Nada Brahma: The Ancient Science of Sound
The theory of music traces its roots to the earliest intellectual pursuits of the human species. When humankind sought to understand the cosmos, it did so through a science of harmonic tone relationship. It sought to both explain and experience the universe as a fundamental vibration, a Primal Sound, which manifested itself in the human world through a relationship of tones. It was understood that through developing ones’ sensitivity to harmonic relationships, a person could come to understand and experience the harmony between heaven and earth. This, in turn, would aid in creating a harmony within the individual and within society.
This was a belief which can be traced back 3000-4000 years to the cultures of ancient China, Sumeria/Mesopotamia/Chaldea (now Iraq), Egypt and India. All shared an understanding of a cosmic harmony pervading the universe and uniting “heaven and earth,” although they were expressed through various culturally-specific mythologies. These beliefs persisted up to the time of ancient Greece when they were re-expressed in rational terms by the philosopher Pythagoras (6th century B.C.E.), who in turn deeply influenced Plato. All of western music theory until recent times was steeped in Pythagorean thought, and thus the roots of our musical theories are rooted in the soil of ancient cultures which, for millennia, interconnected music with cosmology, psychology, spirituality and ethics.
Here is a quotation from the book The Secret Power of Music by David Tame:
In ancient times sound itself, the very basis of all music, was thought to be intimately related in some way to non-physical and sacred dimensions or planes of existence. Why was this? Because audible sound was considered to be but an earthly reflection of a vibratory activity taking place beyond the physical world. This vibration was more fundamental, and nearer to the heart of the meaning of things, than any audible sound. Inaudible to human ear, this Cosmic Vibration was the origin and basis of all matter and energy in the universe. In its purest, least differentiated form, this Cosmic Sound was known to the Hindus as OM…
And thus we find ourselves throwing light upon the widely-held belief that all matter is composed of one basic substance or energy. According to the great thinkers of old, this energy was Vibration. In modern times, the physical sciences are now arriving back at this original point of departure. Once again, science is beginning to suspect that matter is all composed of one fundamental something, and that the frequencies or rhythms of this something determine the specific nature of each object and atom.
The universal vibratory energies were called by the ancient Egyptians the Word or Words of their gods; to the Pythagoreans of Greece they were the Music of the Spheres; and the ancient Chinese knew them to be the celestial energies of perfect harmony. The Cosmic Tones, as differentiations of the OM, were the most powerful force in the universe according to the ancients, for these Tones were the universe—the very source of the Creation itself.
And herein lay the vast significance of all audible, earthly sounds, such as are produced by the performing of music or the uttering of speech. For audible sound was believed to be a ‘reflection’, within the world of matter, of the Cosmic Tones. Audible sound itself, which is taken so much for granted today, was in those days thought to contain within itself something of the enormous Creative, Preservative and Destructive force of the Cosmic Tones themselves. The very phenomenon of sound was regarded with great reverence.
More..
Source: Earlham College Music - A Feeling of Harmony Music Theory Course
The theory of music traces its roots to the earliest intellectual pursuits of the human species. When humankind sought to understand the cosmos, it did so through a science of harmonic tone relationship. It sought to both explain and experience the universe as a fundamental vibration, a Primal Sound, which manifested itself in the human world through a relationship of tones. It was understood that through developing ones’ sensitivity to harmonic relationships, a person could come to understand and experience the harmony between heaven and earth. This, in turn, would aid in creating a harmony within the individual and within society.
This was a belief which can be traced back 3000-4000 years to the cultures of ancient China, Sumeria/Mesopotamia/Chaldea (now Iraq), Egypt and India. All shared an understanding of a cosmic harmony pervading the universe and uniting “heaven and earth,” although they were expressed through various culturally-specific mythologies. These beliefs persisted up to the time of ancient Greece when they were re-expressed in rational terms by the philosopher Pythagoras (6th century B.C.E.), who in turn deeply influenced Plato. All of western music theory until recent times was steeped in Pythagorean thought, and thus the roots of our musical theories are rooted in the soil of ancient cultures which, for millennia, interconnected music with cosmology, psychology, spirituality and ethics.
Here is a quotation from the book The Secret Power of Music by David Tame:
In ancient times sound itself, the very basis of all music, was thought to be intimately related in some way to non-physical and sacred dimensions or planes of existence. Why was this? Because audible sound was considered to be but an earthly reflection of a vibratory activity taking place beyond the physical world. This vibration was more fundamental, and nearer to the heart of the meaning of things, than any audible sound. Inaudible to human ear, this Cosmic Vibration was the origin and basis of all matter and energy in the universe. In its purest, least differentiated form, this Cosmic Sound was known to the Hindus as OM…
And thus we find ourselves throwing light upon the widely-held belief that all matter is composed of one basic substance or energy. According to the great thinkers of old, this energy was Vibration. In modern times, the physical sciences are now arriving back at this original point of departure. Once again, science is beginning to suspect that matter is all composed of one fundamental something, and that the frequencies or rhythms of this something determine the specific nature of each object and atom.
The universal vibratory energies were called by the ancient Egyptians the Word or Words of their gods; to the Pythagoreans of Greece they were the Music of the Spheres; and the ancient Chinese knew them to be the celestial energies of perfect harmony. The Cosmic Tones, as differentiations of the OM, were the most powerful force in the universe according to the ancients, for these Tones were the universe—the very source of the Creation itself.
And herein lay the vast significance of all audible, earthly sounds, such as are produced by the performing of music or the uttering of speech. For audible sound was believed to be a ‘reflection’, within the world of matter, of the Cosmic Tones. Audible sound itself, which is taken so much for granted today, was in those days thought to contain within itself something of the enormous Creative, Preservative and Destructive force of the Cosmic Tones themselves. The very phenomenon of sound was regarded with great reverence.
More..
Source: Earlham College Music - A Feeling of Harmony Music Theory Course
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