http://www.star-one.org.uk/music/secret.htm




The Secret Power Of Music

[articles index]

"All music, based upon melody & rhythm, is the earthly representative
of
heavenly music" - Plotinus (AD 205 - 269)

"Hear, & your soul shall live" - Isiah 55:3


INTRODUCTION


Music as an organisation of sound is known to have existed for over
3000
years, & writings from the ancient civilisations of Mesopotamia,
India & China
suggest there was such an artform at least 1000 years previous to
this. In our
so - called 'scientific age' it is often easy to forget this; & music
as it was taught
in English schools until very recently even served to implicate a
denial of this
fact, by its labelling of our mediaeval music as 'primitive', its
concentration on
the theory of music apparent in the 'common practice' period, & by
completely
failing to mention the existence of methods of making music outside
of the
traditional Western art music mould.

Along with the increase in interest in the study of the theory &
practise of other
musical cultures on an equal footing to our own, there has been an
upsurge of
interest in what some people like to describe as the spiritual side
of music - a
side of musical philosophy that has had an important (almost to the
point of
becoming religious in nature) influence on every musical culture on
the planet
at some point during their histories, even our own. Contemporary
theorists,
composers, & performers such as David Tame, Joscelyn Godwin, Terry
Riley,
Peter Michel Hamel, Joachim-Ernst Berendt, & Dane Rudhyar have all
made
studies in this area & published their findings & opinions. Even
medical science
has come to formulate the opinion that music has some kind of power
beyond
mere soothing & relaxation with the science of Music Therapy - in
1984 David
Tame (Tame 1984: p 157) noted that music therapy was not in wide use
save
for a few private practitioners, yet 16 years on in 1996 respected
colleges such
as the Roehampton Institute, & the Guildhall School of Music have
courses in
the subject, & local education & health authorities in places such as
Birmingham employ peripatetic music therapists to visit patients in
hospitals &
special schools. New technology has been developed in order to assist
practitioners, devices such as the EMS Soundbeam (a modern day
development of the Theramin) & its associated peripherals enable the
physically disadvantaged to benefit from sharing in the music making
experience, & some hospitals have specially designed 'sense rooms',
containing a myriad of coloured lights & fascinating sounds, in which
even
profoundly blind & deaf children experience the wonder & magic of the
environment around them.


MICROCOSM & MACROCOSM - MICROSOUND & MACROSOUND ?

The further back in time we go, the greater emphasis was placed on
the
concept of music, & even sound in general, as inextricably connected
to
spirituality, & even the act of Creation itself. Just as Rennaissance
philosophers
such as Robert Fludd (1574 - 1637) had their ideas of Microcosm &
Macrocosm (ideas which in themselves were strongly influenced by the
views
of Pythagoras (6th C. BCE) & Boethius (480 - 525)), with the
microcosm as the
physical world here on Earth (the Temporal Universe) being a
reflection of the
macrocosm of Heaven, or the Spiritual Universe, so the Ancients
believed that
audible sound (& thus music) was a reflection of a kind of 'Primal'
sound or
vibration, which was taking place in the spiritual universe. This
inaudible sound
was thought to be the basis of all matter & energy in the temporal
universe, & in
its fundamental form was known to the ancient Hindu people as Om.
However,
just as pure white light can be differentiated with a prism into the
7 colours of
the rainbow, & as audible sound can be Fourier analysed into a series
of tones
of the Harmonic Series, so the primal scream was thought to have been
differentiated into a series of harmonics, or Cosmic Tones, which
were present
in varying combinations throughout the universe - in fact, these
tones, as the
most powerful force in the universe, were the universe. In ancient
Egypt these
cosmic tones were declared as the Words of the Gods, the Pythagoreans
of
ancient Greece knew them as the Music of the Spheres, & the ancient
Chinese
described them as the Celestial Energies of Perfect Harmony. With
this in
mind, to Christians, the words from the Gospel of St John 'In the
beginning was
the Word, & the Word was with God, & the Word was God' could be
interpreted
literally in this manner to provoke thought as to the consequences of
more
sound upon the governance of the Universe; especially if one draws
parallels
with Hindu concepts: it is possible to equate the Hindu Om with the
Word, for
each are associated in scripture with the process of Creation, & each
are
associated with the 'Son' (Vishnu & Christ) in the respective
Trinity.

So, if one chooses to believe i: that there is such a thing as
Microcosm &
Macrocosm, & ii: the concept of Om (or whatever one might wish to
call it - the
Word, or the Primal Vibration) as the maintainance of Creation, then
it is not
such a great leap of faith to consider the possibility that audible
sound as we
hear it in the temporal universe is the same reflection of the
inaudible sound
that governs the spiritual universe - we have here the concept of
Microsound &
Macrosound. Furthermore, it is possible to take this belief further,
& assume
that, since the microsound is a reflection of the macrosound (& vice
versa),
whatever happens in the microsound also affects the macrosound -
ultimately
extrapolated, this means that audible sound, & therefore music,
affects the
spiritual universe; since according to this belief, the spiritual
universe affects
the temporal one, audible sound, & therefore music, affects the
physical world
around us.


MUSIC & PHILOSOPHY IN ANCIENT CHINA

One of the earliest people to have implemented these ideas in their
philosophy
to the extreme were the ancient Chinese. To them, each piece of music
was
more than a mere entertainment, or even a worshipful act, it was an
energy-formula which realised the sacred power of sound in its own
unique
way; each composition had its own effects on people, civilisation, &
the world. It
was this belief which influenced Chinese philosophers into directing
more than
an insignificant portion of their attention to the music of the
nation - if the people
were to be protected from the 'dangers' of the misuse of the power of
music, &
if they were to bask in its optimally beneficial use, then it had to
be ensured that
only the 'correct' music was allowed to be sounded. For them all
music should
convey eternal truths, & influence the peoples' character for the
better; it is no
accident therefore that the word for music (yüo) is the same
pictogram as that
for the word for serenity (lo). The ancient Chinese writings which
are still extant
make no bones about this power of music over the emotional wellbeing
of man
- such as in the Yo Ki ('Memorial of Music') we read thus:

'Under the effect of music, the 5 social duties are without
admixture, the eyes &
ears are clear, the blood & the vital energies are balanced, habits
are reformed,
customs are improved, & the empire is at complete peace.'

The philosophers were convinced that all 'course' & sensual music (in
the terms
of how they defined that) had an immoral effect on the person
listening to it, &
consequently kept an ear on music to ascertain its potential for
spirituality or
degradation. Confucius (551 - 479 BC) singled out several styles for
moral
condemnation: 'The music of Cheng is lewd & corrupting, the music of
Sung is
soft & makes one effeminate, the music of Wei is repetitious &
annoying, & the
music of Ch'i is harsh & makes one haughty' (Tame 1984: p 34). He
also had
positive things to say about music, thus: 'The noble-minded man's
music is mild
& delicate, keeps a uniform mood, enlivens & moves. Such a man does
not
harbour pain or mourn in his heart; violent & daring movements are
foreign to
him'.


THE PRIMAL SOUND & THE HUANG CHUNG

After coming to the conclusion that audible sound was inextricably
linked to
celestial sound, & the ramifications that had for civilisation, the
Chinese then
set about attempting to align their music to the principles &
proportions of
cosmic order; thus aligning all consciousness & life to this
celestial order. From
this we can draw parallels between the Chinese concept of
consciousness
(when correctly aligned) embodying the celestial sound, & the
Christian
concept of Christ being the physical manifestation of the Word of
God. We
have the 'divine right of kings' idea here - the Chinese emperors
were also seen
as gods, & their word was the Word. We can see this by examining some
of the
language - as an example, the name given to Chinese music's
foundation tone
was 'huang chung' ('yellow bell'), but this phrase was also used to
refer to both
the ruler (symbolically) & also to divine will itself. The colour
yellow was seen
as the colour of sacred wisdom, the imperial colour, & the emperor
was a priest
- king.

In terms of the microsound, the huang chung was used as the standard
pitch
upon which the music of the nation was based (ie, much the same as
our
contemporary A=442 Hz standard). As far as the philosophers related
it to the
macrosound, the audible huang chung was the most perfect audible
manifestation of the primal vibration possible; it was considered as
a several
octave transposition of the 'macrochung', & as such was an actual
audible
embodiment of the Word. In cosmology, the purpose of the Word was to
act as
mediator between Heaven & Earth, so therefore the celestial huang
chung (&
consequently the audible transposition of it) was the vehicle for the
transference of divine will into the microcosm. So, given this the
analogy of the
huang chung as both divine & temporal ruler is complete - as the bell
set the
pitch of all music, so did the Emperor set the laws of State, & both
were seen
as the transference objects through which divine will passed.


THE ALIGNMENT OF MICROCOSM & MACROCOSM

We have thus far dealt with the ideas that all musical pitches were
aligned &
standardised according to the huang chung, but there are yet more
philosophical implications involved. For, if one gives it careful
consideration, if
one believes that earthly music should be standardised according to
the
heavens, it is possible for one to extrapolate a belief that all in
the microcosm
should be standardised to conform with the macrocosm, all weights &
measures in addition to all music. To the ancient Chinese, this
indeed was the
case, & since they were assigning the greatest significance to the
huang
chung, it made perfect sense, if not absolutely essential, to use it
as the
yardstick by which weights & measures were set.

The question might be asked, just how could one derive such a system
from a
musical tone ? A system of length measurement is easy - a vibrating
string of a
specific length produces a specific pitch, but what about weight (the
concept of
mass was yet to be discovered), or volume ? The answer was
deceptively
simple; only a pipe of the correct length & correct volume could
produce the
correct huang chung tone, so the length of this pipe became the
standard unit
of distance measurement, its capacity became the unit of volume, &
the weight
of the amount of rice it contained became the standard unit of
weight. So
closely connected were the standardisation of music & dimensions that
the
Imperial Office of Music was actually associated with the Imperial
Office of
Weights & Measures, & the original pipe which was the standard by
which all
dimensions were copied from was more often than not kept at the
latter office.


MUSIC & CHINESE ASTROLOGY

In addition to the huang chung tone (which was known as 'kung' - cf
the Indian
'Sa', or our 'tonic' ('doh')), the Chinese octave was also
differentiated into 12
tones tuned more or less according to the circle of 5ths common to
many
musical systems around the world, & each of these 12 tones were
associated
with one of the 12 zodiacal regions of the sky. So, given a belief in
astrology, ie,
the influence of heavenly objects on earthly life, with particular
prominence
given to the influence afforded by the zodiacal constellations, it is
not too
unreasonable to add to this a further belief in a similar influence
of a particular
tone during a particular month; & likewise, given the division of the
day into
units of 12 hours, a different tone was believed to also be in
prominence during
each hour.

As well as the 'dodecality' of the zodiac, it must also be remembered
that
Chinese philosophy was also riddled with the duality of opposites -
the 'yin' &
the 'yang' forces which were respectively masculine & feminine,
positive &
negative etc. Bearing this in mind, it comes as no surprise to learn
that of the
12 tones, 6 of them were believed to be yin in nature, which
corresponded to
the later 6 months of the year, & the other 6 were believed to be
yang tones,
being aligned to the first 6 months of the year. In accordance with
the belief that
earthly music must exist in tandem with the heavenly music, the
musicians
performed their music according to whatever tone, or 'lüi' was
dominating at the
time, especially ceremonial music.

This was necessary because of the idea that the perfect State could
only be
maintained by remaining in alignment with the Celestial Order, & as
well as
aligning music along these lines various other functions of state
were also
associated with a tone; to take the line of reasoning further, even
the officials of
the nation were seen as the embodiment of the Cosmic Tones, & were
thus
assigned their own audible tone. The key of the music of a given
ceremony was
also influenced by the tone of the officiating office. Thus the music
of the state,
& the actions of the state, became the embodiment of divine will, &
by its
alignment with the principles of the macrocosm, the music of the
microcosm
could retroactively influence by the act of sympathetic resonance the
energies
of heaven to embody themselves within the leaders of the nation
(Rudhyar
1928). If any of this attunement with celestial order were to be lost
or corrupted,
then such a loss had, according to the philosophy, a corresponding
effect of
reducing the nation to a state of imperfection & impermanence. A
significant
deviation was believed to run the risk of catastrophic effect.


THE LOSS OF THE HUANG CHUNG

For four & a half thousand years the music of China & its
civilisation were
maintained in harmonious alignment. & then, with the rise to power of
the
Ch'ing Dynasty (AD 1644 - 1912) music fell into decline. Parallelling
this decline
in music was a deterioration of the ancient civilisation, finally
culminating in
1912 with the revolution of Sun Yat - Sen & followed by the rather
temporary
rise of the Republic (& then the later, even more temporary new
Empire) of
Chiang Kai - Shek & his Kuomintang Party.

This decline in the Chinese traditional music began with the arrival
of Catholic
missionaries from the West, along with their music. Gradually the
western
secular music was introduced, & then western instruments, &
eventually
western musicians became professors at the Imperial Court. However,
the
blame for the decline in the traditional music cannot be directed
entirely at the
hands of the west; after all, 'foreign' music had infiltrated Chinese
music before
- in AD 581 there were as much as 7 foreign orchestras in permanent
residence at the imperial court, one of which had been there since as
early as
AD 384 (Sachs 1943). The difference between the earlier occasions &
the last
one was that whilst previously the traditional music had actually
absorbed the
palatable aspects of the foreign sounds into itself, & rejected the
indigestible
ones, this time around it was more a case of the ancient philosophy
weakening
its hold over the nation, & the nation ultimately rejecting it
entirely, until finally
with the Revolution the entire civilisation collapsed.


OTHER THOUGHTS & MODERN IMPLICATIONS

We have looked in some small detail into one area of philosophical
thought
regarding music, but this is by no means all of what there is - up
until
comparatively recently the performance of North Indian music was
governed by
similar concepts - for example, certain ragas could only be performed
at certain
times of the day or even year. The ancient Indian religion, Vedism
(the
precursor to Hinduism) had its parallel to the Chinese Huang Chung
with its
concepts of 'ahata' & 'anahata'; the former representing the audible
sound
heard by ears, & the latter representing the inaudible Primal Sound,
perhaps
interestingly also being the name given to the heart 'chakra' - the
most
important of the 7 spiritual centres in Vedic belief. The
Hindus/Vedists have an
audible representation of the Sound too; the Om, as the Mandukya
Upanishad
describes thus: 'The syllable Om, which is the imperishable Brahman,
is the
Universe. Whatsoever has existed, whatsoever exists, whatsoever shall
exist
hereafter, is Om. & whatsoever transcends past, present, & future,
that is also
Om.'

Science also notes correlations with the laws of music & the laws of
the
Universe; first there is the 'mystery' of the Pythagorean Comma. This
is the
phenomenon whereby if one has a starting pitch, & raise it
successively by an
acoustic perfect 5th thus:

F - C - G - D - A - E - B - F# - C# - G# - D# - A#

when one tries to complete the cycle of 5ths to return to the initial
pitch class of
E# (F), one finds that one has slightly 'overshot' the mark; the
difference being
known as the Comma. It was this difference (which has led to the
multitudinous
tuning systems that Western musical theory has devised over the last
600
years) which was used by ancient philosophers to represent
humanities' fall
from perfection - furthermore, the fact that the difference is an
excess rather
than a deficit, symbolically spiralling upwards, was used to
represent renewal -
the phoenix rising from the ashes, & the hope of resurrection &
immortality in
Heaven (Tame 1984: pp 248-250).

There are other scientific correlations to note; in his books
'Mysterium
Cosmographicum' (1596) & 'Harmonices Mundi V' (1619), Johannes Kepler
(1571 - 1630) pointed out the harmonic nature of the Solar System -
the
proportions of the orbital positions of the planets (& the position
of the Jovian
asteroids) around the Sun correspond exactly with the proportions
between
pitches in the harmonic series (Godwin 1987). Furthermore, referring
back to
the Pythagorean Comma for a second, there is a relationship between
the
length of the Sidereal year (equinox to equinox) of 365.256 days &
the length of
the Lunar year (12 new moons) of 354.333 days; in fact the former
exceeds the
latter by a factor of 1.03082, which, given the coincidences, is
shatteringly
close to the figure of 1.01364, which is the factor of overlap of the
Pythagorean
Comma. The coincidence extends still further; if we took a period of
time which
corresponds to the true Comma to the Sidereal year, we find a year
lasting
360.27390 days - with 360 days being the length of the year as
measured by
the Pharisees of Israel.

So, where do these ideas of sound & music being fundamental to the
governance of the Universe leave those of us who are responsible for
the
creation & production of sound & music in the closing years of the
twentieth
century ? I have been referring at length to David Tame's book 'The
Secret
Power of Music' for a very good reason. It is a highly comprehensive
work,
containing a lot of useful information. However, careful reading of
it shows up to
me what are the dangers of taking any philosophical dogma too
literally
(indeed, the book could be described as a 'microcosm' of musical
philosophy),
for interspersed amongst the facts & informations it is possible to
detect a
not-so-hidden agenda; namely, to denigrate & condemn as evil the
majority of
music to have been made since the Emancipation Of Dissonance of all
flavours
- 'art' music, jazz, & pop, by referring to certain experiments
performed on
plants (Tame 1984: pp 141-145) whilst carefully avoiding quoting
precise
references for the research, & also many other sniping condemnations
of
specific composers & performers, such as John Cage, Karlheinz
Stockhausen,
& Steve Reich, describing them with terms such as 'antimusic' &
'perverted', &
at the same time promoting the music of his personal 'favourites',
such as
Ralph Vaughan - Williams, Gustav Holst, Ludwig van Beethoven, &
Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart. At the end of the book, he then (actually quite
subtly)
introduces what is obviously his own religious affiliation, the
Summit Lighthouse
aka The Church Universal & Triumphant as the practitioners of the New
Morally
Correct Music.

It is my own opinion that there is a real & scientific connection
between the
artistic laws that make beautiful music & the physical laws that make
a beautiful
Universe; however, just as philosophy is Humanities' search for those
physical
laws at the Ultimate Level, so musical philosophy of this nature is
the search for
the aesthetic correspondence with them. However, I find that
philosophy, like
physics, is never complete; & any attempt to impose such completeness
is, at
best aesthetically bankrupt, & at worse aesthetic Fascism.


BIBLIOGRAPHY & FURTHER READING

The Secret Power of Music, David Tame, Thorsons Publishing (1984)
Nada Brahma, The World is Sound, Joachim-Ernst Berendt, Insel Verlag
(1983)
Music, Mysticism, & Magic, Joscelyn Godwin, Routledge & Kegan Paul
(1986)
The Penguin Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilisations, ed Arthur
Cotterell,
Penguin (1980)
Grove's Dictionary of Music & Musicians
The Rebirth of Hindu Music, Dane Rudhyar (1928)
The Rise of Music in the Ancient World, Curt Sachs (1943)
The Magic of Tone & the Art of Music, Dane Rudhyar, Boulder (1982)
Through Music to the Self, Peter Michel Hamel, Compton Press (1978)
Harmonies of Heaven & Earth, Joscelyn Godwin, Thames & Hudson (1987)