All sound and tone can fall into one of two catego- ries - musical or non-musical. In this chapter we will ex- plore the musical effects of sacred sound and how they can be applied by anyone, regardless of musical back- ground or knowledge.
Everyone is musical. Everyone holds the gift of mu- sic within them. It is intrinsic to the nature of us all, with- out exception. We have been surrounded and nourished by music since the moment of conception - from the sounds carried to us through the amniotic fluids during pregnancy to the rhythmic beat of our own hearts. Music and rhythm are life itself.
Music is healing, and we must make it a conscious and active part of our lives. We must participate in music as we did as children. This is not just listening to it or using it to fill voids of silence in our lives. We must learn about it from an entirely new perspective. We must realize that within music lies all of the wonders and keys to the mir- acles of life. Within music lies all of the principles of life - natural and spiritual. Music can facilitate the process of change and growth.
It is recognized that a child responds to sound even while in the womb. The earth is our mother now - our womb - and we need to learn to work with the sounds of the earth much more creatively than in the past. You do not have to be "gifted" to benefit from work with sacred sound and music. Musicians are exceptional, but they are only "gifted" in the sense that they willingly and lovingly receive this gift which is available to all. They have taken what is part of us all, what is offered to us all, and then they have magnified it and made it their own. Even if we all can't be musicians, we all can be musical!
The consequences of higher consciousness and di- vine communication live on through music. When played, music will continue to pulse outward into the field of energy beyond us long after the actual sound has faded from audible awareness. Look how often we hear a tune in the morning, and we h u m or hear it within our head throughout the rest of the day. This phenomenon says much about the spiritual and lasting effects of music. It even tells us that the possibility of communicating by music with the unseen is immeasurable.
Modern society views music in two ways, as an art form and as a commercial product. Music needs to be con- sidered in a third way - as a power of universal force. It is a force that was treated with great respect in ancient times. They recognized that the physical emission of sound was an outer and audible agency of the inner transformation. They recognized that music was a relationship of one tone to another and that all life was the relationship of one indi- vidual to another.
The power of music works because of a secret content found in the expression of sound. This secret content is the pattern of sound emitted through various techniques, vo- cal or instrumental. For example, inspiration and intuition occurs through a repetition of regular musical structures,
tones, and patterns that change the brain wave pattern from a beta (normal consciousness) to an alpha pattern (altered state of awareness).
Certain modes (minor and major) were deemed powerful. As a general rule, the minor modes were con- sidered carriers of great force and power and could affect changes in emotional and physical states. The major modes were up uplifting and energizing. The minor mode draws the energy into the physical, and the major modes lift the individual to the spiritual.
The manner of playing and singing the modes was considered powerful. Some were literally banned by the Church. Many believed that the voice was wedded to words and that instruments lacked this unity. Many of the early church leaders also associated many instruments with pagan life. The lyre and flute, for example, were strongly associated with pagan dances.1 Even though the
lyre and flute were used in worship by the Greek converts to Christianity, the use of such instruments was con- demned by such major figures as Clement of Alexandria, St. Ambrose, and St. Augustine2 w h o "adjures believers
not to turn hearts to theatrical instruments," even though Augustine exhorts the power of music and hymns.3
The Church often believed that Pagan musical in- struments were derived from ancient magical practices that utilized music to invoke unseen beings and power. This was especially true regarding the singing of hymns. For example, in the development of singing polyphony, the interval of the minor second was prohibited.4 And ec-
clesiastical authorities frowned upon the movement away from Gregorian Chants toward secular and possibly pa- gan melodies as a basis for the mass. In the traditional Greek music, (in the early chants and even in the folk- songs) the text and the melody were united. However, in- dividual singers who would adjust the text of the mass to
fit with the music, using their own judgment, were con- demned by the Council of Trent (1545-1563).5
The difficulty today in re-awakening much of the an- cient knowledge and power of music lies in relating the old models to modern modes of awareness. The pitch ra- tio of ancient times would have to be tempered to today's world. Our own energy and expression is much different than that of thousands of years ago. When we apply the musical principles of the past to the present, it is not the individual notes that are of key importance, but rather it is the relationship of one tone to another.
Western society's scale is chromatic. It includes the basic eight notes from C to the next higher pitch of C (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C). It also includes the sharps and flats in be- tween them. On the piano this would constitute not only the white keys but the black keys as well.
Many ancient societies used a pentatonic scale - based upon five distinct notes. This is comparable to the five black keys on the piano. However, the black keys only represent one arrangement of the many possibilities in a pentatonic scale. Technically, any five notes can be con- sidered a pentatonic scale.
EXAMPLE OF SCALES
Western Scales Eastern Scales*
Pentatonic D E G A B Oriental D F G A C Diatonic C D E F G A B (C) African D E G A B Chromatic C C# D D# E F F# Egypt F G A B C G G# A A# B (C) Greece D E G A B * These are examples of pentatonic scales used in folksongs of these countries. There are others of course.
The tones associated with the scales give each society its own distinct sounds. This is why what sounds good to
us in our society may sound quite discordant or strange to others, and vice versa. This is why westerners often dis- like or don't understand many Eastern forms of music. It is not that the Eastern is discordant or inharmonious. It is simply based upon a different scale, a scale that is usually quite in harmony with the energies of that people. Each society - as each individual - has its own energy system. We in the West use our energies in ways that are quite dif- ferent from those in the East. It is only natural that the ex- pression of that energy through music would also be quite different.
It is not the number of notes within a particular scale that provides its force or impact, but rather it is the succes- sion. The relationship between one note and the next pro- vides the clue to the use of music for healing and for achieving higher states of consciousness. It is the order in which they are played, in conjunction with the rhythm, that creates the impact. Certain combinations of tones and rhythms have very specific effects upon our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual states.
The order and rhythm of tones, and the mixing of tones into various melodies, is a source of magic. We can learn to combine tones - vocal or instrumental - to link energies of the body together. This can be done to facilitate healing, intuition, dream enlightenment, communing with spirits, or for invoking divine presences. We will ex- plore a number of these techniques throughout this book.