THE SPIRITUAL POWER OF MUSIC #4
Music can be
Happy/Joyous, Healing/Spiritual, Sad/Mournful, Romantic,
Inspirational, Martial, Patriotic or Demonic.
In other words - creating either relaxation or agitation.
"Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm
the agitation of the soul. It is one of the most magnificent,
delightful presents God has given us." Martin Luther
Music can do many things to our inner beings
and we have to be careful in how we select it.
Be careful of what you taste and where you immerse.
The Nazis used it to torture Jews,
the military to march soldiers to their deaths in war,
others to court and woo prospective mates ...
and all shades of light and dark in-between ...
Schoenberg, Boulez and Cage had different ideas about tonality
which have influenced where we are today. In fact they applauded no tonality at all.
John Cage in the early 90's called it
"... purposeful purposeless - to have absolutely no organization."
and encouraged being emancipated from the tyranny
of meaning and order. He and others have had a huge influence on world music today.
"I am conscious of having removed all traces of a past aesthetic. I am cured of
the delusion that the artists aim is to create beauty." Arnold Schoenberg 1920
and musical narcissism...
"Once the past has been gotten out of the way, one may think only of oneself."
Pierre Boulez
"Tonality died somewhere around the time that Nietzsche's God died."
John Adams
Vagn, Holmboe and John Adams rebelled against these "modern" ideas and stuck to
tonal music, the music that connected them to Pythagoras and Saint Clement.
They are a reflection of a musical recovery of our time but there is still much opposition
as in Heavy Metal and in Rap, especially depending on the words that are used.
Christian Rock also has arisen in opposition to this.
At the end of the day music is a part of the 'mathematics' of God, and
tonality, for our maximum benefit, should conform to these laws and not
"purposeful purposeless"
Nevertheless, formless chaos often seems to have replaced essence and is a reflection of
the disturbance of what is going on inside of us and around our planet.
The right musical vibration can help us return to our true Selves.
432 Hz is said to be rooted in musical history and has been linked without real proof to
geometry, science, architecture, the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, mystical events
and other phenomena. It is also said to shift consciousness, soothe and reduce anxiety,
heighten perception, increase mental clarity and align one
with the heartbeat of the universe.
Whatever the case it has been replaced by 440Hz, now the standard pitch around the
world.
However, 432 is making a comeback especially in sound healing, therapeutic work
and meditation.
Others have warned against imposing a single system based on it having
a superior vibration. Its not the pitch of the note but one's intention for the music
which will prevail. It's all a question of the skill used in releasing that intention.
Conspiracy theorists believe that Goebbels and the Nazis promoted 440 Hz as part of a
plan to warp the consciousness of the masses. However, it was in use in Italy, Holland,
England, France and Germany long before the Nazi regime.
Although this theory has been discredited there is no doubt that the Nazis used music to
torture their victims especially the Jews. Forced singing of German songs was
accompanied by torture meted out in freezing weather.
One labor battalion called the "Singing Horses" was harnessed to a heavily loaded
wheel barrow which they had to pull as they sang at the top of their voices while straining
or they were beaten.
Inmates also had to sing while being asphyxiated and play the violin while being tortured.
Others - fully knowing their fate - were forced to play calming music as new inmates
entered the death camps.
Musicologist Ruth Hacohen has called it the
music libel against the Jews."
It was the intention of the SS to rob Jews and Jewish musicians
of the only vital resource that they had for their survival.
Music can be healthful, enhance immune function and positive
emotional states; the wrong kind - the opposite.
