga, there was no
within yourself..." The whole world knew that The Beatles had gone to
music played in yoga classes. But when I practiced by myself, home alone
India to study yoga, and at that time, whatever The Beatles did people
in my apartment, I always practiced to recorded music on my cassette tape
emulated or at the very least noticed. During the sixties young people in
recorder. What I was listening to at that time was mostly Indian classical
particular were looking for ways to "deprogram" themselves from what
music: Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, M.S. Subbulakshmi, some John
they saw as the hypnotic pull of the established culture, and since con
Coltrane but lots of Alice Coltrane, George Harrison and The Beatles, and
sciousness is chemical, what better way to expand one's consciousness than
a tape from the Hare Krishna Temple in London called Chant and Be
with psychedeUc chemicals? The Eastern spiritual teachings provided a
Happy, which had been produced by George Harrison. But mostly what I
foundation for the novice mind explorers to stand upon. And since in
kept replaying over and over again while I saluted the sun or stood on my
Indian culture it is hard to separate spirituality from art, Indian music was
head were a few tapes that I had been given by a producer friend, Tom
easily accepted by the counterculture emerging in the West. It provided a
Lopez. These tapes contained spoken word talks by Ram Dass, as well as
perfect background for a trip—a journey into one's own mind or psyche.
spiritual songs, some in English but mostly in Sanskrit. The label on the
Even in Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, a two-thousand-year-old yoga scripture,
cassettes read Serve, Love, Give, Remember, featuring "The Amazing
you can find validation for taking drugs as a means to expand conscious
Grace Band." There were no credits listing who was singing which song or
ness. If the reader is interested, check out the first verse of chapter four, in
playing which instruments. Eventually I learned that the mystery musicians
which Patanjali states that the experience of samadhi can be attained by the
on the cassette were Bhagavan Das, Jai Uttal, Krishna Das and Diana
use of drugs. The Sanskrit word used is aushadhi, which translates as
Rodgers, all devotees of Neem Karoli Baba, an enlightened guru from India.
"chemical means." He also states in that same sutra that it can happen
I also listened to a tape that my producer friend had made from the LP titled
through the practice of mantra or through the power of discipline and that
Ah, with a picture on the cover of Bhagavan Das on a beach, ektar in hand,
you can also be born enlightened—^your cosmic awareness can come from
eyes lifted heavenward, appearing to be singing. These brilliant, dedicated
the work you did in past lives.
and deeply spiritual musicians have become well-known and tremendously
Most young people in the sixties were in a hurry, so the use of
popular, as has Bill Laswell. In the true sense of the word yoga, which means
chemical means was an attractive option. Thus a whole society of turned on
to join," Bill has been a pioneer in uniting various musicians and genres of
young people spent a huge part of their time listening to very disciplined
music, integrating Indian classical ragas and chanting, electrónica, jazz and
music that was composed and performed for the express purpose of leading
funk into sonic mood shifters that have the ability to rewire the listener at a
one towards God. Music and the use of drugs or alcohol has always been a
molecular level. When I started to teach yoga in the East Village in New
tradition in America among blues, jazz and rock and roll musicians, but it
York City, it seemed natural for me to bring my soundtracks along, so the
was never part of the Indian musical tradition. The training required to
138
139
GANNON
YOGA AND MUSIC
master Indian music demands intense discipline over a long period of time,
and aim to move the practitioner to become more in tune with the natural
in large part because of its fundamental connection to spirituality. As Ravi
world and through that harmony move one's consciousness closer to the
Shankar explains, "Our tradition teaches that sound is God—^Nada Brahma.
divine source of all manifestation. Yoga postures (asanas) are the vibrational
That is, musical sound and the musical experience are steps to the realiza
forms of fish, birds, animals, mountains, etc.
tion of the Self. "We view music as a kind of spiritual discipline that raises
The yogi forms him- or herself into the shape or posture of a par
one's inner being to divine peacefulness and bhss." In fact, Ravi Shankar
ticular animal. This is done by means of breathing: "singing" the shape into
agreed to write the foreword to the book that David Life and I wrote, The
form, which causes a vibrational shift of consciousness radiating into every
Art of Yoga, only after we ran into each other at a party some months after
cell and tissue of the yogi's body. As consciousness {kundalini in Sanskrit)
we first approached him about the project, and he and I conversed for a long
ascends, it is likened to a cobra, entranced by the sound of the flute. As
time about how neither of us take drugs, preferring instead to engage in
kundalini rises, she pierces through the chakras (energy centers in the
creative arts and yoga as a means to feeling good. At the end of the conver
body), and in each chakra, a distinct sound will be heard. These sounds are
sation, he agreed to write the foreword because, he said, he now knew that
described in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika as the sounds of certain musical
I had an understanding of the discipline involved in yoga practice, which is
instruments, like drums, trumpets, bells, clanging cymbals, high pitched
the same as in music—both being fundamentally spiritual disciplines.
flutes and stringed instruments (like sitar, violin, viña and harp); the sounds
In the West, on the other hand, our arts have not always been
of animals, like the chirping of crickets and the buzzing of bees; and the
studied or performed in order to become enlightened or to glorify God. Of
elemental sounds, like the rumbling of thunderclouds or the blowing of the
course there are exceptions, and many of those are great exceptions: Bach,
wind. Even the notes of the Indian scale—Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa (the
Beethoven, Mozart and Liszt, for instance. But in our pop music culture,
precursor to our Western scale: Do Re Me Fa So La Ti Do)—^were drawn
artists tend to seek the glorification of their own egos more than of God.
from listening to and emulating the sounds of certain animals: Sa=peacock,
Many want to express themselves through the music, not express God
Re=cow, Ga=goat, Ma=heron, Pa=cuckoo, Dha=horse, Ni=elephant.
through the music. Most accomplished Indian musicians, however, seek to
Indian Music is based in voice; even when instruments are being played,
become instruments for God's expression. In order to accomplish that, one
they are singing.
must work hard to master his or her instrument, which begins, like most
The popularity of yoga is growing in the West. Yoga Journal mag
musical study, with learning how to tune one's instrument. This is the same
azine estimates that 15 million people are practicing yoga in America. Most
process involved in the practice of yoga. The ultimate aim is the same: for
of these practitioners would say that they practice a form of yoga known as
the "doer" to disappear and only God to remain, and according to the
hathayoga. They might describe hatha yoga as "physical," or as "stretching
teachings, God is sound—the primordial nadam.
exercises to increase flexibility and strength and to improve health." Very
There are so many similarities between the practice of yoga and
few practitioners would be able to tell you how hatha yoga relates to one's
music. Both are very physically demanding. The aim of both is to arrive at
musical abilities. But, as noted at the start of this essay, the fact is that the
an essential level of existence—beyond the limits of space and time. Yoga is
goal of the hatha yoga practices is to develop a sound body and sound mind
concerned with moving from the gross (the physical body) to the more
in order to become more musical—to be able to hear the nadam. The nadam
subtle (consciousness); Music takes the subtle consciousness from gross
is the vibrational underlying stream that connects all of life; it is the eternal
physical sound to the more etheric moods, colors or feelings {bhav in
pulse of the universe, known as the "inner humming"—the sacred sound of
Sanskrit). Both practices transform the practitioner, not only outwardly but
OM. All manifested things, including language, emanate from this primal
inwardly as well. As musical notes are played, they resonate, causing a
source. In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali refers to the sound of OM ^.spranava,
vibrational shift in the body of the musician. Both practices involve listen-
which means "eternally new," and he declares that "God is OM" (verse
ing to the sounds of nature. Both practices draw their language from nature
1.27). So when one is tuned to that which is eternally new, he or she becomes
140
141
GANNON
YOGA AND MUSIC
renewed, the body and mind becoming sound, or whole. The hatha yoga
The process of organizing individual movements into dance, or
techniques help clear the subtle channels of the body known as nadis so that
individual notes into music, is very similar to the process of "composing"
the sound current, the nadam, which connects all of reality from subtle to
asana sequences, or vinyasas. Most people who practice hatha yoga think of
gross, will be able to flow without obstruction. When this happens, an indi
vinyasa as "flow yoga," where a sequence of asanas (various postures) flow
vidual becomes tuned to the universal and is able to feel in harmony with all
together linked with the breath. But the term vinyasa actually means to
of existence. Yoga is a spiritual practice and a very physical one. In order for
consciously place in an ordered sequence by means of breathing with a very
the physical to exist, the spiritual must be present. The nature of the physi
specific intention—the intention being chitta vritti nirodha: the cessation of
cal is spirit, and spirit is sound.
the fluctuations
of the mind. In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali declares that the
Sound moves all things; without movement, things have no exis
state of enlightenment is achieved when this cessation occurs (verse 1.2), and
tence, no life. For anything to exist, it has to be in motion. Motion is made
as mentioned above, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika describes the state of
of vibration; vibration creates frequency, pulsation and sound. All of life is
enlightenment as the state in which the mind is absorbed in the nadam
alive, vibrating and pulsating. The whole world is sound. God created this
(see verse 4.100). When asanas are properly composed into vinyasas, their
world, so God also is sound. The Sanskrit phrase Nada Brahma means
practice can lead to the quieting of the mind and the opening of the nadis—
"God is Sound." According to the yoga tradition, the cause of all existence
the subtle energy channels—^which enables the practitioner to experience
is known by the term spanda, which refers to the divine throbbing, quiver
the nadam in a state of enlightenment.
ing, humming, primal, transcendental cause of all vibration—^what sets life
into motion.
Let's explore some specific yoga practices that employ sound
and/or music to foster a connection with the Divine.
If something appears to exist, you can bet that it is vibrating and
The practice of "nada yoga" mostly focuses on contemplating and
that some will be able to hear the thing, as well as see it. Everything, includ
Ustening for the nadam—the syllable OM. In verse 9.17 of the Bhagavad
ing so-called inanimate physical objects, are constantly producing tones—
Gita, Krishna, the Supreme Lord, says, "I am the object of all knowledge;
they sound. Reality is indeed resounding continuously. Does this mean that
I am the sacred syllable OM," and in verse 10.25, he repeats: "Of all words
music is everywhere? Are sound and music the same, or is music something
I am the syllable OM," the idea being that through deep listening, one can
different from sound? In his book The Yoga of Sound, Russili Paul says,
come to know God. Nada yoga encompasses a variety of listening prac
"Sound is the emanation of any tone, frequency, or vibration. Music, on the
tices designed to refine the yogi's ability to hear the pranava, the OM
other hand, is the organization of specific tones or frequencies, located at
sound. The practices entail directing the yogi's consciousness toward the
specific distances—or musical intervals—from each other." So sound is not
nadam—to engage in deep listening. The first step in developing listening
necessarily music, but all music is sound. For music to emerge from sound,
skills is to stop talking—become still and quiet in order to allow an inner
it must be organized. As a young woman I studied ballet with a great
tranquility to permeate the senses. A crucial prerequisite to these practices
teacher, Ruthanna Boris, who was a member of George Balanchine s New
is being in a receptive mood. Receptivity is very important to the yogi,
York City Ballet. Miss Boris would often admonish her dance students by
because enlightenment is not something you can capture or take; it is
repeatedly emphasizing that all movement is not dance. "A dance," she
something that is received.
would say, "is specific movement, organized according to music—^it s not
I have been privileged to be in the presence of musicians who were
just a lot of flapping around with your arms and legs." In a similar way, all
very skilled in the practice of nada yoga, and through the practice of listen
sound is not music. It takes a musician to recognize patterns inherent in the
ing to sound, were able to pull music out of the air. The late great trumpeter
vast array of sounds around them. It takes a gifted musician to then be able
Don Cherry was a phenomenal musician. I had the honor of playing music
to organize those patterns into specific melodies and rhythms and to hear
with him when he was a member of our band Audio Letter in the 1980s. He
the overlay of harmonies. This is what musical composition entails.
is credited with coining the phrase "world music," because he felt that to
142
143
GANNON
YOGA AND MUSIC
call what many musicians were doing by incorporating Indian, Brazilian
able to hear, you first have to listen. I suppose there are musicians who play
and African instruments, as well as other musical styles, into Western gen
music to express themselves, but people Hke Asha and Don listen in order
res "jazz-fusion," "Afro-BraziHan" or "Indian fusion" was limiting. He
to hear the patterns that are floating in the sonic atmosphere and then bring
liked the term "world music" perhaps because it felt more expansive, more
those patterns forth. The formula for nada yoga could be stated simply as:
inclusive. Once I was walking with Don down Avenue B in the Lower East
Hsten-hear-know-become-be.
Side of New York City after a rehearsal session, and he was talking about
Shabda is another Sanskrit term meaning sound—not sound in
music and how it was going on continuously. I asked, "you mean in your
general, but sound as word. In the yogic tradition, the spiritual power of the
own head?" "No, not just there—everywhere, can't you hear it?" We
word is a science and an art. Yogis chant mantras and magical incantations,
stopped on the sidewalk next to Tompkins Square Park. Don put his finger
which can shift ones perception of reality—or even alter reality itself (there
to his lips as if to say, "be quiet for a moment and listen." He stood there
may not be a difference). Ancient scriptures across traditions recognize the
for a few moments, eyes closed, then he started to nod his head to an invis
central role of sound as word. For example, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
ible (at least to me) rhythm. In a moment or two his mouth started moving
states: "Through Divine utterance the universe has come into being" (verse
as he was humming a tune. "You hear that? It's right here! It's in the sound
1.2.4), and the Gospel of St. John in the Christian Bible declares: "In the
of these trees and pigeons and the motors of the cars passing by—it's here,
beginning was the word." (John 1:1)
right here. All around us is music...go on now, sing it with me!" So there
we were, singing the melody he had pulled out of the air.
Hazrat Inayat Khan taught: "the voice is the barometer for the
soul. Its transparency reveals the soul's every condition."Joy, sorrow, anger
A similar experience happened several years later when I was sitting
and pain—each has its own voice that comes through, despite the most skill
in a restaurant with Bombay-born, Indian vocalist Asha Puthli. I had
ful deception. By affecting our voice, we can affect our soul, instilling in it
always been in awe of Asha since hearing her mind-blowing vocals on two
the qualities we desire. Purity of speech is an important concept, as well as
tracks from Omette Coleman's brilliant 1972 album. Science Fiction. She
a practice, in the yoga tradition. Liberation is the goal of all forms of yoga.
had been a major influence on me. I couldn't figure out how she was able
To be Hberated means to be Hberated from separateness. The liberated know
to sing the distinct melodies like she did on that album, with the free jazz
themselves as one with all that is—^whole... holy. According to all of the
that Omette was doing, which often sounded dissonant and noise-like.
yoga traditions, this Hberation comes by means of sound—in one form or
"Oh," she laughed, "it's easy for me because of my training in nada yoga.
another. As Bob Marley often sang, "One who hears it knows it."
Do you want me to show you how to do it?" I nodded. "Ok, sit still and
The chanting of mantra, Hke the saying of prayers in many reli
listen—listen very closely, but don't try to figure anything out, just relax."
gions, can also lead one to God. Mantra is a Sanskrit word composed of two
"What, right here?" I asked. "Yes, music is everywhere, now just listen," she
sounds: man, which means "mind," and tra, which means "to cross over"
responded. We were sitting at a table by a window in a midtown Manhattan
or "to protect." The literal meaning of the word mantra pertains to that
restaurant, waiters buzzing around, dishes, glasses and silverware clinking
which can help one to cross over and thus be set free from the habitual,
and clattering, conversations going on, air conditioning humming, record
unconscious patterns of the mind. Mantras can work Hke magic. Magic
ed music playing, traffic on the street outside—a cacophony of sounds. All
means a shift in perception. To be able to work magic, it is necessary to learn
the while Asha, her eyes closed, appeared enraptured as she started to sing
how to spell. Spelling refers not only to "casting spells," but also to simply
a melody, expressed as notes from the Indian scale sung with "ahs." After a
being able to say words correctly—not only with the right letters and pro
few minutes she created a little tune. "That's amazing, how did you do
nunciation, but also with the right intention. You can read about the power
that? I asked. I didn t do anything, I just listened—the song was already
there," Asha maintained casually.
of prayer and mantra to bring about a particular change in reality, but if you
To be able to play music or to sing, you first have to hear, but to be
144
haven't had first hand experience, it all remains as superstitious or as a
speculative religious or spiritual concept.
145
GANNON
YOGA AND MUSIC
At the opening of the 1969 Woodstock Festival of Peace, Love &
Mantra can also create form. About twenty years after "the wolver
Music, Swami Satchidananda told the crowd that "music is the celestial
ine incident," I was sitting in a room with my friend Shyamdas, a Krishna
sound, and it is sound that controls the entire universe. Sound energy, sound
devotee, bhakti yoga teacher and kirtan singer. We were chanting the Sanskrit
power, is much, much greater than any other power in the world. One thing
mantra shri Krishnah sharanam mama, which means, "I take refuge in the
I want you all to remember—^with sound we can make, and at the same time
beautiful, all-attractive Lord of love." We were using japa malas made of
break. We can break with sound, and if we care, we can also make with
tulsi wood, like rosaries, one bead after the other keeping track of each rep
sound. So let all of our actions and all our arts express Yoga." I think I know
etition of the mantra. I had my eyes closed, and after chanting for some
what Swami Satchidananda may have been trying to teach us, as I have
time, maybe half an hour, I began to see a vision taking form behind my
experienced the power of mantra to alter reality in a visually perceptible
eyelids the way a digital picture comes together on a computer screen, one
way, both destructive and constructive. While in Seattle in the early 1970s I
pixel at a time. I became quite entranced with what was happening, but as
lived for a couple of months as a novice member of a Christian cult known
the picture began to take a recognizable form, I opened my eyes. The pixe-
as the "Love Family." Early one morning close to day-break, I woke up in
lated form continued to come together in the middle of the room with each
my bed filled with paralyzing fear. I felt, for want of a better word, a
syllable of the mantra. I closed my eyes and continued to see the vision
demonic presence in my room. Before opening my eyes I heard the sound
coming together. I opened my eyes to see individual dots of light create an
of someone or something snarling and growling on the floor near the foot
animated 3-D vision of Krishna and his beloved gopi, Radha, sitting togeth
of my bed. When I managed to open my eyes, I saw what looked to me like
er in a swing. It was as if I had stumbled upon them while taking a walk in
• a wolverine-type of animal pacing back and forth close to the bed. My
a magical forest. As we continued to chant the mantra, the form remained,
whole body was quivering with dread and apprehension. Never before had
vibrating and alive. Overwhelmed, I looked over toward Shyamdas sway
I come face to face with such a terrorizing form. All of my fears were con
ing with the rhythm of the mantra—his eyes closed. I became exhilarated,
centrated in this form. All fears are actually variations of the fear of death—
knowing that something special was happening, and with that excitement,
I felt, without a doubt, that this being was here to kill me, and at any
the mood shifted and I fell out of the experience. I closed my eyes, but
moment would savagely pounce upon me. There was no time to reflect
could not regain the focus or the vision that had been created by the sound
upon whether or not I was dreaming, or if this was a hallucinatory phantom
of the mantra. I couldn't even continue chanting, as my reasoning intellect
from my imagination. Instead I had to decide what to do and do it imme
began to overpower my experience, and with that the celestial form was
diately. Without a hesitating moment, I began to utter the name: Jesus
lost. We stopped chanting and sat for a few moments before I told Shyamdas
Christ. At first I wasn't able to speak—my vocal chords seemed frozen—so
what had happened or at least what I thought had happened. Even though
I could only mouth the words, which I did, but this gave way very quickly
I was not able to maintain the vision, I had learned through a first hand
to whispering. The more I chanted the words, keeping my focus on the
experience the power of word, of mantra, to affect or create a vision of real
demon, the stronger my ability to chant became, until I was speaking
ity. It is said in the yoga tradition that nama precedes rupa, which means
strongly, rhythmically and loudly. The words started to affect the physical
that from the sound of the name {nama), the form {rupa) appears.
form of the creature. It was as if the actual sound of the words was causing
Repeating sacred words or mantras can be done in private to one
the body of the creature to break down into pixelations of form. The more
self. The practice purifies one's mind and moves it toward inner contempla
I chanted, the more the demon form dissolved like pieces of a puzzle disen-
tion on the divine source. Many practitioners of bhakti yoga, which is the
gaging from a picture and evaporating into thin air. The visible form seemed
yoga of devotion—the yoga that purifies the emotions and opens the heart
to be decomposing back into the subtle element of air or ether. So sound can
to love—^use mala beads to practice the recitation of mantra. You simply
break
hold the mala or string of beads in your hand, and as you recite each repe
break down a tangible form into nothing—nothing with visible
substance, that is. Mantra can be used to destroy form.
146
tition of the mantra, you hold a bead with your fingers. As you continue to
147
GANNON
YOGA AND MUSIC
recite, you travel to the next bead until you make your way all around the
was born, but he was responsible for making it totally accessible and, we
mala. Then you turn it around and start over. This is called japa practice,
could say, hot, hip and definitely holy! He got people up on the dance floor!
which means "recitation," and it is one of the oldest practices of yoga. The
He was a mover and shaker! The ecstatic experience that arises from singing
recitation takes three forms: silent, soft murmuring or out loud. Mala beads
God's name and dancing in delightful abandon is not only soul-freeing but
aren t only used by yogis, but also by Muslims as prayer beads and by
frees one on many levels, physical and intellectual too. You don't have to be
Christians in the form of a rosary. Private contemplative practices using
a learned scholar and be able to memorize long involved scripture, you
sound as mantra and prayer are ancient practices and have been effective
don't have to argue the existence of God, you don't have to be able to sit
forms of yoga for thousands of years.
alone and meditate in a cave for years, you don't have to be able to control
While the chanting of mantras is often done privately, it can also be
your breath and stop your heart and you don't have to be able to bend your
done in a group setting. Perhaps due to estrangement from God, the natural
body into contortions to practice bhakti yoga. You don't even have to be a
world, each other and ourselves, many of us have become socially inhibited
trained musician or dancer. All you have to do is to be willing to loosen up
and uncomfortable with our bodies and our feelings, resulting, among other
and start singing God's holy names—the magic of the sound will take care
things, in tremendous fear when it comes to speaking or singing in public. I
of the rest. Attend a Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, or Shyamdas concert to see how
believe that the yogic practice of kirtan developed to help remedy this
dilemma of modern life.
ecstatic, therapeutic and contagious the kirtan experience can be.
In the worldwide, East-West yoga community, the practice of
kirtan (pronounced "keer-ton") has become the most popular method to
awaken one to the power of sound, word and music. The word kirtan
means to speak of, to mention." Kirtan is call and response singing of
"Music has the potential other arts don't have, which is to utterly change
you within three minutes. Your whole body chemistry can change, your
mood, your perspective..." —^Nick Cave, noted musician and leader of
the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
mantras, the names of God or of God's glories. Usually kirtan is done in a
In our culture, disconnection between what one thinks, what one
group where there is a lead singer known as a kirtan-wallah, who recites or
feels, what one says and what one does is normal. Through the practice of
sings a line, and then the group responds by singing that same line. Good
kirtan, a person can actually "pull himself or herself together" by allowing
kirtan-wallahs are able to move the group into deeper/higher levels of ecsta
their suppressed emotions to well up and be purified in the divine mood or
sy, where the rational mind melts into the heart, often culminating in height
bhav where all emotions are allowed. Kirtan is an opportunity to release the
ened ecstatic trance and rapturous tears of joy. One possessed by this
heart and all of the pent up feelings that go with mundane repressed life.
euphoria forgets their mundane problems and is transported into a height
There is an old alchemical precept that states: through repetition the magic
ened state of awareness where love is the only law. Since the name of God
is forced to rise. I think this is what happens in kirtan. You chant over and
IS considered the same as God, singing God's name is to invoke the presence
over again these phrases or mantras set to simple melodies, and the feeling
of God and so come into intimate contact with God—^which is after all the
builds until you are exploding with uninhibited intoxication, smiling,
aim of yoga: to yoke or unite with God. The soul's yearning for God urges
laughing, and even sometimes dancing. Once you have such an experience,
one onward to explore deeper and deeper states of feeling, because under-
your perception of what is possible in the realm of emotional experience is
lying even the most melancholy of love songs is a sweet longing to reunite
with the source.
shifted, and that can be considered magic. In the bhakti realm, knowing
how to perform elaborate rituals, or to debate philosophical concepts, or to
The great 15 th century Bengali bhakti saint, Chaitanya, is consid
perform contorted asanas, means nothing. WThen the soul is in the presence
ered the father of modern kirtan, as he is credited for giving rise to the
of God, only love reigns supreme. Kirtan sets the heart free to love and
popularity of kirtan as a spiritual practice. Kirtan existed before Chaitanya,
unite with the supreme beloved. When we sing God's name, our very being
and certainly the recitation of mantra was going on for centuries before he
becomes transformed through the power of mantra, enabling us to cross
over the thinking mind into that state of wholeness—holiness.
148
149
CHAPTER
9
GANNON
Of all the various types of yoga practice that a person can do at this
time in the history of the planet, chanting the names of God is the most
effective and direct means to attaining liberation from the wheel oí samsara,
the world of repeated suffering. The yoga scriptures tell us that for each
MUSIC, MYSTICISM AND SPIRITUALITY
yuga, which means "age, era or time span," a specific form of spiritual prac
PETER GARLAND
tice is appropriate. During the Satya era, which was millions of years ago,
before recorded history, the best yoga method was meditation. In the Treta
era, ritual sacrifice brought about realization. In the Dvapara era, one
attained realization through worship of deities. But in the Kali yuga, our
present era, the most direct means to attain liberation, or God realization, is
Peter Garland (student, c. 1971): How does one compose music that is
through chanting the holy names of God. This seems appropriate due to the
deep and authentic, and not just..."sounds?"
urgency we all feel to some extent at this time, due to the global crisis that
James Tenney (teacher): It is a question of feeling things more deeply.
threatens the continuation of life on earth. Human ignorance has propelled
us to think, speak and act as if what we thought, said and did didn't have an
effect on physical existence. Through the power of music, we might be able
I
have never been much of a religious practitioner, but my personal and musical
to save ourselves and the world from total annihilation. It is sound which
life have frequently brought me into contact with religious beliefs, practices
brings form into existence, after all. If the divine presence of God is to reign
and people from a variety of cultures. To me the idea of mysticism implies
on earth, then that presence will be brought forth through means of music.
a religious outlook, a "mystery," though I suppose one could feel some
thing like that simply by gazing at the night sky or the sea. I am not much
of a scientific materiahst either Although I connect mysticism with reli
gion, I don't necessarily view spirituality in that way, though of course it
can be. I see spirituality as manifesting itself in personal belief and ethical
conduct (with ethics not being confused with religious proscriptions).
My appreciation of rehgion(s) is as much, or more, cultural—as a cultural
product, like the arts and other expressive forms of human activity—as it
is philosophical. In that way, cultural work (in my case, composing music)
can be a form of spiritual belief and a way of life—the Navajo concept of
"Beauty" provides such a model. As I've grown older and more solitary
(the latter not necessarily by choice), my relationship with the direct
making of music—as a performer or an improviser would experience it—
has become more distant. Though I somewhat regret and miss that, there
is a kind of alchemy in the composing process: namely a sense of surprise
and wonder when one hears one's own (or others') music. This does not
occur all the time, and sometimes that experience is more profound than at
other moments. It is precisely the transformative aspect of creativity, of
going beyond oneself: "How did I do that?" "I have no idea..." Of course,
part of that mystery lies in years of training, discipline and a deepening
relationship with one's basic materials: both sound itself and the movement
150
151
GARLAND
MUSIC, MYSTICISM AND SPIRITUALITY
and physical relationships of sound, and that psychic and emotional chem
duce a very similar state to that created by sleep deprivation, where the
istry corresponding to the Zen-like koan posed to me by Tenney so many
rational brain gives way to a deeper "metaphorical/receptive" mode. The
years ago: of "feeling things more deeply."
fundamental "mystery" of mysticism is as much located in the mystery of
our own minds and physical organism, as it is manifested in exterior, artis
tic phenomena. In such "altered" states, the dividing line between percep
tion and reception can become blurred, or even, perhaps, unified.
If I am going to write about music and mysticism here, it will mainly be
about my experiences in this regard as a witness, rather than a participant or
practitioner (though in most public rituals, spectators/listeners are an inte
gral part of the context). I identify three basic factors, all essentially extramusical, that are integral, in varying degrees, to this experience of sound as
a mystical phenomenon. Hence one idea that is very important to empha
size is the concept of synaesthesia: there are almost always multiple stimuli
involved, not just aural. There is only one instance where a work of my own
was described as mystical." Reviewing the 1985 performance of my shad
ow puppet theater and dance drama. The Conquest of Mexico, John Voland
wrote in the LÄ Times'. Yet the two-hour long work's elegaic tone was
deep and mystical... (this contrasts with the vindictive slam I received in
the magazine. High (sic) PerformanceV). Obviously, the music was only one
contributing element in this mix.
The first factor is the religious or ritual aspect. The musical activi
ties take place, both in regards to creation and reception, in a framework of
specific beliefs, about both the philosophical underpinnings and practical
(or functional) efficacy of the musical activity.
The second factor is the larger context. Anyone who has been to
ceremonial dances out at the Hopi Mesas will understand what I mean by
that. Context could also refer to a different culture or religion; any situation
that takes one out of a familiar frame of reference mto one that is exotic or
unfamiliar, be it an Islamic mosque, a Buddhist temple, or a Mexican Indian
village deep in the mountains. In this sense, the musical and mystical experi
ence reaffirms a sense of place that can be cultural, historical or geographical.
The third factor is subjective, one's own receptivity and state of
awareness. This obviously can be conditioned by the first two factors; and
It can also be influenced by physiological and psychological factors too.
Sleep deprivation is a recurring condition one has to deal with in ceremonies
or performances that last all night, whether they are Kachma dances or
Javanese Wayang Kulit. Drugs or other mind-altering substances can pro152
Another crucial point to emphasize is that—apart, perhaps, from a
few sublime moments in the performance of Indian (India) classical music,
a musical system that has its own set of deep philosophical underpinnings—
I have never experienced a mystical experience with music in any concert
presentation. Music as "product" or as a commodified activity does not
lend itself to this, in my opinion. All of these deep experiences have taken
place in the context of community—be it religious or social—and the
musical expressions have been vaUdated by their place in a fabric of inter
connected beliefs and activities. I have seen some events that were indeed
performances as much or more than they were rituals, but what trans
formed them were the shared beHefs that created a certain "gravitas" of the
moment, taking it beyond mere spectacle. Needless to say too, the absence
of a large "outsider" audience contributes also to this feeling. It was quite a
shock and distraction the first and only time I went to the all-night Shalako
dances at Zuni Pueblo, to see the multiple tour buses arriving—at mid
night!—from Santa Fe and disgorging all their passengers! No wonder the
Zunis have become ambivalent and antagonistic towards non-Indian out
siders at their dances! In these situations, respect and proper behavior are
demanded as much from spectators as they are from participants (though I
must confess to an occasional lapse in this regard—"youthful indiscre
tions," I am quick to add!).
One other thing I must mention is the fact that I have never had a
"mystical" or "spiritual" experience with electronic technology. I think the
principal reason is that these kinds of experiences are ultimately transmitted
and received via our physical, human organisms—both body and mind (and
spirit). These are the basic vehicles: that the divine can only be experienced
in terms of what poet Charles Olson referred to as this "human universe."
That the divine is fundamentally human, and vice versa. One concert I
attended in Santa Fe in the 1990s illustrated this point in a rather unexpect
ed way. It was a performance by the Gyuto Monks Tantric Choir, a group
whose tour was being partially underwritten by the Grateful Dead. In
153
MUSIC, MYSTICISM AND SPIRITUALITY
GARLAND
addition, the Dead had supphed an ampUfication system—this event was in
chant, with a very forceful inhale-exhale push. Whether it was trance or
an outdoor amphitheater, normally used for rock concerts. It was strange
not, the effect on me was that way. Equally moving was the silence of the
enough seeing each of the monks wearing state-of-the-art microphone
whirling dancers, in contrast to this. The center of the dance floor became a
headsets. What was truly disconcerting was that the chanting—the sound—
sea of calm and meditative grace, with waves of chant crashing on all sides.
was no longer coming from the monks (from where I was sitting I could
This would not be the only time when the most powerful and mystical
not discern anything directly from them), but rather from banks of speak
ers on each side. And however good these speaker systems might have
element of a some experience would be the silence.
The Wayang Kulit of Java, which I have stayed up all night to watch
been, these sounds were no longer human, but rather electronically trans
and listen to more than a dozen times, both in the U.S. and Java, was another
mitted signals. So instead of Tantric Buddhist chanting, what we were
sort of sacred experience altogether. Besides the rich music of the gamelan
essentially treated to was a live-electronic music concert! It was strange, to
(the last performance I saw in Yogyakarta I sat in the midst of the musicians,
say the least! This brings up another issue, one which I will not go further
right behind the puppeteer), the magic for me was the immersion in the
with here: the role of architectural space, both interior and exterior, in the
mythic past of the Mahabharata, of a timeless time when gods and demons
projection and amplification of sacred sound. One is familiar with that in
spoke and fought, all this cloaked in the darkness of night, away from the
regards to cathedral and temple acoustics. In Mexico I discovered a similar
glare of daytime and everyday (so-called) reality. There is a musical struc-
function in the role of echo and amplification amidst the large pyramids
mre to the Wayang—the three patets, or modes, and their corresponding
and other edifices in the magnificent urban ceremonial compounds of the
moods—that works to reinforce this sense of sacred time/space. After the
pre-Columbian world.
climax of the batde scene the music settles into the final mode, patet
manyura, and one is enveloped in a sense of dramatic resolution and peace
if*
îf"
îf"
ful unfolding untU the end of the play, often as the morning sky is just
beginning to lighten. One has overcome one's own struggle with fatigue and
sleeplessness (the toughest point is around three in the mormng—time for
Of the more performance (as opposed to ritual) type events that have
a coffee or a cigarette to help stay awake; beyond that it is clear sailing). And
moved me deeply I think of the all-night Javanese shadow puppet plays
there is nothing like seeing the dawn after such a night in the presence of the
(Wayang Kulit) and the music and dancing of the Sufi Whirling Dervishes
in Istanbul, Turkey. Two of the three times I attended the latter, they were
gods. No film has ever moved me in the same way.
The same can be said of the Night Dances at Zuni Pueblo
equally ritual and performance. They were performed by and for the mem
comings and goings of the Mudheads and the countless Kachinas. The
bers of the Sufi community; and although spectators were welcome, it was
incredibly intricate and rhythmic music of the Zunis, the weighty serious
not really a pubHc (or advertised) event. So there was a far greater intimacy
ness of the dancing and the massed sound of the dancers rattles. The
and intensity (the second time was on a very auspicious and "powerful"
woodsmoke smell of the Pueblos. The feeling of ancientness: that these
night at the end of Ramadan, where by chance I ended up sitting with the
ceremonies belong, again, to a mythic past and are the oldest still surviving
spiritual leader of the group and the instrumentalists and solo singers in the
on this North American continent. And that for this night or day at least,
inner sanctum). Both these performances took place in the evening at the
this village, out in the remote New Mexico (or in the case of the Hopi,
group's meeting hall; as opposed to the "concert" presentation which had
^the
been advertised with posters and handbills and which took place in the
Arizona) desert, is the center of the world.
Just the drive out to the Hopi Mesas itself, through die Four
daytime and in a museum (and with younger dancers who were obviously
Corners area and Navajo country, is enough to put you into another time
students). The first time, the most startling thing was when the men, assem
frame and mental state. One of the most remarkable experiences I had out
bled around the dance floor (the musicians and lead singers were in a smaller,
there was at a ceremony the morning after the late summer Niman Kachina
open adjoining room), and among whom I was sitting, suddenly began to
154
155
GARLAND
MUSIC, MYSTICISM AND SPIRITUALITY
dances. For Hopi and Zuni, I relied on certain poet and visual artist friends
pletely make out visually what I was hearing. There were prayers and chant
for tips and information—most of my musician peers seemed to know or
ing, of course; and at some point what sounded like the rubbing together of
care little for any of this. Several of us had camped out on the Mesa, and
prayer beads—but inexplicably louder than what I would have expected.
with them I got up before sunrise to make it back to the village where a
Then came some amazing moments when the monks seemed to run around
dawn ceremony would take place around one of the kivas. A priest and
the room, making a very dramatic sound with their wooden clog sandals
several Kachinas came out of that underground chamber, and performed a
(the floor of the temple being a natural resonating box). The musical inten
ritual that I had no understanding of whatsoever, other than admiring its
sity was building simultaneously with my own feeling increasingly chilled.
formality and solemnity. The small crowd watching (we were the only
I had come back into Nara from visiting various outlying temples, and had
white folks) were quiet and reverent. You could hear the tiniest sounds—
not had a chance to change into warmer clothes before heading over to
and the silence was profound. The sun was rising in the east, as the full
Todai-ji, so I was not prepared for the cold—not to mention the fact that
moon was setting directly opposite in the west. Again, at this moment, here,
one had to remove one's shoes before entering the temple. I was starting
it felt like we were at the center, the heart, of the world.
to shiver and reach a breaking point, when it happened: all of a sudden there
All these factors—ancient ritual, a feeling of being in the center of
was an eerie heterophony of conch shell horns! It was one of the most
the world, the dislocation of night-time, a foreign culture and religion—
jaw-dropping musical moments of my life. I was stunned: here I was, wit
came together once for me in Japan. The fact that this "center of the world"
nessing a ceremony that extended back 1,200 years, and oddly what those
idea keeps recurring perhaps points to the concept of mandaL—how ener
conch shell horns made me think of was: Edgard Varèse! "Ancient to the
gy is concentrated in and then radiated out from a specific spiritual center.
future"—indeed! The temple grounds and downtown Nara were com
The sand and painted marídalas are a visual representation of a very real
pletely empty as I scurried back to my comfortable room at the ryokan. As
energy phenomenon that I've only had glimpses of in these rare moments
usual the silence of the night served to amplify the resonance in my mind of
of sensory alteration, psychic receptiveness, and musical-ritual articulation.
what I had just witnessed and heard.
The event was the annual Omizutori ceremony at the Todai-ji Buddhist
temple in Nara in early March. On the final night the eleven or so monks
who are performing the purification rituals (which go on for over two
weeks) enact a dramatic spectacle where they run with huge pine bundle
torches onto the front balcony of the temple (an old, wooden temple, mind
In the mid-'90s in New Mexico, I also had a pair of musical/sonic encoun
you!) and wave them, showering sparks on the crowds of onlookers who
ters with the "Great Mystery" itself: Death. Both occurred during Easter
have gathered below. This is certainly as dramatic as anything I've ever
week and involved the Penitentes, a Catholic lay brotherhood active in the
seen—but it is very much a public spectacle and it is packed with people.
Hispanic communities of New Mexico. On a Palm Sunday in 1997, at the
I was fortunate enough to be close to the front, and apparently among a
morning Mass at the Santuario of Chimayó (Esperanza and I had walked
special invited group (where I think I was not really supposed to be; but I
there, a few miles from nearby Nambe; ours being a small precursor of the
ended up there due to a combination of determination, gaijin naivete, and
big annual pilgrimage that would climax there on Good Friday—^people
Japanese courtesy in not kicking me out!). Anyway I was invited by people
walked from as far away as Albuquerque) the priest had armounced that the
in the group to come with them afterwards to the back of the temple, to
local Penitentes would be singing alabados at a special service to be cele
witness the rest of the ceremony that would go on all night. It was very
brated that afternoon, at a church outside Española, and that the pubHc was
dark
the ritual area lit only by candle or oil lamp light—and I was in the
welcome. So we decided to go. The Penitente brothers looked like a cross-
rear of two viewing chambers, the one for just the general pubHc. So I was
section of the Hispanic community—^professional people, working class
viewing things through two wooden lattice screens, and could not com
guys, some of them pretty big dudes. They all seemed to have their note
books (I didn't get to see them close up), which had the lyrics and/or
156
157
garland
music, mysticism and spirituality
melodies of these alabados, or praise songs (from the Spanish verb alabar,
both infinite and inevitable. I "understood" in some deep part of me—and
to give praise). The service turned out to be a massive Confession (to puri
then the service was over.
fy people for Easter Week), and there were long stretches of time given
The second time took place at the end of that week on the night of
over to the Hermanos (Brothers) to sing. It was a modern style church
Good Friday in a village in northern New Mexico. Some of Esperanza's
(as opposed to some of the adobe architectural gems from the Hispanic
friends belonged to Penitente families, and they invited her (and me, being
colonial era, such as the Santuario in Chimayó), so you could say it was
her husband) to come up and attend the service for the traditional "Tinieblas"
somewhat lacking in "atmosphere." Confession not being my thing, I
(Spanish: darkness or confusion), which represented the moment of Jesus'
decided therefore to visually focus and meditate on the Cristo on the
death when darkness came over the land, the earth shook and boulders spUt
Cross high above the altar, while I hstened to these chants. (Normally such
open, etc. We drove north and, following directions we were given, found
a figure would be covered over for Lent; somehow I recall it as not being
the morada, or local Penitente meeting house, where the people of the com
shrouded, perhaps because of it being so high up and inaccessible.) As I did
munity were already gathering. We were given a very warm and courteous
so, something very moving and unexpected happened to me. These won
welcome (not too many Anglos get invited to these things, and I was the
derful, melancholy tunes, seemingly a bit high in the tenor range for these
only one there), and we went inside with everyone for a long service, which
men, were suffused with a dark, almost Arabic, sadness—a kind of wail
was essentially various recitations of the Rosary ("Hail Mary...") and other
that went back centuries to the Iberian peninsula where once Christians,
prayers. Several of the images associated with Holy Week and Easter were
Moslems and Jews had lived together, until the Reconquista (the re-
there in the chapel, including a statue of the Virgen Dolorosa (the Grieving
conquest of Spain by the CathoHc monarchs), which had resulted in the
Virgin Mother), a santo-like statue of Jesus lying in an almost life-size
diasporic exile of this cultural legacy, many people ending up in the New
coffin, and also a wooden "Death Cart," a skeleton riding in a cart, which
World whose lands Columbus had discovered at almost the same time.
I'd only seen before in books and museums. At a certain point all the peo
There is a certain darkness to Spanish Cathohcism, more than any other
ple in the service were asked to move up front, and a floor to ceiling curtain
European form of it; I guess that reflects centuries of Inquisition and
(or blankets, I don't recall) was set up, blocking off the rear of the morada
penance (interestingly enough, the Aztecs and other pre-Columbian peo
(where the door was). There were a dozen or so candles Ht, which were our
ples too were masters of penance and sacrifice, which perhaps helped this
only light in the darkness. As we prayed, one by one they were slowly
religion take such deep root in the Hispanic Americas). One sees this most
extinguished, and the room grew darker, until there was only a single can
eerily in the Procession of Silence, which takes place in many parts of Latin
dle lit. When that was extinguished, there was suddenly a loud exclamation
America, when men in shrouds and pointed hoods carry the dead Christ
from the man leading the prayers, and then...oh
through the streets on the night of Good Friday.
been so scared—terrified!—by a sonic event, and my heart practically
my god!!!
I have never
Esperanza commented that she was struck by the emotional inten
popped out of my mouth, and I nearly levitated out of my seat as I tried to
sity of the music—that this kind of baring one s soul (and heart), the deep
h o l d o n t o Esperanza f o r d e a r life. I ' m n o t s u r e h o w l o n g this total b l a s t
pain and humility of it, was something that she thought of women doing
and
like this, but not men! This aspect was particularly moving to her. Listening
entire minute? It's like judging how long an earthquake shakes—it seems to
to these songs and staring intently at the Cristo, I felt overwhelmed by the
go on forever, even if it's only brief. Evidently (I never found out or asked
weight and sorrow of it all. Finally I suddenly realized: these men were not
any of the details) a number of Penitente brothers had silently sneaked into
just singing about the mystery of the death of a venerated religious figure
the curtained-off area behind us (and I mean silently, because the service in
shrouded in the historical memory of two thousand years ago. No, they
were singing about the mystery of Death itself, all our deaths, embodied in
this one Christ figure: their deaths, my death too, with a sadness that was
158
wall
of sound went on from behind the curtain—thirty seconds, an
the morada was very quiet except for our prayers) and had brought an
arsenal
of noise-making things (metal, whatever—I have no idea what
made that sound); and then at the signal they had
159
cut loose!
We had
garland
music, mysticism and spirituality
been told that this was going to happen three times, so with our eyes wide
siders are welcome with the understanding that this be respected. For that
open in shock, trying to recover our breath, and me trying to stuff my heart
reason I have hardly ever written about my experiences in New Mexico. In
back down my throat into my chest where it belonged, we went through
doing so now, I have been deliberately vague as to detail, and have been
the exact same ritual with the prayers and candles. We thought/hoped we
careful to write only about things that others have already written about
were prepared, but the second time it was
(I have to use
and which are readily available in print. I am grateful for the opportunity to
bold capital letters! It's the only way to express what it felt like.) Though
even worse!
have experienced these moments, and have tried not to violate this respect.
mercifully the third time wasn't quite so bad, or we had finally gotten used
—Winnegance, Maine, Winter 2009
to it (another aspect was the complete darkness in the morada—you could
n't even see your hand in front of your face). Afterwards, milling about
o u t s id e w i t h o u r friends a n d folks i n t h e c o m m u n i t y , people w e r e
smiling
and chuckling as we said our thank-yous and goodbyes. They'd been
through this before!—though some of our friends had declined to go into
Remembering Luisito Lujan
the morada, saying, "We've done it before, but we're not going through
Occasionally in life one has the luck to encounter truly remarkable people
again!" The Hermanos would spend the rest of the night in the
by chance, without consciously looking for them as one does with a teacher.
morada in prayer—^until dawn, when they would emerge, out of the
With a teacher, one usually has an idea of what one wants to learn, regard
Darkness (Las Tinieblas), and into the Light (of day). Amazed by the beau
less of whether there are surprises along the way; and more often than not,
ty and power of what we'd just witnessed, Esperanza and I drove home in
near silence.
these teachers become (lifelong) friends. But what of friends whom one
that
meets casually; who, without any intention to be so, become important
teachers? Whose friendship becomes an important encounter along the path
of one's life? Who teach one things one didn't know one wanted—or
needed—to learn?
Well, I think I have presented enough anecdotal recollections of experiences
that I have had with mysticism and music and sound—and silence. And
I haven't even mentioned anything about my years of research in Mexico!
That would easily fill another essay, and I have written about that elsewhere.
As a composer, I don't aspire to anything like this intensity of mysticism in
my own music. I am prevented from that by the very diffuse nature of my
own eclectic and personal religious outlook. These were experiences that
deeply affected me and my view of life and the world, and they are some of
my most cherished sonic memories. As for spirituality, that is an ongoing
devotion (to music—and knowledge), discipline and struggle. I can only
hope that I "get there"—^wherever that is. It's the journey itself that counts.
I want to talk about one such person, whom I will refer to from
here on as my friend. Because there was never anything more than that, and
Luis would have laughed or felt embarrassed by any such "teacher" idea.
There was never anything like that between us, and we were never anything
more than casual, but good friends. I was neither one of his best friends,
though I think my wife Esperanza was. It was through Esperanza Esquivel
that I had the good fortune of meeting Luis Lujan.
Professionally, he was known as Luisito Lujan, the diminutive
being used—in an affectionate way—as a reflection of his physical condi
tion. Luis suffered a disease or genetic condition whereby his legs never
grew, even though the rest of him developed normally. So he spent his life
in a wheel-chair. He was thus a small person—though in no sense a dwarf—
but in his inner self he was a giant of a man. Physically, I recall his big bar
Postscript
rel of a chest, symptomatic of a person who has to get around using their
In both the Native American and Hispanic communities, the rituals I have
hands and arms, plus wheeUng himself about in his wheelchair The other
mentioned are considered very sacred and very private. And therefore out
very noticeable thing about Luis were his hands—with his large agile fingers
160
161
garland
music, mysticism and spirituality
(usually clutching a cigarette). He had the sensitive hands of a woodcarver,
affairs that quickly turned into courtship. Luis Lujan was Esperanza's land
or of a jeweler like he had once been. Musicians tend to have similar hands,
lord, but between them it had become a much closer friendship than that.
because it is with our hands and fingers that we work. Not the hard, heavy
They lived in two houses right next to each other, in the same family com
work of farmers or mechanics, whose hands have to handle heavy tools and
pound under a giant spreading oak tree at the junction of two dirt roads in
loads and tend to be rougher, thicker, more calloused—Luis's hands reflect
rural Nambe, a half hour drive north of Santa Fe. Though Nambe was, and
ed the precision and delicacy of his work. By the time I met him in 1995,
still is, going through "gentrification" (sic)—i.e. the older Hispanic homes
Luisito was a renowned santero. In the Hispanic culture of New Mexico,
and properties are being bought up by wealthy Anglo money—Luis's house
that means a carver of saints. Like most santeros, Luisito could also carve
was in the heart of old Nambe. The Httle "casita" Esperanza lived in—the
and paint retablos—flat, painting-hke works carved in reUef on wood and
rural equivalent of an "efficiency" apartment, one big room with separate
painted (or just simply painted sometimes). He also made delicate straw
kitchen and bath—had once been a neighborhood liquor store (I laughed at
inlay work—like the two small crosses he made for Esperanza's and my
that—it was poetic justice that I ended up there) that Luis's father had
wedding. Carved and painted in black and red, with the tiny straw inlay as
owned. In fact, there was still an earthen "cellar" underneath, where beer
decoration (that he appHed piece by piece with tweezers). At the junction of
could be stored and kept cool. Her house was at the far end of the small
the crosses, he had placed a strong red circle with a star inside of it (for
yard. Alongside it, forming an inverted L, was Luis's larger house: a classic
mine). For Esperanza's he placed a red heart.
Hispanic house of adobe with a tin roof, with a comfortable roofed-over
Luisito was his professional name—but only his closest friends and
shady porch that ran the length of the house. Hispanic houses in the old
family (and perhaps clients and collectors) called him that. From day one I
days tended to grow horizontally, by accretion. As one had more children,
always called him Luis. That was obvious to me: besides being older than
one added more rooms, and the house got longer. Luis's family home was
me, Luis was a person who commanded respect, despite his totally relaxed,
modestly large, divided in three main sections, reflecting a medium-sized
easygoing nature. I am no expert at all on northern New Mexico wood-
family of modest means. Luis's older sister. Pita (Guadalupe, hence
carving, but I think (and most people agreed) that Luis's saints were special.
Guadalupita), widowed before I knew the family, came out on weekends,
There was a warmth, an almost human quality to his figures that were
and cleaned up and generally took care of the house and her brother. Luis
remarkable. These are, after all, only statues, pieces of wood that have been
lived in the first section of the house. His bedroom was attached to the big
carved and painted. But Luis's pieces seemed almost alive, as if each one had
kitchen, from which there was a screen door out onto the porch. In the
a heart. I think that reflected the love and skill Luis put into each piece.
middle room was Luis's table of saints—about eight to ten pieces at any given
Unlike some carvers, Luis did not carve for money; though of course he
time. These were his own pieces, and the table was special. It was neither a
didn't scorn it either. He received a regular government disability check,
display nor an altar, though it was a little of both. Seeing this grouping of
and lived in the house in Nambe where he had been born. A bachelor, he
Luis's saints always elicited comments of wonder and admiration from
had a tight, supportive and loving extended family—not to mention his
visitors. A photo of that table with its saints appears in one of the books on
neighbors and the community as a whole. Most people would have been
glad to do anything for Luis.
New Mexican santeros. I never tired of going into that room and contem
What were also amazing about Luis's saints were that they were
plating Luis's saints.
As in most such compounds, there was a lot of intimacy and per
expressions, more than anything else, of his deep faith and spirituality. That
haps a bit less privacy than a new Anglo boyfriend might have wished for.
is probably the most profound lesson he taught me, and which is why his
From the start, Luis was friendly and warm with me, and very easygoing.
pieces not only had heart, but soul also. It was this encounter with Luis's
I was not the first suitor to visit Esperanza there, and though Luis and
faith, along with my wife Esperanza's, that had the deepest impact on me.
Esperanza had become close, close friends—I would almost venture to say
I began dating Esperanza Esquivel in the summer of 1995, a state of
162
like brother and sister—Luis was very relaxed and detached. His sense of
163
garland
music, mysticism and spirituality
humor was special—he watched our comings and goings with his famous
from our Hispanic neighbors.
smile and laugh, and a lively twinkle in his eyes. Never over-protective of
Esperanza and I were an unUkely match: she a practicing Catholic;
her, he knew that things would work out or not, as they were supposed to.
me, the ultimate skeptic (I had been brought up and educated in church
Later on, Esperanza would sometimes be mad at me, so I would go over to
schools enough to reject it most of my adult life). Esperanza had lived for
Luis's house and "escape" from her. Luis would laugh in brotherly cama
years in the Pojoaque Valley; first in Cuyamungue, later in Nambe, and had
raderie at our (pre)marital spats—because Esperanza never got angry with
worked and worshipped likewise for years with the community. Even
him. He kept her rent amazingly low—^the same for seven years, until we
though from Mexico, she had become a part of the "Valley." Although I
insisted on raising it. And he was always there for her, in emotional or finan
didn't agree on all details, the basic honesty of her Catholic faith and that of
cial hard times.
her (later our) neighbors impressed me. Knowing Luis only reinforced that.
As it happened, Esperanza and I dated through the rest of 1995 and
I had studied Buddhism and Taoism and even been to monasteries in Japan,
1996. I started spending weekends out there in late 1995, and more and
but it seemed odd and inappropriate to be seeking spiritual sources so far
more frequently during 1996.1 moved in with her at the end of 1996, and in
outside one's culture. I never considered myself a New Mexican Catholic,
July 1997 we were married. We continued to live in Luis's compound until
but I started to do something very simple with Esperanza: I went to Sunday
October of that year, when we moved to Mexico. The last and only time we
church with her. In Nambe, this introduced me further to the community.
saw Luis after that was in March 1998, when we came back briefly to Santa
Living at Luis's deepened that cormection. It's no big secret that there are
Fe to take back more of our things to Mexico. It was a mark of our close
socio-economic and cultural tensions between the Anglo and Hispanic
ness and friendship that with several places available to stay, we chose to
communities in New Mexico—^in eleven previous years living in Santa Fe I
spend that week in Nambe, out at Luis's (Esperanza's casita by that point
had surprisingly little contact with Hispanic people. So I had a lot to learn.
was rented to someone else). We called him on the phone every three to four
And not everyone accepted me right away, being Esperanza's Anglo
months from Mexico (one of only two to three friends we called regularly),
boyfriend. With Luis, there was never that problem. I could also talk to him
and Esperanza wrote occasionally. We were both quite lonely and homesick
about my ups and downs, and occasional mistakes, in dealing with people
our first years in Mexico—Esperanza had left all her friendships behind to
and situations in Nambe. He would always listen patiently, chucUing at
come with me (I, who am perhaps more used to "leaving"). Some nights,
times, with that smile and sparkle in his eyes behind those thick glasses. I
after a few glasses of wine, I'd smile and say, "Let's call Luis!" And we
think he respected and enjoyed my attempt to belong. From years of Uving
would—his gruff, husky, cigarette smoky voice answering us far away in
in Mexico, I had learned to slow down somewhat, and to show patience and
New Mexico, chuckling as always. I would say hello and talk briefly, and
respect where it was due; so hanging out with Luis became one of the great
then he and Esperanza would chat for a half hour. And I would see how
joys of hving in Nambe. He liked it right off that I called him Luis rather
renewed and smiling she would be. Talking to Luis always had that effect,
for both of us.
than Luisito; and though he was rarely, almost never, critical of others, I
think he sympathized with some of my own criticisms of rich, Anglo, snob
My friendship with Luis, and relationship with Esperanza, also
bish Santa Fe. We discovered that we both had an antipathy towards the
gave me another profound lesson: a real insight into the Hispanic culture of
man who had been director of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society. Even
northern New Mexico. Its spirituality, its humor, its sense of family and
though an artist in an "arts town," I had had most of my initial encounters
community, and the importance of humility and respect. Not easy lessons
with the wealthy Anglo community (the art "patrons") as a worker in the
for an angry, full-of-himself, Anglo "rebel." They also showed me the
barely-above-minimum-wage working class. So I saw how differently they
beauty of New Mexican Cathohcism, and its deep faith, a faith profound
treated workers and "artistes" (in a town where 80% of the art was pure
ly rooted in the land—lessons that we more money-and-prestige-driven,
crap)—^which naturally pissed me off—this director of the Spanish Colonial
individualistic (in sometimes selfish ways) Anglos would be wise to learn
Arts Society in particular. Luis didn't like him either—and more specifically
164
165
garland
music, mysticism and spirituality
the fact that rich Anglos in Santa Fe dictated to Hispanic artists and crafts
pie knew Luis—and he knew them—and how well-informed he was about
men what they "could" and "could not" do. His quiet way of protesting
goings on in the community.
that was his non-participation in the annual summer Spanish Market. His
Another factor that bonded Luis's and my friendship was that we
lack of interest also reflected that for him his carving was an act of faith, not
shared a similar sense of humor. Esperanza, on the other hand, was very
commerce. There was also perhaps a shyness about pubUc appearances, due
sensitive—you couldn't tease her. Whereas Luis and I were joking and
to his physical condition, and the sheer difficulty of being transported from
laughing all the time. He would especially save any good CathoUc joke for
place to place. Luis was never intransigent—^he would always graciously
me—his whole body shaking with laughter in his wheelchair at his own
accept invitations every summer to attend the Market anyway as a special
jokes. A guy like me would never dare tell a Catholic joke to anybody else
guest and demonstrator. He would quietly carve amidst all the crowds, and
in the Pojoaque Valley! And perhaps I was one of the few people he could
greet old friends and strangers alike with the same easy smile and warmth.
tell these jokes to. Luis Hstened with sympathy and interest to my encoun
One time Esperanza was standing around with Luis and someone
ters and growing respect for the faith of the people of northern New
exclaimed that the female saints and Virgins had her face! Luis just grinned,
Mexico: our weekly trips to Mass in the different churches around the
shrugged his shoulders, and laughed.
area—^Nambe Pueblo, Chimayó, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso Pueblo. The
At the house, Luis would work on his porch outside in good
beautiful Easter Sunday Mass in 1997 at the tiny old church in Las Trampas,
weather. He would always be there to greet us in our comings and goings.
where the people had been so welcoming to us; and where the beauty of the
Or he'd be indoors watching a baseball game on the big TV his family had
church, the place, the people had brought tears to my eyes after a week
given him. His favorite team was the Chicago White Sox—I never figured
spent in Manhattan fighting with most of my so-called "peers." The two
out why someone from New Mexico would be a big fan of them. Luis again
times Esperanza and I made the walking pilgrimage to Chimayó—the last
would just chuckle and say he didn't know either. That gave us something
time on a beautiful, suimy Palm Sunday morning, all the people in the pass
further in common, because my favorite team was the Boston Red Sox—
ing cars honking and waving to us. Though I assured Luis—again, joking—
and both teams are chronic losers. "Heck, Luis," I'd say, "I guess we're both
that we'd taken the "short route," the "easy" one! And we both laughed.
suckers for punishment!" More laughter. At night, he would be joined by
Or the time I told how beautiful it was and how moved I had been hearing
his two close buddies, Mariano and George. Mariano was from Nambe,
the sad, ponderous lamentations of the Penitentes the time they sang their
probably around Luis's age, a very tall, big man—in that way he and Luis
alabados in a church halfway between Española and Chimayó, the after
formed a truly odd couple. The biggest guy in Nambe was the best friend
noon of Palm Sunday (the priest had announced it at morning Mass in
of the smallest guy. George was a dapper Mexican man, originally from
Chimayó). And how impressed I had been the time Esperanza and I had
Ciudad Juarez. Both Mariano and George were devoted to Luis, and came
been invited to a Penitente morada on Good Friday. I joked to Luis that
over literally every day. It was an interesting personal chemistry, a friend
"I had to behave myself, because the brothers of the Cofradía were some
ship whose center and bond was Luis. Luis would always joke and tell me
big
that Mariano and George had been arguing again: "Boy, those two fight like
moved I had been. That after two years in the Valley, this Anglo had learned
they're married to each other!" And his shoulders would shake with laugh
a deep respect for his faith and that of his neighbors.
dudes!" Laughter again, but Luis clearly saw and appreciated how
ter. Another group of friends who met regularly, about once a month or so,
There were plenty of lighter moments too. Like the time we woke
at Luis's house were the Escuelita—a group of santeros, most of them
up early one morning to find Lalo, a young Mexican man from Chihuahua
younger than Luis, who got together, and spent all day carving, talking and
who worked sometimes for Luis's nephew David, passed out in his truck in
hanging out. Luis was a kind of leader and role model for these younger
our parking area in front of Luis's house. He had gone on a drinking binge
carvers, who were mostly in their thirties and forties; and he enjoyed their
the day before, and had made it as far as Luis's—totally lucky to have avoid
company as much as they valued his. It was also amazing how many peo-
ed the local cops, which besides a DWI citation, might well have resulted in
166
167
garland
music, mysticism and spirituality
his deportation, since he was at that time illegal. "We had to wake up Luis
as usual—that "I almost died!" and that he had been in the hospital, and
and ask him what we should do about this. I went out and woke up Lalo
that the doctors had made him finally give up smoking. How much we
and talked to him, and then had to persuade him not to drive back to
wanted to be back with Luis then! To help him through his withdrawal
Chimayó where his family lived, because he was still drunk, incoherent and
from cigarettes, and just be with him, for support, as his friends. We didn't
reeked of alcohol. He nodded, and promptly passed out again, slumped
find out about his death until almost three weeks afterwards, when a friend
over his steering wheel. Meanwhile Luis called Lalo's father, who eventual
visiting us dropped the news in the midst of casual conversation: "Oh, you
ly came to pick him up)—^with a good scolding!—and drove him and the
heard that Luisito died, didn't you?" The news hit us like a bombshell. Not
vehicle back to Chimayó. "We laughed about that for days. There was the
only had we lost a dear friend—someone who had been like an older
time I bought a retablo at the Spanish market that depicted a woman saint
brother, almost, to Esperanza—but we had lost a place, his home there
being sawed in half from head to feet—a piece I had bought, frankly,
under the shady trees in Nambe, which he had made us feel like it was our
because it was so strange and grisly. Other people wouldn't understand that
own home. We looked forward so much to seeing him and staying with
or my reasons—^humor not tending to be a fundamental quality of most
him on our next visit to New Mexico. And we lost an important part of
rehgions, except perhaps Taoism—but Luis caught on right away. He took
our past, of our own lives.
one look at it, and just started chuckling, and said: "That's far out!" But he
But I've found out over the years that friends never die. Because
took his rehgion seriously too. He was a member of the Cofradía of the
they continue to live on in our hearts and memories. Besides photos, I have
Sacred Heart at the big handsome church located at the top of the hill,
an image in my mind of Luis, on his porch, in his wheelchair, his cordless
where you turned right off the road that led out to Chimayó, and descend
phone by his side, a lit cigarette in his ashtray, carving away patiently at a
ed down into the green lush valley area where we lived. He donated one of
piece of wood that, Hke a miracle, would gradually be transformed into a
his nicest statues to that church, and he himself is buried there.
saint, or a Virgin, or Christ, luminous with life and spirit. He would always
There were things we didn't necessarily see eye-to-eye on. Luis
be ready to put his work down, welcome friends, or just listen to us and
was a Republican, and fairly conservative in his politics—another unusu
talk. Luis was the greatest Hstener—^people loved him for that, and loved to
al characteristic, because most of Hispanic northern New Mexico votes
come over and talk. Because he was one of the most unselfish people I have
Democratic. So we didn't talk politics much, or if we did, I mostly kept my
ever met. And despite his physical hardships and a life that was not easy, he
opinions to myself. But I've come to respect certain political conservatives,
seemed incredibly at peace with himself. He radiated a joy and love that was
as long as they are not too extreme (the same goes with reHgion); and Luis's
an inspiration to everyone who knew him. I wish we could have been there
politics were well thought out and consistent with his moral beliefs. Perhaps
for his funeral. Not just to pay our own final respects, but also because it
that is another of the lessons Luis taught me: respect for other people,
must have been an amazing and moving event. It would have been moving
despite our differences. The people I lost respect for in the '80s were many
to see his neighbors, the communities of Santa Fe, the Pojoaque and
of my own yuppy, "Hberal," generational peers; who seemed to believe in
Española Valleys, come out to say goodbye to one of their own. Luis Lujan,
nothing but money, personal comfort and "success," and had no convic
in his own personal way—of course in his work, but also in his individual
tions
bright or left or whatever—other than convenience and self interest:
Hfe—^represented the heart and soul, and the resilient courage and humor—
the selfishness of affluence. It was an inspiration to be around someone like
all the best of northern New Mexico culture. I am happy to think of him,
Luis—or Esperanza—^for whom faith meant more than money.
buried and finally put to rest, in the cemetery of his beloved church, with
was
Luis died in the summer of 2001. We never knew just how old he
its magnificent, commanding view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, over
because he looked more youthful than his years. Laughter keeps you
looking the village of Nambe that was his home for his entire Hfe. Luis
young, they say. So does being at peace with oneself, and having a good
heart. In one of our last calls, he had told us—chuckling, in his husky voice.
168
Lujan has returned to the earth from which he sprang.
And, the true miracle was that Luis Lujan—carver of saints, Hfe169
CHAPTER
10
GARLAND
long Republican, White Sox fan, chain-smoker, fond of his Catholic jokes—
was in his way; the closest thing to a saint himself that I have ever been
privileged to know. Not in some big, heroic, larger-than-life way that saints
tend to be viewed, but rather in a humble, day-to-day manner. Every day
M U S I C EXTENSIONS OF
for Luis was a small act of heroism, and his generosity and humor were spe
INFINITE DIMENSIONS
cial. But it was his faith, above all, the deepest core of his belief and being,
MILFORD GRAVES
that made all of us who knew him recognize that Luis Lujan was a remark
able man indeed. The example of his person, his life, and his beautiful saints,
were and are gifts to all of us. May God bless you, Luis. And thank you.
—Mogpog, Marinduque Island, Philippines, Easter 2002
The primary objective of the Cosmo-Mystic-Spiritual (CMS) musician is to
initiate an intradynamical thrusting force on the various particles that com
prise Earth's atmosphere. The frequency dynamics of these particles should
be compliant with the cosmic energies that impinge on the tympanic mem
brane and the integumentary (skin) system. Through our given sensory
receptors and biological transducers, it is possible and permissible to cre
atively decipher the concealed and hidden energies within and beyond the
universe. I am using the words universe and cosmic energy not as absolutes,
but as a transient-relative reference to activate the creative process to go
beyond conscious universal knowledge.
RNA^ is the messenger, composer and conductor of Biological Music.
GUG
rr^i
CAU
I
1
CUG
ACU
r
CCU
Tt-KT K
^
Ì
GAG
•
ine development or KNA Codons is
initiated by non-time dimensional energy
transformations. Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is the
messenger of spiritual-mysticism.
GAG
AAG
1- RNA: Ribonucleic Acid with eight
amino adds
GUG
valine
CAU
histidine
CUG
leucine
CCU
proline
GAG
GAG
glutamic glutamic
Imaginative and practical process of
what needs to be known to transcend beyond the limitation of standardorganized music.
The following is a functional description of the semantics of four
particular transformative energies that can initiate the process of innova
tive/creative music.
Mysticism
Cosmic energy that is concealed-hidden from intellectual translation and
understanding. Primary function of mysticism is human transformation.
170
171
ACU
threonine
AAG
lysine
MUSIC EXTENSIONS OF INFINITE DIMENSIONS
GRAVES
Mystical music involves producing music with a spectrum of dense cluster
frequencies and functional a priori frequencies that can potentiate the
motion of the basilar membrane.^ Greater
. , ,
,
-11 •
2. Basilar membrane: located in the cochlea
potentiation ot the basilar membrane will stim(auditory) portion of the inner ear.
ulate the innovative-creative thought process
by effecting multidimensional neural activities in the subcellular system of
the brain. Figure 1 is a spectrogram of a composite recording of a human
Electrocardiogram, Heart sounds, and Brain frequencies. This trio of spec
tral frequencies was then transformed into a relative form of Biological
Music (mystical music).
Neutrinos and other elementary particles: entry gate is the
total body and serves as an initiator and substrate for mystical
energy/thought.
Ultra violet B radiation: entry gate is the skin and is transformed
into vitamin D.
Photons/visible light spectrum: entry gate is the eyes and is trans
formed into quantum interactions within the sub-cellular system.
This conglomeration of energy is transmitted through the vocal
folds (Metaphoric Magic Wand [MMW]) in the image of singing/speech and
on object based instruments (MMW) by finger (MMW) manipulations.
Magic Words
Magic words in reality consist of deductive articulation and quanta-toning
of the constituent vowels, consonants, phonemes, and syllables that com
prise a word. The utterances of these constructs are capable of creating large
amounts of energy within the neuroanatomical pathways and networks of
the vocal system.
Figure 1. Spectrogram induced by Zeitgeber^-effens.
Spectrogram is image of how the spectral density of a signal varies with time.
JY
3. Zeitgeber. An environmental agent or
event that provides the stimulus setting or
resetting a biological clock of an organism.
•
IVluglL
Initiation of the innovative process by deriva
tives formed from the excitation of sub-molecular agents in the atmos
phere [AIR] impinging on human sensor/mechanoreceptors (ear-hearing/
skin-touch).
Calling of Magic through the Magic Wand
Relative to the concept of a space-time universe and its derivatives, the
human brain-mind-body complex can metaphorically serve as an organic
magic wand. This process involves the reception and passage of cosmic
energy through nano (10 ') to atto (10 '^) sized openings (pores) in the
Integumentary System (skin). The realization of this matter is that there is
a trio of cosmic energy that is injected into the biological system on a daily
micro time basis.
This trio includes the following:
172
Alchemy: Inner Alchemy
Inner alchemy takes place within the biological system and involves
Transduction through Transmutation of Electromagnetic-Chemical ener
gies in the subcellular system.
An ethnographic-prefix to the discipline of alchemy presents a
limiting factor to the total functionaries and practice of alchemy.
Irrespective of the ethnological prefixing/classification of alchemic
practitioners, the common denominator of the various concepts of global
alchemy is transmutation.
Spiritual
(Middle English, from Old French spirituel, from Latin spirituahs, of
breathing, spiritual, from spiritus, breath', see spirit) involves soft circular
breathing and articulation of less stressful vibrations for preservation of the
vocal cords. Soft circular breathing produces less contraction-expansion
and stress on the cheek muscles, thereby avoiding disruption of blood flow
173
GRAVES
MUSIC EXTENSIONS OF INFINITE DIMENSIONS
and oxygen to the brain.
Ear: Grand Gateway for Reception of Cosmic Vibrations/Energy
Soft breathing (spiritual breathing) is required when subvocalizing
(quiet thinking) to transmit biological energy to the vocal cords.
From the aforementioned we can construct a S E M A N T I C
NETWORK: The SPIRITUAL allows one to perceive concealed wisdom
(MYSTICISM ) and how t o transmute ( ALCHEMY ) and germinate ( MAGIC)
their receivings to the unexposed to produce innovative-creative music.
SPIRITUAL : humble/open minded/receiving-giving
MYSTICISM ; concealed-betweenness of what we think we know
A L C H E M Y : biological transmutation to nutrify mysticism/
spiritualism
Stapes
(attached to
oral window)
nitrogen
oxygen
hydrogen
carbon dioxide
sulfur dioxide
methane
Semicircular
Canals
Vestibular
Nerves
atmospheric pressure
iodine
helium
argon
neon
krypton
Eustachian Tube
Tympanic
Membrane
Round
Window
Figure 2. Ear.
M A G I C : receiving and projection of mysticism
The EAR with its constituent energy activators: tympanic membrane (eardrum)-ossicles-cochlea and nerve pathways are the mystic energy forces that
participate in the continual loop for the transfer and projection of what is con
ceptually known as the expanding angular energies of the universe and beyond.
A healthy human tympanic membrane (eardrum) is amazing. It has
a conscious frequency range of approximately +/-20 Hz to approx. +/20,000 Hz, with a frequency resolution of approximately +/-0.2%, mean
ing that we can discern between two tones with a frequency difference of
Semantic network.
STATEMENT OF CLARIFICATION
The primary purpose of this essay is to focus on an integrative process of
how to interweave the hidden wisdom of imaginative thinking (mysticism,
magic, alchemy, and the spiritual of music) with scientific methodology.
This revelationary'' endeavor requires a certain degree of
Polymathic® qualities to properly understand how seemingly disparate
ways of thinking are all integral members of the grand unified energy con
cept of cosmogenic transmutations.
The input, sequence flow, and the output informatics of this arti
cle are to inspire one to go beyond what is said to be impossible to do.
4. Revelationary: person who adopts change
in his thinking and actions as a result of
something unknown being revealed.
5. Polymathic: someone who is very
knowledgeable. A secondary meaning of
polymath is Renaissance Man.
174
approximately +/-2 Hz. From a spiritual (breath) perspective, the frequency
range of the tympanic membrane is greater than the conscious range.
An important relationship that should be known is that between
the oscillatory properties of the tympanic membrane and the size of the
hydrogen atom, the most abundant element in the universe, and the wave
length of visible hght.
At 3,000 Hz the motion of the eardrum is about 10 ' cm (or .1
angstrom) less than the diameter of a hydrogen atom.
At 20 Hz the motion of the eardrum is approximately 10"' cm (or
1,000 angstroms) less than the wavelength of visible light.
The diameter of the eardrum (approximately +/-12mm), its microoscillatory response time-displacement, and its obliquity of approximately
55° to the floor of the ear canal (external auditory meatus), is capable of
forming and correlating cluster motions in response to the impingement of
air pressure/particles on it.
175
GRAVES
MUSIC EXTENSIONS OF INFINITE DIMENSIONS
Magnitude, tone quality, and duration-modulation changes are
prime parameters in creating the micro-geometric shapes of cluster motions.
Neuroectoderm/
neural tube
Central nervous
system, retina,
Pineal body,
Posterior pituitary
Cluster motions are important because of their ability to create
intertwining-twisting type motions that comply with how organs and tis
sues are formed from the three primary germ layers during embryogenesis.'
A particular distinction of the tympanic
membrane is that it is formed from the three
Embryog«nesis: « the process
,
.
embryonic germ layers: ectoderm, mesoderm,
and endoderm.
of cell
division and cellular differentiation of the
human embryo,
The perspective observation of the dynamics of air particles, musicacoustic parameters, and the eardrum-germ layer connection, clearly allows
Morula.
us to understand how a vibrating eardrum can energetically connect with
all of the organs and tissues that compose the spirit-mind-body complex.
The family of the EAR represents the biological transducer for the
cosmic energies and oscillations of the outer (objective-phenomena) and inner
The Melodic-Modal music (sequence phenomena) sequencing of
embryogenesis (genetic awakening from the previous to sequence into the
(subjective-consciousness) space-time coordinates of the inclusive universe.
future) is a transduction from the zygote, to the blastula, to the gastrula
stage of the embryonic growth process that evokes the triploblastic condi
TABLE OF THE ORGANS, TISSUES, AND THE THREE LAYERS OF THE TYMPANIC
tion of the ovum that generates the three primary germ layers (3PGL). The
MEMBRANE THAT ARE DERIVED FROM THE THREE PRIMARY GERM LAYERS
3PGL are the wave precursors for initiating the Tono-Rhythmogenesis of
creative music consisting of Nth dimensions.
Stratified squamous
Squamous pithelium
of outer part
of the eardrum
Surface Ectoderm
Hair, nails,
Cutaneous-mammary
glands, Anterior
pituitary gland/
Enamel of teeth/
inner ear/cornea/lens
Mesoderm
Fibrous layer of the
middle eardrum
Muscles and
of the head/dentine
Muscles of trunk/
Dermis of skin/
Skeleton except skull
Endoderm
Inner mucosal lining
epithelium of the
auditory tube
and tympanic cavity
Epithelial parts of
Trachea, bronchi,
and lungs
All biological receptors must be fully open to receive, transport, and
transmute cosmic vital energies to everything that is required to initiate the
imaginary process for greater creative development. Equipolarization between
creative imagination and conventional thought is the transmorphic matrix'
for solving problematic negative energies.
-
J,
,
r>
1
r
1
Subvocahzation: Inner Sound of Quiet Wisdom
7. Transmorphoric Matrix; exchanging of
scalar, real and complex events.
SOUNDS FROM THE VOCAL SYSTEM : The energetical experience of a
Revelationary^ incorporates the process of subvocalization supported by
quiet and subtle circular breathing.
Subvocalization or internal-self dialogue involves movements of
Neuroectoderm/
neural crest
Urogenital system
Cranial sensor
including gonads/
ganglia and nerves.
Connective tissue
Adrenal medulla gland and muscles of viscera/
Serous membranes
176
Epithelium of
G.I. tract. Liver,
pancreas, Urinary
bladder, Urachus/
Epithelial parts of:
Pharynx, thyroid,
tonsils, Parathyroids
the tongue and vocal cords that can be interpreted by electromagnetic sen
sors, but is undetectable by the person doing the subvocalizing.
177
GRAVES
MUSIC EXTENSIONS OF INFINITE DIMENSIONS
BREATHING/TONE PRODUCTION/MOTION ENERGY
Experiential information initiates transformation.
neurons-hippocampus
Memory Center
CIRCULAR BREATHING
Biological Transmutations
Hippocampus
STERNOCLEIDOMASTOID M
must be relaxed during subcellular
(subatomic) circular breathing.
Hyper-energy status relative to
oxygen deficit in the
Sternocleidomastoid M. can cause
spatial disorientation-dizziness
and/nausea.
Eardrum
derived
from
The heart (muscle)
during contraction
propels blood
throughout the
body with a
twisting-spiraling
motion.
Spectrogram of
frequencies of
hypothalamus,
heart, and
neuron activity
Ectoderm
Mesoderm
Endoderm
Cosmic Frequencies •
of autonomic
nervous system.
• Subvocalization •
LUNGS
Brain
Tongue
- Vocal Chords
Pictogram Ip.
The brain is constantly subvocalizing to the total biological system.
The initiators of subvocalization are the dynamic-changing phases of cos
mic energies that constantly enter the aural canal. The duration of each
changing phase is measured within the time frame of yoctoseconds (one
septillionth of a second/10"^''), which is the durational range of the changing
phases of vital energy on the infra-subatomic level.
Pacinian
Corpuscle
Pictogram 2p. Holistic-energy transmutations/transformations.
Motions of Another Kind
Chandler Wobble: small variations in earths axis of rotation over a period
of approximately fourteen months. Twisting motion of heart muscle:
caused by the heart muscles fibers being oriented in a spiralling direction.
Restoration of the Soul: holistic ingestion of motion-energies.
The way of the voice and how to direct the breathing process by
the mechanism of WOBBLE, TREMOLO, VIBRATO and the entanglement of
all three motions and sounds [E-trio] (similar to Quantum entanglement).
See Pictogram 3p.
178
179
GRAVES
MUSIC EXTENSIONS OF INFINITE DIMENSIONS
WE ARE A SPIRALING TWIST CAPABLE OF BENDING SOUND
Possible causes of Chandler Wobble:
^3 due to fluctuating pressure on the
bottom of the ocean caused by
temperature and salinity changes
and wind-driven changes in the
circulation of the oceans.
V3 is due to fluctuations in
atmospheric pressure.
Chandler Wobble: approximate frequency range is
0.0000000264073 Hz/A#/-47.01 cents to
0.0000000265894232 Hz/A#A35.11 cents
amplitude is approximately 20 feet.
Retimi Blood Vessels
Salinity:
Sodium Chloride
Magnesium Sulfate
Calcium Sulfate
Bicarbonates
Figure 4. Sequence of conglomerated Chandler Wobble and variable UV waveforms.
when the BioPsychoSocial (BPS) energies and characteristics of
VESTÍBULO-OCULAR REFLEX
the mind-body complex are threatened by depressive elements, the proper
therapeutic procedure requires that the vocal system process and articulate
HorizontaJ Canal
ULAR SYSTEM F O R B A L A N C E
sounds (breath) that are entangled (see Figures 3, 4, 5), irregular, and non
metronomic.
Entangled irregular voicing provides for
greater electromagnetic-spiritual exchange
between energy elements in a given
amount of convoluted space.
TWISTING MOTION OF
CARDIAC MUSCLE
KIDNEY
convoluted tubule
produces
Vitamin
Production of Viumin D
Chandler Wobble 0.0000000264073 Hz
D
JigtnaitmfA
KIDNEY
«Q^MARFE«
uraa ...
Pictogram 3p. Relationship between Chandler Wobble, Heart, Adrenal, Kidney,
Cochlea-Vestibular-Occular, and Vocal systems.
S/iind hAidt
Stratum Spinosum
UV-1071 Terahertz
UV-937 Terahertz
Ultra Violet (UV) Light
produces Vitamin D
NORMAL WAVEFORM RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ULTRA VIOLET
FREQUENCIES AND CHANDLER WOBBLE FREQUENCY
Stratum Basale
SKIN
Figure 5. Organ response and adaptogenic process of BPS depression.
The Myoelastic-Aerodynamic theory is commonly used to explain
the functional mechanisms of voice production.
Nerve innervation to the Larynx (voice box):
The recurrent (inferior) laryngeal nerve is a branch of the vagus
nerve that supplies motor function and sensation to the larynx.
Figure 3. Waveform relationship between lower and upper frequency range
of Ultra violet light and lower frequency of Chandler Wobble.
180
The external laryngeal nerve communicates with the superior
cardiac nerve posterior to the common carotid artery.
181
GRAVES
MUSIC EXTENSIONS OF INFINITE DIMENSIONS
The internal laryngeal nerve is the internal branch (ramus internus)
of the superior laryngeal nerve. It sends branches to the mucous mem
brane of the larynx, the base of the tongue, and the epiglottic glands.
Three group-components required for voice production:
The circle-cycle of deterministic thought is broken when the mind
of a unit link, fortified with experiential information, decides to detach their
mind from the reference center point (gravitation). This is an innovative
escape process that enables sub atomic-cellular functions to become more
expansive with a greater amount of creative energy (magnitude).
1. Power generator/source: lungs
2. Vibrating mechanism: vocal cords
Organodynamics^ of Tonogenesis of Biogenic Music
3. Resonators/resonance chamber: superior part of throat, mouth
and nose.
JO
JO
THE GRAND UNIFIED ORCHESTRA OF BIOLOGICAL MUSIC
Stratified squamous epithelium of outer part
of the eardrum and the diencephalon are
derived from the ECTODERM
~
Relationship of Mechanical and Biological Energy
CORRELATIVE THOUGHT; BREATH OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVE
8. Organodynamics: efficiency of total
cooperaron and organization between all
organs/tissues ot the biological system.
Right Thalamus
Hypothamaluss,.,,^^^^^^.
'
UNIVERSE
AND BEYOND
Escape Velocity
7mi/sec
UNIT CIRCLE
Speed Nerve Impulse
-0.06 mi/sec
I BEYOND SINGING
LarynxA'ocal Chords
a
Minor
Bi-
D
O
^
I
^
Proper breathing is a
pathway to escape from
the cycle of fifths. The breath ^
Q
of a fifth is located in the
fä
thoracic region.
The breath must escape
f
to the subatomic-cellular
al
V/5«
5\/7*
Vulnerable Period/
Do Not Stimulate at this
Time with High Energy
2»
[peak Energy!
3^^ A
ECG transmission of electrical
impulses through the heart
E _
=
Electrocardiogram (ECG)
I C Y C L E O F F I F T H S AND F O U R T H T ]
Delivery of Essential Air Particles to the sub-cellular system requires precision space-time
coordination between the P-R interval of the ECG, inhalation and scalene muscles in the neck.
100
200
300
I
1
1
1
400
500
600
700
Duration in Milliseconds of Normal Resting Heart Rale. Heart Rate is
NOT METRONOMIC/IÎ is VARIABLE. Normal Duration pf PR Interval is 120-200 milliseconds.
Pictogram 4p.
Pictogram 5p. Hoot, h a r k , and h e r are three mystic long duration breath sounds.
182
183
GRAVES
MUSIC EXTENSIONS OF INFINITE DIMENSIONS
Experiential Information (EI) is the generating force that is
required to overcome Concentric Gravitational Mono-Conceptual
2. Rhythmolgy based on Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
3. Space-time parameters based on human Circulation Time (CT)-.
Thought Patterns (CGMCTP). EI is the principal velocity factor that can
convert the constants of CGMCTP into variable thought waves that are
innovative, and through improvisation, can adapt to and harmonically
reverse negative linear energy waves.
CT is the time for the blood to pass through a given circuit of the
A relevant way of conceiving and producing music can be modeled
4. Cardiogenetics relative to harmonic-melodic dissonance and
vascular system, e.g., the pulmonary, cerebral, or system circula
tion, from one arm to another, from arm to tongue, or from arm
to lung.
from the transmission of Electromagnetic-Oscillatory-Energy (EOE) through
various dynamic structures and functions of the biological system (see
Pictogram 5p). EOE with conductorship from warped Spacetime-motions
of the heart and vagus nerve will produce and sequence tono-rhythmological changes that are not scalar and based on integral multiple relationships.
Formed (predetermined) music is a concept that imposes geomet
rical limitations on the motion-energy of air particles. The dynamics of fractal-angular motions and the propagation of unpredictable homeostatic
motions are not primary functions of formed music. The objective of formed
music is the reproducible replica of a conscious derived tone-sound-lan
guage that is conceptually classified as suitable for aural consumption.
WE [2] are more than a conceptual
^'-.9
r n
'i
0
•
equation (0^=J
+ 2jt + ^unity^
^ Greek symbol (omega) for angular
velocity
Twofold methodology of conceiving and producing music
Material Finite Music [MFM] relative to Spontaneous Improvised Music
[SIM]: Both can serve as inverse functions of the other.
clusterization.
All of what has been previously mentioned so far requires an open
and dynamic mind and body system. The neurovascular and memory sys
tems must be pliable and capable of transmitting an array of innovative and
creative energy and information. The immune system must be responsive
and adaptogenic to variable types of perverse energetical agents. Important
biological mechanisms and ingredients that are required to perform these
tasks are:
Citric acid cycle: metabolic pathways in the cells that converts
carbohydrates, fats, and proteins into carbon dioxide, water, and
usable forms of energy.
Internal Alchemy: involves the Atomic/subatomic conversions
and biological transmutations between Sodium, Potassium, Calcium
Magnesium, Oxygen, Hydrogen, Phosphorus, Manganese, Iron,
Silicon, and Sulfur.
Food: My personal suggestion is a diet that consists of plant foods:
SIM can provide MFM with a recursive template on how to create varia
vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, beans, and herbs. My reason for
tions on the constant values of predetermined-written music.
suggesting a diet consisting of plant foods is based on a three step
MFM can provide SIM with an analytical method of how to extract,
process that involves the transmission of solar energy (via photo
synthesis) from the sun, to the plant, to the human biological
understand, and codify a dynamic-spontaneous event occurring within a
specific time period.
system. Again, this diet is recommended for its ability to transmit
high quality solar energy into the biological system.
The following are correlative ways and methods of composing and perform
ing biological music:
1. Music composition based on the stages of human embryo
development.
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
6CO2
Carbon Dioxide
184
+
6HjO
Water
^
-QeUulogg
185
+
Sugar
^^>2
Oxygen
CHAPTER
11
GRAVES
The function of chlorophyll is to
absorb light and transfer that light
energy by resonance energy trans
fer to a specific chlorophyll pair in
the reaction center of the photosystems. Chlorophyll gives leaves
their green color.
Chlorophyll is found in
high concentrations in
Chloroplasts of plant cells.
The R U L E : eat plenty of
THE CRAZY VOICE
L\RKIN GRIMM
GREEN LEAFY VEGETABLES
for consumption of
C O S M I C E N E R G Y (Mystic Energies)
Pictogram 6p. Energy events of Photosynthesis.
M Y S T I C I S M , M A G I C , A L C H E M Y and the S P I R I T U A L
are an undefined CLUSTER-ENTANGLEMENT
of Nth dimensional ENERGIES.
The greatest challenge of our generation is to mature beyond God," a friend
casually said while improvising on a Chinese harp. In a moment of free
improvisation, he felt free to say something that had been stewing inside of
him his whole life. He had broken through a powerful psychological barri
er with the help of music. Moments like this happen frequently in my life
as a musician. I find that music brings out the best in people over and over
again. It breaks barriers.
My friend is right. If I were to make a list of the most stifling
influences holding people back from their full potential as human beings,
organized religion would be at the top of the list. A close second would be
classical music training; it is musical abuse. I do not consider classical music
to be in any way therapeutic for the individual player, and have spent long
periods of time trying to rehabilitate classical musicians. The only thing that
can save these people is Peyote or Harsh Noise. When I say "music," I am
excluding all written music. But let's get back to religion, and to my per
sonal story, because the only thing I can tell you about magic is what I have
experienced myself.
The religious establishment teaches children to reject the magic and
personal power they were born with, and to hand it over to the leader. I
never could accept this, even though it was social suicide to reject religion
when I was growing up. I spent my early childhood in a spiritual cult. My
parents spent so many hours meditating in the kneeling position that they
had thick calluses on their knees. The children were seen as new incarna
tions of the spirits of enlightened masters, coming down to earth to save
humanity in time for the New Age. There were magical things about these
people, but it was also a lot of strange pressure on me in a cult situation
involving psychedelic Jesus freaks. The cult disbanded when I was six years
old and my family moved into a remote part of the Appalachian Mountains.
186
187
GRIMM
THE CRAZY VOICE
The hippies I grew up around were in many ways as cock-eyed as the snake-
establishment, but there was a tiny voice inside of me insisting that there
handlers and holy roller baptists who practiced their cuckoo Appalachian
was more to life than that abstract academic world. I had wild dreams and
Christianity in my new home, where vampiric, bigoted preachers sucked
frequent out-of-body experiences, but tried to ignore these things. By the
life force from their congregations. I like to think that the experience of
time I was twenty-one the inner conflict was so strong that I was a nervous
growing up and breaking away from these things helped me to think for
wreck. I was committed to a mental institution at my university, because
myself and avoid future cult situations like academia and politics. Real magic
I was unhappy when everyone thought I should be enjoying my great suc
requires following your own inner voice, using your power to improve your
own life in the present moment. Rejecting mob rule.
cess. I was prescribed medication that turned me into a friendly robot
and erased all of my favorite parts of my personality. I realized that I was
Everyone is born with psychic abilities, but there are only a few
considered crazy because I saw the world in a magical way. To me, every
things that can bring them out in an ordinary adult. These are laughter,
plant, animal, and object had a distinct life force and personality. I felt
dancing, and music. These things break through a wall in the mind. They
like my doctors were trying to force me to live in a dead world. Finally, I
allow us to forget what we think we know. Magic, like music, begins with
jumped ship. I decided to trust myself, and to start over from the assump
intuition. We lose our magic when we allow ourselves to be subject to the
external laws of society and culture. When we believe in God or Guru or
tion that I didn't know anything and neither did anyone else. I stopped
talking for a long time, and only played music.
Genius instead of believing in ourselves, we become separate from our
The process of reclaiming my sanity was questionable, but it was
selves. We lose ourselves. We learn that in order to fit in, we must ignore our
my own. It slowly evolved into a practice of taking two spoonfuls of psilo-
inner voice. If this goes on long enough, we become half dead useless blobs
cybin mushroom-laced honey every day until time and space melted away
of soulless flesh taught to sit still and pay attention to useless information
into flashes of mercury swirling around the periphery of my vision. I want
about a world in which we can never thrive or live fully. Our consciousness
is boxed in.
ed to erase my mind and start over fresh, as a psychic. I decided to explore
the world and learn things first-hand. I rejected all second-hand informa
Music is one of the few things that has always been there for me,
tion, including all I had learned about geometry, philosophy, physics, cal
culus, anatomy, psychology, art, history, and music.
helping me to break through. I used to ride my bicycle to the top of a near
The medicinal use of Teacher Plants brought me back to the daily
by mountain so that I could catch radio signals from a faraway station in
Atlanta. This is how I discovered Björk, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Michael
experience of magic that I remember from childhood. They helped to
Jackson, P.J. Harvey, Dead Kennedys, Coltrane, Sun Ra, and other early
silence the damaged and scarred broken record stutters of my man-made
influences. The voices of these musicians, struggling to find meanings had a
logical mind and my moral/religious mind. More importantly, the difficult
search to find these illicit substances while touring as a musician introduced
profound effect. I owe them my current freedom. One of my favorite ritu
als of compassionate destruction is to listen to Diamanda Galas' Double
me to a whole community of shamans, hustlers and misfits who were quite
Barrel Prayer at top volume while jumping on the bed. Years of therapy
successfully bucking the establishment. They lived off the grid. They fol
couldn't be more successful than this. Seriously! When you bang your head
lowed their own rules. They offered me a choice: be a miserable slave locked
against a wall, then open your eyes as if opening them for the first time, and
in the cage of your own numbed out mind, or accept your position as a
wake up to the realization that this moment contains the only truth you will
ever know, then you become powerful in your own life and able to choose
your own path. Magic is believing that you can do anything. And doing it.
shaman, exploring a different version of reality. The way to communicate as
a shaman? Music!
It is not easy to escape brainwashing. When I was growing up I fol
lowed most of the rules. I did well in school. I subjugated my will and won
In 2007 I met a group of shamans who had recently been on a
long trip through the rainforest, recording Quechua medicine songs. They
brought back some leaves from a bush that female shamans used in
a full scholarship to Yale University. I spent my days studying under the
their ceremonies, and gave it to me in tea, while playing their recordings.
188
189
CHAPTER
12
GRIMM
Suddenly, my inner voice became this booming, powerful force, no longer
competing with the millions of thoughts bouncing around in my head. At
this point, my life changed. All I have to do is Usten to that voice. It knows
everything about everything. It is like having a conversation with my
god-self. Everyone has a voice like that inside of themselves, but they don't
HOLY GHOST
listen to it. My intention in playing music is to give that voice room to talk.
TIM HODGKINSON
To quiet the conscious mind and let the unconscious speak the truth. I hope
that as it works for me, it will work for others who listen to my music.
Music is a halfway house helping us learn to live in a magical world.
Sound is a medium that encourages telepathic communication and synchronicity. Good music brings mind-blowing breakthroughs in conscious
ness while it carves out space for you to focus your attention, allowing you
to manifest a new reality. Music is a very useful and safe way to practice
magic. It has been the only means of truthful communication available to
me in my life. It works immediately. Not like reading a book. Stop reading
this. No one can tell you the most important things. You have to feel it for
yourself. Reject the habit of passively accepting information, and examine
the world around you. You will discover that it is magical.
Have I been wasting my time?
Meanwhile you are falling.
Prelude
Summer 1996, Ust-Ordinsk, Siberia: Ken Hyder and I are on stage, every
thing's ready, we're ready to play. I raise my saxophone to my lips.
Suddenly I hear a voice. Someone is speaking, not in a hushed way, but
outwards, someone is addressing everyone in the room, someone is asking
a question: the question is: "How did you begin in music?"
NOW? You want to know that NOW? Before even a note?
"I started to hear certain music," I said, "as if it were a window opening
into another world, a world that was more vivid than the one I lived in at
home with my parents. And that intensity is something I've always gone
after ever since. To lift people up out of where they are, to bring a sense of
limitlessness, of possibility, a reminder that that also IS."
You are so good at failure.
In the end, when your face hits the ground.
Will any thing remain besides love?
Every human culture on the planet proposes not only a way of life but also
a unique metaphysical theater. In each case, imagined beings, invisible to
the waking eye, pushed up and out of visible matter, but at the same time
pulled back into dialogue.
And so sound. That which is not, rising out of that which is. Sound
first it too pushing up out of the visible, telling always of the inside, voicing
the shapes of enclosed air, unveiling the hidden; sound then captured and
harnessed as voices of spirits, calls of communicants, summoning, purify
ing, rising up and out like prayer, chant, invocation, and the trance drums,
sacred gongs and Chinese fireworks that change the gears of time.
Or is all this the wrong way round? Is the fundamental need to
invent persons for imaginary conversations, and only then to invest them
with voices and bodies?
Cambridge, 1968, I'm at college learning anthropology: LSD,
Vietnam, rock music, academia: at school I'd had the Cuban missile crisis,
Civil Defense handbooks, nightmares of World War III, still have my
190
191
*
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
NATO pamphlet with its cowering prisoners behind barbed wire in an
unfree land and on the opposite page our guys look gratefully up at their
atomic shield. The social set-up (the existing socio-discursive mind-set of
any one society) insists on itself, imposes itself, as fixed, coherent, complete
and self-sufficient. What happens to the knowledge that this is a bluff?
Where is that knowledge placed? How and when is it spoken and how does
it sound?
Read, study, synthesize. The rational mind pushing, it too, for a
unified system. But suppose there is no unified system? Suppose human
beings are not integrated wholes but dynamic fields in which different
forces collide? Anthropology seemed to assume a basic continuity between
nature and culture; societies were like organisms, bodies with every part
having its function." But it seemed to me that exactly this transition from
nature to culture that was being taken for granted was in fact the core vari
able, was in fact more than a variable, was a gap: the gap against which,
and across which, the preaching insistence of culture is generated. For the
culture of a society is in the first place a propaganda directed at its incom
ing members, its children, in the form of how they will be closed in to the
world as that culture imagines it. Every culture generates to its own ends
the subjects that inhabit it. In each individual psyche is installed the gap
between the embodied inteUigence of immediate sensation and the con
ceptual language-based representations that string together the obUgatory
narrative of a person—as conceived and constructed within that culture's
notion of personhood.
Detour into human cybernetics. Pain is an image, sound is an
image, this page an image. I mean that they appear to us. These images are
finely collated out of tiny informations rising in the afferent nervous
system. They are transitory patternings of neuronal activity, momentary
states of a plastic and holistic medium. Therefore, quite rightly, they seem
to us alive, in a state of becoming, liable to change. This, if you like, is the
quality of experience itself. Compare with language: an extrinsic system
for combining and recombining an array of fixed, individuated, and mutu
ally exclusive elements, according to rules for articulating to other persons
descriptions, attitudes, and intentions. There can be no match between
these two different kinds of information: our being is cybernetically
divided. If language wants to tell of experience, it can only describe from
the outside.
192
The great suspicion against language, rising in the apophasis of the
old mystics, echoing in the Romantics and the tradition of idealist philoso
phy that holds music to be the purest expression of truth, hauling itself into
modernism and into the Beats and settling into the aporias of Beckett and
the rages of Jelinek.
My proposition is this: the projection of the sacred is the human
response to the untranslatability between the two informational modes that
above all other factors define the condition of that being's being. Spiritual
practice iterates a circular or rhythmic movement across the raw divide of
this untranslatability. It is the shared but innermost secret of our species.
The conversation with the gods is the conversation with ourselves we could
never have.
You might guess that I am then going to argue that art goes on from
this to attempt the translation itself, attempts to fire off a kind of utterance
that does what language can't, attempts to spill out what religion ultimate
ly blurs and conceals. After all, as a musician I work with the intelligence of
sound; music seems to plunge directly into the house of the spirit, eliciting
complex inner motions that dart away from language. Is music then the
expressive projection into sound of the images that are passing states or
patternings of embodied intelligence itself—representations for which we
can find no equivalents in language? The idea is tempting; after all, we have
no direct access to our own embodied intelligence, but only to what that
intelligence brings before us, namely the world as it livingly seems, as we
hear, see, smell, taste and touch it—the image of the world as our senses sift
and collate it from what comes forwards to them. This world is already
talking to itself, and our attempts to join that talk, to talk that talk, can be
thought of as attempts to cross the cybernetic divide that splits us. And a
"word" in the language of the world would be something we could experi
ence with our senses, like a song or a painting.
But I'm more cautious than that. What intervenes enormously into
this "expressive projection" is that no act or process is primordial in this
way, but is rather always realized in the mutual doings of actual human
groups. In other words, what music is and what spirit is, is itself a cultural
and historical variable. I realize that I am going to need to set out exactly
what is distinctive about an aesthetic act or process, as against a spirituallyorientated or ritual act or process. And the distinction is going to have to
work in cases where they seem to be almost one and the same thing, and in
193
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
Other cases where they seem to be at each others' throats.
And there's a further reason also. I don't want to say that inside us
from conservatives to rebels. For musicians this means a natural conception
all there's an authentic, or animal, or cosmic Self waiting to be expressed in
of sound, as against the Western idea of sound purged of its natural elements
before being allowed into the music room. "Living in cities is bad," Ayan
art. A self is something much more complex and fluid and possibly multi
goes on, "the philosophy is in the yurt, not in the building." And then he's
ple that is constantly being negotiated and produced within the conflictual
informational field of the human.
interrupted by his mobile phone.
Like fish in the water of animist belief, shamans move amongst the
Clifford Geertz wrote that people move "very frequently between
people, intercede with the spirits so as to cure illnesses, bless journeys,
radically contrasting ways of looking at the world, ways which are not
purify persons and places of bad influences, find lost animals, and carry out
continuous with one another, but separated by cultural gaps." This passage
funerary and other rituals. Each shaman must find his or her own unique
between contexts allows the common-sense world to be "now seen as the
destiny-fitted approach, part jived, part drawn out of a spoken tradition of
partial form of a wider reality which corrects and completes it." It seems that
techniques for tracking down the appropriate spirits and cajoling them into
everywhere and often in the human world, cultural space is marked apart
giving a result. Amongst these techniques are the use of spiritually empow
for those special activities that we identify as ritual or spiritual and that
ered equipment and clothing, a preparation ritual that turns attention
address the sacred domain, and that some of this marking out is also carried
inwards to the spirit world, knowledge of how to lay and light certain kinds
over into the setting apart of art from other things that are made. But it's
of fires and what to sacrifice on them, and a personal song that reminds the
precisely this carrying over from ritual to art that's the issue here. Musicmaking was, and still is in many places, thought of as a spiritual activity. But
shaman of her origins and the source of her power. Just as their rituals mark
apart the spirit world from unwanted contamination by the everyday
as a contemporary Westerner my grounding is to think of music as aesthet
world, shamans themselves are marked apart from other people and looked
ically organized rather than shaped by beliefs concerning transcendent
beings. To think about music and spirit, to bring them into relation to
on as slightly dangerous and strange.
The economic-cultural type of South Siberian nomadism is iden
one another, is also to worry at the edges and overlaps between ritual and
tified with smaller units of economic production and consumption, but not
aesthetic domains. In summer 2005 I found myself in the ideal place to do
with political, military and administrative structures. The basic reason for
just that: the Republic of Tuva in southern Siberia, home of throat-singers,
stone carvers and shamans.
this is that for herders in this kind of terrain the amount of livestock mobil
ity largely determines the degree of pasture degradation. You can only feed
so many humans from so many cattle. Small scattered settlements are the
Tuva
practical ecological response, and there is no necessary one type of articula
tion of these mobile family-based units with higher order political units.
Kyzyl, capital city of Tuva, exact center of Asia, amiable and violent, feels
safer at night in the company of locals. We're walking down to the river, the
Rulers and ruling systems, in other words, may come and go, but life in the
Yenisei, to look at the moon and talk about music. Security on tonight's
pastures goes on. Or rather went on. Until recently each settlement would
stroll is courtesy of Alash, an upcoming young Tuvan folk ensemble.
"The important thing here in Tuva," says Ayan, "is that we think of our
have had its own shaman. Now maybe half the population have decamped
to Kyzyl, by far the largest city. But then as shaman Sergei Ondar said:
"/ don't see any problem with shamanizing in cities, or indeed in extremely
unshamanistic environments... All of my life has been a step by step devel
selves as situated in the cosmos with the sky as our father and the earth as
our mother. We're with the living creatures, the birds, the ants." So far he
sounds much like a Tuvan government brochure. There's a mantra here
repeated by everyone from the president on down to the effect that Tuva
occupies a unique geographical space within which is communion between
land and people. What's interesting is how the ideology embraces everyone
194
opment of shamanism: working in the city is part of that, and doesn't seem
like a big break; I am in touch with my roots in nature and the cosmos."
I had visited Tuva on numerous occasions from 1992 onwards, but
this time I decided to focus right on the boundary between aesthetic and
195
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
Spiritual practice, as shown in the doings and sayings of musicians, carvers
and shamans. I followed up my accumulated contacts and talked with as
many people as I could. I found that Tuvan artists and musicians, like those
elsewhere in Siberia, feel free to draw on a general shamanic culture. But
Tuvan art is shamanic in a deeper way than simply referencing shamanism.
Tuvan art is produced within the framework of a creative psychology that
is often conceptualized and experienced as spiritual. An artist is free to ask
permission from spirits, and to receive help from spirits, within the context
of an aesthetic process. At the heart of Tuvan artistic imagination is an idea
of nature as a totality, as a cosmos. It is towards this cosmos that an artist
strives to open. Artistic skill is knowing how to work this opening towards
the cosmos mto the materials of sound or stone. It is as if each thing or event
in the world is cormected to everything else by networks of invisible forces,
but that this connectivity is at first hidden, so that to reveal the connectivi
ty is also to unveil the inner nature of things. This unveiling is often done in
a spiritual state and it is tempting to think that for Tuvans a spirit is the per
sonification of a node of cormectivity to the cosmos:
In Tuva a person who listens to music or looks at art may receive
kiish, the spiritual force residing in the work as a result of the artist's inner
moment of creativity and dialogue with the spirits. But what happens next
is conditional on how this person perceives and receives this force. So art
does not itself have a direct and objective power to change a person and the
circumstances surrounding them. The ritual actions of a shaman, on the
other hand, are aimed at objective results and are felt to achieve them. A
shaman is called when things build up to a head in real life, become risky or
unpredictable. Shamanizing is case-orientated, and art is not. A piece of art
is something that a person could encounter or not, respond to or not.
True, a performed art, such as music, tries to be as case-orientated as it can,
tuning itself to time and weather, place, and the feel of an audience. But this
can't match the detailed crafting of a shamanic ritual to fit a personal crisis,
with the careful astrological reckoning, the "inner" and "outer" observation,
the probing questions asked. Whilst art addresses persons, ritual objectively
changes the world around and inside persons, dealing with all the circum
stances, near and far, that bear on the case.
The power and cunning of artist and shaman diverge, the shaman
primed to negotiate sacred worlds, the artist ready to hone a particular vocal
technique or visualize the exact way a deer leaps. We can watch where the
care goes, where the attention goes. Take the shaman Kunga Tash-Ool Boo,
who is also a carver. When speaking of his carvings, he uses an unequivo
cally aesthetic tone: "Look at this, look at how beautiful it is, how the two
goats are standing together, the composition." As the only carver I know
who works in horn rather than stone, he talks about horn being a finer and
stronger material than stone, how this allows him to achieve greater delica
cy in the figures. His work frequently shows a sense of exploiting variations
in the color and texture of the material to achieve a more "living" quality in
the figure. In this sense the carver Kunga is truly a maker, focused on tak
ing physical stuff and crafting it into a physical thing. But as a shaman
Kunga also makes ritual objects that have a ritual function, such as acting as
vessels for spirits. Such objects may be the ongon figurines given to house
holders to keep in their homes, to be prayed to, or given small sacrifices of
food. Here his approach is completely different. Although the ongon
depicts three human figures, it does so in the most rudimentary way; the
work is done quick, using felt, metal, or wood, whatever is to hand. The
care is directed at ensuring that the ongon really is a recipient and holder of
r
spiritual energy. Its form is merely adequate to this function.
This difference as to where care and attention are directed was
made even plainer to me by a shaman who had previously attended music
college in Kyzyl. Sergei Tumat said: "When I shamanize, I'm not here, not
in the place where I'm playing the dungur drum, it's just my material body
196
197
Gendos Chamzyryn: "When I'm playing, a particular spirit comes to me.
It's above and comes down into my body and sometimes I'm playing and
singing and it's not me doing it, it's someone else. It's the spirit from where
I'm born, a place that's light and kind and beautiful."
Alexei Kagai-Ool: "The carver has to feel the stone, be in dia
logue with it. Before I start, I have to converse with the spirit of the stone,
I do a ritual, I need to ask the spirit."
However the claim to, or the acknowledgment of, contact with
spirits is not for everyone:
Alexander-Sat Nemo: When KK started to sing I listened with eyes
closed and my eyes saw ancient Tuva, I felt it, no cars or electricity. He was
like in a shaman s trance, his eyes closed, giving out a big energy. I told him
afterwards and he couldn t understand what I was talking about. He didn't
want to know..."
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
that's there: I'm away with the spirits, that's where my total attention is.
mental that distinguishes xöömei from European kinds of harmonic singing
If someone touches me, tries to get my attention there in the yurt, that's
like those used by Stockhausen in Stimmung. How did this Central Asian
dangerous, it would be like falling a long way: so it's completely different
from playing music to an audience, where you have to be there, to be
musical culture come to exploit the harmonics of voices in the way it did?
Tuvan singers often alternate between singing words without xöömei,
attentive to what your material body is doing, to everything I learned in
music school..."
and xöömei without words, whilst playing a bowed stringed instrument
Although much of art's work takes place in the imagination, the
artistic imagination is always fundamentally orientated towards an image
nated from an attention to the harmonics of instruments? There is evidence
throughout; is this a significant constellation? Had harmonic singing origi
that the material culture of Central Asian music, in the form of instruments,
that requires to be made in the real (i.e. this ) world. The dialogue is between
has been stable for a long time. From the loth century AD, instruments
maker and materials, via the imagination. The convergence between the
similar to the Tuvan hizaanchi appear right across Asia from China to Iraq.
plane of imagination and the plane of material is effected by a physical process
These are designed to be played by touching the side of the string rather
of making. (Taras Mongush, carver: "my favorite method is to choose a
than pushing it down to a fretboard. They are appropriate for sustained
stone and wait until I can imagine what I can turn it into.") Ritual, on the
melodies and the accompaniment of epic recitations. Their Chinese name
other hand, establishes a special kind of meaning whereby concrete actions
hwuchyn indicates a Central Asian origin. The khomus jaw harp is at least
refer to, summon, and bring to life a collective imaginary space designated
2,000 years old in Southern Siberia. The huur is described from the 13th
as the sacred. Here is a movement starting in the plane of concrete acts, but
century onwards as a string instrument bowed underhand with horsehair
going away towards the plane of imagination. What happens in the yurt
strings, inherited within the family, from father to youngest son. When it
when a shaman shamanizes—drumming and singing, for example—is
comes to throat singing, we have of course no material remains, but there is
fundamentally orientated towards what happens in the domain of the sacred.
a hint of the age of the tradition in the following: Vainshtein suggests that
So a shaman takes care of the material plane primarily to organize it in
the throat singing tradition of the Bashkir uzliau, which is not present in
relation to the sacred, according to the special semantics distinguishing
ritual acts and signs from everyday ones. In so far as what a shaman does is
perceived as musical, it is said to be music for the spirits.
any neighboring culture, predates their emigration from Central Asia to
So this leads me to a first answer, a Tuvan answer, to my question
about what is distinctive about an aesthetic act or process, as against a ritual
act or process. Ritual action operates on an imagined sacred, which is believed
speculates that "throat singing originally appeared in Sayan-Altai among
in turn to cause directly a change in some person or thing in the everyday
Turkic tribes—^the direct ancestors of Tuvan people." Nevertheless we have
visible world. Against this, artistic action is towards the production of an
image, concretized, and here it is exactly the connection or PAS SAGE between
no actual descriptions of throat singing in the region prior to those of the
imagination and real—taken as given in ritual—that is being constructed.
Xöömei
Xöömei is a Tuvan word meaning both a particular style of throat singing
and throat singing in general. A way of seeming to sing two notes at once,
developing a melody of upper notes that are in fact harmonics of the lower
note. The important and difficult thing for the singer is the suppression of
the fundamental in favor of the harmonics. It's this stifling of the funda
198
present day Bashkiria. This move must have happened before they were
described in 921-922 AD by the Arabic writer Ibn Fadlan. Vainshtein also
ancient nomads of the mountainous steppe regions of the Upper Yenisei
basin in the natural habitat where in the first millennium lived ancient
late 19th century Russian ethnographer Jakovlev, followed by Anokhin in
the early 20th century.
Despite our ignorance about the exact origins of throat singing, the
existence of ancient instruments precisely designed for the production of
harmonics is telling. In the case of the khomus jaw harp the note produced
is constant in pitch, and the performer changes the shape of the mouth to
cause different overtones and thus to create melodies. In the case of the
stringed instruments these are played not by changing the length of the
vibrating string, pushing the string down onto the fretboard, but by chang199
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
ing the mode of vibration of the string, touching it at the side. The idea is
therefore not to produce a series of different fundamental frequencies, but
a series of different harmonics of a single fundamental frequency. In xöömei,
singing the melody is also done by passing skillfully between the different
harmonics of a single fundamental. It seems plausible that once attention
was given to the production of clear harmonics from the fundamental vibra
tion of a string, the voice began to model itself on this. The metaphorical
extension from instrument to voice is a case of the known being used to
map the unknown: the voice, with its invisible mechanism, seems to issue
from the lips as a direct output of the soul; now it is brought into relation
with a humanly-made instrument that is under the hands, where the eye can
see it and the hand can feel and find its measure.
But, unlike in the Organum of medieval Europe, the external
"machine" did not produce the result of thinking in terms of discrete notes,
but rather of exploring the harmonics of one note. Thus although the voice
was indeed conceptually instrumentalized in Tuva, instrumental sound
itself was conceived as continuous, unified and transformative, rather than
discontinuous and structural. Tuvan singers invariably refer to a close con
nection with nature and natural sound as the decisive factor shaping their
musical culture; they invoke the presence and connectivity of the artist
within visible and sounding nature conceived as the bright skin of a wider
deeper higher cosmos. In day to day life it is of course attention to differ
ences in timbre that allows us to recognize from far off the call of a partic
ular animal, to tell its gender, age and condition, or to identify immediately
the voice of a particular person and their mood, or even to tell the temper
ature of the air by changes in the sound of snow. In these instances it is
change in timbre that carries the information. A musical alertness to timbre
conditions the Tuvan approach to harmonics so that a movement between
harmonics in xöömei is conceptualized as a change in something approxi
mating to timbre, often described as "vowel sound" or as "sound quality";
if you get the "sound" right, your harmonic will be at the right pitch. The
important point is that there is in Tuvan culture a perceptual and conceptu
al continuum between natural and musical sound, and that the continuous
transformativity of natural sound is carried over into musical sound.
The great Tuvan musicologist Valentina Suzukey puts it like this:
the heart of the Tuvan sound concept is that the drone and the harmonics are
regarded as inseparable. Can I generalize one step further to the idea that a
200
sound and its transformations are inseparable? To the idea that the potential
transformations of a sound are the "inside" of that sound? A specific cul
tural organization of interiority-exteriority put the accent on looking inside
the sound. The impulse was to go inwards, to bring out the inner connec
tivity of a phenomenon, not to observe or manipulate its exterior. By
filtering and amplifying the upper harmonics of a fundamental vibration
we are unveiUng its hidden life. Tuvan melody is the melody of a sound,
the unfolding of the inner nature of a single sound that, in that moment,
stands for all sound. I am reminded of a statement by the Romanian spectralist composer lancu Dumitrescu when he spoke of his own musical
project: "The attempt to release or unveil the god that is living in every piece
of base matter."
What this tells me is that the passage from imagination to realiza
tion in Tuvan art, and perhaps in any art, requires a coming to terms with the
presence of physical matter so as to bring out what is already hidden in it.
Epic
The Tuvan sound aesthetic is clearly embedded in a background shamanic
metaphysics, but is it also historically shaped by the role of music in the
performance of epics—long songs expounding the mythological stories that
underpin the shamanic world view? Does Tuvan singing style originate as a
solution to the problems posed by epic performance? Is there a connection
between the relative absence of epic in Tuva today and the elaboration of
throat singing there more than anywhere else in Central Asia?
We need to imagine first of all a stock or collection of stories held
in collective memory, never written down, indeed expressly forbidden to be
written down. The epic bard draws on these stories but there is no fixed text
to be exactly reproduced; rather the bard must versify the story on the spot.
So for the audience and for the performer the story is imagined in the light
of the way in which it is told. In Buryat (South Siberian) epic singing, each
phrase begins without words with a drone deep in the throat of the voice
which then rises to a middle register in which the words are articulated. As
the bard versifies the story, the rhythm comes out; the pitch melody remains
very simple and very constant, playing little or no part in expressing
changes of scene or of character. I have heard Sakha (North Siberian) epic
sung in a very different way where different characters are done in clearly
contrasted singing styles. Generally in all the Central Asian cultures in
201
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
which instrumental accompaniment is used, the role of the instrument is to
same way; they fail to bring the stories to life in the imagination of the
give an anchoring drone, a point of departure that is always returned to
audience, and are generally regarded as bad news. You still find today
between strophes, though there may also be some use of harmonics to
Siberians listening to music closing their eyes and going on a kind of
suggest changes of mood or intensity. But it is easy to see how the instru
cinematic flight or journey.
mental drone voice and the drone played on a stringed instrument are
interchangeable here. Carrying the drone into the voice would accentuate
Monophony
the special status of the ritual words then to be sung, separating them from
other kinds of words.
Why did the Central Asian outcome diverge so strongly from what hap
Where would I place epic on my scale of variation between ritual
and artistic practice? On the one hand, like a ritual, epic is directed at a
brought into a considered relation to the instrument in the context of ritu
specific effect in the real world. It should never be performed for no reason,
or merely because it is beautiful and pleasing. It is done typically at the
begmmng of autumn in the period of preparation for hunting, but may be
performed as a way of preparing for any big undertaking. The point is not
that the story contains a model of action to be imitated, but that the process
of bringing to life a sacred narrative impregnates whatever is done after
wards with the quality of normativity, a kind of putative "rightness." On
the other hand, as in a musical performance, the accent is on the versifica
tion and performance itself, and the skills of bards may be compared in a
similar way to the techniques of artists.
We intuit that the desired effect is not primarily aesthetic, in our
sense, but we need to know why. The answer lies I think in reception. The
desired effect on the audience is that they vividly imagine and are gripped
pened in Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries when the voice was also
al performance? In Asia, the exploration of the harmonics of single notes; in
Europe, a more accurate conceptualization of movements between discrete
notes. The key points here concern divergent kinds of textuality in the two
situations, and a specifically Christian construction of the spirit-body
divide. But to understand this we have to explore nothing less than the
thousand-year incubation of Western art-music within the Christian
Church—a defining factor in the anthropology of this music. Wlien John
Baily—an expert in Afghan music—asked, as a question of ethnomusicological method, "Why privilege representation of musical patterns over rep
resentation of motor patterns?" he fingered a key factor in ethnomusicology: the conditioning of the Westerner by the hierarchies of his own systems
of representation. These hierarchies were established for art-music during
the period of that music's incubation within the Church. It was the Church
that provided the matrix within which grew up the idea of a consciously
by the story being told, and that the story is imagined as happening within
a sacred space-time. It is said that performance of epic involves going into
constructed music. It was the epistemology of that music that became musi-
trance; the singers act as if possessed and believe that they are receiving
directly from the spirits the patterns, images and sounding strophes. (I lis
tened with eyes closed and my eyes saw ancient Tuva...)
West's take on other musical cultures.
In the Middle Eastern Judeo-Christian traditions, urban and hier
Essentially the epic is performed in order to evoke, generate, bring
to life, the imagined sacred. But because here what is required is a prolonged
act of imagination, this is not done in a perfunctory way via a semantics of
ritual. The imaginary sacred must here itself be innerly performed by the
audience. So although epic would appear to be an intimate fusion of ritual
and art, the over-arching context and purpose is unambiguously ritual
rather than aesthetic.
Where epics have been staged in the form of operas and plays—
often as part of national cultural revivals—they no longer work in the
202
cology and fed into ethno-musicology where it colored and still colors the
archical, ritual is generally performed in special custom-built institutions:
the Temple, then the churches and monasteries. The very early Christian
ritual had been essentially Jewish and the Jewish cantillation allowed impro
visation on the base of traditional forms and cadences. The Jewish Temple
had an orchestra with lyres, harps, trumpets, cymbals.
...when they lifted up their voices with the trumpets and cymbals and
instruments of music and praised the Lord... then the house was filled
with a cloud.. .so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of
the cloud; for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.
—II Chronicles
203
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
But certainly by 400 AD the use of accompanying instruments was thought
meaning of the words, but rather a musical reinforcement of the linguistic
by many Church Fathers to be a dangerous influence. The heterodox
practices of the young Church are by now becoming stripped down, cen
shape and phrase of the text. So the Jubilate and De Profundis are sung with
tralized, standardized. The monodie Chant, unaccompanied, now becomes
cation of their function within a single ritual structure. An introductory
the central musical expression of the Christian rite. The voice, privileged as
greeting may be sung on a single note; a fall of a third may show punctua
the essential carrier for the ritual, is represented as internal, inaccessible,
dissociated from the physical being; singing and listening become activities
tion; a question mark may be suggested by a fall of a semitone followed by
no musical indication of their radical difference in content, and every indi
a rise; the end of the gospel by a melismatic treatment of the first syllable of
the last phrase. This removal of expression, this abnegation by music of any
of the soul rather than of the flesh. In the same moment, the dematerialization of sound: as the body is expelled from music it takes with it bodily time
paralinguistic expressive function, is part of the general "heightening" of the
and all that is implied by the presence of bodily time in pre-Christian
Chant, found also in the Roman tonus lectionis and theJewish cantillation—
performance traditions. Sound becomes pure, an exactly regular vibration,
a heightening that serves to distance the Chant clearly from normal every
without physical shape. Equally the church building closes itself physically
day speech, to get and keep attention and enhance mnemonic resonance.
from the profane world and insulates itself from natural sound; the presence
Chanted words had physical charisma. Throughout the patristic and feudal
of the outdoors sound-world is replaced by the magnifying reverberation of
periods, to read a text meant to perform it physically: to move the lips, to
the indoors within the hard tall walls of the edifice. In here, sound comes
pronounce the words, and to listen to them, hearing the voices of the pages.
from everywhere and nowhere, an emanation rising towards the now verti
cally-situated god.
Meditation and prayer were connected to the idea of spiritual digestion and
ruminating. In praising a monk who prayed constantly, Peter the Venerable
At this time everything is, on the face of it, dictated by the demands
of the ritual. But notice how much of this is carried forward into secular
cried: "Without resting, his mouth ruminated the sacred words." The little
private booths, or carrels, in the libraries were designed to cope with the
composed music, even as the attention shifts gradually to the work of mak
buzzing and muttering of readers and copyists. To make these motions of
ing the sound image itself. The gradual discovery of autonomous techniques
sound was to rehearse, to ingrain into the physical being, to physicalize the
for this making will eventually lead to the emergence of polyphony and
meaning, so that the words would always be there to reach for in any
beyond that to the Renaissance... beyond which composed music is no
longer contained and contextuaHzed by its liturgical function.
moment of weakness or confusion.
One of the crucial observations that helped define Christian atti
What is the importance of sound in Christian thought in this vast
period ? It is thought of as standing for the Word, the Word being language
stimulation of both memory and forgetfulness. Clement of Alexandria
considered as illocutionary, language that does rather than language that
drew a violent contrast between the devotion proper to worship and the
states
ultimately, as the Word of God, bringing about the existence of
immorality of secular song; he pictures the singers leaving the Church and
matter itself. So to sound, or to cantillate, the sacred text is to express its
illocutionary force, a force that, through utterance itself, directly changes
forgetting at once where they have been. Instead of the praises of immor
tality they now sing "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." He com
the state of the singer and the listener, in the sense that to sing an Adoration
is to be with God wondering, or that to sing a Thanksgiving is to be with
ments grimly: "No, they will not die tomorrow, for they are already dead
before God."
God gratefully. And this force is behind the text, in the sense that the text
itself can be translated and paraphrased without modifying the Word. (In
The lifeline of the Christian self is the strong continuity between
the self in prayer and the self in the world. Self-possession becomes intense
Islam these two levels are much more intimately fused because the core of
the Qu uran is the Word of God as inscribed directly by the Prophet.)
ly important. To abandon oneself, to forget oneself, is a horror. This does
not mean what it means in later discourses; Christian self-possession is
remembering oneself in God and before God. This remembrance is verbal
So how the text is set is not in any way a musical revealing of the
204
tudes to music is exactly that there is, within the psychology of music, a
205
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
and the binding thread of the Christian self is the store of remembered
In Europe music eventually levers itself away from the verbal text
words. So, meeting temptation, the Christian seizes on the words of a mar
by acquiring its own textuality in the form of notation. A diagrammatic
tyred saint; immediately he is no longer distracted from the destiny of his
form arises which borrows the idea of discrete particles from written
immortal soul; he weighs the matter of his own eternal death against the tug
language but incorporates them into a mimesis of musical gesture in which
of fleeting pleasure. But his faith is not in words as words, in their capacity
spatial relationships reenact patterns occurring in the plastic and holistic
medium of auditory sensation. The inspiration for such a spatial mimesis
to mean what they say, but in the saying of them as an illocutionary ritual
of remembrance; it is the music of the words as chanted that reinforces their
mnemonic power and charisma, a music whose sound is a total sign, in the
sense of a sign that suffuses all that is said with the power of God.
may lie in the ancient practice of chironomy in which the Jewish Cantor
indicated by hand gestures the melody to be sung from the Hebrew text.
Around the same time as we begin to have written music (Hucbald's
Ultimately, however, this sense of music as a total sign would be
9th century Europe) we have descriptions of the use of an instrument called
worn away. Some relation between parts and whole was latent in the prac
the monochord to teach singers the Chant melodies. Here again is the idea
tical work of music-making. Within the structure of the Chant, melodic
of separate tones envisaged on a vertical plan, a feel for a striated vertical
elements and details had always been evaluated, substituted, recombined; it
space in which each note is clearly separated from the one above and the one
was simply that the modus operandi was articulated within a theological
below it. This is achieved by placing the voice, so to speak, under the
framework. Moreover the process had been both gradual and diffuse. The
emergence of polyphony, which would telescope and superimpose this
fingers, so as, literally, to digitalize it. The word Organum means instrument,
or tool; the Organum in vocal music means, then, the instrumentalizing of
process on itself, is the point at which music begins to refuse its role as a
the human voice, the realization of a fundamentally instrumental concep
total sign and to reject any way of mediating between detail and totality that
might be imposed from outside.
tion of sound in the medium of the human voice.
Also around this time the practice of troping begins to take on a
new urgency. Troping could mean the addition of new text, the addition of
Polyphony
new text combined with music, or the addition of new melismas without
The Christian Church: a vast machine for creatively recombining sets of ele
ments belonging to a sacred imaginary, in the interests of a hierarchy of rit
ual specialists maintaining a symbiosis of power with changing political
élites. Christianity's peculiar multitextuality is central to its ability to adapt
to successive political arrangements, from the Roman Imperium, through
the Crusades and the Slave Trade to the treaty with Mussolini and the Cold
War. In multitextuality is on the one hand the power of the authoritative
written text—reinforced by a monopoly of reading and interpretation by
persons with a vested interest in the structure—on the other hand the simul
taneous presence and interplay of many different texts. It is as if the textual
dimension of Christianity were similar to a body of epic stories in a Central
Asian culture, only that all the stories and their possible variations had been
written down, each carrying its own textual authority. Consider only that
even the Bible as we know it is further surrounded by a vast cloud of other
marginalized texts known as apocryphas and pseudepigrapha of which
there are many thousands of pages.
206
text. In its first form it consisted only of adding sequences or parts follow
ing on from sections of the Chant. Later, with the technique known as
farcing (stuffing), new fragments of text were interpolated into the original.
It was a proto-compositional technique whereby local composers could
contribute to the body of liturgical music as representatives of particular
monastic and church communities, often paying tribute to important local
figures and saints.
At what point is the grip of ritual values loosened up when it comes
to determining the actual shape and detail of the music within the ritual?
The technical turning point is the discovery of a way of organizing the
relationships between simultaneous, as opposed to successive, sounds. This
invention—the invention of organized polyphony—challenged the author
ity of the sacred text, not of course as such but in terms of its operational
pragmatics as the sole integrative field for musical organization. Instead of
varying by substituting melodic formulae for others, you could now take
the Chant or any part of it and build something new vertically on it; from
207
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
the moment the Chant became merely a starting point, the alert musician
would gravitate towards such other integrative principles as might emerge
opened my mouth to say Glory, a flame touched my tongue which ran
from the actual work of building music on it. These new principles ulti
down me. My language changed and no word could I speak in my own
mately formed a matrix in which musical thought and experiment could
interact directly without the mediation of a liturgical framework. The
satisfied. —Charles Harrison Mason, founder of Church of God in Christ,
necessity of polyphony followed from the emptying out of musical space
C.1893.
round the monodie Chant and the pregnancy of this space for the possibil
ity of textual substitution. Once the impulses towards textual commentary,
substitution, superimposition, glossing, in short HYPERTEXT, become
concretized in music, they begin to divide and link continua in ways that no
longer simply mediate the divisions of experience reproduced in Christian
discourse. The specific textual plurality that distinguishes Christianity from
Islam, the notion of synchronous commentary, trope and textual and nar
rative diversity, is the major causal factor in the emergence of polyphony in
the Paris cathedrals and not in the Baghdad mosques.
which enveloped my entire being above the brightness of the sun. When I
tongue. Oh! I was filled with the Glory of the Lord. My soul was then
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one
accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of
a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat
upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and
began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
—Acts II
Here we go to another thought, which is that the projection of the sacred is
In short, a discourse centered on an unresolved cohabitation of
transcendence and immanence (God, the Word made Flesh, the Son)
sourced (motivated, in the sense that motivations are the causes of social
produces its own negative and finds itself transcended (metaphorically
of individuals. And that these experiences are the revolt of the psyche
speaking) by Art's immanent critique. In so far as Church legislators
practices) in the actual vivid and shattering religious or mystical experiences
allowed themselves to be guided by an extreme distrust of music, they
against the language-narrated self. So one definition of "spiritual music" is
music that induces or draws on such experiences. The twist is how.
achieved exactly the opposite of what they had intended; they were forcing
Mainstream Christian ideology deflects and defers any unmediated
music to become a disciplined, self-conscious, technical skill: they had cre
ated the conditions for a learning process that would grasp more complex
and overwhelming contact with God. In Catholicism, only after death is the
materials on the firm basis of what had been learnt with simpler materials.
They had made it necessary for music to discover its own generative
processes, to find an equivalent to the gradual and collective folk-process
of elaboration and variation, but to find that equivalent in the sphere of
conscious and organized practice. In this sense, the emergence of music as
an art is already implied in the liturgical demand for a body of musical mate
rial that can expand and ennch itself without simply laying itself open to the
uncensored influence of other musical traditions.
Pentecost
The Spirit came upon the saints and upon me... Then I gave up for the
Lord to have His way within me. So there came a wave of Glory into me
and all of my being was filled with the Glory of the Lord.
So when He had gotten me straight on my feet, there came a light
208
Beatific Vision of God permitted. In life, such experiences are dangerous,
extremely rare and confined to the deeply, and possibly only the profes
sionally, religious. However, within Christianism is a partly suppressed and
marginalized Pentecostal tradition. It emerges in our time around 1900 in
Mississippi USA in the Church of God in Christ as an alternative to the
white-ized post-slavery churches. This revived Pentecostal movement
offers baptism by the Holy Spirit, and uses music to induce a state of being
filled by the Holy Ghost and of speaking in tongues. It is said that The Spirit
moves in the music.
Its forerunners were the Revivalist camp meetings of the early 19th
century, at which people would often fall to the ground rendered uncon
scious by the sudden awareness of their sins, and sometimes further receive
the gift of tongues and utter involuntary words glorifying God or Christ.
And these movements in turn go back to the mystical "epidemics" that
broke out spasmodically throughout the history of Christian Europe.
209
HOLY GHOST
HODGKINSON
dation of the mainstream churches with rising prosperity in this life. Thus
contemporary art music. Jonathan Harvey, thinking about his own music,
conceptualizes two intersecting identities: on the one hand the (Western)
Christianity has a key interest in secular institutions capable of filling the
instrument "as found" with its linear intervallic capacities; on the other its
vacuum at the point where it fails to provide an existential experience of
extensions, by means of electronics and timbrai modifications, into a verti
God. Social groups who are systematically materially disadvantaged tend to
cal timbre dimension. In his piece Advaya, the cello sounds at times corpo
find this an unsatisfactory arrangement.
It may be that some aspects of West African religion passed into
real, as if celebrating its own materiality, but at other times is made to
produce a radically desubstantialized sound having no immediate link to
Pentecostal religion in the Southern States. Certainly a connection has
any actual sounding object. Harvey thinks this as an unfolding in time of a
been drawn going back the other way—between the "oral structures" of
dual identity, within the cello, of material and transcendent being. It is clear
Pentecostalism and the indigenous religions of Africa—to explain the extra
ordinary success of Pentecostal churches in Africa since the 1970s. Amongst
here that his way of showing out immanence is to show the points at which
these oral structures Walter Hollenweger notes the inclusion of visions and
scendent. In Dumitrescu, this relationship becomes more dramatic: what is
dreams in worship, and understanding the relationship between body and
immanent can only be shown out by being caught in the act of bursting
mind revealed in healing by prayer and liturgical dance. Certainly every
thing that revolves around the term Gospel comes out of the rise of these
asunder its own material basis.
The point is that immanent spirit can only be summoned by a
churches in the Southern States from around 1900: the use of musical instru
double perception, at once focused on the materiality of sound, AND
ments, and the full range and expressive possibility of the voice both in the
directed to how that sound is being disrupted or transformed in some mate
sermons and in the choral responses.
rial way by what appears as an other force moving within it.
However it is Afro-American music that is the direct inheritor of
What generally keeps the lid on these outbreaks is the accommo
The spirit moves in the music. The Pentecostal tradition brought
matter breaks out into spirit itself—^which can then only be shown as tran
out of persons sonically present as whole and bodied persons, second
the Gospel and Pentecostalist soimd traditions. Albert, we found out quick
ly, could play his ass off He had a sound, alone, unlike anyone else's. It tore
because the use of interference into the singing voice suggests the simulta
through you, broad, jagged like something out of nature. Some critics said his
neous presence of a material and a spirit source. The sense of something
sound was primitive. Shit, it was before that! It was a big massive sound and
pushing up from within or behind. Modulation, distortion, interference,
familiar from information theory, from the functioning of radios, from
wail The crying, shouting moan of black spirituals and God music... Albert
was mad. His playing was like some primordial frenzy that the world secretly
used for energy. Amin Baraka on Albert Ayler in The Autobiography of
timbre back to life within Christian ritual. First because the sound comes
electronic music, fuzz boxes and the rattling metal sleeves on the tongues of
kalimba thumb pianos. A signal interacting with another signal. Normal
speech modulated by a shake in the voice telling of emotion. The voice
broken as if animal vocalizations were coming up from below. The formal
ization of the signal on one level is partially disrupted by the presence of
another signal on another level. And this disruption is displayed in the style.
Leroi Jones, pp. 194-195.
Coltrane's music, in comparison, is more weighted to the aesthetic.
Listening to First Meditations, the music is not so much being pushed aside
as modulated by Coltrane's intentions. There is the tension between the
Consistent with this, musical instruments are vocalized. There are tonally
leader's search for the "beyond" and the foreground or "here" of predeter
mined melodic, rhythmic and modal patterns to be transcended and risen
undefined mordents (like the consonants of language), glissandi and blurred
above. There is the choice of musicians, where each musician has a highly
transitions, throaty and growling soimds by various kinds of overblowing
and embouchure, prominent changes of vibrato, harmonics, and so on.
Something else is trying to come through.
individual take on their own instrument, yet works with the others with
extreme complementarity. At times it's as if each were playing a different
A parallel approach occurs in the more calculated context of
210
music, and yet it's the same piece. Then there's an important narrative func
tion, by which the soloist begins by voicing the theme and then passes
211
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
through different levels or steps in a larger movement or journey, each step
work with these signifiers?
clearly marked by changes in texture and rhythm by the whole group. In
Can we imagine a range of unusual experiences, including those of
the paralinguistics of the tenor harmonics, in certain sections of prominent
seeing or knowing more than should be possible by normal channels, time
vibrato, and some relatively brief episodes of arppegiated piano décor, the
music can be said to illustrate or represent transcendence. But a far stronger
travel, dreams, hypnosis, out of body experiences, drug-fueled hallucina
tion, the effects of various and particular drugs—DXM is like living in a
accent is on the movement between here and somewhere else that is hap
dream. Everything seems new and foreign. There is a childish euphoria. You
pening inside the music, a process that is being unwound, explored in the
feel disconnected from everything and everyone but communication is easy.
time that the music takes, by moving between a series of plateaus, each of
Scenes are very choppy and you 'II feel like you 're in multiple places at once.
which is itself multiply subdivided into phrases and periods. Finally the
PCP more knocks you out of reality. You'll feel slow and sometimes heavy.
sequence of solos allows the same process to be re-explored in the different
Your feet get stuck, feel as if they were melting into the ground... yet you're
media of the different instruments and their players. Coltrane's music is
uplifting because it invites a performance in the listener of an expansive
as light as a feather. There is less conscious command, and talking is difficult.
aesthetic experience. The interpretation of this experience as a spiritual one
not existing. Scenes are cut into long frames integrated slowly—being seized
by the listener is cued by track titles and by the relatively discrete "tran-
by aliens and taken up into UFOs for experiments, possessed by spirits,
scendence-signifiers" mentioned above. It may be that the message-bearing
inner flying, feeling yourself morphed into an animal, experiencing total
aspect is what motivated the artist to explore this kind of aesthetic set-up.
But it doesn't follow that the work itself expresses the artist's intentions or
unity and submersion in the cosmos, seeing the white light, or feeling the
wave of the Holy Spirit coming down into you?
message; the work is the outcome of a long series of aesthetic decisions that
surely take on a life of their own.
And then there's the "plain, everyday spiritual experiences" in
the following passage from Norbert Baumert writing about Pentecostal
I admit to having a bone to pick with message-bearing art. A habit
picked up in the debates on Brecht, on Social Realism and political music.
Theology: What in the 20th century was at first called "Spirit-baptism," is a
I ve come to believe that signifiers in art, even in poems, have to circulate
from clear-cut experience of the Spirit of another kind, such as occurs in
meanings, and not point hard outside the work; I see them rather as signposts
inviting us in into the work and its dynamics, suggesting to us how we might
mysticism or in the lives of many saints; on the other hand, it is distinguished
start performing the work in ourselves. In art, aesthetic pull, centripetal,
impact by the Holy Spirit; deepened living relationship with the three divine
must be stronger than semantic pull, centrifugal; otherwise its power, its
resistance against the world is dissipated. Only once the power of art is
persons; intense, life-changing effects; love for prayer and Holy Scripture;
an important bodily component with corresponding forms of expression;
gathered can it then affect persons. Coltrane gathers the power of art, and
readiness for vocal and free prayer, also in community; special manifestations
that s what I meant by saying his music is more weighted to the aesthetic.
of the Spirit, usually prayer in tongues. The specificity lies in the combination
Does Albert, then, fall down on the question of message? Does
his feeling of having something to say" drive him merely to illustrate and
signify the experience he wants us to have by imitating the trance-shake
of the possessed?
of all the above...-where it seems that, for this tradition at least, prayer or
thanksgiving to God already count as spiritual experiences.
Hell, it seems like we're still just scraping the surface of this thing.
Suppose a spiritual experience is only ever defined, or even only ever expe
rienced, via cultural signifiers? Doesn't an artist then who wishes to com
You'll be in a street, but the street won't "click," and you'll feel nowhere, like
clear-cut experience of the Spirit, which, on the one hand, is distinguished
from plain, everyday spiritual experiences. Its characteristics are: profound
This spectrum of unusual experiences, some perceived as spiritual,
some less so, depending on your point of view, suggests a high degree of
cultural modulation. What happens to people—often unexpectedly and
intensely—^is interpreted, and the interpretation may feed back into the
experience so that it becomes largely culturally constructed. This interpret
municate, to inspire, to stimulate such an experience have no choice but to
ing, deciphering kind of knowledge has a more active counterpart in the
212
213
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
form of the techniques used by ritual specialists to generate and modulate
to this kind of overloading.
special experiences. In shamanism, for example, what the shaman iimerly
Dissociation—a state of division or non-integration in the contin
sees has the form taken by the spirit; the shaman sees a bear and knows that
uous production of identity—may be regarded as a strategy or a resource of
this is not any old bear but the Bear Spirit. So you might say there's an act
the mind for dealing with certain types of difficulty, of which sensory over
of interpretation here, in the sense that someone else might innerly see a
load is only one. It is possible that dissociation is a normal state and that
bear and think it was just any old bear. But, more than this, the shaman
the Western notion of an integrated identity is a myth; to paraphrase
leams to recognize spirits, that is, to construct the experience of spirits from
Castoriadis, the world as experienced by the subject is not an integrated
varied kinds of visual images that may be more or less detailed. The shaman
whole, yet does not fall apart. But many religious and ritual practices offer
learns to feel towards the image, to empathize with it as though it were
another person, to detect its intentions and mood.
institutional means of dissociation. Here the more traumatic aspects of
dissociation for the subject are overcome by learning and habituation.
"We had begun with shamans. I spoke matter-of-factly about the
shaman using preparation rituals and other techniques to enter a special
Within these cults or practices dissociation becomes a skill that triggers the
state. "When I shamanize, I'm not here, not in the place where I'm playing
a kind of imagining in which what takes place appears neither to be imag
the dungur drum, it's just my material body that's there: I'm away with the
ined by the subject nor to be happening in the physical world, but to be
spirits...
working of what anthropologists have called the autonomous imagination".
I was concerned to establish the metaphysical and pragmatic
"imagined to" the subject by some other agency, and so happening in its
structure of the shaman's doings. The shaman's use of sound—That which
own sacred space-time. So this is an experience of being taken over by an
is not, rising out of that which is. Pushing up out of the visible, telling always
other force, projected as a more powerful, more authoritative force. Then
of the inside, voicing the shapes of enclosed air, unveiling the hidden—is
I gave up for the Lord to have His way within me.
The jazz musician glances enviously at the cult member who has
integral to the techniques of entering the special state. The shaman's drum
ming (active) takes her on a journey out of herself into the sacred world
where the spirits may be met with.
their dissociation technique all set up in advance. Against this, the jazz
Now consider a socially more elaborate situation such as the Bori
rituals of the Nigerian Hausa. Rituals here are conducted for the same kinds
put themselves totally into their playing whilst dealing unaided with the
musician is constrained by a culture of the individual expressive identity to
indeterminacy of the artistic environment. Is this why some musicians in
of purposes as those of Siberian shamanism—to heal illness and resolve
the extremely insecure and stressful jazz ambience reached out towards
problems. However the role of shaman is now split between a group of
explicitly spiritual pathways? From an aesthetic point of view the potential
musicians and one or more mediums. The music (active) triggers the medi
um (passive) to enter a dissociated state and be possessed by a particular
problem is that, whereas in a CULT situation the cultural signifiers that tell
spirit. Possession by a spirit is shown by talking and acting like the spirit,
you how to respond to the music are already given, in an ART situation, if
you want to play spirit music you have to lay out the cultural cues in the
falling down, sweating and shaking, lapsing into comatose states, speaking
music itself or in whatever other information is attached to it. Can you do
in tongues, twitching and acrobatics, frothing at the mouth and nose. Such
altered states have physiological and psychological components, but they
this without aesthetic compromise?
are also learned: you learn what the cues are and how to respond to them;
Art
the learning takes place both in and out of normal waking consciousness.
The music is the bearer of many of these cues. But it also triggers dissocia
tion in the medium as a defense against the auditory overloading produced
by a buildup of volume, speed and density of information. The mediums are
I have so far dealt largely with aesthetics as a possibility incubating within
ritual, as a potential that haunts the margins of other forms of practice and
experience conceived in spiritual terms. It's high time to deal with it head-on.
trained to perform the music within themselves in such a way as to succumb
Because I approached artistic practice in Tuva as an anthropologist as well
as a musician, I started thinking of art as an anthropological category rather
214
215
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
than a historical one. It simply seemed to me that in Tuva, people doing
A general kind of isomorphism seems to be shared between ritual
music and doing carving knew that they were doing a particular kind of
and art. Ritual is isomorphic with itself, involving repetition, relations of
thing that had a certain quite edgy relation to spiritual practices but that was
also very distinct. The fact that a vocabulary of aesthetic judgement was
formal similarity. These aspects constitute its formal semantics: they say we
shared between practitioners of both arts encouraged me in this direction.
its model. Ritual says: the ongon represents the three spirits; the representa
In art, the accent is on the pragmatics of the movement from imag
tion doesn't have to be good, there only has to be the idea of representation.
inary to real, a movement that is taken as given in ritual. The convergence
But how, and at what point, does the vessel containing the spirit no longer
between the plane of imagination and the plane of material is effected by a
do so by the force of iteration alone, but require to be formed in the like
physical process of making. There is a physical dialogue between maker and
ness of the spirit—or in the likeness of the spirit's house or body? If, for Kant,
are doing something special here. Art takes the idea of ritual isomorphism as
materials, via the imagination. Materials are anything that is taken into the
discursive knowledge was prohibited from access to the interior of things, then
work-process that was already around, and so had some characteristics of
its own. For example, an orchestra, a theme, a tone row, a sound, a way of
works of art are the objects whose truth can be conceived only as that of their
making a sound, a bunch of chords, a recording of birdsong, Eric Dolphy
I want to deal first with the work's imitation of itself. I see likeness as
interior. Imitation is the path that leads to this interior. (Adorno)
(if you were Charlie Mingus). The characteristics of the material are an
based on grouping. (And perhaps this view of it is inspired by Stockhausen's
important input into the dialogue because they offer resistance. The idea
essay on the Klavierstück i.) The basic unit of aesthetic perception is a group
does not simply impose itself on physical matter as if that matter were
of sensations, in which the connections between members of the group, and
nothing other than an extension of the idea. The material offers resistance
between members and the whole group, generate sets of related forms; each
partly because it is material and partly because of the respect accorded to it,
form is then grasped in relation to its possible transformations, because its
a particular kind of listening or looking that registers and explores its
nature. In music composition, material may be chosen that is not physical
constituent sensations remain active. All perception happens in time, not in
one time but in a multilayered time in which syntheses of different kinds
matter, but, once it is chosen as material, it is attended to in a similar way.
occur at different speeds, and this is true for the artist as for the viewer, for the
So a piece of art consists of some chosen material that has been worked on
musician as for the listener. The things that set off these sensations physically
with a particular kind of respect, and it is because of that respect that the
material bears the traces of being worked on in the way that it does.
shapes embody the traces of actions and not direcdy the traces of ideas.
Come back to the front end of making a flute solo or making a
piece of sculpture. The formal aspects of the work arise exactly through the
fact that it is work, the cumulative trace of intentional actions taken towards
the material. These acts of shaping are conditioned by a senes of acts of per
exist—even if they are sounds—and have been shaped to do just that. Their
These actions are conditioned by the possibilities of the material and by its
resistance to being acted on. For example, a harmonic on a tenor saxophone,
whether composed or improvised, is the encounter between an idea, dynamized
into an intention, and the physical limits of the instrument. The harmonic
ception that are alive not only to the material but to each other. The look-
becomes aesthetically valued in connection to other sounds, or for its own
ing or listening is at any stage towards a material already inscribed with the
shape of which the parts are connected. Best is if you hear the shape of the
traces of previous lookings and listenings. Hence every perceived form is
held in intimate relation to its possible or actually present transformations.
sound, and you hear it in relation to the shapes of other sounds, and in sev
eral different dimensions at once, for example by comparing envelopes, or
In other words, because of this particular kind of perceptual care directed at
and into the matenal, attention returns to what was excluded from each per
fundamental pitches, or by any mode of relationship and comparison that has
been set up by the music. But that all this would be happening very fast and
cept, and this residue is ready to be taken up in the next perceptual moment.
in an unobserved way, creating a feeling of transformations within a holistic
Notice that in this regard art is absolutely opposed to language, in
which everything definite is cut out against everything else.
and plastic medium of sound experience.
The neuroscientist Vittorio Gallese suggests that the models of the
216
217
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
world by which we organize many of our thoughts and experiences are
dynamic and tactile because their neuronal correlates—mirror neurons—are
horrified that the wrong music might cause a person to forget themselves
those that simulate actions and movements. These structures are activated
in the same way when we see the actions of others as when we move our
ollect themselves before God. In Tuva xöömei is said to make the Ustener
forget their normal self to participate more deeply in the cosmos. According
selves. They are, so to speak, the mental part of moving, but without the
to Michel Ratté, music can be a proto-symbolization of the inner what-
agency of the movement—^us or them—being determinative. Hence we feel
we-are that is lost when we use the means of communication and represen
before God, but believed that the right music would bring a person to rec
the movements of others around us as familiar long before we decode and
tation offered by society. Music is peculiarly suited to this because sound
interpret them. We might go on to speculate that we also feel the dynamics
constantly disappears, as if it were a constantly collapsing representation of
of things, and read the traces of movements in forms, in way that is tactile
and intimate, as if through the lens of our sense of our own bodies. Or in
the listening self. Listening to music brings us into a state where memory no
other words that aesthetic experience involves the mirroring of suggestive
getting. Art is driven by the energy of a self that finds itself on the one hand
movement and shape in art. But the important point that I want to borrow
from Gallese is the idea of neuronal activity connected to movement but
brought into relation to itself by the possibility of communication, and on
the other constantly misrepresented by the inherently intersubjective char
without being tied to images involving agency—^us or them, you or me.
acter of that communication. The young Georg Lukacs also considered all
His way of breathing was a joy: it had economy and grace and power; his
longer has representation, and simply confronts itself as awareness of for
human socio-cultural communicative acts to be a tragic failure in terms of
management of time was perfect. He had the time to hit whatever note it
the primal need for the subject to express the singular immediacy of their
was that came next, then to extend the breath into the next phrase like a
own experience. The individual is incarcerated in an incommunicable
sudden almost-visible extension of the room, as if this phrase had yearned
subjectivity, the isolation of the subject produced precisely within the
to be united with its predecessor, and now they were together. Then he'd
solidarity of all the speakers of a language. Art expresses what we are as such
within the failure of communication.
cut the end of that phrase and wander off into the split chink of a twilight
zone, momentarily. Normal business would resume some time, but in this
instant he had gone down steps he'd never seen until then, that led down
Jonathan Harvey on Xenakis and Ferneyhough: Both composers
possess a "hot" energy that appeals to some temperaments. There is in this a
to a dark harbor where water clucked against the boats and rocks and a
notion of assault on the self-identity of the subject. Piranesi, Beckett, Matta,
constellation could be seen reflected. —Last Night's Fun, Ciaran Carson.
Bacon, etc., all exemplify this. The self (body and mind) is torn to fragments
The performing listener is here a writer creating a parallel text to
the music. Giving a sense also of how a listener may interpret their own
to reveal the nothing.
experience as inhabited by the intention and experience of the acoustic
of agency might be put on hold. I'm thinking of the ideas of John Cage:
Cage's ideas about music as the production of a quiet mind, and as some
performer. This opens up the idea of the active creative performance of the
receiver/listener/viewer in response to the work. It's a fundamentally demo
But there's another almost opposite way in which a listener's sense
thing that can help to quieten the minds of others; silence as the totahty of
cratic idea. The inner performance is not a passive effect of the work. Its
the unintended, not a literal absence of sound and movement but the total
agency is open. Listening to music we do not care if it is us that is actively
ity of all the sound and movement that is happening anyway when the
intention is quietened. In Cage's dualistic view, intention can only produce
making the experience or not. Or, rather, the who of the activity is not an
essential part of its quality.
Again this places art in decisive opposition to language, which is
almost nothing other than a grammar of agency, a schema for negotiating
the differences between your position and mine.
Music stimulates both forgetting and remembering. Christians were
218
a catastrophically rigid mind-set such as that employed in the workings of
traditional tonal harmony. A person who makes music in such a structuring
way is laying down a dominant continuity that imposes a line of hearing
and prevents the listener's perceptual capacities from opening to any other
possibiUties. Against Cage, this leaves out the recursive nature of aesthetic
219
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
perception as an activity, the constant sending back of the attention to adjust
the fibers and discover something new. It leaves out the listener's contribu
possible between the work as it exists in abstract or recorded form and the
tion to the emergence of a new and unique continuity with each listen.
demanded is not the reproduction of an ideal performance, such as might be
If Cage's proposition represents a radical, perhaps deliberate, mis
understanding of traditional music, Ws actual practice can be thought of as
arrived at through competence alone, but the realization of a unique itera
tion that listens to its here and now.
simply moving the zone of the listener's activity nearer to the early stages of
In jazz this quality is sometimes referred to as spirit or energy or
incoming perceptual information. This perhaps relaxes the higher level
vibes. Some musicians adopt a devotional metaphor as a technique for get
(more abstract) processing activities uivolved in recognizing, sorting and
drawing connections between perceptual entities.
ting themselves into the right frame of mind. A shared vocabulary develops
Taken together, the ideas I have been discussing suggest a vast range
of possible types and intensities of musical aesthetic experience all of which
empirical and social moment within which it is being realized. So what is
between players and listeners: he taps into a higher animating spirit, playing
like a man possessed, visibly transported....
The academic literature on the psychology of performance looks
place the experiencing subjea's sense of agency in some way into parenthesis.
mostly at questions of motivation and control of anxiety, as if these were the
Finally, at the core of every truly engaged listening experience, something is
retained from the transcendental religious experience: not the giving up of
suffering from stage fear are explicitly acknowledged to be of dubious value;
the self for the journey into the sacred imaginary, but a special condition in
they bear little or no relation to the personal preparation methods used by
which "I," the listener, am inhabited, and temporarily imagined, by the
some musicians in order to let go of the anxious mind before going on stage.
crucial factors. Furthermore, the various therapies available to performers
subjeaivity of the music. Finally, by embodying the traces of the listenings of
From yoga to double whiskies to private rituals of disorientation, musicians
its maker, or makers, music, in the moments that it sounds, is listening to
itself, and I listen to it by becoming it.
will try anything that works for them.
There is a further implication here that bears on the musician's own
state of mind and how that indirectly contributes to the work's reception:
practicing with a radio AND a TV on full blast. My guess is that a certain
namely that the musician's own sense of agency may also be placed in
different techniques, whether spiritual or secular, can create such dissocia
parenthesis. We've already seen how, in the Tuvan psychology of artistic
tion and partially re-organize a person's normal sense of agency.
creation, a creative process may involve a dialogue with spirits, or a sense
that it's not me doing it, it's someone else.
Coda
In Western culture also, certain modes of performance seem, to
require an abandonment of the self. But what is being abandoned here is the
self in the limited sense of that part of the mind that has previously acquired
and that now consciously holds and deploys the necessary technical skills
for the realization of the work. Furthermore this operative self is not being
inhibited
in fact its contribution to the output is being strengthened. The
notion of giving up the 5e/f here refers to a restructuring of the attention so
as to get a performance that has a sense of immediacy, a sense of the work
being discovered in real time in front of and with the audience, and so a
sense of risk, of going beyond what is simply known and adequately cov
ered by techmcal competence. For the performance of a piece of music is
always an attempt to open the deepest and most comprehensive dialogue
220
Glenn Gould famously overcame a block in some tricky passage by
kind of dissociation is functional for optimal performance and that many
Finally this question of agency/non-agency draws me back to the social
doings of human groups and the distribution of power within those groups.
An anthropology of power will look at how control systems—^previously
biochemical and instinctual—are, in human beings, transferred to extrinsic
cultural systems. This enables and fires off the singular human project of the
variable, developing and undetermined adaptations of societies and cultures
within different ecologies. The lynchpin of these effective possibilities is
cooperative action, which requires the binding of the individual into the
social group and the affirmation of the general power of a society over its
members. My thinking here starts out from the work of Pierre Clastres on
pre-political societies; societies in which the role of individual leadership
and hierarchy is less important than the submission of every member of
221
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
society equally to the rule of tradition; small-scale societies in which the
generations of scholars to gravitate towards a sociological reduction of reli
nearest thing to a leader is a person who solves disputes, gives away worldly
gion. But the invention of the sacred, the peopling of a sacred dimension
possessions and acts as the group orator. This account breaks with the
with imaginary beings, has first to be grasped within the total field of the
tradition of explaining (and legitimating) power differences in present-day
human, the entire field of being as a simultaneously natural and cultural
being. Only on this level can its true lack of sense be articulated.
societies by reference to hominid, and therefore instinctual, pecking orders.
It asserts cooperation within small groups as a fundamental step in human
The extrinsic cultural system is largely vehicled by language, a
acculturation, one that precedes the later emergence of political difference
and inequality within single societies. My point here is that first we have to
grammar of agency, of the constantly shifting positionality of the individual
in relation to other individuals within the space-time of the group. So not
reckon with the general power of society over its members, and only then
only does culture confront the pre-cultural in terms of how it arrays,
can we consider the case in which social power is unevenly distributed.
processes and stores information, it also, by introducing a grammar of
My power over another person could be defined as my capacity to
get them to do what I want regardless of their own wishes and without the
agency in the form of language, reconfigures human intentionality in rela
tion to how information is activated. Who is doing it becomes an integral
actual deployment of force. The communicative acts involved in the expres
part of what is being done. From the perspective of the intending subject,
sion of power are very often ritual in character. Ritual may be more abstract
agency and positionality sink back as constants into the functional context
than any actual violence, but just as physical, because addressing the body
of action. However, behind and underpinning the grammar of agency, lies
through the mimetic movement and complicity of bodies and the binding
the general and unagented power of culture itself. This is now articulated
of the body to exaggerated and repetitive gestures within the ritual proce
through a secondary imaginary network of positionality.
dure itself. In so far as the model for all rituals of power is the particular
The way in which this secondary network is marked apart from
category of actions by which we address the domain of the sacred, "spirit,"
actual relationality within the group draws on a pre-existing category of
the content of that domain, is revealed as purified social power, or pure
communicative action: I mean those forms of animal ritual that place certain
coercion. In the initiation ceremonies of quasi-Ieaderless societies, all
behaviors in parenthesis in order to reduce inter-individual conflict for the
members of society submit equally to the tradition of the group by submit
benefit of the group as a whole. The dog will lie down in front of the larger
ting equally to the ritual knife. It is as if control, once displaced outside the
dog in order not to get attacked. The action is marked out as communica
biological system, has to cut its way back into the human body. Why does
tive, and the logic is that of avoiding the unnecessary death of an individual
this movement of control from biological systems to cultural systems have
to take such a traumatic form?
which would be counter-productive for the pack. Animal behaviors are
This year, 2009, is Darwin's anniversary. Evolution is an improvi
sation. No animal is a perfect and integrated system (despite our longing
what would otherwise be normal functional behavior; all these formal
projection of grace upon them) because every ammal is an improvisation on
the basis of temporary solutions to earlier problems. Human language and
ritualized by the application of exaggeration, stereotyping and repetition to
aspects reappear in human ritual.
Like a constant sound we only notice when it's turned off, the
culture do not suddenly of themselves lift us out of that process. I began this
general power of a culture can only be sensed and culturally articulated by
its members at points of malfunction, recurrent difficulty or complexity;
essay with a proposition concerning the untranslatability between the two
points at which cultural knowledge is palpably not self-sufficient, at which
cybernetically defined informational modes—natural and cultural—^that
constitute the human being s being, and this remains the core of my answer.
the world-image breaks down, at which a fragile walkway must be rebuilt
after every storm. Through the development of a sacred domain as an imag
We look for, we expect, smoothness, in the sense of a functional or analytic
continuity. But clearly this expectation is conditioned by the social organi
zation of our own project of understanding, the same conditioning that led
inary network of positionality, human persons get to have a positional
attitude, as if towards other real persons, towards those issues, frictions and
222
223
negations generated by the culture of which they are members, as it lays claim
HODGKINSON
HOLY GHOST
to operational mastery within the total nature-culture system. Whatever is
cally belongs to the kinds of society in which economic relations are still
dangerous, or is simply unplaceable within a culture s categories, becomes
posed in terms of relations between individuals expressed through an onto-
material for that culture's construction of the sacred. Clastres' Chronicles of
the Guayaki Indians opens with one of the greatest coups de theatre in
logical ritual of bodies? Supposing that the development of the autonomy
of art as a field coincides with the over-riding of all such relations by the
ethnographical literature when he is woken in the middle of the night to
more abstract relations of money? Suppose then that art has become
assist at the rare and precious event that is the birth of a new baby into the
nothing but a privileged zone in which survives a substitute ritual for the
tribe. He describes the four or five Guayaki forming a protective circle
bourgeoisie? Isn't what Bourdieu argues in Les Règles de l'Art that the final
around the mother, staying silent, unsmiling and careful because they know
push to define art (here, literature) as a separate field of activity with its
that the sUghtest sound or a single word would be enough to attract a mor
tally dangerous night spirit.
own rewards and sanctions comes as a reaction to the flooding
Ritual articulates nature as a complex of spiritual forces that enter
into social relations with persons. At the same time it makes the power of
Baudelaire? I blow the dust from my copy of the Communist Manifesto-,
society seem natural by locating it in the body and its gestures and in the
physical resonances of gesture, of relations in physical space, and of the
voice. Power is in the first place a dimension of social relationships in
general. The unagented, or collective, force of society itself underlies the
later internal distribution of power that comes with the growth of political
difference within society. At this point political power ceases to be one and
the same thing as the general power of a culture over its members and
culture takes on the new task of legitimating political inequality within the
group. With political difference the collective and relational aspect of power
gets concealed in rituals of authority where power appears as belonging to
an individual, an office-holder. But even here to begin with power is direct
ly spiritually conferred, or conferred by one whose power is spiritual. The
rewards of power, the privileged access to social goods, the identification of
the power-bearing individual as variously destined or chosen, as responsi
ble, as privileged, as mandated, or as representative, all this agenting of social
power is built up on the basis of social power itself.
But if ritual is effectively the exercise (or even the manufacture) of
social power direcdy through the body, art seems to commandeer this bodyinscripted process and instigate itself as its own power, or a separate field in
which power is no longer hierarchical, applicable or applied, the worked
material in art perhaps even standing in as a substitute for the cut body in
ritual. The demqcratic possibility in art is that the receiving subject's sense
of agency is left open, the receiving subject is not possessed by a spirit.
Art democratizes ritual? Art as an immanent critique of power?
But supposing that the association of power with the body most authenti
224
in of
money, new money, into cultural life in the Paris of Flaubert and
it hasn't been out much recently:
The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all
feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the mot
ley feudal ties that bound man to his "natural superiors," and has left
remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest,
than callous "cash payment." It has drowned the heavenly ecstasies of reli
gious fervor, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the
icy water of egotistical calculation In one word, for exploitation, veiled
by religious and political illusions, it has substituted naked, shameless,
direct, brutal exploitation.
Marx did not foresee the society of the spectacle as the material
form taken by monopoly capital and the need to absorb surplus production.
The exploitation that in his time was becoming nakedly visible quickly
concealed itself within a new universe of images.
But it was Rudolph Bahro's remark that Marx wasn't materialist
enough, that the human of dialectical materialism had been flattened out
into too few dimensions, that first got me thinking about the material pres
ence of the human being and the embodied intelligence of that being. Music
can't be reduced to a social text, or a social process with an integrative and
relational social function. Music is not beholden to society but to the whole
being that is part inside and part outside society. An anthropology that isn't
mere sociology will have to respect that. My patience, my pragmatic respect
for beliefs of others in spirits and for the interpretation of certain experi
ences as spiritual ones, survives my intense suspicion of organized religion
because these are sure-fire indicators of that human complexity.
—London, February 2009
225
CHAPTER
13
HODGKINSON
Selected Texts Used
Geertz, Clifford. Religion as a Cultural System in Anthropological Approaches to
the Study of Religion. (^45^4 Monograph j, Tavistock 1966) pp. 36-39.
Hodgkinson, Tim. Musicians, Carvers, Shamans. {Cambridge Anthropology, vol. 25,
no. 3, 2005/2006) pp. 1-16.
Suzukey, Valentina. The Drone-overtone basis of Tuvan traditional instrumental
SIGILS
JERRY HUNT
music. (Kyzyl, Tuvan Scientific Research Institute for Language, Literature
and Art, 1993)
Baily, John. Music Performance, Motor Structure, and Cognitive Models, in European
Studies in Ethnomusicology: Historical Developments and Recent Trends.
(editors Max Peter Baumann, Artur Simon and Ulrich Wegner, Intercul
tural Music Studies, 4. Wilhelmshaven: Florian Noetzel Verlag. 1992)
pp. 142-158.
Adorno, T.W, Aesthetic Theory (RKP, 1984) ref. on p. 183, retranslated in S. Nicholsen
Exaa Imagination, Late Work, on Adomo's Aesthetics. (MIT 1997) ref. on
p. 21.
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. Gruppenkomposition : Klavierstück i. (1955, in Aufsätze
Birome (ZONE): Cube is devised as a reflex memory cabinet with transac
tional core: the mechanism used is item-element invariant and system
transparent; the cube zone is a body-memory exerciser and operates as a
continuous "other": a sexual surface trance derivative emulator. The interi
or surfaces of the cabinet serve as source skrying planes through access
points using a system derived from the angelic tablets of John Dee; the core
is a composite mannequin arrangement (homunculus) provided with inter
19^2-62 zur Theorie des Komponierens. (ed. Schnebel, DuMont Schauberg,
active signature translators derived from a serialized variant of Rosicrucian
Köln 1963)
Gallese, Vittorio. Embodied simulation: From neurons to phenomenal experience.
chess (sigil) and is sensitive to participant skrying action. The participant/
{Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 2005. Springer.) 4: 23-48.
Harvey, Jonathan. Complexity in Music? (Gaudeamus, Rotterdam 1990)
Clastres, Pierre. Chronique des Indiens Guayaki. (Terre Humaine Poche 1972)
Clastres, Pierre. La Société contre l'Etat. (Editions de Minuit 1974)
bly to generate response signatures translated as context codes along a binary
cabinet/core interaction is arranged in such a way as to cause the core assem
interleaved multiplex transsexual spiral: the spiral contains embedded
narrative whorls: each whorl generates a string of sound-image derivatives.
Deep whorls (cores) use spatial reposition; continuant whorls (narratives)
use temporal reposition. Sound and image sequences and stills are parallel
threaded into the multiplex spirals. The system uses an audio/video retrieval
mechanism in the surfaces (monitors), sequence and stream interactive with
the accumulative history of the participant/cabinet/core exercise".
a-
a-
1-
Concerning the system ground of Birome (ZONE): Cube and Birome
(ZONE): Cube [frame] of Jerry Hunt, the Tarot is interconnected with a sys
tem of Hermetic Qabalah references with prime and subordinate number
interlocking systems with the Tarot representing a system of a "soft" div
ination mechanism. No inherent meaning is utilized in these operations but
they are not translated in the same way as John Cage's use of the I Ching as
a mechanism of random numbers. The interdependent, multiple layer
226
227
HUNT
SIGILS
meaning structure, the number translations, and the root prime number
systems are all used to produce an inter-layered, multiple plane interdepen
dent system of significances that are translated as codes. The codes are then
used systematically and coherently as significant systems in such a way as
to produce a coherent language of information exchange. The surfaces of
the cards have their principal and prime number significances, symbol and
representational surfaces, historical and dramatic narrative as well as their
scenario content apparatus supporting each card.
The Qabalah system uses a table of prime and multiple number sig
nificances—^the set of 0,1-10, and paths between the principal Sephiroth as
subordinate number cormections. These are used transparently as arbitrary
but coherent, systematic codes for the arrangement and disposition of the
content derivatives and structures.
The Watchtowers employ magical number systems arranged in
squares with systematic movements within the squares producing a series
of magical names and concurrent geometric configurations. The move
ments within magical sigils are similarly constructed with movements of
the names (letters, numbers) producing geometric configurations: sigils of
the magical names.
The work's sight-sound content contains direct (sight) and indirect
(sound) representations of many of the sigils and patterns. The coding,
sequence, and arrangement of the surfaces of the incidental components
(sigil, Tarot content derivative, Watchtower significance, or historical detail
of the development of one of these traditional methods) is ultimately
derived from the "Watchtower mechanism, but not as exact correlations of
the Enochian letter values. The coding series is represented as cormected
systems in a manner similar to the sigil production m the Watchtower or
magical square arrangements with geometric transformations of the sigils
(rotation) producing derivative variations of the code series.
The sight-sound production is finally categorized in such a way as
to produce a continuous stream of materials with each defined by some
characterizing feature and catalogued using the number-sigil mechanism.
The interactive procedures of short-term memory exercises of
comparison and mapping using feature detection begin to scan and analyze
the codes for significant features during retrieval procedures and are pre
sented as sight-sound emanations.
228
229
HUNT
SIGILS
99
W
X
O-Lo-Lo
-Q—Q_
(^(E7
230
231
SIGILS
232
233
CHAPTER
14
HYAKINTOS AND PARDEH
Takhallus (signature) to his epic poem SdgM Nämeh:
HYAKINTOS AND PARDEH
ù j A j ò ^ j iXAo
3
(ESSIKA KENNEY AND EYVIND KANG
"Ke Hafez cho mastane sazad sorud
Ze charkhash dahad rud Zohreh dorud."
I
When Hafez in intoxication composes a song
From the firmament Zohreh responds with her lyre.'
Hyacinthus Racemosus Dodonet, or starch hyacinth, also known as haurut (or)
maurut in the Armenian language. An interesting story is attached to this
flower, for Harut and Marut are the names of two angels "of surpassing
excellence" who were chosen to descend to the earth.
In Genesis 6:4 we read: "There were giants {Nephillim) on the earth
in those daysj and also after that, for the sons of God came in unto the
3. Dhän-e Häfez,Säghi Nämeh^ tr. Kenney.
Harut and Marut are ultimately con
demned to remain imprisoned within a pit in
Mount Damavand. The finality of the angels' descent into the earth offers a
counterpoint to Zohreh's ascent into heaven. In a Persian miniature paint
daughters of men, and they bore children unto them, and they became
ing we are given a dramatic image of Harut and Marut in their imprison
giants who in the olden days were mighty men of renown." The Lord was
ment within the mountain, tied up by their feet and hung upside down
so unhappy with the situation, that He "was sorry that he had made man
on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart."^
above a pool of water.
In Koran 2:102 we read further that
"...only the devils denied, who taught sorcery
i.
"...the distance between their mouth and the water amounts only to the
thickness of a sword blade. They shall remain so till the end of the
world, and whoever desires to learn sorcery goes there and learns magic
6.é, trans. George Lamsa.
to men/which, they said, had been revealed/to the angels of Babylon, Harut
and Marut...."
Harut and Marut are asked to intercede in a dispute involving a
Persian Queen named Zohreh, and her husband.
...They learned what led to discord between husband and wife."^
Zohreh is a woman of great beauty—
also an extraordinary singer. In the midst of
2. Koran
from them.""
4. Tarjoma-ye tafsir-e Tabarin I, pp. 96-97.
2
V
t
í
'
Ò
5
J
Ì
i
tram. Ahmed Ali.
their arbitration, Harut and Marut find themselves m love with her. Zohreh
resists their desires until they grant her the knowledge of the Greatest name
"Delam ze pardeh borun shod, Kojâ-i ey motreb."
My heart from the pardeh tears through. Where are you? Oh! Musician!
of God, which she pronounces and at once ascends to the sky to become the
planet Venus, known to this day as Zohreh in the Persian language. In
Persian poetic symbolism, she is often depicted as a celestial lute or harp
player who is sometimes inclined to respond to the efforts of earthly musi
cians. The great Persian poet, Hafez, refers to this connection in the
234
jJu La jlS"
0^
"Be nâlhân kaz in pardeh kär-e mâ be naväst."
235
KENNEY/KANG
HYAKINTOS AND PARDEH
To moan, to moan, for from this pardeh our work in song/well-being comes.
pardeh gardani, offer themselves in music in messages as clear as our hearts'
—Hafez^
ears. Yet there is a constant shifting also occurring in the listener as well as
the music. Every correspondence reserves for itself a manner of self-com-
Pardeh: 1. curtain; screen; veil; mantle; membrane; layer; coating;
film; act (as in a play); painting; tableau;
position, and in this way the meaning and the sound change even as the
names of music continue their own mythology-laden courses. Every pardeh
reserve; modesty. 2. (musical) note 3. (musical)
scale 4. fret^
which hides from us, hides something from us, also shows us something
If separation and union is the lovers
discourse, pardeh is the intermediary and the
else, and invites us to this inner limit.
^-Persian-English Dictionary
J LJ
boundary alike. Hafez in his supernal ambiva
lence, gives the feeling and knowledge of pardeh transmissions. His pardeh
Ù ù j j ¿,1 jl
j l ò 6ÙJi
Ij
is full of the mundane pragmatism of a first music lesson and the hyper real
ity of infinite intersubjectivity, with human agony and love suspended in
"Moghani az än pardeh naghshi biâr
between. The senses, the entry points and the interstices of phenomenal
bebin ta che goft az damn pardehdâr"
existence, are also pardeh. In fact, every pardeh in the body has a different
quality, experienced by the sound which causes it to move, to vibrate.
Musician, from this pardeh bring forth an image
The ear drum itself is the pardeh of the ear {pardeh-ye gush). The
inner ear and the cochlea is our chamber of music. The folds of the voice,
Reveal that which was spoken from within by the pardeh-holder
—Hafez*
cords, create a curving, stretching surface which is also a pardeh, transmitting the tiniest upper partíais of their vibrations through the posterior struc
tures of cartilage, called cuneiform and corniculate. In these spectral shapes,
ineffable poems are inscribed, as if on the face of a petal. This resonance
interacts with the drum-like membranes of pardeh, in breath, in voice, in
fascial interconnectivity and intercellular respiration, the breath, the blood,
the pulses.
Every pardeh bears the weight of each moment's experience, and
sometimes ruptures or disrupts its own sound, the tearing through of the
heart of Hafez. The pericardium, the pardeh surrounding the heart (pardehye del), is the lilypad resting on the watery mirror, holding the blossoming
of the heart s cries. A pardeh, which is also the name of the fret on the neck
of the setar, might speak of the fragility of the deer's leg. It's hoof is bal
anced on the edge of an abyss, tapping on the precipice. A fret, a note, a
position in the cosmology of melody, pardeh is the remembrance of the
atmosphere of a musical entity.
Melodic modulation can be described as pardeh gardani, to rotate,
turn, or cycle through the progressions of a
melod/. The stations and forms of love, as the
communication. Dr. Hos.em
8. Divän-e Häfez, Säghi Nämehy tr. Kenney.
3
I was a photon, I was a spark.
I was the divine hyacinth.
After my death, a flower grew from my blood.
Apollo inscribed the syllable ("Ai Ai") on my petals.
I was "like lilies with their silver changed to crimson." —Ovid 10:213
I was the son of Kleio, the Proclaimer.
My father was King of Macedón, Pierus himself.
I was raised by the Rememberances; I am a Spartan.
I was born to love, to be in love, to be loved.
Nymph Argiope, my lover—the first to love other men.
My lover Zephyrus ruled the west wind.
Thamyrus, my first lover, after my death:
He challenged the Muses to a music contest.
236
237
CHAPTER
15
KENNEY/KANG
Beloved Erato with Lyre, Euterpe with Launedas
If he was better, he wanted to have them all.
He would have even ravaged my mother!
But he was not as good as them!
They chose the punishment: "deprived him of both his eyes
and his skill in singing to the lyre" —Apollodorus 3:3
MUSINGS ON THE HERMETIC LYRE
WILLIAM ). KIESEL
I was loved by Apollo, I did everything for him.
He wanted to play, to throw the discus together.
We stripped naked, rubbed ourselves with oil.
What agony for Zephyrus to watch us play!
The west wind blew up when Apollo threw the disc into the sky.
Fearless, confident, in Love, I ran to catch it.
The disc hit the ground suddenly, startling me.
It bounced strangely towards me.
Figure 1. Different forms of the Lyre.
It hit my neck, slicing right through.
I screamed in agony, blood pouring from my throat.
Apollo turned pale, held me, tried everything to save me.
He tried every herb that could cure me.
Too late, too late, my life poured into the ground.
Apollo screamed, he cried in misery.
"No one will forget you in all of Sparta!
Ai!
Ai!"
"The entire universe is like a lyre tuned by some excellent artificer, whose
strings are separate species of the universal whole. Anyone who knew how
to touch these dexterously and make them vibrate would draw forth
marvelous harmonies. In himself, man is wholly analogous to the uni
versal lyre."
John Dee, Aphorism XI; Propaedeumata Aphoristica.
In the aphorism given above the Elizabethan magus John Dee poetically states
the doctrine of correspondence found in Hermeticism wherein the micro
cosm is in union with the macrocosm. But why would a mathematician like
Dee use the language of music in order to make this point? The answer Hes
in the fact that musical theory is wrapped up deeply in mathematical quali
Acknowhdgements. We -msh to thai^ Ostad Hossem Omoumi with whom we study Classical Persian music
Md poe^. Note on transhteration: As we have mcluded the Persian text, our transUteration style is based on
Iraman Persian (Faiîi) pronuncianon as it is often used in Iranian culture for the singing and declamation of the
texts of the Classical Persian poets, [a] is pronounced similarly to "mark", and [a] similarly to "have".
ties expressed as harmonics and to a renaissance philosopher such as Dee
these precise measurements informed his search for universal understand
ing. The renaissance thinker was always keen to learn about the universe by
observing nature's rhythms and sought to use these observations in order to
bring about changes in the world that were not only helpful for mankind
but the universal order itself. Nature triumphs over Nature sayeth the wise.
For if one could effect change in the universe by following its laws, then one
was participating in the divine work of creation thus uniting oneself with
238
239
KIESEL
MUSINGS O N THE HERMETIC LYRE
the creative source of the universe. Dee uses the word vibrate to illustrate
not only that sound itself is made by the movement of air but that the gra
dations of all manifestation are merely different rates of vibration ranging
from the higher subtlized divine world to the lower more dense material
world. Just as there was the idea that the universe consisted as a unity divid
ed up by degrees of vibration, so the philosophic idea of the Hermetic
Ladder expressed the successive steps that lead from the terrestrial to the
celestial realms.
Dees choice of the lyre is no accident either as the instrument
figures prominently in traditional mythological iconography found in west
ern esotericism, particularly in the personages of Hermes, Apollo and
Orpheus, whose collective legends help to preserve some of the musical the
ories which have come down to us through the centuries.
respective worlds. Thus each stage could be aligned with a planet, an herb,
a metal and a part of the body. In alchemy these were expressed as the celes
tial, vegetable, mineral and animal worlds respectively. Each of these worlds
overlapped with adjacent worlds above or below in terms of rate of vibra
tion as stated above, the highest being divine and lowest being the material
world. Whereas the density of the terrestrial world was far removed from
the subthzed divine world these nonetheless shared qualities by their har
monic relationships.
The Septenary Mysteries of Sidereal Harmonics
The aetherial diffusions caused by the planetary bodies moving through
space were held to sound specific tones ordered according to the harmony
of the spheres themselves. This series of harmonics was based upon the var
By the musical proportions of Pythagoras, a mathematical theory
of music was determined wherein the idea of pitch being related to length
of string was established. According to Pythagoras, music and astronomy
ious sizes and weights of the planets and their respective reverberations in
were seen as sister sciences, and Plato agrees. Plato admired the Pythagorean
favored for stringed instruments, though 4, 9 and 12 were also employed.
search for numbers m musical concords but criticized the purely empirical
As we will see in the emblems accompanying this article, the seven strings
approach, which lacks the push beyond the sensible world into true being
where actual knowledge, it was alleged, was to be had. The theory of pro
were "tied" to the seven planets and their correspondences in the human
portion and the idea of the nature of sound as vibrating air preceded and
made possible the Pythagorean musical theory.
tion. Numbers, correspondences and the like are a means by which tradi
the heavenly and terrestrial spheres. Thus seven was the number most often
body, which in turn were equated with the seven metals in alchemical tradi
tions may preserve their doctrines. The mathematical theories of harmonics
convey a vast array of possible combinations with dissonance and harmony
Hermetic philosophy teaches a doctrine of correspondences between
the macrocosm and the microcosm which the Emerald Tablet expressed
through a maxim that perhaps many have heard: As above, so below. The
as a means of audible verification. But pure math cannot convey the totali
idea was that through the study of nature, one could also learn about God
and, since after all one was made in his image, the self as well. These con
Pythagorean method. Part of the sympathetic qualities these correspon
dences share is that of resonance. The hermetic principle of vibration sup
templative, even mystical, meditations were also taking place among the
ports the idea that specific harmonics have their correlation in the mineral,
vessels and apparatus in the laboratory where the alchemist would repHcate
the conditions of Nature in the quest for the Philosopher's Stone.
plant, animal and the celestial worlds. Just as an operatic voice can cause a
The ascent and descent of the soul, like the rising and setting of the
sun was the chief concern of the renaissance interpretation of the myths. In
considering the lyre itself one can perceive the high notes resonating with
ed in the sublunary worlds. It was just this kind of thinking which lead the
church to forbid the use of certain tones in musical composition. The impli
the divine worid and low with that of the underworld. But the successive
stages of ascent each had their correspondences within the parts of the body,
the minerals of the earth, the plants of the vegetable world and the astral'
bodies in the celestial sphere. Each gradation had correspondence in these
240
ty of the musical experience as Plato has pointed out in his exposition of the
resonance in a wine glass, so also are the vibrations of stellar bodies reflect
cation was that some tones had correspondence with the infernal regions
and thus carried with them malefic effects.
MarsiUo Ficino was particularly taken by Hermeticism's tenets
regarding the intermediary realms above the corruptible earth and below
the spiritual world. Thus a doctrine of correspondences wherein the plane
tary bodies had their jurisdiction in the sublunary world whereby the
241
KIESEL
MUSINGS ON THE HERMETIC LYRE
movements of the planets had an effect in the world of man. Ficino's
approach was to eschew the practice of demonic influence also ascribed to
these things by magicians, instead he stressed that these were the workings
of Nature itself and that by the study of Nature man could affect miracu
lous effects according to nature. The power of words and harmony played
an important role among the theories of Ficino's works, which had their
root m the writmgs of lamblicus and Plotinus—two authors whose works
he had translated as well. Thus in Ficino's view, the music of antiquity was
a kind of ceremonial magic, of which he was keen to revive (again under the
designation of Natural as opposed to demonic magic). The times warranted
caution, he did not want to be charged with sorcery so he was careful to
assure his readers that his theories had nothing to do with the worship of
stars or demons, but rather the observation and practical operation of nat
ural forces. The ascent of the Hermetic Ladder through the seven planets
and beyond mto the mtelligible stars was the route through which the doc
trine was administered—this was (like Poimanders)—a means of purifica
tion as opposed to the acquisition of powers to be used on the earth.
But while the transmutation of metals was indeed among the oper
ations of the alchemist, this was but one aspect of the art which also
involved a mystical or inner alchemy which was expressed elaborately
through the use of mythology, allegory and a particularly popular visual art
form at the time called Emblemata. Emblems are usually accompanied by
mottoes or epigraphs and were intended to convey some allegorical or
moralistic teaching.
Resonance of Myth in Alchemical Emblemata
The auditory world of tones is indeed powerful, but just as powerful are the
effects produced in the world of images. The various qualities that come
numbers, colors and the like held certain properties and ratios observed by
the practitioners of the tradition and thus nearly infinite harmonious com
binations were possible.
We shall begin with the story of the birth of Hermes, who on that
same day invented the lyre from the shell of a tortoise. This tortoise was
encountered just outside the threshold of his mother's cave and Hermes
wondered at its waddling charm, scooping it up and declaring that while it
lived it would be proof against witchcraft but when dead it would surely
make sweet music. At this he tucked the creature under his arm and retreat
ed back inside the cave where he proceeded to empty the contents of the
shell with a sharp implement all the while attaching curved horns and
stretching sinewy strings across the fashioned instrument. It was this instru
ment that charmed Apollo himself and stole away his anger at Hermes
whom had garnered the Sun God's wrath by stealing his cattle by night.
When Hermes gave Apollo the Lyre as a gift, Apollo returned the favor by
bestowing the gift of his golden staff and of prophecy upon Hermes—so we
can see the importance music has in communicating secret knowledge.
In another story in the life of Hermes we are told that the Herald
of the Gods encountered two serpents locked in battle where upon he
struck his Apollonian staff between them and caused them to entwine
themselves harmoniously about it. This is where we get the symbol of the
caduceus so prominent in alchemical literature where the serpent is also
figured as a volatile force, thus Hermes is seen not only as a reconciler
between to opposing forces but also the act symbolically represents the
fixing of the volatile.
There is a resonance between the reconciliation of Hermes and
Apollo and the two serpents tamed by the caduceus. Apollo bestows the
lyre unto Orpheus who uses its awesome sounds to overcome several
obstacles including staying back the crushing stones threatening the Argo,
together in hermetic composition, whether musical or visual, produce specific
effects based upon the doctrine of correspondence already explained.
lulling the serpent which guarded the Golden Fleece to sleep and to retrieve
Consequently the resonances produced by alchemical imagery depicting,
say, a lion or a sun would share the effects of fire and gold, which are amon^
his love Eurydice from the very depths of Hades itself. Orpheus was said to
be able to charm beasts, trees and even mountains with his playing of the
the correspondences of the series. This was just as true with elemental qual
lyre and this is symboHcally in accord with the three worlds of alchemy
ities, human temperaments, historical epochs and geographical locations.
Each of these things are seen to be microcosmic aspect of a macrocosmic
order and the understanding and utilization of these principles allowed the
being the animal, plant and mineral worlds respectively. Later at the death of
Orpheus the gods plead in his favor with Zeus who in turn puts the lyre in
the sky as the constellation of Lyra to commemorate the deeds of the same.
proper link or resonance between the terrestrial and celestial worids. The
242
243
KIESEL
MUSINGS O N THE HERMETIC LYRE
Figure 2. Philosophia Reformata, 1622.
In this emblem, from the Philosophia Reformata by Johann Daniel
Mylius, we see the numbers 4, 7 and 12 represented in the various figures.
There are four flammg spheres, seven ruling planets and their respective
twelve astrological signs. Hermetic Qabalah postulates four worlds, which
range from the most subde to the most dense not unlike the vibratory scales
of alternately tight and loose strings on the lyre itself. Fire is much more
subtle than the solid rock wherein the planets are represented.
The seven metals embodying the god forms of the planets were also
equated with the seven tones in music. The principle of vibration is implic
it in the example of stringed instruments here shown as a lyre being played
by Apollo. Some 5th century texts, such as Euripides, spoke of Apollo as
the sun, which was common in the iconological tradition in art. Apollo
secured early fame for himself among the gods when he slew the Pythian
serpent that roamed Mount Parnassus and guarded the Oracle of Delphi.
Just as Hermes tamed the dueling serpents with the staff Apollo gifted him,
so too does the Far-shooter fix the volatile by piercing the scales of Pytho.
These planetary characters endowed with their respective attributes are
meant to portray the varied qualities associated with the deific archetypes
and the corresponding materials over which they hold rulership.
Figure 3. Musaeum Hermeticum, 1625.
In this emblem Orpheus is depicted with his lyre amidst the nine
muses. The three muses above are demonstrating the unification of the four
elements while also expressing their active and passive natures. The active
principles; fire and air are signified by the upright triangle, the flaming
salamander and the skyward winds, while the passive principles of water
and earth are indicated by the inverted triangle, the countryside and the
waves of the sea. The third muse presents a hexagram, itself a symbol of
union, harmony, the sun and gold. Meanwhile the remaining muses and
Orpheus together are seven in number and thus shown underground
commemorating not only his descent into the underworld but also to imply
the alchemical metals which have their correlates in the seven classical
planets. As if to confirm this the hermetic maxim "as above, so below" is
again present, this time within the light and dark arcs framing the scene,
indicating celestial and terrestrial stars, reflecting the doctrine of the metals
resonating with the respective planetary bodies. Orpheus' depiction at
Mount Parnassus and the Castalian Fount itself is a kind of resonance, his
association with Apollo apparent.
The well symbolizes truth since "truth comes naked out of the
244
245
KIESEL
M U S I N G S O N T HE H E R M E T I C L Y R E
well" but is also a reference to the alchemical phrase Visita Interiora Terra
Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem (visit the interior of the earth and
through rectification you will find the hidden stone), which forms the
acrostic vitriol, an acidic substance used by metallurgists to draw pre
cious metals from hard stone. This is another reference to the journey of
Orpheus into the underworld in order to retrieve Eurydice.
"Just as the lyre is an arrangement of harmonious and disharmonious
tones, most apt for expressing a very sweet harmony which is wonderful
in its infinite variety, so the universe includes within itself parts among
which a most close sympathy can be observed, but also other parts among
which there is harsh dissonance and a striking antipathy. The resuk is the
mutual concord of the former and the strife and dissension of the latter
together produce a consent of the whole and a union eminently worthy of
admiration."
—John Dee, Aphorism XII. Propaedeumata Aphoristica.
Apotheosis
The journey of the lyre through the mythological legends shows the
alchemical process in action. From its invention in the birth cave of
Hermes to the solar hght of the far-shooting Apollo and thence into the
underworld through the descent of Orpheus and finally placed among the
stars of the celestial sphere as the constellation of Lyra by Zeus himself, one
may see the process of resonance^acting above and below according to the
hermetic axiom.
Unlike Hermes and Apollo, Orpheus was mortal but through
the accomplishment of his deeds he was able to attain to the summit of
Olympus after his death. The legend offers immortality to the mortal soul,
which places it distinctly into the alchemical tradition of the transmutation
of base metals into gold.
The same analogy has been made in the Odyssey as Odysseus took
up his bow when he;
scanned every inch, then, like an expert singer skilled at lyre and song—
who strains a string to a new peg with ease, making pliant sheep-gut
fast at either end so with his virtuoso ease Odysseus strung his mighty
bow. Quickly his right hand plucked the string to test its pitch and under
his touch it sang out clear and sharp as a swallow s cry." —The Odyssey,
Fagles translation.
These two examples serve to show how nature can hold things
together by the tension of opposing forces. It is just such a tension that
allows harmonious or discordant sounds to be played upon a lyre, and in
the tradition of hermeticism within the microcosmic being of the self, which
reflects the macrocosmic divinity. In the life of Orpheus these opposing
forces can be seen in his attempt to overcome the power of Hades in order
to bring his lover Eurydice back from the underworld, having died by the
bite of a serpent. Orpheus was able to sooth the souls of the damned with
his playing, so impressing Hades so that the lord of the underworld allowed
him to return with Eurydice on the condition he did not look back until he
emerged therefrom.
246
247
CHAPTER
16
IN THE NAME OF GOD THE GRACIOUS THE MERCIFUL
can a musical sound be the recipient of an impress of beauty from the
IN THE NAME OF GOD
THE GRACIOUS THE MERCIFUL
Recognition of the Beloved
YUSEF A. LATEEF
Beloved, i.e., be it the will of God. The inherent fact here is that Allah "He
is the Lord of all things" (Holy Quran, ch. 6, v. 165), which includes man's
ability to hear the beauty of a musical sound and at the same instance he has
the God-given realization that this hearing-beauty experience denotes an
indication of the True Beloved.
However, "...among them are some who give ear to thee; but We
have put veils on their hearts, that they should not understand, and deafness
in their ears. And even if they see every sign, they would not believe there
In paraphrasing the Promised Messiah: Hadhrat Mirza Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
in...." (Holy Quran, ch. 6, v. 26) Moreover, it is not at all odd to ascertain
(peace be upon him), I venture to say; "A person's love of wealth or off-
that the beauty inherent in an unseen sound of beauty is an indication of one
sprmg or wife or his soul being attracted towards a musical voice or
(musical sound) are all indications of his search for the True Beloved."
{The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam, p. 52)
of the special functions of the True Beloved, for Moses (who upon be peace)
The Holy Quran says: "Allah—there is no god save Him, the Living,
the Self Subsisting and All-Sustaining. Slumber seizes Him not, nor sleep.
the Holy Quran says: "And to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and
To Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the
earth." (Holy Quran, ch. 2, v 256)
To be able to perceive this beauty is no doubt a blessing from
said, "Our Lord is He Who gave unto everything its proper form and then
guided it to its proper function." (Holy Quran, ch. 20, v. 51) And elsewhere
the earth...." (Holy Quran, ch. 16, v. 53)
^
Al-Rahman (The Gracious) the True Beloved, for He has said: "And what
Therefore it is logical to conclude that when sounds of beauty are
emitted or sustained through a human being, the sounds themselves may
not be only lifeless vibrations, for the Holy Quran says: "It is He Who
ever blessing you have, it is from Allah...." (Holy Quran, ch. 16, v. 54)
brings the dead to life, and that He has power over all things." (Holy
Quran, ch. 22, v. 7)
Mighty, the Wise." (Holy Quran, ch. 16, v. 61)
What I am suggesting here is that just as God has the power to make
the dead and barren earth vibrate with new life when rain falls upon it. He,
to be grateful to the True Beloved, for He has said: "And Allah brought you
Consequently, the beauty of the musical sound belongs to the True Beloved,
because He has said: "...All sublime attributes belong to Allah and He is
And the ear and heart that understands this beauty of sound is due
forth from the wombs of your mothers while you knew nothing, and gave
also, has the power over things other than this phenomenon of nature.
you ears and eyes and hearts that you might be grateful." (Holy Quran, ch.
Therefore, I postulate, in regards to the sounds mentioned above, that it is
Almighty God Who has bestowed the beauty which the sounds emit.
16, V. 79)
The reality here is that man cannot perceive with his physical eyes
the Imperceptible Being, Who is latent Uke perfume in a rose. For example:
belongs to the True Beloved, because He has said: "All grace is in the hand
A man cannot see the perfume within a rose but yet he can perceive the
sweetness of the rose, through the God-given faculty of smell, which God
(Razzaq-The Provider) has provided man with, unless he has lost his Godgiven ability to distinguish odors. Likewise a man cannot perceive with his
physical ears the Imperceptible being Who is latent in the sound of beauty
because Allah is (Al-Ghaibi) The Unseen. (Holy Quran, ch. 2, v. 4)
Also, if man can receive an impress of beauty from the Beloved, so
248
It is religiously correct to say that the beauty of a musical sound
of Allah. He gives it to whomsoever He pleases. And Allah is Bountiful, All
Kjiowing." (Holy Quran, ch. 3, v. 74)
It appears that there are those who hear and those who do not hear
the denotation of an indication of the True Beloved within a musical sound,
for it is written: "And be not Hke those who say: 'We hear,' but they hear
not." (Holy Quran, ch. 8, v. 21) And "Surely, the worst of beasts in the sight of
Allah are the deaf and dumb, who have no sense." (Holy Quran, ch. 8, v. 23)
The anomaly here is that Allah is telling man that he should hasten
249
LATEEF
IN THE NAME OF GOD THE GRACIOUS THE MERCIFUL
to listen and respond to the beauty fashioned by The Beloved, because if
one delays doing so, unforeseen circumstances may intervene to make one s
heart hard or rusty and then one may refuse to listen to beauty of any kind.
Therefore it is important for the listener to embrace, as soon as possible, this
Godly attribute of beauty provided by Al-Rahman (the Gracious) for this
attribute is purely one of the Divine favours from the True Beloved.
"Therein, verily is a reminder for him who has an understanding
heart, or gives ear and is attentive." (Holy Quran, ch. 50, v. 38)
with His praise, but you understand not their glorification. Verily He is
Forbearing, Most Forgiving." (Holy Quran, ch. 17, v. 45)
The above narrative tells us that man has been created to serve a
great purpose—to develop and reflect in his person Divine Attributes.
"What did you think that We had created you without purpose
"
(Holy Quran, ch. 23, v. 116)
"He has been endowed with a Divine personality and is manifestly
the central figure in the whole creation or at least that part of the creation
The reminder to Hsten here means to listen with the heart, the soul,
the conscience and the mind which signifies the best part of a thing.
which is related to our universe." (Holy Quran, Commentary 2022, p. 706)
Such is Allah, your Lord, the Creator of all things. There is no god
but He. How then are you turned away?" (Holy Quran, ch. 40, v 63)
And are you aware?
other than Ben Webster's intelligence. The following explains what I mean
"It is He Who makes people laugh and makes them weep." (Holy
Quran, ch. 53, v. 44)
earth grows, and of themselves, and of what they know not." (Holy Quran,
ch. 36, V. 37)
Yes—"And by the soul and its perfection." (Holy Quran, ch. 91, v.
8) One meaning of this verse is that all the properties which the great heav
Commentary
enly bodies such as the sun and the moon, etc. devote to the service of God's
creatures, bear witness to man having been endowed with similar qualities
in a high degree. In fact, man is a universe in miniature and in him is repre
sented, on a small scale, all that exists in the external universe. For example:
While visiting Copenhagen, Denmark, during the early sixties, I had the
privilege of hearing the late Ben Webster perform the Beades' composition
In order to throw more light on the Websterian event that I have
previously mentioned, I venture to say that there was another force involved
by this statement: "Holy is He Who created all things in pairs, of what the
"The verse reveals truth, viz., that God has created all things in pairs, which
was simply inconceivable at the time the Quran was revealed and among the
people to whom it was revealed.
"Science now has discovered the truth that pairs exist in all things,
in vegetable kingdom, and even in inorganic matter. It has yet to unfold this
Yesterday on tenor saxophone, for primarily a Danish audience. Like the
truth in all its various details. Even the so-called elements do not exist by
moon, as he illustriously articulated the composition, he transmitted to
those who were in the dark, the light of the Beloved, which he borrowed
entific truth applies to human intellect also. Until heavenly light descends,
themselves. They depend upon other things for their sustenance. This sci
from the Great Original Source—^The Beloved. I say this because before he
finished the first chorus approximately 90% of the Danes, having heard the
man cannot have true knowledge which is born of a combination of Divine
revelation and human intelligence." (Holy Quran, Commentary 2337, p. 2196)
ways of beauty, were quietly weeping and as I have quoted above: "It is He
(The Beloved) who makes people laugh and makes them weep."
Who bestowed the beauty which the sounds emitted. And further evidence
I am suggesting that in the above event there was a possibiHty that
the illustrious and pervasive sound coming through Ben Webster's saxo
phone was extolling the glory of the Beloved and at the same time the Danes
and myself, being affected through listening, became part of the collective
evidence that the whole universe bears to the Unity of God. The following
verse alludes to this possibility: "The seven heavens and the earth and those
that are therein extol His glory; and there is not a thing but glorifies Him
250
And from this commentary I conclude that it was the Beloved,
that it was the Beloved Who was responsible for the beauty is that approx
imately 90% of the audience wept as the result of listening, and, as I have
cited previously: "It is He Who makes people laugh and makes them weep."
(Holy Quran, ch. 40, v. 44)
By the grace of the Beloved I shall, be it the will of the Beloved:
venture to interpret the following Quranic verse in its relation to
musical sounds.
"And He it is Who has caused the two seas to flow, this palatable
251
LATEEF
IN THE NAME OF GOD THE GRACIOUS THE MERCIFUL
and sweet, and that salt and bitter; and between them He has placed a bar
rier and an insurmountable partition." (Holy Quran, ch. 25, v. 54)
reflect beauty, but themselves are lifeless. It is almighty God the Beloved,
Who has bestowed upon them the beauty which they reflect.
Taking two waters in the verse to represent first—the sounds that
emit beauty bestowed by the Beloved and secondly—lifeless sounds, the
verse signifies that both the sounds tempered by the Beloved, and the life
"And truly We have set forth for men in this Quran every type of
parable." (Holy Quran, ch. 30, v. 59)
less and bitter sounds still continue to exist in the world, side by side, the
Works Cited
former yielding sweet sound-nectars and quenching the thirst of spiritual
listeners and the latter barren and bitter, incapable of producing any good
results. The reason being; "Evil things are a characteristic of bad men, and
bad men are inclined towards bad things. And good things are a character
istic of good men, and good men are incHned towards good things." (Holy
Quran, ch. 24, v. 27)
The Arabic word for evil in this verse ì s k h a b i t h a t , meaning evil
deeds or obscene words or expressions, the verse purports to say that evil
The Holy Quran with English translation and commentary published under the
auspices of Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Fourth successor of the Promised
Messiah And Supreme Head of the Worldwide Ahmadiyyah Movement
in Islam, 2002.
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (of Qadian), The Philosophy of The Teachings of Islam.
Translated into English by Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan. Published by
Islam International Publications Ltd., 1996.
persons do evil deeds or indulge in obscene and foul talk and scandalmongering, while nothing comes out of good and virtuous persons but righteous
deeds and pure and noble expressions.
When the sounds bestowed by the Beloved are mixed with the life
less sounds, the resulting mixture is bitter. As long as these two sounds keep
themselves separate, they maintain their respective qualities. Therefore, in
order for one to position one's self as a candidate hoping to produce sounds
tempered by the Beloved, I suggest that they continuously strive to become
a good and virtuous people. This is suggested in that God has said:
"Whatever of good comes to thee is from Allah, and whatever of evil befalls
diee is from thyself...." (Holy Quran, ch. 4, v. 80)
And it is gratifying to know, "We will provide for (you) every facil
ity for good" (Holy Quran, ch. 92, v 8). And: "Surely it is for us to guide."
(Holy Quran, ch. 92, v. 13)
And Allah says concerning the soul: "And He revealed to it the
ways of evil and the ways of righteousness." (Holy Quran, ch. 91, v. 9)
And it is also gratifying to know that: "God has implanted in man's
nature a feeling or sense of what is good and bad and has revealed to him
that he could achieve spiritual perfection by eschewing what is bad and
wrong and adopting what is right and good." (Holy Quran, Commentary
3360, p. 1270)
The purpose of this paper has been to induce in the reader the real
ization that the beauty of anything is not due to the thing itself. Things only
252
253
CHAPTER
17
NOTES
(To Whoever is Listening)
FRANK LONDON
NOTES
Praise God with the blast of the horn; praise God with the psaltery and
harp. Praise God with the timbrel and dance; praise God with stringed
instruments and the pipe. Praise Elim with the loud-sounding cymbals;
praise Elim with the clanging cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath
praise the LORD.
—Psalms i¡o
Gaston notes that music and rehgion are integrally related. Their
common purpose is to draw people together, to defend against fear and
loneliness. Music seems to be a particularly appropriate mode for reaching
for the supernatural.
Dear Friends, united in love and respect and devotion, may we all be blessed
with life. Amen. Selah.
All praise to the creator, to the one who was, is, and will be forever.
Who made the distinction between sound and silence; and the infinite vari
ety of their combinations, it is a blessing to dwell in the garden of sound and
silence. It is a gift to sojourn with the gardeners. Those whose lives' endeav
ors are no more than an endless explication of the variations of sonority and
vibration. Creation and recreation of sonic mythology.
Listen
Listen deeper
Listen longer
Listen with your heart
Listen, friend, and understand.
Listen!
Some of the titles given to the Psalms in their ascriptions suggest
their use in worship: Some bear the Hebrew designation shir (Greek ode, a
song). Thirteen have this title. It means the flow of speech, as it were, in a
straight line or in a regular strain.
Fifty-eight Psalms bear the designation (Hebrew) mizmor (Greek
psalmos, a Psalm), a lyric ode, or a song set to music; a sacred song accom
panied with a musical instrument.
Many others have the designation (Hebrew) tehilUh (Greek hymnos, a hymn), meaning a song of praise; a song the prominent thought of
which is the praise of God.
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD.
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD.
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD.
254
SPIRITUAL {adj.) Consisting of spirit; not material; incorporeal; as, a spir
itual substance or being. Of or pertaining to the intellectual and higher
endowments of the mind; mental; intellectual. Of or pertaining to the
moral feelings or states of the soul,—distinguished from the external
actions; reaching and affecting the spirits. Of or pertaining to the soul or
its affections as influenced by the Spirit; controlled and inspired by the
divine Spirit; proceeding from the Eloly Spirit; pure; holy; divine; heavenly-minded;—opposed to carnal.
SPIRIT {n.) c.1250, "animating or vital principle in man and animals,"
from O.Fr. espirit, from L. spiritus "soul, courage, vigor, breath," related to
spirare "to breathe," from PEE *(s)peis- "to blow" (cf. O.C.S. pisto "to
play on the flute"). Mainly from Hebrew ruach. also meaning spirit and
breath L. spiritus, usually in classical L. "breath,"
Breath is Spirit. Sound is air, breath, moving. The sound of the
trumpet. Breath.
"Life is absolutely dependent upon the act of breathing. Breath is Life.
"Not only are the higher animals dependent upon breath for life
and health, but even the lower forms of animal life must breathe to live,
and plant life is likewise dependent upon the air for continued existence.
"The infant draws in a long, deep breath, retains it for a moment
to extract from it its life-giving properties, and then exhales it in a long
wail, and lo! its life upon earth has begun. The old man gives a faint gasp,
ceases to breathe, and life is over. From the first faint breath of the infant
to the last gasp of the dying man, it is one long story of continued breath
ing. Life is but a series of breaths.
"The Science of Breath shows how to control the body, increase
mental capacity, and develop the spiritual side of one's nature."
—^Yogi Ramacharaka
255
LONDON
NOTES
"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. Although
the spirit be not master of that which it creates through music, yet it is
blessed in this creation, which, like every creation of art, is mightier than
the artist." —^Beethoven
In the Torah, Moses leads the Jews in two songs of praise... The
Jews sing upon miracles done for them with the well... sing songs to cele
brate miracles.
Songs to celebrate Miracles.
Miracles & Songs
Songs & Miracles
Miracles & Songs
Songs & Miracles
Nign, NiGyNh song, melody:
Clarke writes, "Not only did many early Western writers consider
that the musician was divinely inspired, they believed the musician created
in a state of ecstasy or divine madness."
As Portnoy words it, "Plato's God is a God who has favored the
musician above all other men, for he deprived him of his mind and imbued
him with divine frenzy so that in such moments of rare ecstasy men would
know that he is a prophet of God. Plato's musician is a God-intoxicated
mortal who creates by inspiration and not by rule.
"Aristotle and later Santayana believed that the creation of music
grew out of man's need for emotional expression and a rational desire for
order and form. Santayana suggested that music is created as a means of
organizing chaotic and primitive drives. Santayana thought it was reason
which creates music but Aristotle echoed Plato in thinking the musician is
artistically mad. It is because of this divine madness that the musician is able
Nun Gimel Yod Nun Hay—music, a song (a kind of mantra used to
to produce in music not the outward appearance of things, but their inward
directly convey or evoke a specific emotion or sequence of emotions.
Usually composed of tonal sounds mixed with few, if any, words.)
significance. Aristotle believed that the musician has the ability to abstract
the essence from sounds created by the movement of the spheres and to
Nign, NiGyNh song, melody is kabalistically = 118.
Also equaling 118 and therefore aneuristically equaling music:
Chet Yod Qof-—bosom; to requite; satisfy and nurture us.
It is Chet Lamed Peh—song is Gracious.
Chet Samekh Nun—it binds together; makes us strong, mighty, rich, to
amass wealth;
It is Mem Bet Vau Ayin—a fountain to draw from, quench our thirst
Amorous: Lamed Chet Mem Mem—^for warming their flesh or body.
Generous: Mem Chet Mem Lamed—compassion or pity; object of affec
tion or favor.
Dangerous: Nun Samekh Chet—^to pluck up or tear away; to turn out of
a house; to expel or banish; to demoUsh; to be driven out.
118-2x59
Nign is twice 59.
Twice 59—^the i/th prime—is two times Nun Dalet Hay
portray in tonal form the order of the universe. Theophrastus, Aristotle's
student and successor, agreed that music was an emotional expression but
disagreed that it had anything to do with the divine. He believed that
music has its origin in love, which is so overwhelming that feeling over
takes reason."
Invocation:
Love is like a willful bird, do you want it? It flies away! Yet, when you
least expect its bliss, it turns around and it's here to stay! For centuries man
struggles, half-asleep, half-living! Small, jealous, bickering with moun
tains of red tape! To be awakened the night God choose giving His
great reward for hard work, the Moral ABC-unity-ecstasy-love evolving
man above the ape! The Moral ABC-unity-love evolving man above!
Coincidentally and yet Oh-so-slow, sweet-kisses-whisper-softly into
waiting ears; arousing heavenly flames that enlighten renew, brilliant fires
blazing through dark, lonesome years! Who else but God gave man this
to give, a liberal gift, especially the hiring of a prostitute, removal or separa
tion; what is removed, uncleanness or impurity.; an abominable act (espe
cially incest).
sensuous passion!
Passions that quicken your senses, fulfill; quench the thirst of
lonesome years! Yet the sun has shadows, learn to control your will; to
enjoy life long happiness, not tears! Wait! Rise to the stars above and thrill!
Arouse the very flames of life! Sweetheart, kiss me: Hold still, hold still!
256
257
Twice to move or flee away; to remove or put off, to reach out,
LONDON
NOTES
Listen to God's reward for strife! Rosebuds, slowly woken, break budding
open! Delicate, sweet, so on soft fingertips; shivering up your spine, red
pulsing blood; in lightning speed through your pure body's lips!
Caressing deep, searching, way out of sight; oh beautiful spirit of God's
eternal Spring! Heat of passion in a warm moonht night! Ecstasy to be
buried in heaven, within! Relaxed then to long, dreamless sleep; body &
soul join close in life's most brilliant bliss! Revealing clarity-beautyharmony-peace, sailing on far away sun-laden ships! Yet-what-cunningfeminine-touch, can draw new desire to pulsing lips! When-soft-hands
wander-casually-such, deftly down near lingering tips! Who else but
God gave man Love that can spark mere dust to life, the Moral ABC
uniting All-One, brave, all life.
Like a beacon breaking through dark clouds that pass; your deep
embrace, your sensuous kiss, who else but God can make Love last 1 trilhon years of sweet eternities! Who else but God! We are not true, while
calculated calm controls us; blood flows near spirit in cold divided flame!
Only love's stormy passion, striking deep within us; can turn blood to
spirit & spirit to blood, untamed! Spirit to blood, untamed!
—Emmanuel H. Bronner
Roger Davidson's Core Principles of the Society for Universal Sacred Music
Prophets of sound and silence.
Joe Maneri
Joe Maneri
Joe Maneri
Roscoe Mitchell
Mahmoud Ahmed
Alter Karniol
Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie
Oum Kalthoum
Nasruddin
Mingus
Milton Cardona
Milton Cardona
Milton Cardona
Malachi Favors Magustus
God is one—one universal Father/Mother, the Creator and Organizer of
the universe, the most radiant Being of Light, the center of all love and
compassion.
Suzanne Fiol
No one is God but God; all spiritual teachers have been and always
will be our brothers and sisters. But there is a spark of God in each of us,
as God is the Creator of our eternal spirits.
Jaki Byard
We are all God's children, of equal value in God's eyes. Let us
therefore lay down our arms and forever live as the brothers and sisters
John Zorn
we have always been! It is within our innermost nature to love and honor
each other as ourselves—and therefore to create lasting peace on Earth.
Sofia Gubaidulina
Let the music we create and send out mto the world be a true reflection
of God and of our innermost selves. May we strive, through our music
and in our daily lives, to radiate unconditional love, infinite compassion,
great beauty, and profound peace.
258
Anthony Coleman
Jaki Byard
Jaki Byard
Jimmy Scott
Collected and assembled by Frank London and dedicated with gratitude to my teachers, colleagues, friends,
spiritual guides. May-October 2009.
259
CHAPTER
18
THE SACRED POWER OF MUSIC
explanation for this experience other than intense, one-pointed focus of mind.
Long Silences in Radial Energy I
THE SACRED POWER OF MUSIC
I composed a work in 1967 titled Radial Energy I which explored super-
DARY JOHN MIZELLE
erate the division between music and life by including life in the context of
long durations of silence. The composed silences were years long and oblit
the musical composition. I felt I was unifying music and life mto a common
transcendental experience. The piece was published in the magazine
SOURCE—Music of the Avant Garde in 1967. The work was not general
Music has a long and rich history of association with mysticism, magic, alchemy
ly understood at the time, either being discussed as a kind of "antimusic" or
and the spiritual. In my own experience, sound itself has a deep vibration of
an impossible-to-realize piece of conceptual art. Nevertheless, I began per
Consciousness. Silence also vibrates with the same Consciousness. I find
forming it in concert during 1967 and a performance of it continues today
music made with this awareness to be fascinating.
Some examples of my work over the past decades which use this
in a fifteen-year silence. It will become sonic again in 2016.
The score consists of seven pages of tablatures, two pages of graph
awareness are discussed below.
In some cultures, musical trance states are invoked by repetitive
ic representations of spatial movements of sound, and a sine waveform used
music which continues for hours or days with only subtle changes. The per
to determine periods of silence. The piece is capable of bemg performed by
any number of performers acting on any number of sound sources. Sound
formers and audience members often "commune with the gods" or reach
sources are chosen for the widest range of timbres and for their ability to
altered states of consciousness in meditation using repetitive music or sung
sustain long durations. Following the initial performance of arbitrary dura
mantras. Western art music in concert halls rarely continues for these longer
tion, a six year silence period begins. The second performance of some
durations, and may engage the rational mind in a much more direct manner.
material begins when the initial silence period is fimshed and lasts twice the
Some exceptions are: 19th century operas and some contemporary music
made by composers who have thought seriously about the durational ele
length of the first sonic duration. Successive silence periods of 7, 9, 12, 15,
17, 18, 17, 15, 12, 9, 7 and 6 years follow each successive performance of
ment and/or have studied various world musical traditions (Africa, India,
sonic material. As the sonic material becomes longer, it will eventually over
Indonesia) where the practice is commonplace.
take the following silences and transform the point in space were it is being
performed completely into sound. The piece may subsequently be trans
The Musician as Medium for the Divine
ported to other locations and carried on in those locations. The piece may
Australian aboriginal didgeridoo music, Shona Bira possession ceremonies,
be extended to other planets, galaxies, etc. When all of time and space are
transformed into sound, the piece (and the universe) ends. The composition
Amerindian Peyote songs, and Balinese trance dance provide a few examples
from world music in which the music and dance comes through a kind of
trance or altered state of consciousness. The Western art music tradition also
includes examples of composers who thought of themselves as channels for
the divine. Bach, Beethoven, Stockhausen (and others) seem to have consid
ered themselves as charmels through which the divine could speak. I can
remember an extraordinary experience I had in 1965 in which I sat for about
twelve hours and watched the music emerge from the point of my pencil. I
received its worid premiere at the First Festival of Live Electronic Music at
UC Davis in 1967. See the score and a review of the first performance in
SOURCE—Music of the Avant Garde issue three.
Multiphonic Singing
In the early 1970s I learned to sing vocal multiphonics similar to the vocal
productions of Tibetan Buddhist monks and central Asian "throat singers"
finished two compositions which were in progress that day. I don't have any
260
261
MIZELLE
THE SACRED POWER OF MUSIC
by imitating recordings that were becoming available through commercial
to induce a kind of spiritual experience. I have used these vocal production
labels. In 1973 I also became involved in a project of experimental vocal
techmques (EVT) at UCSD where I was doing doctoral studies and work
techniques in my compositions. Mandala for two multiphonic singers and
drone (1973) and Quanta and Hymn to Matter for orchestra chorus and
ing as a research associate in the Project for Music Experiment (later
eight multiphonic soloists (1978).
renamed the Center for Music Experiment). Some other people involved in
this project included Bonnie Barnett, Linda Vickerman, Diamanda Galas,
Phillip Larson and Roberto Lanari.
At about this time I began improvising with Roberto Laneri using
the vocal multiphonic materials. (We had earlier been improvising jazz with
bassist Mark Dresser and others.) This work led to the formation of the
group Prima Materia (with an obvious connection to alchemy) which was
based in Italy and California. Laneri was a Roman who also attended
UCSD as a graduate student and was acquainted with Giacinto Scelsi and
his circle of musicians as well as other composers and musicians living in
Rome during the 1970s (including Alvin Curran). I believe that the connec
tion with Scelsi, who was a kind of godfather to our group, was especially
important with respect to his connection with a different way of thinking
about improvisation. The then-current ideas of jazz and contemporary
improvisation involved a kind of "action and reaction" among the per
formers, while we were involved in a "search for a primal vibration" out
of which all sound would emerge. Evidently, Scelsi had used this approach
in healing himself of a nervous disorder and discovering a new way to
approach composition. Our group performed extensively during the mid
dle '70s sitting on the floor in the Indian manner, and provided a context for
numinous experiences in which the audience would often be invited to
participate with us in the second half of the concert.
There was much experimentation with concert rituals during this
period, and this was a genuine departure from the traditional western norm.
Some other musicians who sang with Prima Materia include: Susan Gormlie,
Michiko Hirayama, Ron Nagorcka, Manuela Renosto and Pam Sawyer
among others. The Australian Nagorka also added a fascinating didgeridoo
element. Prima Materia gave two particularly moving and memorable per
formances at the Berlin Metamusik Festival in 1974. Over the years, I have
had good luck teaching the techniques of vocal multiphonics to students at
University of South Florida, Oberlin College Conservatory and Purchase
Conservatory (SUNY) as well as family members. Most people find these
sounds fascinating, and my experience of learning to produce them seemed
262
The Alchemy of Mantra Yoga
I have participated in yogic chanting groups (sometimes with thousands of
people) in which all feelings of separateness between individuals are erased
in a context of spiritual growth. This spiritual growth could be compared the
alchemy of transmuting base metals into gold. The premise of this chanting is
the yoga of mantra repetition. Practitioners of mantra yoga may experience
the transmutation of the individual into a "siddha" or perfected being. I have
always approached this yoga as a science, not a religion. Yogic experiences are
empirical in the strictest sense, yet are completely subjective. They are often
more real to the individual than the objective experiences of the rational mind.
Most of these experiences are probably too subtle to be measurable by
scientific instruments, although some of them may be studied scientifically
by monitoring brain activity with Computed Tomography (CT) scanning.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Positron Emission Tomography
(PET), and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) technologies. The
instruments best suited for measuring the effects of this science are the
neural networks of the human brain and nervous system, which are vastly
subtler and more perceptive than contemporary scientific instruments.
Sometimes these experiences may transcend the ability of language to
express, or the mind to rationalize, yet they can affect the individual at the
deepest levels of Consciousness.
There is nothing necessarily contradictory between some forms of
contemporary music (with its minimum of repetition, aperiodic rhythms
and atonal melodies) and mantra yoga (with its cyclic rhythmic modes, high
degrees of repetition, slowly accelerating tempi and modal melodies) since
they can both be seen as different ends of a musical continuum, or they can
be rationalized as all being sonic. In any case, the definitions of music as
organized sound or musical activity as patterned changes in sonic parame
ters includes all music forms. The participant/listener who appreciates every
sound for its sonic value will also have no problems either since the sounds
evolve in time as changes of tempo, dynamics and timbre. I once studied
mantra yoga with a Yoga master (Swami Muktananda) who taught that
263
CHAPTER
19
MIZELLE
"All sounds are Shiva." This understanding may be akin to John Cage's
strategy of "letting the sounds be themselves."
There is a long and rich yogic tradition for considering mantra as a
medium for humans to realize the Self (Atman). In India, there are mantras
THE SOUL'S MESSENGER
to be recited for any and every occasion, to cure disease, to acquire wealth,
MEREDITH MONK
or to gain special powers or gifts. Indian classical music has incorporated
this idea in the form of special ragas for different hours of the day, seasons
of the year, to bring rain, call down fire, etc.
Musical Behavior and Neuroscience
Contemporary neuroscience has begun studying the effects of music and
musical traming on the brain and confirms the power of music to influence
neural activity, and even change brain structure, as well as emotion and gen
eral health. Of course neuroscience is only just scratching the surface of
Sometime in the mid-1960s, as I was vocalizing in my studio, 1
suddenly had a revelation that the voice could have the same
flexibility and range of movement as a spine or a foot, and that I
could find and build a personal vocabulary for my voice just as
one makes movement based on a particular body. 1 realized then
soul's messenger that within the voice are myriad characters, landscapes, colors,
The voice is my:
human behavior, and generally uses subjects who are musically unsophisti
texmres, ways of producing sound, wordless messages. I intu
itively sensed the rich and ancient power of the first human
instrument and by exploring its limidess possibilities I felt that I
was coming home to my family and my blood.
cated, although this is starting to change; yet some impressive results are
being obtained at this early date. Another fascinating area of exploration in
neuroscience involves the study of mirror cells in the brain which vibrate in
sympathy with observed behavior and induce a kindred response in the
weather report
observer. It may ultimately prove to be true that the numinous, magical
experiences available through musical behavior are scientifically measurable
in their effects on the brain and nervous system, which I feel would not
explain them away, but add to the mystery and knowledge about the sacred
power of music.
lifeline
Short Bibliography
lacoboni, Marco. Mirroring People. (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2008)
Levitin, Daniel. This is Your Brain on Music. (Plume, 2006)
beacon
Mead, Margaret and Bateson, Gregory. Trance and Dance in Bali. (Documentary film)
Mizelle, Dary John. Radial Energy I. {SOURCE-Music of the Avant Garde,
Issue 3,1967)
Mizelle, Dary John. The Soul of Music. (Available through mizelle.org, 2009)
Swami Muktananda. Siddha Meditation. {SYDA, 1975)
Sacks, Oliver. Musicophilia. {Vintage, 2008)
Weinberger, Norman. Music and the Brain. {Scientific American, November 2004)
Wolf, Mark. Giacinto Scelsi: Interview with Composer Dary John Mizelle.
{Sound Collector, Number 6, 2001)
264
mystery
comfort
I come from a musical family: my great grandfather was a cantor
in Russia; his son, my grandfather, was a bass-baritone who
immigrated to New York and along with my concert pianist
grandmother, opened a music conservatory. He also performed
in concert halls, churches and synagogues. My mother was a
professional singer who sang jingles, ballads, and swing tunes
on radio and early television. My first musical training was in
Dalcroze Eurhythmies, but I also learned to read music before I
could read words. One of my earliest memories is singing myself
to sleep.
There are events that change our lives irrevocably; that moment
of discovery in the '60s changed mine. From that point on,
exploring my voice and what it could evoke, delineate, uncover,
and ultimately give to others became the core of my work.
lUght from the beginning, E was interested in primordial
utterance: what were the first human sounds? What was the
delicate and fluid membrane between speech and music? I knew
265
MONK
channel
blood
THE SOUL'S MESSENGER
that notes or musical phrases did not limit me in my exploration
of the voice. Like an instrument, it could be universal. I thought
of voice as sound, as a reflection of nature, of the urban world, of
the stars. I began playing with what a vocal gesture would be.
How would the voice jump, spin, spiral, fall? How would I
abstract the sound of a laugh, of sobbing, of shouting, into a
musical phrase? I began to realize that the voice had the power to
uncover subtle shades of feeliag that exist between what we
think of as emotions. It could conjure the unnamable. Coming
from a movement as well as a musical background, I felt totally
comfortable and trusting of non-verbal communication. I sensed
deeply that the voice was a language in itself: eloquent, probing,
and able to communicate directly to the heart.
needle
playground
radar
heart
When I began, my path seemed lonely. I was not aware of
anyone working ia this particular way. I had to trust my instincts.
And yet, I was fortunate in that I had aheady buik a body of work
combining images, movement, objeas, sound and film so that
pick and shovel the discipline of daily work was essential to my life. Now I could
use the same creative principles and apply them to my vocal
exploration. It became immediately apparent that I had found
what would be the soul of my work. What had been an urgent
inner quest became the quiet certainty that this process would
footprint
become my continuing and ultimate truth. The method was and
continues to be one of exploring the possibilities, the qualities,
and the mystery of my voice; of listening and trusting what it
reveals. Looking back, I am profoundly grateful for that time of
solitude. Left to my own devices, I began a process of intense
gauge
investigation led by my voice, my ear and my musical sensibility.
Where did they want to go? From intuitive moments of discov
ering material, to the rigorous intellectual process of refining
and weaving the material into forms, the adventure of making
music has expanded my world in miraculous ways.
mirror
earthquake
compass
conduit
wings
stream
For the first ten years, I worked alone making a cappella songs
and pieces for voice and keyboard. In the 70s, I formed an
ensemble of young singers who traveled along with me on my
path and inspired me to enrich the textures, counterpoint, and
colors in my music. Because they were in their early twenties and
didn t have a long history of musical expectation or dogma, my
266
link to the
unknown
vocal language and approach seemed inherent and became
second nature to them. This allowed for a spirit of concentrated
and playful experimentation inspiring me to create intricate and
shimmering forms. Now, the interdependence and intimacy of
performing with the radiant and extraordinary members of my
current vocal ensemble continue to reveal new levels of insight.
My process involves long periods of waiting. When I begin
working, I try to stay open to anything that might arise. Initially, I
have to get through my terror of the unknown and expectations
of myself. At a certain point, after a lot of resistance and trying to
take very small steps, my curiosity and interest overtake the
fear. Then questions, which are the basis of any work, begin to
come up. I have the sensation that every piece is a world that
already exists in another dimension. My task is to find what are
its principles and laws and to follow them rigorously. When I am
stuck, I say to the piece: "please make yourself known!" and try
to stay out of its way. The experience of creating and performing
are as close to meditation as anything I can think of. The combi
nation of pinpoint focus and open relaxation to what comes
up in the moment are fundamental principles of sitting practice:
awareness of the moment and direct experience without the filter
of concept.
I have always been loath to codify or catalogue my vocabulary of
vocal sound. That analytic process seems to take away the
mystery of all the shades, impulses, colors, and dynamics that
arise even within individual performances of songs I have sung
many times. The commodification of these "techniques" can
become a recipe involving mental calculation rather than an
acknowledgement of the ineffable messages that are coming
through.
In a lifetime of making work, there are a few pieces that have a
certain shine. They seem to have had a life of their own right
from the beginning, to have been bom whole. Hearing them
again after many years, I am amazed at their mystery and
presence. Although I remember all the meticulous and patient
work of bringing them to life, I also remember the seeming
inevitability of their forms and the clarity and ease of their
267
CHAPTER
20
MONK
link to the
fulfillment. How did this happen? I consider these entities gifts
from a larger and wiser realm and the times of making them,
blessings. In between periods of inspiration, I try to be a good
shoemaker, honing my craft, keeping up my discipline, begianing
again and again.
DEATH: THE FATHER OF CREATION
TISZLJI M U Ñ O Z
always known
link to forever
link to now
In meditation practice, the basic instruction is to repeatedly come
back to the breath (without judgment) even if the mind has
wandered off into thoughts, fantasies or emotions. The moment
of coming back is a moment of awareness. Making music is very
much the same process. It consists of starting at zero every
time; trusting the emptiness, the space, the gift of uncertainty;
not judging too quickly; letting the materials remain themselves
until the time is right to weave them together into a form. I try to
never forget that I enjoy the privilege of engaging in an activity that
affirms the spirit of inquiry and allows me to make an
offering of what I have found. I am grateful for being part of
music, for the magic of music permeating my life.
Divine Death Is Life
First, there is death,
which waits for its death.
Then there is life
which is bom of death.
First, there is darkness,
which waits for its death;
then there is light.
First, there is ignorance,
which waits for its death;
then there is knowing.
First, there is self,
which waits for its death;
then there is heart.
First, there is self as other,
which waits for its death;
then there is compassion for all life.
First, there is the desire for music as structure,
which waits for its death;
then there is awakened Heart-Sound
and birth into the spiritual sound current.
268
269
MUÑOZ
DEATH: THE FATHER OF CREATION
First, there is the desire to be a musician,
which waits for its death;
then there is Enlightenment
and the radiance of profound Silence.
used to convey a thought, image, painful or pleasurable, deep or disturbing
psychic impression, message or vision. Musical instruments and conven
tional musical means are valid but secondary to any genuine process of cre
ative or spiritual work. But the law of sacred sound vibration born of the
The who who is death beyond death
is all that may be true, divine
selfless silence of it as isness is key to everything; every accomplishment,
and ever-present transcendent music.
plane of Spirit! Therefore, quickly grow beyond yourself as merely small
Chapter i: To Infants of True Music
means, limited to materialistic understanding and fabricator of self-reflecting rather than self-transcending worldly productions.
every breakthrough and every masterwork and mastery of every level or
The Path of Training—Self-Discipline
Music as the Silence of Form Structure
Truly, the one who breathes this egoic death-fire lives by the psy
chic wind. What moves the wind is etheric water. What moves the water is
silent fire. What moves fire is radiant space and whatever the sacred fire of
What you do is not what you do, but you do it anyway. What is yours is
space burns and illuminates in and as itself. The entire known and unknown
universe is both the fuel for and presence of the fire, and by this fire the
not yours and you use it anyway. Truly, the created, as the who and the
universe appears, lives, disappears and reappears to the deep death of
what, which is created, is the self of karinic effects, identified as the past and
ever in pursuit of the eight ball of awakening into the present as creativity
incomprehensible infinity. So it is with genuine creativity and thus it must
be with music and all other forms of expression. This fire is sound no ear
itself. The true creative is selfless. The no-one is Spirit. Spirit alone creates
can hear and is hearing no mind can comprehend. Hence, the no-form of
from sublime Isness. It is already created, cooked, finished, toasted. Stop,
phenomena, be that of light or sound, is beyond the initiated awakened
look and listen deep enough for yourself as pure Spirit, and access the no
Spirit in any being in high or low disincarnate, animal, human, celestial,
self, true, infinite, original, spontaneous awareness, the true kingdom with
in! Your music is a beggar's bowl.
intergalactic, trans-universal or transcendent form.
It has been said and perhaps even assumed by certain psychically
incorrect, opinionated authorities, composers and musical artists acting as
creators in general, that in order to imitate the elements you need something
method or school as a rule or as an aesthetic taste from the world of enlight
enment, has merely relative value; but to whom, under what conditions, as
which physically resembles natural phenomena—thus: effect for effect,
effect as effect or effect by effect. This may be so for those who are weak of
born taste-programming? Any conventional or unconventional form of
Phase I
mind, psychically challenged, and low in spirit; who do not yet know that
only the child's viewing of the universe shows up as infinite levels of per
Music, as traditional knowledge or "legitimate" form, structure,
a result of which culture, representing what and whose time-world, is fearmusic is neither superior to the living man as master nor is it superior to
intuitive intelligence in the form of radical spontaneous wisdom or creative,
ceived psychological, psychical, causal, mental, cosmic, trans-cosmic, ultra-
ecstatically selfless genius. However, for the unenlightened, music is
assumed to be the ultimate form or structure of self as God, even when such
micro-cosmic or spiritual, transcendent isness. For the strong in celestial or
angelic imagination and creative realization, they can communicate or
gravitational, materialistic self-music programs save no one and eiJighten
transmit the presence of anything or any being by the creative fire of uncon
heart-beings, only transcendent or pure sound awareness, as clear light
mindless presence is source, that is, true, supreme, vast, deep-hearted, the
scious or super-conscious mind alone, with or without the history of music,
art or any manifestable or unknown prop, crutch, method, device, medium,
no one from the fearful pain of self-death. For the enlightened, as self-free
every sound, depending upon who is playing or using or hearing it, can be
ever-present radiance of ecstatic open being, also known as the fire of
Silence. For the spiritual musical master, conventional music is just conven
tional music, beyond which is the fire sound essence of the entire universe
270
271
channel or form. Being the no-consciousness alone is sufficient. Hence,
MUÑOZ
DEATH: THE FATHER OF CREATION
and its Heart-source.
Many musicians are obsessed with and suffer the mechanical prin
ciple and practice of training, but of what use is training for one who already
knows from having mastered silence before? What time are you being?
Whose time are you stuck in? Cannot silence play or speak for itself? Such
true knowing reveals what and how it is done without having to be direct
ed, conducted or forced to or told how. This sudden death process by fire
is intuitive and independent of self, thought and mind. Who understands
this? Playing music from here is as natural as free breathing and as power
ful as a ragmg fire! Train m no-traimng. Die in no-dying. Live in no-living.
Play in no-playing. Create in no-creating. Do you remember what you
don't know, or ever hear enough to play it?
A psychically correct composition is one that is Heart-true. But
who knows what is true, more than what is conventionally, socially or
culturally correct? Then, correct according to what school, what intellectual program or system of traditional rules, assumptions or self-building con
fusion, self-worshipping doubt, self-re-enforced neurosis and self-inhibiting fear. Spirit-repressing dogmas and psychically stupid self-imprisoning
musical mechanisms? Isn't the composer as dictator composed by compo
sitions, and thus more appropriately the compose-ed? This is great practice
in the beginning only or until the function of creator arises! Whose self is
served by any such programming or ego-building bondage to ignorance?
Is a composer free or is a composer bound to compose and hence, enslaved
in a program of already composed, always composed or only composed
mind forms?
Relative to the subject of educationally acquired taste, at what level
is such partial taste valid? Valid for whom? Isn't beauty the source of the
ugly? Isn t ugliness the source of the beautiful? Whose taste relative to what
level of knowledge, concerning what function of physical, metaphysical or
spiritual phenomena, is correct or, beyond the point of relative cuteness,
useful at all? Isn t taste a smatter of opinion more than the real matter of
addressing or recognizing what is true beyond time, beyond scientific
standards and only true of the Soul state itself? Isn't taste, style and culture
like most else, subject to relative variants, such as taste of what, for what or
whose others program? Liking or digging something musical at one point
more than at another point as when you hear a thing played better or by a
so-called better performer?
272
After reading more on a subject or having a catastrophic conversa
tion with someone you could radically change your game or idea of taste
about anyone or anything. The real creator has to go deeper. In other
words, taste is relative preoccupation with estabHshed social or scientific
values. But whose assumed or actual values are they? Why? Such is the
nature of taste, which is relative information, relative to experience, which
is relative to conditions, which are relative to perception, which is ultimate
ly not relative to cultural as much as relative to a level of spiritual con
sciousness. Who and what in you suffers the musical tastes of others or of
the make believe world in general? All that should matter for the creative is
what is true beyond true and whether or not one has the genius, force, intel
ligence, burn-need and deep wisdom to love true genius alone!
On Earth, the sacred presence of death, as time rules. As such, time
is nature. Nature is time. Nature, as such, is the mechanical source or struc
tural force of music. Death, time, nature and music are perception-creations
of the human mind, the self-mind. The self-mind is not the Spirit-Mind;
only the karmic or self-mind ego is then the source and master of conven
tional, popular or merely conventionally worshipped and agreed upon
"good" music. Since ordinary music is recognized relative to form, struc
ture, composition in and of lower world time-space programs, then music,
relative to the time-born karmic mind, is fundamentally gravitational or
down-pulling in nature, and thus self-comfortingly binding as a result. Who
is a musical thought-form? What is a musical thought-form, if not a
gravity-centered, fear-reinforcing, self-identificational, self-building, geniussuppressing, mind controlling mechanism?
What one calls nature ordinarily is but a mere reflection-impression
one has of the universe's impact on their self-centered body-mind world.
This means that all one perceives as the universe is effect, when even per
ception itself is an effect! The universe is an effect, an effect mind-form, a
most special binding, and too often blinding, effect. It is a dynamic prison,
a circus of destruction, a negative psychic dungeon of disaster if you will,
apparently bound by laws, interlaws and intralaws as interdimensionally
perceived and agreed to and applied to all worlds and universes ad infini
tum. Ad infinitum means one can't comprehend the all or the totality of it
as anything to know, grasp or control. It is what it is, and as it is, always dis
appears! So why lie to oneself when one dreams that they know what music
or nature are beyond suffering, culturing or entertainment, when all such
273
MUÑOZ
DEATH: THE FATHER OF CREATION
fear-born conclusions are assumptions of appearances only? What good is
mentally, emotionally or psychically deranged, the creatively warped or the
an appearance if it doesn't lie and what good is a lie if it doesn't hide the
truth, which every mere appearance is not?
spiritually confused? And by such, I mean most ordinary, normal people!
Human base-mstmct should be subordmate to higher mtelligence
even if it is regarded as a form of physical intelligence. Truly, all such instincts
is it supposed to compose? Why? What is it supposed to compose in the
are human and at best dogs, wolves and hyenas begging to be trained,
individual needs to be told what to play, how to play it, how often, for
What is the true purpose, effect and end of composed music? Who
listener if not in the performer, and for how long? What level or kind of
mastered and transcended. Is the love or conventional practice of music
whom, under what circumstances and to what degree or how many times?
anything more or less than a base instinct? Does such an instinct free you of
Must dynamics in music reveal what's true in, or necessary for, who, the
childish behavior, wrongdoing, misjudgment, unhappiness, error or neuro
composer, the performer or the audience? Isn't it better beyond the
sis, suffering, worry, ultra codependency, sadness and confusion? What
mechamcal or technical mastery of music to know oneself well enough to
mstmct IS the true, profound, great or wise one? What instinct produces the
master the self of imperfection, removing the self as needed to allow the
best result, the highest product or the most profound effect, the instinct of
higher or no-self as a super-conscious state to express itself as what is ulti
music as selfishness or selfless compassion? Instincts, urges or drives are
mately the highest function of musical channel-ship or heart-to-heart
part of the unconscious machinery of the human as animal-beast and are
creative sound-healing transmission? Who already knows this? Who are
just as likely to get one into trouble, difficulty or tragedy if one is ignorant
those who are free and receptive enough to get the healing transmission
enough to leave their life or art up to the mechanical nature of any spiritu
from loving peace itself—to share it wisely with all sympathetic beings?
ally untrained, unconscious body and its soul-dead, sleeping musical mind
prone to negative compulsive instincts.
Who's so bereft of joy to have to be told how to play it, as if joy has
to be told how to be joy, as if joy needs to be told how to be played as joy,
Intelligence at the intuitive level, in the form of knowmg beyond
or as if joy needed to be put in a specific box rather than freed and allowed
any doubt and often not knowing or even caring how such knowing arises
to express itself to the extent it needs to be felt, expressed or heard? Clearly,
or whence it comes, is the best way. Creative art or musical expression, nav
isn't it obvious that only the Heart-true—^the selfless, pure, deep, compas
igated or piloted by impeccable spiritual intuition, regardless of its forms or
sionate Heart-true—should be recognized as high, real or true music
techniques, will produce truer results even if such results appear to have their
own identity and their own manner of arising or bursting into existence
that IS, as a result of itself. Is such a result of itself but a mere instinct?
through the hands of one who is a clear channel for the soul's expression of
Perhaps not, as instincts may follow the way of the laws of reaction, conflict,
defense and self-division—uncertainty, doubt and the confusion of fear— '
business and criticism, only when who is playing the perfectly true as the
whereas the intuition of "the resuk of itself beyond the resuk of the self
arises as its own light beyond comprehension up from nowhere, impeccably
correct, always on the spot or even perfect! Death is so beautifully correct!
Most conventional or even creative music is born of the created ego
as a program of infinite limitation. Such music is for the cultivation of facecentered egotism and too often represents the box of ego as only the ego is:
as painful self-consciousness, obsessed with attaining and maintaining pub
lic recognition, respect, name, fame, applause, awards, honor, praise, flattery
itself as cosmic or divine, not mere self-worshipping cultural, musical intel
ligence? Only when what is expressing the perfectly true beyond technique,
Heart, is "on the spot" spiritually great, true sound healing, real Heart-Fire
Sound music, the voice of radiant Silence Itself. Who understands this pro
found death?
No one is original because they are alone or lonely. No one is orig
inal because they are left to be so. In other words, neither relations nor norelations nor situations nor no-situations determine true originality, which
arises despite circumstances, situations, associations, relations or others in
general. Genius can and will use anything and anyone as wood for its fire
and more money, power and sex. Who needs such sweet materialism and
such corrupted forms of medicine if not the beautifully imbalanced, the
and more often than not, uses everything to express itself as its own school,
its own way, its own truth, its own reality, its own depth, its own force, its
own spirit and its own God or Isness or Itness!
274-
275
DEATH; THE FATHER OF CREATION
MUÑOZ
There's nothing particularly divine about a bullshit character with
conventional mediocrity and self-worshipping slavery what true genius or
a make believe personality mask, dedicated to entertaining self-worshipping
enlightenment is about? Couldn't such radically true genius be what tran
ego-mania. One is free to be as humorous or crazy as needed! But for some
scendence over slavery and mastery over self, thought, mind, nature and
the divine has to do with the profoundly selfless and the formlessly or inno
cently beautiful in Heart, not merely with the mechanical or trained things
super nature are about?
The ordinary musician is an information-sucking vacuum cleaner
one can do or act out in a relatively great or even profound manner.
who cannot leave well enough alone. Music as training is a box world. Art
conventional or studio jazz, is the product of the mechanical, intellectual
is a self-worshipping box world. Any musician or artist who doesn t ques
tion the dogmas they have inherited, which exist to serve what spiritual
self-mind—the presumed superior mind controlling the inferior mind. In
purpose, ah-eady obstruct the spirit of creative intelligence which knows no
other words, the educated superior musician dictates to the presumed infe
Umits, no bondage and no idiotic sense of beauty, being defined by the self-
rior audience the karma music message of "As I am, be restrained, be con
created, self-serving assumptions of those who are anything but spiritual,
trolled, be dominated, be programmed and, therefore, in bondage," only to
be composed into a casket of composition, which leads to spiritual decom
enlightened Heart beings.
Composed music is too often a watered down version of what is
position. What of any of this could be considered truly beautiful in the light
real, which means it is intentionally artificial, deliberately less than what
that it is egotism imposing domination over those who are determined or
human expression actually is. What could be more disgusting than bullshit,
judged to be less musical, knowledgeable, programmed or aware? Who
egoic presumptions and assumptions of what is true or real in human expres
could call such manipulations of egocentric musical sound over mind and
sion? For isn't such music or art dishonest and merely an "I merely believe"
soul beautiful? Why call any such display or performance of art creative
version of what the real life experience is as tragic, joyous, beautiful, difficult,
when it is created for domination, deception, influence and manipulation of
frustrating, devastating and thus potentially transformational, painful and
others for self-serving purposes on the part of the so-called artist or created
musician? Egotism promotes egotism. Egotism reinforces egotism. Egotism
pleasurable, deep, torturous, but always purifying life and death experiences.
Aren't such experiences intended to free the heart from the make-
inspires egotism. Egotism validates egotism. Egotism exalts egotism. Egotism
believe, the theatrical, the superficial, the merely entertaining performances
is not spirituality, creativity or enlightenment.
of the elite artistic few who have no real lives of their own; who, as a result,
Traditional or perhaps ancient or European classical music, like
What does true spiritual greatness have to do with such practices or
must turn backwards for their drive and direction rather than forward and
programs of enslaving others in ego-worshipping, time-fearing, freedomresisting mind forms with no other purpose than to enslave others into fol
upwards for their transcendence and true experience of immortality beyond
lowers, consumers or uncreative zombies or product slaves? Using mind
the heart-closing narcissistic games of name and fame?
Know your message. Know your purpose. Why impose any pro
forms of musical or other artistic art forms to directly address the public's
grams or ideas of art on others, as if such expression as a projection had
need for enlightenment and liberation from art and artists altogether is what
the true spirit of freedom and self-transcended spiritual enlightenment are
actually about!
absolute rather than relative value? True art is no art. True music is no
Music to help people to help other people get free of music and
musicians is great music! Painting to help people get free of painting and
painters is great painting! Poetry to free the public from poets and poetry
in general is great poetry! Science to free the public from scientists and
science altogether is great science! Religion in order to free the public from
music. True view is no view. Who understands this great death?
Chapter 2: The Casket of Taste
Phase 2
The Path of Experience—Self-Mastery
Music as the Silence of Formlessness
religion and its practitioners is great religion! Now, isn't this severance from
From birth, most beings out of necessitj^ are forced to live in exile from their
276
277
DEATH: THE FATHER OF CREATION
MUÑOZ
true heart-soul. They are materialized into the cemetery which is Earth. This
is a form of death by birth in bondage and suffering. From this there is no real
rity, far beneath true, heart-opened creativity? One does this for what and
for whom?
escape. Only those who are caught in between catastrophic self/other programs
Only dishonesty is bad taste. Only selfishness is bad taste. Clearly,
are least served by such a creativity-less position in the universe, a location
only bullshit is bad taste. Snobbish musical arrogance is bad taste. Super-
from which to begin to create or re-create one's intended world in accor
snooty ignorance is bad taste. Highly neurotic or eccentric behavior is bad
dance with or by virtue of self-recognized suffering or limitation. Know
taste. Incessant whining, complaining and bemoaning over monotonous,
your creative potential. Know what you need to do to create your plateau
boring, vainglorious reactivity, confusion, conflict, bigotry, prejudice, nar
of bliss. Do it. Then, enjoy this immense peace of creating aloneness beyond
cissistic heartlessness, small-mindedness, immaturity, deranged, perversion
the created relative worlds of mechanical self, thought and mind programs.
and self-important garbage-flaunting stupidity—all of these are the truth of
Tell me, is there more to hear with the physical ears or more to hear
bad taste and a sure sign of not quite intelligent unenlightenment. What
taste is superior to intuitively creative intelligence?
as Soul beyond the ears and physical hearing altogether? Mere physical
hearing is hearing effect, not hearing psychic or subtle cause. To know the
To kill the human spirit is bad taste. To kill an obnoxious ego is bet
cause of sound, which is not mere ear hearing, is to give attention to that
ter taste. To outlaw creativity, to ban free-spirited creative expression from
which is of highest importance in life, art or love—the Heart Itself. Those
the public, obstructing the broadcast of extreme but peaceful messages of
who depend upon the physical alone for their enjoyment, function, mission
heartfelt compassion for all beings or to sabotage or suppress in any way the
or reality are always left wanting, needing and feeling incomplete and
creative if not profound expression of awakened geniuses of Spirit, this is
unhappy, regardless of all that they can attain, manipulate or scheme for, in
bad taste, this is unacceptable style, reprehensible style, and the bad style of
ignoramuses, fear-mongerers and paranoiacs.
the world of always-changing appearances of imperfection, incompleteness
and mere differentiation. Who hears beyond this casket of inherited educa-
Composers, if you can only hear music that is outside you, do you
tion-culturing and gravitational mechanical training in any tradition, school
have any music in you at all? Could you imagine that God or whatever
or system where artistic mastery, rather than self-transcendence, is the goal?
created eccentricity, tragic genius, sacred profanity, heroic cowardice, sweet
Truth of expression requires no particular musical formula, pro
madness, meaningless laughter and absurd creativity for a sacred cause? Are
gram or composition. Truth of expression requires no particular appear
ance, costume or cosmetics, no particular beautiful melody, voice, instru
we, each and everyone, part of this sacred cause? Are we not part of a great
ment, orchestra, opera or fantastic singers, divas, prima dormas, virtuosi,
prodigies, ego-maniacs, choir, band, ensemble, guests of honor, donors,
decomposed? For isn't composition decomposition and decomposition re-
sponsors or threatening critics, reviews, audience, theater, studio, hall,
It is all already composed. We are this great composition decom
room, stage or self-conscious face, schedule, applause, anus-kissing, pre
posing into itself, as the Earth presently is, in the throes of inevitable re-
show introduction, interview, salary, commission, contract, agreement,
management, public relations, publicity or requested harmony, rhythm,
composition or decomposing into re-composition compost. All of this is
food, wood for the fire of creativity and each of us is all of it, but not just
progression, groove, movement or dynamic. Truth of expression requires
and only appearing to be anything or anyone. We are but we are not dark
nothing particularly or especially musical at all! Why use a stage when a
bathroom could do just as well for what you have to do?
ness and ignorance, ugliness and disaster, atrocity and injustice, horror and
The truth of expression is quite basic. Therefore, those that would
like to add their materialistic musical trip on top of the basic true truth, go
right ahead and know what you are doing, creating or reducing to the great
composition and being composed in this very moment and then equally
composition? Who could not be deeply inspired by everything high and low?
death, hatred and war, insensitivity and stupidity, aggression and barbarianism, religious and political fanaticism, and idiots called geniuses, wise men,
world leaders, kings, emperors, doctors, judges and representatives of the
ness of what? Your atrocious buffoonery, hypocrisy and exquisite medioc
so-called people, the natives, the peace-keepers, protectors of the Earth and
angels of the skies. For Heart's sake, where does true goodness begin out
278
279
MUÑOZ
DEATH: THE FATHER OF CREATION
here on this purgatorial spaceship called Earth, who once again begins to
rebel against her surface dwellers?
playing, writing or composing music. Burn all of it. Chop all programs.
Start from and end in zero. Stop and breathe into silence and let it, as the
Open the inner ear beyond so-called music of culture—the lower
dimensions of the time-space worlds of this solar system—and hear what
Tao, reveal the way to you, beyond the wonderful world of garbage, which
your mind has yet to hear of the Heart beyond this world of musical noise,
egoic ignorance and scientific materialistic suicide.
to anybody. Kill having to please anyone. Kill even having to please your
self. Get to what is real and true, the two sides of the coin of Heart. Real, in
Because death is law, love is madness and this madness is the ecsta
sy of death! Death is the realization that there is no gravity, no Earth, no
this case, means deep. True, in this case, means beautifully ugly. From what
you bury this most sacred impulse of silence beneath. Kill having to appeal
is true, ugliness is beauty. Everything is beautiful as true.
world of matter, save for those who cling to it. Cling not to what you have
Don't compose the way you compose, compose the way It com
not created. You are created of Earth, but at death you are no longer that.
poses. Music is without silence. Don't compose the way others compose,
Perhaps you have never been that? Perhaps there is only Spirit? Every being
is this, looking at itself everywhere in every form it appears not to be, until
because It has another way for you to compose. Silence is without music. It
composes Its own way through you when you are true enough to under
enlightenment dawns and no one exists but It alone. Death has occurred
stand this and let it be. Silence is music. Composers, don't be composers.
and bodily ecstatic love bliss is real. This is the madness who is death. This
Music is silence. Musicians, don't be musicians. Only music is music.
death is the mother-father of all creation. Call it what you will, it is what it
is, the Heart of all of this.
Conductors, don't be conductors. Only silence is silence. Virtuosos, don't
be virtuosos. Students, don't be students. The creative revelation stares you
in the ear. Just be open to what's true and breathe what is true into being.
If you call the Heart of it all God, then your body, your mind, your
hands, your ears, your heart, spirit and soul must be turned over to that. It
The ear cannot hear at this level. Get back to original nature and the origi
is not that one can do this or must do it, but since you are already here, you
nal creative impulse, the big bang of your own being, if you will. Only the
have already done it at the dream level. Now you must do it and act it out
Heart can hear this. The big bang implies the initial wave of infinite cre
on the Earth level. Who feels this is so? Regardless of what anyone must play,
ation. Freedom is the only vagina worth living in!
to do it this way is good practice or selfless practice, good technique or spon
Your ear is not your ear. Your limits are not your limits. Each one
taneous technique, good taste or heart taste and good style or true style. This
is wired to the infinite. Recognize programming to the contrary and recog
is spontaneous transformation, transcendence and translation all at once.
nize the need for opening to the infinite itself: infinite possibility, creativity,
For mystics engaged in the process of purification, world transcendence and
depth, vastness, intensity, vision, mind, heart and being infinite genius
world service, this is living at the altar, this is making the great sacrifice and
being the candlelight all at once. If we are not that "God" in Spirit, who are
beyond opinion, school, culture, what is personal, what is impersonal, what
is yours, what is of others, what is anybody's—and attend to what is
we? If we are not that Heart of Hearts, what are we? If we are not the way
nobody's. This infinite mystery no one has, no one knows, no one hears but
of peace, why are we? If we cannot jom the hearts of all beings, how are we?
Without this Heartfulness, where are we? So it is done, in one taste.
everyone is.
Kill imitation, repetition, monotony, uncreative idiocy. You're only
imitating yourself imitating yourself stuck spinning in a cesspool time-
Chapter
Ugly Beauty
world of no end. Dog, cut your tail loose. Girls, straighten up. There is no
Phase 3
The Path of Creative \^sion—Self-Transcension
Music as the Silence of Neither Form nor Formlessness
learning after this. There's only creating by not creating from this point on.
This is the brilliant all-burning path of death, which and who is fire, true
Heart-Fire and being only fire itself beyond self, thought, speech, word,
True Genius is the way of death. Kill academic conventional approaches to
school, mind, body, others, worlds, universes and Gods altogether. The
word Freedom is a concept method but as such is binding. You must free
280
281
MUÑOZ
DEATH: THE FATHER OF CREATION
freedom, free yourself from ideas of freedom and free yourself from ideas
of bondage, knowledge and time altogether.
itself. This is spontaneous being which is selfless creativity or true Heart
The old masters are not the old masters, they are dungeon pro
grams to the unconscious as a failure program. Open to the conscious as
form of creative genius than is ordinarily developed by training, program
infinite creativity and be free of dying to old, and thus already and always
ultimately be creators or one with the creative intelligence of the universe.
failed, forms of music. All forms are failed forms, regardless of how enter
taining, impressive, outrageous, difficult, beautiful or exquisite any form is
nature which, according to its capacity, would have to be considered a deeper
ming or education, in the case of exceptional human beings who aspire to
The issue here is that such an intelligence is impersonal and is can
celled out by the personal, the egoic, the self-defining or self-limiting
capacity of mind or intelligence being identified as form—and not neces
or could be. Here, perception is a program of bondage, habit is a program
of bondage, structure is a program of bondage, reference is a program of
sarily a form of formlessness as much as form as formula or a programmed
bondage and memory is a program of bondage. Thus, remember not to
formulation, consistent with or parallel to popular or known standards or
remember and be free of the time-space field altogether. Be free of the time
formulations of such, all of which are walls, barriers, obstructions, products
track as a gravitational Une to what was, the opposite of what is, and the
transport portal to what needs to be.
to go beyond. In other words, whatever arises needs to be gone beyond, ad
infinitum. Whoever arises needs to be gone beyond, or there you are bound,
To be free is to be more than to be free. It means to be empty, the
emptiness of selfless fullness, which means pure being, free of emptiness and
there be your bondage, which needs to be killed. Death to such bondage.
fullness. This is called access to original freedom because it is beyond every^programming, tradition and culturing, education, preference,
space. Create, therefore, the space for oxygen to support the inhalationexpansion of that creative fire which needs to burn freely in all directions.
genius, capacity, ability, power, tendency, desire or self-study. As the true
Life itself in infinite forms of potential nature is true creative
beyond form, this which is fire beyond fire is nothing and no one! Isn't this
expression. It is perfection no matter what anyone thinks about form and
thing else
Death to bondage programs. There must be death for there to be clear
the true composer, who is death, the musician who is silence, the virtuoso
beauty. Play or create music this way and be true to cosmic nature rather
who is the void, the creation-conductor who is the true space of the Heart,
the ultimate definition of the word Spirit as transcendent light?
than be programmed by infinitely less in the forms of intellectual, academ
ic or artistic criticism, taste and conventions, which have nothing to do with
the sacred creation of the spiritual universe. This has everything to do with
Only form makes form and only composition makes composition
and naturally composers make composers, and similarly idiots make idiots
and geniuses make geniuses. The point is, who makes words, sounds and
self-imagery, inadequate sophistication and a lack of genuinely creative
formlessness? Can you make formlessness, can you compose it, can you
far less inspired by genius as much as distracted by phenomena, convention,
produce it? Can you make God, can you make Spirit, can you make Love?
This method concerns the process relevant to thè who. The who
who makes anything is also the same who who makes nothing. This thread
includes self as selflessness, thought as thoughtlessness, mind as mindlessness and world as worldlessness and further, music as musiclessness, sound
as soundlessness, noise as noiselessness and silence as silenceness.
Every conceivable mechanism of mind which generates or produces
isms and ologies is a source of infinite potential, which, without the
gravity of selfishness as contracted or crystallized energy representing who
one assumes or wishes themselves to be as a personality, person or individ
intelligence, which alone inspires true geniuses, not want-to-be's who are
the status quo, society, survival, and authoritative producers and their prod
ucts and effects.
For a creative spirit, any formulation of a spirit—in other words
anything written or merely thought—is not what the process is about. To
write is to produce another product, a box, a form of bondage idea, which
at best is a musical form but not necessarily a form of real or true music.
Any strategy, mechanism, technique or approach to avoid anything is to be
subject to programs and operating within the bounds of the created, work
ing primarily from memory, and still, regardless of form, bound to time
ual program of a mind-form, is free to spontaneously and ecstatically arise of
games relative to what, according to the individual, "has already been
played, so now what I'll play, because I can't remember having heard it.
282
283
MUÑOZ
DEATH: THE FATHER OF CREATION
must have been what has never been played or heard before." This is sim
viewpoint, artistic is no longer the case, musician is no longer the case, but the
ply a monkey-in-the-mirror program, and a mere self-reflection program
relative to memory.
mysterious is altogether the case as is the profound, the exquisite and the
Length of music, composition or sound work should not be dictat
ed by concept alone. It should be dictated by psychic force or etheric func
Welcome the realm of the indescribable, where the universe itself as
transcendent beyond words, as the all-feeling Heartfulness of divine presence.
tion relative to its impact on the breath itself. Then, the etheric breath itself
intelligence or consciousness is simply and utterly the invisible clear light of
sound and the inaudible spiritual sound of light. This then becomes the
must dictate the composition, if not the composed, as it will when allowed
realm of so-called music in terms of transcendent melody, transcendent
to. The Spirit is beyond concept, classification, school, culture, and is direct
harmony and transcendent time. If you try to understand this, you are not
ly related to sound—the sound current as an atomic spiritual process
understanding it. If you feel that you've gotten this, then you haven't got
governed by conscious vibration-modification, from form as darkness to
ten it. This fire is without concept, knowing or realization. It is only light
Heart formlessness as light, from terrestrial gravity to celestial or angelic
beyond light. What is there to know or play beyond the peace of Silence?
lévitation. Why suck on the teat of earth-centered music at the cost of not
Can one be trained in this, or is this beyond all training, beyond all worlds,
knowing one's true true relative to music, relations, awareness, creativity,
inteUigence, wisdom, freedom and spirit?
Who understands these spiritual facts of consciousness creation or
creative consciousness? Who can't bring themselves and their music to this
beyond the all, the everything and nothing, beyond the Who Knows itself?
Perhaps this is the Heart and the true Ear who not merely hears but is the
womb of infinity.
Be no time—^past, present or future and be true. Be no one—^past,
level beyond abstraction and abstract ideas, descriptions or interpretations
present or future and be true. Be no instrument—^past present or future and
of what is "in", "out" or anywhere in between or beyond? The mind
be true. Be no race or culture—^past, present or future and be true. Be no
cannot conceive what the sound is. The mind cannot properly conceive
what silence is beyond sound, yet it is what everyone originally and always
self, thought or mind—^past present or future and be true. Be no world—
past, present or future and be true. Be no universe—^past, present or future,
is at the core of awareness. For if you know the Heart, it is better that the
and be true. Such is the way of Death, who creates all, who creates every
Heart plays for itself. If you know the Heart, it is better that the Heart
thing and creates nothing all at once.
speaks for itself. If you know the Heart, and therefore open to it, then its
radiant Silence will speak for itself.
Relative to skill in music, what more could be said of one note
perfectly played from the depth or intensity or philharmonic fullness or full
harmonic, full ultra-harmonic presence? Is this limited to the musical or is
this indicated in the ultra-harmonic realm of true Silence? Without self, per
fection is easily attained. In fact, without self, perfection is already attained.
Beyond this, it is a matter of breath and depth or infinitude of cre
ative intelligence which is open to and allowed to manifest of and as itself,
free of self, thought, mind and human culturing altogether. Kill the human.
Enter the cosmic. Death is true creation. Death is the true creator. Only
death is father, hear? From this Soul level of pure awareness, there is no
music and as a result. Its music arises of itself. Its music seeks free expres
sion through each and every living being but who knows this, enough to
grant that to all as true musical freedom and true ecstatic being? From this
284
285
CHAPTER
21
TRASH
metal pipes that were cut to different lengths and set into a wooden res
onator. This instrument's role in the music was modeled after the saron, also
an instrument in a traditional Javanese gamelan, and the technique of strik
TRASH
MARK NAUSEEF
ing and muffling each note was directly borrowed from traditional gamelan.
As unusual as these instruments in Lou Harrison's and Bill Colvig's (design
er/builder) American Gamelan may be, they were built and played with
preconceived ideas as to what function they would serve in the music. Also,
the design and role of the new instruments was based on instruments and
an orchestral concept that already existed. This is still a form of alchemy or
Uchemistical experiences, making beautiful music with a stainless steel indus
transmutation, and those oxygen tanks—that were once considered use
trial size double basin sink and a 747 jumbo jet aluminum engine cowling.
less—became incredible musical instruments.Yet the transmutation of the
During my time as a member of Finland's Sound And Fury, the
ensemble lead by the great Finnish composer Edward Vesala, the double
smk was not based on a preconceived idea of substitution. The sink encounter
basin sink was my main instrument. Being a percussionist, I often find
ment, and in fact was discarded as useless in terms of its original purpose,
myself contributing to musical concepts while playing objects that are not
and making it into a conduit for music and accepting it for what it was, a
normally considered to be "musical instruments," and a perfect example is
sink. A musical sink that was once ready for destruction was now leading
me toward discovery. The constructed, became the conductor.
my time with the sink. It was not a new sink, but a discarded piece of junk.
Once it was retrieved from its inevitable fate at the Helsinki junkyard, the
alchemy began. After the sink was cleaned, Sound And Fury guitarist Jimi
was about taking what was never designed or thought of as a musical instru
Also, I as a percussionist was being transformed, as I needed to find
Sumen attached guitar machine heads, stretching strings across the once
and develop the appropriate technique—^which at times had nothing to do
with techniques that I would have used with traditional instruments—in
filthy basins that had now become rich resonators. A brace was attached so
order to facilitate the arrival of music. This process required that I be wide
that it could tilt and balance at different angles, making it possible for me to
explore all areas of its body. There were many sound production possibili
open to receive information from the source and explore and experiment
with all areas of the object. Experiences like this, when discovering new
ties within the body, as it was constructed with varying degrees of metal
density, such as the thinner basins and the thicker skeletal framework. All
sources of sound and developing extended techniques, naturally bring me
to a state of acute but relaxed concentration.
parts responded well to being struck, rubbed, bowed, scraped, shaken,
Wagner was quoted as saying, "I feel that I am one with this vibrat
plucked, beaten, kicked and whipped with all sorts of objects including,
mallets, barbecue skewers, metal rods, superballs, bass bows, springs, wires,
ing Force, that it is omniscient, and that I can draw upon it to an extent that
is Umited only by my own capacity to do so."
sticks, clubs and various chains. I occasionally threw myself against it, and
of course, chain whipping a metal sink works wonders!
The alchemical transmutation was not a matter of making the junk
into a quasi version of an already existing instrument, as was the case while
playing in Lou Harrison's Old Granddad American Camelan. While per
Pulling music out of a sink. That's magic!
I had a similar experience with a 747 jumbo jet aluminum engine
cowling while rehearsing and performing John Bergamo's composition
substituting for the kempuls, which are pitched gongs in a traditional
Javanese gamelan. The other part of the composition that I played was for
On The Edge, at California Institute of the Arts. My setup for this wonder
ful piece was the cowling, which is a metal ring about eight and a half feet
in diameter, placed on three tripod stands. The cowUng was placed so that
the hollow gutter/trench side was facing up. My playing position was in the
middle of the ring. The composition is very specific as to what takes place
in the gutter. The piece is conducted and at various times I was instructed to
286
287
forming Harrison's piece La Koro Sutro, one of my parts required that I
strike sawed-off oxygen tanks with baseball bats. The oxygen tanks were
NAUSEEF
TRASH
roll items such as pool balls, marbles, bbs (birdshot pellets), golf balls, etc.
modified. When mounting the pickup directly onto the rack or frame, con
with force and speed determined by the length and dynamic of the sound I
sideration should be given as to what kind of metal is used for the racking,
was to make. As the aluminum was quite light, I was able to hft and balance
the cowling which gave me the ability to change the speed and sound of the
as the jewels of sound live within the vibrations traveling through the rack
and into the pickups. A metal book shelf-support works very well as it is a
rolling objects. Other instructions included superballing (rubbing a super-
good conductor for sending rich and powerful vibrations to the pickup and
ball that has been attached to a flexible wooden barbecue stick against the
it also has screw holes that can be very helpful when attaching metal, cym
metal while applying various amounts of pressure), scraping and bowing, as
well as striking with mallets and sticks made of wood, metal, rubber, plastic
and yarn.
bals, springs, wire and other bits of trash. The difference with this amplifi
cation technique, compared with the previously mentioned techniques, is
Once again, as with the sink, there was no method—accepting the
cowling as it was, without preconceived ideas as to what it could be.
contact with the sound source. So while this is also amplification, which
Over the years, I have had many experiences with the transmuta
tion of rubbish into musical instruments. Through some mystical form of
which transmutes the sound. Once played, the sound source/instrument
mainly the extreme/radical signal/sound generated as a result of the direct
helps extension of our range of hearing, this is also extension/modification
sends a mutated sound (because of the direct miking) into an amplifier that
alchemy, discarded toys, metal lamp shades, metal screens, grills and grat
ings, pipes, sections of air ducts, oxygen tanks, botdes, rice bowls, coffee
over the top vibrations that the pickup is trying to handle. The incorpora
cans, kitchen utensils, pots and pans, flour mixers, egg slicers, containers
tion of guitar pedals and electronics (the cheaper, the better!) can modify the
made of metal, plastic, wood and glass, metal knives, forks and spoons, gal
sound even further. Ring modulators, compressors, volume pedals, pitch
vanized garbage cans, hubcaps, nutshells and more have produced beautiful
music.
shifting devices ... not the expensive designer gear, but the cheap stuff.
Regarding the role of the composer and performer, in his book
The Harmonies of Heaven and Earth, Professor Joscelyn Godwin writes
will produce a new and unusual sound due to all the transient weirdness and
Besides the obvious financial benefit, cheap devices can be the
favored choice as the "inferior" electronics used within them often tend to
respond to the instrument/signal by producing a mutated sound that is
"... they are alchemists who help to transmute the Earth by making its sub
stance and souls resonate with echoes of the heavenly music."
richer in color and contains far more grease, grime and grit than the expen
sive "good" stuff.
Many of the metal objects mentioned above, which in their "natur
al" condition as an object of purpose (food preparation, lighting fixtures,
Some of the early pioneers of these techniques of close miking
toys, etc.), already showed great promise for the creation/discovery of
music, but may be transmuted further.
Another aspect of playing found objects, junk and other newly dis
covered instruments concerns electronic modification. Although sometimes
referred to as "amplified percussion," this should not be confused with the
common technique of miking something to simply make it louder, as with
overhead or close miking. Of course, in the right hands, these techniques
help us to hear many sounds with harmonics/overtones we would have a
difficult time or possibly no chance of hearing without the amplification,
but there is another kind of electronic modification. By directly attaching
some sort of pickup to either the sound source itself or directly to the
rack/stand which holds the sound source, sounds can be amplified and
288
and/or modification of acoustic sounds via processing include Max
Neuhaus, John Cage, Hugh Davies and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Regarding
percussionists, the meister motherfucker who defined this direction is Tony
Oxley. Tony was first working with "amplified percussion" in the late six
ties: amplified racks of metal, springs, knives, wires, egg sheers, all amplified
by pick-ups attached to metal racks. The signal is then sent through sound
modification devices (ring modulators, compressors, pitch shifter, volume
pedals, etc.) before being sent through the amplifier. There is nothing like it.
Sounds are stretched, bent, squeezed, shifted... (for great examples of
Tonys work with amplified percussion, check his recordings on Incus
Records, February Papers, Tony Oxley and Soho Suites, and The Advocate
on Tzadik). Concerning pickups, Miroslav Tadic gave me the idea for
amplifying my rack of junk with Walkman headphones. Talk about cheap!
289
NAUSEEF
TRASH
We're talking about the ones that they give away with the Walkman, noth
ing expensive, strictly JUNK. Miroslav used rubber bands to tightly attach
one must be "wide awake." This state of acutely concentrated lost in
unknowing is a form of the philosopher's stone.
the headphone earpieces to the rack, using them as microphones/pickups
I think it's a good idea to have respect for your instrument, even if
as opposed to headphones. The intensity/impact of whichever playing
technique is used, along with the choice of what material the instruments
it is trash, as it's not just a pile of wood, metal, strings, skin, etc., but a vehi
are being activated with, makes quite a difference to how the electronics
process the initial sound. Although the amplified sound going directly from
yoga/meditation, with music as the object/point of awareness—by making
music practice not just something that you do to improve your ability with
the rack of junk to the amp can be a beautiful sound, it can also be com
your instrument, but approaching music practice as a destination, a focused,
pletely out of control. Even without modifiers such as a ring modulator,
relaxed and concentrated state inside the music. This cultivation of attention
distortion boxes, pitch changers and other devices, a volume pedal is a good
makes music a place to create within as well as the product of creation itself.
idea for shaping and controlling the sound. A compressor is helpful in con
trolling the extreme dynamics produced by the wide range of sound sources
cle that can bring you to an exceptional state of awareness and peace. It's
One person's rubbish heap can be another person's altar.
being used that are directly and cheaply miked and played with a large
assortment of materials and techniques. The compressor is also helpful in
protecting the speakers from murder when you forget to release the volume
pedal from the completely open position and you strike a mighty blow with
a Louisville Slugger baseball bat to a thick piece of metal, which is tightly
attached to the rack! Now those pathetic headphones have great value: one
day it's junk, the next day it's still junk, but now it's talking to you, and with
an attitude!!!
Over the years, it has come to my attention that certain forms of
trash speak to me the same way that drums did when I was a child. I'm often
surprised when other people don't react like I do to a great piece of rubbish.
While I'm thinking about the possibihties of this junk to create beautiful
music, others often think that it is simply useless rubbish.
To quote Joscelyn Godwin again, "In order to undertake this work,
the true composer, Hke the alchemist, does not choose his profession: he is
summoned to it by a call that cannot be ignored."
Although I have studied traditional instruments, and while playing
them have experienced levels of concentration and "freedom from distrac
tion" that have been inexpHcable, experiences with rubbish have been a bit
different. With the transmutation of junk as a way of finding music, with
out previous research of the "instrument" or an established method or
technique, I beheve that the musician/alchemist accesses other levels of
attention when dealing with the undiscovered. Even more inexplicable?
Mystical? Having only a vague idea as to were the sounds in the object may
be and how various parts of the selected junk may respond to activation,
290
291
CHAPTER
22
THE COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE OF IMPROVISATION
Intelligence is the abihty to utilize and purpose detectable informa
tion or data from inner or outer sources.
THE COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE
OF IMPROVISATION
PAULINE OLIVEROS
Creative music offers new patterns and combinations spontaneously.
Improvisation is the ability to create spontaneously with or with
out pre-planning—^within or without a plan of action.
The reaction time of primal or core consciousness is practically
instantaneous—much quicker than waking or thinking consciousness.
Reaction time without thinking is typically i/ioth of a second with as little
as i/8oth of a second possible. Improvisers may find themselves observing
PRESENTED AT SONS D ' H I V E R , COLLOQUE A
what the body has already played slightly after the action. Thinking con
UNIVERSITAIRE PIERRE D I D E R O T
sciousness is slower. The evoked potential for a premeditated action appears
Pauline Oliveros, January 21, 2008
one third to half second before consciousness perceives it.' The brain
he largest media event in history took place two days ago on January 20. I
reinterprets the delay to be action in the present
moment. The body acts prior to thought. The
was proud to watch this event along with miUions of other Americans,
improviser who trusts his or her body con
coundess others around the planet (twenty-six million internet streams
sciousness feels that the music is happening without thought or control.
were watched), and to experience the depth of feehngs expressed by the
It just flows.
J
magnificent turnout of people from all corners of the USA and the world.
At the stroke of noon, possibly the largest wave of healing energy
^
"
In the Phenomenon o/AfiîW^ Teilhard de
1«
/
\
* . 1
Delay, http://ww.consciousentities.coiTi/hbet.htm
2. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The
Phenomenon of Man, (Harper & Row,
revised English translation by Benjamin
ever—peaked and washed over the planet, bringing joy and hope to all, even
Chardin (TIE-YARH DE CHAR DAN ) pointed
to the noosphere. The noosphere surrounds the
though the oath of office was given minutes later. At last we have a presi
planet like the atmosphere or biosphere and is the
dent who knows how to improvise with his scripted speeches. President
interconnection of human minds—^their thoughts, images and ideas. The
Barack Obama knows how to listen and how to invite participation. He
noosphere must also be threaded with musical information, auralizations
plays the crowd as if it were his finely tuned instrument. He knows how to
and sound waves as well as spoken and written thought.
play the changes. Delivered from memory, his inauguration speech was
deeply embodied and finely nuanced for this occasion. As WiUiam Parker
stated yesterday, "improvisation is an exact science." President Obama
Primordial consciousness is not bound by the alphabetic mind.
When creative musical improvisation happens there is resonance
from the minds of the musicians and the musical thoughts of living musi
delivered his speech with precision, spontaneity and assurance. He caught
the emotional wave of the American people and people of the world.
cians and bilhons of musicians from throughout the ages. Yet the creativity
President Obama, along with all who were present at the inauguration
ities that are now expanding and extending throughout the world, just as the
physically and virtually, have created an improvisational shift in the world
energy field.
healing wave of energy from the inauguration is opening new doors for
Now for a few thoughts about music improvisation:
Creative music improvisation communicates collective musical
that emerges through improvisation carries new combinations and possibil
masses of people.
Through their music, musicians are the harbingers of world com
munity and planetary consciousness. There is no need for musicians to
inteUigence as an energy field. Whether an individual soloist or ensemble is
improvising, there is a mining of musical information stored deeply in the
collective consciousness of humanity.
speak the same language. They can play together without speaking. They
only need to listen to one another giving and receiving sound. Their
292
293
encounters with different tunings and styles can be negotiations for recon-
OLIVEROS
THE COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE OF IMPROVISATION
ciliations of differences.
engender creativity in the performer as well as to foster communication
A world music genre has come about through many combinations
of musical cultures in improvisation. This music moves through popular,
with others and with the environment.
classical and experimental styles and ideas. Our time is an exciting time
tions or statements.
The title is a portal for the composition waiting to be improvised
where musicians can meet and improvise in person locally, through world
travels and also virtually through cybernetics.
Virtual venues have been with us since the advent of recording over
100 years ago.
These pieces consist of metaphorical titles and very simple instruc
that resides momentarily in my body and/or the bodies of other performers.
The body expresses primal consciousness modulated by the accu
mulation of experiences that are part of the body's knowledge.
Recording serves as memory and expands the mind.
Recording and radio broadcast made it possible to hear music from
distant environments and cultures without being there.
These familiar commodities were just as startling when they were
first developed as our newer virtual realities are to some now. And they
have, of course, made it even more compeUing to experience positive musi
cal and cultural encounters in person, just as two miUion people showed up
to celebrate in Washington D.C. for the inauguration, enticed by telematics
and onhne technology as never before.
I want to explain the term Telematic. This term refers to the inter
face with computers and performers over distance.
Dissolving your ear plugs:
For classically trained musicians and anyone else interested.
—Pauline Oliveros
1. Take some time—no matter where you are—sit down and close
your eyes for a whUe and just Usten. When you open your eyes
consider what you heard as the "music." Later try to remember
what you heard and express it with your instrument or voice.
Do this practice often until you begin to hear the world as music.
The acceleration of technological development is producing many
2. Another time—sit down with your instrument and just listen
instantaneous musical encounters and telematici venues for high quality per
formances with distant partners. These telem
with your eyes closed. As you realize that whatever you are
atic transmissions can promote reflexive
musical stream. Stop when the music is over. This is what I think
friendships and enlarge the possibilities for
world music.
of as supported improvisation.
3. Listen to a favorite machine and play along with it. This is good
There's another term that I enjoy using, and that is Sonosphere,
this aural equivalent of other planetary fields such as the biosphere, stratos
phere, ionosphere, etc.
I propose the existence of a sonosphere coexisting and encircling
the globe in resonance with the noosphere—mingling meaningful frequen
cies and rhythms, music and sounds—fostering feehngs that can help unite
humanity with the inteUigence of evolution.
All of this is a universal improvisation that is moving ever onward
from the quantum microcosm to the macrocosmic metaverse.
hearing is "music," aUow your instrument or voice to enter this
to do with sounds that you don't like as well.
4. Listen to a favorite natural soundscape and play along with it.
This is good to do with any soundscape—^very quiet or extreme
ly noisy.
Pauline's Solo (1992-2008)
"Listening to this space I sound the space. Listening to the energy of all
who are present I sound this energy. Listening to my listening and your lis
tening I make this music here and now with the assistance of all that there
is. I dedicate this music to a world where peace is more exciting than war."
I would like now to share the scores of a few pieces that are designed to
294
295
CHAPTER
23
OLIVEROS
Pauline's Solo is performed both acoustically and with EIS—the Expanded
Instrument System. This performance includes an eight channel surround
system with EIS. The EIS developed from the composer's work with tape
delay that began in the 1960s at the San Francisco Tape Music Center. The
evolution of EIS has moved from multiple tape machines to digital delay
processors to the computer. The MAX/MSP interface for EIS 2004 was
programmed by Stephan Moore, 2005 by Jessie Stiles and 2007 by Zevin
Polzin with design by the composer.
THEE SPLINTER TEST
GENESIS BREYER P'ORRIDGE
The EIS is a continually evolving canonical form. EIS processes
and distributes the sounds of the accordion during the performance.
It can be said, for me at least, that sampling, looping and re-assembling both
Nothing is pre-recorded. Sounds are picked up by internal microphones
found materials, and site specific sounds selected for precision ov relevance
in the accordion, and sent to up to forty delay processors. The canonical
to thee message imphcations ov a piece ov musics, or a Transmedia explo
delays are modulated by a variety of wave forms and distributed to the
ration, is an All-Chemical, even a Magickal phenomenon. No matter how
eight speakers in geometrical patterns. The ten possible patterns are selected
short, o r apparently unrecognisable a "sample" might .be in linear TIME
by algorithms. The size, speed and shapes of the selected patterns are
morphed algorithmically.
perception, E believe it must, inevitably, contain within it, (and accessible
through it) thee sum total ov absolutely everything its original context rep
resented, coumunicated, or touched in any way; on top ov this it must
Sounding Secret Spaces
implicitly also include thee sum total ov every individual in any way con
When I am creating a piece on stage, the spaces are secret. The secrets are
in everybody, including in me, until they are sounded. And when they're
culture, and every subsequent (mutated or engineered) culture it in any way,
sounded, the secrets are out. The audience is an instrument too. If I am
pure about my listening and creating the sounds that come forth, the
nected with its introduction and construction within thee original (host)
means or form, has contact with forever, (in Past, Present, Future and
Quantum Timezones).
audience will feel that and respond to the sound. I am something akin to a
"Any two particles that have once been in contact will continue to act as
high wire artist. The audience is with you, because they perceive the risks
and the dangers.
though they are informationally connected regardless of their separation
in space and time."
—Bell's Theorem
Let us assume then that every "thing" is interconnected, interactive,
interfaced and intercultural. SampUng is all ways experimental, in that thee
potential results are not a given. We are SPLINTERING consensual realities
to TEST their substance utilising thee tools ov collision, collage, coumposition, decoumposition, progression systems, "random" chance, juxtaposi
tion, cut-ups, hyperdelic vision and any other method available that
melts linear conceptions and reveals holographic webs and fresh spaces.
As we travel in every direction similtaneously thee digital highways ov our
Futures, thee "Splinter Test" is both a highly creative contemporary chan
nel ov conscious and creative "substance" abuse, and a protection against
thee restrictive depletion ov our archaic, algebraic, analogic mamfestations.
296
297
PORRIDGE
THEE SPLINTER TEST
("My Prophet is a fool with his 1, 1, 1; are they not the ox, and none by
the B oo K ?"
—Liber AL L48)
So, in this sense, and baring this in our "M I N D ", on a technical
level, when we sample, or as we shall prefer to label it in this essay, when we
SPLINTER, we are actually splintering people and brain product freed ov
any ov the implicit restraints or restrictions ov thee five dimensions (as
Richard Miller insists there are!). We are actually taking bytes. Reusing
these therafter as heiroglyphs or memes. Thee tips of each iceberg.
If we shatter, and scatter, a hologram, we will real-eyes that in each
fragmeant, no matter how small, large, or irregular; we will see thee whole
hologram. This is an incredibly significant phenomenon.
It has all ways been my personal contention that if we take, for
We access every variable memory Library and every individual
humanebeing who's ever for a second cormected with, concieved or related
to or been devoted to or despised or in anyway been exposed to this splin
ter ov culture.
We now have available to us as a species, really for thee first T I M E in
Astory, infinite freedom to choose and assemble, and everything we
assemble is a portrait of what we are now or what we visualise being.
Skill full splintering can generate manifestation.
THIS IS THEE "SPLINTER TEST"!
We are choosing SPLINTERS consciously and unconsciously to
represent our own mimetic (DNA) patterns, our own cultural imprints and
example, a SPLINTER OVJOHN LENN ON; that splinter will in a very real
aspirations, we are in a truly Magickal sense "INVOKING" manifestations
manner, contam within it everything that John Lennon ever experienced;
perhaps even results in order to confound and short-circuit our perceptions,
and rehance ov "W H o L EN Es s ".
everything that John Lennon ever said, composed, wrote, drew, expressed;
everyone that ever knew John Lennon and thee sum total ov all and any ov
those interactions; everyone who ever heard, read, thought ov, saw, reacted
to John Lennon or anything remotely connected with John Lennon; every
past, present and/or future combination ov any or all ov thee above.
In magick this is known as thee CONTAGION theory or phenom
enon. Thee magickal observation ov this same phenomena would suggest
that by including even a miniscule reference or symbol ov John Lennon in
Anything, in any medium imaginable, from any culture, which is in
any way recorded and can in any possible way be played back is now acces
sible and infinitely maleable and useable to any artist. Everything is avail
able, everything is free, everything is permitted. Its a firestorm in a shop sale
where everything must G.O.
Thee "edit" in video and televisual programming and construction
is in essence an "INVISIBLE LANGUAGE", in thee sense that our brain
a working, ritual or a "siGIL" (a 2-3 dimensional product invoking a clear
tends to read a story or narration in a linear manner, tending to blend, com
intention usually primarily graphically and non-hnguistically, in a linear,
everyday sense) you are invoking "John Lennonness" as part ov what in
this particular context (i.e. "musics") is a musical sigil.
pose, and assemble as continuous what it primarily sees at thee expense ov
READING thee secondary sets of intersections and joins that it does not
All that encyclopedic information—and the time travel connected
with it, through memory and through previous experience—goes with that
one "splinter" ov memory, and we should be very aware that it carries with
it an infinite sequence of connections and progressions through time and
space. As far as you may wish to go.
We can now all maintain thee ability to assemble, via these "splin
ters", clusters of any era. These clusters are basically RE-MIND ing. They
consciously, or independently, SEE. Yet thee precision ov choice in where
to edit, and thee specific emotional and intellectual impact and inate sense
ov meaning that is thus specifically conveyed is as much a text ov intent and
directed meaning, even propaganda, as is thee screenplay, or dialogue itself.
Everything in L-if-E is cut-up. Our senses retrieve infinite chaotic
vortices ov information, flattening and filtering them to a point that enables
commonplace activity to take place within a specific cultural consensus real
in an acceptable form. i.e TV/Film/Musics/Words) and traveUing directly
ity. Our brain encodes flux, and builds a mean average picture at any given
TIME. Editing, reducing ov intensity, and linearity, are constantly imposed
upon thee ineffable to facilitate ease ov basic coumunication and survival.
into ahistorical sections of thee brain, triggering all and every conscious
and uncounscious reverberation to do with that one spHnter heiroglyph.
what we utter, are all dulled and smoothed approximations ov a far more
are acutally bypassing the usual consensus reality filters (because they reside
298
What we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we touch, what we emote,
299
PORRIDGE
THEE SPLINTER TEST
intense, vibrant and kaleidoscopic ultradimensionai actuality.
tally spiritual and revealingly autonomous. Small elites can no longer make
Those who build, assemble, ASSEMBLY is thee invisible language ov
major technological, ecological, or economical decisions. Fractally anarchic
our TIME. Infinite choices ov reality are thee gift ov software to our children.
clusters ov individuals with integrated extended family structures and
Thee Splinter Test—Appendix A
stretches out before them in a neo-pagan assimilation ov all before, NOW!
transhumanE agender groupings must participate and calibrate what
Thee Scattering
and to be.
"I.T. will BE because LT. is inevitable"
"And they did offer sacrifices ov their own blood, sometimes cutting
—Old TOPI Proverb
themselves around in pieces and they left them in this way as a sign. Other
times they pierced their cheeks, at others their lower lips. Sometimes they
We plough thee feeled and scattering thee would—ship ov our plan.
scarified certain parts ov their bodies, at others they pierced their tongues
in a slanting direction from side to side and passed bits ov straw though
Thee Splinter Test—Appendix B
thee holes with horrible suffering; others slit thee superfluous part ov their
virile member leaving it as they did their ears."
A Formal Process ov Moral Reasoning
Source are Rare
In thee future thee spoken word Wills to be viewed as holding no power or
resonance and thee written word Wills to be viewed as dead, only able to be
If Astory is any clue, thee succession ov civilizations is accompanied by
imbued with potential life in it's functional interactions with what Wills to
bloodshed, disasters and other tragedies. Our moral responsibility is not to
have become archaic software and programming archeologies, namely
stop a future, but to shape it. To channel our destiny in humane directions,
and to try to ease thee trauma ov transition. "We are still at thee beginning ov
speech. That is, just as a symphony orchestra preserves a museum ov
exploring our tiny little piece ov thee omniverse. "We are still scientific, tech
Culture; so, thee WORD Wills to be seen as thee preservation vehicle in a
nological, and cyberspace primitives; and, as we revolutionize science itself,
expanding it's perameters, we wiU put mechanistic science—^which is high
ly useful for building bridges or making automobiles—^in it's limited place.
Alongside I.T., we will develop multiple metaphors, alternative principles
DNA-like chain ov Digital breakthroughs and Cultural intersections. Thee
musics, ov musics considered seminal and part of a DNA-like spiral ov
WORD Wills to be viewed, not as a virus that gave speech, nor as thee gift
ov organic psychedelics through which civilization (i.e. Living in Cities)
was made so "wondrously" possible; but, as a necessary language skill for
those specializing in thee Arcane science ov Software Archeology, or
ov evidence, new loggias, catastrophe theories, and new tribal ways to sep
arate our useful fictions and archetypes from useless ones. Thee scattered
SoftArch Processing, as I.T. Wills to NOW! be known. In much thee same
shapes ov this new civiHzation will be determined by population and
way as Latin was for so long a required subject and qualifier ov scholarship
resource trends; by mihtary factors; by value changes; by behavioral specu
at prestigious Universities when thee drone majority found I.T. incongru
lations in fields ov consciousness; by changes in family structures; by glob
ous, if not ludicrous. Ov course, Individuals Will to be utilizing laser based
al political shifts; by awakened individual Utopian aspirations; by accelerat
ed cultural paradigms and not by technologies alone. This will mean design
systems to access and exit thee neuro-system via thee retina; and, these sys
tems in turn. Will to transmit, wirelessly, to a new breed ov computers using
ing new institutions for controlling our technological leaps into a future.
liquid memory instead ov micro-chips (this is already being pioneered in
Detroit). If we are to disbelieve what we don't hear, then conversation Wills
I.T. will mean replacing obsolete political, economic, territorial, and eco
logical structures. I.T. will mean evolving new micro-decision making sys
tems that are both individually and tribally oriented synthesizing participa
to be a status symbol ov thee leisured classes, and power elites. As ever, thee
same Processes that delineate POWER, in this case, a perpetuation ov an
tion and initiation, and, new macro-decision making systems that are digi
atrophied communication system, i.e. WORDS. Wills to always be appro-
300
301
P-ORRIDGE
THEE SPLINTER TEST
priated by those who position their means ov perception at an intersection
I.T. hungers for thee death ov thee WORD . Rightly so, for we are
diametrically opposed to those who oppress with I.T., for I.T., or because
imprisoned in thee NAMING sorcery that was both built, and solidified
within thee Process ov Control, and more critically, and integral to I.T, sub
mission and subservience.
ov I.T. Put simply, any form ov literal or cultural weapon pioneered by
authority Wills to some day be used by "esoterrorists" bent upon destabil
ising and/or, at least temporarily, destroying it's Source. Thee poles becoum
clearer, thine enemy more Known, as thee mud settles and we protagonists
This death is craved, intrinsically, by all in order that a showdown
may occur, as thee World Preset Guardians laser burn their retina ov lust for
are exposed standing shakily on our rocks, above thee Golden Section, and
result. Thee WORD wills to go, I.T. is here to go.
visible to all who would disown and destroy us. I.T. is in this spirit that this
work was created.
Thee Brain Coumputer interface will replace all verbal media ov
coumunication, for bitter or wars. Thee new being merely that which is
Imagine, if you won't, that you are a subversive in this future. You
conspire to be hidden by thee use ov thee wo RD . This act could move you
inevitable. Nurse it along so that I.T. may become a living intelligence
system. Thee Museum ov Meanings.
into a position of becoming a co-conspirator in thee Process of desecre-
But as tiny child-murdering Mary Bell once said, "I only murder
ation. To conspire literally means "to breathe together". Thee all pervading
that I may return," and what Wills to be re-born Wills to vary with thee
input ov thee user
surveillance systems are N ow ! so digitized that they have no voice recogni
tion software, this has also been manifested to protect thee conspiracies and
debaucheries ov thee Control species themselves.
"Hell, even Deities need privacy son. We used to plot murders and
takeovers in saunas, then bug-proof buildings, now we just talk son, no one
out there listening, all just PLUGGED IN".
One fashionable lower class, blue collar medical expense is thee
vocal chord removal process. I.T. is taken as a status operation. A clear sig
nal to one's contemporaries that your software interface is so advanced that
you need never consider thee use ov speech ever again.
Thee wo RD is finally atrophied. No longer a dying heart, but dead.
Thee bypass is on. So, here you are. You FEEL something is out ov balance,
you TALK. They TALK. Thee world swims in silence. Thee only place ov
secrecy is a public place, thee only manner ov passing on secrets is talking
out loud. Neither protagonist is aware that thee other is TALKING. If they
were all hells would be let loose.
Forcible Vocotomies in thee street, subversives held down at gun
point, their chords lasered out in seconds. Loud laughter ov a rich Vocotomy
tout, thee ultimate status signal "ov power".
Know, thee wo RD is gone, it's power defused, diffuse, in order that
these scriptures of thee golden eternity be fulfilled. In thee ending, was
thee WORD.
As a recipient of this cluster you are encouraged to recall, and
remain constantly vigilant ov thee dilemma I.T. exposes.
302
Debug thee old Preset programming. Leave only an empty timezone that you might later fill with your Will to and clarity ov intent.
Thee Splinter Test—Appendix C
Cathedral Engine
"VIDEO IS THEE ELECTRONIC MOLOTOV ov THEE TV GENERATION"
Cause thee Cathode Ray tubes to resonate and explode. You are your own
screen. You own your own screen.
Watching television patches us into thee global mixing board.
Within which we are all equally capable ov being victim or perpetrator. CD
Rom, and thee cyberspace internet carrying audio/text, visual data and
scrap books via Personal Computer modems actually delivers a rush of
potentiality that was previously only advanced speculation. Thee lines on
thee television screen become a shimmering representation ov thee infinite
phone lines that transmit and receive. We have an unlimited situation. Our
reality is already half-video. In this hallucinatory state all realities are equal.
Television was developed to impose a generic unity ov purpose. Thee
purpose ov "control". To do this I.T. actually transmits through lines and
frequencies of light. Light only accelerates what thee Brain is. Now we,
with our Brains, can edit, record, adjust, assemble and transmit our deepest
convictions, our most mundane parables. Nothing is true, all is transmitted.
Thee Brain exists to make matter of an idea, television exists to transmit
303
P-ORRIDGE
THEE SPLINTER TEST
thee Brain. Nothing can exist that we do not believe in. At these times con
Preset thee transmissions in some, as yet, mysterious way.
sciousness is not centered in thee world ov form, I.T. is experiencing thee
Videos can move televisual order, and conditioned expectations ov
world ov content. Thee means ov perception wills to become thee program.
perspective, from one place, and reassemble it's elements as if glueing a
Thee program wills to become power. Thee world ov form wills to thereby
smashed holgram back together, all the while knowing that each piece con
reduce thee ratio ov subjective, experiential reality. A poor connection
tains within I.T. thee whole image. In other words, these are all small frag
ments ov how each ov us actually experiences L-if-E. Through all our sens
between Mind and Brain. Clusters ov temporary autonymous programs
globally transmitted, received, exchanged and jammed will generate a liber
ation from consumer forms and linear scripts and make a splintered test ov
equal realities in a mass political hallucination transcending time, body, or
place. All hallucinations are real, but some hallucinations are more real
than others.
We create programs and "deities", entities and armageddons in thee
following way. Once we describe, or transmit in any way, our description
ov an idea, or an observed, or an aspired to ideal, or any other concept that
for ease ov explanation we hereafter will to describe as a "deity"; we are thee
Source ov I.T.
We are thee Source ov all that we invoke. What we define and
describe exists through our chosing to describe LT. By continued and
repeated description ov it's parameters and nature, we animate I.T. We give
I.T. life.
At first, we control what we transmit. As more and more individu
als believe in thee original sin ov it's description, and agree on thee terms ov
linguistic, visual and other qualities, this "deity" is physically manifested.
Thee more belief accrued, thee more physically present thee "deity" wills to
become. At a certain point, as countless people believe in, and give life to,
that described and believed in, thee "deity" wills to separate it's SELF from
thee Source. I.T. then develops an agenda ov it's own, sometimes in opposi
tion thee original intent and purpose ov thee Source. Thee General Order at
this intersection becomes G.O. And thee I.T. continues to transmit to our
brains. Our brains are thus a Neuro-Visual Screen for that which has sepa
rated from it's Source and become a "deity". This is in no way intended as a
metaphor, rather a speculation as to thee manner in which our various con
cepts ov brain are actually programed and replicated. In an omniverse where
all is true and everything is recorded, as Gysin wondered, "who made the
original recordings?" Or in more contemporary jargon, who programmed
thee nanotech software? Our response can only be a speculative prescience.
Thee Guardians who exist in an, at present, unfathomable other World and
304
es simultaneously. In every direction simultaneously. Even in all five dimen
sions (at least!) simultaneously. Bombarded by every possible nuance and
contradiction ov meaning simultaneously. Quaquaversally. This is a relent
lessly INCLUSIVE process. We do not just view "L-if-E" anymore.
Although perhaps we can, at least potentially, have an option to view every
thing. Intention is thee key. What was once referred to as thee "viewer" is
now also a SOURCE OV anything to be viewed, and thee Neuro-Visual
Screen on which to view I.T. Thee constructed, and ever increasing digital
concoction built from millions ov Sources that is commonly referred to as
"Cyberspace" is accelerating towards deification, and separateness.
Towards thee moment ov a sentient awakening ov it's own consciousness
and agendas that we feel is more aptly described as thee "Psychosphere".
This Psychosphere challenges us to seize the means ov perception and
remain thee Source.
"Change thee way to perceive and change all memory."
—Old TOPI Proverb
Thee Splinter Test—Appendix D
Since there is no goal to this operation other than thee goal ov perpetually
discovering new forms and new ways ov perceiving.
I.T. is an infinite game.
An infinite game is played for thee
purpose ov continuing to play, as opposed to a finite game which is
played for thee purpose ov winning or defining winners.
I.T. is an act of freed Will to...
No one can "play" who is forced to play.
Play is, indeed, implicitly voluntary.
305
P-ORRIDGE
THEE SPLINTER TEST
Thee Splinter Test—Appendix E
Thee night under Witches that you close up your book ov shadows and
open up your neuro-super highway to thee liquid blackness (within which
dwells an entity) represents thee edge ov Present TIME. LT. pinpoints pre
cisely thee finality ov all calendars. Wherein LT. is clear that measurement,
in it's SELF, and ov it's SELF equals "DEATH" or "DAATH". Thee spoken
binds and constricts navigation unutterably. Thee etymology ov thee word
spiral (DNA), from thee Greek, indicates an infinitude ov perceptive spaces
and points ov observation, where "down", "up", "across", "distance" and
other faded directional terms becoum redundant in an absolute elsewhere.
Thee eyes have LT. and they suggest a serpent that was once thee nearest
metaphor to cold dark matters such as wormholes and spaces between.
Thee Splinter Test by Genesis P-Orridge
Use Full Glossary of Terms:
Astory: An alternative suggestion for the perennial problem of finding a
non-gender word when describing the ebbs, myths, flows, interactions,
Sigil: For the purposes of this essay let us define this as a 2-3 dimensional
product or ideagram; consciously invoking a clear intention; often pro
duced in conjunction with a formal ritual including orgasm consciously
and unconsciously designed to "make something happen". A Sigil is usu
ally and primarily graphic and/or non-linguistic, in a linear, everyday sense
of things.
Transmedia: A crossing of cultural borders and taboos. A synthesis. As a
general guide, holistic. An examination of constructed "reality" devoid of
preconceptions. This is not an alternative word for mixed-media, interactive
or multi-media. It is a recognition of the arrival of one, entirely new, single
contemporary medium that contains within I.T. all other previously sepa
rated media. Transmedia encourages us to establish a re-newed, but not
controlled, state of flux; to develop an openness to the very nature of our
transhuman existence. I.T. relies neither on pre-conceived concepts about
what we should believe, nor on a creative or social consensus of any type to
which we must conform. (Special thanks to Brother wo RD s for co-author
ing this definition)
conflicts, migrations and belief systems of various peoples and social group
TIME: Time Is M... Ending, (sic).
ings throughout recorded and speculative TIME. We would posit that we
can at least all agree that these are a story!
Outsane:
Exoculation: The opposite of inoculation, where inoculation would mean
contaminating a clean medium, so that whatever you introduce wills to
grow and proliferate. In this more controlled environment the host medi
um (culture) can thereafter identify I.T. and can then generate its own "anti
bodies".
Humoral Response: The process by which, upon the introduction of an
antigen, the body creates antibodies to combat, neutralize and contain
these irritants.
LT.: Imaginary Time.
Thee Splinter Test
We now have available to us as a species, really for thee first TIME in
Astory, an infinite freedom to access, select and assemble. Everything we
assemble becomes, and is, a description ov what we are now or what we
visualize "being" at any level; from thee deepest, sub-molecular, neurocellular programs that we have named "DNA" to thee farthest interdimensional reaches ov galactic expansions and contractions outside
TIME or SPACE. Skill-full "splintering" is a magickal tool and can
generate manifestation.
THIS IS THEE "SPLINTER TEST"!
Occultare; The inevitable equivalent in the realm of hidden teachings,
techniques, and knowledge, of consensus and popular culture.
Quaquaversal: Pointing in every direction simultaneously. In the dictionary
centroclinal is defined as the opposite of quaquaversal.
We are choosing SPLINTERS consciously and unconsciously to
represent our own memetic (DNA) patterns, our own cultural imprints and
aspirations. We are in a truly Magickal sense "INVOKING" manifestations,
perhaps even results, in order to confound and short-circuit our percep
tions, and rehance upon "WHOLENESS ". We are creating our own subjec-
306
307
P-ORRIDGE
THEE SPLINTER TEST
tive and speculative descriptions ov "OTHERNESS".
manifest a desire or change, or create a symbolic, but active, (all) chemical,
It can be said, for me at least, that thee transformational implica
tions inherent in sampling, looping, cutting-up and/or thereafter re-assem
bling both found data materials and infinite combinations ov site specific
or biological reaction in a literal or visualized "host" culture.
founds, consciously and with clarity ov purpose, a consensus reality and all
sounds, is as probably equivalent to, and as socially significant and pro
thee suppressive and limiting constraints that inherently go with that same
found as, thee popularization and mass proselytisation ov LSD and thee
consensus reality. We are introducing cultural and memetic antigens. We are
splitting ov thee atom. All three involve thee cutting-up ov thee essential
literally short-circuiting "control", stepping outside thee mundanity and
"matter" ov science, religion and language; thee basic, potential inhibiting,
cornerstones ov what has been coined, our contemporary "dominator" cul
form ov one dimension, into limitless and quaquaversal pool ov alternate
ture. All three are innately magickal processes giving thee initiate practi
Osman Spare, we are creating, consecrating and firing a "si GiL " as
tioner, tools to travel within their previously finite consensus reality con
we create audio-visual, linguistic, or physiologically active worlds and com
tainer, thereby to reveal and describe and physically adjust a place both ov
binations that have never ever existed. However, in a very real sense, it is pos
IN "control" and OUT OV "control". A place, quite literally, ov infinite
space. A place previously reserved for thee elite mysteries ov power, or
sible to suggest that with thee advent ov relatively cheap, and global, access
We are collaging, if you will, an image ov a desired reality that con
dimensions and geometry's ov perception. In thee terminology ov Austin
described in covert and arcane codes by thee ritual magickian; thee shaman-
to sampling data collected in various "internet" information banks, an extra,
and highly potent, quality has been added to this ancient lineage ov manifes
woman. A place we might label for thee present, " SPATIAL MEMORY".
tation. This most recent quality is an apparent ability ov that sampled, thee
Change thee way to perceive and change all memory. As Bruce Wagner put
it in Wild Palms thee individual n o w has thee ability t o " SEIZE THE
"meme" ov certain theorists, to replicate as well as resonate. Sorceric ritual
MEANS OF PERCEPTION".
"user" into repeatable contact with entities and galactic ebbs and flows; and
We are living in an age where we can shatter, splinter, and fragment
could already reveal thee hidden; attack thee source ov stasis; accelerate thee
through all this and more present us to thee nano-technology ov thee most
at will, all linguistic, or perceptual constructs ov description and through
minute primary codes ov what we could dub, sentient L-IF-E.
this process, redefine and refine thee essence ov learned perception; thereby
redistributing thee wealth ov any status quo system ov belief in as many
identify what cyberspace commentator Doug Rushkoff would call a "media
patterns and forms as there are imaginations at play.
virus"; an individual cultural item ov such precise metaphorical weight and
This base process is initially a matter ov selection, a selection ov
"matter"; ("...and it really doesn't matter if you're wrong or right."!).
resonance, within it's contextual societal structure and/or belief system, that
"Splinters" ov any medium are carefully isolated for their precision ov rel
evance to thee message bearing qualities and subversive implications ov a
piece ov occultural creativity. This "spHnter" can be an image, a glyph, a
From this perspective, the process ov selection wills to primarily
is equivalent, in it's potential disruption and infection ov any established
pohtical status quo (or social immune system) to a virus attacking it's host
organism. So, in a very real Astorical sense, we are committing acts ov
"sound-bite", a conscious behavioral short-circuit, even a piece of discard
heretical cultural exoculation "to see what is really there", as Brion Gysin
once said. To further draw upon an analogy ov Gysin's when he stated that
ed, proto-anthropological, physical detritus. In this, thee methodology is
"In a pre-recorded universe, who made the original recording", we are
surprisingly akin to many nature based african religions; to generic shamanic techniques ov sympathetic magick, or a Tibetan Bon Po colored sand
attempting to "see" into the very nature ov "material" or "matter" and it's
mandala invocation for example. A collecting together ov an apparently dis
connected group ov objects, words, articles to form an atavistic or person
ally empowered "picture" that focuses will to a specific, subjectively ara-
primary programming data. As once we split the atom, we are now isolat
ing and splitting the very particles ov which information, art, and culture are
constructed. This is not intended to be an idle, or convenient metaphor.
tional, occultural end. Equally identifiable, is a clear intention to physically
Rather, a very hteral description ov yet another pivotal developmeant in the
latter half ov this century, and thee manipulative and connective "Process"
308
309
P-ORRIDGE
THEE SPLINTER TEST
catalyzing and facilitating thee early visible appearance ov a new "Eon"
temporary channel ov conscious, positive and creative media "substance"
both in thee visible consensus culture, and in what we chose to describe in
abuse, and a protection against thee restrictive depletion ov our archaic,
thee early '80s as "Occulture".
algebraic, analogic manifestations ov inert and redundant assumptions and
This activation ov popular culture, or Transmedia exploration as we
would designate I.T (where I.T.= Imaginary TIME), E would argue, is par
evolutionary metaphysics ov intent.
allel to an All-Chemical phenomenon. There is a knowing and precise refin
ing ov "matter", it's origin being at this stage in Astory, any information in
any medium ever recorded in any possible or impossible process whatsoev
equations ov cultural "matter", with its subsequent restriction ov a quasi-
("My Prophet is a fool with his 1,1,1 ; are they not the o x , and none by
—Liber AL 1:48)
the BOOK?"
er. For the very first TIME we can develop cultural fragments or samples, as
So, in this sense, and baring this within our "MIND", one can sug
minute, or generic as we choose by accessing thee almost all pervasive reser
gest that on a technical level, when we select a sample, or, as we shall prefer
voir ov material contained within thee host spheres ov our post-computer
dataglut generating thee equivalent ov a cultural humoral response.
connected with its introduction and construction within thee original (host)
to label it in this essay, when we SPLINTER, we are actually splintering
transhuman ikons and cultural transmedia brain products freed ov any
ov thee implicit restraints or restrictions ov thee five dimensions (as Richard
Miller insisted to me once that there are!). We are actually taking "bytes".
Reusing and re-assembling these thereafter as heiroglyphs or memes. Thee
tips of each iceberg. Upon their release back into thee L-if-E stream ov
their host culture these select splinter-memes develop an independent,
sometimes virulent, sometimes benign, antigen agenda ov their own; sepa
rate from, but continually resonating internally with, their initial Source.
This is a process ov "deification", ov thee creation ov "Gods/Goddesses/
Entities/Demons", that E describe in a little more detail in thee essay
culture, and every subsequent (mutated or engineered) culture it enters
"CATHEDRAL ENGINE".
No matter how short, or apparently unrecognizable such a "sam
ple" might be in any mechanistic linear TIME perception, E beheve it must,
inevitably, contain within it, (and accessible through it) thee sum total ov
absolutely everything its original context represented, coumunicated, or
touched in any way. Likewise it must retain every memory, feeling, occur
rence, thought and instant ov existence ov its originator. Further, in addition
to this hypothesis, E would argue that it must also implicitly include thee
sum total consciousness, and experience, ov every individual in any way
thereafter, in any way, means or form; or has contact with forever in all Past,
Present, Future and even speculative Quantum Time Zones.
"Any two particles that have once been in contact will continue to act as
though they are informationally connected regardless of their separation
in space and time." —Bell's Theorem
Let us assume then that every "thing" is interconnected, interactive,
interfaced and inter cultural. "Sampling", cutting-up, is all ways experi
"Thee Memeium IS thee Mass Edge!" —Old TOPI Proverb
As most ov us are aware by N ow !, if we shatter, and scatter, any
hologram, we will real-eyes that in each fragmeant, no matter how small,
large, or irregular; we will see thee whole hologram. This "scattering" is an
incredibly significant contemporary metaphorical and physical phenomenon.
It has all ways been my personal contention that if we take, for
example, asPLiNTERovjOHN LENNON that that same splinter will in a
mental, in that thee potential results are not a given. We are SPLINTERING
very real manner, contain within it everything that John Lennon ever expe
consensus realities to TEST their substance utilizing thee ritual tools ov col
rienced; everything that John Lennon ever said, composed, wrote, drew,
lision, collage, composition, decomposition, progression systems, "ran
expressed; everyone that ever knew John Lennon and thee sum total ov all
and any ov those interactions; everyone who ever heard, read, thought ov,
dom" chance, juxtaposition, cut-ups, hyperdelic vision and any other
method ov assembly and description available to our imagination and skills.
This process melts Unear conceptions and reveals holographic webs and
saw, reacted to John Lennon or anything remotely connected with John
Lennon; thee specific Time Zone, calendar date that it theoretically
fresh spaces. As we travel in every direction simultaneously thee digital
highways ov our Futures, this "Splinter Test" is both a highly creative con-
ov thee above.
310
resided in; and every past, present and/or future combination ov any or all
311
P-ORRIDGE
THEE SPLINTER TEST
In magick this is sometimes known as thee C O N T A G I O N theory,
or phenomenon. A magickal observation and perspective ov this same phe
specific cultural consensus reality. Our brain encodes flux, and builds a
nomena could suggest that by inclusion ov even a minuscule reference, or
mean average picture at any given TIME. Editing, reducing ov intensity, and
linearity, are constantly imposed upon thee ineffable to facilitate ease ov
symbol ov John Lennon in a working, ritual or a "SIGIL", you are invok-
basic communication and survival. What we see, what we hear, what we
iiig "John Lennonness" as part ov what in this particular context (i.e. sam
pling "musics") might fairly be considered a musical sigil, a conscious invo
cation of clear intent ov Will.
smell, what we touch, what we emote, what we utter, are all dulled and
All that encyclopedic, associative and implied information, and
even thee potential resultant time travel connected with it—accessed
Anything, in any medium imaginable, from any culture, which is in
smoothed approximations ov a far more intense, vibrant and kaleidoscopic
ultra-dimensional actuality.
any way recorded, or recordable, and can in any possible way be played
through memory and through all connective previous experience—goes
back, is NOW ! accessible and infinitely malleable and usable to any sorcer
with that one "splinter" ov memory. We should be very aware that it does
innately carry within it an infinite sequence of connections and progres
ic "artist". Everything is available, everything is free, everything is permit
sions through time and space. This is not proposed as symbolism. You can
a firestorm in a shop sale where everything must G.O."
travel as far as you may wish to go.
We can now all maintain thee ability to assemble, via these "splin
ters , clusters of any era. These clusters are basically RE-MIND ing. They
ted. With the dissolution ov thee "Frame ov Reference" ov Peter Berg; "It's
For those who build or assemble, A S S E M B L Y is the invisible
language of our TIME. Infinite choices of reality are the gift of software
to our children.
are actually bypassing the usual consensus reahty filters (because they reside
in an acceptable form. i.e. TV/Film/Musics/Words) and travehng directly
into Astorical sections of thee brain, triggering all and every conscious
and unconscious reverberation to do with that one splinter hieroglyph.
Editor's Note: Genesis' intentional misspellings are part of her idiosyncratic hi
jacking of standard English, and are meant to give words added levels of meanings.
We access every variable memory Library and every individual
humane being who's ever for a nanosecond connected with, conceived,
related to, been devoted to, despised, or in any way been exposed to, this
splinter ov culture.
In a similar, linked way, thee "edit" in video and televisual pro
gramming and construction is in essence an "INVISELE LANGUAGE", in
thee sense that our brain tends to read a story or narration in a linear man
ner, tending to blend, compose, and assemble as continuous what it primar
ily sees at thee expense ov READING thee secondary sets of intersections,
and joins that it does not consciously, or independently, SEE. Yet thee pre
cision ov choice in where to edit, and thee specific emotional and intellec
tual impact and innate sense ov meaning that is thus specifically conveyed
is as much a text ov intent and directed meaning, even propaganda, as is thee
screenplay, or dialogue itself.
At this point in T I M E everything in L-if-E is cut-up. Our senses
retrieve infinite chaotic vortices ov information, flattening and filtering
them to a point that enables commonplace activity to take place within a
312
313
CHAPTER
24
MUSIC-MYTH
MUSIC-MYTH
Cckvt ¿tream. W ^
TERRY RILEY
-í
aiAoi.OokCvV£\
%
|"jíA.Ü£
^
y
{jócSt-
t.6fl.D Is
^gSST^-
cs^A^A
^
/J áot p1^ Vi»/^¿i
,
(
. .
ccvv-L- U K ^ -
ll' ^
í>y^cx-
¿W.No¿¿ k-iUv^.
¿Vv CV cWp b4.¿
A'i
c>^ /5st\v5 (íA-iW ^UoR_.
£X¿.Ul& ¿XV"Í^
¿MisUis cd^-^-P'
{.•vcLí=\'
c\.V^
Üa,
¿}.pp>£A.y
tKÍ-V^
C-^ííJ-AA—,
•""TÁnoAV^X
i3
"fki CmW CSHl. ¿xvü-xWt..
^Wi.
I
íS
li
lí?*^
YTk^UccJtifthtl^
vili !^i «»^CC.-rWcvt
¿. '
I IH
civ. i
! ¡«TtaAi^
UJU'I o.IL í|
4-t> s^t. A^t.
i iJ'<-íoi^^i*íciíS ^íl^•^-,«^C^u»ii'
/ /«bi«vV>?a Oa-^OT^I Í
/^tC tov^(Uv%-v . A
jSKaloJiA tjui¿C i>í-
So
c:\\¿xcA
Hocj^
ht^'
TV i/\A <5 W¿1 í:^ cW
lí^vÁ^íf ti/\,4*i oH<j L
í-n-Vitw Vi ífn^
a>\cV
ivvy^lL /^ujarniS5
314
315
cXij-s
csx?_
riley
music myth
r/vw\-^
a'
TVivï.1, Ok vi. ¿i.-U'-aao. ol, p \aouJ,
"tw^wawl. 'ii\<x\ûova'vt.lta -pa-èwvv?!c\ m"£ tv
klo-i^ '-^sla.YVz.s.
(3x v^ave-iirl'
oivkxvv^ ¿«.^5.
iaa^
.
¿leep b-íáa ox cvswi,s (-s
a
c1<^ tui- vl-vuo-v.
"zcipm-z-z-lt. C>\íiJp^ ho>~»j -tv'i-<-a rimwi>+ t>u.^r^^^
f!aaóvvw\oia._5 pcívs
ojüä^ ola/^cl
w-v
¿3-1-l ,^oc>l C:!\C.uiva__ ¿excM wi^Urt,
I t ' s
N©T
l ^ y v S U
ÎS
'fHeRE'
>ro
^¿iä-UotUtL
316
317
RILEY
MUSIC-MYTH
i-umívo.^
3^\\a
cow\|3c>5i;r?_, £.uvm1^ I ûud o^a t'í^.v'pla^fcr^
^jlat>(.A>A /^a^'v cv.&-^^v_ jg^ /^u,st c-
cUí- +o
, ^t-
^Ac4t'c£,
fay-\ç^
xî>i4ïr^
ìis-t jpfalcavu.
úf-,•
,Mi¿¿''
/ f
AÍJr:^'Trí
:r =-"ai'A•-"hr:;!
'•^.
j Ciír^
/4us\c i^vfnc
"
3alo ¿sVv-fru ^ ^ <s^5
Co kHvi &rv >5w£<íg^u»e^s
ORi^o^
.
Coác^
etk¿r.^úl<£{í.»= ñ&xto fofffg.
C4\if
uiifêfe. ;
P#5S
c#cl< S H C K Í K -
--vva^^^l^ 4o^xa. ?
^uim "1^
"tvu 6á((-f
/•
'i íí>m.<-\fv\%. . t tsu-^a^
PryZi<<L+0
.a
CsiiL So f^a l^Q
¿líl 'tô "tk¿ l^-sv <vvta ^£. ^m.^£ -{"o
u^ohpí. /^osk- X^<¡(Vit/yL\Ul Q6£ÍÍ
ûSjev\S^sff. phr<ví%5
j(£i^ m £ 2^0
r-ve^
" ç? ?
'^•^ka'tpúv^issyrto lis «wuj <sl pn'zzico.'fo «-t^lív.
u> 't^:\. o. icfci.^ Ce>ó~o^\"
>,>
l<^ -tc> o^ssí-ós •dx.t.
\
7"wef. art
MÌAUÌ,
/vv\
*
ct-ví
319
^h<, \
>./U-i;
a-
/K
(5^ '
RILEY
MUSIC-MYTH
.
I
It \s
'tvi*\x
c!^ kj(a^()ll5u_l
M
.1
I
<^ví.wic\^ lo'ísn.vaa« ytvia /vwu-cia ltlct ex. kt^vc^
Oaa.^ r
-tW.>rL omZv i'^s oJÖU^ÄÄvr- ¿iouJV^_ -+^
X.,
p. ÖOLV-VN-Ua^, Vi U roví^ck
¿v^p\g.
bul,.
(
boac^, 4>arvl.-v ^stiks^-oo.swio.vr'^
^ o b ^ a j a t ó v - o £ î . î 5 û ^ , ':^tâû
v.^ oxcv - t v - l
¿l&QÍXAA-'r 'PlM. ck.í5^wv^ CHI •OoO'A.Wl €J<pt-C-4 .
^\k\1Í.
•o/t-cít ^latí. tt
ma. ''irv-l v<-ù3(^,-v- a'^fcscikuí- ,
^TT^O-'^ /^<5VHí,ia,-V, Vv^t-S^S
OJÜVC^ VûVL tVÄ. <:*U.vi<-It.CA
ci.o^vv -4o -tw -ív-ckí lxiwi>n -pnx-^i-ta^ <xvt_ *~\^uiaap
cr<tt^ cb^-ci-t í_í^ .
—^
'>4
• sv
hosa/tvír.'
i«.
-
] \ o ^ t S / t f t . -
\
íáodíx
li\í p6W£t5, UA ¿¿ICtC liAcct b^UtX £:CVAA..t--í. á^K-powí-pvw^^^oaa a olvac^ u.:s ku-rvvvsuox^ -vù-^-xk.^ :s4vírka
wv\v}ja\/£r.vâ^ (ílcviirvv^ ¿\iV\ty- uot-vu
^
ví-sula-t. ov <:í'_sci¿4x~oc«. ç ou.'i'c-ûk'vês •
/v)6vot^
'X^IJaIS
v^taaissíyw.p'ó
aook-fiiu tíaí^é-í. cm>vju'<ä-vt<sta5 ^2 2a'\—
ÚA <,C^K-UA.CZ, C5^A T^c-lrxvvôl<^>-^. üjt. ccmaa.'t ¿:\c>5g_ ,
,
ukjtv^ twj, pstacvsds.^'-'^, cx£>iq5'®a_
cX
¿o'^ Is^i^ <p-l\ 'TVi. W-ivu.,
"t1ví>a.t^
c£.v-vä.i^*^
ccu.st
u0£5v^^'u4
2 c í s ^í^(£-
aji-h
^
ßtcxtiusj 3^wk cO1+VI^a\%,j rttl'ts
4-í-A
ktav 1^4. üj&va. ''^o.v-cxciss^í-4r
/vh^
lW+
<2.w<^ Cc^t^Ao'yy iof.5 ^0+ ¿McU-dt, ''4tAVtMaL\AA -fit!! '
T^
'+^6u.s*v x
a vf^ >-ajl-fv -:s4y''^<=\
¿cá>j cft" 4i^'w ka-yt bti^oi c<n\vv<lct4 oicgv-^o-w^i '
VXlC^vau^tan^ct-çiVs. .ÍUck £\,S vi I^C£XV\>sc>c4-\'ffT'<— ,
320
^
•
Í T Í a í
l^/j
OU.^-^
'£cs4-äs(^;
^-kcw-ls
^jl^éá+üc^
Ri^o-V-e.. ^V/AA S'^OCÍÍ^ /W\.M¿>Vivoí>(rrs^ OJVSA
E»uJ\
átí>¿:»~í ^
v^oia l .íaw.*<<-'^^
1_
^ove ua^-^u^'i, uj'cfw, ..ss.j^-m^'t' frcsaocu-s cí assvsí.
^oa/i. tu-u '-^iwlv-e. t'tícs.ci^ sálv-a/ac-t^-s
321
MUSIC-MYTH
RILEY
Tkt
"
Sèrvi Oí, tj.
tui. cv-cx^a
c'^c5fèr^<t.
bí,«hw^¿
^
ö^X-l^ c v ^ A
-{x? q,a^'cl<.lla.
^
ir
OV
s:^o[
vvo-cX \ûi.Vv<—.
cl.vrcwaí>*oi_^ ,
he
CWVíi "tW-í
iWC—
c-ovat^ c\a\. csav.vvcna,v<.c.t/vv\-u^v iivcvn-lx^xa í^vte-it "twl,
31ftö-k;^ -rucs^xwl,
t2.1mlí_
4t>oooca«
\ i/vc^
ro\,c<^ ûtv-î.
ûtv-t. -ítíujoca«
<cav5 pÄvktA û^ Xvr®>\V <st "Ckx /^ose^-i.
~r
ou.^
¡X\Jro
^U_vssUOtA,i. ,
avt
3"««^
rtaaoliaii-, :3öuucr
^octv-vuioo^wci
'wverha-tit c>^
I Tt-U-V Stilrtv$ ujW V>a-Ò. )íCA^6UJV^_ ^
\ripj^-t.a.
U.1 V\cmK
(.It^t-dL
3c>J|>cwi_.
^t- v"-*-^ "^c>
Í—>
£t2Lf^ ^* ¿-
a,c+iva-V-Éc\ bt^
-'prcllaffi-
.-
U/Watr i-S
X n.iA«< «JOI
«joî. Cou.\A
"TVIÛU»
A>\K"Jot^ '
vo bt. covwmf+t^,,
tö "rtv-t.
ffi Uo^/t.
. ,n\ ..\ * v^Vî
c^,
/juèlc
IS •pVö.UtlS-
l£ c\û(\ CClTi. ¿Aoú/ye»^
^
.• •;
<^oVn.Wtc.4tA -W'TW Ino-jJ
/|-v\c\
oocî. ii\j t ci.ivïc4iÀ\ci
t(ft,i.^t •p<ta.l^£v-^u, 1 irti^uî <.<5
<3^A
¿it-wá^ víng4 -v
't'o r^ov/vx-vïs
viiwxvt. 'ak't. buv
Ta^t p\o-c^
I
UJt V-t-a-tJA ou-vwcsv^t. i/v\ 't'w.^
itv/wi ai«<^ ^<-ui
Ä-^
(-.5
¿X Ictoj^i'n-içu.L
/^
a. ^ ¿>0.1^
/ /
u/t ¿.«ClA^ -Vo '^\cvAA.-V ^lùijoi-V^ OVN_--H\.I, «aA\<-<\."t^tM i-v
• ulwvi,
-pioua-a-^O^ZtK. ou„
xkt- s.acn<^ £a.v4u, ojt
plcv^-V
-^o^w•£-^¡^s
(JLA 'i'^i- Go-vi-tAA ujVvt,V-t- ^O.AAA.-2_£». kokiL "t.oLS'f 1
?
^e*r CA.5 .
322
oitut
i<syw?^
^ /^,CKSVi^lu\ . •JJi>
'S>t^ti(KJ'M S i c-.
TVit
£>u.v
•
li v-mboi-ji
<dvi\/wa^
CL-V \t<X54 J
,
vS Tivi '5cxc(rtcU<
£;C0<.ritv\C.t¿L .SröV- ívvokaVi
c5M.''oun_
"Ve.
u3 0.yv(taa!,4 jt!í truí-v-
rtnu-Çi c_ b t-a tM.s ccGkfi
'uiUdcV" üJí. iCwouj i.5
ewt>s.
,Á^ £\ uiwa-v awftax
^IVaT
I AA\0^-**tA\T <
v'i to
to 1VV\^ dtet V-^Ä
".-'
t~ VA'L
l-ra T-t^
* A.U - ,
• <5~A
^ lAA
t/W öuiß-cviatni.
L—
•£;v\iâîaa^ (_v \-vvi t>o'Vv*\ (pov_aaa<
caacx tjtiw/vrtpwpi-s. • •- £\br«.f^
âvoç.5 cv g^cí«v"iáva xotdcjj. . .
b utt ixjwta/s
¿vvííwfl.tm-f
Ca(,^Tl-5 ÎAA. ci.ll 1,X5 -paoil-fi--• '
ÎOJÙIJW. fWcV Vt-ai i-vÄ^vvtwf- íoMáS
u>\.u h 2lm>(fclvta«•tív-vil«ALAAö, 4£'•'"s
iC-VwA¿
6M. îcUi
^
v"
p•€AC«,
(O. Sitiö-W ot
£¿f;ov\\prïss<
iaa,4^ -tWx-t
(j^¿,-'1ivvv\,ímíx.'vta^/^0l*v"ié''^"^ ?
323
RILEY
s-iax-ckwi.,
^va\áij
d'f^ikvw
MUSIC-MYTH
~\¡\\iXÍ^
bit. V\MV"<'-í'W
\,<{%C,
V
c
cipptö;v(3 ivv<3^ vtlaftv^t -yk^-v
(
. sfctuas 'plt&í.fc«i
-7/n5i>jí, a.vtj ujotvvíva^ cx^svs^ is,aád-tvvu r í - o ^ ^ ^ ' z - t - 1
lílfauí«,
>r£.w^+o
r IV • • v>->Wo c¿ Vnoua cXvrt53^tc^ CA/V Ow \ow\ c:.VcrVV\ CJUVCA.
cvv. ov¿ ci.c.uo\ck<t-vt,ti blo^ck, ^Ci^c.\.£.,
gOt, i^-op Ua-Ç-o. ck c.o.v\cki-^
¿3m<í. X <^Vn tVl. wo^ojia_.
u>
vt: jov-^¿i-(.v-fcc.4i
. v:sv\í-.g
x
ov\ A J^u.'V<m o i c l
Lv\ cv ^cv.sc'^'i, \r6«w% xvutc^ »ajv-\-va «uvx^vl's
•
•
,
i
l
I
^lc>^^.w mouäi«,rajav(<x>^ ¿l-a •z.í-z-uö— c>~a/i^cv ^a^.e-vvc\,^t
jíav-v-i'í,0^«^vt
t^í-m.
v5 -vo bí. a.
alla,
^ia<x+
o^.^t \:50l-hvtrtcl cAA-vví, c-oo^r^
caa.^ ^vc^i?h\o.
Vi
ovv AOOvUc^
¿a-á-ks/mt. uino vs tmt.
<pUs.^VXV\A^ TA\fcbt '•^íî'
:3^vs.dos -rvojt wt. i3 o^ c-crc^í,
ruva'vr— <xa\c^ £ii.cé3 'vw.c.w
csv\ 'VVxi.
.
-x
^
,' ^ f
¿:í.<ré.vyx<swr<vl
-tvcv.-\-i¿ ^uu cc^-^j^^ c.<^v-ut.ov a/vv4
ka.5 tiau^
owú/^
6tt.Vviívv5, Tf ts
vrí-spffvii, loilt^-i-o -iiiVifc tw-i
¿dx-v^jv o^p^tcv
p"_^'
. i.w1 l>it.<lca+t¿v^ ,.
. -V. -tul X\oev ±?v<.á.lcu^ I
, ( m ' i > s ^ ' ^ ^ ' ^ ' 1 ' •
;^r"rtia-'T (^6m-i,W^ fc>Uv-M.\<.
Ua.
-ha4t t->v-c>w;oa ¿:w<^í
¿io \iuc.t öl-v 6^^
cvjwck $.€iî. nvvt.
it-i-ar cvjwa
' i>^ökvvv
rtvt
¿rvaaííl'x
-x-óvsa aa^í»^l-f <5v\<r»vt¿»uv'l^c^ /^5 out, uoolí^
ôïat
t-ut
m-f-iic in v'(it\ os idoua
c:it«<xwv
324
325
RILEY
MUSIC AND MYSTICISM,
RHYTHM AND FORM
A Blues Romance in 12 Parts
ADAM RUDOLPH
Mysticism
Knowledge is freedom and
the study of elements in sound is a path. Mysticism
reaches beyond religion into creativity, which belongs to every human
being. For the artist, mysticism is an attitude whose imperatives are the
willingness to cultivate imagination and the courage to express what is
discovered. For the creative musician, it also means research into the science
of sound, which is the chemistry of the universe. Mystics and physicists
alike know that all earthly creation is in fact star stuff, sub-atomic particles
vibrating at various rates. Music speaks to us and transforms us through the
medium and essence of what we ourselves are: vibration. The musical artist's
invisible alchemy is to arrange these overtones as they move through time.
Throughout the ages this art has been intimately intertwined with the
mystic's path.
Imagination
Imagination suggests the existence of a divine spark in human beings. Its
source, what William Blake called the Divine Imagination, is beyond ratio
nal apprehension. While it is a mystery as to whether it is received like a
radio signal from the cosmos or dredged up from the murky oceanic depths
of the unconscious, it appears to us through visions, dreams, inspirations,
language, dialogue, fantasies, and contemplation. Creative imagination is
ù
^OKiBSToWe-
our richest human legacy and birthright. It is a kind of beacon—a scout sent
ahead that precedes us into history.
In the great mystical traditions of the world, inner and outer
realities are reflections of one another. Similarly, any music one can
imagine in the mind's ear already exists or has existed in its own unique
interpretive design. The creative process begins with the inner ear, with
the imagination. It continues with the manifestation of this inner audi-
326
327
CHAPTER
25
RILEY
MUSIC AND MYSTICISM,
RHYTHM AND FORM
A Blues Romance in 12 Parts
ADAM RUDOLPH
Mysticism
Knowledge is freedom and the study of elements in sound is a path. Mysticism
reaches beyond religion into creativity, which belongs to every human
being. For the artist, mysticism is an attitude whose imperatives are the
willingness to cultivate imagination and the courage to express what is
discovered. For the creative musician, it also means research into the science
of sound, which is the chemistry of the universe. Mystics and physicists
alike know that all earthly creation is in fact star stuff, sub-atomic particles
vibrating at various rates. Music speaks to us and transforms us through the
medium and essence of what we ourselves are: vibration. The musical artist's
invisible alchemy is to arrange these overtones as they move through time.
Throughout the ages this art has been intimately intertwined with the
mystic's path.
Imagination
Imagination suggests the existence of a divine spark in human beings. Its
source, what William Blake called the Divine Imagination, is beyond ratio
nal apprehension. While it is a mystery as to whether it is received like a
radio signal from the cosmos or dredged up from the murky oceanic depths
of the unconscious, it appears to us through visions, dreams, inspirations,
ùapuji's
lôj'oBSîôwe^
language, dialogue, fantasies, and contemplation. Creative imagination is
our richest human legacy and birthright. It is a kind of beacon—a scout sent
ahead that precedes us into history.
In the great mystical traditions of the world, inner and outer
realities are reflections of one another. Similarly, any music one can
imagine in the mind's ear already exists or has existed in its own unique
interpretive design. The creative process begins with the inner ear, with
the imagination. It continues with the manifestation of this inner audi-
326
327
RUDOLPH
MUSIC AND MYSTICISM, RHYTHM AND FORM
tory experience in the vibrational spectrum; voice, instruments and
In India, Rasa describes the emotional color of a raga. Melodic
human interaction enter the picture. If w^e can imagine it, we can play it.
shapes delineate tension and release, painting emotional timbre while orbit
In this way, ideas lead the development of technique, which is a door to
the space of freedom.
ing out and then returning to the unitary sounding of Om. Many cultures
use visual colors to manifest music ritual. The Gnawa of Morocco play a
system of seven colors in their nightlong healing and trance ceremonies.
Dialogue
Each "presence" or spirit is accompanied by a specific color, incense,
Any new musical language must be based on understanding existing music
rhythm and dance as it meets the ritual participants' consciousness in ecsta
tic space and time.
languages in their uniqueness and through their underlying universal
principles. Just as the laws of physics simplify in the higher dimensions,
so too do the elements of music unify as they transcend style and move
towards essence.
When developed musical skills exist to serve an awakened being, a
great potential is created. For this potential to manifest, compassion must
inspire the artist to seek dialogue, a sharing of realization. When this inten
tion allows communication between humans to occur, a cycle of enlight
Form
Even as nature is in a constant process of becoming, there is nothing in
nature without form. Chaos contains the source, energy, and material that
form is made of. Form itself is temporal, and rhythm is the world working
through time. Sound is the soul of form and brings it to life from the inside
enment is created. In the Middle East this is called "Tarab." The musician
out. Rhythm is the element of stability that not only gives life to music but
also holds it together. It is implicit in every musical gesture.
becomes a creative conduit, the musical instrument a voice and tool, and
Sonata-allegro, kriti, muwashshah, frevo, jo-hya-kyu, gending, and
the listener an active partner in the creation of the transcendent state. In
blues are but a few examples of the many traditional music forms found
improvisational music, this circle expands to include interplay between
worldwide. For the improviser, phrasing in form is the greatest challenge. In
musicians as dialogue. It is the mirror that reflects both group and individ
order to navigate through form one must be able to generate phrasing and
ual states at the moment of creation, bringing us together in our most
in order to phrase one must have a grasp of rhythm. The great improvisers
human being. With the arrival of the divine spark, improvisational music
becomes a textless ecstatic dialogue vibrating open the door to the lumi
nous moment.
have all been masters of rhythm.
Rhythm
There are as many rhythms in the world as there are stars in the sky.
Color and Motion
Every culture has dozens, if not thousands of rhythms. To these pulse
Through music, the essential unison—^vibration—manifests as a duality:
beats and patterns, each person and musician brings his or her own sense
color and motion i.e., timbre and rhythm. The dialogue between color and
of timing, breath and imagination. To be human is to embody this rhyth
motion is superimposed through the complex of space and time. All color
in music is based on the overtones—earth moving to air and beyond.
mic infinity.
Human rhythm has, as both its source and manifestation, three
Attack, pitch, intonation, decay, texture and noise make for the quality
of color in sound. Because of their especially complex overtone content,
aspects: language, dance and mathematics. Spoken language informs vocal
drums are the musical instrument most commonly used worldwide to
induce trance. In some cultures string or gut is stretched across the drum
and instrumental performance in a myriad of ways. The Yoruba language,
which is tonal, can be spoken on the lya drum. When North and South
skin to further complexify overtone content, adding shadow sounds of
buzzing voices.
Indian music uses vocalized syllables to teach the drum language, each
spoken syllable corresponds to a particular drum stroke.
At the same time, creative and cultural movements of humans are
328
329
RUDOLPH
MUSIC A N D MYSTICISM, RHYTHM A N D FORM
determinants of rhythmic phraseology. In many parts of the world drum
language is a sonic manifestation of dance gesture. Call and response
The Dogon people of Mali call the even (2) element "Tolo" and
ascribe to it female or yin energy. "Nya" is the odd (3), male or yang ener
harkens to a practice before history, where music, dance and storytelling
were one.
gy. They say: "Every rhythm has the two parts, often with complex inter
play that suggest both a dialogue and union of male and female principles."
Numerologically, 2 (even) and 3 (odd) are the fundamental build
ing blocks from which all existing rhythms are created; from the heartbeat
Timbre and Tone
to the most abstract. "Cyclic Verticalism" is a creative approach to devel
oping phrasing and form through the combination and expansion of cycles
and polyrhythms. Cycles of various lengths are built by using the additive
concept of combining rhythm cells of 2's and 3's. (Figure 1.)
If that fundamental polymetric verticality of 3 against 2 was moving fast
enough it would sound as the interval of the perfect 5 th, the second over
tone. The overtones, or harmonic series is the acoustic material that gener
ates pitch, melody, harmony and what Edgar Varese termed "sound mass."
For example, 2 plus yields a 5 beat cycle:
century European music uses twelve tones and six intervals to gener
ate melodic and harmonic materials. Joseph Schillinger, Yusef Lateef,
1 2 1
Counted division
Olivier Messiaen and Nicolas Slominksy, to name but a few, published
Accented pulses
studies of creative permutations of these. In India it is twenty-two Srutis
Total pulses
that describe the microtones between octaves. Pentatonic scales, made of
20th
X
X
1 2
3
2 3
4 5
the first five tones of the limitless spiral of
5ths,
are found worldwide,
especially among people who live close to nature.
3 plus 2 plus 2 yields a 7 beat cycle:
1 2
3 1 2 1
X
X
1 2
3
2
Counted division
Accented pulses
X
4 5 6
7
Total pulses
Circularity
Non-linear thought informs the creative mind. Circular imagery is central
to many mystical traditions, the Mandala being a well-known example.
Depictions of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah, roundtable discussions, Whirling
Figure 1. Excerpt from Pure Rhythm by Adam Rudolph.
Dervishes, the shaman's drum, and stone Native American Medicine Wheels
are but a few of many circular images found worldwide. The Kongo
Verticalism references polyrhythms, whereby two or more
rhythms are played simultaneously. A rhythm cell of an odd amount
Cosmogram Yowa shows the sign of the cosmos and the continuity of
human life (Figure 3). At the center is the Crossroads, the radial point of
sounding at the same time as a rhythm cell of an even amount generates
African cultural improvisation that has profoundly seeded so much
American music.
motion in sound. The fundamental polyrhythm is 3 against 2. (Figure 2.)
3 against 2 (6 total pulses):
1
2
*
3
*
*
1
4
5
6
X
3 duplet accents of the pulse
*
2
3
4
2 triplet accents of the pulse
5
6
Figure 2. Excerpt from Pure Rhythm by Adam Rudolph.
Figure 3. Yowa-Kongo Cosmogram.
330
331
RUDOLPH
MUSIC A N D MYSTICISM, RHYTHM A N D FORM
Creatively applied in music, circular thought can open the mind to
potentials of relationships not available to linear thinking or depiction.
+
Circularity suggests possibilities of innovative notational semiotics that in
turn can generate new musical syntax. John Coltrane s circle (Figure 4)
shows a non-Hnear multiplicity of possible tone relationships.
TKv»
JÍ3
O
Figure 5. Tal Chakra by Pandit Taranth Rao given to Adam Rudolph 1981.
In each of these drawings the multiplicity of possible relationships
of elements invites broad syntactical possibilities. Each offers the potential
and openness that is essential for the improvisational practice central to
both music cultures.
Figure 4. Drawing by John Coltrane given to Yusef Lateef 1960.
Since humans first observed the movements of the sun, moon, stars
and the seasons, musicians have been responsive to cycHc phenomena in
Weaving
Ostinatos of circularity are content distinct from the linearity of the
nature. Circular thought is central to many music cultures throughout the
practice of theme and development. Recurrent gestures are the events
world. In a manner similar to the Coltrane diagram, this North Indian Tal
Chakra drawing (Figure 5) shows the potentiality of multiple relationships,
in this case between various rhythm cycles.
that generate time inside the circularity of musical form. This rhythmic
332
333
weaving of space and motion is a common musical practice in the world.
In Persian arts, the term "Dastgah" refers to both weaving patterns into
RUDOLPH
MUSIC A N D MYSTICISM, RHYTHM A N D FORM
carpets and weaving modal melody in music. Mbuti Molimo ritual and
atives of life: spontaneity, initiative and surprise.
Sundanese Jaipong music performance use what Miles Davis, describing
his own music in 1973, called "thematic fibers." A Nigerian cloth (Figure
6) depicts an elegantly danced weaving of threads in repeated patterns of
rhythmic regularity and irregularity.
Emptiness
Improvisational music reflects an evolved cosmology that could be described
as a celebration of the Eternal Now. It aims at the total elimination of subject/
object through the expression of sound rhythms. First, in the stillness of
Beginners Mind, we hear the silence. Now intention moves emptiness into
the manifestation of form in sound. Starting from breath itself, each gesture
m
creates the musical moment. The formless manifests a time element, a
dimension, and a shape, the abstraction of which is conditioned by sound
and motion. Each musical sound a human can make has a beginning, mid
Figure 6. Nigerian Woven Fabric.
As is common in much solo performance in Africa, the Ugandan
Akogo (thumb piano) requires a synchronized patterned weaving of the left
and right thumbs to play the music. As repeated motifs continually evolve
dle, and an end. There is a feeling of death with the end of each sound that
implies transcendence.
The Heart
Music is a reflection of the heart s evolution. It speaks to the inner being
and modify, the musician enters a mental state similar to contemplation of a
since it is itself of the inner being. Listening with the heart asks for a quiet
Mandala. Whether performed by the individual or the collective, patterns of
ing of the mind which judges, filters, and compartmentalizes. It beckons us
sonic fractal design create a momentum that over time becomes a Call.
to lift out of temporal limitations, to open up to the deepest sentiment of
our own being and allow our very essence to be touched. Communication
through this invisible alchemy called music invites us to reach into ourselves,
Miraculous in its evolution, the use of ancient highly refined signal patterns,
manifest through instruments of particular overtone content, serves to open
to seek to know ourselves and to fearlessly express that which we discover.
the door to the transcendent state. The Call is the invitation to move from
observation to participation in the transcendence. Answering the Call is
It is a way of coming to know who we are as we exist in the universe and
to join in the shared experience of the mystical lifting of the moment.
the universe that exists within us. Music is the language of the heart and it
It is what mystics describe as resonance; what the Surrealists named the
Supreme Point.
is a path to awakening. For those who are aware of the mysticism of sound,
music is a profound means by which we share our most intimate and deep
desire for universal consciousness.
The Inner Voice
Great improvisers are recognized in one note. They play their instrument as
an amplifier of their irmer voice. The Dogon have a word "mi" which means
the inner spirit of the person expressed through the voice of the instrument.
With creative action, the inner auditory vision is expressed as a unique
human story through the development of musical language. Every human
who uses a musical language tells us something about who they are in rela
tion to their art and their life experiences. Musical sound is the revealing of
the inner being. The master improviser drenches her/his art with the imper334
335
CHAPTER
26
A SILENCE THAT SPEAKS
to be separate, and are reified by their differences which appear through a
confrontation with each other.
A SILENCE THAT SPEAKS
The AU-Emhracing Unification of Space and Mind
(With Sound Meditation inj Parts)
DAVID CHAIM SMITH
The equalizing aspect of space in which all distinctions are made
is almost always conventionally ignored. Does it oppose either inner or
outer? Can space be broken in two? And what about space itself and its
silent origins? Have either sounds or perceptions been ripped away from
the pristine womb of silence which they appear to have arisen from?
The problem is even more basic when we consider the silence.
When we believe that "something" has been belched forth from "noth
"Music is the healing force of the universe." —^Albert Ayler
"There is no such thing as silence." —John Cage
ingness" there is a conflict. This is the basis of all of the dualistic habits
that insidiously fragment the world into infinite unrelated pieces, obstructing
any chance of apprehending the cohesive wholeness which is the goal of
Fora listener, music can become a profound mystical practice. Ordinarily, it
seems as though sounds are projected in external space and perceived in
internal space, as if through a permeable barrier. What then is space itself?
Both sound and perception are expressions of energy. Music can be
the ecstatic experience of their union within the energetic continuum. It is
an invitation to merge outer and inner within each other, to swallow each
other, leaving only the vital field
of possibility which defies fragmentation.
The continuum of energy is like the serpent in the Garden of
Eden. Its undulating body is an endless primordial waveform; the unify
ing seal of all contrasts: up/down, negative/positive, on/off, active/passive.
This is the raw voltage of transformation. The whole of space explodes
with its wild capacity for adaptation. It manifests all energetic frequencies
as well as the capacity to experience them.
Sound and hearing are mutually interdependent. Neither has
independent existence, but both arise to reflect the uniqueness of the
other. Sound hears itself through human ears as both express one allembracing field
of creativity. Understanding this is the doorway to a pri
mordial ocean of dynamic space in continual variation.
Music, like all great artforms, has the capacity to point to the
absolute within itself. First it must become clear how the perceptual
fragmentation of the world comes about. To observe this just follow the
conventional cognitive sequence:
spiritual practice and human evolution. What results from this process is
the familiar randomness of the cognitive status quo: the ceaseless conflict
between inner and outer in which the senses present foreign objects to a
self-identified subject to grasp at. Ironically, this situation even persists
on a totally internal level, as mental objects called thoughts and feelings
confront the awareness that perceives them.
Division only leads to more divisions. Sounds are ripped from
silence. Listener is pitted against the music. Created things are defined and
categorized out from undifferentiated creativity. Fragmentation occurs as
mind moves. Like music, perception is a state of motion. Disruption
comes through the mind's habits of temporal reduction and isolation.
These habits interpret all motion (including its own) as a series of bound
aries: bits of time that come and go. Reliance on time is a symptom that
the mind has given itself over to dualistic fixation.
All we can see within it
are unresolved questions. To and from where do the pieces of time go?
What is the moment that goes? No one can experience future or past
directly, so why do we think they exist? The "present" keeps presenting
itself, but try to examine it. If you do it will be gone, and another present
moment will have taken its place.
However as Albert Ayler suggested, music can be a remedy for
this disease. It can be a way of repairing a shattered conception of reality.
Through meditative absorption, music can be liberated beyond the confines
Sounds arise in what seems like "outer" space and are apprehend
ed in what seems like "inner" space. The barrier between them is the
appearance of the body and its egoic sense of self. The two sides are taken
336
of time and constraint. It can break free of temporal measurement while
simultaneously moving as open space. Space is always free of contain
ment, and music becomes its prayer when its heart is exposed. This is the
337
SMITH
A SILENCE THAT SPEAKS
offering feast which continually consumes itself. Sounds arise and dis
S O U N D = AWARENESS
solve, freely giving their life blood to and from the energized space that
With this formula as a base we can begin to train ourselves to swal
they truly are. In this manner both sense and sense-object obliterate each
other while simultaneously living through each other. The energized space
low music and be swallowed by it. Recordings can be used with great suc
of creativity is the offering, offerer, and that to which the offering is
dedicated. It is the essence of the equation:
es in which this can be attempted, as well as recommendations for specific
SPACE = MIND
and my recommendations are merely suggestions. Once you get the idea
The apparitional playground arises through awareness. Space-asmind is the becoming of anything and everything. Its vastness is all phe
cess to refine this facility in its most subtle aspects. I will give three exercis
recordings that yield good results. Of course the selection of music is open,
from my descriptions you will know how the exercises can be applied to
any piece that even roughly fits the model.
nomena. There is nowhere it is not, and it always creates. This leads to the
realization that there really is no such thing as "ordinary" phenomena. All
I.
phenomena are miraculous. The sublime cannot be diminished, only
This first meditation involves binding the mind with silent space as
ignored. It is the job of both the artist and the witness of art to take
responsibility for living this equation through.
minute sonic elements arise and dissolve within it. The aim is to hold the
Cultivating an Integrated Sense of Receptivity
sense of vast openness without the elements obstructing or obscuring its
When space degenerates through conventional reductionistic
thinking it manufactures the so-called objective outer world of "reali
quality of spaciousness. When no sound causes disruption, equanimity
ty." When mind degenerates through conventional reductionistic
A piece I like to use for this exercise is Margaret Leng Tan's solo
thinking it manufactures the subjective means to know it called the
performance of John Cage's Music for Piano #2 (from Daughters of the
can be recognized between sounds and silence.
"individual." If we believe these fictions actually exist, then we must
Lonesome Isle, New Albion). In this piece, as in his later "number pieces,"
beheve they are separate. If we challenge these assumption, then both
aspects can reflect what theists call "god." It can only happen by chang
ing one's mental view.
Cage allows the open space in which sounds arise to be a central concèrn.
The sonic elements enter and exit with extreme delicacy, highlighting the
Any investigation of the divine is a mental operation. If the equa
tion mind =space is acceptable, then we can consider that mind is not the
a quiet expectant scenario, in which piano sounds bloom without seeming
pristine purity of the openness of space which seems to engulf them. It is
either related or unrelated. They simply assert themselves in their variety,
biological byproduct of the nervous system, nor is it the property of an
individual human life. Mind is the living conscious dynamism of creativi
ty. In this sense god/space/mind are all equal. This equality is the basis of
all inquiry as well as that which is inquired about; both goal and method
passing into and out of focus, without the intervention of any intrusive
of epistomological and ontological study. This view is evident in many of
position of simultaneous receptivity and concentration. Concentration
that is "too tight" makes experience rigid. It freezes the barrier between
the works of kabbalah and hermeticism, evident in the following quote:
compositional structure.
We begin by sharpening attention while relaxing it at the same
time. Simply listen, and let the sounds be. This involves developing a dis
sound and hearing, and blocks their dissolution together. It will always be
Mind has not been cut off from god's essentiality; it has expanded like
the light of the sun."
—Corpus Hermeticum 12
And now we can proceed with a formula more specific to our
purposes:
distracted. Contrarily, if the experience becomes "too loose" it will be
sloppy, and no profound qualities can arise within it. You will find your
self just drifting, maybe into a semi-sleep.
The goal in all of these exercises is for the sonic field and mental
activity to merge out of their separate identities. Blending attention with
338
339
SMITH
A SILENCE THAT SPEAKS
space requires the cultivation of the quality of expectancy; the sense that
"anything can happen." This helps allow elements that might otherwise be
interpreted as intrusions or disruptions to unfold as organic extensions of
the continuity of the piece. Because this piece is so slow and quiet it will
appear easier than it actually is. You will probably be far more distracted
than you realize. One reason why this particular piece is so effective is
because the sounds are almost manageable. It allows you to "fine tune"
your capacity for abiding in a deeply receptive state.
The first
thing you might notice is that the piece encourages
hyperfixation. Every detail tends to jolt itself into focus to dominate
the sonic field,
tured field
resulting in distraction. What results is a jagged and frac
that repels conventional aesthetic sensibilities. To most peo
ple this piece will seem to be comprised exclusively of disruptions.
However as a meditative event, it is not a matter of simply enduring a
series of unpleasant reactions, like some stoic form of punishment. It is
a matter of recognizing that the so-called distasteful elements are
Like space, mind neither mechanically accepts nor rejects sounds.
They simply happen. If you can recognize and abide in the sonic field
with this natural quality then the experience will be both vivid and vast
at the same time. You may come upon a "razor's edge" of difference
between the internality of mind and the externality of sound, or between
the intrusiveness of sound and voidness of space. In all cases of distrac
tion, remember that the nature of sound is inherent in silence and the
essence of silence is inherent in sound. This precept can help cut through
distractions. You don't necessarily need to think about it, simply under
stand and feel it. Never try to push a distraction out of your mind. Any
attempt to consciously dismantle a mental construct will make it worse.
Let it all pass into the openness of the equation:
themselves inherently spacious: expressions of pure potentiality shin
ing and crackling with life. The vibrancy of the barrage delivers the raw
dynamism inherent within space. If you can recognize directly in the
act of listening (not merely intellectually) that the essential nature of all
sonic life equalizes the most annoying sounds with pure silence, then
you have realized something rare. As a consequence, one can then be
able to transcend one's aesthetic preoccupations. When it is engaged
deeply, meditation on the nature of sound simply cuts through the
habitual fascination with one's own tastes. The accumulation of likes
and dislikes can simply be outshined, and as a result, is often altered
beyond all recognition.
The goal of the exercise, as always, is to cultivate wakeful nondistraction and vivid spaciousness. You won't have to worry about the
SOUND = AWARENESS
vividness aspect with this piece; that takes care of itself. The struggle
2. Managing Cognitive Saturation
might be to discover a sense of space in spite of what can appear to be
claustrophobia. Simply let the sonic bombardment blossom as it will
The second exercise involves maintaining open receptivity as a sonic over
load unloads on you. The goal, as always, is alert non-reactivity. However
the challenge is to cultivate this state as a full on barrage of sound tries its
best to disrupt and interfere. A piece that is quite well suited for this is an
early one from Alvin Lucier:
North American Time Capsule
(from
Vespers/Other Early Works, New ^Ji^orld Records). It is a good solid sonic
assault comprised of disparate layers of electronically processed vocal
sounds. The sounds have varying degrees of unrecognizabiUty as vocal
elements. They transmit some of the rhythm and cadence of speech pat
terns, but nothing specifically coherent as language is communicated
through the opacity of the electronic treatments. The layers are collective
ly and individually almost impenetrable, and produce a nice disorienting
while meeting whatever resistances arise head on. A method that might be
helpful in penetrating these resistances is to try to place attention con
stantly within the overall field
of the sounds, and not in the details. This
technique of "widening" the sonic window takes the focus away from the
disruptions as singular isolated events. It allows you to place emphasis
back on space. Only when you have the sense of overall space can you
begin to relate it to the space of your own mind, ultimately merging them
beyond distinction.
This process is essentially no different from the last exercise, except
for the challenges of the circumstances. Instead of minute manageable
sounds that appear one at a time there is total destruction. In fact, this one
is very effective if done right after the last one, back to back, with no break.
wall of sensation which is perfect for our purposes.
340
341
SMITH
J.
A SILENCE THAT SPEAKS
Cultivating Stability
that has filled
This last exercise is probably the best one of the three to use regularly
as a sound meditation practice. It involves the cultivation of meditative
stability, which is one of the long term goals of all meditation. It is not
sufficient to manufacture a series of momentary "oceanic experiences"
the sky. Even if you become engulfed by the vastness of the
object, the problem is that there is a "you" to be engulfed. When both the
you and the object disappear without a trace of mechanical residue, then
maybe the alchemical marriage has begun. You will not know for sure. It is
best to not think about it. It is best just to practice.
that come and go. The goal is to abide in the unbroken continuity of
being without falling back into dualistic habits. This is the deepest and
most natural response to life as it is. It is not an artificial mental trick
that is entertained and then forgotten. What we do with sounds and
silence is symptomatic of what we do with everything else. This is why
sound meditations can function as genuine mystical practices in their
own right.
Many drone pieces can be used for this practice, such as those
created by composers La Monte Young, Charlemagne Palestine and Polke
Rabe. What is required is a combination of consistency, density and
spaciousness. A particular drone I enjoy using for this practice is a piece
by Phil Niblock called
Early Winter
(from
Music by Phil Niblock,
Experimental Intermedia Foundation). It offers a tremendous sense of
depth built from multiple layers of sounds. They are comprised of overdubs of flute,
eight tracks of bass flute,
thirty-eight samples of synth
voices, and a full-on string quartet. It seems to be both full to capacity
and yet open at the same time. It is truly a drone in which the mind can
sink into oblivion. It also has a searing quality which seems to drive
right through whatever is in its way, and ultimately what is in its way is you.
Make sure it is played very loud.
The goal is meditative absorption. This is relatively easy to under
stand but almost impossible to do and sustain. It requires a vivid clarity that
does not grasp on to anything, but allows everything. If aspects of the sonic
field
are witnessed bit by bit, we can be sure that continuity and absorption
are not happening.
The method is to surrender completely while being alert and
responsive. We are not asking the piece to swallow us, nor we to swallow
the piece. We are after a simultaneous and process-less swallowing of any
and all conceptual identifications. Anywhere the mind stops to notice
David Chaim Smith, Three Stages to Seal Nullification. (First panel of triptych.) 2009, pencil and ink on paper.
"something," a distraction has occurred.
Because drones often appear fixed
and homogenous (which they
are not) we tend to react to them as if we are confronted by a great object
342
343
CHAPTER
27
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
ers on the margins of the Kingdom? Out here on the "edge," the charisma
of esoteric exclusivism and the delightful numinosity of heresy can for a
HARMONIE APHANES
PHANERES KREITTON
Harmony is Stronger Unseen Than Seen
time make up for our personal lack of true
1. A Persian term that simultaneously
means honor, balls, soul and ancestral
chivalry.
"gheyrat."' But if we are actually Strong, strong
c» /
o
o
enough to be brought to justice and be wellconfessed in conscience to the monarch of sim
TREY SPRUANCE
plicity, we might be inspired to find
contentedness with our lot, to open
afresh the window of our solipsistic universe onto a broader scenery, and to
take life in once again. Wouldn't it be refreshing to finally,
Confessio
ingly, take account of the habitation of our fellow man? But then, how sur
The "obvious" is the place where the deepest secrets are found hidden in plain
sight, out in the open. Faustian personalities are mocked by obviousness,
and always prefer to be seduced by the whispers and goose-hunts of com
plexity. The suggestive innuendo of incomprehensibility compels the curi
ous nature to look under those inscrutable multilayered veils for all of life's
greatest profundities. Against this, the banal "open secret" offers the mer
curial esotericist nothing to further edify his self-image in the vocation of an
individualist. It only robs him of his sense of self-distinction, of special pur
pose. Being plunged head first
into a mundane wash of communal aware
ness can only erode any sense of solipsistic aristocracy. Nevertheless, life's
epochs seem to always at some point cause even the most nit-picking
Faustian narcissist to return awestruck to "the obvious." We might hear
him then declare, finally,
that it's the simplest creeds that teach us how to
unlock the strict cyphers of the ordinary. But this truth is usually only
briefly admitted, either under duress or in a flash
of inspiration... lip ser
vice is then paid to it, but no praxis is employed to consistently hoist its
fundamental truth aloft amid the crushing entropy of everyday life. Being
forced
to resubmit our oaths to the basics is actually good for us, but we
usually only arrive at this experience unwillingly, like criminals dragged
before the King in shame. The mind that habitually authors boasts and
legends about itself will eventually find
a way to re-mythologize such
basics into its "extraordinary" narrative. Or maybe it's simply preferable to
never even admit them at all, and instead to subject the King to a "transvaluation of values.
Can we not make him
our subordinate in a private utopia
out on the edge of things?! That is after all what our culture of "radical
genius" and "breaking the mold," etc. is telling us to do. But is there room
for
uncondescend-
EVERYONE to peddle the snake oil of curiosity to superstitious travel344
prised should we be at the moment of beholding our fellow man's works to
see an earth-hewn skyline dotted with shadowy ivory towers just like the
abandoned rotting colossus we just left behind us? No, we knew this was
how it was all along. All those years we had our noses up to the grinder of
self-congratulation, we were always aware in the back of our mind that
everything else in the world was developing along parallel lines, even nip
ping at our psychic heels, driving us forward—that was an essential part of
our frenzied motivation! So now we behold anew this world, this nursery
proliferating with "absent-minded professors" like ourselves, too busy to
notice or care what's going on around us. Disinterested for this brief, tem
porary moment, we behold the streets of the individualist cosmopolis that
we helped build, filled
their fifteen
to capacity with busybody coal-feeders, racing to
minute appointments with the Promethean furnace. And for
once we actually understand the blind mechanics of this place. It seems that
the speculum of this region of the universe reflects not an image of the glory
of what is Above it, but rather tends obsessively towards the bottomless
ever-fracturing abyss of self-reflecting enchantment Below it. We know it so
well. Look! A mason's trowel—a reminder of how we ourselves so willful
ly demolished the self-evident exoteric beauty of the uncarved block by
feverishly chiseling away at our esoteric self-portrait, year after year after
year. Maybe once or twice we were satisfied that our powers were at a peak,
so we said the magic word and our elaborate Faustian Golems came to life.
But gone forever was the aether of the simple and the sublime and the per
fect and the shared and the obvious. That had all long ago been replaced with
the obsessive "tangibility" and complexity of our laboratory, with all its
damaged and hoardable and theoretically recyclable materials. And then we
watched it culminate in our own personal and
345
inscrutable
creation, the
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
SPRUANCE
Frankensteinian egregore of our "art." Peering out into the bustle of the
cosmopolis we could now nod along with our brothers, whose folly we cer
tainly shared, and with our voluminous stash of a far greater quantity of
delusion, perhaps even feel a wish to commiserate with them.
But here, now, a new perception confronts us: the clear realization
that the entire edifice of the extraordinary is in a kind of mortal panic,
because it subconsciously realizes that it has been parasitic on a host that no
longer exists. The ordinary was a host that the extraordinary has now actu
ally killed.There is nothing savory about being a fresh witness to a feast that
can only eat itself for dinner. That's not even a matter of determinism but of
Will: even now our friends the fleas turn their noses up to the potentially
nourishing carrion corpse that has been beaten down before them. Instead
of ingesting the still-warm the wisdom of the ages, they busy themselves
with recycling parts of it that can be bent to fit this or that "new paradigm."
Oh how we feel with them, and bitterly weep that the broader construction
of this activity on a scale that they cannot see is just a featureless concrete
wall. All those tiny private utopias in ad hoc laboratories of the Art of selfworship, incorporated into a body-politic of the eclecticism of sameness—
mixed like microscopic aggregates into wet concrete that forms and tight
ens into a statistical mean of grayness. By making ourselves so small we
have streamlined the construction project of a blocky post-communist
psychic architectural determinism, micromanaged at every turn by "me,"
the author of all. The skyline is transforming into hard repetitive squares.
We are walling ourselves in.
Shall we scream in revolt? My brothers are still rushing to the fur
nace, consigning to the flames the alchemist's and Psalmist's exhortations to
keep for later what we would now be tempted to throw away;^ to hold on
to the exoteric outer layers of the skin (Latin
2. Baro Urbigerus, Circulatum minus
cutis, cognate of Greek skatos [dung]) as we
Urbigeranum, XV. Psalms 118:22,
plumb the immeasurable vacancies of the daz
zling esoteric interiority. We might scream our lungs out in warning to our
brothers, but we know full well what kind of power the village idiot has to
compel the strong man of revolutionary weakness. To be cast in the role of
"helpless witness" to the terminal decline of a body we ourselves had a
hand in virally infecting seems only appropriate somehow... so we watch.
We weep.
Upon further reflection, we should have seen it coming in our
346
arcane crystal balls. It is inevitable that the Dionysian deconstruction would
run its course and become the new snooze, the new yawn, the new ordi
nary, the new block-housing. It is inevitable that the ceaseless revolution,
the artifice of the "new paradigm," that inevitability of Protestantization
and sola scriptura on steroids, would commence under the watch of a
coincidentia oppositorum between the Übermensch and the Last Men. It
is inevitable that the resukant ecstatic utterances of liberated desire would
then perversely attach themselves to what remains of the last intact reli
gions, and that the Dionysian bacchanal meltdown on the mountain
Tmolus would be revealed TOO LATE as being even more boring than
everything that had been destroyed. One can at any point in life heed the
perpetual call to ordeal, chaos and liberation. But shouldn t we visit them
as bees visiting flowers, taking only what we need and leaving the rest
behind?^ What has happened instead is that
"l"' vampiristic depletion of the mysteries
seed-carried by the Traditional hosts has
resulted in a total loss of manna. The depletion of this essence is a process
that began more than 1,000 years ago within Christian Europe—or rather,
within the endlessly schismatic denominational proliferations of apostate
Christianity that created Europe in the first place. The seepage from these
humanistic fractures has now culminated in a colossal global-scale spiri
tual hunger, whose intensity has now reached a desperation-level previ
ously known only to vampires. Its not just Pentheus who loses his head
after spying on the humanist orgy, or God who is erased from the human
ledger by whinging academic crypto-neo-pagan Graecophiles, but a
world where the Hollow Man himself loses every source of dope for his
post hoc charlatanistic/syncretistic bohemian charades, and begins to be
directly swallowed up by the void. The void isn't bad. Even Nietzsche s
Übermensch could be reconciled to it, if the overbearing premature ejaculant of his will didn't always prevent it. Having been stripped of the
instinct to the noble paradox of emptiness, self-sacrifice and martyrdom,
the Übermensch is driven slavishly and meekly "forward to his desper
ate and hysterical immersion in the anti-heroic futility of survival.
Don't we here behold the world's saddest and most pathetic spectacle?
Brothers and sisters, I don't marinate these regretful pages with the
tears of a crocodile. My accusing finger points only into the mirror. But
enough of this talk.
347
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
Light
Einstein showed us a way that hght, as a phenomenon of our perception,
also bears profoundly upon our perception of phenomenon.
I can only reflect in this area from my own limited lay-persons
knowledge, since I didn't get far beyond the second year of astrophysics in
college. So there won't be excessive technicality in what follows regarding
light, before we move on to more directly musical matters. But I offer this
rumination for the treasures it contains in relation to our discussion of the
alchemical properties of music.
As everyone knows, mass of varying density composes our world
(the sun, diamonds, air, jellyfish). Light is mass-less and doesn't participate
in any kind of composition. Yet it somehow discloses the entire material
Jumping way ahead to 25% the speed of light (46,570.6 miles per
second as opposed to a mere five miles per second of our satellite) we are
now at a meager relativity factor of 1.03, still barely above relativity factor
one. Going half the speed of light (93,141.1985 miles per second) brings us
to relativity factor 1.1547. Still nowhere. At 161,325 miles per second,
roughly 86% of the speed of \i^t, finally we have hit relativity factor two!
But what does relativity factor two mean?
Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity famously shows that objects
in motion undergo three relativistic changes:
1. An increase in mass
2. A contraction in the direction of travel (Lorentz Transformation)
3. A "slowing down" of time. (Time Dilation)®
symphony to our sense of sight. Beckoned by the mystery, mankind has
endeavored to carefully look at light as itself (which has come to seem a bit
,
5
These changes would never be noticed at
.I b i d .
of a paradox). Aside from the wealth of philosophical material amassed on
the meager velocities of our fastest rates—our satellite's increase of mass and
the subject, which arguably reached its zenith in the middle ages with
relative contraction of space and time dilation at 1.000000000360219 is not
Suhrawardi and his school, in the material sciences it has recently been
even worth mentioning. But if you were somehow in a spaceship going
observed that light sets the velocity boundary for our universe. Light never
insanely fast at 86% the speed of Hght, your relativity factor two means:
travels faster or slower than the speed of light. It is totally constant and con
sistent, and ignores entirely the variable speeds and cadences that matter
dances to. Actually, even Aristotle could've told us this, but now the exclu
sively empirical basis of modernity is satisfied with what it considers to be
the "fact" of light. Much to our corporeal frustration, nothing that is made
of matter can travel at the speed of Light, or even really anywhere near it.
The reason for this is explained by something Einstein called the "relativity
factor." This author will bypass the math'*if the
reiuier will forgive the inevitable pedantic tone
embedded in reviewing the models of physics,
1. Your mass/size has doubled
2. The contraction in the direction of travel has made space half as
big as it was at relativity factor one
3. To an outside observer, two years would be passing in one years
time for you
If you were in a spaceship traveling at relativity factor six:
1. The ship's mass (and you) would increase by a factor of 6
2. 100 miles in front of you would now be 16.6666 miles
how ever basic, by unqualified laymen like myself. Thankfully, to under
stand relativity factor all we need are some basics. We can begin by not
3. 1 year to you would seem to be 6 years for someone back on
ing that compared to Light, things that are flying around in the universe are
generally moving very slowly, even if it seems to us they are going incredi
Now let us imagine relativity factor infinity, the speed of light:
bly quickly. For example, with earth considered stationary, where you are
now sitting with this book in your hands, you are at "relativity factor one."
Looking up in the night sky at some satellite, lets say with an orbital
Earth
1. The ship's mass (and yours) would be infinite
2. Space in front of you would be infinitely small
3. Your time to an outside observer would be infinite
velocity of 5 miles per second, there is a relativity factor change of just
1.000000000360219—a totally miniscule relativistic movement.
Consider that under these conditions (relativity factor infinity)
even one atom would take on infinite mass, filling up the entire universe
348
349
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
with itself. Yet what is nonsensical for matter is completely normal for
Light. As said, Light exists at relativity factor infinity. Having zero mass,
ty. As an absolute, if you will. Man's intuitive sense of this "fixity" against
the flux of things indicates a deeply embedded knowledge of this "other"
infinite multiplication means nothing to Light. With an infinite negation
time. Even without knowing it consciously man has always been measuring
of space before it, in itself it traverses no distance. Its participation in
time IS only that of infinite time. At the threshold of the interiority of
Light, there is nothing we can say other than that it inhabits the Time of
Origination/Origination of Time.
the past and future against the eternal moment of the Present embedded in
Light. This a priori knowledge is what differentiates man from the animal
kingdom. It's not to say that by this trait he is automatically better or high
er or anything of the sort (since he surely can and does sink far below the
It s not my intention to dally on these famously esoteric warpings,
and being neither intelligent enough to be surprised by them, nor good-
animals, and brings disgrace upon the animal kingdom every time he tries
natured enough to be particularly excited by their "wacky-ness," I am not
"nature.") But same as he sees what light discloses to his eyesight without
the person to do their further exposition any justice. But I bring all this up
in order to illustrate something extraordinary about a very ordinary thing.
Logic tells us that in order to notice the chronological "passage" of
the time we know of, man must be participating both in chronological time
and somehow in something standing outside of it—something "fixed."
Once upon a time, this would have seemed an abstract metaphysical princi
to ennoble his sinking into sub-humanity as something having to do with
necessarily knowing about light's mass-less, timeless, spaceless state, by his
nature man is also an inhabitant of a world of the two times (one fixed and
eternal, the other a flux of incremental periodicity), even if he, now at least,
only consciously and expressly admits of one of them. (Later on we will
relate this to a discussion of the Pythagorean table of opposites, specifically
how the concepts of the Limited and Unlimited applies to light and sound).
ple at most,^ but with Einstein's understanding of
To draw this discussion of the two times out further and to give
Light we now have an empirical reference to the
us a working vocabulary, from Orthodox Christian praxis there is a notion
existence of just such a constant. At least here
empiricism confirms what man has already always known, but how has he
that I think could be useful here. Just prior to the Liturgical event, after all
experienced this knowledge? He might be right to roll his eyes at us and
ful chant the doxology, the deacon announces the words from Psalms 119
whether speaking of Lao Tzu, Aristode
r Suhrawardi.
T " U
1
• •
i
r
the petitions have been performed by the priest and deacon, and the faith
simply point at the sun's movements, being satisfied that such cycles explain
"Kairos tou poiesai to Kyrio" ("It is time [kairos] for the Lord to act.")
themselves, taking for granted the background against which the "passage
To which the priest replies "Blessed is our God, now and forever and unto
of time must be set even to make the observation. For if a man was exclu
sively and unselfconsciously immersed in time passage, he would need
the ages of ages. Amen." This annunciation at the beginning of Liturgy
indicates that the time of the Liturgy is an intersection of chronological
nothing to relate that motion to in order to call it the "passage of time."^
Nevertheless, in all of that, an inexplicable sense
(Kronos) time with Eternal time (Kairos). "Kronos" is the chronological,
of -fkedness- upon which man has always
based his understandings has linrlpnial-.lv been
vertical, holy time of immaterial things. Kronos time is the normal time of
TCLS.rJ'ptSZ
to knowledge of things related to
/
t
h
em a t e r i a l r e a l m , a n dn o e t i c k n o w l e d g e
taken for granted. What I'm saying is that if relating
to things of the immaterial and
jr..
.
JO
divine realm. But without attempting to
accounted for (i.e., noticed, not negated) this
circumscribe the higher by the lower, Tm
£ u r '
n
-1
1
1, ,
. ,
^
going to be fairly insistent on approachsense or IlXlty might not be all that misleadsome issues here from the lower way
«
n
»
1
seeing.
mg as a common sense notion. Perhaps it is
after all directly akin to the mvisible fixity of Light velocity we have just
learned about. Light being anchored into the Zero of itself, being timeless,
yet precisely being rooted into that eternal moment, that eternal present, it
grants the constant of 186,000 mps as the sure measure of universal veloci
350
horizontal, worldly time of molecules, and "Kairos" is non-sequential,
history, of "chronicles," of "chronology," of things coming into and going
out of existence. It is the time of sequential events, of unfoldment from
past-into-future marked by the interaction of sun and earth in increments/
days. There's a continuity with pre-Christian notions here, since the preSocratic God Chronos, or "Father Time" was personified as the spinner
of the outer circumference of the wheel of time, the zodiac. Chronos
was an incorporeal God not subject to time's ravages, though his later
embodiment as Saturn in Roman times often emphasized the malefic and
devouring properties of time.
351
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
By contrast, Kairos time is the timeless ever-Presem. It is the
vertical and radial arm drawn from the circumference of the spinning
wheel of Kronos time to the center which is completely at rest.® This is the
"Sabbatical" time contingent to nothing, eter
nal—a "beginningless" Present as much as an
s As ¡f to light our way, we are given
the
or the star of David with its six
representing the days of creation
tracing the circumference of the circle of
1" '^e center of this circle/star we
7 t h point, t h e seventh D a y , t h e
Sabbath, at rest precisely because Hke the
wheel, it is motionless. Its
much more than a coincidence that we
'endless" one. All chronology has its origina„ .
.
.
.
tion m Kairos. Things partaking of beginnings
j
j
.
L
-
r
1
1
-
1
-
and endings begin irom and end m this Eternal
^
•
•
1
•
•J
11
Í
•
r
1 resent. Kairos is also incidentally the time of
the invisAle ¡»tenority of Ught at relativity
factor infinity. As we have seen with Einstein
X " wSX'
this IS not really the abstraction it sounds like, but is quite empirically
true. Through Light we have one elegant way of actually seeing that this
ineffable time is not wholly aloof and distant from us, but rather that there
is an intimate interaction between its interiority and its outer manifes
tation in velocity as a photon.' Considering
But in order to honor music's strength as a (if not the) medium of har
monic sympathies and antipathies, if the properties of the medium are to
be wielded with any sense of effectiveness, I think it is essential to ground
that nature into a context. Therefore, seeking the solid ground of the
tried-and-true, timeless-yet-intergenerational Wisdom, I will expand a
little further on the subjects above by illustrating some of the explicit
teachings on the intersections of Kronos and Kairos time.
What can it tell us that mankind has always either implicitly or
explicitly noticed the existence of both times, and even passed on wisdom
directly relating to both? For example, what can it mean to our subject
that Adam, prototype of humanity, makrathropos, was originally fash
ioned in Kairos Time, and subsequently enfleshed in Kronos Time? What
we are dealing with here is the original conception, unsullied by fancy
esoteric ephemeral allegorical interpretations that recast Adam as a neb
ulous immaterial all-possibility of archetypal man-ness. But there is a
S property at relativity tactor infinity again,
much deeper dimension to it. Pre-Fall, from the simplicity of his own
free will, Adam is entirely and unselfconsciously conformed to God's
as described above, we can see clearly in it the
intersection between the two times." On the one hand, light is in chrono
will. God's image is beheld in him; in his emptiness he is filled by God.
In this way his existence is maintained above Kronos time—is never
9. "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and
there was Hght."
—Genesis i:j
1* L >
i
• •
r
•
•
logical time and defines the velocity boundary of the universe as a photon
even subjected to it (because it doesn't even exist). The transgression
traveling at 186,000 miles per second—a universal constant, the only truly
and expulsion from Edenic Kairos time brings with it the advent of
fixed clock. Yet on the other hand, the interiority of light revealed by it
being at relativity factor infinity is a clear description of its inhabitation of
Kronos time. Adam necessitates Kronos—necessitates death. In conse
quence of eating of the Tree of Knowledge he suddenly perceived that
Kairos time it recognizes no distance, no second, no moment of passage
from past into future. It is ever-Present, in one eternal moment.
he was naked—which is the precise moment that he took on flesh and
entered chronological time. Some observers insist that the heaven-
What is the glue that binds these two "modes" of Light together?
As far as, I can tell, it is entirely appropriate to say that they are in
Hypostatic union. They are never in isolation from one another. They are
distinct, unmixed, yet one.'°
10. Which is also the Orthodox definition
Being every bit as much of a lav-Derson
bound "corpus resurrectionis" must be composed only of Light, which
o ft h eH y p o s t a t i cu n i o no ft h et w on a t u r e s
of Christ the Logos; i.e. full humanity
(here, full participation in Kronos and
having a beginning and ending) and full
Divinity (fuU timeless and Essential unity
with begjnningless and endless Ineffable
God in Kairos.)
.
.
.
in patristics as I am a pseudo-astrophysicist, it is
•••11
Similarly not my intention to provide a confusing
11
L
1
1
j j
1
| .
.
and Jiam-nanclecl pseuclo-catecnism in Ortliodox
...L
theology here. My vocation is as a musician.
Music is "mercurial" by nature, and to be sure it
also participates in a kosmic tautology intertwining both the visible and
invisible realms. The purpose of this paper is to draw that relationship out.
352
•
.
.
.
is an understandable objection in a climate of reflexive materialism. But
the mystery is deeper than that. Adam is a flesh and blood man (with
sense of touch, smell, sight, hearing and taste), who died in the machi
nations of Kronos, and whose bodily composition is re-united with
Kairos Time at resurrection. The whole point is that something "changes"
in Heaven from pre-Fall to post-resurrection Adam. What changes is that
the flesh participates in "Eternal Time."
The mystery of Adam's restoration is bound up completely in
his material and created nature in both realms. In our subject, the major
significance of Adam's transgression is that it inaugurated into the kosmos
the incremental rhythm of life and death. By the transgression the world
353
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
itself is made subject to chronology." In this
L
.
we can see that procreation came as the only
r
1
1
1
1
I T
means tor the once-deathless human life, now
It is interesting to note that rhythm
itself begins with the increment of being
see light, with a body that lives and dies, and yet He is also the deathless
bom, because what is bom will die. This
Creator of the universe, the Alpha and Omega, of one Essence with the
establishest h ep r i m o r d i a lsubdivision.
"chonologized," to combat against death. Generation of offspring is a kind
of approximation of eternity necessitated by the advent of death, played
out in chronological time. An individual life, the most basic and primordial
increment, yields to continuity of species. On the one hand it yields its
individual mortality to a higher sense of intergenerational survival through
procreation. But on the other hand, if such a life has been kept in faith and
the heightened purified state of Love for divine things, it yields its individ
ungenerate, inconceivable, uncompassable Father in Kairos time." In co14. Contrary to popular misunderstand
ing, there is no violation of Tawhid here,
no shirk. The Trinity is of One Essence.
God is One.
15. "I am the light of the world. Whoever
follows me will never walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life." —John 8:12
essentiality with the Father, the Logos exists
just the same in the infinite relativity factor of
Light; or rather, as is famously known. He is
Light.'® The important thing to our point here
is that Adam's dissolution and laying down
horizontally in the coffin of death is restored
beyond any idea of thaumaturgical resurrection in the world as an individ
ual worldly incarnation over to the redemptive aspiration—quite exactly
the hope of restoration to Kairos time.
ual who will die again. Instead, Resurrection is seen here in its fullest sense
How can we better conceive of this? That the intersection of the
horizontal time with vertical time forms the pre-eternal glyph of the
tion, to the vertical position in the eternal Present of Kairos time. We have
cross is no coincidence. Quite obviously the crucifixion itself indicates the
Kronos/Kairos intersection par excellence. At Golgotha ("place of the
skull," the skull = Adam's) we are witness to the scene of the restoration of
Adam from his mcremental dissolution in death. It is a change from tem
porarily "having had a life" in a chronologipl mortality, to a restored nonincremental existence of ''having Life," eternal, in Kairos time. There's yet
more to see here: in the one anointed to be crucified we have the bodily
incarnation of a man whose fully human nature lives and dies, is "chrono
logical," i.e. temporary/temporal, yet whose simultaneous full divinity is
attested by Himself and everywhere in Orthodox Christian patristics. The
gist is that here is a chronological man who lives and dies, simultaneously
(resurgere "rise again") meaning restored to the original position/orienta
shown that it is entirely appropriate that this is accomplished in the full
radiance, splendor and power of Light.''
Let's hear it said better by St. Máximos
the Confessor: "Some things began to be in time for they have not
always existed. Other things did not begin to be in time, for goodness,
blessedness, holiness, and immortality have always existed. Those things
which began to be in time exist and are said to exist by participation in
the things which did not begin in
(emphasis added)
To "exist by participation in the things
!oU p. ï""""
whi^^h did not begin in time" is to adapt oneself
to their nature, which is to become empty of
co-substantial with the ungenerate, timeless Originator, the impossible-to-
needless content. In this way the Thief, who is dying beside the man-Logos
whose human death marks the intersection between Kronos and Kairos
conceive-of Father.i^ The co-substantial Logos of
12. "I and the Father are one." —John io:}o
time, becomes the first person to ask the Logos if he may follow Him into
the Father being born as a man" (due to the
13. "In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He was with God in the begin
ning. Through him all things were made;
without him nothing was made that has
been made. In him was life, and that life
was the light of men. The light shines in
the darkness, but the darkness has not
understood it." —John i:i-^
the Kingdom of Heaven. In a state of total openness and repentant empti
fulfilling of the covenant by the first Saint, Mary
ness, he beckons Him: "Remember me O Lord, when you come into your
the Theotokos) is a phenomenon in Whose very
Kingdom." I can't do justice to this remarkable formula. I just want to point
out that the request being made is for God to "remember ME." To be a par
being we witness the only full and complete inter
section of Kronos and Kairos. Let's now recall the
dual nature of Light, how it participates outward
ly on the one hand in the chronological manifes
tation of a "particle/wave" traveling at 186,000 mps, and on the other hand
existing in spaceless, mass-less, timeless eternity. Very similarly, the Logos
of God is He who as a man exists chronologically like Adam, with eyes that
354
ticipant is a two-way street: it implies that remembrance/anamnesis is not
only an "I" that remembers "Thou" and recapitulates the intersection of
worldly and heavenly Events in some one-way street from man to God; but
as we saw with the deacon at the beginning of Liturgy, it is equally if not
more-so an asking of "Thou" to remember "me" (or "us" in the case of
Liturgy), and for a recapitulation of the Events of "my" life (Judgement) in
355
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
the hope for full participation in the Kingdom. To be "remembered by
God" is to be received into the Divine Mind. It is to be raised like Adam
from a powerless death in horizontal Kronos time into the upright vertical
ity of Eternal Kairos time. Since by the acts under discussion the Time of
death is said to have been abolished for man, even under the malefic sign of
his own collusion with death, at least the potential for his own Adamic
mtegrity has been recovered, and he is said to have been freed from the limit
of time.'®
18. Reception of the Holy Spirit.
Qf course any man can be like the other
thief and refuse the Kingdom. But the portent we
need for the purpose of this paper is clear enough: the transition from one
time to the other is marked by the passing of Holy Friday, the 6th Day, with
the completion of the six days work of Genesis heralded anew via the oth
19./0Ä« 19.30.
erwise enigmatic phrase "It is accomplished.""
Kronos time passes into the Holy time of Sabbath
(7th Day, of stillness). Much more could be said
here, but it would take us too far off topic. What is pertinent is that as we
pass out of the Sabbath we have the recapitulation of the First Day
(Sunday). Easter (Pascha) in the Christian East announces the endless/time
less day of Resurrection. It is significant that the eternal Event of the
Resurrection is conceived as Ogdoade, or "Octave of Easter" (Pascha).
Anyone who plays music understands that after scaling up seven scale tones
one arrives at the enharmonic recapitulation of the original note one octave
Furthermore, it can be called eighth as being
the icon of that eternal day of the age to
come which will be the first and one not
interrupted by the night." (St. Gregory the
Theologian) Also: "That Sunday (Easter)
was one of salvation; this one is the anniver
sary of salvation; the former was the fi-ontier
between the grave and the Resurrection; the
latter is purely the one of the second cre
ation, so that, like the first creation which
began on a Sunday, (this is quite clear, since
the Sabbath falls in fact seven days after it,
being the rest from labors), so dhe second
creation also begins on the same day, which
is at the same time the first one inrelation to
those that come after it, and eighth in rela
tion to those before, more sublime than the
sublime day and more admirable than the
admirable day. It is, in fact, related to life
above." (St. Gregory the Theologian)
Dick illustrated subtly and brilliantly in his
book Ubik, the eucharistie participation itself
is the formula of Life against death; it is the
anamnesis proscribed by the Logos, who by
human
death
established
the
human
hermeneutical rite of remembrance of eternal
life.^"* The same sacrificial blood that dripped
upon Adam's "Golgothan" skull for the
restoration of the primordial man and woman
to the Eternal timeless Present of Kairos, is
ingested by believers as the life-force that
21. Perpetual/infinite Day illuminated by
the Uncreated Light.
restores the soul against the inherent entropy
of Kronos time.
22. 52, the number of weeks in a year, is the
Hebrew enumeration for the word BeN,
"Son," which is itself twice the numerical
value for the Tetragrammatron of Father
(26), which may or may not be related to
the 26,000 year precession of the equinox
es, or "Platonic Year."
It is significant that unlike Pythagorean-
23. "Taste and see that the lord is good;
blessed is the manwho takes refuge in him."
—Psalms 34:8
24."TO0TO noieîTE eiq Tiiv éfii^v áválivnoiv," —Luke22:19;I Corinthians 11-24
derived music centered on a seven mode
system. Orthodox Byzantine music operates
on a system called "Octoechos," a system of
eight (octo) modes/tones (echoi). To be sure,
in other musical aspects parallels with other
systems can be found, but the structure of
Octoechos is a singular phenomenon so far
as I am aware. Later on this paper will
explore some of the physical, conceptual and spiritual issues arising in the
displaced. In exactly the same way, the "8th Day" recapitulates the
Pascha/Easter (the day beyond day-ness," the Day of Resur-rection in
formalization of human understandings of intonation.
Kairos) on the first Sunday after it, Thomas Sunday. It is simultaneously the
ing most of our encounters with Christianity in the west), none of the
first Day (Sunday, since the 7th Day is Shabbot) and the chronological
remembrance/anamnesis of the last or 8th" Day, both being the same Day
in Kairos.^° Sunday becomes the chronological
Events of this dramaturgy are confined to the Kronos time of history,^®
icon of the eternal Day of Kairos,^' outside
time, with the Liturgical Event as its anamne
sis, its complete and total recapitulation (by
free will participation). Thomas Sunday (the
"Eighth Day") becomes the first day of fiftytwo more Sundays^^ in a year where we, in our
tendency to doubt and forget, are invited to
20. "Of all things in this world, unquestion
ably the greatest work, surpassing all
human understanding, is the Resurrection
of our Lord which we celebrate and renew
not just once a year, but every week contin
uously. The first of this event is the present
Sunday which should be called by a special
name, both eighth and first. Eighth because
it is the eighth day after Easter and the first
because it is the beginning of other ones.
Needless to say (and contrary to overwhelming confusions regard
but are ever-Present in the hierohistory of the
eternal Moment.^' At the inauguration of the
Liturgical Event ("Kairos tou poiesai to Kyrio"—
"It is time [kairos] for the Lord to act") the full
remembrance of the primordial matrimony
between the incorporeal to the corporeal, between
25. Although this does not at all negate
the Incarnation, as Arian anti-historicity
would have it.
26. One of the many reasons one must
finally reject Ariansim and Valentinian
Gnosticism.
the Uncreated and the Created, is being prepared in Heaven and on Earth.
This particular sense of kosmic sympatheia will be useful to us in our
discussion of other musical applications of the notion of sympatheia.
"touch" the Realities for ourselves and be restored to them.^J As Philip K.
Music and prayer, praises sung to Divinity: all prayer is anamnesis. But the
356
357
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
Liturgical anamnesis (Liturgy = work for the common/public good) is the
gnomon is placed around the binary Dyad (two points, even) making an
group praxis against the forgetful tendencies in our own souls. This idea will
oblong shape, one unit tall, two units wide (1:2). Extrapolating from this
be important for our understanding of what it is that constitutes actual
musical harmonia.
(adding units according to the shape of the gnomon), in the case of the
Monad/odd, according to the stable shape of the square edge we expand
If nothing else we hope we have illustrated the way some (Orthodox)
Christian conceptions of Time in its unmanifest and manifest dimensions
from one to three units: stable/square proportions between edges are only
dovetail with our modern conception of the different modes of Light. By
the three units produces 2:2 square edges (two horizontal units, two verti
introducing these two poles of discourse in this manner we can now more
cal units, with one unit shared by both at the corner). Adding to the gno
easily approach some of the more challenging aspects of the musical subject
at hand.
mon squares edge in odd units, five units produces 3:3 square edges (three
Opposition and Harmony: The Limited and Unlimited
It s now time draw the reader's attention to the peak of Pythagorean ten
sions (the top of the Table of Opposites) where we can be instructed in the
relations between categories of opposition. Opposition itself, as we will see
in Heraclitus, is the genesis behind even the notion of Harmonie. But before
maintained as the figure extends out from 1, 3, 5, 7 units, etc. In this way,
horizontal units, three vertical units, with one unit shared in the corner).
And so on, seven units producing 5:5, nine units producing 7:7, etc. We see
clearly that these extensions are "limited" by the shape of the square. But
now for the second case, the Dyad/even. Squaring two units off we have an
oblong shape whose proportion is 1:2. Squaring four units of we have an
oblong shape that is 2:3 (two units tall, three units wide, with one shared in
the corner). The proportions we see emerge are infinitely variable with the
we get to that we will benefit much from exploring some of the intriguing
addition of each two units to the gnomon. The shape and horizontal/ver-
working dynamics of the Pythagorean oppositions.^^ Capping the list often
oppositions is the Limited and Unlimited,
often translated as the finite and infinite, but
27. For brevity, we are forced to assume
such that six units produces 3:4, eight units produces 4:5 and so on. In this
1J..J
jTTr*i-
'
tJie L,imited and Unlimited is a better way to
,1 • 1
/-•
• 1
•
11
1
t.
.
tnink or It. C-onsidering the lengthy discussions
^ general familiarity with the Pythagorean notion of the "Harmonia of the
Spheres" as well as the Platonic cosmology
Timaeus.
tical ratio changes proportion as the figure extends out from unit quantities,
way we get an endless series of never-proportionally-repetitive rectan
gles, i.e. 5:6, 6:7, 122:123, 526:527, ad infinitum.
In this case the "square," i.e. the Limited refers to a stable equiv
we have just had regarding the opposition of
alence of geometric proportional values as odd numbers are extended
Kronos time (Limited) and Kairos time (Unlimited), illustrated in harmo
nious relationship in Light, I doubt I need to hammer the obvious and
through the shape of the square gnomon; and the "oblong," i.e. the
Unlimited refers to infinitely variable proportional values as even numbers
rewarding implications here much further. But suffice it to say that in the
are extended into oblong shapes according to gnomon. This very simple and
next section we will apply this same fundamental principle to the opposi
tion between Silence (Unlimited) and sound (Limited), and search for the
"harmonic relation" between them (it's there).
incredibly interesting ways, both in terms of ideas of musical resonance (a
harmony between the Limited and the Unlimited approaches to intonation
It's very interesting how some elements of the Table of Opposites
describe and refer to each other. We can see an explicit relationship in regard
to the Limited and Unlimited with another pair on the Table of Opposites,
the one belonging to the device of Square and Oblong numbers, and yet
another, that of Odd and Even (the Table has ten principles with twenty
opposites). The device used in the case of Square and Oblong numbers is the
gnomon (carpenter s square). It is placed around the first singular point, the
Monad (one point, odd) making a square of one unit per side (1:1). Then the
358
basic property of numbers has massive ramifications that I feel correlate in
we will see below) and in terms of some basic but overlooked orientations
of Philosophy,^® or even for example, the
28. In a cosmological sense Plato, with his
non-immanent transcendent creator god,
i
•
i •
i
i •
i
i
relationship between cataphic and apophatÄ'lTü,™ £ îsr
i': theology- More on that later. My postulate
for now is simply that there is a musical
understanding appropriate to each principle, and perhaps there is even at
times even a harmonic relationship between the two.
To get into this we will need to finally begin dealing with the notion
359
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
of Harmony," and the three discernible senses of this word from antiqui
musical terms, with reference to "mode" and "scale" and "composition," all
ty. First, in the works of Homer and Heroditus, its usage is derived from a
cases where the forces of entropy acting upon an instrument's physical/res-
root meaning literally "to join" or "to fit together" in the physical sense of
carpentry and building. The second and more figurative sense of Harmony
onant properties will be at odds with the ideals set before the musician;
adapting his instrument to scale, mode, motif, song. The next question is "is
is developed as a concept of hostile parties coming to agreement. It is pre
the musician himself in tune?" He is as equally a part of the hylic universe
cisely from this sense that Heraclitus, direct ancestor of the Stoics, devel
as his instrument, but he also participates in the world of the Soul, which is
oped a notion of Harmony that was rooted in the principle of opposition:
a world where things can also be either in or horribly out of tune (though
People do not understand how that which is at variance with itself
agrees with itself. There is a harmony in the bending back, as in the cases of
the bow and the lyre."2'
in a deeper and more subtle way than in strict physical resonance). The
The original and correct term is "back-
s'. Heraclitus.
turning (palintropos), not "back-stretching"
/ I *
30 ChariesH. Kahn,
- v i
o fH e r a c l i t u s , 1^. 1 ^ 6 .
(palmtonos), but we will return to that in a
truth is that we can go very far (in fact completely off the deep end as I have
done) contemplating and implementing certain implications of the
Pythagorean cosmogony on both a "hylic" and "pneumatic" plane. We'll
get into that a Httle bit. But of particular interest to the point at hand is the
simple idea of the harmonization of the opposition of Limited and
moment.î°The idea here is that the arms of the bowman pull in opposite
Unlimited, found most readily in the fragments of the Pythagorean
directions, and the tension of the string working against the bow results in
the desired
harmonious" flight of the arrow: through an application of
force m opposite directions, a joining together and agreement of purpose is
31. The principle is edified in Philolam,
Fragment 3: "Harmony is generally the
result of contraries; for it is the unity of
multipUcity, and the agreement of discor-
t"s
i68,Guthne,F.deier.
made.^^ With Hesiod this idea is extended further,
i:
»• 1
j
i
ngUratlVely, tO gOdS, SUch aS the personified
«T3
T
•
»
1 -i 1
r
.
power OÍ Keconciliation, child of Ares and
Aphrodite (Theogony 937), and in Empedocle»,
significantly, with the explicit naming of
Aphrodite as Harmonie, counterpart to "Strife
and Conflict, the principle of proportion and agreement which creates a
harmonious unity out of potentially hostile powers."^^
It's probably significant that Plutarch,
when quoting the Heraclitan fragment above
°
'
changed the word "back-turning" (palintro/>oi)
chad^H. Kahn, neAn and nought
Of HeraclituSy^.
Philolaus.^^ It's easy (and admittedly has been
33. "The worlds nature is a harmonious
compound of Limited and Unlimited
elements; similar is the totality of the
world in itself, and of all it contains (DKi)."
—Philolaus, Fragment i [Strobaeus, 21. 7;
Diogenes Laertius, 8.8^) The Pythagorean
Sourcebook, 168, Guthrie, Fideler.
somewhat rewarding for me) to get hung up on
rigid adherence to the properties of physical
resonance, conceived as a kind of skeleton key
of universal harmonics implied by the ratiobased intonations of Pythagorean musical
theory. However, I am qualified to say at this point that a living tradition
rooted into the actual practice of these somewhat all-encompassing funda
mentals, such as the Persian Dasgah system, is an entirely different matter
than when, in the absence of the cultivated grace of "radif" (repertoire), this
line of thinking leads to a kind of materialistic idolatry of the "magical"
power of resonance, tempered only by one's individual phantasia. What is
perhaps a salvific formula for someone like myself, who is neither a lifelong
apprentice of the Dasgah system nor a neognostic resonance materialist or
to back-stretching (paliníonoí) to fit the more usual sense of a bow being
pneumatic astral plane gymnast championing the Faustian genius of "my
fit with an arrow. With the term Palintonos Harmonie (back-stretched har
own" discoveries, is that it is yet quite another thing to attempt to under
mony) we have a very early usage of the term tonos, which very interestingly is the ancestor of our english word "tone," but here is simply is used
stand the cosmogenic principles behind the proposed harmonization of
things such as, for example, square and oblong numbers. If one contem
as a principle of tension and stretching. This will turn out to be very impor
tant for the overlap of musical and cosmological concepts among the Stoics.
plates deeply enough the question of what it means for such an opposition
to be "harmonized," this itself should lead to seeking a cure to any tempta
The third and musically figurative sense of Harmony and "reconcihation" will be plain to anyone who has ever tuned a musical instrument
or tried to play one in tune. Pindar offers the term "Harmonie" in openly
tion to a strictly physical resonance-o-centric idolatry.
To elaborate, we can plainly see in the example of the circle of 5ths
that the "circle" part of the question has been imposed by mathematics.
360
361
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
Sound itself following the natural harmonic proportion of the 5 th does not
actually return to the same place. It is "off" by a "remainder" (if that is how
we are forced to think about it^"), which is
34. Archytas introduced the mathematical
called the Pythagorean "comma" or koma.^®
world was founded—that is, of the Limited and Unlimited elements. Now
Thus, taking the interval of the 5 th established
course, the things that were similar, and of similar nature, did not need har
as a "harmonic mean" as our "gnomon" (see
note 34), and proceeding basically with the
general principle of "squaring," the natural
intonation is revealed to have been "squared
off" (by harmonic mean) in order to fit into
the pattern of a circle. This imposed pattern of
idea of the harmonic mean, which opened
up many possibilities for man's alteration
and adjustment of natural phenomenon to
suit his own purposes. In the particular
case of music, the harmonic mean opened
up the possibility of polyphony by adjust
ing the proportions of tonality to remain
consonant across octaves.
35. Note that the shape of a comma is a
spiral as opposed to a circle—the remain
der, or difference,constituted by the comma
is the amount the harmonic progression is
"off" with regard to it not being a circle.
parallel circularity fits the description of
since these principles are not mutually similar, nor of similar nature, it
would be impossible that the order of the world should have been formed
by them in any manner whatever unless harmony had intervened. Of
mony; but the dissimilar things, which have neither a similar nature, nor an
equivalent function, must be organized by the harmony, if they are to take
their place in the connected totality of the world.
.
.
From statements like this I believe it is
36. Philolans, Fragment 4, Pythagorean
Sourcebook, 168, Guthrie, Fideler.
possible to finally begin to appreciate the impor
tance, centrality and motivation behind the fundamental expressions of
music. When we stop to consider that man is the mediator between know-
Limited very nicely. I would defend this operation against attack so long
able and unknowable realities, between created and Uncreated existences,
as one is aware that he is doing it (i.e. imposing "limitation" for whatever
and that his very existence is the "mesocosm" of harmonization between
reason, and for the case of polyphony it makes sense to do it). At the same
these two realities, we can begin to appreciate why his dramatic role in the
time, the unaltered extension of the natural harmonic proportion of the 5th
creates not a circle but a spiral. The issue of the "comma" (see note 35) refers
universe can become so intimately understandable in musical terms. Man as
exactly to the natural harmonic progression based on 5ths (here using the
natural 5 th as our gnomon instead of the 5 th produced by harmonic
mean). This progression arrives into the kosmos unahered as an unlimited
spiral, as opposed to a hmited circle. In cycling through the twelve tones of
the progression of 5ths it does NOT return to the same place. In this sense,
the Pythagorean progression being the natural empirical fact, we must say
it has t\it priority over what came after it, i.e. the conditioned mathematical
limitation of the circle. Furthermore, just like the example of the Oblong in
the harmonizer between finitude and infinitude^^
I .
.
.
.
.
I .
-y
puts him in a unique situation his contemplar
TT
•r •
tion ot opposition and Harmony, it it takes place
on this level, ought to draw him empty-handed
•
•
1
1
1
37. "and as harmonizer of pro-active mentai boundary-making at the same time as
being the (potential) receiver of noetic Um-
kenoús."
and open-Hearted to the threshold of a two-fold observance. If he has one
foot in the "knowable" and another foot in the "unknowable," and if he is
to be whole,^® he must place both his feet on a
38. A word that shares etymology withthe
word "Holy"
1
1
•
11
1
•
*
road that incorporates both an apophatic via
relation to the Square, what we see with the comma is an infinitely spiralling
negativa and a cataphatic path of affirmation.
The two already naturally meet as One in him, but they can become
harmonic progression, according generally with the ever expansive nature
estranged. Since it is plain that a kind of musical harmonization is what
of the Oblong, against the predictable parallel geometrical repetition of
binds these things together, it should come as no surprise that music itself
the Square. But even more tellingly, the spiralling harmonic progression
fits the description of the "Unlimited" perfectly—just as the circling har
monic progression based on harmonic mean accords with the "Limited"
equally perfectly.
can also play a decisive role in their estrangement. We will address that issue
This is the state of affairs concerning Nature and Harmony. The
Being of things is eternal; it is a unique and divine nature, the knowledge of
manifestation as visible light, Light behaves according to Limitation—for it
establishes the velocity limit of the universe itself. Furthermore, Light as a
which does not belong to man. Still it would not be possible that any of the
things that exist, and that are known by us, should arrive to our knowledge
if this Being was not the internal foundation of principles of which the
knowable phenomenon is perceived by our limiting instruments and con
cepts as a kind of irreducible ambiguity between a wave and a particle. Yet
362
363
at the end of the paper.
To conclude this section we will benefit from once again taking
notice of the example of Light. In its visible dimension, its "cataphatic"
in the invisible, unknowable "apophatic" dimension of Light's own interi-
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
ority, it is Unlimited—timeless, spaceless, eternal and infinite. As engaging
as that IS, and as naturally as we have been led to also appreciate the two dis
terms of the Sabbath—the sense of all the motion of a wheel's spinning
mobile circumference ceasing to be registered as movement at its center, its
tinct properties of harmonic proportion, one Limited, the other Unlimited,
Heart. It's for this reason that Hesychasts''^
doesn't the idea of sound itself also partake of something of all this? Isn't
the positive manifestation of sound "limited" in the sense of having a begin
39. Also being bound to molecules in
sound waves, with a speed limit, and
entropiedispersionreducingthemalways
back to nothing.
ning and an end?^' Contrasting this against the
•
negative,
«
1
• »
apophatic
j-
dimension of Silence,
41. Hesychasm
engage in an intense ascetic method of deep
is a tradition of prayer in
the Eastern Orthodox monastic and church
tradition dating back to at least the 4th century, and has been being practiced continually from then even into modern times.
...
inward vigilance called Hesychazo (liouxâ^œ)
,
tO KCCp StlllneSS.
llllS inVolvCS
3.
Complete
which IS begmmngless and endless, i.e. Unlimited,
retiring of the senses and passions, a retreat
and cessation of all forms of emotional, psychic or kinetic activity, in order
we find ourselves, human beings that is, once
again at the center of another major cosmological dynamic. One dimension
to enter fully into a state of pure emptiness, pure receptivity and Silence and
openness to God. In (Orthodox) Christian doctrine, God the Father is
of reality is accessed and even given the property of "limitation" by the
conceived of, or rather not conceived of, as being utterly boundless, dimen-
affirmative mental process, i.e. by the sounding board of "knowing" appro
sionless, description-less, impossible to circumscribe in any way, shape or
priate to molecules and interaction. The other dimension of unlimited
form. No positive statement can be anything but misleading regarding God
Silence is only really accessed by "unknowing," un-hearing, which modern
the Father, which is why the only type of theological statement that can
L ' I ' I
•
•
i
i
ii
•
t
t
i
- .
.
man is less (if not totally) unfamiliar with. It's another order of "knowl
really apply to Him is "apophatic," meaning a negation, or an expression of
edge" called noetic, which is appropriate to things beyond molecules and
what He is not. But this does not mean we cannot have any knowledge of
interaction of any kind. Wisdom Tradition always seats the portal to noetic
God the Father. On the contrary. Experiential knowledge of God is the
reality in the Heart, where access to the UrJimited is granted by the kenot-
very goal of Hesychastic practice. But the nature of that knowledge is not
ic emptying our*° of "self-ness" into Silence. This
circumscriptive, it is not mental knowledge of an object, it is much deeper
something approached only through rigorous
practical discipline and the supervised methodol
and more intimate than that. It is "noetic" knowledge that does not origi
ogy related to "apophatic unknowing"—the via
negativa transmitted exclusively by Holy Tradition. There can never be any
benefit in decontextualizing it.
within ourselves, from our very center (the Heart), which is like the ever-
psychic activity.
The proper trajectory of approach, one that incorporates both
dimensions (cataphatic and apophatic), is something sublime far beyond my
nate from an external source, but rather comes from the deepest part
motionless hub of a wheel. The Intelligence of the Soul, called the Nous, has
its seat precisely there in the stillness of the center, or Heart.''^ To Orthodox
Christians this is the highest faculty of cognition,
1
I
J.»
the bodiless
((fyy
1
r 1
OI
1
1
1
1
c
the soul that by the Grace or
42. It's said that the Soul (psyche) is shared
between the mind and the Nous.
capacity to convey properly But there can be no doubt that its nature and
God partakes of the limitless:
praxis has been developed, maintained and embodied with coherence and
"Hesychasm is the enclosing of the bodiless primary Cognitive fac
ulty of the soul in the bodily house of the body." Saint John of Sinai—
Ladder, Step 27, 5
consistency by the Hesychast Fathers. As we touch on the Silent dimension
in the next section, we will have to tread lightly, since I am not only dismally
incapable of doing the Fathers justice, but am also terrified of confusing
anyone with fancy ideas when what is called for is utter simplicity, which as
anyone can see, is not exactly my personal forte.
The Silent Partner
The Greek word Hesychia (nouxia) generally means Silence. It also im
plies stillness and being "at rest," in the sense that we spoke of earlier in
364
This enclosing is a matter of setting the bodily house in order by
actively cleaving to the primary cognitive faculty. The secondary cognitive
faculty^', the mental process, tends to be oper43. "The soul (Psyche) does not have the
N<™sassomed.¡i.gdis(ínctfíomit«lf.but
•
111
1
^ting Constantly, whether we are awake or
-St. John Damascene: (see footnote 44).
Ae same. The undisciplined secondary faculty loves to usurp the primary
position, with the result that the Nous just
365
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
"sleeps" in the background. The enemies of noetic activity are bodily pas
44. "In diligent exercise of mystical con
templation, leave behind the senses and the
operations of the intellect, and all things
sensible and intellectual, and all things in
the world of being and non-being, that
you may arise by unknowing towards the
union, as far as is attainable, with Him
who transcends all being and all knowl
edge. For by the unceasing and absolute
renunciation of yourself and of all things
you may be borne on high, through pure
and entire self-abnegation, into the
superessential Radiance of the Divine
Darkness." —Dionysius the Areopagite,
Mystical Theology^ Chapter i
45. This is the Light of the Transfiguration,
seen by Peter, James and John on Mount
Tabor {Matthew 17:1-2, Mark 9:2, Luke
9:28-36). It was not something "new** that
Christ showed to them, but the ever-pre
sent Uncreated Light of His eternal Divine
nature. This is something which His
human incarnate nature normally obscured
from human senses. Uncreated Light is an
"unapproachable light" for any created
being. It belongs entirely to the "apophat
ic" dimension; yet even so, if God so
chooses, even the dimmed perceptions of
humans can be opened to receive the ener
gies of God—through fleshy eyes, as seen
with the Events onTabor. Again, this is the
Light of the 8th or Eternal Day.
46. The Hesychast tries to attune his facul
ties to limitlessness abnegation—to restrict
and nullify any obstruction to pure recep
tivity, pure stillness and darkness. By this
he hopes to receive God's energies shining
in his Nous, by Grace. On Mount Tabor
Peter, James and John had their Noetic
Eyes opened by revelation alone, and
beheld the very same Uncreated Light.
Either way, if a person's Noetic Eye is per
mitted to gaze upon the Uncreated Light,
the Eternal Day, whether by prayer of the
Heart or revelation as on Tabor, this is
essentially the same thing as saying he is
being united to God through His energies.
sions and restlessness, mental fixations and com
articles of Orthodox praxis is placing the thumb and first two fingers
together to indicate the Trinity, and to draw them from the forehead to the
pulsions, and any kind of imaginative concep
Heart/center/Nous, and then go from the right shoulder to the left in the
tions, whether invited fantasies or uninvited
shape of a cross. It's an act known in the west as "crossing the Heart." We
intruders. By intentionally, rigorously putting
everything in these categories "to sleep," by aim
spoke earlier of Hesychasm as the enclosing of the "bodiless primary cog
ing for Stillness and Silence through Noetic
crossing one's Heart not only indicates this very clearly, it also expresses
prayer, Hesychastic practice aims at the awaken
and enacts a very potent praxis of "setting of the bodily house in order."
nitive faculty of the Soul in the bodily house of the body." The gesture of
ing of the Nous.'*'* The Hesychast who has "died
The first act or stroke in this gesture is the movement from head to Heart.
to the world" in this way hopes for the Light of
This movement is literally the intended subjection of the secondary cogni
the dawn of Eternity to break—it's a kind of liv
tive faculty of the Soul (the power of reason/dianoia and logos which is
ing "death" whose solution (by the Grace of God)
seated in the mind), to the primary faculty of noetic consciousness in the
is Resurrection. To approach this unapproachable
Nous. If the primary is the horse, and the secondary is the cart, there is
topic from another important angle, it's said that
the Soul of man is created in God's Image. The
one of the means by which the faithful wrestle all the forces working
good reason to insist on putting the cart behind the horse! "Crossing" is
waters of man's Soul can only become placid and
reflective of this Divine Image when he puts his
against the proper ontological priority (the bodily passions, the mental
passions and mind to complete Stillness.
ty of the Nous). It's also quite significant and appropriate that the line
drawn from head to Heart is vertical, constituting the vertical dimension of
Significantly, to receive this Image, to behold it, is
to noetically behold the Uncreated Light."*® Here
activity, the imaginative fantasy, all repeatedly pushed behind the authori
Kairos time—after all we are dealing with noetic cognitive faculty applied
then is the meaning of the opening of the "Eye of
to what is limitless and uncircumscribable, being itself potentially the
the Heart"—it is the Noetic "awakening" in the
ever-Present morning of the Soul."*^ Man's shares
awakened Eye of the Heart that sees the Uncreated Light, the timeless and
in the limitless Divine Intellection through his
Nous, which is the direct participation of his Soul
ture to the horizontal gesture, gracefully indicating the priority of Kairos
(Eternal Present) time to secondary Kronos (past and future) time. It's
in God's energies through its reception of
Uncreated Light."*^
good to point out that the opposition here is blatantly manifest in the per
pendicularity of these conceptions (above to below against right to left,
"For a man to attain this experience,
vision of the uncreated Light, which is identified
vertical inconceivable God against horizontal conceivable creature), but
with deification, it is not a matter of developing
his reasoning and loading his brain with knowl
form together.
A similar depth according to the principle of opposition is the
edge, but a fruit of his purity, of his nous return
ing to the heart, and illumination of the nous.""*®
general Hebrew genius that brought the Qabalistic Tree of Life into geo
metrical being. The orientation of the first Sefirah (Keter) is that it is the one
To guard against the impression that
this is all some lofty "esoteric" secret doctrine
sequestered away on Mount Athos to hide it from
simple believers,'" I want to just mention one thing. One of the primary
closest to God and tends infinitely in the direction of the Good. By contrast
366
367
47. Considering everything that has been
said up to this point, to me this whole
thing is stunning beyond all imagination.
48. Metropolitan Hierotheos of Na^aktos,
The Mind of the Orthodox Church.
49. To be sure, true Hesychasm is not
encouraged or taught much outside of a
rigorous monastic setting, and there are
very good reasons for that which I person
ally couldn't agree more with.
eternal dimension. Similarly appropriate is the priority of the vertical ges
they are harmonized in absolute Unity and balance in the intersection they
the Sefirah in the last position (Malkhut) is the farthest away from God, and
tends infinitely in the direction of Evil. The vertical line that unites these
two Sefirot is called the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil {Genesis
SPRUANCE
50. Sefer Yetzirah: The Book
p. 46, Aryeh Kaplan.
of Creation,
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
2:9).^ The comiection between the fìrst and the
persistent mental construct), the fact remains that in our universe any two
last Sefirot shows the causal Sefirah Keter (Crown)
events taking place non-simultaneously together establish an increment—a
as beginning and the receptive Sefirah Malkhut
prior/anterior event and a later/posterior event. A "before" and an "after."
(Kingship) as ending.^i This vertical line has the
priority with respect to the formation of the rest of the Tree. The next and
Even light, what we see of it anyway, stubbornly flows along time's pas
sageway from the past into the future at a duration we can observe and
secondary event of opposition is the horizontal line of linear time extending
measure. To be sure, we have great flexibility in our understanding and
between the Sefirah Chakhmah and the Sefirah Binah. Here we have
usage of time. Musicians can command time into almost any shape we want
another perpendicular event intimately related to the two times; Chakhmah
to see it bend into by imposing an almost infinite array of limiting devices,
(Wisdom) acts as pro-active past and Binah (Understanding) acts as recep
tive future. "The Present is the interface between these two Sefirot,"®^ and is
or "gnomons." Time measured differently from bar to bar; steady time that
is regular like a heartbeat; irregular time that is warped and curved in
their harmonization. Once again chronological
accelerandos and ritardandos; metric-modulations, poly-rhythms; time that
time is brought into interface with the timeless
is cyclical and repetitive, time that is linear and un-repetitive; modular time,
Time of God by a perpendicular bisection, in this
case by the vertical line of the Tree of Knowledge.®^
un-subdivided ratio-based time. It's a wonderful and open universe of pos
It would take us too far afield to go into the
in the abolition of linearity or of mental constructs. Neither will "escaping
incredibly rich details to be found here, never
division" or "moving beyond time-with-a-direction" take place musically
mind that I am not a qualified person to even talk
much further than these cursory notes, but we
through the gestures we have become accustomed to. But must the "con
5\. Sehr Yetzirah: The Book of Creation,
p. 58, Aryeh Kaplan.
52. Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation,
p. 240, Aryeh Kaplan.
53. There is a whole wonderful develop
ment of the apophatic nature of the roots
of this Tree extending into "negative exis
tence" through the quasi-Sefirah Da'at
(Knowledge), and the Sabbatical/Eternal/
at-rest time that extends from the centrahty of this quasi-Sefirah in the "restored"
version of the Tree and the Sabbath Star
diagrams developed by Aryeh Kaplan's
student Leonora Leet, especially in her
great book The Secret Doctrine of the
Kabbalah: Recovering the Key to Hebraic
Sacred Science. Her last book The
Universal Kabbalah is really a disaster,
however.
...
should just mention that the convergence and
sibilities. The question of the "timeless" in music will never be answered
ceptual negation" of this particular question constitute its answer?
Absolutely not.®®
"harmonization" of the tendencies to Good and
Let's not talk about the abolition of any
Evil takes place in the mysterious implicit nega
tively existent Sefirah Da'at (Knowledge). This
Sabbatical Event occurs as a coincidentia oppositorum that unites and
thing. Let's just talk about Silence and try to
approach it with the proper attitude. Because it
harmonizes the primary vertical opposition of Good (Keter) from Evil
Unlimited that we find the wellsprings of Truth
(Malkut), whose opposition itself harmonizes the secondary horizontal
and creativity. These are not to be found in the
opposition of past and future in the verticality of its Eternal Present. So here
overpowering of Silence with unbridled passion
again we have the priority of a vertical Time®^ and the secondary nature of
the chronological time of past to future, form
ate distraction in pure aesthesis and rationalized
sensory indulgence, which only leads to walls of
ing the glyph of the cross as a coincidentia
oppositorum that resolves itself in its "center,"
Limitation being built that end up being incredi
^eJeeSda^rE!^." "
is in the harmonization of the Limited and
bly musically boring®^—neither are they to be
and by apophatic means (Da'at is in fact the Sabbatical "stillness" at the
"center" of the diagram, see note 53).
found by exclusively and artlessly emphasizing
"meditative" practices at the expense of (i.e. neglect
Moving on to more applied musical territory, let us observe that
our bodies and minds reside in time and space. It's natural to say that our
ing harmonization with) a basic contextual aes
music depends on the passage of time, and on the reverberating of bodies/
matter in space. Despite a few avant garde pretensions towards the abolish
ment of linear time in music (which are at best capable of deconstructing a
368
thesis; I'm sorry but the iconoclastic reflex of
abolishing all expressions of Limitation and
focusing only on Promethean matters of the
"pure spiritual alchemy" of the Unlimited misses
369
55. In California there are many quasimusical expressions supposedly crafted
according to principles of various neoBuddhist ascesis, or neo-Anything, really.
These musical expressions are just attached
as "impressions" onto what we the listen
er are supposed to accept as a depth of
praxis residing at the core of the musical
genesis. As we will see later on in a discus
sion of Wagner, this constitutes a discon
nection of music from what is considered
to be Real; or it is at least a subordination
of music to a kind of background/moodenhancing status, in order to simply
embellish what is central, "masculine,"
noble and active (meditation, or in the case
of Wagner, the text) from the position
of a feathery "feminized" aestheticallyconfined periphery (music). If we recall
what it is that seems to constitute a gen
uinely timeless aspect to our musical
expression explored in this paper, we can
see that in reducing music to a realm of
individualistic ephemera to simply provide
a secondary running commentary for the
primary and encompassing meditation,
essentially music as brain farts, we are
doing nothing but abandoning the original
question.
56.1 will certainly go off on this pet peeve
in the concluding chapter.
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
the basic point of the broader idea of harmonization.®^
Coming back to a more usual sense of
the term, we can say that Süen» resides below
the depths of every vibration, however low or
1*¡«ríS 5^1,XS»
high (Hz), however loud or soft (db)—it is the
"iH'.
nc^^sarily Limited or
Unlimited, or simuhaneously Limited and
UnUmited; but they could not all be
U n h m i t e do n l y . " — P h i l o l a u s( i B )
^
'
'
"negative space" of all sound. The unironic
,
.
.
.
zero of Silence, ancient and primordial, is yet
and thundering advocate of Philolaus
needs to be reminded sometimes that:
the birth-giver to every positive value, every "new" sound. Silence is the
womb of all, yet an unconcealed depth right out in the open, never as far off
as it may seem. Everywhere music is made Silence is present. Because
silence IS the Present. In fact, as musical gestures pass from the past to the
future. Silence is the only ever-present component. Everything else fluctu
ates. Much like our perception of light, our experience of Silence in time
receives it as an ever-unfolding constant against which all things can be
measured. But with Silence, opposing things (sounds) are seen in positive
values instead of negative. To unpack this a little more, just as the speed of
light is the positive velocity of photons and the velocity boundary of the
universe against which all other motions can be measured (a velocity in
which matter-based things themselves cannot participate but can only be
imperceptibly, these gestures always maneuver their way back to the Silence
from whence they came.
Plato talks about time as a moving image of eternity.®® As musicians
we are constantly dealing with a moving image,
projecting moving sound images that have been
conceived in linear time. It's much like the process
of making and projecting actual films, but what
what do musicians project their sound images on
to? For the moving image of an actual film to
make sense, it depends upon the stationary blank
surface of a white screen. When it comes to pure
Silence and vacuum in "black blacker than black"
58. And again we are haunted by the inter
section of Eternal and Chronological time:
"Now the nature of that Living Being was
eternal, and this character it was impossi
ble to confer in full perfection upon the
generated thing. But he took thought to
make, as it were, a moving likeness of
eternity; and at the same time that he
ordered the heaven, he made, of eternity
that abides in unity, an everlasting likeness
moving according to number—that to
which we have given the name time."
—Plato, Timaeus 37
blackness, any sound we'd project into it would of course simply be swal
lowed up the instant it was made. But if we say we project these moving
sound images onto a kind of liminal screen that exists somewhere between
the linear unfoldment of spacetime and the timeless "uncarved block" of
Silence, perhaps we are not stretching the truth too much. As we have been
hinting, the human being himself stands between these two Realities, so he
himself is a kind of liminal agent of both, and therefore also the receiver and
measured in "negative" with respect to it). Silence establishes a similar
uncrossable sound boundary of the universe. Silence is the Zero (whether
interpreter of music which relies on both. Much like mankind's pre-scien-
we speak of 0 db or 0 Hz) against which all vibration constitutes a "positive"
value. This applies even to soundless harmonics in vacuum like that of orbits
noisy world he seems to also be endowed with the ability to at least conceive
and the like. But for the moment we'll just talk about our ears and bodily
tific yet inexplicable appreciation of both dimensions of Light, in man's
of Silence... but can he really know it? My theory is that he must already
know it, at least a little, at least in his unconscious (or latent noetic con
perception, the "mesocosm" of man where Silence seems to disappear at the
moment a sound is made.
sciousness), otherwise no music would be intelligible to him. Sure, we like
The harmonization between sound and silence begins with the
observation that every sound, but more importantly every musical expres
only projections. There may be favorable or disfavorable reactions, but
sion, begins by "breaking silence." When initiating its movement, music,
that potentially most blessed counterpoint of silence, might abruptly assert
its opposition in a blatant manner contrasting with the voidness of the a pri
ori silent state of its origination. Or it can try to be more harmonious in
itself, embracing that silence, working with it, taking it for a partner and
gracefully emerging in and out of its arms in a dance of geometric admix
ture. Billions of ways for a gesture in sound to be defined against the
ever-present Silence are accepted by the human consciousness as musical.
And just as surely, whether just as abruptly or just as gracefully or just as
370
to imagine that the animals react to music the same way we do, but these are
intelligibility is another matter. On the other hand, it is certainly possible
for humans to be blind to both or either the visible and the invisible reali
ties (where animals can have real advantages), and to find entire sections of
either of these realities "unintelligible." Even if the visible perception is
healthy it's possible (and all too common to the point of being "normal")
for someone to be handicapped with regard to one of many mental or noet
ic processes relating to what is invisible—and this holds true vice versa; as
when a visually blind person becomes remarkably more astute with regard
to invisible realities (sounds, smells, touch and abstract reasoning). In just
the same way, a person's ears can be functioning perfectly for the appre371
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
hension of sound, and he may be mentally or noetically handicapped with
nance? Such an idea could only mean that both the amplitude and the
respect to Silence—with the converse truth that a deaf person may by
"note" or frequency that Silence is "tuned to" is Zero. To enter into "reso
nature become remarkably mentally or noetically situated in the realm of
nance" with Zero might not be a bad way (though neither particularly good
Silence, something the rest of us have to battle for ad infinitum in order to
way) to describe an process of emptying out, of inducing Silence and
even "be there" at all.
Stillness. Couldn't it be said that the motionlessness of Ineffable Silence can
So I think there are certainly degrees of interaction between the
produce the same motionlessness in something that is "tuned" to this
modes of perception appropriate to each side of the equation. The follow
Silence? Strictly speaking it would not be proper to call this "resonance,"
ing is a more speculative construct, but perhaps music can be said to be dif
since Silence is an anti-acoustic phenomenon. But there is another, broader
ferentiated from
word that fits
sound
or "noise" because it takes place as harmonic or
disharmonie®' moving sound images projected
this overall situation well: Sympatheia ou|iná08ia.
The word Sympatheia is from a combination of
pathos
syn,
meaning
LI n
intentio„.lly vi. sound waves onto a kind of psy-
"same," "together" or "of the same," and
malleable to the^tjyicai reflex "tr^juation or all values that many would habitu-
chic liminal barrier existing between the sound-
"emotion." Though the idea certainly applies to and is extended in musical
ally impose upon it.
appreciating-capacity and Silence-appreciating-
terms related to resonance (i.e. sympathetic strings), it has a longer overall
capacity of the listener. I do believe that the nor
reach. Musically speaking, in addition to physical resonance, Sympatheia
°
meaning "passion" or
mal human being is extremely sensitive to both of these things, and also
also addresses the pathology of the listener,^® not
(with Plato, Aristotle, Shakespeare, the CIA and Charles Manson) that var
just his or her vibrating molecules. As with bod-
ious impairments in either direction (whether physical or mental/psychic or
ies in motion, the characteristics of the emotions
a combination of both) can be impressed upon the soul through musical
and passions may be brought into harmonization by the musical Object
mediums. I had intended to write something here on the processes culmi
affecting the listening Subject (and sometimes vice-versa)—this is in fact the
I .
1
,
1
1
A
• 1 1
J
60. Sympathes "having a fellow feeling,
affected by hke feelings "
nating in Wagner, and the fallout we live under, but have decided to save that
most fundamental quality of music. The more general "laws of sympathy"
rant for another time. Instead, it is time to conclude this paper by finally
are demonstrated beautifully here: "like produces like," and our memory
wrapping it together with a good look at the powerful notion of Sympatheia
retains the impressions of a melody and the feelings related to it are recalled.
(and a brief digression hastily charting the collapse of a worid that has inten
This fact that everyone has experienced demonstrates lucidly a general
tionally lost the ability to perceive its own Harmonic infrastructure).
Sympathetic principle: an object that has been in contact with a sympathet
ic subject, but having since ceased to be so, continues to have an "influence"
Sympatheia
on it at a distance. This is a slightly less empirical (or rather less material)
"Resonance" occurs when one body in motion causes the same kind of
motion in another. The motion of one body will resonate another body the
same way if it is in the same or a similar state of tension (Tonos). Most musi
cians are familiar with the phenomenon: when a stringed musical instru
ment is played near another one finely-tuned
in the same way, the strings of
the second will vibrate and produce a like sound, even though nobody is
touching it. "Acoustic resonance" is something that belongs to the catego
ry of physics. It is a phenomenon of "like" sounds and kinetic movements
and broader phenomenon than acoustic resonance, but no one would doubt
that the phenomenon is very real. When a particularly emotive melody it is
brought back to mind by the memory, who doesn't also recall some of its
emotional impact, some of its trans-acoustic content? We might even go so
far as to put purely-physical resonance as a secondary issue to this deeper
and more primary feature of Sympatheia.
In any event we can perhaps now begin to make sense of the idea,
which before seemed like a paradox, of the likeness and affinity existing
between those things whose "pathos" is united
amplified by either direct contact or at a distance through a medium or,
whereby the "like" movement passes from one body to another. But can we
propose a kind of
harmonization" of sound and Silence through reso
372
61. ánáeeia: freedom from all passions;
for Stoics, a state of mind where one is free
from emotional disturbance, i.e. peace of
mind.
in apathcia^^ i.e., no pathos. Here, if we say
the human
373
.
NoUS IS
i
i
«
•
attUncd tO the VlbratlOH
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
of no vibration" (Silence), acclimating to the "motion of no motion"
(Stillness), and seeks to enter into a shared apathos with the Ineffable, it is
by a kind of Sympatheia that it must receive its fullness and depth. The
human Nous cannot reach such depths on its own. Not even close. But by
the principle of "like producing like" in Divine Emptiness, the dimension
of it that is human and noetic can be said to
receive the eternal Ineffable
Event of the other that is utterly transcendent.
Rooted into those considerations, yet now emerging on to a more
interactive, worldly and dialectical level, let's consider Sympatheia in its
more hoHstic definition as "affinity of parts to the organic whole, and mutu
al interdependence."" Musically speaking, then,
62. "Sympatheia [refers] to the close con
nection between different parts of the same
body as a whole." —Katerina lerodiakonou.
The Greek Concept of Sympatheia and Its
Byzantine Appropriation in Michael Psellos,
in The Occult Sciences in Byzantium, edit
ed by Magdalino and Mavroudi, p. 99. The
quote continues in Stoic ideas that do not
apply here, which we will treat of a little
later: "or the close connection between
everything in the world as a part of the
world as a whole, or between the body of
the world and its soul as parts of the
world."
to be in tune according to Sympatheia means for
all parts to be united in pathology, purpose, intent
and execution—as well as in pitch—and oriented
to the locus of the whole. The idea converges
beautifully in a remarkable metaphor of St. John
Chrysostom. He describes hymnody as many
tongues united in a single purpose and inclination,
in the same way that a single instrument has many
strings tuned differently yet not at odds with each
other, but rather being utterly united as one:
ent sound yet a godly harmony.
.
young, have different voices, but they do not
<• 1
1
ing, in this case that which is enshrouded by Silence (which automatically
implies an emptying of pathological content), perhaps only then can we
even truly speak of being "in tune." In other words, perhaps we can only
really be in tune with each other if we are in some way tune with Divine
65. There's potential for overstatement
in that, but I think it's a wholesome overstatement.
Silence.^® We are reminded here of Heraclitus'
famous and bcautifully wordcd phrasc "nar.
.
.
r
>
diner m the word of hymnody, for the Spirit
andern plucked string instrument
(kithara sounds suspiciously like "guitar")
—commonly in patristic sources, the body
= the instrument.
stronger unseen than seen. Recalling
offered to the transcendent, it goes without saying that everything depends
upon deep inner listening. The unity of pathos, purpose, intent, etc. between
members comes from this inner attention. Listening. The rest of the details
(execution) are a simpler matter of outer attention, of unity in aesthesis.
Unity or harmonization in pitch perhaps negotiates a kind of middle term,
but the point is that it s all related; it s a tautological
whole. In
music we
deal with Sympatheia on a very intimate level, because pathology can only
be harmonized to a limited point by exterior listening alone; there will
374
harmony is
Unseen timeless dimension, while secondary status is given to the
"seen"/visible dimension. The double action of prayer in hymnody applies
to this exactly: attentive listening in the "negative" inward dimension of
Silence, takes priority over the simultaneous vocalizing outwardly in the
affirmative of sound. The two acts pull in opposite directions, but (if done
diligently) produce a harmonious result.
If we briefly recall the Heraclitan principle of "Palintonos Harmonie"
(back-stretched harmony), the idea of the bow
and the string stretching in opposite directions
of the arrow, the fundamental agreement here
Moving on to the "tautology" of Tonality,
the principle of stretching is embedded in our
tonos
("a stretching, taut string.")
This word came to mean pitch or key, literally
On this level (hymnody), since it is a matter of prayers being
» 7
and Kronos time, the priority here in Heraclitus is again given to the
Greek word
in all.""
•
the double action of Light in Kairos
word Tone, which is from the aforementioned
blends the voice of each and effects one melody
1
monie apnanes phaneres kreitton,
is obvious.^
"For indeed women and men, old and
1
participant's attention and inner ear is turned toward the same inner listen
to produce the "harmonious" event of the flight
"Our tongues are the strings of our kithara,"putting forth a differ
,
inevitably be variance in temperament, ideas, interpretation, etc. If every
related to the tautness of a string on a musical
instrument producing a certain frequency or
pitch. Byzantine and Orthodox music still retains
the terminology of Tone when referring to what
in the west we would call "mode." It makes excel
lent sense to call a "mode" a Tone, because if you
visualize an instrument with multiple strings tuned
to different starting points of the same (properlyintoned) family of notes,^^ each of which produces
375
66. "...accounts of tonike kinesis as simul
taneous motion in opposite directions, or
alteration of two opposite movements,
show why the Stoics felt it proper to asso
ciate their concept with Heraclitus. He
had repeatedly stressed that harmony is of
opposites and this seems to be implicit in
the Stoic's doctrine that the stability of the
universe is constituted by the tension of
the active principle—its contrary move
ments which unite the center of the cosmic
sphere with the circumference." —Stoic
Sudiesy A.A. Long, p. 52. I have avoided
commingling Stoic ideas of "tensile
motion" (tonicê kinêsis) with the overall
proposition here because there's a chance
there's something inaccurate about look
ing at that way (Stoic ideas of pneuma and
an immanent god are incompatible with
the priority of an entirely transcendent
God). A 4th century Christian Bishop of
Emesa in Syria named Nemesius spoke on
this subject, but I'm just not sure what to
think as far as applying it to music. In any
case, with what we have drawn from
Herachtus we are not hazarding any such
problem—no need to risk mixing with the
Stoics. The main issues there will be dealt
with in a couple of paragraphs.
67. In the 8 Tones there are two tunings of
the diatonic genus (hard and soft) with
interlocking/overlapping plagals, as well as
a chromatic genus.
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
its own pitch relationships with notes in common as well as altered notes,
works echo off the same now-featureless-and-blocky walls, and bounce
any one differently-stretched string (Tone) is harmoniously-related to all
into the arms of an all-embracing all-accepting culture that regards all things
the others as a part of an interlocking and "tautological" tonal system; an
as equal—meaning equally irrelevant. The corollary to this is that the only
overall pattern of "Tonality." As with the current notion of Sympatheia we
things that can last are the things of coarser and coarser dimension; the
are discussing, each Tone represents a different part of the same body unified
stupider and stupider and more and more square tendencies (corresponding
m Sympathetic relation to the whole. The "whole" in this tightly-woven sys
to tonally and rhythmically imprisoned perceptions) will continue in their
tem is the "Octoechos" mentioned before; eight (octo) modes/tones (echoi).
perpetual cultural ascendant, because the only thing that provides a sense of
stability and basis to a world dislocated from tonos is that which is common
This kind of interweaving of tensions is of course a fundamental
principle in creating structural integrity in buildings and other geometrical
constructions. Consider structures with intertwined parts and tautological
to a passionate instant of imagined escape from confinement. This is why
the body is conceived of as a machine that everyone can "relate" to, and
flexibility that absorbs and redirects force along multiple members in many
why its mechanical functions assume supremacy; it is supposed that
directions; force arriving back upon itself as in the case of a sphere being just
"escape" lies in the direction of endless agitation for freedom against the
one example, but the structurally soundest of all. Triangles, domes, spheres,
oppressor of the body. But it is precisely this concept of the body that
arches, cones, all are inherently superior to blocky stacks of repeating
imprisons it in a narrower and narrower determination. It would be one
squares. As we may tend to forget or ignore these facts in one area, we
thing if the marvels of the body were explored in multiple dimensions: flex
might actively seek to destroy them in another—say by replacing beautiful
ibility and opposition, mysteries of death, symmetry and asymmetry, even
800-year-old domed structures with cheap shoddy communist block hous
martyrdom. Instead we get nothing but the hypnosis of sex and pseudo-
ing that will fall down in thirty years—and doing it in the name of justice,
spectacular drugs of "liberation" and "preference," over and over, taking
liberation and efficiency. In the
century we see the breakdown of
command of all content, and with everything perpetually accompanied by
tonality, where each step in the breakdown is usually considered as a "lib
repetitive 4/4 beats—how marvelous to see the world's most effective
eration or at least a minor positive "revolution" of some kind. In any
oppressors all working together in the name of freedom. The only "sympa
event, aligning with our own self-reflecting myths in the avant garde, it's all
theia" possible is that which accords tragically and ironically as a witness to
a progression from confining laws of tonality," etc. Tonality becomes
the diminishing returns of parasitism and auto-cannibalism. The ruins left
"new," and what becomes important about it is not its actual tonos (few care
for that) but its "newness." It's no mystery how we have arrived at this
behind by this squandered civilization will be only the most blocky dimen
20th
point. Once rules become as arbitrary as they had in Western European civ
ilization after a thousand-plus year falling away from ANY actual truly
sions of Limitation; and the passions invoked along the way having been
molded into equally coarse and imprisoning shapes, the body suffers the
ishment of now-arbitrary rules would hit the ground in the deconstruction
same fate.
No one has to go along with any of this, of course.
For me perhaps the ultimate irony is that music originating from
of tonality itself (always hailed as a new" tonality, when what it means is
the original, natural and structurally justified sense of tone would now be
actually "non-tonality" or "dim echo of tonality" or "tonality of special
considered "microtonal" and even avant garde. This profound vertigo-
effects or confused pseudo-tonality.") Neither should it surprise us in the
absence of any truly Tonal principle that the supposed progress we have
inducing inversion of reality is part of my daily bread. Nevertheless, no one
is prohibited from making use of the principles of Tonality. If some have
made in our alterations of tonality would result in structures that, how ever
beautiful, when they are complex, are fleeting, unlasting, weak, and fall
down quickly. Furthermore, since the context for appreciation of any such
simply gone tone deaf in the process of the human race being dumbeddown to fit into the deterministic boxes that modernity has prefabricated
for us, it does not make anyone else a "genius" for barely listening out
works of depth and beauty has also correspondingly crumbled into dust, all
beyond the featureless grid of the pseudo-All-Possibility, that deceptive
376
377
structurally-integrated tonality, it's perhaps no great surprise that the abol
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
modern psychism of "liberation," towards that more fundamental tonal
architecture that
aaually exists.
passive matter. This it does through different proportions of air and fire
its pneumatic substance. In the first
How did we get so far away from that, anyway? If we pick up
in
proportion (the most airy) we have the
shaping pneuma of tension (tonos), which inhabits inanimate objects and
where we left off before the indulgent digression just above, we may find
unifies and stabiUzes all matter and grants it cohesion. This is where the
some clues to help us answer that question. In this paper we've been speak
Stoics extrapolate beyond Heraclitus' proposition of oppositional harmony
(tonicê kinêsis), thus associat
ing mostly from a Hellenic terminology, but even within that there are
to their own proposition of "tensile motion"
vastly different meanings and implications to be drawn, but that we can learn
ing the idea with their physical substrates of substance, ideas foreign to
from. According to their divergent cosmological perspectives, Hellenic
Heraclitus. In another proportion of air and fire
conceptions of Sympatheia definitely differ between the Stoics, Platonists,
pneuma is literally the inhabiting life force, the spirit, that distinguishes liv
Alchemists, Neoplatonists and such. I have not been particularly faithful to
ing things from inanimate objects. And the final
any
ONE of these conceptions because they each depart in
different measures
frorn what I consider to be the most important underlying transcendent
68. My fidelity would be to the Fathers.
principle.^ It would be disingenuous of me to Omit
my own reasoning in this regard, so by way of
(the most fiery)
(the most balanced), the
proportion of air and fire
is the pneuma of psyche (soul). This pneuma inhabits every
part of the organism, regulating and governing its movements and giving
consciousness to its perceptions.
So for the Stoics everything in the world is created out of transfor
conclusion, I will briefly (and inadequately) discuss it. Perhaps the discus
mations of the unified divine substance, which is the
sion can help us chart the course of a certain trajectory of tonal alienation.
primordial fire
Cleanthes, second head of the Stoic school in Athens after Zeno,
understood Heraclitus
tonos as
arche—the
material
they call god and logos. The soul being the most fiery
of the
pneumatic gradations and closest to the primordial arche therefore has the
tension which does not cease in the (sub
closest proximity to the mind and body of god. In fact, a soul is said to be
stance) of the universe." This Stoic idea of "substance" is the site of a depar
a fragment of god—so we can see here how different the idea of Sympatheia
ture from the transcendent prmciple. What they generally mean by it is
is in Stoic usage, since it would refer to the (benign) idea of parts of a body
pneuma and/or matter—in any event material substance. Early Greek physi
being united in a whole, yet
cians located human vitality in the breath;*' air as
nection between everything in the world making up parts of the whole (dis
the movement of spirit, an invisible and subtle
S
Encyclopedia of
Philosophy (Taylor & Francis, 1998), p. 145.
^
matter, but a material substance nonetheless. So
penses with the transcendent and harmonia with it), and also to the idea of
the body and soul of the world, both material, constituting "parts" of its
for Stoics the universe is constituted of two kinds of substance, pneuma and
primitive matter. In totality the universe is
also to the "underlying substance"-based con
one, God and
oneness. In the Stoic world god is immanent in the universe.
Nature, a reason-
"Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one
mg and wholly material universe. The Stoics divided this material into active
substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one
and passive classes. Matter is the passive substance, which "lies sluggish, a
perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act
substance ready for any use, but sure to remain unemployed if no one sets it
with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all
70. Seneca, Epistle, hcv.motion."7°This Certainly anticipates the "prima
things that exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the
71. Chrysippus as well regarded pneuma
as "the vehicle of logos in structuring matter, both in animals and in the physical
world." —David Sedley, Stoic Physics and
Metaphysics, The Cambridge History of
Hellenistic Philosophy, ç.iis
lïiateria" of the Alchemists, a notion mistakenly
'L
j
a
•
1
•
attributed to Aiistotle. The active substance is of
t • i
•
proportions
L ^
between elemental aether/intelhThe Stoics draw from
Heraclitus the idea of the Universal Reason (Logos) governing the cosmos,^'
and for them it is through the pneumatic substance that reason acts on
378
structure of the web."^^
It's important to note (for the later
i
COUrse, pneUma, whlch IS described aS VailOUS
gence and primordial fire.
72. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations^ iv. 40.
development of Alchemy among other things) that this Stoic understanding
legitimates divination and astrology through the mediation of the pneuma,
and that the concept of God's immanence (inhabitation of divine-material
things) is what makes this idea possible.
Plato's Timaeus also presents a kosmos where everything is inter-
379
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
connected with everything else. But in Plato's kosmos everything is not
purely material—there is a transcendent dimension, and this dimension
73, Plato,
Tinmeus, 30,37.
"material" universe, later Platonists/Neoplatonists by and large remained
faithful to the original conceptions, but did borrow here and there elements
priority. The Platonic conception
keeps God as transcendant, and grants the forma
tion of the universe to explicitly incorporeal powers. It is the world that is
from the Stoic usage. It could be that the theurgic fascinations of some of
the later Neoplatonists demanded a "material substrate" for their magical
created as a living, rational being, fashioned in the image of the Divine
Neoplatonic theurgy, there is yet another shift in the usage of the concept
Intellect, which is an intelligible yet immaterial living and divine being.
of Sympatheia, most of which relates to the Chaldaean Oracles. The
(Timeaus 41a-b). In this conception, the material world possesses its own
Cosmological/Philosophical principles in that work reveal a strict hierar
soul, the world soul, which governs and holds the sensible world to order
by illumination in the Divine Intellect. Hence, unlike the elemental amalga
primordial beings who organize, engender and sustain the universe. It is the
operations. (Certainly this became the case for Alchemists). With the
chy; that of the "Father" of emanations sitting at the summit of a Triad of
mation of the Stoic pneuma, the agency of the "world soul" performs its
actions over sensible things via immaterial means.
magical elements (rituals and instructions) in the Chaldaean Oracles where
The Platonic Sympatheia, then, originally casts the origination and
power of the universe not in the elemental materia of arche or its pneumat
ic agency (hence astrological and divinatory concepts are not justified by
Some Neoplatonists took up the same theme in their theurgic and magical
physical interaction), but locates this power in the immaterial Intelligible
ness occurs between the human and daimonic realms—simultaneously
realm. With Plato we find relations of the immaterial divinity with the
material sensorium occurring on the basis of an "analogical" concept of har
a quasi Stoic overlap in some kind of materiahty, and a reduction of the
Platonic likeness (mimesis) between material and material to a likeness
monía and Sympatheia; specifically established is the likeness (mimesis)
between the material and immaterial realms. It's not a dualism in the usual
between human and daimonic. This could be conceived as hylic participa
tion in greater and lesser degrees according to the gradations of sub-
sense because the relationship is asymmetrical: the sympathetic relation
between the immaterial Heaven and material Earth operates from above to
below, with the Above determining the operations Below, and with the
terrestrial, terrestrial, and supra-terrestrial, i.e. tending to a hylic nature, a
Below never affecting the transcendent Above. The emphasis is on their
linkage, and dependence of the Below on the Above. The Stoics certainly
departed from this idea, and from Platonic Sympatheia between Macrocosm
one finds "discernment" between "good" demons that help one towards
the Father, and "bad" ones that lead to perdition away from the Father.
writings, usually contingent upon a cosmological idea where a shared like
pneumatic-hylic balance, and a more pneumatic nature. This is an echo of a
familiar theme! Like the Stoic understanding, it can be conceived in a pneu
matic understanding of matter itself, or enspirited/"spiritual" matter. At any
rate, the idea was not just that the daimonic forces had power over human
and Microcosm, replacing all that with a sympatheia of immanent reason
beings, but that human beings, wielding sympatheia as a magical tool, had
power over the daimonic (so the ideas of lamblichus and Proclus go).
and divinity in active elements acting upon passive primal materiality.
I will just say that here we are drifting far afield even of the cos
This IS a sigmficant departure we will see taken one step further with the
Alchemists. To finish with Plato, most importantly for our purpose, with
mogenic idea of the Stoics and any context where sympatheia found its
him the agency of the transcendent operates within the material, and occurs
specifically by the illumination of the Soul with Divine Intellection—Philo
defines the transcendent organizing agency here as the Logos, or "Reason"
of God. Again, this is all quite opposed to a Stoic idea of universal reason/
logos being distributed everywhere materially/pneumatically, and the soul
partaking of arche, primordial fire, by degrees according to its proximity.
If the Stoics adapted the Platonic Sympatheia to their purely
380
earlier expression. It is also quite different in character from things like the
comparatively passive visionary Mi'raj of Cicero's Dream of Scipio and
other like accounts, which arise in a context wherein asceticism against
passions is taken as a given, and that by apatheia the cultivation and attain
ment of moral perfection is enshrined both as praxis and goal of Stoic
Philosophy. Such "paganism" by its very nature is easily distinguished from
some of the other things that go by that name, such as the syncretic appro
priation of decontextualized Priestly rites from foreign Priesthoods, in
381
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
however altered or watered-down a form, being used on the one hand to
construct a kind of speculative theory if not a full-fledged Philosophical
with every notion of "thing-ness" itself. To re-quote St. Dionysius the
apologetic for magical practices (late Neoplatonists), and on the other, to
Areopagite from an earlier note: "In diligent exercise of mystical contem
plation, leave behind the senses and the operations of the intellect, and all
engage in such a patchwork of practices, regardless of the decontextualized
things sensible and intellectual, and all things in the world of being and non-
nature of the source material which arrives by appropriation or theft
being, that you may arise by unknowing towards the union, as far as is
Chaldaean, Persian mystery traditions in the Hellenic romance
attainable, with Him who transcends all being and all knowledge. For by
of the satrapies of Alexander), which not only inevitably introduces an
insurmountable breach in authentic Tradition, but also engenders an
the unceasing and absolute renunciation of yourself and of all things you
may be borne on high, through pure and entire self-abnegation, into the
impassable vortex of spurious material to be contended with. Our modern
era amplifies this problem beyond all reasonable measure.
superessential Radiance of the Divine Darkness."'*The Alchemical method,
This discussion has been necessary in order to bring us to the point
where we can clearly discern what kinds of issues the "alchemical" concept
ties by pointing its mirror towards them, is quite
different from this. It assumes that the visible real
raises when applied to music. Alchemy brings with it a whole cosmological
ities are working in an analogical relationship with the Soul, which is an idea
proposition unto itself. It too has a reflecting Speculum, a mediation
that works in tandem with point (b), the assumption of the primal unity of
between Heaven and Earth, conceived as a mimesis of the Above by the
Below. It also fully concretizes the idea of prima materia.
It's generally accepted that alchemy came in to full swing at the
beginmng of the common era under Graeco-Roman Egyptian metallurgical
auspices. Several elements combined for the emergence of what we now rec
which instead fixes its attention onto visible reali1
.
.
.
.
77. An idea that habitually gets blamed
on Aristotle, but probably more fairly
belongs more to Neoplatonism. Alchemical
"Prima Materia" seems more than anything else like a fairly straightforward
materialization and divinity-neutering
ognize as alchemy^"*: (a) the practices of Egyptian
74. This concise observation is owed to
Michele Mertens in the introduction to
h e r e s s a y G r a e c o - E ^ t i a n A l c h e m y i n
Byzantium, p. 206.
i
«
j
i i
• i
i
i
i
i
metalworkers and goldsmiths who learned by
•
^ •
i
*
1
1 1 1
1
experimentation how to simulate gold by work-
ing with alloys and dying metals; (b) "the theory
about the fundamental unity of matter, according to which all substances
1
1
•
•
7 6 . D i o n y s i u s t h e A r e o p a g i t e , M y s t i c a l
Theology, chapter i.
matter.'' So Alchemy actually takes even the
.
NeoplatOniC
*
*
.
.
theurglC
1 •
r
COncept
• m 1
between humanS and mVlSlble
» / 1
1 •
• \ 1
«
of
1•1
llkeneSS
• •
1
eUSpiHted mat11
ter (the daimomc) down yet One more level: a
likeness between the workings of the human
soul and visible matter.
Our choice of a Hellenic milieu to tell the story of the transforma
tion in these ideas has been well placed. The earliest of historically visible
Alchemists is Zosimos of Panopolis, from around 300 AD. His early com
are composed of a primitive matter and owe their specific differences to the
mentator and Neoplatonic Philosopher in his own right, Olympiodoros" is
on record having worked to establish retro-active
presence of different qualities imposed upon this matter; (c) the idea that the
aim of any technique must be the mimesis of nature; (d) the doctrine of uni
unks between the early Alchemists and the preSocratic Philosophers (including Heraclitus). But
versal sympathy, which held that all elements of the cosmos are connected
even as radically as things had changed from the time of the pre-Socratics to
by occult links of sympathy and antipathy which explain all the combina
tions and separations of the bodies."'®
We should by now be familiar with
^s.ibid.
the Alchemists (as we have seen), they changed even more radically over the
most of this. Leaving point (a) for a later time, we can see the idea of the
"practical" Alchemist, the Persian polymath} bir ibn Hayy n arrived on the
scene, and is credited with an early development of the experimental
"speculum" and likeness referred to earlier expanded in point (c). To say
that the aim of any technique is to imitate nature surely reorients the idea of
1
1 1
»
Michele Mertens, Graeco-Egyptian
Alchemy in Byzantium,The Occult Sciences
P' ^
next 1,000 years in the transmission of the alchemical practice to Europe.
For considerably later than Zosimos, the man considered to be the first
the speculum/mirror away from any invisible realities. The aim of the
method and technique of seeking Silence, or even Stoic apatheia, for exam
method and having employed laboratory techniques. Even here Arabic tra
dition attributes the teaching of Alchemical sci79. Maria Mavroudi, Occult Science and
enee to Muslims to a Byzantine Monk named
Society in Byzantium: Considerations for
ple, is certainly not to reflect any "thing" of any kind, but rather to dispense
Marianos/^ In a book m the J birian corpus called
382
1 . .
383
Future Research, The Occult Sciences in
Byzantium, p. 87.
SPRUANCE
HARMONIE APHANES PHANERES KREITTON
Book of the Monk, J bir beseeches his master, who is a pupil of Marianos,
against attachments and passions. What? Our passions, so excited by our
Instruct me... so that I may share your knowledge and can mform others
"escape" into a new spiritual possibility, told us to relativize and revolu
of it in your name; for, although I have occupied myself with this science, I
cannot dispense with a teacher in many respects."^"
tionize everything. We blinded our eyes to the newly emerging absolutism
threshold of
Limitation. The passive prima materia awaits
the human will to impress itself upon it. The
human Soul awaits its likeness derived from visible realities, as opposed to
humanist aristocracy, but at the same time against Pythagoras and St. Symeon
the Stylite. Free of such visions, we proceeded to prostrate ourselves in a
80. The Classical Hentage m IsUm,
îuotedl Ibi. p°p.
of an anarchic consensus of non-hierarchization, against Nietszche's pallid
deeper bow than ever before to the horizontal kingdom of Man. With our
noses to the floor we secretly wondered why our art too was suddenly
from the Unlimited and Eternal Uncreated Light. And mankind has finally
becoming ugly, and we not-so-secretly justified it by claiming it was a mir
set up his laboratory of individuation. Now his experimental, solipsistic,
Faustian effort shall fracture his spirit every-which-way by the formula
ror, reflection of "the times" (the final bottoming out and inversion of the
Speculum). But when we began depicting man himself as ugly or as a mon
solve et coagula" and he will emerge from it a new man, adept in the hall
ster, we didn't justify it that way, we took it much farther: we converted the
of mirrors of material algebraic combinatorics. He will complicate himself
sub-human spectacle before our eyes into an image of divinity—not by
away from every simplicity. He will become a sorcerer who fraudulently
calls his magic "science" because he can prove it. He will wear a Dominican
focusing on the inspired nature of a human struggle that contorts the out
Friars robe and bear the title "Saint" as he falsely circumscribes the
Ineffable in a fallen and humanistic project mistakenly ascribed to Reason
question. "Who's to say this contortion in pain and despair isn't actually
angelic," etc. By reinventing how we saw, we were free to reinvent the ugly
and Logic. The Renaissance world will froth in anticipation as he pulls out
as beautiful, so the idea went. All the while the premier champion of the
his many newly-fashioned gnomons in order to Limit and quantify every
thing, according to the fleeting taste of the times. With each new century he
"transvaluation of all values" continued to complain pretentiously of not
will equalize the temperament of the intervals ever further, against nature in
favor of the idiosyncratic orderliness of finally making a grid out of them &
keeps it to himself, which todays hipster barbarians do but Nietszche more
attuning them to Hz! He will make a grid of musical time and confine it to
hemi-demi-semi quavers, locking the idea of rhythm into a system of sub
ward condition to a beautiful inner one, but simply by calling all value into
being able to stand the common, the ordinary, the mundane, etc. (even if he
honestly didn't). Every despot of the non-hierarchical seems to brandish his
complaints in a downward fashion, and somehow interprets his disgust
with the ordinary as a measure of rare strength standing against the weak
divisions of equal parts instead of the naturally occurring phenomenon of
ness of the common and "hierarchical" (actual hierarchy in today's world is
ratios and proportions. The Heart, which a priori knows the language of
proportion, will be scoffed at and systematically shoved out of the equa
something most of us would have a hard time spotting anywhere except in
tion—into the defensive sentimentality of obligatory Hallmark
cards and forgotten. The head, which prefers the systematics of encompass
ing nature with various filters and screens, will cite Timaeus 44D as it takes
utter supremacy.
content and disgust are feelings of sickness, helplessness and weakness.
bank accounts). What few seem to have noticed is that these feelings of dis
Anyone can relate to them. Stuck on a subway or stuck in traffic, we get
annoyed with the people around us... these are moments of anything but
strength. Anyone who empathizes with such feelings empathizes only with
The rest of the body of this Tin Man, this fabricated Golem, long
ago awakened to the magic words first whispered in the laboratories of
what is weakest in mankind. This is how our hysterical Übermensch came
to advocate the worst kind of sympatheia on earth. It was only when he
Byzantine proto-humanism. 1,200(?) years later and we, the bastard chil
dren of this occidental godfather of the eclectic, still never had the chance to
finally looked in the mirror that it finally cracked, and he was delivered,
humbled, back to the obvious.
ask ourselves how? In the 19th century, for example, the "Dionysian" spirit
came to associate itself with an asiatic spiritual path noted for its battle
384
385
CHAPTER
28
DREAD OF THE KNOCK
MASK 2: A
creaking floor
is heard one night in darkness, in a place, a home.
As assonance and alphabet suggest—from within sleep, from within the
sonic vocabulary of horror, terror, the supernatural—the creaking door
DREAD OF THE KNOCK
opens onto the creaking floor.
A Ceremony of Auditory Hallucinations for the Dead of Night
sure, cooling, movement within the greater structure of the building—^pass
es over or through a flexible
DAVID TOOP
A moving body, or some other agent—^pres
surface, causing audible friction in this quiet
place. Sound radiates outward in all directions, feeling and probing its way
both through the solid structure of a building and the interior channels of
air space, entering finally
the ears of a listener.
Dread of the Knock: A Ceremony of Auditory Hallucinations for the Dead of
Night, for three masked players, reciter, small improvising orchestra, audio
RECITER: "The
playback and magic lantern slide show, the performance to be held in a
Gaston Bachelard, "is a sort of geometry of echoes... Still farther it is
resonant room, such as a cellar whose surfaces are stone.
possible to recover not merely the timbre of the voices, 'the inflections of
The piece begins with low knocking sounds moving through
space—above, below, behind, some muffled and distant, some close enough
old house, for those who know how to listen," wrote
beloved voices now silent,' but also the resonance of each room in the
sound house."
to make the skin prickle—as if presences are striving to gain entry from
MASK 2:
their unknowable worlds into objective space.
This resonance speaks for the history, the memory of a house,
venerable personal place, a rubbing of old boards; but perhaps at the source
MASK 1:
Out of deep dreamless sleep I was woken, startled by a hollow
there is an intruder, and so a sound from another place, a place literally out
resonance, a sudden impact of wood on wood. Was the sound an isolated
of sight, is an omen, a bringer of trespass, threat, unease, disturbance, fear.
hearing event within my consciousness—auditory hallucination or a
Anomalous sound enters in the way of an animal or insect: mouse, rat, spi
moment of dream without narrative; was it a neurological event, something
der, cockroach, fly,
internal to worry about, or was it a sound from the physical world, some
watch beetles, celebrating warm weather and desire by banging their heads
thing external to worry about? The reverberation time was too long for the
against the tunnel walls they have bored through old church timbers.
wasp, woodworm or the uncanny ticking of death-
sound to have emanated from the bedroom. It came from distant space so
implied the entrance of an intruder, but this seemed unlikely The sound
[AUDIO PLAYBACK: r40",
came from nowhere in this sense, belonged nowhere. Its existence was real
oak beam, Edingthorpe, Norfolk, recorded by Chris Watson. The magic
enough to wake me yet unreal enough to be ambiguous, intangible and
lantern shows its first
deathwatch beetles, advertising display in
slide.]
lacking in verifiable space.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK:
hollow, wood sounds are heard, the clok of a
Japanese shishi odoshi, the bamboo filling
with water, falling,
Ì
\
striking stone
to scare deer, emptying again and rising, this trembling emptiness between
each strike marking the ma of uncertainty; from the early morning chant of
a Buddhist temple, the bok of a huge mokug-yo fishmouth
slit gong, a
sound both soft and hard, penetrating and diffused.]
386
387
DREAD OF THE KNOCK
TOOP
MASK 3; A little drummer, the greater death watch beetle knocks on the
fabric of the house, just as a knock on the door in the dead of night bangs
at the membrane of all that is homely.
RECITER: "I have often thought I could distinctly hear the sound of the
darkness as it stole over the horizon," wrote Edgar Allan Poe, in his notes
to Part II of Al Aaraaf.
MASK 1: Atmospheres of darkness and hyperacusis, feelings of loneli
ness enclosed in webs of malignant, oppressive sound and silence. Spaces
possess lives of their own. The beating heart that betrays its own kiiler,
the hollow knocking and shrieking of the prematurely or unjustly incar
cerated, suggest that Poe listened with fastidious concentration to all
external and interior sounds.
MASK 3: The Tell-Tale Heart begins by interrupting a conversation or
confession, either between the perpetrator and himself (or herself), or
with an unnamed listener. A neurotic condition of "nerves," of exagger
ated acuity, establishes a context of microsonic hearing.
He opens the lantern, shines it onto the eye, then hears a low,
dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton."
The pulse grows louder, faster, the thud of the old man s heart, increas
ing his fury, "as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier mto
courage." As if a steady crescendo within the silent dark, the pulsations
grow louder still, loud enough for a neighbour to hear, the murderer
shouts, the old man shrieks and is suffocated. Even after his death, the
heart pumps on with a muffled beat, then like a decaying echo of sound
haunting its original self, gradually fades until sunk into silence. He
dismembers the corpse and buries it under the floorboards. At four o'
clock in the morning, there is knocking at the door, policemen investi
gating reports of a suspicious noise. The murderer greets them with
confidence, shows them the house, seats them exactly over the spot
where the old man's remains have been hidden, but as time passes, he
begins to hear a ringing in his ears. Throughout the story, the narrator
has meticulously drawn a distinction between madness and the hyper
sensitivity to external sounds that he claims to suffer. Now the question
of what is generated from within or without reaches a point of crisis.
RECITER: "I found that the noise was not within my ears."
RECITER: "Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard many things
in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How then am
I mad?"
MASK 2: For reasons unknown to himself, the narrator has decided that
the old man who shares his dwelling must be killed. His eye has settled
the issue, "the eye of a vulture," and so this prelude to murder progress
es in silence by degrees of time and darkness "black as pitch," its object
revealed to vision by a dark lantern whose thin ray of light is released
cautiously each night for seven nights, each night falling on the closed eye
of the old man. On the eighth night, moving with painful slowness in the
thick darkness, the perpetrator chuckles. The old man moves on his bed.
The narrator's thumb slips on the tin fastening of the lantern and the old
man springs up in bed, crying out, "Who's there?" For one hour the mur
derer stands motionless, saying nothing, conscious that the old man is
still alert, sitting up, listening, "just as I have done, night after night, hear
kening to the death watches in the wall."
388
MASK 3: What he hears is the "low, dull, quick sound—much such a
sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton, increasing and
increasing, too insistent to mask by pacing across the floorboards, raving
and swearing, or scraping his chair. In the end he admits his crime, no
longer able to tolerate the return of the sound he sought to still: the
beating of the old man's hideous heart.
MASK 1: Startled awake by a hammering on the door in the dead of
night, the knocking that signals an ending—police, immigration, secu
rity forces, Gestapo, Stasi, the neighbour with a machete, death itself
or the demon. Whatever is outside wants to come inside, like the
thunderous knocking of Shirley Jackson's story. The Haunting of Hill
House—"a hollow noise, a hollow bang, as though something were
hitting the doors with an iron kettle, or an iron bar, or an iron glove.
[At this point, the three masks re-enact the Rites of Eleusis, staged by
389
TOOP
DREAD OF THE KNOCK
Meister Crowley at the Caxton Hall, London, in October and
November 1910. On a candle-lit stage, Crowley recites Swinburne's first
verse from Atalanta, Victor Neuberg dances "the dance of Syrinx and
Pan in honour of our lady Artemis," spinning until he falls to the floor
and lays exhausted until the end. After a long silence, Leila Waddell plays
the viohn with great passion. The magic lantern shows a number of
slides. The robed adepts at Caxton Hall are ranged around the magical
circle, Crowley high above them poised to strike with his ceremonial
sword. The quality of the photograph is poor, a reproduction from
The Liverpool Courier of October 28,1910, but one of the adepts appears
to be holding a gong (almost certainly Burmese). Another slide shows
Leila Waddell posed with her violin, and then her most familiar image,
Waddell naked, her breasts concealed by long black hair, her linked
fingers and upright thumbs framing a tattoo—a roughly drawn cross
within two concentric circles—branded or inked onto her bare chest.
Lying flat on the table at which she sits is a metal disc with shallow boss
and a central hole. Again, the image quality is poor but the disc may
be a Chinese cymbal. Crowley s summation of ^iC^addell was typically
brusque. She was, he claimed, a fifth rate fiddler" but under the influence
of the rite and charged with the invocation of lunar influence, she
discovered inspiration within herself and entranced those members of the
audience who documented the experience.]
[AUDIO PLAYBACK: drumming birds and insects, including wood
peckers, whose rapid, resonant drumming echoing throughout wood
land suggests the image of an upper region of communication populated
only by percussionists; the red-winged grasshopper, Arphia pseudonietana,
a bug that flies as if doomed by its own vanity, a sudden vivid flash
of red, sharp clicking, an ungainly descent back to earth; the sapsucker,
the manakin, the African broadbill, the Australian palm cockatoo that
uses a twig to drum on logs. The magic lantern shows its second slide.]
RECITER: From the Mataco myth (cited by Claude Lévi-Strauss, From
Honey to Ashes) of the origin of mead: "It was a bird that carved the first
drum, and he beat it all night, and at dawn he was changed into a man."
MASK 1: A hole is dug into the ground, a journey to the centre of the earth
in search of music, and as with all holes in the ground, the digging disturbs
artefacts of the human trace. A cavity, hollow, vessel or pit deepens, unearthing
memories of burying, hiding, storing, amplifying, echoing, mnnelling, shelter
ing, trapping, containing, planting, suffocating, sinking, secrecy, sacrifice.
MASK 2: In Musical Instruments Through the Ages, Klaus P. Wachsmann
noted an Abyssinian (Ethiopian) instrument known as the Lion's Roar, a
narrow tapered hole dug in the ground to fashion a resonating, transforma
tive vessel for the voice. Is it possible to imagine a more economical diagram
of pre-scientific cosmology than this prototypical loudspeaker? Sound is
earthed or grounded within place and human society, yet it extends in all
directions: outwards to intersect with the communications of non-human
organisms; upwards to air, sky, the heavens; downwards into the dark
underworld. With a shout—raaagh—the connection is made.
MASK 3: Documentation of terrene instruments is rare, perhaps because
of their ephemeral nature, or because they had been largely superseded by
390
391
TOOP
DREAD OF THE KNOCK
more portable and sophisticated technologies by the time ethnomusicology
was sufficiently advanced as a scholarly discipline to pay attention to such
devices. More important than this, they were safe from collectors and
explorers. Shipping home a hole in the ground for future collection in muse
ums such as the Horniman in London or the Pitt Rivers in Oxford was
hardly a practical option. In Musical Instruments of the South American
Indians, Karl Gustav Izikowitz described an elaborate signal drum made by
the Brazilian Catuquinarú Indians. First reported in 1910 (only three years
before the notorious Paris premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring), the
instrument was complex and mysterious: a large earth pit filled with resins
and wood fragments and capped with rubber, and in the centre, a vertical
hollow log partially filled with powdered mica, bone fragments and other
materials, again capped by hard rubber.
MASK 2: Between 1961 and 1967, French ethnomusicologist Hugo Zemp
found similarly strange instruments—an earth drum, an earth bow, and an
earth friction drum—during his researches among the Dan of western Ivory
Coast and Liberia. A photograph of the earth bow can be seen in Zemp's
book. Musique Dan. A man squats and sings, plucking an ingenious version
of what came to be known among African-American musicians as the diddley bow (though by fixing the string to a wall, the diddley bow uses a
dwelling as resonator, rather than the earth itself). In this case, a sapling is
bent over to form a bow. A string connects this to a sounding surface, a
whole palm leaf fastened securely over a hole dug into the ground. Zemp
categorised the earth friction drum, rubbed fibres threaded through the
bark cover of an earth-pit resonator, as the voice of a mask or supernatural
being, hidden from the sight of women and children and destroyed after
ceremomal use. Named guéyibeu, Mask-that-eats-water, the otherworidly
sound of this instrument could be heard on Masques Dan, a coUection of
Zemp s recordings of mask voices released by the Ocora label.
MASK 1: As we go deeper, darkness gathers. Animals of sinks, wells, pools
and damp darkness croak and slither. Of the innocent frog, Seamus Heaney
wrote: "The slap and plop were obscene threats. Some sat/Poised like mud
grenades, their blunt heads farting." The childlike satisfaction of digging a
hole (perhaps all the way to the other side of the worid) may be followed
by associations of burial, entrapment and the underworid. One interpreta
392
tion of the léth century English nursery rhyme, "Ding dong bell, pussy's in
the well," hypothesises that the "pussy" of the rhyme described a woman
accused of immorality; the sound of the bell may have referred to the
"rough music" of pots and pans, the instruments of darkness played as the
woman was paraded through the streets on the way to her torture by duck
ing stool (the precursor of waterboarding) in the village wellpond.
MASK 3: The drum is a vessel, a pit, an encircling, a craft, a receptacle for
magical objects, vibrating or anticipatory air, a covering skin, a landscape of
many dimensions. At the end of the 17th century, during the Christian con
versions of Nordic Sami people, hundreds of shamanic drums were burned.
Some people pretended that the drums were used as compasses; some hid
their drums in remote caves.
[The magic lantern shows its third slide.]
RECITER: "Let us make you overgrown with flesh," sang the Tuvan
shaman to his drum. "Let us make you a living creature."
MASK 2: The uncanny associations of Chthonic resonance may also apply
on a smaller scale to material culture. Ueda Akinari's 18th century gothic
tale. The Kibitsu Cauldron, tells the story of a haunting in which unpropitious omens are established from the outset by a Cauldron Purification
393
DREAD OF THE KNOCK
TOOP
ritual (Mikamabarai) held on the grounds of the Kibitsu Shrine, a Shinto
shrine in Okayama, western Japan. For this divinatory rite, still extant, a fire
of pine needles is lit under a water-filled kami, a large iron rice cauldron.
"It has long been the custom," wrote Ueda, "for worshippers at the Kibitsu
Shrine to make abundant offerings, present hot water to the god, and seek
a divination of good or bad fortune. When the maidens complete their
ritual prayers and the water comes to a boil, the cauldron will, if the
prospects are good, produce a sound like the lowing of cattle. If the
prospects are bad, the cauldron will make no sound." Inevitably, the caul
dron Is silent and so the story ends with its villain hanging by his topknot
from a roof beam, all other traces of his body other than hair obliterated
save for a smear of blood.
inhabited and possessed by this intruder, the man robbed of self, is no
longer himself: he has become nothing more than a vibratmg strmg, a
sounding pipe."
MASK 1: Sound is a spirit, many spirits—malevolent, monstrous, antique,
mediocre, joyful, trivial, ugly, violent, seductive, seraphic, salacious, base
or holy; to work with sound is to fly into the spirit world, to become a
companion of spirits, take spirits into the body, transform.
[Within the room, darkness becomes complete.]
MASK 3: Bodies are instruments and instruments are bodies: the double
basses with gashes in their sides; the semigrand open piano whose music
hath crocodile jaws, the piano as coffin, the deep, soft, open darkness of the
self. Wooden boxes, cooking pots, cups, bowls, bottles, drainpipes, tin
cans, jerry cans, plastic water jugs, matchboxes. Throughout the literature
of organology and ethnomusicology lies scattered evidence of these every
day vessels being transformed into musical instruments. The majority of
the musical instruments that we call acoustic—^piano, clarinet, guitar, vio
lin, drum, and so on—derive their audible energy from being enclosed or
semi-enclosed rooms, chambers, tunnels or vessels of marvellous shape,
their equally fanciful apertures opening out onto the greater vessel of an
external world. The crowded molecules of sound move about in these
rooms, the equivalent of social beings, mixing and conversing, crowded or
left alone, emptying out and filling up, speaking quietly or making noise.
This movement is reminiscent of the architecture of the body and our sen
sitivity to sound moving within the body or escaping from the body. The
story of Syrinx and her transformation into Pan's flute reminds us of the
body's potential to become an instrument, and the absorption of music
into and through the body.
RECITER: Vladimir Jankélévitch describes this as an act of trespass:
"Music acts on human beings, on their nervous systems and their vital
processes... By means of massive irruptions, music takes up residence in
our intimate self and seemingly elects to make its home there. The man
394
395
CHAPTER
29
horn o' plenty
Years later, as a jazz saxophonist doubling as a reluctant congregant
at a traditional urban synagogue struggling to stay on its feet after 100 years.
I was pressed into service to try my hand at the shofar. The Ba'al Tokeiah
had passed on, and there was no one left who could get a sound out of the
holy horn. This shouldn't be so hard, I thought. After all, I am a wind
player! Keep the air moving, relax, visuahze...
A few days before Rosh Hashanah I gave a try. . . t e k i y a . . . noth
ing... tekiya...splat...
Hmmm...
I consulted with the Rabbi, who said that I might have luck with
another shofar, and showed me a drawer containing several others. I had
better luck, but still was not able to consistently produce a steady tone. I
then saw one wrapped up underneath some other articles, and held it up.
"Don't bother," he said. Nobody can get a sound out of that one. I held it
to my lips and blew, tekiya! A huge sound filled the room...
shvarim... The blasts bounced off the walls, and danced along the
rafters. I ran up the stairs to try out my new ax in the huge main sanctu
ary upstairs.
t r u a ! . . . The shorter tones rang out in counterpoint to their still
reverberating predecessors. I was psyched, and I was ready.
Rosh HaShana came and went, both days, and the notices were
in... The new Ba'al Tokeiah was a hit.
"The best I ever heard!"..."Strong enough to set the walls a
tumbling..." It felt great to be a Jewish musician, playing the original
instrument...
But, was there more to it than that?
After a few years I found myself being more and more drawn to the
synagogue and, feeling woefully inadequate due to my almost complete
dirth of Jewish knowledge, I started a casual study of classic Jewish texts. It
wasn't long before study became a regular part of first my weekly, then my
daily schedule. I started to learn Hebrew, and began to study the meaning
of the ancient verses that we chanted in the synagogue every Saturday
morning. I became a father a few times over, and it was time to move on.
My wife and I decided we would raise our children within a Jewish com
munity, and provide them with the education to gain the literacy that was
required to navigate within. My new rabbi, upon hearing of my predisposi
tion to hornblowing, asked if I was a Ba'al Tokeiah, a shofar blower. Yes, I
proudly responded. "Would you like to blow shofar for our community?"
he asked. Sure, I replied. "Have you studied about the laws and customs of
396
397
HORN O' PLENTY
GREG WALL
"Blow the great shofar,
TEKIYA, TRUA, SHVARIM
blasts, wails, broken cries,
stamp your feet
and the tombs will quake."
"And the mingling sounds will rise
to the roots of the souls,
and the wheel of destiny will turn
to rebuild all that is desolate..."
—HaRav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook
Growing up a secular suburban Jew I had a polite connection with ritual, dab
bling in dreidles, matza, gefilte fish. Twice yearly we endured the forced
pilgrimage to our local reform temple, where I would hear the organist and
choir accompany the cantor in the seemingly endless annual show, with a
large supporting cast. On Rosh HaShana we would know it was close to
liberation when we would hear the cantor, or some other big lunged desig
nate attempt to emit a few blasts on the shofar. Like the factory whistle, the
sound turned our hearts and minds to something much more substantial
than the reHgious service we were suffering through, to the tables of cakes,
fruits and confections that awaited. Off with the yarmulkes, bring on the
boiler makers of petit fours and Coca-Cola. In later teen years a cynical
anticipation emerged. Would he or wouldn't he? A few well intentioned
splats,blats or other ill sounding emissions from the shofar would instantly
bring a smile to the face. Perhaps the human element was in conflict with
the divine tribunal...
wall
horn o' plenty
the shofar?" he asked. No—^not really...not ever. That would be the pre
requisite before taking on the role in this new synagogue.
Laws? Customs? Why can't you just open up and blow...?
First things first... Jewish tradition teaches that it is a mitzvahdivine commandment—to hear the sound of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah.
The shofar is mentioned in several other contexts elsewhere in the bible, but
it is the Rosh Hashanah ritual that most people are familiar with. The com
mandment in the book of Leviticus (23:24) mentions a "Zichron trua," a
remembrance of the shofar, and in the Book of Numbers, (29:11) it says con
cerning the holiday, "It shall be a day of sounding the shofar."
Why the shofar?
The sound of the shofar emanating from the heavens was heard at
Mt. Sinai. It was blown to mark the end of the "Jubilee" year, after sevenyear agricultural cycles, and was blown in the orchestra at the holy temple
in Jerusalem. Tradition teaches us that the Akeidat Yitzchak, the binding of
Isaac by his father Abraham, took place on Rosh Hashanah, and the ram's
horn is symbolic of the ram Abraham sacrificed, instead of his son.
According to the tradition, the shofar must not be made from the
horn of a cow (keren), as that would make a connection with the Golden
Calf, a major spiritual challenge for the Jewish people, who's negative ener
gy is still in the world.
The mystical tradition teaches that there is a parallel shofar in the
heavens that is activated by the shofar on earth... Says the Zohar:
"Rabbi Abba, who was sitting before Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, said to
him: Look here, I have asked many times about the meaning of the shofar,
but so far I have not had a satisfying answer.
"He [Rabbi Shimon] replied: This is the true explanation. Why
does Israel require the ram's horn (shofar) on this day, but not another
type of horn (keren)? For it is known where the other type of horn
comes from, and we do not wish to adhere to judgment (din). However
we have learned that in word and deed we should perceive and deal with
secret things.
"Come and see! When the supernal shofar, in which all universal
lights are included, departs and does not illumine its children, then judg
ment is awakened, and thrones are set up for a court. And this shofar is
called 'Isaac's ram', i.e. Isaac's power, the praise of the 'fathers'. When that
great shofar departs, and does not suckle its children, then Isaac is
strengthened and prepares himself for judgment in the world.
398
"When that shofar is awakened, and when people repent of their
sins, they should draw the sound of the shofar from below, and that sound
ascends, and there awakens another, supernal shofar, so that mercy
(rachamim) is awakened and judgment departs. We must perform a phys
ical act with the shofar, in order to awaken the other shofar, and to pro
duce those sounds with that shofar below that will produce all those
sounds from above which are included in that supernal shofar, so that it be
awakened to go out.
"And with those sounds from below Israel is given strength
above, and therefore we must blow the shofar at its proper time, on this
day, and with the sounds in their proper series, intending by this to arouse
the other shofar above, which contains all the sounds." —Zohar, 'Emor,
III, 99a-100a
That's quite a mouthful.
The Zohar mentions three conditions necessary for "arousal"—
proper time, proper series of blasts, and proper condition.
The time was the easy part—during the day. The series of blasts
required was another story. Due to to some talmudic confusion over the
order and actual performance of the notes the nine bibUcally mandated
blasts would now be 100! Ouch!
The condition—one blowing the shofar must have the proper
mindfulness, the intention, or kavana. According to the tradition, one must
have in mind that he is blowing for everyone present, and that every sound
is for the singular purpose of directing the congregation's spiritual energy
upwards to the heavens. A lapse in concentration could cause a disconnect
between the lower and upper worlds.
I told my rabbi, "Thanks, but no thanks... I'm not up for this!" He
replied that my response was the one he was looking for, that an eagerness
would have indicated I was indeed the wrong person for the job. I would
have to see it through.
The morning of the Day of Judgment came. I went to the syna
gogue early, and practiced a few blasts. Nice...smooth. The youth director
asked me to blow for the children's service. Thirty blasts, feeling fine.
Someone asked me to go around the corner and blow shofar for someone
too ill to come to the synagogue. Thirty blasts later I was back, still plenty
of time until the main congregation reached the shofar service. I put on my
white kittel, the ceremonial frock symbolizing purity, and stepped up to the
bima. The cantor called o u t — t e k i y a!
399
CHAPTER
30
wall
I put the shofar to my lips.. .nothing.
I tried again...nada, gornisht...
Once more...zilch.
Silence filled the room. "Take a minute" I was told. A stand in sho
far blower ascended, and I went out to the garage and cried like I never had.
"R. Eleazar also said: From the day on which the Temple was destroyed
THE PERSPECTIVAL LUTE
PETER LAMBORN WILSON
the gates of prayer have been closed, as it says. Yea, when I cry and call for
help He shutteth out my prayer. {Lamentations 3:8) But though the gates
of prayer are closed, the gates of weeping are not closed, as it says, Hear
my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; keep not silence at my tears
{Psalms 39:12-13)..." —Babylonian Talmud-Tractate Brachot, 32B
400
The painter Arcimboldo (1526-1593) worked for Emperor Rudolf II in Prague,
where he met some of the greatest Renaissance "Magi:" Dr. John Dee and
Edward Kelley, Giordano Bruno, Rabbi Loewe (creator of the Golem),
Count Michael Maier and other Rosicrucians, not to mention the alchemymad emperor himself and all the inhabitants of Prague's famous Street of
Alchemists. Rudolf loved Arcimboldo's caricature of his Imperial self as the
god Vertumnus, a "composite portrait" in fruit and vegetables; and also the
wonderful "Flora," a goddess made out of flowers, like a Welsh fairy, for
which the ruler bestowed on the artist the title of Count Palatine.
Like Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance painters, Arcimboldo
mastered many skills and dabbled in inventions. He studied botany,
architecture and metallurgy, and designed floats and tableaux for Imperial
tournaments and Processions, which were like movable operas complete
with plot and characters, elaborate scenes and music, and allegories based on
Classical mythology and Hermetic cosmology.
The greatest of all alchemists Philippus Aureolus Bombastus
von Hohenheim, a.k.a. Paracelsus (1493-1541), whose life overlapped with
Arcimboldo's, had passed on to Rudolfine Prague an obsession with the
Four Elements, including the Seasons and Humours associated with them
and the Nature Elementáis that rule them: Earth/Gnomes, Air/Sylphs,
Fire/Salamanders and Water/Undines—characters who appear in Arcimbol
do's paintings. The Seven Planets also offered categories of "correspon
dences" or "Signatures" linking visible and invisible worlds, as did the Zodiac
and the stars in general. (Even Kepler and Brahe, the Court Astronomers,
no doubt contributed to the Emperor's horoscope.)
From Hermeticists such as Cornelius Agrippa and Marsilio Ficino
we know that each Element or Planet can be Unked magically with certain
angelic rituals designed almost synasthesically to involve all the senses
401
wilson
t h e perspectival lute
simultaneously, as well as Imagination and Intellect. Ficino's Planetary
Rituals again resembled opera as gesamtkunstwerk in their mingling of
colors, perfumes, wine and food, fabrics and textures, song and music.
Michael Maier's fabulous book Atalanta Fugiens (1614) combined image,
poetry and musical scores to provide an allegory of alchemy as a kind of
silent opera to be staged in the reader's mind. (Adam McLean and Joscelyn
Godwin published a modern translation of Atalanta with CD of the music,
a linked series of fugues based on occult numerology.) We know that
Arcimboldo himself invented a "perspectival lute" and a "color organ,"
both sadly now lost, perhaps precursors of J.K. Huysmans' imaginary
"taste organ" (based on various liqueurs) or Liberace's "color piano," not to
mention the psychedelic son et lumiere of the 1960s.
Clearly the Occident once knew an art of mystic music very simi
lar to those of Persia and India, although the immediate inspiration arose
from the Renaissance rediscovery of Antiquity—in this case, Neoplatonic
theurgy and Pythagorean numerology. Sound both organizes the cosmos
and is organized by it—whence the "Music of the Spheres" as well as a kind
of musico-magical therapeutics or alchemical music for aligning the
Humours—"Pilles to Purge Melancholie" as the title of an old English
songbook promised.
Hermetic figures "Zoemetra" and "Geometra" from a volume Giordano Bruno wrote in Prague in
1588, Articuli centum et sexaginta adversus huius temporis mathematicos atque philosophos
(One hundred and sixty articles against the mathematicians and philosophers of the present time).
These complex, deliberately puzzling diagrams represent parts of^Bruno s effort to trace the hidden
structures of the universe.
In an age when everybody from aristocrat to peasant could play an
402
instrument or at least sing along, this kind of popular esoteric knowledge
was far more accessible than now. Although we moderns of course possess
vastly more data than our ancestors, we have invested nearly all of it in
machinery and mediation. We are "represented" by professionals and stars
who sing and play for us—since we cannot do it for ourselves. Recorded
music can of course still be magical—but always with a magic imposed
upon us rather than created by us for ourselves.
The ultimate model for an Occidental Mystical Music derives from
the myth of Orpheus and the Orphic Mysteries. Shakespeare referred to it
with his "charms to soothe the savage beast." Another vital myth concerns
Apollo, patron of the Muses: he receives his first lute (made from a tortoise
shell) from the infant Hermes—the babe's precocious first invention, prior
even to the art of writing. The "Rout of Bacchus"—the wild parade of
Dionysus and his maenads, satyrs, panthers, fauns. Sileni and other genii/
djinn—must of course be set to music of panpipes, lyre, percussion and
song. Dionysus himself "comes from India" and may be said to stand for
the deepest proto-shamanic Indo-Iranian-European traditions that link the
Vedic Rishis and Zarathustran Magi with Greco-Roman, Celtic and Norse
pantheons. (Hermeticism, being perfectly "universal," also integrates
Jewish, Islamic, African, American Indian and Chinese wisdom, besides its
base in Egypto-Sumerian antiquity.)
Orphic music, rediscovered by Renaissance Hermeticists, was once
again repressed and submerged—first of all by bigoted religion. Protestant
iconoclasm swept away "decadent" Catholic musical mysticism as well as
the neo-pagan revival, and the Counter-Reformation did the same.
(Nevertheless certain esoteric secrets survived in Baroque music as well as
other non-verbal arts such as the Emblem Book and the Garden.) Another
coffin-nail was supplied by Enlightermient Rationalism and its scientific
materialism which distrusted music for its vagueness, emotionality and
appeal to ecstasis—^traits almost stamped out in i8th century music (Mozart
the Freemason being an obvious and glaring exception). The lid was finally
closed by 19th century Progressism and the Machinic Revolution. All
spooks were on the verge of being exorcized from music forever.
But suddenly the Romantics re-rediscovered traces of a lost tradi
tion and attempted to forge again a living link with Orpheus. The music
miming through my head as I write this sentence is Mendelssohn's Overture
to A Midsummer Night's Dream, composed before his sixteenth birthday,
403
wilson
the perspectival lute
simultaneously, as well as Imagination and Intellect. Ficino's Planetary
Rituals again resembled opera as gesamtkunstwerk in their mingling of
colors, perfumes, wine and food, fabrics and textures, song and music.
Michael Maier's fabulous book Atalanta Fugiens (1614) combined image,
poetry and musical scores to provide an allegory of alchemy as a kind of
silent opera to be staged in the reader's mind. (Adam McLean and Joscelyn
Godwin published a modern translation of Atalanta with CD of the music,
a linked series of fugues based on occult numerology.) We know that
Arcimboldo himself invented a "perspectival lute" and a "color organ,"
both sadly now lost, perhaps precursors of J.K. Huysmans' imaginary
"taste organ" (based on various liqueurs) or Liberace's "color piano," not to
mention the psychedelic son et lumiere of the 1960s.
Clearly the Occident once knew an art of mystic music very simi
lar to those of Persia and India, although the immediate inspiration arose
from the Renaissance rediscovery of Antiquity—in this case, Neoplatonic
theurgy and Pythagorean numerology. Sound both organizes the cosmos
and is organized by it—hence the "Music of the Spheres" as well as a kind
of musico-magical therapeutics or alchemical music for aligning the
Humours—"Pilles to Purge Melancholie" as the title of an old English
songbook promised.
Hermetic figures "Zoemetra" and "Geometra" from a volume Giordano Bruno wrote in Prague in
1588, Articuli centum et sexaginta adversus huius temporis mathematicos atque philosophos
(One hundred and sixty articles against the mathematicians and philosophers of the present time).
These complex, deliberately puzzling diagrams represent parts of Bruno s effort to trace the hidden
structures of the universe.
In an age when everybody from aristocrat to peasant could play an
402
instrument or at least sing along, this kind of popular esoteric knowledge
was far more accessible than now. Although we moderns of course possess
vastly more data than our ancestors, we have invested nearly all of it in
machinery and mediation. We are "represented" by professionals and stars
who sing and play for us—since we cannot do it for ourselves. Recorded
music can of course still be magical—but always with a magic imposed
upon us rather than created by us for ourselves.
The ultimate model for an Occidental Mystical Music derives from
the myth of Orpheus and the Orphic Mysteries. Shakespeare referred to it
with his "charms to soothe the savage beast." Another vital myth concerns
Apollo, patron of the Muses: he receives his first lute (made from a tortoise
shell) from the infant Hermes—the babe's precocious first invention, prior
even to the art of writing. The "Rout of Bacchus"—the wild parade of
Dionysus and his maenads, satyrs, panthers, fauns. Sileni and other genii/
djinn—must of course be set to music of panpipes, lyre, percussion and
song. Dionysus himself "comes from India" and may be said to stand for
the deepest proto-shamanic Indo-Iranian-European traditions that link the
Vedic Rishis and Zarathustran Magi with Greco-Roman, Celtic and Norse
pantheons. (Hermeticism, being perfectly "universal," also integrates
Jewish, Islamic, African, American Indian and Chinese wisdom, besides its
base in Egypto-Sumerian antiquity.)
Orphic music, rediscovered by Renaissance Hermeticists, was once
again repressed and submerged—first of all by bigoted religion. Protestant
iconoclasm swept away "decadent" Catholic musical mysticism as well as
the neo-pagan revival, and the Counter-Reformation did the same.
(Nevertheless certain esoteric secrets survived in Baroque music as well as
other non-verbal arts such as the Emblem Book and the Garden.) Another
coffin-nail was supplied by Enlightenment Rationalism and its scientific
materialism which distrusted music for its vagueness, emotionality and
appeal to ecstasis—traits almost stamped out in 18th century music (Mozart
the Freemason being an obvious and glaring exception). The lid was finally
closed by 19th century Progressism and the Machinic Revolution. All
spooks were on the verge of being exorcized from music forever.
But suddenly the Romantics re-rediscovered traces of a lost tradi
tion and attempted to forge again a living link with Orpheus. The music
running through my head as I write this sentence is Mendelssohn's Overture
to A Midsummer Night's Dream, composed before his sixteenth birthday.
403
wilson
t h e perspectival lute
which evokes for me the Hermetic Shakespeare depicted by Dame Frances
Yates or Lovejoy's old book on The Great Chain of Being. If Romanticism
has a precursor as our eternal rebel avant garde it must be Hermeticism.
And indeed even the "tolerant" Renaissance could burn a magician at the
stake, like Giordano Bruno in Rome's "Field of Flowers" in 1600. This is
Blake's Everlasting Gospel, always already suppressed by orthodoxy,
always esoteric, occult and forbidden.
We in the West must live with the consequences of this entire series
of catastrophes, the successive suppressions of musique mystique which
have left us alienated from our Orphic heritage. Goethe, Wagner, Nietzsche
and Emerson (among many others) looked to Iran and India for ways to
overcome the Occidental occultation of mysticism in general, and in the
specific case of music we might now follow their lead, relatively unencum
bered by the "Orientalist" distortions they had to confront. By looking at
Tantra and Sufism, for instance, we can find specific techniques handed
down from the most archaic shamanism. Here I can speak with at least a
modicum of first-hand experience, having lived in India and Iran from 1968
to 1978 and attended many seances of mystical music both Hindu and
Islamic. In India it's often difficult to separate the two strands since
Moslems perform sacred Hindu music and vice versa in a syncretistic pat
tern dating back at leaast to the Mughal period (when Prince Dara Shikoh
declared, "Our Sufism is their vedanta, their vedanta is our Sufism."
Tantrik teachings on sound as mantra have deep implications for
music. Each mode—indeed each note—^is "presided over" by a specific
deity, just as each mantra evokes or rather constitutes the sonic body of a
divine persona. In Zoroastrian and Persian Sufi tradition these deities are
easily seen and embraced as Angels. The twelve Classical modes of Persian
music have their Zoroastrian-named Angels as well as Zodiacal signs,
months of the year and other "Signatures."
Naturally these systems imply a spiritual psychology of music in
which the musician (or listener in an ecstatic state) identifies the limited self
with the god or angel-self of the mode. As Arcimboldo knew, there are no
ideas but in persons. Paganism (or its "monotheistic" analogy in angelology) knows neither abstractions nor "dead" things; the cosmos is held
together by desire, and desire exists only amongst living beings. The Greek
version of this ontology derives from Hesiod's cosmogony in which Chaos
is formed by Eros into matter [mater. Gaia, Mother Earth) in the dark
womb of Old Night.
In medieval Persian Sufism of the "School of Love" this esoteric
system was performed in an informal ceremony known as sama' or
"Audition." In the heterodox atmosphere of Persia and North India this
rite took on its classical form: a small group of Sufis, musicians and
"beloveds" would meet in private to dance, perhaps drink wine or use
cannabis, and induce states of mystical ecstasy. In these circles the ideal
form of eroticism was a chaste pederasty limited to "gazing," perhaps
kissing or dancing "breast to breast." In Tantrik ritual the beloved must
be of the opposite sex to the worshipper, but Persia followed an archaic
(even shamanic) preference for same-sex love, also found in both
Platonism and Orphism.
If this classic form of sama' {or indeed the classic Tantrik "lefthand"
sex ritual) still exists, I never experienced it. In modern (more exoteric)
times the sama' takes the form of music dance sessions of dervishes unstim
ulated by intoxicants or erotic (dis)play. In India it has become a public
qawwali concert performed at the tombs of saints by such maestros as the
late Fateh Ali Khan; I saw him sing in Lahore in 1972 at the shrine of Mian
Mir. In both these modern forms of sama' the hai or mystic state of exalta
tion is experienced by at least some participants and auditors—otherwise
the session would be deemed a failure. The afflicted ones sometimes jump
up and begin to spin, just like the Sufis in medieval miniatures.
The most evolved and ordered sama' developed in Ottoman
Turkey among the Mevlevl followers of Jalaleddin Rumi, with full orches
tra, written scores, and intricate choreography based on the whirling
spheres of heaven. Western audiences have seen folkloristique versions of
this, but you'd have to visit Kurdestan to witness dervishes so entranced by
music they eat glass and scorpions and pass swords through their cheeks or
skewers through their tongues.
It would be difficult and perhaps absurd simply to import such
practises wholesale into "Western music" or modern spiritual practise in
general, like some sort of Orientalist Rave Culture. Nevertheless it might
remain possible to seek inspiration and even some techmcal secrets highly
useful to any possible "Hermetic revival" of music in our era.
Music, the art to which all others aspire according to Nietzsche's
highly Orphic aphorism, remains the esoteric art par excellence because it
communicates essences without words or inages. Of course word (song)
404
405
wilson
t h e perspectival lute
ideologizes music just as the caption ideologizes the image, as Walter
Benjamin would say. But non-representational sound alone is still the
angelic body, perhaps most so when unconstrained by semantic enclosure.
Nevertheless mystic music always seems to want to embrace all other arts
as well: poetry, dance, perfumery, theater, cuisine, etc.—in a union of the
senses aimed at breakthrough into the "invisible" Mundus Imaginalis or
world of the creative Imagination. As Mozart and Charles Fourier (the mad
19th century French "Utopian Socialist") and Wagner agreed, the perfect
Hermetic form ought in theory to be opera, the "complete artwork."
Fourier believed that Utopian society would create operas without audi
ences, in which everyone would perform, just as in "primitive" societies
where everyone participates in music dance ritual—where no one is
"represented" and all are present.
Every recording is the tombstone of a live performance. Recording
increases musical data but impoverishes musical wisdom on the social as
well as individual level. Just as Magical Theater (from Artaud to the Living
Theater) attempts to break down the proscenium between artists and audi
ence, so too the barrier of recorded music must be breached if practical
mysticism rather than dry theory is the goal. Perhaps musique mystique
must be considered not only as live and present but even as "site-specific"
and thus literally impossible to record.
One reason why church remains so popular in America may be its role as
last refuge of amateur group music—and in some Pentecostal or Spiritual
churches music still whips up hal-Vike states of ecstasy, even glossolalia and
snake handling.
In anti-pessimistic moments I refuse to believe the human spirit
can be wholly crushed by technology and the rule of money. I foresee
some kind of Luddite uprising against "machinery hurtful to the common
alty," and I even imagine poets/artists/musicians as the "unacknowledged
legislators" of this rebellion. (By the way, Shelley supported the Luddites.)
Inevitably this would involve a Hermetic Revival, and a renewal of
Romanticism as the eternal avant garde. If "life without music would be a
mistake" (Nietzsche) we are already experiencing the effects of this error—
and only music itself can rectify it. For inspiration we might well return to
our own Occidental wisdom—tradition and come to conceptualize music
as alchemy. Only in this way—or so I suspect—can we hope to re-invent
Arcimboldo's perspectival Lute.
There remains too the "Problem of the Audience" considered as
passive consumers of music or ritual. The 20th century magician Aleister
Crowley once dosed an entire audience with mescaline before a perfor
mance of his "Rite of Eleusis;" but he judged it a failure, since "asses on
drugs are still asses." We cannot simply wish into being a cultural climate in
which people know how to fall into ecstatic states. We've all grown up in a
world where technopathocratic Too-Late Capitalism has attempted to
abolish not only Nature but even human society—and has largely succeeded.
We find ourselves inundated with music but somehow paradoxically
plunged into mourning over its absence. The same might be said of all the
arts in as much as they are reduced to systems of commodities sold to an
atomized populace rather than poetic artifacts produced by a free and
creative people.
Recently I realized its been years since I've heard anyone singing
in the street. Recorded music is so overpoweringly omnipresent in my vil
lage it seems to have killed off even this last vestige of social production.
406
407
CHAPTER
31
metaphors, mythos and metaphonics
METAPHORS, MYTHOS AND
METAPHONICS
Z'EV
"...if you have ears to hear, then hear" attributed to Jesu, son of Mary.
—Matthew //.-/j
"If 'in the beginning was the word,' then it is our hearing of that word that
makes it sacred and so allows us to hear each other into a transcendent
humanness and wholeness."
In his book
I
T
—^Nelle Morton*
^
-7 r
^,
.
\.The Journey üHomeM-yíonoa.
I h e t o r g e a n a t h e C m a b l e , Mercia
Eliade, that most amazing Historian of Religion wrote:
"According to their traditions, Chinese Alchemy was developed utilizing
three elements: Principles, Myths, and Techniques."
To my delight, I realized that this three-foldness and its ordering
was mirrored in the selection of concepts that I had already chosen as the
title of this writing.
To wit:
between Metaphor and Trance, because when emotion and reason (i.e. the
traditional body/mind dichotomy) merge, the result can be some form or
another of Trance.
Metaphors are used to describe {illuminate could also be used here)
preternatural truths as well as natural ones.
In rituals Metaphors are used to describe the nature of cosmic
forces. As such. Metaphors can lead one to an innate "Realization."
Or, we could also call it an "ahh-haa" due to the reaction it elicits.
Regardless, some form of Realization is generally one of the results
of the Trance experience.
Therefore: Trance is an Altered State of Consciousness, Consciousness
being the sahent, i.e., that which is altered. And we only know, or at least
can only discuss, our Consciousness by means of Language.
While I do not agree with the philosopher J. Jaynes^ on his most
d r a m a t i cp o i n t sr e g a r d i n gt h eo r i g i no fc o n s c i o u s . . .
2. The Origin of Consciousness in
ness, on these next points I can agree:
B r e a k d o w n o f t h e B i c a m e r a l MM.
"It is by metaphor that language grows. (Its) grand and vigorous function
is the generation of new language..."
He reaches his summation with the following:
"All of these concrete metaphors increase enormously our powers of per
ception of the world about us and our understanding of it, and literally
creates new objects... .Indeed, language is an organ of perception, not sim
ply a means of communication."
In the cognitive field it is a fairly common assumption that there are
two quite disparate modes of apprehension: emotion and reason, which are
bridged by the use of Metaphor. To my mind, this clarified the relation
Being consequential then. Metaphor is an organ, and perhaps
the most vital organ, of perception.
If, through Trance, we are able to break open the Doors of Perception,
might we not also be breaking open the Doors of Metaphor? And by-andthrough the very means of Metaphor itself?
For we can regard all our ideas and behaviors as reflections of
some Metaphor: That is, as the outcome of treating the world "as if" it is a
certain way. That is, by experiencing it through a particular worldview/frame
of reference.
Metaphor, in this sense, is enacted and reflected as much in our
actions and feelings as in our patterns of thought and behavior.
It would not be going too far to say that Metaphor operates at
every level of our consciousness and sub-consciousness in our inter-reac-
408
409
Metaphor is the Principle on which these musings are based.
Mythos (Myths) reveals a universal depth of being the world over.
And Metaphonics is the word I am coining/suggesting for the
major Trance Induction Technique on the planet.
Metaphor
Dictionary definition:
"A transferring to one word the sense of another."
Z'EV
METAPHORS, MYTHOS AND METAPHONICS
rions with the world.
Therefore, in considering worldviews, it should not be too hard to
imagine the dichotomy which exists between the antipodes of a hteral view,
on the one hand, and a metaphoric view, on the other.
The literal worldview supposes a sort of frozen reality, where any
particular idea or action, once reflected on or experienced, would remain
absolutely stable. Resorting to Metaphor, we could call this a Photographic
or a two-dimensional worldview.
The Metaphoric worldview, on the other hand, supposes a fluid
reality. To achieve a representation of this would require something along
the lines of a holographic motion picture. Holographic because you would
want to be able to walk around whatever notion you were considering. Just
to kind of get another angle on it. And a holographic motion picture at that.
Because things happen in Time, as well as in Space.
Since its inception. Western Science has functioned on the premise
that the only way to understand a physical phenomenon, whether a frog or
an atom, was to dissect it and study its separate parts. However, in a holo
graphic Multiverse, this separateness is an illusion, because at the deepest
levels of reality everything is infinitely interconnected.
Thus, the electrons in each carbon atom in a human being would be
connected to the subatomic particles that comprise every other animal, veg
etable and mineral on the Earth, and beyond that to every star that shim
mers and planet that shines in the sky.
And indeed, in 1982 a research team at the University of Paris led
,3. ,http://www2.cnrs.ir/en/447.htm
„
X, , ,
by
physicist Alain Aspect^
discovered that under
• A ^
A
certain circumstances subatomic particles (such as
electrons) could instantaneously communicate with each other regardless of
the distance separating them.
The physicist David Böhm beUeves Aspect's findings implied that
an "objective" reality does not exist—^rather that, despite its apparent solid
ity, the universe is in fact holographic. Because, unlike photographs, every
part of a hologram contains all the information possessed by the whole.
The work of these two scientists, and they are just a cursory
sampling, strengthens the notion that only a holographic metaphor of
consciousness could enable the vast amounts of frequencies being shared
by all our different senses to be sorted out to produce our conventional
perceptions.
410
Research is continually discovering that each of our senses is sensi
tive to a much broader range of frequencies than was previously suspected.
For example:
1. Our visual systems are sensitive to sound frequencies (which is
how my sound works in the dark functions).
2. Our sense of smell is in part dependent on intra-molecular vibra
tions, referred to as "osmic," or absorptive frequencies,
3. Even the individual cells composing our bodies are sensitive to a
broad range of frequencies, which accounts for the phenomenon
known as "whole body hearing."
Biologist Lyall Watson has described"* an
4. Gifts of Unknown Things.
encounter with an Indonesian Shaman woman
who, by performing a ritual dance, caused an entire grove of trees to disap
pear and then reappear, off again and on again several times in succession.
Obviously Western Science is incapable of explaining, let alone accepting,
such events and experiences.
But they are "explainable" if what is referred to as "consensual real
ity" is formulated and functional at a holographic level where all minds are
infinitely interconnected. In this holographic multiverse there would be no
limits to the extent in which the fabric of reality could be altered.
Experiences such as Watson's are rare then, only because we have
not agreed to share the metaphors that would make them commonplace.
The point that seems to be arising here is that a literal worldview
would reflect the normal state of consciousness and a Metaphoric worldview any of the variety of altered states of consciousness.
In 1987 Cathy J. Wheeler wrote The Magic of Metaphor^, an absolute
ly killer article that rocked my world when I came
5. The Mazic of Metaphor in: Metaphor
across it, and I can't recommend it enough.
emd Symbolic Aaivity v.2 (4).
Jungian Psychologist James Hillman',
b^The Th^u£>t of the Heart md the Soul
who has revised and revitalized Jung's work, con
nects the metaphorical-literal contrast with the notions of monotheism and
polytheism.
Monotheistic religions regard their god as the ultimate. The One
True God. No wonder then, that within this worldview,for any phenomenon
there must be One, single, exclusive, and absolute Truth. Unfortunately,
with the possible exception of particle physics, this is still the pervasive
411
Z'EV
METAPHORS, MYTHOS AND METAPHONICS
mindset of Non-Animistic Cultures and their Sciences.
In contrast, Polytheism esteems diversity, plurality, and complexi
ty. Polytheism not only acknowledges many god/desses but it tends to be
loose, adaptable and non-dogmatic.
Polytheistic cultures generally do not regard themselves and any
other religions they encounter, or might in the past have conquered, as
mutually exclusive. Unless, of course, that religion is/was Monotheistic.
It should come as no surprise, therefore, that Trance Cultures
throughout the world are decidedly polytheistic.
For example, go to the market and check out the candle depart
ment—dollars to doughnuts you will find Santerian candles.
Santería is a perfect Polytheistic blend of Catholicism, with its vast
list of Saints, transported/transmuted into a New World adaptation of tra
ditional African religions with their Pantheons of Powers.
And Polytheism does make the perfect transition to the discussion
of Mythos—because where would the Myths be without their vast pan
theons of Divine characters to gossip about?
Mythos
For the Greeks, Mythos meant: word, saying, fable, tale, talk or speech.
This was contrasted with logos (The Word) and later with historia.
Literary criticism regarding the veracity of Myth began as early as
500 BCE, and Mythos eventually came to denote that which was unreal. It
is most interesting that even that far back in history the Metaphoric func
tion/purpose of Myth was beginning to fade.
Closer to home, in a current Encyclopedia Britannica, Myth is
introduced as a collective term denoting a symbolic narrative in religion, as
distinguished from symbolic behavior (of a sect or during a ritual) or sym
bolic places or objects (temples, icons, drums/instruments, etc.)
What this is implying is that, as simply a "narrative," Myth should
be understood as existing somewhere separate from, or inaccessible to, ordi
nary human experience or behavior or place or object.
And that seems pretty sad to me.
The novelist Ian McDonald^ set forth a
7. Desolation Row.
notion of Myth most beautifully:
"Marvelous how all human strife and conflict was a symbolic enactment
the present was merely a fragment of the past repeating itself over and
over again."
The theologian Paul Tillich and the philosopher Karl Jaspers have
both put forth cogent views in which:
"Myth is that which is taken for granted when thought begins." —^Tillich
And
"Myth is the limit reached in the course of scientific analysis when it is
(continually, I might add) found that no further progress in definition can
be made after certain fundamental principles have been reached." —Jaspers
Ian McDonald said in this regard:
"The science which doesn't include that
which it can't explain is no science at all."
This dead end has been apparent in Western Science for quite some
time and is responsible for the instigation of discussions about the limits of
what can be scientifically explained. This dilemma is the force behind the
impulse that has brought out all the books about Science and Spirituality, as
well as all the conferences on that topic. The upside is that it has also
sparked a renewed interest in the Mythological dimensions of human
knowledge and consciousness.
Now these dimensional levels can also be considered as functions
of Memory.
For, as far as I am concerned, it is only the very least of what
Mythos is that manifests as the collections of fictions that exist in their oral
or textual form. While that aspect of Myth is clearly the most usual refer
ent, I would define that aspect as the stuff of Legend, Fable, Folktale, Epic,
Saga, etc.
For the purposes of this discussion I would posit rather that
Mythos be seen as levels of informations redolent with the transforming
powers of Life and Death and the unfolding forces of Nature. Because,
absolutely, these Mythic dimensional levels (in a metaphorical without)
exist in-potential within each of us. And this is central to this paradigm.
For within us too, running deep throughout oxir 75 trillion cells are
these same dimensional levels of Mythos. That is "in" what we call our Memory.
This reflexive notion (a without and a within) is echoed in the
of loftier struggles between the Powers Cosmic so that every moment of
412
413
Z'EV
METAPHORS, MYTHOS AND METAPHONICS
classic esoteric dictum "As above, So Below" which can be heard echoing
throughout this discussion.
As to how this Mythic information is/can be accessed?
The tradition of the Bat Kol from the Qabalha can shed some light
here. Literally translated as Daughter of the Voice, figuratively it denotes the
"small still Inner Voice."
My belief now is that the voice alluded to here is that of our own
dear Heart.
In Qabalhistic Tradition it is held that all true teachings originate
in/on what they refer to as the "Inner Planes," the access to which is gained
in the Trance or Dream state. These Inner Planes are generally synonymous
with the Akashik Record of Eastern Traditions and the Dream Times of
many different cultures (Aboriginal, Malay, Amerindian et al.). On the one
hand they are Hieroglyphically/Holographically rich places" (i.e., states,
levels, realities of mind, etc.) which can be visited.
On the other hand, they are also repositories for the sum total of
possibilities of life-in-action.
Metaphorically they are quite obviously holographic "Ubraries" of
all past, present and future her- and his- stories.
There are many Trance practices aimed at attuning one's self to
the presence of this Inner Voice, whereby the neural activity of the brain
is quieted, thus enabling our connection to the informations emanating/
resonating from/in/out of our heart and cells and/or the quantum seas.'
And, as we shall see, most if not all of these
8. Due to space constraints I'm unable to
practices are aided and abetted by Sound/
go into depth regarding the molecular side
of this whole process, but for those so
Music.
interested see:
a) Molecules of Emotion: The Science Between.
Metaphorically then, the Quarterly
b) Mind-Body Medicine^ Candace Pert.
Everything You Need to Know to Feel
Go(o)dy C. Pert and N. Marriot.
Nature of our consciousness (comprised of
And regarding the Heart in this process,
these cellular, cerebral, heart and quantum ele
for those so interested see:
a) The Living Ener^ Universe^ Dr. Gary
ments/energies) can be considered as a radio,
Schwartz ana Dr. Lmda Russek.
b) The Heart's Code^ Dr. Paul Pearsall.
that through intentional practice can, ultimate
c^ The Human Heart, Rudolf Steiner,
a) http://www.heartmath.org/research/
ly, receive such information/s—transmission/s
research-our-heart-brain.html
e) http://www.heartmath.org/research/
both inside and, eventually—which is the
science-of-the-heart.html
goal—outside of the Trance state.
Metaphonics
Breaking this word down:
414
Meta- is a Greek and Latin preposition originally signifying the
relations: "in the midst of," "among," "between," "after" and "according to."
Its first definition in Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary
is: "changed in position or form," "altered" and "transposed."
Which leaves us with: Phon—^which is from the Greek phone:
"sound" or "voice."
Metaphonics then, is the term I am coining for what is now gener
ally termed Sacred Musics. That is, music/sound that is most concerned
with transition/transportation. Or whose intent is to alter consciousness or
to transpose between states of consciousness and/or levels of reality/ies.
This would be in contradistinction to secular musics that seek but to distract
or entertain.
So from the Shaman's rattling drum to the Mormon Tabernacle
Choir, virtually all societies have favored sound as the medium to establish
the Setting for their most sacred activities.
While sound is hardly the only stimulus used for this, due to its
pervasiveness and potential for subtle variation it has always been the ideal
tool to provide the markers for the changing moments of ritual action.
Consider the fact that many such rites are conducted at night or
in a dim light which also serves to enhance the sensitivity of the ear.
Consider too that a ritual lead by a deaf person would be as rare as the
proverbial chicken's tooth, while rituals lead by a blind person are very
common indeed.
Perhaps the primary power of sound, and this is especially true in
regard to Metaphonics, is in its relationship to Time. More specifically, this
relationship is expressed by sound's ability to achieve various degrees of
Time-Dilation; i.e., relative/subjective experiences of Duration.
As Albert Einstein was related to have said, "When you sit with a
nice girl for two hours you think it's only a minute. But when you sit on a
hot stove for a minute you think it's two hours. That's relativity."
And it is also Time-Dilation.
This demonstrates that during experiences of Time-Dilation one is
taken out of a mechanistic/linear reality and inhabits the probability rich
realities of Relativity.
In respect to the Uni- vs. Multi- ness of our Verse, it would seem
that while physically it is Uni (that is, Newtonian), when considered psy
chically/spiritually it is Multi (that is, Relativistic/Holographic).
415
Z'EV
METAPHORS, MYTHOS AND METAPHONICS
Another way of saying this is: you can only build a machine by
using Newtonian Physics. However, you can only consider the cosmos or
the relationships of matter using Quantum/Relativistic Physics, and per
haps only then from within the Holographic Metaphor.
So it is probably safe to say that the vast majority of peoples today
think of their bodies and the objects around them and the space in which
they both exist as three-dimensional.
An obviously more recent development in Western Science is the
concept of a fourth dimension, although this concept was introduced in
1908 by H. Minkowski.
In considering the ramifications of Einstein's Special Theory of
Relativity he pointed out that it was now necessary to include a fourth
dimension, that of Time, to the basis of our three dimensional world.
Minkowski, not Einstein, referred to this "new" WorldView as the "fourdimensional space-time continuum."
Simply put: if the three spatial dimensions are extensions in Space
then the fourth dimension of any object is its duration, or extension, in
Time. (Note that it seems the current contender in mainstream Science for
this 4th position is gravity).
In an article by S.C. McLaughlin^,
The Relation Between Physical Dimen• 1 J
"TI
n 1 •
T>
r\i
'
1
sions and Higher Consciousness'm: Journal
entitled
i h c ixQlCltlOTl Bctwcctl Phystcul
of Altered States of Consciousness
Dimensions and Higher Consciousness, he
states as its purpose, "...to present the elementary principles of a system of
ideas in which the transcendent or spiritual element in human experience is
described in terms of the dimensional structure of the physical universe."
McLaughlin has gotten very consequential with the ramifications
of this Worldview in the consideration of states/levels of consciousness
which are directly related to my concept of the Metaphon.
In his article he posits that 3i purely three-dimensional form, having
no fourth dimension (i.e., duration) could not enter our experience.
Conversely, a purely fourth-dimensional sensory observation is equally
outside the range of human experience because it would entail a sensory
awareness of the infinitely eternal sequence of events attached to the "life"
of each-and-every "thing" encountered.
For McLaughlin then, human sense-impressions (i.e., conscious
ness) lie somewhere between those two dimensions. The reason I mention
this is that within his paradigm, which he refers to by the term "dimensional
416
level of consciousness," changes in states are basically Time based.
And I would bet that everyone reading this has had some experi
ence with Time-Dilation. That, at the very least, you have "gotten lost"
when listening to music, while driving, etc.
This is what I am putting forth regarding Metaphons.
That it is, by their ability to alter one's relationship to both Space
and Time, which they, in fact, both can—and do—enable one's conscious
ness to be altered.
The current paradigm for thinking about the dimensionality of the
physical world was introduced into the West by Pythagoras' who coined
the term philosophos (lover of wisdom); he was
the first person to refer to himself as such.
Pythagoras gained his place in the annals
of Western Science primarily for introducing the idea of the limit as the cor
relative to the then current conception of a limitless something out of which
the world was made.
According to his theory, the limitless once Umited produces the
point, twice limited the line, thrice limited the plane, and/o«r times limited
the solid. And he was satisfied that all things then arose from the various
arrangements of these geometries.
His search for the secret of the Octave led him to associate mea
surements of length and weight with musical tones. His success left the
West with a large chunk of their "scientific method," the conversion of
quality (in his case sound) into quantity (in his case lengths and ratios).
Tradition holds that Pythagoras was inspired by hearing hammers
striking a stirrup against the anvil of a Smithy. Attaching the heads of the
hammers to cords of equal length and substance, he went on to develop his
theory of the Octave.
Many versions of this tradition relate it only in terms of the lengths
of the cords or the relative size of the weights. Also, Pythagoras' intent here
was to erase the Shamanic element by leaving out the context, i.e. the Smithy.
For what would a Philosopher like Pythagoras be doing in a
Smithy anyway?
However, Aristotle wrote that Pythagoras had a golden thigh
bone. At the time this was recorded Aristotle could have been doing noth
ing less than conclusively identifying Pythagoras as having been within the
Shamanic tradition. An Archetypical Smith is actively present in many of
417
Z'EV
METAPHORS, MYTHOS AND METAPHONICS
the traditions which have been documented regarding initiation rites in the
(irmer) Underworld. This Smith is generally concerned with that part of the
initiation process that includes the dismembering of the novice.
This is often followed by their immersion in a cauldron, or not.
Either way, when they are reconstituted as a Shaman, some bone(s) have
been replaced by metals.
So Pythagoras had his epiphany in the Smithy.
And he discovered that the basic intervals of the music scale recog
nized in his day (i.e., the fourth, the fifth and the octave) could be repre
sented by the ratios (or proportions) 1:2, 3:2 and 4:3. This correspondence
made it appear that kosmos (i.e., order and beauty) was imposed on the
potentially chaotic range of sound by means of the first four integers 1,
2, 3, and 4. And he saw this as a further vindication of his four-folding of
the limit.
The numbers 1+2 + 3 + 4 add up to 10, which provided striking
confirmation, if it was not the actual ground, for the Pythagorean belief that
the number ten was, as Aristotle relates; "something perfect, and containing
in itself the whole nature of number."
This number they represented graphically by the figure known as the
tetractys which became their sacred symbol. It also appeared in a formula by
which his followers were said to swear their allegiance to his School:
"By him who handed down to us the tetractys,
source and root of everlasting nature."
The number 10 also signifies a major glyph of Qabalhistic lore
known as The Tree of Life.
®
0
®
®
®
®
©
©
©
©
©
®
©
©
©
©
Q
Tetractys Tree of Life.
For the Pythagorean Schools c.550 b c e through to the early Christian
writers, numbers were held to be the principles and elements of all things
418
and composed the proportions of the whole world.
Allow me to take a slight detour and consider the notion of
proportion:
1. Rhythms are built up out of proportions.
2. Proportion literally translates as "for one's portion."
3. One's portion always has a direct relation to one's destiny.
When sounding a proportion/rhythm, then, one is invoking a course
of events, the intention of which varies with the particulars of the time and
location of the particular ritual. These ritual properties, especially time and
location, are most developed in the Indian musical system of the raga, which
I will explore further.
In respect to this notion of proportion then, it is the proportion
ate difference between the relative magnitudes of the beats and the
silences—between these beats—which comprise and give the power to any
particular rhythm.
For example:
When X = beat and x = rest, and -(x)- = a longer rest, a particular
rhythm could look Uke this:
XxXxx-(x)-XXxxxXx-(x)(This "loops" as: XxXxx-(x)-XXxxxXx-(x)-XxXxx-(x)-XXxxxXx(x)-XxXxx-(x)- which would be repeated ad infinitum in a ritual setting).
Through the intention of the drummer the particular rhythm
notated here would be capable of enabling the manifestation of the energies
corresponding to either the creator/creation, or the Forest, or the Lighting
(i.e., the visual accompaniment to thunder).
A
1•
1
1 1 • T 1
\0. Concept of Identity and Folk Concepts
_I
I .
Apropos this, ethnopsychologist John
.^
I
^
I
Blacking^° relates a lascmatmg incident:
of Self:
A Venda Case
Study m-. identity,
A. Jacobson-Widding ed.
"I remember an old, blind, Master Musician criticizing a performance on
one of my tape recordings on the grounds that the drummers could not have
been moving their shoulders and arms correctly."
Intense, eh? That this Master could literally see what he was hear
ing. And consider also the fact that even just the recording of the sound was
actually conveying this information to one who knew how to access it.
You can turn your back on a sight, but you carmot turn your back
419
metaphors, mythos and metaphonics
z'ev
to a sound.
11. I he Birth oj the bymbol M MUSK
World of Music V. 16
in:
Also, this anecdote related by
M.
•'
Schneider^
"...considering the great importance ancient peoples placed on hearing. I
had a concrete example of this many years ago when a Duala beat a
rhythm for me that coordinated sea waves, herds coming down a hill and
wind blowing through underbrush."
So the Duala was varying his "intention" as he played, allowing
Schneider the multiplicity of visualizations he was seeing, in his "mind seye", associated with the rhythmic sounds he was hearing.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with a Senegalese musi
cian I worked quite a bit with when I was living in Amsterdam. He told
me that the Master of Masters of Senegalese drummers had awoken one
night during a rain storm from a dream in which he had learned the
"rhythms of the rain."
Listen to the talking drummers who play with Senegalese singers
Yousu N' Dour or Baba Maal, and you can hear this liquidity for yourself.
The Pythagorean School used music in both its healing and metaphonic capacities. In their teachings, their belief was that seven "plane
tary" spheres each corresponded to a different note of a cosmic musical
scale. I put "planetary" in quotes because the seven included our Moon
and the Sun along with the five inner planets Mercury, Venus, Mars,
Jupiter and Saturn.
The particular pitch depends on four basic parameters: planetary
rotation and orbital period (time), and orbital circumference and diameter
(space), just as the pitch of a lyre string depends on its material, length,
thickness and the tension under which it is put.
However, this "Music of the Spheres" was never a fixed system.
There were as many such schemes, with differing values given to each
"planet," as Philosophical Schools that dealt with it.
Attributed to Socrates in Plato's Republic is the statement that, for
the Pythagoreans, Music and Astronomy were sister sciences. Therefore,
then, these ratios found through Sound were also appHed to Astronomy.
The orbits of the planets and the vault of the stars were taken to correspond
to these ratios. Consequentially then, these orbits should be emanating
tones which would combine into a virtual symphony.
If Humanity was not in tune with these harmonies, then that must
420
be because their Souls were out of tune and not vibrating in unison with the
emanations of the kosmos. So this is what their notion of a "Music of the
Spheres" was about. And, maybe not surprisingly, it refers to a "silent"
"inner" Music.
Pythagoras taught that this information was revealed to the Greeks
through Orpheus, and for centuries revealed to initiates of his Mysteries.
Just before these Mysteries began to degenerate, Pythagoras instituted their
teachings into his School.
For over some 1,000 years this notion of sonic tones being an inher
ent property of astronomical entities and events has been considered a naïve
fantasy of obviously "primitive" peoples.
However, in the fall of 2003 the Chandra X-ray Observatory (in
an elliptical orbit ranging from 6,200 to 86,800 miles above the Earth's
radiation belts) produced images that allowed NASA scientists to
confirm the presence of sound waves in the Perseus Galaxy, some 250
million light years from the Milky Way". The
11. Perseus galaxy. http://chandra.harvwd.
sound's oressurc zones, which have remained
edu/photo/2003/perseus/perseus_xray.)pg
*
roughly constant for approximately 2.5 bil
lion years, pulse at a frequency of [approximately] 1 cycle per 300 million
million seconds. This translates as a tone fifty-seven octaves below mid
dle C. The [approximate] pitch of the tone would be B^ or ten notes
above middle C.
In the April 2006 issue of The Astrophysical Journal, a team led by
Professor Adam Burrows reported that immediately preceding the explo
sion of a supernova, which then becomes a black hole, the supernova
"sings." Until this time scientists had assumed that the explosion was due to
the star's outer shell bouncing back off the core. But Burrows' team has
developed computer models that simulate the events from the collapse of
the core of a dying start through to the supernova explosion. Their simula
tions showed that about 500 milliseconds after the core collapses, the inner
core begins to vibrate wildly. And after 600-800 milliseconds, this oscilla
tion becomes so vigorous that it generates sound. In their simulations, it was
the pressure of the sound that actually caused the star to explode. The
researchers said that the typical sound frequencies in the inner core range
from about 200 to 400 Hz.'^
,
The most prominent of the Milky Way s
^
satellite galaxies are a pair called the Magellanic
421
12. And if you're counting, or listening.
appx. 200Hz is F below Middle c and
400 Hz lies above Middle C, between G at
appx. 392 Hz and a at appx. 440 Hz.
Z'EV
METAPHORS, MYTHOS AND METAPHONICS
SdLllaÄÄc#
Clouds«". During their rotation cycle around
the galaxy, they create a warp in its galactic disk
which has puzzled astronomers since its discovery in 1957. The warp,
seen most clearly in the thin disk of hydrogen gas permeating the galaxy,
extends across the entire 200,000-light year diameter of our Milky Way'v.
In January 2006 UC Berkeley astrono
mers Leo Blitz, Carl Heiles and Evan Levine
rV. Galactic waip. http://berkeleyedii/news/
published an imageV which mathematically
J
M
t
1 .
.
/• 1
I- http://www.valdezlink.com/
describes the warp as a combination of three
pages/media/pineai.gif
different types of vibration: a flapping of the
disk's edge up and down, a sinusoidal vibration like that seen on a drum
head, and a saddle-shaped oscillation.
These three notes are about 3 million octaves below (maybe no
surprise) middle C.
Blitz, director of UC Berkeley's Radio Astronomy Laboratory, has
said that his personal belief is that the three "notes" are "the Father, Son and
Holy Ghost."
And it s also worth noting that now that Astrophysics is listening,
and not just looking, they are continuing to uncover other examples of this
Music of the Spheres.
So much for the macro-cosm; let's look at the microcosm for a bit:
In his Life of Pythagoras, lamblichus repeats the statement of Plato
that the study of Sonic Science "awakens that organ in the brain which the
ancients described as the eye of wisdom.'" This eye of wisdom is now
known to physiology as the pineal gland. And it is worth noting that this
association with the eye is not purely metaphorical. In addition to being
considered part of the endocrine (hormonal) system, it is also often includ
ed as part of the visual sensory system.
An ancient Taoist Alchemical text, translated by Charles Luk",
places the position of the original cavity of the
spirit in the center of the brain, behind the spot
13. Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality.
between the eyes.
And the Immortal Taoist Lao Xzu was referring to the pineal when
he spoke of "the gateway to heaven and earth." In relation to this he urged
people to "concentrate on the center in order to realize the oneness of all
things." ^
VI. Pineal z. http://www.wwnorton.com/
coUegeAiistoi7/raiph/resource/24descar.htm
In adults the pineal gland is the site of cal422
cified deposits of what is often called "brain sand." This is actually hydroxyapatite (Ca5(P04)30H), or what makes up 70% of the mineral composi
tion of the cancellous and cortical bone structure.
Very interestingly, hydroxyapatite is piezoelectric, which means
that it responds to both electromagnetism and mechanical vibration. That is,
if pressure is applied to it, it can produce an electrical charge—and if it
receives an electromagnetic signal it can produce a mechanical vibration.
This means that the pineal is sensitive to both the pressure waves exerted by
the beating heart and to different levels of electromagnetic light, received via
the optic nerve.
And if that wasn't enough, being a gland, its first "language" of
course is in the molecular fluidic/chemical mode of ligand releasing.
The main job of the pineal gland is to transduce these mechanical
and electromagnetic impulses into hormonal information, and vice versa,
influencing daily, seasonal and annual rhythms such as sleep, temperature,
reproduction and aging. Thus, the eye of wisdom.
A
J • )
1
•
£.
And it s only trie size or a pea.
r-r«i •
11
1
r
1 •
illlS well sets tne stage tor a bit more
- .
I
,
1 1 1
regarding the pineal gland:
14. And if this interests you, you can find
Fiorenza's in-dep¿í treatment of Harmonic
Signatures and Schumann Resonance, etc.
at: www.lunarplanner.com/Harmontcs/
pianetary-harmonics.html
"Harmonic Signature" researcher Nick Anthony Fiorenza" shares my
opinion that, in his words, "The Earth is a spherical receiver of cosmic
energy (evolutionary intelligence) which directs our biological process and
spiritual evolutionary unfoldment. The Earth re-radiates the cosmic infor
mation it receives from its core outward in complex long-wave signals."
Fiorenza feels that we receive these "planetary musics" via the
Schumann Resonance Field^''
through an
antenna system composed of our spinal column
VII.Schun)Mn.http://commons.wikimedia.
org/wiki/File:Schumann_resonance_oi.png
and cranium. While this notion of the spine
as an
,
, ,,
^
VIII. Schumann, http://geomag.usgs.gov/
antenna could certainly be one part of the picture,
lagaxiii/posters/mnjagaioos.pdf
it is worth reiterating that as our entire body is
inundated with these signals, the heart also receives and redirects them
throughout our body as well.
The field was first observed by Nikola Tesla, but it was not until
1952 that W.O. Schumann^® first calculated them at
7 0"^ Wv
/,oJ nz.
A
l
l
*
1
T
r
And that is way way low. In tact most
humans don't really hear below 20 Hz. Sounds
423
information on W.O. Schumann
and Schumann Resonance see:
http://www.hese-project.ore/hese-uk/en/
pa^ers/schlegeLsihumann.pdf
z'ev
metaphors, mythos and metaphonics
down aroimd that range, and below, are usually felt only in a physical sense,
if their volumes are high enough.
So let s start delving into this Metaphonic process.
The Brahmanas are considered to be among the oldest prose writings in any Indo-European language. Composed c. 600 bce, they contain
explanations of, and commentaries on, the mantras, and describe the impor
tance of prayers, sacrifices, and their correct observance.
Perhaps the oldest Brahmana, the Aitareya Brahmana, states
explicitly that the seat of the Brahman (the primordial sound) is located in
the ear.
This Brahman is the first sacrifice, and is interpreted as the first
Creating act, occurring in the element Akasha (Air). This act, though
inaudible, reveals itself after the birth of the element Air. Thus Brahman, the
transcendent inaudible rhythm, appears through the Air and it becomes
audible in order to create the primordial world.
The first sound-sacrifice to unfold (the technical term used in the
Brahmanic texts) was a chant of praise which brought an acoustical level/
reality to birth in the midst of the previously pervading "darkness." It was
through rhythms, enfolded like the ripples in a pond, which unfolded the
developing complexity of this, at first, monotonaly acoustical level/reality.
Metaphorically speaking, the different rhythms in these Brahmanic
acoustical levels/realities can be thought of as different pitches.
And these emanations are coincident with the number of notes
comprising the Vedic musical scales. (Such as the seven notes: "Do Re Mi
Fa So La Ti" of the Western scale).
When interacting, these pitches enfolded harmonies which
achieved the (again metaphoric) capacity of a choir, which, (again metaphor
ically) called forth a dawn, for some of these sound-rhythms had turned
into Light.
In the Vedic tradition aU of the second Brahmanic phase, which is
superimposed on the first, is the work of the god Indra, the supreme ruler
of the gods. There are more hymns (approximately 250) in the Rig Veda
dedicated to him than to any other god or goddess. Indra was the leader of
the Devas, the god of war, a thunderbolt wielding god of thunder and
storms, the greatest of all warriors, the strongest of all beings. (Remember
these particular associations because they will return when we come to con
sider Shiva and Dionysus).
When this Lightening-Sounding Dawn "broke," superimposed on
the two preceding, and never-ending, level/realities, and as these rhythms
(or frequencies) enfolded and unfolded, they somehow/somewhy chose to
be perceived as concrete, compact matter. From this choice resulted the
liberation of the never-ending process of our physical universe.
Thus, as explained by the Vedic tradition, this resulted in three
distinct aspects which can be seen to correspond to Sleep, Dream and
424
425
In 1978 Dr. Robert Beck's'^ work
on Extremely Low Frequency signals. Earth
resonances and their effect on brain wave fre
quencies was presented at a U.S. Psychotronic
conference, and when published served to "pop
ularize" this information. Beck reported that
16. R. BECK, http://www.scribd.com/doc/
99-^ 389/Beck-Ri98oELF-Magnetic-Fieldsand-EEG-Entrainment-A-PsychotronicWarfare-PossibÌhty-20-p
http://www.scribd.com/doc/9943404/BeckRi 98 5Subhmal-Warfare-ELF-ExtremelyLow-Frequency-Magnetic-Fields-9-p
7.83 Hz is also a brainwave frequency often detected when psychics are in their
intuiting mode.
Shades of Plutarch!!! (Who wrote c. 120 ce : "The Earth.. .sends up
to human beings ... Trance.")
When our brainwave and body rhythms are measured electromagnetically, they are found to occur prominently within this ELF spectrum.
When the brain is given a stimulus, through the ears, eyes or other
senses, it emits an electrical charge in response, called a Cortical Evoked
IX. Cortical response. https://www.trans
parentcorp.com/products/np/images/
evoked.jpg
Response'^. These electrical responses travel
throughout the brain to become what you hear,
see, smell, touch, taste.
When the brain is presented with a rhyth
mic stimulus, such as a drum beat, the rhythm is reproduced in the brain
in the form of these electrical impulses. If the rhythm remains consistent
enough, the brain responds by synchronizing its own electric cycles
(known as our "brainwaves") to the same rhythm. This is commonly called
the Frequency Following Response [or FFR]'',
first pointed out in the 1940s bv the Enelish
^ ^trainment. httpV/wwrcmind-machines.
^
o
de/images/np2_brainwave_entrainment.gif
neurophysiologist WG. Walter.
In the West the aforementioned Vedic triune aspects of Creation are
symbolically personified by their Triple Goddess in her three aspects of
Crone, Mother and Virgin. She is also personified in Myth as Hecate,
Demeter and Persephone, as the planets Saturn, Moon and Venus, and as
the numbers 3, 9 and 7.
Z'EV
METAPHORS, MYTHOS AND METAPHONICS
Wakefulness. Note that in some traditions these three aspects are sometimes
also further subdivided into five, seven or nine minor emanations.
More often than not these aspects/emanations are now represented
in their Myths by a Tree of the World'^, sacrifi
cial stake, column, stairway or some other
'4
segmented something generally planted in "the
midst of the waters." These branches/segments
unfold in/as the sounds of the particular cultures" harmonic series. That is,
in their representations, the amount of branches/segments would equal the
amount of notes in their musical scale.
Additionally, these aspects are often related as occupying the cen
ter of the Multiverse and usually act as a mediator between God/desses or
Inner Words and Humanity.
During the archetypical times when Heaven and Earth, or the pri
mordial world and our world, were still either united or differentiated, there
was no need for a mediator. This is where Metaphonics relates to this com
plex, because when these two (or more) regions differentiated, their reinte
gration seems to have been effected primarily through Sound. That is,
through sacrificial, supplicational, etc. chants, lamentations, and prayer.
In the Vedic tradition their notion of an "Unfolding" of Creation
is symbolized by the dance of Shiva. For Shiva is a dancer, in fact, as
Nataraja-Shiva he is the Lord of the Dance^.
He executes the Cosmic Dances—^the rhythms
of his pounding feet throughout the Multiverse,
which perpetuate the eternal Enfolding and Unfolding. As such, his Dances
resonate both in and out of existence.
The dance of Shiva also represents the five aspects of his name
Pancha-anana (5 Faced)™: Shñshti (creation,
evolution), Sthiti (preservation, support),
Samhara (destruction, transformation),
Tirobhava (illusion, madness), and Anugraha—(liberation, grace). Shiva's
Being-in-Manifestation is meditated on as a River of 5 streams from 5
sources, because 5 is the sacred number of Shiva, although the total number
of names or epithets attributed to him is 1,008. His body is said to be
constituted of 5 mantras, composed of 5 syllables, which evoke his essence
in the practitioner.
Under the epithet Yogesvara, Shiva is the Teacher who, in silence,
426
expounds to the Sages the Laws of Music, Yoga, Gnosis, and all the other
Arts and Sciences. Also note that this "silent-expounding" refers to trans
missions by/through the Irmer Voice/Planes.
The God who "transformed" in the scriptures over time into Shiva
was Rudra, the Wild God, also known as The Howler. As the Red God,
Rudra was intimately associated with Blood and Fire and the Powers of Life
and Death. This identity with Rudra also coimects Shiva with the darkness
of Night and the Underworld, symbolized by Black Shiva. Through this
attribution of the Wild God, we can see the correspondence of Shiva to
Dionysus^', the Wild God of the West who was
...
,
», • n -I
also called Bacchus—"the mad one," Lusios—
18. Shwa and Dionysus, Alain Danielou
(K.F. Hurry trans.)
liberator" and Bromius—"the roaring
XIII. Dioitysus. http://www.articleserver.
info/MYTHiS/Goas/Dionvsus/original/
dionysus%.or-f%.cieopar<i.jpg
XIV. Shivalingum in Nepal, httpt/zihi.ggpht
com/_l-oYBWgi^FM/RyLyqVZrAi/
AAAAAAAAGND\s^3wgjKq5cU/IMG_
2315.JPG
XV. Dionysus at Deios. http://www.vroma.
org/images/mcmanus_images/dionysus_
phalius.jpg
^Ä;ÄÄSpf
XVII. Omn. http://members.tripod.com/
~Yemoja7Logum.jpg
One.
»XIII
tmvckd
,
to Greece wherc he
. „ru YV
J
1
became known as Dionysis-"*' **, and also
.
,.
.,
made it to Atnca where his attnbutes were
given the name Ogun'^'
the Orisa of
°
"
Metals and Metal Working (the Smith),
Minerals, Tools, War, Dogs, and Wdd Beasts.
Ogun îs also the Orisa of SacHfice, being the
owner of Steel and the blade that is used in
making sacrifice to all other Orishas.
In searching for images of Rudra I was coming up empty. Then, lo
and behold, I came back to a book" that was
given to me by the Way of Aaion Sufi group in
Holland over twenty years ago when I used to
xho^
drum accompaniments to their healing massage
rituals. The book was the definitive study on the Rudra-Veena^", an
instrument that has been mentioned in Indian lit„ , „
. „
j
XVIII. Rudra Veena. http://www.mdierature for over 1,800 years. In fact, the entire sysanetzone.com/photos_galiery/i8/rudrave
'
'
ena_i3405.)pg
tem of the raga was developed by and through the
Veena. (Note that the sitar is a much, much later instrument and quite
"pop" in comparison). Some traditions hold that the Veena was "invented"
by Shiva in tribute to his consort Parvati™ and
diat the sound of the Veena recreates her rhythmie breathing.
While the lingum is the primal and primary image of Shiva, the Sri
427
Z'EV
METAPHORS, MYTHOS AND METAPHONICS
Yantra^'^ is also His, and from the permuta^
xx. Sri Ymtra. htm://aiu^.cse.ucsc.edu/
-mikel/snyantra/ Note: It you look at the
tions of its structure are derived the actual
proportional series that govern the Vedic
musical, i.e., the notes of all the ragas and raginis. Rudra-Shiva then, is the
totality of manifestation whose 8-Fold domain consists of the Vedic Five
Elements of Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space together with the two mea
surers of Time: the Sun and the Moon.
The process reaches completion with the addition of the Sacrificer
or Initiate (the Brahman). And in the shape of the numeral 8, very coincidentally, you also have the image of Shiva's hourglass drum, the
damaruP^-' When the vertical numeral 8 flips to
Ar/osmos.
horizontal mode as the symbol of Infinity, it is
xxiax-rav photo of DNA. http://science
^«o mirroring an object knows as the Labrys™.
blogs.coni/bioephemera/dna.jpg
XXIb.Houreiassnebula.http://hubblesite.
org/gallery7aIbum/nebuli collection/
pri996oo7a/
XXIc. Crab nebula, http://hubblesite.org/
gallery/aibum/nebula_collection/pri999o
32c/
ThlS forgCS
i
i* i
i
i*-
i i
i
,,
i
i
the link between
XXIL Minoan labrys. http://ww.hartzler.
.
0rg/cc307/min0an/iniages/b4.)pg
Shiva and that most
ancient manifestation of the divine, namely, the
^
XXId. The red rectangle. http://hubblesite.
GoddcSS,
Labrys cultures represent the roots of
xxie. Demise of a star. httpV/hubbiesite.
org/gallery/album/nebula_coUection/pr2o
o^oQQ^
^^e Indo-European people as its image is found as
r
id.1
iUMC'JS.
i
do
Paleolifhir
X diev/iiLiiiv
rave
c-dvc
tiai'ntino-c
uaiiiLin^o
(10,000-40,000 years ago). Minoan in origin, the
word "Labrys" is from the same root as the later Latin labus: "lips."
As a glyph for the female labia at the entrance of the womb and the
butterfly, it is a symbol of both birth and rebirth. The two heads also sym
bolized the waxing and waning Moons. It appears on matriarchal murals
and mosaics, pottery, seals, and amulets throughout the Aegean region and
into Africa as well.
The matriarchal Cretans made the Labrys in all sizes, from delicate
jewelry to nine foot tall specimens which stood at the ends of altars. Its
image was also used to mark the entrance to their Goddess sanctuaries and
Labyrinths, and it is worth remembering in this context that our Inner Ear
is composed of not just one, but two Labyrinthine structures.
Before we dip into some more Goddess lore, let's have one last nod
to Pythagoras, or more specifically to his teacher Thaïes. Bertrand Russell
wrote that, "Philosophy begins with Thaïes." Thaies is also regarded as the
first scientist, in the Western sense of that word.
428
So, I would like to point out that Thaïes taught that water was the
basic element of all Life. Not surprisingly, we now know that approximate
ly 60% of the human body, including 70% of our brain, 83% of our blood
and 90% of our lungs, is water. Water also covers approximately 60% of the
Earth and is also the only substance that naturally appears in all three states;
liquid, solid (ice), and gas (steam).^°
Thaïes was a Greek-speaking Sage from
20. Water from Heaven^ Robert Kandel
,
.
1
A
r T« 1
1 • 1
suhúútá: The Story of Water from the Big
what IS now the Aegean coast OI Turkey, which
Bang to ée Rise of CivUizatùmand Beyond.
was then known as Anatolia. So perhaps it is no
coincidence then that Anatolia was home to the most exceptional and
ancient Metaphonic Goddess, Kybelle, the Great Mother of Çatylhôyûk,
whose names then were also Kubaba and Zemelo.'™"'"''
Kybelle was known in the Greek world
as early as 700 bce, and references to her appear
XXIIIa. Kybelle c. 6500 bce.
http://mythology.ourgardenpath.com/
in the Homeric Hymns. She is considered the
wp-content/uploads/2oo8/o4/goddess i .jpg
XXIIIb. Greek Cybele with drum.
inventor of the Drum, as Pan is of the Pipes and
http://www.somaluna.com/images/
products/STAoo9/portrait_sc.jpg
Hermes the Lyre. According to traditions the ear
liest entity-attendants of the Grecian Kybelle
were the Korybantes or Galloi, (sometimes identified with the Dactyls),
who worshiped her with drumming and dancing, and the wild ecstasy of
their cult has been compared to tlie Maenads, the female followers of
Dionysus.™^
The primary iconic-object of Kybelle was the meteorite'^, so no
coincidence then that the sacred object in the
Kaaba at Mecca^^ is also a meteorite called Al
XXIV. Maenads and satyrs.
hajar Al-aswad (the Holy Black Stone)'™"^. This
http:// www.mlahanas.ae/Greeks/Dance/
Maenads2.jpg
particular image of the mysteries of Kybelle^™^''
XXV. Goddess meteorite. http://imca.
repetti.net/images/BlackStone.jpg
echoes this fragment from an evocation from the
XXVI. Mecca- http://www.arabiait/engUsh/
Elusian mysteries:
islam/mecca2.jpg
"I have eaten from a drum,
I have drunk from a cymbal,
I am an initiate of Attis."
XXVII. Kaaba meteorite. http://www.
a!-islam.org/gallery/photos/ha)raswd.gif
XXVIII. Elusian mysteries. http://www.
aztriad.com/angelhnn.htnil
Around 200 b c e the Rites of Kybelle
was brought to Rome and given a temple on the Palatine, which was an
exceptional honor for a foreign Goddess. The worship of Kybelle was
also one of the most obstinate antagonists of Christianity, disappearing
only as late as approximately 400 c e .
429
Z'EV
METAPHORS, MYTHOS AND METAPHONICS
Kybelle S Rites were celebrated to the Metaphonic accompaniment
of cymbals, drums, castanets and tambourines^™^. And the celebrants
chanted and danced themselves into a Trance
and of timbrels, with the voice of flutes and the outcry of wolves and
state.2i.xxx
you in my song and to all goddesses as well!" —Homeric Hymn XIV to
The circle/circling dance is perhaps
the Trance Dance par-excellence. One of the
earliest representations of it, from the British
Library, is a Cyprian limestone figure of
"Phoenician" dancers from approximately
1000 BCE.^™^
XXDC Maenads. http://www.fondazioneIevL
org/ma/index/numDer2/restani/don4a.jpg
XXX. Maenads dance.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17289/
i7289-h/images/oi2_l.jpg
21. Maenads trance. http://www.hermetic
fellowship.org/Dionysion/Maenads.html
XXXI. Phoenician dancers. http://www.
gutenberg.org/files/17289/17289-h/images/
oo5-l-iPg
The Circle Dance would also be the
astral choreography alluded to in this fragment from a prayer of the Mevlevi
order (the whirling dervishes) established on the teachings of the mystic
poet Mevlana Jalaladdeen Rumi in the late 13th century:
"by revolving as rapidly as lightning we become intoxicated...let us imitate
those luminous bodies...let us revolve like the sun and the moon... let us
turn like the planets...let us tum like the stars in the heavens...let us turn
like the circle which has neither a beginning nor an end...."xxxn
The circle alluded to here is perhaps
xxxii. Sufi dancer. http://4.bp.biogspot.
com/_pMqNaWEUTt8/Sc-9nKYCxBI/
also synonymous with the circle of compieAAAAAAAAB^AArmyNebtG4/s4oo/
Dervish+dance.jpg
tion" atop the sacred ong symbol of Bali,
where the indigenous word for "trance" translates as, "to become."
Regarding the importance of the sound quality of the cymbal in
Kybelle worship, the work of Marija Gimbutas^
is particularly germane. Her findings from
and Go<k of Old Europe,
Ancient European sites lead her to state that,
"the epiphany of the Goddess is inseparable from the noise of howHng and
clashing." Of the initiates of the Goddess, Gimbutas wrote, "they clash the
cymbals of the Great Mother."
And here are three more examples of this complex from Greek texts:
"Wearing her turreted headdress, the great goddess Kybelle will clash her
hoarse cymbals to accompany the Idean dance."
—Propertius 3.17
"Brass-sounding, honored, Kronos' blessed queen, drum-beating, furyloving, of a splendid mien."
—Orphic Hymn 14 to Rhea
"I prithee, clear-voiced Mousa, daughter of mighty Zeus, sing of the Meter
430
(Mother) of all gods and men. She is well-pleased with the sound of rattles
bright-eyed lions, with echoing hills and wooded coombes. And so hail to
the Mother of the Gods
Note that this hst of sounds mirrors the "Six Famihes of Noise"
that Futurist musician Luis Russolo listed in his Art of Noises (1913), which
Edgar Varese cited as an influence on his monumental work Ionisation
(1933). These famihes also basically describe the pallet employed by the
seminal Grindcore band Carcass (c. 1988-1996).
Before we leave the Goddess let's head South and have a look at
Hathor, Egypt's Metaphonic Goddess, who was the primary deity associat
ed with music, the drum and dance. Hathor was held to be the incarnation
of dance, whose hieroglyph was either a cow bearing the solar disk between
its horns, or a woman crowned with the solar disk and horns.™^"
Inspiration was also ruled by Hathor, and
her followers would come to her temples to have
their dreams explained or to beseech her for her
aid in procreation, in much the same way that the Greeks invoked Hekate.
The Biblical story of the forging and worshipping of the Golden
Calf at Mount Sinai is based on aspects of her Cult as practiced in the south
ern Sinai by Western Asiatic miners who were there working for the
Egyptians.
In the Old Kingdom era a hymn in her honor reads:
"We play the drum for your spirit. We dance for your majesty.
We uplift you to the skies."
Another text from the Dendara crypts^™^
xxxrv. Hathor temple.
. . ^
•
1 /
1 •
1
http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/
implies orgiastic/ Irance ntuals/worship when
wid/ooo85/ooo85e.jpg
Hathor is described as: "leader of the choral
dance, the bestower of the intoxication that knows no end." I don't know
about you, but I'm down for that.
To get back on track then: In its transformative power, Metaphonics
resembles all that's best in the act of Worship. That is, when the energies of
Sound and an expectancy of Transition are focused toward a common
meaning and goal, then the potentials of Metaphonics and the Sacred (i.e.
those all-possible holographic levels of reality) can achieve a synergy. This
|.
431
Z'EV
METAPHORS, MYTHOS AND METAPHONICS
synergy enables a synthesis that creates an intensification of experience that
is greater than either Sound or "simple" expectancy might achieve on its ow^n.
That is, Metaphonics can enhance, intensify and transform almost
any experience into one which resonates with significance and dimension
ality. It is at this point, and in this synthesis, that Metaphonics touches on
the Mythic. And there are, for example, not only Myths of Music but also
Musics of Myth.
For in most cultures/religions throughout history. Myths have
been embodied not only in/as written Uterature but also in/as musical per
formance. That is, "religious texts" were sung long before they were ever, if
ever, committed to writing.
For example, the "drum lineage" songs of the pre-Buddhist Tibetan
Bon Path evoke for the practitioner a link with the beginning of Time and
center of the world. In many cultures/religions music is held to be not
humanly, but rather, divinely patterned and is considered less an expressive
"art" than a technology to produce practical results. For, in its performance.
Music provides one of the most effective bridges between Myth and Ritual,
that is: between behef and action.
In the nada-Brahman or God-as-Sound of Hinduism, Music is
considered to originate as a primordial divine power, exemplified as previ
ously discussed, in the Drumming/Cosmic Dance of Shiva. This same
dynamic can also be recognized as well in the widespread stories of
god/desses who sing their creations and creatures into existence.
And the Goddess is here included due to the many South
Amerindian and Melanesian legends of the male's theft of sacred flutes from
the women who originally possessed them.
In Tibetan Buddhist tradition "Music" is a combination of the
actually present music produced by the sound-making voices and instru
ments and the internally produced music perceived and imagined by each
and every listener. Differing results/experiences are considered to be due to
each individual's evolution, which translates as expertise in their practice
and in the power of their imagination.
Mark Booth suggests that Music, and
23. The Experience of Songs, M. Booth.
Song in particular, evokes primordial memories of
the rhythms and vibrations experienced in the
mother's womb, effects produced, in fact, by the mother's heart. For Booth
though. Song offers "the experience of unity with what seems to lie apart
432
from ourselves." And he proposes that this experience is the result of the
unity that occurs when Song affects the marriage of Music and Language.
This same unity also occurs with the Drum and Drumming, but in this case
the tonal quality of the Drum represents Music and the rhythm pattern.
Language.
Further, Metaphonic rhythms also form a link between Words,
Music and Dance. Even if it's as a Song, the lyrics generally Rhyme. That is,
the words conform to a Rhythmic scheme. Rhythms provide the cues of
accent and patterning with which one coordinates the movements of their
body in—and as—Dance.
Traditions worldwide associate particular rhythms and cycles with
specific ritual activities and/or to specific god/desses (i.e., states of con
sciousness/levels of reality).
These rhythms range in style and, through a variety of tempos from
the very steady, almost monotonous beating used by both Amerindians and
Shamanic Cultures worldwide, to the very fast, syncopated rhythms (fea
turing sounds that fall between and overlap the beats) associated with
African and Afro-Ameri-Carib possession rites, to the asymmetrical and
extremely slow rhythms used in the Far East, with Tibetan Buddhist ritual
dances and especially their Oracular Ritual being prime examples of these
types of rhythms, with beat groupings extending into the hundreds to musi
cally embody cosmological and other lineage related religious concepts.
In Arabian classical musics there are numerous examples of long
cycles still in use. The longest example known is called the "conquering
rhythm" (Darb faTh), invented during the Ottoman period, measuring
176/4. To give a little demo of what this means, it just took me one minute
to count to 176 at a reasonable tempo. In the pop song universe one verse
of a song is typically eight measures long, so then one pop verse at 176/4
would take eight minutes.
Another reason why Percussive patterns are an excellent vehicle for
an Other aspect to manifest in the reality of our concrete world is because
they are devoid of any concrete form or image that might be a distracting
obstacle to the manifestation of any such Other aspects.
Various traditions, in referring to the genesis of the World, relate
that the externalization of the creative impulse/rhythm occurs through "the
Word of God."
Schneider delineates this process quite succinctly, and I'll draw here
433
Z'EV
METAPHORS, MYTHOS AND METAPHONICS
on an analogy he drew which is excellent, albeit from a Christological point
of view. In this analogy, the first step of this process would be the unfold
ing of an inaudible rhythm. When this rhythm appears in a different reality
(i.e., ours) it becomes sound by pronouncing itself. Thus his example,
whereby the Christ-energy existed as a rhythm in the thought of the
Father, but became the audible word (i.e., the Logos) when pronounced
(i.e., brought into manifestation) by him.
Returning for a last time to Vedic Meta-physics, in their system
sound is divided into four specific qualities:
Spho a: The creative principle of the Multiverse and the World of
Pure Being.
The eternal element of pure unmanifested sound that is beyond
perception.
N da: The unstruck and unstrikable sound. In the same way that
you can't see colors in the dark, though they're there to be seen,
without proper training you can't hear Nada, though it's there to
be heard.
An hata: "Unstruck," refers to sound potentially existing but not
expressed. And remember this is the name for the Heart Chakra.
It is the sound of thought on the verge of manifestation. Not to be
confused with pure unmanifested sound.
Ahata: "Struck," refers to sound produced by the physical action
of one thing upon another. It includes the whole range of physical
sound, whether audible to human ears or not (such as the sounds
of insects etc.)
Ahata is also divisible into four categories or stages:
Spanda: the pulsing or quivering that just precedes manifestation
Paryanti: the point from which the movement of sound commences
Pashyanti: the reverberation before impact (i.e., hearing) is made
Vaikhari: the sound that is actually heard.
The common denominator between the Metaphonic Drum
Drumming and its Voice Chanting has been most cogently dealt with by
434
anthropologist Donald Tuzin.^"* His bottom line IS
24. Miraculous Voices in: Current Anthrothat, in both cases, it is not so much what can be
^
heard as what can not.
His "not heard" results from the sub-auditory sound pressures
which can be propagated by both drums and the human voice. This is espe
cially true when the voice is augmented and distorted by the use of a reso
nant chamber developed to this end by various cultures. These range from
the basilica of a church to the special barrel or tube-like resonating cham
bers for singing into, which occur in many cultures. The didgeridoo is a
good example of this sort of device, although the correct Yolnggu
(Aboriginal) term is Yidaki.
Tuzin went on to develop a hypothesis that this not-heard relies on
infra-sound (sounds vibrating below the threshold of hearing).
Other than the more commonly studied physical effects of
infra-sound, it's known that the psychic/psychological effects of low
levels of infra-sound include feelings of the super- and preter-natural,
déjà vu and jamais vu. But, most especially, what Tuzin refers to as awe,
he translates as feelings which are by-and-large indicative of what he terms
"religious experience."
The bull-roarer has been in continuous use since as far back as the
Stone Age. It is found within the archaic civilizations of all five continents,
and is probably the most widespread among all sacred instruments.
Tuzin considers his most bold suggestion in the article to be that,
"the special, pre-articulate feelings which validate religious belief by refer
ring it to subjective experience are not primarily (if at all) creations of cul
tural conditioning, but natural emanations or proclivities of the brain itself."
Again I will point out that not only the brain, but our heart and
every cell in our body also contributes to these "natural emanations."
Auditory neurophysiologist. Dr. Alfred Tomatis^® has pointed out
that the effect within the cochlea of the low fre
quency percussive sound of drums (especially the
25. The Comdous Ear, a. A.Tomatis.
single-headed "Shaman's drum") causes an exag
gerated fluxion of the endolymphatic liquids in the cochlea (the inner ear)
that can induce a loss of awareness of the body. This condition is fairly cru
cial for many forms of Trance.
Neurophysiological research obviously considers the specifically
neural basis of emotions to be triggered in the set of sub cortical structures
435
Z'EV
METAPHORS, MYTHOS AND METAPHONICS
which comprise the Limbic System, a complex of forms and functions in the
Temporal Lobe of the brain.
Beyond this, though. Dr. Pert's research showed that the core
limbic brain structures contained 85-95% of the various neuropeptide
receptors that she had studied up to that point.
The Limbic System is also involved with the perception and
recognition of all sensory stimuli, involuntary bodily functions and those
aspects of memory involved with facts and events (in a small section of the
temporal lobe called the hippocampus).
Electrical stimulation of certain parts of the temporal regions has
resulted in the calling forth of not only vivid memory images (both audi
tory and visual) but the emotions associated with these memories as well.
In other words, in states of what I'd refer to as "intensified hear
ing" other than the "normal" auditory input received from the upper
brainstem (the thalamus), the temporal region also receives additional
impulses from the heart and blood pumping with Dr. Pert's "molecules
of emotion."
This combined input is then interpreted as an experience compara
ble to what are known as affect-laden memory images, (i.e., memories
invested with a high emotional charge).
Paul Maclean^', was the conceptualizer
and popularizer of the metaphor of the "triune
brain," which theorized that there are three layers
to the human brain, representing different stages of humanities evolution:
1. The brainstem or reptilian brain, which is responsible for auto
nomic functions: breathing, excretion, body temperature, etc.
2. The limbic system, which encircles the top of the brainstem and
is the seat of emotions, and
3. The cerebral cortex, located in the forebrain, which is the seat of
reason.
CC
99
waking dreams, messages from god, even religious conversions." And did
n't we just come across almost this same litany of states being produced by
infra sound in Tuzin's work?
One other point about the Limbic system concerns its relationship
to the experience of Synesthesia; or (most simply put) when one sense
evokes another. The most common form of synesthesia is referred to as
audition coloree, or colored hearing, immortalized by the poet Rimbaud in
his poem about the hues of colors entitled Les Voyelles.
When neurologist Richard Cytowic^^
studied the brains of synesthetes during audition
27. Richard Cytowic. http://cytowic.net
coloree experiences, he found that the blood flow
decreased in the neocortex and increased in the Limbic system. Also, note
that it is the heart that would be facilitating this increased blood flow,
which would also be awash with the memory potential of specific neu
ropeptides.
Regarding the ramifications of this process Cytowic wrote,
"The brain's higher information processing turns off in colored hearing.
An older, more fundamental way of viewing the world...takes over."
Considering that we are talking about Sound here, perhaps it's
"an older, more fundamental way of Hearing (and thus remembering)
the world" that Metaphonics triggers. When I came across the image of
the Limbic System^^^"^, I was immediately
XXXV. Limbic system. htm://www.nim.
struck by the similarity of its shape [the
nih.gov/medhneplus/ency/images/ency/
^
fuUsize/i9244.jpg
fomix] to that of the hooded cobra above
the right shoulder of Yogesvara-Shiva.^™^
In the Con
fucian classic Li Chi or the Book of Rites (c. 200
B c E ) it is related that
"Music is intimately connected with the essential relations of being."
He has also described the Limbic System as being "filled with
ancestral lore and ancestral memories."
In the 1940s he began to study the "limbic storms" suffered by
patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. After that study he concluded, "All on
its own, without the reality check of the neocortex, the Limbic system
seemed to produce sensations of deja-vu or jamais-vu, sudden memories.
Therefore, the mindset necessary for the production of Meta
phonics is wholly dependent on the relationship between the composer/
performer and their sense of Being. This manifests by the direct association
of a Metaphonic performance with an exercise of the Spirit/Soul.
To be capable of serving Metaphonically, the values assigned to
breath, sound, rhythm and ritual (i.e., techniques of performance) must be
felt as concrete expressions of a living Spiritual intent.
436
437
z'ev
metaphors, mythos and metaphonics
When performed properly then, Metaphonic compositions are
reciprocal. That is, they could just as well be said to be composing their
composers/performers as well as their recipients.
This "compositional" process would be analogous to the one
in which the alchemical Worker/s were transmuted through their Work
(using the Spiritual idiom of metallurgy). While there may be others.
Emblem 59xxxvn fj-om The Hermetic Garden is
xxxyii. Emblem 59 in Hermetic G^den
the Only image I have Seen that presents the actuhttpy'/www.alchemywebsite.coni/emblems/
/
o
x
emblo59.html
^ Work in a Tantoc context.
In this sense too, Metaphonics is always a
Working, always a Transformation, always a Reinvigorating of the various
modalities of consciousness and awareness and attention. Metaphonics is
thus imbued with the capacity of transmuting the wisdom and knowledge
of Time and Place, and delivering these aspects not just "to light" but "to
sound" as well.
Metaphonics are always clarifying informations that were previ
ously obscured by normal consciousness.
They are always imparting to both the composer/performer and
the recipient/s a new sense of the Whole.
This sense of wholeness, of totality, of a physical feeling of
soundness, is never vague. Rather, like an inundation with infra-sound or a
limbic storm, it resonates the senses with a remembrance of deep truthful
ness and cormection.
Metaphonics articulates both Hieroglyphic and Symbolic forms,
referents, images, tones, and visions.
These are brought together not to cancel each other out, but to
form the ground for new ways of hearing and feeling and being.
In fact, Metaphonic performance can possess meaning and power
only insofar as it connects both those involved with its creation and those
who are receiving it, with, let's call them, "events" transpiring beyond the
limited scope of its mundane performance. As mentioned before,
Metaphonic performance will always include the experience of an
Archetypal Time.
In this respect, the Metaphonic performance resounds throughout
the Multiverse and draws its power from the Time that transcends the mun
dane present.
This results in the Transitions that allow a "spherical" (not just
438
horizontal or just vertical) expansion of Human significance into new
relationships with all the various Aspects and Emanations of the Holo
graphic Creation.
Sites
Visual Listening. http://lewfh.blogspot.com/search?q=visuaI+listening
Disk of the World, http://www.diskoftheworld.com/diskindex7.htni
Shiva. http://www.kheper.net/topics/Tantra/Shiva.html
Most heartfelt thanks to my cousin, Felice Catena (a goddess of the editing arts), for her help with putting this
piece to bed.
439
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS
WILLIAM BREEZE (b. Paris, 1955) is a violisi, guitarist, bassist, electronic musician,
music theorist and improvisational composer. Since 1992 he has worked as a studio
viohst and recorded and toured as a member of the bands Psychic TV (1994-1996),
Coil (1997-2004) and Current 93 (2005-present). As a boy he won a scholarship to
the Engel School of Music in Orlando to study viola, harmony and solfege under
Anne Bartlett and Joseph Kreines, later studying with Alphonse Carlo at Rollins
College and training as an orchestral and chamber violisi. He attended a series of
colleges and universities before abandoning notated music for improvisation in the
mid-1970s while a private student of North Indian musician Peter Row of New
England Conservatory. He moved to New York in 1978 where he played with the
percussionist Angus Maclise (Theater of Eternal Music, Velvet Underground) and
the guitarist Mark Slivka. He was a bibliographer and archival assistant for the
painter Larry Rivers in 1979 and 1980. In the early 1980s he was an executive at
New York's oldest firm of advertising typographers, Cromwell, spinning off
Cromwell Graphics Systems Corp. to market a successful universal disk and data
translator of his design (cf. Seyhold Reports). In 1984 he provided startup financing
for the arts label Mystic Fire Video and was its executive vice president until 1992.
His design for the Bill Moyers series Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth
(Mystic Fire) won a Benjamin Franklin Award for graphic design. As an indepen
dent scholar of American experimental film he has been a guest lecturer at Prince
ton University and international film festivals. In 1985 he became the international
head of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), taking the religious name Hymenaeus
Beta. He manages the Aleister Crowley literary estate, and has edited,
William Breeze
designed and published scholarly editions of many Crowley works.
Gavin Bryars
GAVIN BRYARS (b. Yorkshire, England, 1943), was first of all a jazz
bassist and pioneer of free improvisation with Derek Bailey and
Tony Oxley. He subsequently worked in the USA in the late 1960s with John Cage
and in Britain as part of the experimental music community. His early iconic works
The Sinking of the Titanic (1969) and Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1971),
both enjoyed major recording success in various versions. He has written exten
sively for the stage, including three full-length operas and dance works for, among
others. Merce Cunningham, Edouard Lock, Carolyn Carlson, David Dawson and
William Forsythe. He taught for a number of years in art colleges and has collab440
orated with many visual artists such as Bruce McLean, David Ward, Tim Head,
James Hugonin, Bill Woodrow and Will Alsop (Valencia Architecture Biennale).
In 2006 he was a guest speaker at the loth Alvar Aalto Architecture Symposium in
Finland. He has made installations/performances for the Liverpool Tate Gallery,
the Tate St. Ives, the Chateau d'Oiron, among others and worked closely with the
late Juan Muñoz, notably on A Man in a Room, Gambling. He has a long list of
instrumental, orchestral and vocal works to his credit, for artists such as the Hilliard
Ensemble, Red Byrd, Trio Mediaeval, Latvian Radio Choir, Estonian National Male
Choir, Opera North and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He has an hon
orary doctorate from the University of Plymouth, was awarded a Fellowship of
Bath Spa University and is a Regent of the Collège de 'Pataphysique. Gavin lives in
Leicestershire and British Columbia and, as well as composing, performs interna
tionally with his own ensemble. He has made many critically acclaimed recordings,
most recently on his own label GB Records, www.gavinbryars.com
STEVE COLEMAN began playing music at age fourteen in Chicago. After being
influenced by various recordings of Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane,
and others, Steve then began listening to the spontaneous improvisations of Chica
go premier saxophonists Von Freeman and Bunky Green. After moving to NYC in
1978, Steve joined the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Big Band and subsequently played
with the Sam Rivers Big Band, Cecil Taylor's Big Band, Doug Hammond, the Dave
Holland Quintet, and Abbey Lincoln. Of those he came into contact with, it was
mainly tenor saxophonist Von Freeman who primarily influenced Coleman as an
improviser, saxophonist Sam Rivers who influenced Steve compositionally, and
drummer Doug Hammond who was especially important in Steve's conceptual
thinking. In 1980 Steve and trumpeter Graham Haynes started the group that even
tually became Steve Coleman and Five Elements. Over the next five years this
group would develop its sound in clubs in Harlem and Brooklyn. Their ideas were
based on how to create music from one's experiences. Eventually these ideas were
referred to as M-Base. However, unlike what most critics wrote, this concept was
philosophical; Coleman did not call the music itself M-Base. In 1993 Coleman
embarked on the first of many research trips, going to Ghana to study the relation
ship of language to music. This trip had a profound effect on Coleman's music and
philosophy. However, the impact of the ideas that he was introduced to in Ghana
would not be fully expressed in his work until late in 1994 after meeting the Kemetic
philosopher Thomas Goodwin, whose influence on Steve's work was profound.
Much of the activity from January 1996 on has been preserved in the form of a
documentary produced by Eve-Marie Breglia entitled Elements of One (available
at www.elementsofone.com). The film is based on Steve's music and
the theme of cultural transference.
Steve Coleman
ALVIN CURRAN has realized a long and fruitful career as a composer/
Curran
performer/installation artist, writer and teacher in the American
experimental music tradition. Bom in Providence in 1938 he studied with Ron Nelson,
Elliott Carter and Mel Powell, co-founded the group Musica Elettronica Viva in 1966
441
arcana v
about the contributors
in Rome where he currently resides. His music whether chamber works, radio-art,
large-scale environmental theater or solo performance, embraces all sounds, all
spaces and all people. For more information please see www.alvincurran.com
FRANK DENYER (b. London, 1943). His earliest musical training was as a boy-cho
rister at Canterbury Cathedral. Later he studied at the Guildhall School of Music,
London. Subsequently, he formed the experimental ensemble Mouth of Hermes
and through this group his own compositions started to be heard in public. They
toured widely in Britain, Europe and Scandinavia during in the years 1966-1974
also giving premières of work by Feldman, Scelsi, Wolff, Takahashi and many oth
ers. In 1974 he gave up performing for a time to pursue studies in ethnomusicology, first with fieldwork in North India and then as a PhD student at Wesleyan
University, Conn. USA. Having found that life outside the western world's new
music ghettos to be more conducive to freedom of thought in composition, he
became a Research Fellow in African Music at the University of Nairobi. During
this period he worked intensively with the music of the plains Pokot. Later there
would be fieldwork research in other parts of the world as well. Resuming his
concert career in Europe in 1981, he has been the featured composer at several
international festivals, and CDs of his work have been released by Continuum,
Etcetera, Tzadik, Mode and Orchid Records. The latest is Silenced Voices (2008)
for Mode. In 1990 when he helped form the Amsterdam based experimental music
group The Barton Workshop, which he co-directs with James Fulkerson. With this
group he has recorded much solo and chamber music. He has also recorded the
complete piano sonatas of Galina Ustvolskaya. He is presently
Frank Denyer
Professor of Composition at Dartington College.
Jeremy Fogel
JEREMY FOGEL (b. Antwerp, 1981) moved to Israel at the age of
fifteen and left for England three years later. He studied philosophy
at Cambridge, was awarded a BA in June 2002, after which he lived in Rome for
six months, working in a youth hostel, guiding tourists, and trying to absorb beau
ty and grace. He later taught English in Catalonia, before spending some time in
China and moving to Paris, where he spent a year working as a night watchman at
a hotel and spending plenty free time working on poetry, studying the oud and
reading. After more time spent in China, Fogel came back to Israel in 2004, and
started studying for a master's degree, focusing particularly on the philosophy of
religion and mysticism and graduated in 2007 with a thesis on The Birth of Secular
Religiosity from the Spirit of Modem Philosophy. In his time in Tel Aviv, Fogel
worked, amongst others, as an ancient and rare books trader, secretary at a yoga
and dance center and assistant to a Professor of African History. He also freelanced
in Hebrew to English translation, particularly papers about Hassidic philosophy
and Kabbalah. Fogel, throughout, tried hard to focus on soulful endeavors, work
ing, amongst other projects, on as yet unpublished trashy pulp fiction which vehi
cles genuine philosophical and spiritual insights, Hebrew poems and psycho-magical experiments. In 2005, Fogel started working with marimba illuminati Ravid
Zigdon on a project which was eventually released by Tzadik—Eretz Hakodesh
442
(Holy Land), a deeply sexual and spiritual musical and poetic exploration of the
Holy Land and a personal testimony of the quest for holiness in Israel and mod
ern life. Fogel is currently working on a mystical novel and a radically alternative
Judeo-Christian rock album.
FRED FRITH is a songwriter, composer, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist best
known for the reinvention of the electric guitar that began with Guitar Solos in
1974. He learned his craft as both improviser and composer playing in rock bands,
notably Henry Cow, and creating music in the recording studio. Much of his com
positional output has been commissioned by choreographers and filmmakers, but
his work has also been performed by Ensemble Modern, Hieronymus Firebrain,
Arditti Quartet, Ground Zero, Robert Wyatt, Bang on a Can All Stars, Concerto
Köln, and Rova Sax Quartet, among many others. He continues to perform inter
nationally, most recently with Evelyn Glennie, Chris Cutler, John Zorn, Eye to
Ear—a septet performing selections from his film music—and his latest band, Cosa
Brava. Fred's writing has appeared in New Musical Express, Let It
Rock, EAR Magazine, Trouser Press, Poetics Journal, Jazzthetik,
Fred Frith
JazzMag, Arcana, and many other publications.
Sharon Gannon
SHARON GANNON is the co-creator with David Life of the Jivamukti
Peter Garland
Yoga Method, a path to enlightenment through compassion for all
beings. A student of Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati, Swami Nirmalananda, and Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, she is a pioneer in teaching yoga as spiritual
activism and is credited for making yoga cool and hip—relating ancient teachings
of yoga to the modern world. Sharon is a musician and is a featured vocalist on
many CDs. She has produced numerous yoga-related DVDs and is the author of
several books, mduding Jivamukti Yoga, The Art of Yoga, Cats and Dogs are Peo
ple Too!, and Yoga and Vegetarianism. Her writing has appeared in numerous pub
lications, including Toward 2012, Semiotexte and Yoga Journal. She is a contributor
to Reality Sandwich and writes a monthly essay called the Focus of the Month,
which can be read at www.jivamuktiyoga.com
PETER GARLAND was born in 1952 in Portland, Maine. 1970-1973: Part of the
original class at Cal Arts. Studies with Harold Budd, James Tenney, Wolfgang
Stoerchle, Clayton Eshleman. Exposure to and study of Javanese gamelan and
shadow puppetry and other world musics (esp. India). Travels throughout California
and the West Coast. 1975-1976: First residence in Mexico, in Oaxaca, and travels
in southern Mexico and Guatemala. Friendships inthe 1970s with composers Lou
Harrison, Dane Rudhyar, Gonion Nancarrow, Paul Bowles, Harry Partch and
John Cage—which have a profound impact. 1978-1980: Second residence in
Mexico, in Michoacán, with the family of Purépecha maskmaker Juan Horta, and
further travels, including both Tikal and Copán. 1980-1991: Residence in New
Mexico, and immersion in Native American and Hispanic musical traditions.
1991-1995: The Gone Walkabout years, residence and travel in Mexico, Australia,
New Zealand, Bali, Java, Vanuatu, Germany, the Netherlands, Czech Republic,
443
ARCANA V
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS
Morocco, Turkey and Japan. 1995-1997: Return to New Mexico and deepening
exposure to Hispanic traditions, especially through friendship with santero Luis
Lujan. 1997-2005: Third residence in Mexico, in Puebla, Veracruz and Oaxaca.
Immersion in Mexican traditional musics, especially jarocho music (1998-2001).
Close friendship with the Band of Totontepec, Mixes (Oaxaca, 2002-2005). 2002:
Four months of travel and research in the Philippines, including the islands of
Luzon, Marinduque, Negros and Bohol. Return visit to Japan, including second
visit to the Buddhist mountain sanctuary of Koya-san. 2005: Return to the USA,
current residence in Maine. His scores are available through Frog Peak Music, Box
1052, Lebanon, NH 03766, USA. www.frogpeak.org
MILFORD GRAVES (b. Jamaica, New York) started playing drums at three years old.
Studies in African and Afro-Caribbean music/drumming began at eight years old.
Milford started studying jazz in his early teens. In 1965, he studied North Indian
Music/tabla drumming with the renowned Doctor Wasantha Singh, an Indian/
Buddhist musician-guru. He attended City College of New York, New York Com
munity College, Eastern School for Physicians Aides (NY), and the Occidental
Institute of Chinese Studies (Canada). He is listed in Who's Who in America,
Groves Encyclopedia of Music, Encyclopedia ofJazz, as well as many interviews,
articles, and featured stories in various international publications (newspapers,
magazines, journals, and books). During the past forty-two years Milford has
performed in many music events, and given countless lecture-demonstration/
workshops on medicine (herbology, acupuncture, nutrition, etc.) and bodymovement/martial arts on an international level, including the 1983 International
Conference on World Medicine at the Waldorf Hotel in New York. From
1971-1973, he developed and conducted a clinical laboratory for a private animal
hospital in New York. On July 1,1993, a special forty-five-minute documentary
video, titled Legend Drummer Milford Graves, was televised throughout Japan on
NHK-Television at a time called the Golden Hour. He is presently director of the
International Center for Medicinal and Scientific Studies, co-director of the Insti
tute of Percussive Studies, co-director of the George Washington Carver Botanical
Garden in Jamaica, NY, and has been Professor of Music/Holistic
Milford Graves
Medicine at Bennington College in Vermont since 1973.
third album Parplar was released October 2008. Larkin Grimm is a radical environ
mentalist and opposes the War in Iraq. She has proclaimed that she is not affiliated
with any political party, but considers herself an anarchist.
TIM HODGKINSON is a composer/improviser. He studied social anthropology
before switching to music: lap steel guitar with Konk Pack, ethnography in Siberia,
bass clarinet and numerous recordings with lancu Dumitrescu's Hyperion Ensemble,
compositions played at many European festivals including Huddersfield Contem
porary Music, Infinity self-remixing CD with K-Space, solo clarinet performances.
Sketch of Now CD on Mode. Past epics include keys and reeds in Henry Cow,
electric alto with God, lap steel and vocals in The Work, Tadeusz Kantor-inspired
suite Stop Mortal with Dagmar Krause, Pierre Schaeffer interview for Rer Quarterly,
and many improvising encounters all over, including with Siberian musicians.
Writings on shamanism, new technology, spectralism, musique concrète...semi
nars, workshops, masterclasses, lectures, art schools, conservatories. "When I
compose I write for sounds and then for instruments. I try to make something that
is adequately eventful for our crazy time. I think I am writing for our time and the
listeners who must authentically inhabit it. Real music happens
when ideas are outrun by events." For more information please see
Tim Hodgkinson
www.timhodgkinson.co.uk
Jerry Hunt
JERRY HUNT (b. Waco, Texas, 1943) attended North Texas State
Eyvind Kang
University (aka University of North Texas). He worked as a pianist
through 1969 performing in concerts of contemporary music. Since
1978, the focus of his artistic activity had been the production of a series of interre
lated electronic, mechanic and social sound-sight interactive transactional system
performances of his work alone, or with and for other performers and performance
groups, and interactive participant array installations. His last series of works
included musical and performance collaborations with performance artist Karen
Finley, visual and conceptual artist Maria Blondeel, performer and composer James
Fulkerson (Barton Workshop), visual and sound artist Paul Panhuysen and com
poser and software designer Joel Ryan. He lived in a self-built house in east Texas
until his death in 1993.
songwriter and musician born in Memphis, Tennessee. She was born
into a spiritual commune/cult called The Holy Order of MANS. Her father is a
fiddler of German, Afro-Caribbean, and Sinti descent, and her mother is a hippie
folk-singer of English, French, and Cree descent. After her parents left the cult, they
relocated to Dahlonega, Georgia, where she grew up. She won a scholarship to study
at Yale where she painted and sculpted. At twenty years old she dropped out of Yale,
and moved to Alaska, where she hiked and began to experiment with singing. She
later was convinced by a friend to return to Yale, where she began to record Harpoon,
which was inspired by a love affair at that time. She then moved to Providence, Rhode
Island, where she has since produced another album called The Last Tree. Larkin's
EYVIND KANG (b. Corvallis, Oregon, 1971). Eyvind Kang spent his youth moving
around the Canadian prairies and Iceland before settling down in Seattle in 1991.
There he met the violinist Michael White (who performed with the Fourth Way, Sun
Ra Arkestra and Pharoah Sanders), who focused his attention on the achievements of
the great jazz musicians, particularly John Coltrane. In 1998 he studied with violinist
Dr. N. Rajam in India, which greatly influenced him. Since the mid-'90s he has per
formed extensively with Bill Frisell, as a violinist in his Quartet, and currently as a
violist in his 858 Quartet and in a trio with drummer Rudy Royston. He also per
forms with Laurie Anderson, and has written arrangements for Blonde Redhead,
Sunn O))), and many others. He has released many albums of original music, includ
ing 7 Nades (1996, Tzadik), The Yelm Sessions (2007, Tzadik), and Athlantis (2007
444
445
Larlcin Grimm
LARKIN GRIMM (b. September 18, 1981) is an American singer-
arcana v
about the contributors
Ipecac), featuring Mike Patton and Jessika Kenney, a choral piece with text by Gior
dano Bruno and Marbodius of Rennes. Since 2001, he has collaborated with Jessika
Kenney, as a soloist in her pieces Atria and Her Sword, and in a duet CD Aestuarium
(2005, Endless).
the Garden of Love and Another Avenue-, two collections of short stories, Spheres
and Rain Shapes', and his autobiography. The Gentle Giant, written in collabora
tion with Herb Boyd. In recent years he has also exhibited his paintings at various
art galleries.
JESSIKA KENNEY (b. Spokane, Washington, 1976). Kenney's initial performances as a
Grammy award winning composer-trumpeter-teacher FRANK LONDON is a mem
ber of The Klezmatics, and leads his Klezmer Brass Allstars, whose CD Carnival
Conspiracy was Rolling Stone's #1 Non-Enghsh recording of 2006. Critic Stephen
Fruitman writes, "Frank London is new Jewish musics' heart, soul and yiddishe
kop" and Seth Rogovoy calls A Night in the Old Marketplace "the best Jewish
musical since Fiddler." His opera about the Soviet Yiddish theater. Green Violin,
was performed in Amsterdam, St. Petersburg and at New York's Jewish Museum.
He is Artistic Director of KlezFest London (no relation) and on the faculty at
SUNY Purchase.Musicologist Joel Ruben called him "the person most responsible
for pushing the klezmer revival in the world beat and fusion with rock and jazz."
In addition to klezmer and Yiddish theater, London has explored Jewish jazz with
Hasidic New Wave, cantorial music on Hazonos and Invocations,
and mystical music on Nigunim and The Zmiros Project and most
Frank London
recently on his Tzadik release, tsuker-zis.
vocalist were within the Spokane punk scene of the early '90s. Deeply inspired by the
writings of Kathy Acker, she concentrated her studies on vocal sounds and poetry. In
1994 she moved to Seattle to study with jazz singer Jay Clayton at Cornish. In 1997
Kenney began to train in the traditional vocal arts during travels to Indonesia. Since
2004 Jessika has studied Classical Persian music, its radifs and poetry, with renowned
ney player and vocalist Dr. Hossein Omoumi. She is currently a member of his per
forming ensemble, and sings on the album Voices of Spring (2008, Haft Dastgah). She
also works with composerJarrad Powell and Gamelan Pacifica. Together with Eyvind
Kang, she recorded an album of voice and viola duets based around
sacred
text, Aestuarium (2005, Endless). Her compositions for voice,
Jessika Kenney
small ensembles, and gamelan orchestra include Atria and Her Sword.
William J. Kiesel
WILLIAM J. KIESEL is the publisher of Ouroboros Press as well as an
independent scholar and member of the European Society for the
Study of Western Esotericism. His practical experience and historical
knowledge of occult literature and culture spans two decades and draws from such
diverse areas as Hermeticism, Neoplatonism, Qabalah, Thelema, Alchemy, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, Near Eastern Esotericism and Ceremonial Magic. Esoteric
symbol systems in rehgion, mythology and folklore in historical and contemporary
contexts are among his objects of continual study. He lectures in the United States
and Europe.
Yusef Lateef
YUSEF LATEEF is a Grammy award-winning composer, performer, recording artist,
author, visual artist, educator and philosopher who has been a major force on the
international musical scene for more than six decades. In recognition of his many
contributions to the world of music, he has been named an American Jazz Master
for the year 2010 by the National Endowment for the Arts. Still very much active
as a touring and recording artist, Yusef Lateef is universally acknowledged as
one of the great living masters and innovators in the African American tradition of
autophysiopsychic music—that which comes from one's spiritual, physical and
emotional self. He is a virtuoso on a broad spectrum of reed instruments—tenor
saxophone, flute, oboe, bamboo flute, shanai, shofar, argol, sarewa, and taiwan
koto—and is considered a pioneer in what is known today as World Music. As a
composer he has compiled a catalogue of works not only for the quartets and quin
tets he has led, but for symphony and chamber orchestras, stage bands, small
ensembles, vocahsts, choruses and solo pianists. He is an emeritus Five Colleges
professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA, from which he was
awarded a Ph.D. in Education in 1975. In 2007 he was named University of Massa
chusetts' "Artist of the Year." Yusef Lateef has published two novellas, A Night in
446
Dary John Mizelle
DARYJOHN MIZELLE (b. Stillwater Oklahoma, Jime 14,1940) studied
Meredith Monk
trombone theory and composition in California (B .A. Sacramento
State University, M.A. UC Davis, PhD UC San Diego). Mentors
include: Larry Austin, Richard Swift, Jerome Rosen, Karlheinz Stockhausen,
David Tudor, Roger Reynolds, Robert Erickson, Pauline Oliveros, and Kenneth
Gaburo. A member of the New Music Ensemble at UC Davis (the first free
group improvisation ensemble) and a founding member of SOURCE Music of
the Avant Garde magazine, he has specialized in the sonic and structural aspects of
contemporary compositional practice. He works with electronic/computer/
concrete materials, chamber, solo instrumental, large ensemble, choral, orchestra,
opera and experimental combinations. He performs on the piano, trombone,
trumpet, shakiihachi, voice, performance art, jazz and intermedia idioms, and
conducts. A prohfic composer with over 450 works for all media, he is currently
engaged in the SPANDA project, thirteen days of experimental music for all media
with a coherent macrostructure. His works have been performed locally, nationally
and internationally since the sixties. He has taught composition, orchestration,
computer music, music theory, music history, and world music at University of
South Florida, Oberlin College Conservatory, Sonavera Studio of Sonic Arts and
Purchase College SUNY where he served as Chair of the composition program.
He makes his home in Mount Vernon, New York.
MEREDITH MONK is a composer, singer, and creator of new opera and music the
ater works. A pioneer in what is now called "extended vocal technique," Monk
has been hailed as "a magician of the voice," and "one of America's coolest com
posers." During a career that spans more than forty years, she has been acclaimed
447
ARCANA V
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS
by audiences and critics as a major creative force in the performing arts. She has
received numerous awards including a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, two
Guggenheim Fellowships, and in 2006 was named a USA Fellow and inducted into
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In the mid-'60s Monk began her
innovative exploration of the voice as a multi-faceted instrument and subsequent
ly composed and performed many solo pieces for unaccompanied voice and
voice/keyboard. In 1978 she formed Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble to further
expand her musical textures and forms. She has made over a dozen recordings,
mostly on the ECM New Series label, including the 2008 Grammy nominated
impermanence. Her music has been performed by numerous soloists and groups
including Bang on a Can All Stars, Björk, Double Edge and Musica Sacra. She has
been commissioned by Michael Tilson Thomas/New World Symphony, and
Kronos Quartet among others. Her music can also be heard in such films as
La Nouvelle Vague by Jean-Luc Godard and The Big Lebowski by Joel and Ethan
Coen. In October 1999 Monk performed a Vocal Offering for His Holiness, the
Dalai Lama as part of the World Festival of Sacred Music in Los Angeles. In 2000,
the Lincoln Center Festival celebrated Monk's music with a three-concert retro
spective and in 2004, a four and a half hour marathon was presented at Carnegie's
Zankel Hall. Another marathon, Meredith Monk Music @ The Whitney, was
presented in 2009, followed by the site-specific Ascension Variations at the
Guggenheim Museum.
Tisziji MuÑoz is a unique creative genius with dozens of musical
releases and written publications that continue to inspire, heal,
shock and liberate the few. Tisziji's musical spirit emerged early on. By age three
he was drumming ecstatically, and despite chronic nerve damage to his left wrist
sustained shortly thereafter, he was brought into the Mongo Santa Maria circle of
musicians as a drum prodigy in his teens. He taught himself how to play the
ukulele and later joined a Doo-Wop singing group. The Arrogants, recording four
songs in Hollywood, including Canadian Sunset. Following his service in the US
Army 440th General's Band, in which he was featured as a percussionist, Tisziji
focused on generating his own musical ideas while taking a leading role in the
development of Toronto's underground music scene. He was a guitarist in the Hair
and Godspell musicals, and met and inspired the now world-famous keyboard
player, Paul Shaffer, who became Tisziji's primary accompanist from 1970 to 1972.
Upon his return to the U.S., Tisziji met the great jazz saxophonist, Pharoah
Sanders, and later toured with him for six years. After raising his children in New
York City, Tisziji moved upstate and estabhshed Anami Music Productions to
handle the ever-expanding demands of his music, and The Illumination Society to
accommodate his writing and spiritual teaching functions. Knowing that most
individuals would not have any direct contact with him, Tisziji has documented
and published his views on a vast array of subjects, encouraging individuals to
awaken and realize the Master within themselves; thus freeing himself from the
burden of any formal or ritualistic teaching function. Through his works encom
Tisziji Munoz
448
passing music, spirituality and time-mastery, his teaching activities, and his spiri
tual approach to life, Tisziji continues to defy and transcend all schools of thought
while validating the Spiritual Heart-Source of his catastrophic music, which he
calls Heart-Fire Sound.
Besides his alchemistical work with trash, MARK NAUSEEF has performed and/or
recorded for more than forty years with many leading musicians of various genres
from around the world. Areas of study and master artists he has studied with
include, among others, Javanese Gamelan with K.R.T.Wasitodiningrat, Balinese
Gamelan with I. Nyoman Wenten, North Indian Pakhawaj drumming with Pandit
Taranath Rao, North Indian music theory with Pandit Amiya Dasgupta, Ghanaian
drumming and dance with Kobla and Alfred Ladzekpo, Dzidzorgbe Lawluvi and
C.K. Ganyo, and 20th century Western percussion techniques and hand drumming
with John Bergamo. Mark also studied frame drum techniques of the Middle East,
India and the Caucasus with Glen Velez. Nauseef has also worked as a producer.
In addition to his own recordings, he has produced many records of various types
of music including modern experimental as well as traditional forms. Traditional
music productions include numerous recordings of Balinese and Javanese music
such as the acclaimed and award winning CMP recordings. The Music of K.R. T.
Wasitodiningrat, recorded in Java, also Gamelan Batel Wayang Ramayana and
Gender Wayang Pemarwan, which were recorded in Bali. Current music activities
include recording and performance as a member of The Kudsi Erguner Ensemble,
led by the Turkish classical Sufi ney master and composer Kudsi Erguner. This
ensemble, made up of mostly Turkish classical musicians, plays reworked composi
tions of the Ottoman Empire as well as modern and classical repertoire. Nauseef
is currently a faculty member at the Hochschule für Musik und
Theater (Conservatory of Music) in Hamburg, Germany.
Nausee!
PAULINE OLIVEROS (1932) is a composer, performer, author and
Pauline Oliveros
philosopher and has influenced American music extensively through
her works with improvisation, electronic music, teaching, myth, ritual and medita
tion. She pioneered the concept of Deep Listening, an aesthetic based upon principles
of improvisation, electronic music, ritual, teaching and meditation designed to inspire
both trained and untrained performers to practice the art of listening and responding
to environmental conditions in solo and ensemble situations. During the mid-'60s
she served as the first director of the Tape Music Center at Mills College, aka Center
for Contemporary Music followed by fourteen years as Professor of Music and three
years as Director of the Center for Music Experiment at the University of California
at San Diego. Since 2001 she has served as Distinguished Research Professor of Music
in the Arts department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where she is engaged
in research on a National Science Foundation CreativelT project. She also serves as
Darius Milhaud Composer in Residence at Mills College doing telepresence teaching
and she is President of Deep Listening Institute, Ltd. where she leads projects in
Adaptive Use, Deep Listening and Publications. For more information please see
www.paulineoliveros.us and www.deeplistening.org
449
ARCANA V
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS
GENESIS BREYER P-ORRIDGE first achieved recognition with the 1969 founding
of COUM Transmissions, a confrontational performance collective heavily
influenced by Dada, which was later transformed into the band Throbbing Gristle.
(P-Orridge would, in 1981, found the ground-breaking band. Psychic TV.)
In the early 1970s, P-Orridge met William S. Burroughs, who introduced h/er to
Brion Gysin, marking the beginning of a seminal and influential collaborative rela
tionship. The supremely Dadaist practice of the "cut-up" technique of the early
20th century Surrealists s/he learned from them would influence P-Orridge
throughout h/er career and remains an integral element of h/er work. P-Orridge
was an early participator in Fluxus and Mail Art, applying the theories of John
Cage exchanging works with Ray Johnson among others. P-Orridge later began
an occultist practice influenced by the theories of the artist Austin Osman Spare.
The''sigils" they performed explored the relationship between the conscious and
unconscious self through magical techniques such as automatic writing, drawing
and actions. In the 1990s, P-Orridge began a collaboration with the performance
artist Lady Jaye Breyer—deconstructing the fiction of self. Influenced again by
"cut-up" techniques they appHed the strategy of "cutting-up" to their own bodies,
in an effort to merge their two identities, through plastic surgery, hormone therapy,
cross-dressing and altered behavior, into a single, "pandrogynous" character,
"BREYER P-ORRIDGE." (Although Lady Jaye passed away in 2007,
the project continues with Genesis embodying the entirety of
March 2008. Terry played his first pipe organ concert to a sold out audience at Dis
ney Hall in May of 2008, introducing The Universal Bridge, a work especially
commissioned for that evening. He christened the gigantic Disney
Hall pipe organ "Hurricane Mama."
Adam Rudolph
Californian TERRY RILEY, whose career has spanned five decades, is
one of the most influential composers and performers in contempo
rary music. His work In C changed the course of music after 1964.
It introduced a new approach to tonality and new structural principles that project
ed kaleidoscopic, psychedelic atmospheres, representing a striking departure from
the then established musical direction of the mid-20th century. An imaginative
improviser, his recordings such as A Rainbow in Curved Air and Poppy Nogood
and the Phantom Band, with their driving kinetic rhythms, sent waves across the
contemporary music world as well as into the territories of rock and jazz. His jazz
inflected piano improvisations incorporate elements of western classical music as
well various latin and world music flavors. Of particular note is his twenty-sbc year
association with his music Guru, legendary Indian vocalist. Pandit Pran Nath.
Riley appeared as accompanist in hundreds of concerts with the great Master and
continues today to give concerts of Indian Classical Music as an adjunct to his own
work in contemporary music. Terry has written for orchestra, choir, string quartet,
saxophone quartet, guitar, piano and various chamber music combinations and his
work has been performed on virtually every continent. Terry has collaborated with
some of the great names of our era, including Chet Baker, La Monte Young, George
Brooks, Zakir Hussein, Krishna Bhatt, Kronos Quartet, Michael McClure, Stefano
Scodanibbio, John Gale and more recently his son, Gyan Riley. His most recent
work, SolTierraLuna for two guitars, violin and Orchestra had its premiere in
Born in 1955, handrummer, percussionist, composer, multi-instru
mentalist and improviser ADAM RUDOLPH grew up in the Hyde Park
area of the Southside of Chicago. From an early age he was exposed to the live music
performances of the great artists who lived nearby. As a teenager, Rudolph started
playing hand drum's in local streets and parks and soon apprenticed with elders of
African American improvised music. He performed regularly in Chicago with Fred
Anderson and in Detroit with the Contemporary Jazz Quintet. In 1973 Rudolph
played on his first record date with Maulawi Nururdin and with the CJQ at the Ann
Arbor Blues and Jazz festival. In 1977 he lived and studied in Ghana, where he experi
enced trance ceremonies. In his travels throughout West Africa he saw how music can
come from a cosmological grounding beyond music itself and can also be about some
thing beyond music itself. In 1978 he lived in Don Cherry's house in the Swedish
countryside. Cherry inspired him to start composing and showed him about Omette
Coleman's concept and the connection of music to nature. Rudolph is known as one
the early innovators of what is now called "World Music". In 1978 he and Gambian
Kora player Jali Foday Musa Suso co-founded The Mandingo Griot Society, one of
the first bands to combine African and American music. In 1988, he recorded the first
fusion of American and Gnawa music with Sintir player and singer Hassan Hakmoun. Rudolph intensely studied North Indian tabla for over fifteen years with Pan
dit Taranath Rao. He learned hundreds of drum compositions and about how music is
a form of Yoga—the unity of mind, body and spirit. In 1988 Rudolph began his asso
ciation with Yusef Lateef, with whom he has recorded over fifteen albums including
several of their large ensemble collaborations. Lateef introduced Rudolph to the
inspirational practice of Autophysiopsychic Music—"that which comes from one's
spiritual, physical and emotional self". Rudolph still performs worldwide with
Dr. Lateef in ensembles ranging from their acclaimed duo concerts to appearances as
guest soloist with the Köln, Atlanta and Detroit symphony orchestras. Over the past
twenty-five years Rudolph has developed a unique syncretic approach to hand
drumming in creative collaborations with outstanding artists of cross-cultural and
improvised music, including Jon Hassel, L. Shankar, Joseph Bowie, and Wadada Leo
Smith among others. He has released over a dozen recordings on his own Meta
Records label documenting his compositions for various size ensembles as well as his
collaborations with artists such as Sam Rivers, Omar Sosa, and Pharaoh Sanders.
Currently Rudolph composes for his groups Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures
quartet and octet, Hu: Vibrational trio, and Go: Organic Orchestra, a fifteen to fiftypiece ensemble for which he has developed an original music notation and conducting
system. He has taught and conducted hundreds of musicians in the Go: Organic
Orchestra concept in both North America and Europe. Rudolph recently premiered
his opera The Dreamer, based on the text of Friedreich Nietzsche's The Birth of
450
451
Genesis Breyer
P-Orridge
BREYER P-ORRIDGE.)
Terry Riley
ARCANA V
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS
Tragedy. He also performs as half of the Wildflowers Duo with Butoh dance innova
tor Oguri. Rudolph has recently had his rhythm repository and methodology book,
Pure Rhythm published by Advance Music, Germany. He has performed at festivals
and concerts throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Japan,
appeared on numerous albums and released over twenty recordings as a leader. He has
received grants and compositional commissions from the Rockefeller Foundation,
Chamber Music America, Meet the Composer, Mary Flagler Gary Trust, the NEA,
Arts International, Durfee Foundation and American Composers Forum.
DAVID CHAIM SMITH 1964: born in Queens, NYC. 1980-1982: Philosophy and
art history at Queens College. 1982-1986: BFA in drawing at Rhode Island
School of Design. 1988-1989: MFA in drawing at Colombia University. 1990:
Beginning of intensive study of alchemy and Western Esoteric Qabalah. 1990-1997:
Ritual work and study with several western occult orders. 1997: Visual art
suspended in favor of practical mysticism. 1997-1998: Residence at Crazy Cloud
Hermitage. 1998-2006: Immersion in Chassidic mysticism and traditional
Hebrew Kabbalah with several teachers. 2007: Innovation of a set of graphic keys
based on the 13th century mystical text Maayin HaChochmah. With these
symbolic constructs image making is resumed after a ten year hiaDavid Chaim Smith
tus from visual art.
Trey Spruance
TREY SPRUANCE is a California based composer, multi-instrumen-
DAVID TOOP is a musician/composer, author and curator. He studied fine art
and graphic design, then in 1971—1972 took part in the first improvisation work
shops led by jazz drummer John Stevens. Having played improvised music since
the beginning of the 1970s with musicians such as Paul Burwell, Steve Beresford,
Max Eastley, Hugh Davies, Terry Day, Peter Cusack, Sally Potter and Loi Coxhill,
he also recorded shamanistic ceremonies in Amazonas and appeared on Top Of
The Pops with the Flying Lizards. Musicians he has worked with include Brian
Eno, John Zorn, Prince Far I, Jon Hassell, Derek Bailey, Talvin Singh, Evan Parker,
Scanner, Ivor Cutler, Akio Suzuki, Haco, Rhodri Davies,Jin Hi Kim and Alasdair
Roberts, and collaborated with artists such as theatre director/actor Steven
Berkoff, Japanese Butoh dancer Mitsutaka Ishii, sound poet Bob Cobbing and
visual artist John Latham. His first album, New and Rediscovered Musical
Instruments, was released on Brian Eno's Obscure label in 1975; since 1995 he has
released eight solo albums, including Screen Ceremonies, Black Chamber and
Sound Body. Four books have been published, currently translated into seven
languages: Rap Attack, Ocean of Sound, Exotica (a winner of the 21st annual
American Books Awards for 2000), and Haunted Weather. As a critic and essayist
he has written for many pubhcations, including The Wire, The Face, The Times and
Leonardo Music Journal. In 2000, he curated Sonic Boom, the UK's largest ever
exhibition of sound art, at the Hayward Gallery, London, and in 2005 curated
Playing John Cage for Arnolfini Bristol. His sound works have been exhibited in
Beijing's Zhongshan Park, Tokyo ICC and the National Gallery, London. His
most recent book Sinister Resonance: The Mediumship of the
David Toop
Listener—^will be published in summer 2010. He is currently com
posing a chamber opera, Star-shaped Biscuit, for Aldeburgh Music.
Greg Wall
talist and producer, leader of Secret Chiefs 3, member of defunct
Mr. Bungle. Nietzschean reactionary angst from exposure to redneck town of
youth led to overzealous immersion in music and philosophy (and an aversion to
western Christendom). Once in San Francisco in the beginning of the 1990s,
appropriate psychic and social adjustments began. Education and participation in
some of the more inscrutable elements of the SF underground at that time, with its
mysterious and often humble but completely insane personages, inspired much
creativity and soul searching. Truth-seeking (albeit disjointed and anarchistic)
arrived in seed-form by 1993, and led to nearly two decades of deeply intensive
studies in Hermetic and Islamic Philosophies. Eventually these studies began to
crystallize into something substantial and musically apphcable. On embracing of
non-ET tonality (not "microtonality" but modal concepts owing much to Hellenic
musical Philosophy), and also non-subdivided rhythm, an unmistakable musical
overlap with Philosophy resulted in a "synergy" that has maintained a steady
direction and output. The music is often mistaken as avant garde, but is really just
situated consistently in a tension between ancient and modern ideas, eastern and
western concepts, etc. Moved to the mountains in 2000. For over a decade compo
sitional goals have reflected a rigorous "home-schooled" kind of quasi-quadrivium
{Book M, Book of Horizons, etc.) that walks the line of aforementioned tensions.
Now entering third year of being an Eastern Orthodox Christian wannabe layper
son, who at this point is just trying to not become the next Rasputin, Simon Magus
or Judas.
PETER LAMBORN WILSON (b. 1945) is an American political writer, essayist, and
poet, known for first proposing the concept of the Temporary Autonomous Zone
(TAZ), based on a historical review of pirate utopias. See Green Hermeticism:
Alchemy and Ecology essays by Peter Lamborn Wilson, Christopher Bamford, Zia
Inayat-Khan (Lindisfarne Bookes, 2008).
452
453
Rabbi GREG WALL is a saxophonist and composer who is equally
Peter Lamborn
Wilson
fluent in both jazz and world music. He has performed and recorded
with his own ensembles Later Prophets, Greg Wall Trio, Hasidic
New Wave, The Wall/London Band and Greg Wall's Unity Orchestra as well as with
Neshama Carlebach, the'Hi-Tops and many others. Greg has made many session
appearances for record dates and film scores and performs his own music regularly
at top venues and major festivals throughout North America and Europe. Since
1999 he has collaborated with the Carolyn Dorfman Dance company, resulting in
many commissioned dance scores. Most recent projects include the Unity
Orchestra, a pan cultural ensemble featuring eight musicians from five continents,
and Ha'Orot, a musical setting of the mystical poetry of legendary Rabbi Rav
Kook. Greg is the Rabbi of the 6th Street shul in New York's East Village.
ARCANA V
Z'EV text/sound artist, composer, sound sculptor, poet and mystic. He is perhaps
best known for his performances of acoustic phenomena produced through catacoustic (reflected sound-based) percussion. In 1978 he met Haitian Hougun Rico
Joves and was initiated into Vou-Dun drumming. Employed as a researcher for the
Society for the Preservation of Occult Consciousness he received initiations into
the Western Ceremonial Tradition. In 1979 he began his studies with Rabbi J.
Winston, founder of the Jewish Meditation Society. His work is influenced by the
Middle Eastern mystical system best known as Kabbalah (although not of the
Jewish variety), as well as cultures and esoteric systems world-wide. After study
ing at CalArts with Concrete poet Emmett Williams he concentrated on visual and
sound poetries, and was included in the Second Generation show at the Museum
of Conceptual Art in San Francisco in 1975. In 1976, inspired by the Punk Movement,
he re-entered the musical sphere and was one of the progenitors of the so-called
"industrial" movement in the late '70s. Between the years 1978-1984 he, along with
Neil Megson, was fairly responsible for delivering the "tribal" impulse and esthet
ic into the Western cultural milieu. In 1992 his first book, Rhythmajik—Practical
uses of Number, Rhythm and Sound was published by Temple Press UK. With
some few exceptions he was retired from artistic endeavors between 1994 and 2003.
In 2001 Tzadik released his work: The Sapphire Nature-, five translations of the pri
mal Qabalhistic text known as the Sefer Yetzirah. While performing primarily as a
soloist, since 2003 he has been concentrating on cooperative and collaborative
composition and performance. He currently spends as much time as possible in
Peckham, England in the company of Conceptual Artist Barbara
*'ev
Stevni, the mother of what is now called Socially Engaged Art.
Drawing on his experience in a variety of genres, including jazz,
rock, hardcore punk, classical, klezmer, film, cartoon, popular, and
improvised music, JOHN ZORN has created an influential body of work that defies
academic categories. A native of New York City, he has been a central figure in the
downtown scene since 1975, incorporating a wide range of musicians in various
compositional formats. He learned alchemical synthesis from Harry Smith, struc
tural ontology with Richard Foreman, how to make art out of garbage with Jack
Smith, cathartic expression at Sluggs, and hermetic intuition from Joseph Cornell.
Early inspirations include American innovators Ives, Varèse, Cage, Carter, and
Partch, the European tradition of Berg, Stravinsky, Ligeti, and Kagel, soundtrack
composers Herrmann, Morricone, and StaUing, as well as avant garde theater, film,
art, and hterature.
John Zorn
454
1^,
ARCANA
ARCANA II
Answering a need for critical attention towards experimental and avant-garde music, Arcana, is a
Arcana II is the second in a groundbreaking series of volumes presented by John Zorn answering
ground-breaking work—as far-ranging and dynamic as the current generation of musicians.
a continuing need for critical attention toward avant-garde and experimental music. Thirty distin
Through manifestoes, scores, interviews, notes and critical papers, performer/composers address
guished composer/performers illuminate and speculate upon method and practice in the process of
composing, playing, improvising, teaching, and thinking in and through music. Rather than an
making, experiencing, and thinking about music. Imaginatively elucidating through essays, scores,
attempt to distill or define musicians' work, Aroma illuminates with personal vision and experience.
manifestoes, and interviews both real and imaginary. Arcana II gives voice to a new generation of
Arcana is a remarkable book—challenging and original—essential for composers, musicians, theo
brave musical explorers living outside the mainstream academy who passionately and selflessly
rists and fans alike.
devote themselves to a search for the miraculous.
Arcana is a vibrant testimony to the continuing vitality of new music. These exciting
young composers are as idiosyncratic and eloquent with words as they are with music.
—MEREDITH MONK
Arcana, edited by John Zom, is filled with writings by musicians from all over the musi
cal map. Interested in the sampling, deconstruction and reconstruction of pop hooks? The
historical sociobiology of the downtown music scene? An American's reaction to the study
of Gagaku? Extended contrabass techniques? A savvy take on earplugs, amplifier dis
tortion and pain? This is the book you've been looking for.
—STEVE REICH
Colorful, urgent,idiosyncratic. Arcana Wis a manifesto for freedom and experimentation.
It's also an exciting collection of stories by musicians about how and why they make
music. Now that the music business has fractured, categories have loosened up too.
Mainstream? Pop? Experimental? They mean completely different things these days.
Arcana II lays the groundwork for revolutionizing what music can mean and be.
—LAURIE ANDERSON
The original and free spirited ideas in the essays contained in John Zom's collection
Arcana II are always stunning, passionate,and truly thought-provoking. This book is the
must-read pleasure for anyone with an interest in music—what it is—has been—could be.
Bristling with ideas. Illuminating and redefining,
—Lou REED
contributors
contributors
CHRIS BROWN
EYVIND KANG
MIKE PATTON
ANTHONY COLEMAN
GUY KLUCEVSEK
MARC RIBOT
CHRISTOPHER ADLER
TREVOR DUNN
MARILYN CRISPELL
JIM O'ROURKE
GEORGE LEWIS
DAVID ROSENBOOM
MARK DRESSER
STEPHEN DRURY
MICK BARR
JASON ECKARDT
EVAN PARKER
DAVID MAHLER
JOHN SCHOTT
ELLIOTT SHARP
JEWLIA EISENBERG
ANNIE GOSFIELD
ZEENA PARKINS
DAVID SHEA
FRED FRITH
MIYA MASAOKA
MYRA MELFORD
IKUE MORI
BORAH BERGMAN
LISA BIELAWA
URI GAINE
MILFORD GRAVES
MARINA ROSENFELD
FRANCES-MARIE UITTI
PETER GARLAND
STEVE COLEMAN
CARLA KIHLSTEDT
NED ROTHENBERG
LARRY OCHS
LOIS V VIERK
GERRY HEMINGWAY
LUKAS LIGETI
TREY SPRUANCE
BOB OSTERTAG
SCOTT JOHNSON
JOSÉ MACEDA
J.G. THIRLWELL
JOHN OSWALD
Z'EV
JOHN ZORN
NOAH CRESHEVSKY
SYLVIE COURVOISIER
CHRIS DENCH
ERNESTO MARTINEZ
MATT WELCH
DAVE DOUGLAS
BUTCH MORRIS
YAMATAKA EYE
BILL FRISELL
456
457
MAJA RATKJE
ARCANA III
ARCANA IV
The writings in the continuing Arcana series provide direct connections to the inner sanctums
Now in its fourth installment, with a fifth in preparation, John Zom's acclaimed Arcana series pro
of some of the most extraordinary musical thinkers of our time. Technical, philosophical and
vides insight into the work and methodologies of some of the most creative musical minds of our
mystical in nature, these essays reach out to the listener to illuminate the creative processes
time. Rather than an attempt to distill or define a musician's work. Arcana IV iUuminates direcdy via
and hidden stratagem of a music (and a community) largely misjudged and unappreciated by
personal vision and experience through the undiluted words and thoughts of the practitioners them
mainstream culture. Arcana provides welcome tools for digging into the underground and can
selves. Elucidating through manifestoes, scores, interviews, notes and critical papers, composer/per
lead the creative mind toward an exciting world of possibiUties for artists, musicians, musical
formers address composing, improvising, teaching, living, touring and thinking in and through music.
theorists and curious listeners alike.
—^from the preface
The Arcana series will come to be viewed as the most vital source of relevant information
on creative music in the transitional opening of the third millennium. In a time period
Essential for composers, musicians, students and fans aUke, this remarkably challenging and original
series has now become THE major source on new music theory and practice in the 21st century.
where mundane reading sources permeate the publishing world, this body of writings
provide welcome intellectual nourishment for serious engagement and learning about
As musicians, we are at our best when fully engaged in the intensely personal processes of
uncovering and revealing the things that we have each found to be true along the way.
The pursuit of our own individual goals in sound and conception can offer insights that
creative thinking. John 2om continues to lead by example in both his music and activist
work, demonstating the kind of dedication and leadership that inspires real positive
growth and world change.
—ANTHONY BRAXTON
transcend as we search to reconcile the impossible with the possible, the imagined gesture
with the actual fact of music itself. With this fourth volume in the Arcana series, John
2om has again assembled broad testimony to the cause in an infinity of dialects, wildly
This diverse group of contributors, living and writing in a deeply aware 2 ist century pro
vides insights into the way musicians view their work and each other. One senses that
diverse but unified with an intent on delivering a range of personal reports that ruminate
not only the state of the art in music today, but offer an illuminating view into the deepest
crevices of our culture on the move in this most interesting of times. —^PAT METHENY
there is an unlimited way "to do it' and that musicians, who can delight with their magic
spells, can speak with welcome clarity about how they attempt to get to that mysterious
place. These writers point to their sources, their concerns, and at times their love and
admiration for one another with originalthought. What you get with Arcana III is a sense
We live in a time of musical illiteracy, but a volume like this, in its multiplicity, enthusi
asm, and polemicism offers to anyone wanting to go beyond the tatters of contemporary
musical criticism a fascinating look into the minds of a broad segment of living music-
that there are no boundaries—the closing piece raised me right up out of my chair with a
resounding "YES."
—TERRY RILEY
makers. Not every view is represented, but enough are, to show how much richer the
reality is than the picture presented by the panderers.
—CHARLES WUORINEN
contributors
contributors
MARYANNE AMACHER
JERRY HUNT
KAFFE MATTHEWS
DEREK BAILEY
MAMORU FUJIEDA
GORDON MUMMA
DEREK BERMEL
HENRY KAISER
OLGA NEUWIRTH
NELS CLINE
KENNETH GABURO
HANKUS NETSKY
STEVEN BERNSTEIN
HA-YANG KIM
Buzz OSBOURNE
CHRIS CUTLER
STEVE GORN
STEVE PETERS
THEO BLECKMANN
MAKIGAMI KOICHI
WILLIAM PARKER
PAUL DRESHER
SHELLEY HIRSCH
MATANA ROBERTS
GAVIN BRYARS
PAMELIA KURSTIN
PAOLA PRESTINI
ARNOLD DREYBLATT
ROBIN HOLCOMB
BRANDON ROSS
GREG COHEN
OKKYUNG LEE
JAMIE SAFT
TOBY DRIVER
WAYNE HORVITZ
URSEL SCHLICT
JACQUES COURSIL
SEAN LENNON
ERIC SINGER
DAVID DUNN
VIJAY IYER
DAVID SLUSSER
MARIO DIAZ DE LEÓN
FRANK LONDON
WADADA LEO SMITH
MARTY EHRLICH
JOHN KING
TYSHAWN SOREY
TIME HARRIS
BRAD LUBMAN
LAETITIA SONAMI
PETER EVANS
ALEX LIPOWSKI
KATHLEEN SUPOVÉ
SCOTT HULL
CHRISTIAN MARCLAY
HAL WILLNER
FAST FORWARD
BOB LUDWIG
DAVEY WILLIAMS
JAMES FEI
KEERIL MAKAN
CAROLYN YARNELL
MIGUEL FRASCONI
BENEDICT MASON
458
459