- Foundational aspects of the topic and background informations
1. The power of vibration
I quote two final paragraphs from the article “Vibrations Surrounds us: The Science of Music” to introduce the topic:
"Scientists and musicians seem to view the impact of music on emotions differently. Leonard Bernsteinsaid it best at a Young Peoples Concert with the New York Philharmonicmany years ago: ‘We’re going to listen to music that describes emotions, feelings, like pain, happiness, loneliness, anger, love. I guess most music is like that, and the better it is, the more it will make you feel the emotions the composer felt when he was writing’. To scientists, the performing ensemble produces an array of sound waves from its instrumental components each of which produces one or more pitches with distinct timbres. To the artists, the different chords, cadences, and other musical components form patterns that we associate with variable emotions. Pieces written in minor keys will contain minor thirds, the notes of which are in a six to five frequency ratios, and these chords often convey sadness. This does not form a simple objective dichotomy, but rather fuels the fire of an ongoing understanding. [...]
While the physical fundamentals of sound have been well established over thousands of years of study, the neurological effects of music continue to puzzle and excite scientists around the world. Physicians have integrated music into medicine through ‘music therapy’ to ease anxiety and other conditions, visual artists create illustrations using sound through the art of cymatics, and engineers work tirelessly to make the creation of music more accessible and more powerful."(1)
Doctor and Osteopath Giuseppe Totaro confirms and adds interesting information to what has been said previously:
“In 2004, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a report based on 600 studies showing that the use of sound and light matching in a personalized way can have an exciting effect on how quickly many patients heal. Since that time, more and more hospitals and other facilities, especially abroad but also in Italy, have incorporated music as part of an effort to create new holistic healing environments, proving to be invaluable in the treatment of trauma, common illnesses, against boredom or restlessness exhaustion or fatigue, used even among health care workers.
Modern science has begun to recognize what the ancient mystics and sages have been telling us for centuries; that everything is in a constant state of vibration. Everything down to the smallest physical particle to the things we cannot perceive with our (still) limited senses. The most basic state of vibration is that of sound. Everything has an optimal range of vibration (frequency), and that frequency is called resonance. When we are in resonance, we are in balance. Every organ and every cell in our precious body, absorbs and emits sound with a particular optimal resonance frequency.
Throughout human history, sound and music have always been used for wellness and healing. From the ancient Egyptians to the Tibetans, via the American Indians, sound has been a central tool in healing ceremonies and ancestral rituals. Even today there are many applications: music therapy with Tibetan bells, sacred mantra chants or shamans' icaros. In short, skillfully blended music and frequencies can rebalance and harmonize the body, mind and soul.”(2)
I wanted to quote these two sources in full to introduce the discussion of vibration, an entity that underlies the optimal functioning of both our bodies and our planet.
The above is only part of the discussion regarding the potential of vibration. As mentioned, science is still (re)discovering how much more and more knowledge of the vibrational phenomenon can take us forward in understanding the dynamics regarding the interaction of living beings with themselves, each other and the planet in which they live, and likely also with entities beyond rational cognition.
Interesting in this regard Sadhguru's words and experience, indian guru and founder of the spiritual “Isha Foundation”:
“Today, it is common scientific knowledge that the whole existence is a reverberation of energy. The source of all that is physical in existence is a reverberation or a vibration. And where there is a vibration, there is bound to be a sound. Or in other words, the entire existence is a complex amalgamation of sounds. This was recognized by the yogic sciences many millennia ago. We call this Nada Brahma, which means that the creation and creator is just sound.
'If everything is sound, why don’t I hear it? The full spectrum of sound that the reverberations of creation throw out is usually not available to the human ear. What you are able to hear is just a small band of frequencies – the sonic range of sounds. Anything above this range is called ultrasonic. What is below is subsonic. Both subsonic and ultrasonic sounds are normally outside the hearing range of the human ear.
However, it is possible to move into certain states […] where you can hear sounds beyond the usually audible spectrum.'
He then talks about his experience in a place in the Himalayas called 'Kanti Sarovar' where he experimented the following: 'It is very difficult to put this into words, but after some time, everything turned into sound in my experience. My body, the mountain, the lake in front of me, everything had become sound. It had taken on sound form, and was just going on in me in a completely different way. My mouth was closed – I am very clear about that – but my own voice was going on loudly, as if it was on a microphone singing a song – and it was in Sanskrit.'”(3)
This means that it is possible to predispose ourselves to listen to the vibrations that define our state of mind, our degree of well-being, and thus the way we interact with others and the environment. Personally, I think it is important to carve out moments, such as the one described above, to encourage this listening, also to delve deeper into observing our personal emotional dynamics.
Of course, listening to music can also help us connect with our essence.
Another important work that corroborates this topic is definitely “The Mysticism of Sound" by Hazrat Inayat Khan, Indian professor of musicology, singer, poet, philosopher, and pioneer of the transmission of Sufism to the West.
Here are some of his important remarks on this subject:
“Speaking of the harmony of music, I must say that the real harmony of music comes from the harmony of the soul. Only that music can be called real which comes from the harmony of the soul, its true source, and, when it comes from this harmony, it captivates all souls. Each soul is different in its choice in life, in its choice of the path to follow. This is due to the diversity of minds, as souls, in their essence, are not different. Therefore, regardless of the means chosen to bring people's different minds together, there is no better way than music to harmonize them. It could even be said, without exaggeration, that music alone can be the means by which the souls of races, nations and families that are separated today can one day be reunited. Great then is the lesson of the musician in life.
Music is not expressed through language, but through the beauty of rhythm and tone that reach much farther than language. The more the musician is aware of his mission in life, the greater is the service he can render to humanity.”(4)
“What we -in our common language- know as music is only a miniature: what our intelligence has managed to grasp of that music or harmony of the whole universe that acts behind us. The music of the universe is the background of the small picture we call music. Our sense of music and our attraction to music show that there is music in the deepest part of our being. Music is behind the functioning of the whole universe. Not only is music the major goal of life, but it is life itself.
Says Hafiz, our great and wonderful Persian poet, "Many say that life entered the human body with the help of music, but the truth is that life itself is music."(5)
“What makes us feel drawn to music is that our whole being is music: our mind, our body, the nature in which we live, the nature that created us, everything below and around us, everything is music.”(6)
“Before its incarnation, the soul is sound; it is for this reason that we love sound. The scientist says the voice comes from the spine, diaphragm, abdomen and lungs. The mystic says sound comes from the soul, heart and mind. Let's see if this is true. Before singing or speaking comes the thought of singing or speaking. If we did not have the thought we could neither sing nor speak, and even before the thought there is the feeling that causes the thought.
To actualize the thought we have to speak. The sound passes through the ear to the mind, heart and soul”(7)
“The science of sound can be used in education, business, industry, commerce, and politics in order to create desired results. But the best use of this science is made in spiritual evolution. With the power of sound or speech one can evolve spiritually and experience all the various stages of spiritual perfection.
Question: Can music be used to awaken the soul to mysticism?
Answer: Music is the best way, nothing is better. Music is the most direct and closest way to God-if one knows what kind of music and how to use it.”(8)
“There are some people here and there who think that music has a great effect on the sick, on health, but instead of using the right music, they use the wrong music and its effect makes people even sicker.”(9)
“If one knew the rhythm needed by a particular individual in his worries and despairs, if one knew the tone needed by him and to which this soul should be lifted, then one could heal this person with music.”(10)
I don't think there is a better way to define and conclude this chapter regarding the power of vibration and the potential beneficial power of music. As mentioned, as part of a larger vibration, music can help channel certain vibrations. Therefore, the discussion of choosing certain music for specific purposes comes into play. If we can listen to our symptoms and connect with our spiritual needs, then we will understand what kind of music to choose for our personal benefit and that of others.
(1)"VIBRATIONS SURROUND US: THE SCIENCE OF MUSIC", Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science, last access: 18 November, 2024, https://sites.dartmouth.edu/dujs/2010/12/01/vibrations-surround-us-the-science-of-music/
(2)"Cervello stress e frequenza 432. D.O." by Giuseppe Totaro, Formative Zone Blog, last access: 18 November, 2024, translated by the author, https://www.formativezone.it/cervello-musica-e-frequenza-432/
(3)"Indian Classical Music and Activating the Chakras" by Sadhguru, Isha Foundation, last access: 04 March, 2025, https://isha.sadhguru.org/en/wisdom/article/activating-human-body-music