| |
We post a lot of music here, and I love listening what everyone is into. I also find myself feeling hungry – wishing that there was something more, something deeper and more truly “integral” than most of the popular songs we listen to and share. I started thinking about this after listening to Ken's interview with the guitarist from Pearl Jam last night. It was fun … but, somehow, I want something more. Although I don't listen to much classical Western music, I long for the development of a classical-level music (in terms of profundity, depth, order, and sophistication of theory and expression) that really speaks to the fullness of the human spirit at the edge of our evolution.
Certain forms of music have captured this exquisitely, of course, at different times of our history, in different parts of the world…at different stages of development. Indian classical music, Gregorian chant, Western baroque and classical music, Persian dastgah, Indonesian temple and court gamelan, and so on. There is a refinement of sensibility and form, an accomplishment of expression, a profundity in subject and tone, that is missing in much popular music.
Integral is new as a movement and a “culture,” so of course it is too early to expect any “high sacred art” to come out of it. Such art forms take time to evolve. So, I'm more interested in “dreaming” at this point about what could be, than in complaining about what's missing.
Years ago, I was very interested in making music, and I used to study music theory – taking a few courses at college, and reading some rather esoteric books on sound, vibration, music, and consciousness. There were so many ideas and possibilities that energized me at that time – music as consciousness transformer; music as a state-inducer; music as a cultural force (for cohesion and disintegration, stability and growth*); music as a healing art; music as a science (of vibration, acoustics, energy stimulation, brain-entrainment; in relation to mathematics, architecture, etc); music as a window on the order of the Kosmos; music as a tool of emotional catharsis; music in sacred ritual; music as an enhancer of performance (education, work, sports); music as a support for other arts (some well-known, some perhaps as yet unrealized); music as a mode of communication (human and non-human); and so on. In thinking about an Integral theory of music, I would want to include all of these dimensions. And in thinking about the growth of a classical-level Integral music, a high integral artform which embraces the sacred, I'd want to still include a number of these dimensions as well – drawing on the broad range of music's power in forming a coherent Integral musical theory and form.
When I studied these things years ago, I remember being impressed by the ancient theories of ragas and modes – how these were related, in a way that was integral for the time, to mood, time of day, season or time of year, color or light, aspects of the body's energy, aspects of nature (elemental, animal, cosmic), etc. These considerations informed the composition and performance of music in a number of ways. One thing to “play” with in the composition of Integral music, it seems to me, would be these types of modes – perhaps finding modes that were expressive not only of moods, but of v-Memes or other measures of development, using them consciously to evoke different constellations of feeling and thought, understanding and movement. Really, the number of things you could do – once you really dig in to the different methods that have been used in the past, and the different horizons that open up when you take an Integral Methodological Approach to the subject – seems endless to me.
Do you have any thoughts on anything I've shared here? I've sort of just wandered my way through this post, tossing out ideas. I'm interested in talking about what an Integral high sacred art of music might look (or sound!) like and involve; what an Integral Theory of music would involve; and more personally, what you get out of music, what you use it for, and what you would like to see evolve…
Best wishes,
Balder
* As legend has it, some of the emperors of China used to assess the health of the empire by listening to the forms of music that were being played in different regions. The rhythms and harmonies that were used, and the words that were chosen, revealed to them the prevailing moods of the people and let him know when unrest was brewing or other problems were forming. Acting perhaps rather “magically,” they also used to assemble huge ensembles (thousands of musicians) and have them all play certain prescribed pieces of sacred music, to “infuse” the kingdom with the right vibrations…
|
Help
Sign In
RSS Feed
Permalink
Print
Email
