Music's charms

I wake up in the silence of an early spring morning and hear white noise humming at different frequencies. The radio turns on. I remember my first clock radio. Programming a device, that avoided winding up the Big Ben alarm clock and listening to the clang, was a revolutionary concept. Local radio stations played repeating sets. They inspired a subconscious education and established local cultural norms.

My radio is tuned to CBC. Indigenous music plays. The broadcaster announces, “Here is the ‘Kitchi Sabe Song’, by the Red Shadow singers. 'Kitchi' means bravery, and ‘Sabe’ means truth and integrity of traditional ways of spirituality, culture and the bliss known as a child." The song lives up to its introduction. The next song is by Throat singers. As I listen, I appreciate how breathing in is as important as breathing out. The music reflects nature. I hear the elements: melting glaciers and water flowing in a babbling brook, the wind, fire and the earth.

Music shaped my early life. I was born before television was part of every home. Entertainment was obtained by reading, playing music or listening to the radio or a LP. As a child, my Uncle played Greek albums on the HiFi when company came to visit. The wild music of Nana Mouskouri, Maria Calla and Miki Theodorakis let me imagine the diverse past of my relatives, who had moved to the new world to escape wars, hunger, and poverty. Music and dance demonstrated their resilience and hope of a better life.

I have another flash of memory. I am looking through the narrow rectangular screens that held up the windows. Sunlight streams into the living room, forming a spotlight on the dancing dust infused with the essence of the lilacs and lady of the valley. My mother is sitting at the piano playing, ‘I Ain’t got a Barrel of Money’, ‘A Bicycle Built for Two’ and ‘Camp town Races’, a song about gambling on horses by member of the hobo community. Then Mom pours her soul as she sang ‘O Sole Mio’, and ‘You are My Sunshine’. Hearing these tunes fills my heart with pride and self-worth. The songs disassociates dignity from poverty.

I remember being driven to learn to play piano and compose music. First, Chinese rhapsodies rolled out, as my fists twisted over the black notes. My fingers soon learned how to create renditions of 'Chopsticks', then 'Heart and Soul’. Later, after my friend taught me the basics, variations of 'Boogie woogie bugle boy' emerged. My friend gave me her old guitar. I taught myself to play, sing harmonies and perform. I later disciplined myself to learn the Banjo with a bum-titty-bum-titty strum, and later the 1,2.3,1,2,3, 1,2 picking rhythms of a forward or backward roll. Later in life, I took classical guitar. Playing music offers me calm meditation. There is power in knowing that fingers can create a sentiment that changes the atmosphere. Music offers me a time of calm meditation. It can create a sentiment that changes the atmosphere. In the spaces between notes, an enharmonic can frame the same note differently; a flattened C becomes B natural.

I learned the rumba flamenco dance, ‘La Paloma’, the white dove. I discovered how the distinctive Latin beat emerges, naturally, when notes are played according to strict tempo. Over my lifetime I have heard the song of the dove change forms. Graham Nash, sang about 'the wounded bird’. The dove became the blackbird singing in the dead of night, as the Beatles chanted, 'mend your broken wings and learn to fly’, and then Tom Petty sang about ‘learning to fly’.

In the era before YouTube and the Google, the Church introduced me to classical music. I responded most strongly to the Kyrie Eleison chant. Christians represent the Holy Spirit, the breath the nonmaterial influence, as the dove. The Kyrie is a plea for mercy so the Spirit of the Supreme, will take away the sins of the world and grant peace. Swedish folklore say that the dove stood on the cross and cried Kyrie to ease pain.

The Kyrie is sung in the Ionian mode, the first of seven musical modes. The Ionian mode is associated with the female, Io or Yona, the Greek matron, a guardian nature spirit with a haunting fairy nature, and access to an unfathomable well that lets pleasure flow between giver and receiver. Ionians make hypotheses about how the natural world moves in a dynamic equilibrium. The Ionian spirit represents the primordial energy life force, described by the concepts of the Sutratman, Akashic matter, cosmic energy, chi, prana, qi and telesma, Mana, orenga, wakanda, genius, Manitou, n’um and others that change the ethereal fluid of the cosmos into energy that can become matter that returns to energy.

Nicolas Tesla and Lord Kelvin met with Swami Vivekananda in the late 1890’s. They were interested in exploring ancient wisdom about the force or energy described as prana, (or the energy of breath), and matter (described as Akasha that came from the astral world). Physics reduces the force to potential energy and natural movement of waves. The ‘kriya’ series of yoga postures, breath, and sound, described by Patanjali, awaken consciousness with kundalini energy flow and the balance between Brahma Wheel of life and Chinese Yin Yang. According to historical accounts, Christ, who travelled along the Silk Road, was aware of these concepts, and astronomy.

The Kyrie is one of the evening prayers, sung to the evening star, Venus, called Vesper of Hesperus. It is associated with the Hesperides, the clear voiced daughters of the evening and nymphs of the west that represent the Pleiades in astronomy. The constellation is called the seven doves, the seven stars of Hathor, the sailing ones, the seven daughters of Eve, the Kritikas, the seven Ladies of the Universe and the Indian Matrikas, the messengers between gods and humans in Vedic religion. Alcyone, the brightest star in the Pleiades, is the imaginary axis in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy where the stars and planets twist around the windmill in the shape of a Tai Chi symbol. It marks the divine order of nature.

In Sanskrit, the dove is associated with the middle passage. It represents feminine generative qualities. In the epic of Gilgamesh, the dove is set free on the seventh day, and circles and returns. Anaximander of Miletus, a student of Thales, in the 6th century BC, wrote philosophy, science, and myth that influenced Jason and the Argonauts, where the dove signalled safe passage through the clashing rocks Anaximander described the Vesica piscis that can be envisioned as the ellipse formed when two equal circles, a cross section of the circular function of the wave, intersect. Mathematically, the Vesica piscis has the approximate value of the square root of 3, the dimensions of a cone volume. In quantum physics, measurement collapses the wave function. Astronomers note that Venus appears in the Pleiades every eight years, as it cycles and forms intersecting orbitals creating a rose.

Venus is said to represent the feminine element. The Vesica piscis is considered to be the vagina or yoni and is called the bladder of a fish. Originally Venus, honoured in the morning prayer of Muslims, the Fajr, and the Gayatri mantra in the Upanayana ceremonies in the Vedas, was considered distinct from the morning star, Phosphorus. Venus, a planet found in the inner orbits of the Earth, rotates opposite other planets. Venus was considered a trickster and joker, and was often demonized.

The Kyrie holds the devil’s interval, called the 'tritone diabolus'. It was forbidden in the Middle Ages, because the notes are not resolved and result in an unsettling sequence that creates a tension associated with feelings of forbidden love, longing, and defiance. The tritone is used in the blues. The blue note, a lowered fifth, sets up a paradox, simultaneously creating various confusing perceptual effects. The same music is not heard the same way by audiences. It creates an audio illusion that challenging to know if Laurel, the symbol of peace, or Yoni is being said.

The divine self-awakens with music. Music tells stories of the universe, suffering, love, divination, hope and reincarnation. I remember how my mom used the pedals to adjust the resonance when she played 'Ave Maria'. ‘Ave’ is a greeting of welcoming or farewell, sung to the sacred feminine who holds onto hope. I recently learned to play Ave Maria. It inspires me to be a Hope-a -holic.

Music is considered a divine art that is the ‘voice of god to the soul’. Confucius said music moves man from the internal, and can influence harmony between emotions, lifestyle, and community with the universe. The mythical Korean flute Manpasokjeok could calm ten thousand waves. Orpheus, the founder, and prophet of “orphic mysteries’ played his lyre and made the boat, the Argo, rock from its foundations. The kings David and Solomon connected the music of an instrument to the heart and ears of the audience. Their musical ability had associations with a magical element that enabled communications between spiritual and natural worlds causing trees to bend, rocks to weep and charming and soothed the wild beast.

Music transmits messages through waves that move through the vacuum and matter. In a language without words, music teaches and reminds humans of life’s shared joys, sorrows and traumas, risky explorations, dark legacies, and missed moments of love that are acquired through a family and friends.

I recall going to Grandpa’s house each Father's Day as a child. June breezes carried the scent of roses through his garden. Grandpa had a TV. We got one when I was 12. My first exposure to moving pictures was watching and hearing musicians like Lawrence Welk, Liberace, Dean Martin, and Bing Crosby. The music, dance, and imagery of Dr. Seuss in the movie the 5000 fingers of Dr T spurred my imagination.

Then television musicals changed. Songs became radio hits and were used for marketing. The Monkeys sang 'Daydream Believer’, Sonny and Cher sang ‘I’ve got you Babe’. Coca Cola won the hearts of the masses with the jingle,‘I’d like to Teach the World to Sing in Perfect Harmony'. Soundtracks promoted popular music. The 'Big Chill’, ‘Grease’, ‘Good Morning Vietnam’, ‘Forrest Gump’, and ‘the Beach’ resonated the sentiments of the spirit of an era that passed through a non-physical plane of existence. Howard Shore composed the heart-wrenching, intense score for ‘Lord of the Rings’ and the film ‘Hugo’. John Williams composed the heroic tunes for Indiana Jones and Superman.

Music carried a fundamental electrifying energy during a time of transition after the second great war. Ed Sullivan brought the family together on Sunday evenings to watch and listen to the new sounds of black and white performing artists. Sullivan subtly broke racial barriers and inspired the civil rights movement.

In the mid 1900’s, concepts of human rights were vague. There were relatively few songs about the unemployed, and unhoused. Religious and racial discrimination were seldom discussed. Black musical artists were best known for songs of slavery and religion. Al Jolson painted himself black, singing ‘Mammy’ and ‘Swanee River’ that reflected the nostalgic memories of family and home. Artist like Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, James Brown and Little Richard delivered a hint of the black soul and Elvis the Pelvis brought black gospel music to rock and roll to the mainstream.

Music addressed social issues. Bob Dylan, walked off of the Ed Sullivan show because he was not allowed to sing 'Talkin' John Birch Paranoia Blues, about red-hunting paranoia. Touring with the Rolling Thunder Review, Dylan approached social injustice issues in the song Hurricane Carter who was later deemed innocent after being charged guilty because of ‘racism rather than reason.’ The tune inspired the sentiment of celebrating, as in an Irish wake, that originated at a time when it was not impossible that those who appeared dead might awaken. The past of a wake is ‘woke’, which is now used in African American vernacular English, meaning ‘alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.’

My teenage years were influenced by Simon and Garfunkel. They sang traditional music and expressed emotions that I had never put into words. I also came upon the music of ‘The Incredible String Band’, termed a psychedelic folk band. It was part of the transatlantic folk revival that explored Britain's misty past They were noted in the Guinness book of Records. They gave me hope that ancient traditional music was not lost and could endure the rapid changes in music.

I appreciated the songs of the Canadian troubadours like Gordon Lightfoot, who sang of vicious winter nights, early morning rains, and sailing across Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. Leonard Cohen sang of tea and oranges that came all the way from China, in the days when an orange was a special treat only purchased for the Christmas stocking. Neil Young sang about Blind River, Joni Mitchell sang about paving paradise and Bruce Cockburn wondered about a tree falling in a forest. Raffi sang about Baby Beluga and ‘All I really need is a song in my heart, food in my belly and love in my family'. Canadian musicians gave me have a strong sense of identity.

During the disco decade, while at university, I lost interest in music. I still associate heavy metal with the singer and actor, Christopher Lee, the famous voice of Dracula. Heavy metal sucks the blood out of me and makes me aware of the curse of immortality and the effect of multiplying evils.

The news starts on the radio. Another musical icon of the ‘60’s has died. This is the end of the era of the Great Turning, that followed after the Great Wars. Music of the 1960's was a novelty. Vincent Price read the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, with sound effects and music that shook my imagination. Richard Harris read “The Prophet’ by Kahlil Gibran, a music and words introduced me to the transcendental world.

The public library had listening rooms that featured LP's that included the folk songs with lyrical poetical messages of Pete Seeger. As rock and roll emerged, the Beatles helped me capture what I could imagine of what it was like to be ‘just seventeen, if you know what I mean.’ It took me a lifetime to learn what that meant. John Lennon’s compositions ‘Across the Universe’ inspired thinking outside the norm. ‘Imagine all the people’ foretold a possible reality in the exploding population. This music came at a time when the National Geographic magazine or the Encyclopedia was how people learned about the world. Technical automation was in its infancy and unpredictable. Slide rules were used to establish trajectories of Apollo 13 after technology failed.

Humanity shares the inevitable fate of a death sentence. Youth cannot be expected to comprehend that what is modern today soon becomes old news. The new era has limited capacity to imagine, believe or understand the world before the Era of Entitlement. They often forget technology makes life easier, it does not make them smarter than previous generations.

The current musical trend favours electronic techno music. Mankind tends to respect the efficient robotic nature of life. Techno serves a purpose. Marshal McLuhan’s says, “the medium is the message.”

When I first heard the electronic experimental pop song ‘Kraftwerk Autobahn’ I imagined what life was like in Germany, on highways where there are no speed limits. Pink Floyd further promoted electronic music. ‘Money’ captured the sound of the changing times, as global debt increased along with automated trends deemed more efficient. I was born during a simpler time. The automated human experience, with artificial intelligence, tends to frustrate me. "Push one for English, enter in your 16 digit account, dial 3 for service. We are currently experiencing higher than normal call volume. You can choose your music as you wait."

The challenges which the next generation must face have changed. For generations, most people struggled to survive; they were happy to find work, put food on the table and have heat and lights, and a day of rest for family time. Unemployment allowance was once considered a need caused by unfortunate desperation. Now, I have heard more than one millenial say, “I worked all my life and deserve to collect unemployment." Many expect to maintain a lifestyle that can afford ordering a $25.00 sandwich using Uber, to sate the hunger of a society of youth whose soul is starving.

As the next generation finds their way, popular songs are often simpler, sometimes with no verses. Techno music can repeat the same looped lyrics, creating algorithmically correct transitions, and licks with synthetic sounds and a heavy drum backbeat. Perhaps this reflects the need to reduce confusion.

Sometimes, when I am driving in the car, I hope that solar flares will disrupt radio signals so that the required messages from the universe will be transmitted. I hand turn the dial through static to receive radio emissions carrying the message of the cosmos.

Click. ‘Drops of Jupiter’ by Train. As it plays, I acknowledge people are willing to describe a personal relationship with the universe.

Click. The DJ says ,"Johnny Hallyday, recently deceased, is credited for bringing rock and roll to France." The signal fades.

Click. "Popular music has become international. It embraces a wider cultural heritage. Now, globalization allows artists to embrace their identities and musical intellect . Rina Sawayama, uses Shepard tones to create an auditory illusion of continuous ascending or descending scales causing tension and suspense, or calmness and relaxation."

Click. ‘Chemical’ by Post Malone plays. It speaks about addictions. Music alters chemical dispositions. Music is said to stir energy that repairs connective tissues. The solfeggio frequencies are used in sacred music and are said to have healing effects. Music is said to relieve pain at 174 Hz, heal at 285 Hz, release guilt and fear and 396, wipe out negative energy at 417, repair DNA at 528, connect using the frequency of love at 629, remove toxins at 741, and transform cells into higher energy at 852. Ancient sound therapy often involves ‘toasting’, a style of lyrical monotone chanting over a beat. It is used in rap and the Reggae version of Red, Red Wine that transform a grim ballad into hope.

Click. ‘Nimrod’ by Edward Elgar. I realize as a child we used to taunt others calling them a ‘nimrod’. Nimrod was a hunter who commissioned the Tower of Babel. Opposing the unknown power of what is called God did not end well. Humanity is experiencing exponential increases of population and confusion. The internet has created a new Tower of Babel, yet the internet offers an opportunity to be a student of many masters.

Click. ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams. The neo-soul funk-groove Motown tune works its charm to change my mood.

Humanity moves in a world of waves, in an eternal, ethereal plane. We are part of nature's interactive musical. Music describes experiences, shapes perception and instills complex emotions. The elements of Chinese, Gregorian and Reggae chants, Mahler’s tragic melodies, the passionate cries of Villa Lobos and the jubilation of Bach’s Italian concertos use the same wavelengths as new music. Music undergoes continuous inventions that can nourish the soul, as it incarnates and evolves on life’s journey.