james@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Sat, 11 Mar, 2006 at 08:00AM -0800, Maluvia spake thus:
I believe that music coming from an inspired place can alter people's
consciousness - can move them, awaken them, trigger them, inspire them and
empower them.
And this doesn't have to be through explicit words in the form of lyrics -
it can be just in the intent - *where* the music is coming from - how it
makes people *feel*.
That is the incredible power of music - that it acts on a subconscious and
a superconscious level - it gets around the intellect and all the
judgements it holds that keep us stuck.
Music is a magical potency.
Music can free the mind.
I think music is just patterns of compressions in the air around us
that our minds see patterns in. We enjoy them because our minds are
predisposed to pattern analysis, and our advanced language skills give
us a preattentive ability to discern structure, pattern, logic - a
grammar, if you like.
If you can get your hands on a copy (out of print, most frequently found
in a University's restricted music reference section), check out-- On
Music, in Three Books, by Aristides Quintilianus. I've got the Thomas J
Mathiesen translation published by Yale University Press, 1983, ISBN
0-300-02893-8.
Aristides was a Greek, living in the 1-400 AD range (no one is exactly
sure when he lived), who collected and compiled the Ancient Greek views
on music.
I consider the Ancient Greeks to be the best observers (of themselves
and their environment) of any people in history; even better than what
we manage to do today in Western science and philosophy.
The Ancient Greeks considered music to be an integral part and component
of the human soul. That music can directly effect human emotions; and
consequently, human actions. To them, music was a science as well as an
art. And as a science, there are basic rules that can be followed to
produce a desired result.
The three parts of music are melody, rhythm, and diction. The different
combinations of these three components will produce different effects in
the human being. Some combinations were taught. Some combinations were
considered detrimental to society and were shunned. And some
combinations were reserved and only used for inciting battle lust.
The Fox tv host Bill O'Reilly (spelling?) was always puzzled why
gangsta' rap was so inciteful to violence among its listeners. The
Ancient Greeks could have told him *pricely* why it happens.
But as to music actually cleaning up the environment by itself, I don't
think the Ancient Greeks went that quite far. The Music of the Cosmos
is in Book III. I haven't gotten that far in my reading yet, so I could
be wrong in my supposition.
Regards,
Stephen.
