The Metaphysics of Music

Hi, I just want to say this is such a great thread! I'm a music lover as well. I also love singing, it makes me happy, even if I'm the only one listening lol. For me, there's something about singing that's just so wonderful. Like if I'm feeling down or not very confident, singing makes me feel better. Like I have to let out what's inside of me, that if I'm not able to express myself like that, then I just won't feel that good, like it's detrimental or something..

Spines, I listened to one of your songs and it's really good! I think ambient and techno music are amazing. Although I've only recently gotten into ambient. The thing I love about ambient music, is that it feels great to listen to. It feels really peaceful, well most of the songs I've listened to anyway. It seems like it makes you think more too. Well it probably does because most of the songs I've heard go for awhile.

Hey, I wonder if mainstream society listened to classical, jazz, ambient or just good music etc. more, instead of Britney Spears and all, if the world would become a better place? Maybe instead of listening to music that's materialistically-based, people wouldn't feel the need to consume more or kill other people? Just my thoughts

[edit on 16/6/2008 by Sparkly_Eyed777]

reply to post by spines


thank you very much,I'll have a listen whe ni get in from work I'm just getting into production myself,and my music isn't very well liked either,so I'm sure I'll appreciate your creativity.

i have been writing and playing music for about 10 years now and have played with some of the most musically gifted individuals anyone could ever imagine. i dont know if any one else can attest to this, but when i listen to music i can truly feel the vibrations and harmonics "flow" throughout my brain, its almost a state of pure ecstasy. i have always wondered if any one else gets these feelings. but anyway, you should do some research on the universal harmonic resonance and the harmonic convergence that runs through all of us, as well as, the universe. there is a tune we should all be listening to and it is always playing for us whether we are listening or not.

Great post...and I could not agree more OP!!

Music is as much a part of the human condition as anything. For many, including myself, it is a basic necessity of life. Think about the profound influence and affect music has on the human psyche and the human mood.

They say that music calms the savage beast, and in many situations this is very true. Music has a gigantic impact on human emotion and mood. It can be used to incite visions of beauty and peacefulness, it can also be used to pump up emotions and to motivate people to action, it can move a person to tears and also move a person to think. It is personal and political, joyous and meloncholy, a triumph of the human experience, it truly is the alpha and omega.

Animals respond to music, so do plants, there have been cases of people who have been in a deep coma, only to be brought out by the outward sounds of music being played. It is truly magical. For whatever reason it has always had a profound inpact on me personally, more so than written or spoken word, more so than almost anything else.

Music is universal, a divine gift from the Gods

reply to post by mrbooms



I think I can completely relate to what your saying. I used to play music quite often years ago when I first went in the Army. I would get into somekind of flow where I just spontaneously played music on a keyboard. Other guys in my unit in the barracks would stop by my room and just listen. I was told the music had a kind of mesmerizing affect. It would make me feel almost like I was in some kind of altered state of mind when I was doing it.

Sadly I have never learned to write music or record it. The music style was somewhere between John Carpenter and Michael Stearns, with emphasis on Carpenter.

I still have my keyboard, I may yet get around to messing with it again and record something.

[edit on 16/6/08 by MikeboydUS]

For the record I am a musician also, have been playing guitar and writing music for over ten years. It is pretty much the only thing I do that I would consider a true passion, and would continue to make music even if I never saw a dime for it or ever had any exposure.

Everyone needs an outlet I suppose, for me it is therapeutic and one of the only interests that have stuck with me through out the years. In my opinion there is nothing quite like creating something from nothing and making it your own. Creativity is great in any form.



Cheers to all of the musicians and music lovers out there


Edit to add: If anyone out there would like to check out some good music, I have a Myspace page devoted to some of my biggest influences. Just shoot me a U2U and I will send you a link

[edit on 6/16/08 by BlackOps719]

reply to post by mrbooms



I have felt this also while I am playing my bassoon. It always feels great when I am playing the music with the notes, and the emotion of the original composer meant for you to feel.

reply to post by Sparkly_Eyed777


Thank you much. Always nice to hear that someone else heard it, let alone enjoyed it.

If you enjoy relaxing ambient music, shoot me a u2u and I can give you some good artists to get you started; it's a big world of music out there.

Originally posted by mrbooms
i dont know if any one else can attest to this, but when i listen to music i can truly feel the vibrations and harmonics "flow" throughout my brain, its almost a state of pure ecstasy.

I am not sure if the feeling of being really 'in' the music, when you're playing, would count as what you have said --your experience sounds a bit more...into it.

I think anyone who has ever been in a band, or just jammed with their buddies, can attest to the fact that when you are with a good group of people you hit some odd synchronicity. You don't have to look at eachother or feel for any sensory cue; you just play and it all works out.

This is very interesting.

On a sidenote: Does anyone create beautiful melodies in their sleep, and then when you wake up, you can barely remember it?

That happens to me very often. I'll be dreaming, and in my dream, I'll make up the prettiest melody in about 3 seconds. It just comes out of nowhere. And nomatter how hard I try to remember the melody, when I wake up, half of it's gone. I can only remember the main notes, not the chord structure (which is the most important part of any good song)

Just wondering if anyone else has had that happen to them.

spines,I'm liking your music dude,nice and chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllled.

thank you for putting up for our ears

reply to post by Acidtastic


Thank you much sir. Feel free to listen anytime.

Originally posted by Privy_Princess
On a sidenote: Does anyone create beautiful melodies in their sleep, and then when you wake up, you can barely remember it?

[...]

Just wondering if anyone else has had that happen to them.

That's what I was getting at in my first reply towards the end, although sometimes lyrics are put to the melodies and that makes it even stranger for myself.

I can remember them for as long as I am still stumbling around like a zombie; waiting for the water to warm up.

[edit on 6/16/0808 by spines]

You may be interested in Pythagoras and Musica Universalis (music of the Spheres). William Wide Zeitler did a whole album in alignment with the musica universalis philosophy using a very interesting instrument called the glass armonica. The cd is called Music of the Spheres and you can listen to it here.

[edit on 6/17/2008 by eye open doors]

reply to post by eye open doors



That is some very good music. I t is interesting how the philosophy of a type of music can make somebody compose music.


Also (I should have done this before, I'm sorry) Thank you spines for your music contribution to the thread! The music was very good. I am listening to Blur right now, and it is putting me into a state of relaxation. It feels so good...

I also say that electronica is a very under-appreciated genre and I wish that people would get out of their shells and listen to it.

The music reminds me of Boards Of Canada? Have you heard their music before?

reply to post by eye open doors



Very cool.

I like the Mars sound best of the selections, very interesting concept. Thanks for sharing that.

reply to post by Privy_Princess


I often have lucid dreams where all I do is just make music. I usually remember the music, but the visual part is what I don't remember. Makes me wonder what I'm seeing when I do it.

reply to post by TechnoFan21


Well there is a link between music and emotion, and good musicians are able to understand how music effects emotion. Using a major key creates a more complete and happy sound while minor keys are darker and sadder. Diminished chords gives an incomplete feel. Soft arpeggiated chords give a tender feeling, which also differs due to if you are arpeggiating up or down, and so on. Legato notes give a smooth and graceful feeling if fast, and sombre if slow, and so on. And then there is rhythm. Melody is only half of music. You have to have the perfect combination of melody and rhythm. We don't know why sound affects us as it does, but we do know that it does, and how it does, so we manipulate it to create music.

And the accumulated knowledge of how sounds affect us is known as Music Theory.

Originally posted by TechnoFan21
The music reminds me of Boards Of Canada? Have you heard their music before?

You just made my day.

I adore Boards of Canada.

i've done hundreds of hours of research into this.

You should Google the "solfeggio" scale....which was in fact hidden centuries ago.

Also google and youtube "cymatics" where creteain frequencies cause sand and water to form into sacred geometrical patterns and since we are around 87% water (give or take 10%) then our bodies are definately being affected by certainn frequencies.

Also you can levitate objects using certain frequencies. This has been scientifically proven already and there are youtube vids showing the successful experiments in scientific settings.

when you look for vieos on cymatics look out specifically for the sand or rice on steel plate vids....the visuals are breathtaking.......

reply to post by MikeboydUS


Very interesting...will you share some of your experiences?

reply to post by spines


Sweet! Boards of Canada fans unite! My fav songs are Roygbiv, and Hey Saturday Sun

reply to post by dominicus


Oh, yes! The music in the solfeggio scale sounds great.

Actually, it is in one of my favorite songs of all time, C.P.E. Bach's Solfeggio is an amazing song.

Any note on the scale can be selected as the base note and it creates a history that you want the music to resolve to.

This creation of history has an equal in gambling. pick one number set in a million to one lottery and the odds are one million to one that it will be picked. After that number is drawn the chances of it being drawn again as the next drawing soars to one million times one million.
Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician applied this fact to roulette and became quite wealthy and created the probability branch of math. Red being hit five times in a row pays very high odds. The fact that there is a history means that the odds that the sixth draw being red is definitely not fifty-fifty.

The point is that the history of a note or a roulette wheel affects the universe and changes future history. Your brain can feel this.

This is why physicists say that observing the universe affects the results.

I have always felt that people who accept this are more likely to love music and live in a bigger universe than the fifty-fifty people.