Musical Harmonies & Notes
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The Art of Practicing: A Guide to Making Music from the Heart
Madeline Bruser (1997) 272pages
This book is about how to free ourselves from physical and emotional tension as we practice so that we can unleash our innate musical talent. When our fingers get tied up in knots in a difficult passage, we can loosen up and find a comfortable way to play it. When we're struggling to create a perfectly shaped phrase, we can stop to notice each sound and discover the subtleties we've looking for. By giving ourselves room to relax, we awaken our vital energies instead of stifling them. This book grew from seminars called "The Art of Practicing" that I began giving to musicians in 1985. My own work as the piano had changed radically in the late 1970s, when I started practicing mindful meditation.... Part One of this book describes our common experience with the initial inspiration to make music and the ensuing struggle of practicing. Part Two presents the ten steps of the Art of Practicing, which are divided into four groups of techniques: preparatory steps, physical techniques, psychological techniques, and sensory and intellectual techniques. Part Three discusses performing a natural outcome of healthy practicing....Above all, I wish to encourage musicians to trust their experience of their own bodies and minds, and to believe that within their struggle and confusion lie the passion and intelligence that are keys to joyful , productive practicing and powerful performing.
- from the author's Introduction ( Bell Tower / Harmony /Crown)
Cosmic Music: Musical Keys to the Interpretation of Reality
- essays by Marius Schneider, Rudolf Haase, Hans Erhard Lauer
Edited by Joscelyn Godwin (1989) 255pages
The idea that the universe is created out of sound or music (and therefore is music) is a very ancient one. In this book, Joscelyn Godwin brings together three contemporary German thinkers who exemplify this tradition in its modern variants: Marius Schneider, Rudolf Hasse, and Hans Erhard Lauer. The selection draws on ancient Indian sources and mythology; Kepler's Platonic vision of a musical, geometric universe; and the evolution of the tone systems of music. While every music lover senses the power and truth that reside in music, very few approach music as a path to cosmic knowledge. Godwin takes literally Beethoven's assertion that "Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom or philosophy." He writes: "...to penetrate the mysteries of music is to prepare for initiation into those fathomless mysteries of man and cosmos. One's discoveries will be pregnant with implications for every department of life..."
(Inner Traditions)
Creating an Imaginative Life
Michael Jones (1995) 202pages + full-length music CD
There is a story living in us that speaks of our place in the world. It is a story that invites us to love what we love and simply be ourselves. The story is not given to us, it flows naturally from within; to hear it we have only be silent for a moment and turn our face to the wind.
-Michael Jones (Conari Press)
Harmonic Experience: Tonal Harmony from Its Natural Origins to Its Modern Expression
W.A.Mathieu (1997) 563pages
Harmonic Experience offers a comprehensive view of music that reconciles the ancient harmonic system of just intonation with the modern system of twelve-tone equal temperament. Saying that "the rules of music were not found in our brains but in the resonance chambers of our bodies," W.A.Mathieu recognizes the pronounced need for an experiential kind of teaching that reconnects the way we think music with the way we do music. Mathieu provides over one thousand musical examples and diagrams to illustrate the ideas he presents, allowing readers to reach a deeper level of response, to hear existing musical compositions more clearly, and to become thoroughly engaged in their own musical creativity.
(Inner Traditions)
The Magic Flute Unveiled: Esoteric Symbolism in Mozart's Masonic Opera - An Interpretation of the Libretto and the Music
Jacques Chailley (1971) 336pages + Index
Solving one of music history's most illusive mysteries, Jacques Chailley sets out to disprove the enduring myth that The Magic Flute suffers from an incomprehensible libreto. He establishes the social, historical, and religious context of Mozart's brilliant final opera, presenting compelling evidence that the entire libretto by Emmanuel Schikaneder (and others), sustained by Mozart's music, was fashioned according to Masonic ritual. Chailley, a professor of music history at the Sorbonne and author of 40,000 Years of Music , reveals the coherence of the opera and the hidden significance of its characters and situations. He relates each of these elements to the esoteric tradition from which they emanate and to Mozart's own involvement with the Masonic brotherhood. (Inner Traditions, 1992)
The Music of Life
Hazrat Inayat Khan (1983) 353pages
The mystery of sound is mysticism; the harmony of life is religion. The knowledge of vibrations is metaphysics, the analysis of atoms is science, and their harmonious grouping is art. The rhythm of form is poetry, and the rhythm of sound is music. This shows that music is the art of arts and the science of all sciences; and it contains the fountain of knowledge within itself." "Music should be healing; music should uplift the soul; music should inspire. There is no better way of getting closer to God, of rising higher towards the spirit, of attaining spiritual perfection than music, if only it is rightly understood." The Music of Life is the definitive collection of Hazrat Inayat Khan's teachings on sound, presenting the Sufi Master's vision of the harmony which underlies and infuses every aspect of our lives. With deep insight and wisdom, he explores the science of breath, the law of rhythm, the creative process, and both the healing power and psychological influence of music ad sound. (Omega Publications,1988)
The Secret Lore of Music: The Hidden Power of Orpheus
Antoine Fabre d'Olivet (1767-1825) translated by Joscelyn Godwin (1987) 180pages
The book serves two purposes. One is to share my affection and respect for Fabre d'Olivet, a curious and unique personality whose views on history and cosmology are still worth learning from. The second is to make available the most collection possible of Fabre d'Olivet's writings on music. These contain a host of ideas, expressed in nontechnical language, concerning the nature of music and its effects on the human race. There is probably no better introduction to the "Golden Chain of Orpheus," those philosophers who have kept alive the esoteric approach to music from ancient times to our own day, than the work of Fabre d'Olivet.
- from the translator's Introduction (Inner Traditions)
The Voice Book: for everyone who wants to make the most of their voice
Michael McCallion (1988/98) 292pages
I have designed the book so that anyone without specialist knowledge can follow the work process and make the best use of one of our most important means of communication. So, this book is for anyone who wishes to use his or her voice well.... The voice is an expression of what is going on mentally and physically in the speaker. It follows that we must find a way of training the mental and physical processes involved so that we produce in our voice and speech that we really choose to produce, so that we communicate what we wish to communicate....The way we live and the way we use our voice is our daily life is our basic exercise. - from the author's Introduction (Routledge)
The World Is Sound: Nada Brahma - Music & the Landscape of Consciousness
Joachim-Ernst Berendt (1983) Translated by Helmut Bredigkeit (1987) 258pages
It is necessary to clarify the position of the author. Nada Brahma is a mantra. A mantra has no author. Reflections on a mantra can claim to have an author only insofar as the author is a "catalyst." In many chapters of this book, its author holds the function of "com-poser," someone who "puts together." It is not a single author who speaks here: there are many. The sound with which this book deals is also a "sounding together," a chord formed by many voices: from Lao-tzu to Niels Bohr, from Pythagoras to John Coltrane, from the liberal psalmists to Hermann Hesse, from the Zen master Hakuin to Werner Heisenberg. Everything- or almost everything - put forth in this book has always been part of humankind's knowledge, even when we have repressed it and preferred not to know it. All we have to do is rediscover it, make it conscious again. That is the main task of this book.
- from the author's Introduction (Destiny Books)
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