The Practice--Responding to raw frequency

-
Birds do it, dogs do it, and children do it.  And before humans develop our analytical and rational minds, we also responded to music and sometimes without inhibitions.  Put on some Cuban or Brazilian or really, any type of music then watch what happens to a room full of toddlers.  They don't get out pens and paper, grab music theory books, or pontificate about perfect fifths.  They are the lucky ones who respond to music purely and in an uncomplicated manner.

A few years back, David Rothenberg (a musician/philosopher turned researcher) wondered why birds sing.  Yes, they sing for survival, mating, and defending of territory, but did they also sing for pleasure? Rothenberg leaned towards yes.  More recently, while reading Elena Mannes book The Power of Music--Pioneering Discoveries in the New Science of Song), I learned that Thai elephants can play music and that cockatoos among other creatures can synchronize to the rhythms of human made music.  In fact, I have felt engrossed with Mannes' book, while experiencing goosebumps at time.

Often the hard scientists, the biologists and ornithologists claim that we anthropomorphize when we say that birds or animals enjoy music and find it pleasurable.  "No," they say, "only humans have that capacity."  Basically, to me, these scientists promote this idea that humans stand at the top of all creation and no creatures has more intelligence or abilities than humans.  Humans after all, have rational thought.  Yes, like that's done us a lot of good.  When in fact, it is this rational and critical thought that leads us to feel a great deal of stress.  It's so stressful holding the world together and keeping all the non-humans in balance in aligned with human needs.

So the argument that I keep reading in book after book, is that intuition and feelings are sappy and wrong, and that we must only believe hard scientific facts.  But if we create our reality as in quantum physics, then I create a reality where animals and birds enjoy music along with humans; we chill together.  Yes, just like the original Garden of Eden before rational thought showed up.

The other argument is that humans only listen and play music for pleasure or are the only earth creature that has this unique ability.  Birds only sing to court other birds, to mate, to protect their nest and to defend territory.  They also sing for survival.  Are these scientists telling us that humans don't sing to attract mates, for survival, to spread messages or other reasons than pure pleasure?

Then why do I recall rock musicians writing songs so that they could get laid? Isn't that about attracting mates? And what about those medieval troubadours and court musicians who composed and sang songs to attract unrequited lovers? Some were even successful, until the kings found out.  And are these scientists proposing that early humans before they had language, did not sing certain songs to warn the others about predators or to defend territory? I'm just not buying that they didn't sing for those reasons.

I think it is time for humans to step down from their pedestals and admit we are not superior to the myriad of creatures that exist on the earth.  Watch the following videos and then decide which you prefer, listening to music purely for the frequencies and emotions conveyed or listening to music with your rational and analytical thoughts jamming the signal.  Personally, I think children and non-humans are the lucky ones.  Even as a music journalist I grow tired of critiquing music, of sifting through details, and asking my subjective and sometimes defensive mind, do you like this or not? After all, music is for the heart, not the brain so let's get over ourselves.

The Thai Elephant Orchestra, http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=5UMJ8qfw-4E&feature=endscreen

BBC documentary Why Birds Sing (6 parts), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_cqJsdnOrg

Through a Dog's Ear (CBS Early Show), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zytCL33Mf2Q

Zebra Finches playing rock guitar, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZQ4VmicDeM

Dancing Cockatoo, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7IZmRnAo6s

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction to Peyote Songs & The Native American Church

-
Image
Father Peyote: Songs of the Native American Church Introduction to the Peyote Church Ceremony This is an archival article written in 2003.  It's not updated.  For more recent recordings, go to Canyon Records website, http://www.canyonrecords.com When some people speak of Native American ceremonies, the peyote ceremony or the ingestion of the hallucinogen peyote (contains mescaline) usually surfaces. However, there is too much false information being passed around in the non-native community surrounding peyote meetings. The first thing people need to know about the Native American connection to peyote is that the plant is sacred medicine ingested as a sacrament during healing ceremonies of the Native American Church. The second thing, people need to know is that the Native American Church is not a set structure like the Christian Church. The peyote meeting could take place in a Navajo hogan or a teepee. And finally, since the peyote meeting does in part derive from Nat
Read more

The Practice--Treasure Hunt from the book Whole Music

-
Image
Excerpt from Whole Music The Practice: Musical Treasure Hunt Similar to treasure hunts from our childhood, I’m going to send you on a music treasure hunt in which the pleasures are many.  Pretend that you are a song catcher visiting other cultures where you collect new sounds. While I mentioned sound healers earlier, another important player with music preservation are ethnomusicologists who combine cultural anthropology with music preservation.  Two famous song catchers are the late Alan Lomax, and the world beat drummer Mickey Hart.  I recommend learning more about these song catchers through books, and documentaries. 1) Step One-- Head over to YouTube, and look up the following music traditions: ·          Aboriginal Didgeridoo ·          Finnish Runo-Songs (Traditional singer) ·          Gregorian chants ·          Griot Music of Mali (Acoustic, not pop music) ·          Sanskrit Chants Sung by Hindu Indians in Context (aka Kirtans)
Read more

Talking about Timbre

-
Image
Wikipedia As I mention in my book Whole Music , when I was a child I fell in love with timbre and the voices of the individual instruments we listened to in music class.  Each instrument conjured a specific emotions or feeling in me.  The French horn caused me to feel majestic and the cello invoked melancholy.  My moods would shift with each instrument that I heard and my moods would shift quickly. Today, I listen to more than timbre, but I have an understanding of how tone, frequencies of the tone and timbre (the color of the tone) affect me on all levels.  And I wonder what listening to an entire symphony does with its many voices, themes, keys, musical passages etc... In the concept of "whole music" I prefer not to separate musical components, but in the case of this post, I will present solo instruments for your listening and feeling pleasure. If you keep a music journal (and I hope that you do by now), write down the emotions that come up with each instrument.  R
Read more