- My research process
Research pathway
The initial idea was to create a series of seven concerts, one for each Chakra. But then, as we began to reason about the possible associations between certain music to a specific Chakra, doubts arose about the criteria for association between the two realities. Trying to answer the question “on the basis of what criteria can I effectively associate a Chakra and a piece of music,” I concluded that it would already be a very good result to set up a concert with all seven Chakras and as many pieces of music (I might add, also for practical reasons).
Focusing 6th Chakra:
[color: indigo / note: A]
Improvisation on A note while the narrator speaks the text below. Then, Takemitsu "Rain tree sketch II” played by me would follow, increasing the perception of this Chakra.
Narrator:
“Feel your third eye.
Relax your eyebrows. Relax your forehead. Relax your mind.
Feel your sixth chakra.
Perceive it.
Follow your intuition. Follow your imagination.
Follow your self-reflection.
Inhale, let the light enter.
Exhale, let your light illuminate the world.”
After that, I decided to adjust the trajectory of my research also in light of feedback from my Master Circle leader Paul Craenen (Craenen, 2025, Private message, "Teams" chat):
"[...] I don't really understand what you aim to achieve by developing an artistic proposal 'that is as objective as possible', and 'inherent in the correlation between the Chakras and different artistic expressions'.
What is 'objective' meaning in this context, and why would you try to achieve objectivity and in what sense? If you mean objectivity in the scientific sense, in the sense that something can be clearly proven and known, you have to keep an awareness that you are dealing with a subject that is not grounded on scientific premisses.[...] But you're an artist! Artists can work with any kind of material or topic. Therefore I'm not suggesting you to get rid of the chakras. I fully understand why they can be inspiring for your practice. However, my advice would be to see them more as metaphors, or as a source of cultural and spiritual wisdom that offers inspiration to work on certain emotions or connect and balance (!) different elements in your musical practice. I think a more metaphorical approach would make it possible to achieve everything you mention in an artistic sense, and with more artistic freedom. Striving for the 'inherent correlation between Chakras and artistic expressions' may not be the most fruitful path, and may get you bogged down in ambiguities (!).[...]"(1)
In addition, my yoga teacher Tiziana Fiore's impressions helped to revise my approach to the topic (Fiore, 2023, Private message, WhatsApp, translated by the author):
"composition as in any creative field even mine in the end, teaching, is extremely personal: one places one's own experiences, lived or ongoing moods on the canvas. My opinion on this creation: very strong, the work is very much on the first cakra and in flashes goes a little higher like the 6th with a very fleeting delicacy. The mood restlessness, dust of fear at the edges of the composition, a shadow of anguish. The higher frequencies hiss in the background but were not enough in my case to appease, personal point of view and especially how I experience music personally I would need more comfort. Good for first cakra work to induce frozen or repressed emotional states in people. Music enters inside the cells and its flow allows its work. If I wanted to have a therapeutic interest personally I would tone down the strong tones, the trauma in this way its echo would also translate at the unconscious level too strongly. So it depends on the goal and who you want to address. The difficulty will not be in listening but in opening the heart to certain frequencies and especially at what point in one's personal path one is."(2)
This made me realize that the only way to best achieve this connection is to study and assimilate the characteristics and vibrations of each chakra by becoming even more aware of the subject from both a literary point of view, that is, through deeper reading of the material on the chakras, and through listening to the vibrations of the body.
At the same time, I dug deep into my cultural background related to piano music in order to find the 7 pieces.