THE POWER OF MUSIC
There
is a great deal of power in music—more than most people have ever
imagined. Lingerman (p. 70) fits music into three categories: 1. Music
that helps you and gives you strength, 2. Music that doesn’t do much of
anything for you (“blah” music), 3. Music that definitely hurts and
weakens you. All
music therapists are capable of telling about multiple ways in which music
helps people. If asked, any music therapist would have many stories to
tell, although Lingerman (1948) describes at length the kind of music
needed, and even gives lists of examples of music to use for each of the
following: for physical energy, to air anger, to calm anger, for
hyperactivity, for depression and fear, to relieve boredom, for relaxation
and reverie, for love and devotion, for meditation and prayer, for clear
thinking, for mental clarity, for learning, for creative stimulation. In
addition, he includes music for each part of daily life: waking up,
planning your day, meals and good digestion, insomnia, to quiet your home,
to release your child’s energy, and music and humor. Most
people are little aware of the beneficial ways in which music might be
used, and music therapists have only begun to explore the powerful
benefits of music. Although
I am a music therapist and a teacher of music therapists, it was only
recently that I began to
think of the word “power” in connection with music. For several
reasons I began a serious study of that subject. This study led me to
learn a major use of music which is so powerful that the only possible
description is “power to the nth degree.” The remainder of this paper
is a description of this powerful use of music. One
branch of my study was New Age music. At first, it was extremely difficult
for me to find any material on this subject, so I started out by studying
the New Age music, hoping to find a few small references to music in
general topic literature. It was a shock to read the following statement
quoted by Tex Marrs (1989): “I can open the doors of your (brain’s)
data banks . . As you’re listening, the rescripting process is happening
automatically via subliminally recorded messages.” This was a quotation
taken from an interview with “Brother Charles,” one of the best known
New Age composers and musicians, for Meditation Magazine. Although
the natural assumption was that this was only a figure of speech or
over-assumption of some sort, I was interested in reading the interview in
its entirety, so I obtained a copy of the article (Harbula) as soon as
possible (it took me about six months. An attempt to explain this powerful
use of music now follows. There
are three general areas involved: music, the brain, electronic technology.
In order to understand this use of music a few basic facts about each of
these areas need to be understood. I will include these as I progress. Brother
Charles was born as Charles Cannon; he is a former child prodigy who
performed all over the country at the age of 10, playing drums with Jass
percussionists Gene Krupa. He spent twelve years studying with the Indian
guru, Muktanando. He is very well-acquainted with electronic technology. Brother
Charles conducts audio retreats at his center in Virginia. Retreats last
seven days, during which attendees spend four hours a day spacing out with
his space-age meditation technique.” Brother Charles produces and sells
tapes with alpha phasing to help induce relaxation and light suggestions.
He also has industrial-strength tapes with theta and delta phasing which
produce altered states of consciousness and with subliminals designed to
change attitudes and behavior. THE
NATURE OF THE TAPES AND MEDITATION Brother
Charles uses two techniques in making meditation tapes—“sound
phasing” and subliminal messages. Now I must digress in order to explain
sound phasing. Brain
waves are measured in firings per second, dalled Hertz (Hz). Music
frequency (or pitch) is also measured in vibrations per second in Hertz.
Brain waves are classified as follows: Beta
—14-32: This is where we logical rational reasoning. Alpha—8-13
: relaxed, peaceful yet alert state I called it alert relaxation. Delta
a: below 4. Deep mediation. Sleep. Theta
4-7: very relaxed. Meditation state. Sleep. In
music, there is a phenomena which is called difference tones. A simplified
explanation might be that when two pitches are sounded simultaneously
under the right conditions, another pitch which equals the same Hz, as the
difference in Hz between the two sounding pitches, will be heard, even
though it is not being produced. To
go back to Brother Charles’ meditation tapes—Brother Charles uses a
technique which he calls sound phasing. This is not exactly the same thing
as what electronic people working with speaker, etc., called sound
phasing. His definition is that phasing is “a vibrato sound,” a tone
that contains two tones, the top and bottom of the vibration. Phasing is
the interval between the tones. The sound we call the interval is heard
only in the brain. Your brain creates that sound from the two tones.”
Through sound phasing, Brother Charles embeds a sound equal to the desired
brain wave frequency (3, 5, 7, or any desired Hz) into the music. This
sound is heard only in the brain. It is not a part of the music. This then
constitutes a musical subliminal message which is heard only in the
subconscious of the brain in the same way as verbal subliminal messages.
This gives it a power which consciously-perceived music does not have and
will control the brain waves to match any desired frequency. At the same
time, Brother Charles considers beta frequency to be an undesirable, busy
jangled state; therefore, it is not to be included. Remember, this is
where we do rational reasoning. The
second technique is subliminal messages. A few examples he has given of
these are: “I am one. I am love. I am peace. I am the source of my
experience. I am existence . .
consciousness . . ecstasy . . peace.” He says these things are mantras
that have not come down through 10,000 years in human experience, which
makes up a very wholistic program of non-dual, I-conscious. There
are two interesting claims. One is that meditation is not a 20-minute
phenomena, but twenty-four hours a day, the unbroken awareness of yourself
as source. A retired New York policeman, who has attended the retreat,
says, “It’s almost as though I’m high all of the time.” An
actress who has practiced this meditation for two years says that
everything you have in your mind that doesn’t agree with the subliminal
messages gets processed out. She describes the uncomfortable time when
this was happening. Brother Charles calls it a purging of negative thought
patterns which can occur on the mental, emotional, or physical levels. He
says withdrawal from these can resemble withdrawal from toxic substances. Please
think about the implications of this. It would be easily possible to make
people into near zombies at will. This is not a futuristic science fiction
story which might develop some time in the future. It is a technology
which is presently being used. Not only that, it is actually a relatively
simple thing to do. Since I learned about it, I have learned how to
actually do it, and could do it myself. Taylor (1990), in a book on
subliminal messages, includes a chapter in which he outlines in detail the
way to make your own tape with your own subliminal messages. It requires
three cassette recorders, or two cassette players one cassette recorder
and a mixer. This is one of several ways tapes that subliminal messages
are produced. The musical subliminal mind control” (my own name for it)
can be added very easily, I discovered, with a binaural signal generator.
The cost is not completely prohibitive to acquire all of this equipment.
There even are a multiplicity of sound and light machines being developed
on the market today. These create any desired state in users. Some of
these make use of the full range, including beta, and make many claims of
benefits to such things as learning and intelligence as well as memory,
concentration, and a wide range of benefits. See Hutchison (1990) for a
description of the latest developments. Of
what practical use is this information, other than futuristic science
glamour? It
would be very simple to take control of the minds of any group of people
or even of the total world population. In Leningrad a few years ago, I saw
loud speakers on street corners covering the entire city, for purposes of
instant communication at any time. Could any one seriously think that it
would be possible for anybody in the world to get away from music if
somebody wanted to impose it on them. Beside, New Age music, which is the
ideal carrier, is pleasant and innocent sounding. And since the controls
are subliminal, listeners do not know they are there or that there could
be any danger. Also, New Age music has become so prevalent, that the world
is becoming conditioned to it. Every music store has a section labeled New
Age music. There are a growing number of New Age Music radio stations.
There is one in Dallas. A new one just started in Tulsa this fall.
Department stores, etc. are playing New Age music all day. Not only is
everyone becoming conditioned to hearing it, but nobody has any way of
knowing when subliminal messages may appear on it. But,
you say, I can’t picture this ever happening. Who would be unscrupulous
enough to do such a thing? Would Saddam Hussein drop an atomic bomb? To
what lengths would the New World Order and also the New Age movements,
both of whom advocate one-world government, go to achieve their goals and
to maintain their goals? Just a thought question. If you do not know much
about those two movements and would like to know more, I have all kinds of
literature on and by them. And do not delude yourself that they do not
already know all about this technology. It is in Meditation Magazine
for any New Age person and anyone else to read. I found it, didn’t I?
And—the United States government is bound to know about it. They stay in
touch with all work concerning the brain. When I published about the
effect of music on brain waves in the Journal for Music Therapy in
1978, I received a request from the U.S. Army for a copy of my research. A
final summary: I believe that music can be used through using music and
verbal subliminal messages which can control a person’s brain waves into
a permanent altered state of consciousness and eliminate all of the
person’s old value system. Also (my conjecture), I believe that this
would become permanent—based on the fact that a person would no longer
be able to reason and desire to leave this state. Let’s
hope and pray that this does not happen, but try to individually find a
way to protect ourselves. REFERENCE
LIST Hutchison,
Michael (1990). Consciousness Technology, a Consumer’s
Guide. Sausalito, CA: Mega Brain. Lingerman,
Hal (1983). The Healing Energies of Music. Wheaton, Il: The
Theosophical Publishing House. Marrs,
Texe (1989). Ravaged by the New Age. Austin, TX: Living Truth
Publishers. Harbula, Patrick (1987, fall). Sounds of Transformation. A talk with Brother Charles. Meditation II (4), pp. 20-29. |
