My recently finished essay. Copyright Nat Higgins 2011.
“Contemporary understanding about the way in which music affects us may vary, but it rests on a common and generally indisputable observation: that is, that music is sound… When a 25kW bass-line pumps through the floor and up your legs, you know that music isn’t only registered in the brain”
How far can this contemporary re-assessment of our understanding of the reception of music be taken as a re-reading of our historical understanding of music, and in what ways does this overturning allow for new practices in the production of music?
Throughout history it has been believed that sound and music have more power than we have ever fully understood. However with the development of technology and science we are now gaining a greater understanding of the connection that we, as human beings, have with music and have a new appreciation for the experience we gain from it. In this essay we will be exploring the developments and implications that this connection has had and will have on sound and music.
The Past
It is possible that music and language were once intertwined as they bear many similarities such as, they are forms of communication, they can manipulate the way we feel and act, they use rhythm and patterns, and movement can accompany both. “The remaining possibility is that there was a single precursor for both music and language: a communication system that had the characteristics that are now shared by music and language, but that split into two systems at some date in our evolutionary history.” (MITHEN.S. 2006. p.26.)
What we do know with a sense of certainty is that music has developmental benefits that language does not, “…Human infants demonstrate an interest in, and sensitivity to, the rhythms, tempos and melodies of speech long before they are able to understand the meaning of words.” (MITHEN.S. 2006. p.69) which suggests that, whilst we are not born with the knowledge of language, we may be born with musical abilities and perhaps it is part of our human make up.
Ancient Greek Philosophers were among the first to have theories on what the powers of music may be. Such as Pythagoras, whose theories, such as Musica Humana and Musica Mundana, state that music connects the universe to the human body. He also put forward theories on the healing powers of music; “Prophecy tells us that Pythagoras ‘soothed the passions of the soul and body by rhythms, song and incantations.’ Throughout Greek tradition music was very literally ascribed the power to soothe a savage breast” (JAMES.J, 1995, p.31). Ancient Greek doctors were required to have a basic understanding of music before they could receive their title, as music was then regarded as essential as reading and writing in education.
Ancient Gregorian Chants, which were sung by monks in the Middle Ages, were seen to have healing and calming powers and are still being used today in the form of Solfeggio Frequencies. In the late 1960’s Dr Alfred Tomatis was called to a monastery in France where the monks had become depressed & listless. Tomatis diagnosed that the reason for their symptoms were ‘audiological’, because the monks no longer used Gregorian chant’s. The chants had lowered the monk’s blood pressure and breathing and elevated their productivity and moods. Six months after resuming their daily chanting the monks were restored to their normal health, needing less sleep and becoming more stimulated. (CAMPBELL. D. 2001. pp. 103-104)
Similarly Binaural Beats, which were discovered in the early 1800’s by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, also display certain mind-altering effects such as relaxation, by using different frequencies, which are played into each ear, creating a pulsing effect. These frequencies are still proving popular today as a way of relaxation and meditation and can be seen on the App market, with apps such as Altered States which offers the buyer different binaural beats that can change your state of mind which include, lucid dreaming and inspired creativity. (SUBLIMINALSELFHYPNOSIS.COM. [WWW] 2010.)
We have now reached a point in our society where we no longer accept an answer unless there is proven scientific fact behind it. So whilst techniques such as Binaural Beats and Solfeggio Frequencies are still popular today, they are not recognised by science as valid techniques and many would argue that they prove no connection between the body and sound at all. However we are now seeing new developments, which may prove otherwise.
The Present
Over the past 50 years, Popular music has become more of a commodity then an experience. It is now more about owning a favourite CD then actually listening to what is on it and more about what a Pop star is wearing then the songs they are playing. “Fetishized as a commodity, music is illustrative of the evolution of our entire society: devitalize a social form, repress an activity of the body, specialize its practice, sell it as a spectacle, generalize its consumption, then see that it is stockpiled until it loses its meaning.” (ATTALI. 1985. p.5) As Attali describes we have been disconnecting ourselves from music in a way that is unnatural to us. We are no longer experiencing music, whether it is from a listener or performers perspective, but rather consuming it; we are regarding music as a materialistic object that can be owned rather then an experience which can expand and develop us.
“Perhaps, as in the past, we can once again become part of the experience of music rather than the static purchasers of it.” (LEONHARD. G. 2005. P.13)
However we are now experiencing a shift in the way people are thinking and acting. People are beginning to think more for themselves and not just accepting what the media is reporting as the truth. People are beginning to not simply accept as, Adorno described, ‘standardised’ music, which has been ‘pre-digested’, to make us believe that we are hearing a new piece of Pop music, when in fact we are listening to a song we have heard before. People are now expecting more from music, no longer are we just looking for a aesthetically pleasing experience but rather an experience that captivates all of our senses and offers us a new perception of music. (STRINATI. D 1995. p.59)
People are considering things before they do them, and looking into their options rather then letting others tell them what to believe. We are no longer conforming to Mass-Individulaism (STRINATI. D 1995. p,59), “From the ‘information society’ via the ‘knowledge society’ to the ‘experience society’.” (LEONHARD.G. 2005. p.13) “We are beginning to value the heart as well as brain.” (LEONHARD.G. 2005. p.172)
Abraham Maslow used the theory Self-Actualization, which was first coined by Kurt Goldstein, “a musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately happy. What a man can be he must be. This need we call self-actualisation.” (MASLOW.A. 1943. p.187) Maslow’s, Hierarchy of Needs, this suggests that self-actualization is what we accomplish when the rest of our basic needs such as, safety, food and love are met.
“We shall call people who are satisfied in these needs, basically satisfied people, and it is from these that we may expect the fullest (and healthiest) creativeness. Since, in our society basically satisfied people are the exception, we do not know much about self-actualisation, either experimentally or clinically.” (MASLOW.A. 1943. p.194) However what we are now seeing is a development in our society, in that basically satisfied people are no longer the norm. People are now becoming more aware of self-actualization and striving for it.
“We are moving towards a society in which the brain will certainly be quite busy but the body will constantly be cared for and nurtured and the heart will deliver the real value. And ubiquitous music will be our soundtrack.” (LEONHARD. G. 2005. P.173)
The Brain and Music
Over the past 20 years there has been an increased interest in the effects that music has upon our brains. New theories have been developed such as Dr. Alfred Tomatis’s The Mozart Effect, which he developed in the 90’s. After holding many tests, mainly upon infants, one of the most renowned tests took place upon premature triplets, “The first, lay in the incubator without any auditory stimulation; he remained motionless and struggled to survive. The one exposed to filtered Mozart music showed signs of normal activity…The third baby, exposed to filtered tapes of his mothers voice, moved vigorously, showed signs of pleasure, and smiled.” (CAMPBELL.D. 2001. p.22) The theory has since been further developed, by playing classical music to unborn babies, through their mother’s stomach, with claims that this could improve their child’s intelligence. However this theory has never been proven as scientific fact.
“Musical activity involves almost every area of the brain that we know about and nearly every neural subsystem.” (LEVITIN.D. 2006. P83-84)
From research carried out such as the above, we now know that music is certainly having some effect upon our brains; however exactly what this means still remains unclear. Although there is strong evidence to suggest that the brain is taking part in the musical experience, there is further evidence which proposes that the brain is only part of the process.“The body thinks in unknown kinds of bodily intelligence because it’s a large brain, because the brain is distributed across the entire surface of the body.” (ESHUN.K. 1998. P.71)
Hearing through the Body
“Music is understood by this tradition as being problematic in its capacity to affect us in ways which seem to bypass the acceptable channels of language, reason and contemplation. In particular it is music’s apparent physicality, its status as a sourced physical pleasure which is problematic.” (GILBERT. J & PEARSON. E. . p. 42)
Olav Skille developed VibroAcoustic Therapy in the 1980’s, despite the theory first emerging in the 1800’s the technology needed to make it possible was not available until much later (SKILLE.O & WIGRAM. T, 1995, p.26). As with the phenomena of Binaural Beats and Solfeggio’s discussed above, uses frequencies in its practice. The frequency’s are mixed with music and delivered through speakers that are housed in a chair or bed meaning the sound vibrates through the body. This type of therapy is becoming frequently used by Music Therapists around the world and the results that this research has produced are very promising; “At each frequency, a significant proportion of the subjects felt a localised effect. There was a definite correlation between the frequency of 40hz and its effect on the calves and thighs…This gives some interesting evidence supporting the theory that the body is receptive and resonant to individual frequencies.” (SKILLE.O & WIGRAM. T, 1995, p.55)
With therapies such as VibroAcoustic becoming proven and recognised within the field of science and with Music Therapy now being recognised as a profession, this means that more time, research and money will go into the area allowing for further development into the connection between the human body and sound. Which means we are more likely to unveil the power that music has on our bodies now, then ever before.
Projects such as BioRhythms, an exhibition at the Science Gallery in Trinity College, Dublin (SCIENCEGALLERY.COM. [WWW]. 2011), have shown new ways of listening to music for the general public. For example The Sonic Bed, created by Music For Bodies, which is very similar to the methods used in Vibroacoustic Therapy. Listeners are invited to lie on the bed and experience music played through their bodies by vibrations coming from the speakers situated around the bed (subwoofers housed under the mattress, high and mid speakers housed in the walls). The sounds used move around the speakers and therefore your body, creating a feeling of space and an experience of 3D music. “I’m working with specific frequencies that I located at specific parts of the body, and then I use the map of the human body as my score.” (MATTHEWS.K [online video], 2010).
The Sonic Bed is another good example of how the development of science and technology is allowing people to explore other ways in which we experience music, such as through our bodies, not just for the use of therapy, but also for use in every day life. What seems to be becoming clear from these projects, such as the Sonic Bed and VibroAcoustic Therapy, is that certain frequencies do appear to affect individual parts of our bodies. Again we may not know exactly what affect they are having upon us at this time but we do know from the research that people are enjoying the experience of the majority of these frequencies, “To feel a thing is to be affected by that thing. The mode of affection, or the way the “prehensor” is changed, is the very content of what it feels. Every event in the universe is in this sense an episode of feeling even in the void.” (GOODMAN.S. 2009. pp.95-96)
Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie, who is profoundly deaf, is a great example of how music and sound are not only heard through our ears but also through our bodies. When playing or listening to music, Glennie does so barefooted as it helps her to feel the vibrations. Not being able to hear the sounds through her ears, enables her to experience the music through her body; “Hearing is a form of touch, in a way sound that comes to you, you can feel as though you can almost reach out to that sound and feel that sound.” (TOUCH THE SOUND, 2004)
Glennie describes music in a primarily physical way rather then auditory and as our understanding of music is increasing many more are now classing music as a physical experience as much as auditory, “Sound vibrates that much more slowly than light, we can say that in some quite concrete way, music can be regarded as having a degree of materiality which other forms of communication apart from touch do not.” (GILBERT. J & PEARSON. E. p. 46)
Hearing Through Bone
Bone conduction is when sound reaches your ear through the bones in your skull rather then through the traditional root of your ear cannel. It was a technique first discovered in the 1800’s by Beethoven, who was profoundly deaf and found that by biting a metal bar, attached to his piano, he was able to hear through his jawbone.
Headphones that use bone conduction are a new way of experiencing music, which has arisen recently, the headphones are attached on the jawbone in front of the ear and allow us to experience sound in a new way. The headphones have added benefits in that they are less damaging to our eardrums meaning they are a safer way of experiencing music. (AUDIOBONEHEADPHONES.COM. [WWW]. 2008)
The Music Pacifier is another similar example of bone conduction, like bone headphones it conducts music through the jaw bone to the ear; its main purpose is to play soothing music to a child to help induce sleep. Again the Music Pacifier has many benefits as it allows the child to listen to music with out disturbing those around them e.g. Public transport. (GREENBULB.COM. [WWW] 2011)
This vibrational method of experiencing music brings into question, can this be classed as ‘hearing’, or are we experiencing something else? Robert Pepperell quotes, “We think with our whole bodys.” (1997. P.181.) Therefore perhaps we listen not only with our ears but also with the whole of our bodies. Although we are often led to believe that music is purely auditory, we now know that it is also physical, “…we might say that music, which is registered through the body & not only the brain, is on an important level, it is a more physical type of discourse than any others.” (GILBERT. J & PEARSON. E. p.p.51-52)
Seeing Sound
Also featured at the BioRhythms exhibition is a Vocal Signature Creator, which takes your vocal vibration, made when you sing or talk, and uses Cymatics, which is the use of a physical object or liquid, to capture the vibrational patterns a sound creates, making them visible to the eye. Each person creates their own unique pattern, which is their vocal signature. (SCIENCE GALLERY. [Online Video] 2010.)
The Harmonograph is another scientific instrument, which was first created in 1857 by Jules Antoine Lissajous, and also uses Cymatics to “…draw pictures of musical harmonies, linking sight and sound,” (Ashton, 2001, P.1) It uses Pythagoras’s mathematical theories of Music, such as the octave, to create drawings of the harmonies being played and shows that each frequency creates a unique pattern, much like the Vocal Signature Creator.
What both The Harmonograph and Vocal Signature Creator do is create a visual dimension for music to be experienced in. These developments show us that sound creates patterns that the eye cannot always see, “Rhythm in fact should be understood differently, as spatial as it is temporal.” (GOODMAN.S. 2009. p.112) Now, not only can we experience music by listening and feeling it (as explained above) but we can also see sound and music as it is being made.
The Future
“You are not censors but sensors, not aesthetes but kinaesthetes. You are sensationalists. You are the newest mutants incubated in womb-speakers. Your mother, your first sound. The bedroom, the party, the dancefloor, the rave: these are the labs where the 21st C nervous systems assemble themselves… The future is a much better guide to the present than the past. Be prepared, be ready to trade everything you know about the history of music for a single glimpse of its future.”
(ESHUN.K. 1998. p.-001)
What all of the above brings into question is the relationship between music and consciousness. Many of the facts found over the past hundred years may be new to our knowledge, however music and sound has always been connecting with our brains and bodies, albeit subconsciously, since sound has existed. “Something similar happens with creative artists & scientists… then they stop struggling, think of something else and find that all of a sudden ‘pop’ the solution appears – a eureka moment. It’s as if some part of the mind has been working away and found the solution on its own.” (Blackmore. 2003. P.52-53)
New scientific facts added with the change we are currently seeing within our society, of wanting to be more engaged with our experiences, means that music is now becoming a new adventure which captivates us more then ever before. We now know that we are experiencing music not only through our ears but also through out our whole bodies. This new understanding could in fact be classed as a new consciousness’. “No finite division can be drawn between the environment, the body and the brain. The human is identifiable but not definable.” (PEPPERELL. .p. 16) “Consciousness & the environment cannot be absolutely separated.” (PEPPERELL. P.18)
However there is still much that we do not know about the connections we are making with music. Whilst we now know that our bodies, brains, eyes and ears are all engaging in the musical experience we do not yet have solid facts about the exact effects this is having upon us as human beings. However, as we can see from the above research taking place, the effect of music on the human body is appearing, so far, to be positive.
We are already seeing a shift in the way we experience music, particularly with the Record Industry at its demise; people are now looking for and developing new and innovative ways of experiencing music other then with our ears, for the general public. Leonhard suggests that perhaps the future of music is paying for an experience (2005, p.146). For example, the influx of musical games we are seeing for phones and games consoles, of which anyone can play and therefore make music, for instance, games such as, Guitar Hero & Ball Droppings.
What we can conclude is that we have been aware of a connection which we bear with music for many thousands of years however it is only in the last centaury that we have been able to develop these beliefs even further with technology and scientific fact which has now given people a greater understanding of music and the connection we hold with it.
With these new understandings we are able to experience music in a whole new way. Music may no longer be playable by just a select few ‘musicians’ who have an understanding of music theory and programs, but rather anyone can be a musician who has an understanding of the experience of music and how it affects us. What we can take from this is that we are entering upon a new beginning or perhaps consciousness of music with many unknowns that offer us endless possibilities.
Bibliography
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CAMPBELL. D. 2001. The Mozart Effect. Hardback Edition. London: Hodder and Stoughton. pp. 103-104, 22)
ATTALI. J. 1985. Noise: The political Economy of Music. 10th Printing (2009). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. p. 5.
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Appendix
HULSE, D. 2009 Forgotten In Time: The Ancient Solfeggio Frequencies [WWW] http://www.lightwithin.com/SomaEnergetics/2About_Solfeggio.htm
(3rd January 2012)
SUBLIMINALSELFHYPNOSIS.COM. 2010. The History of Binaural Beat Sound Therapy [WWW]
http://subliminalselfhypnosis.com/pblog/the–history–of–binaural–beat–sound–therapy/
(9th January 2012)
SCIENCEGALLERY.COM. 2011. Biorhythms: Music and the Body. [WWW] http://www.sciencegallery.com/biorhythm (9th January 2012)
AUDIOBONEHEADPHONES.COM. 2008. How it Works. [WWW]
http://audioboneheadphones.com/howitworks.html (4th January 2012)
GREENBULB.COM. 2011. Music Pacifier: A Musical Soother Concept for Babies & Toodlers [WWW] http://www.greenbulb.com/?page_id=24 (4th January 2012)
SCIENCE GALLERY. 2010. Biorhythm: Music and the Body [Online Video]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apw335t5rfg (10th January 2012)
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A Soundscape Of My Life 