Music for me can take on many forms.I play for many
reasons,mainly because I love music.I love the high,the beautiful
place it takes me,the feeling during and after I play.
This to me is meditation.Being in the moment and at one with my own
being.
No thoughts just allowing the music to come through me.
There are some techniques I use and have discovered on this musical
journey,some of which I will discuss in the next section.
A mantra is a sound which is repeated over and over
until one begins to experience ones own inner being,or arrives at a
point of identification with the here and now.There are no thoughts
in this state of being, the mantra fills the conciousness
completely.
In these terms anything can become the mantra,simply by repeating
this action with total attention.The most basic mantra is OM,however
one can use more complex mantras,with different vibrational
frequencies which allow one to experience other levels of
conciousness.
In my music I use melodic phrases,arpegios and rhythms as mantras.
Most popular music is in time signatures of 4,2
(marching music,Sambas etc) or 3 (waltz).This keeps most people
locked into the 4,2 and 3 conciousness.
In the late 60's I began experimenting and composing in unusual time
signatures (5,6,7,9,10.11.12.13.15 & 19). I discovered that each
one had it's own magical quality.
Complex rhythms need deeper concentration, and when they are repeated
for a long time, one dives to deeper and deeper levels of
conciousness.
When I am playing on my own I usually begin the mantra on the guitar
and later the voice enters while the mantra (arpegio) is maintained
on the guitar.The voice is free to improvise,spontaneously creating
melodies and textures. In this way the mantra continues while one
travels to various levels.
Ragas are the basis to the classical music that has
evolved in India.It is spiritual music that is sometimes very complex
in rhythm and structure,such as played by masters like Ravi
Shankar.This music is linear or horizontal. There is only one melody
played or improvised while a single drone note vibrates continually.
This music is mostly modal ie. it is in one key and there are no key
changes.Western music is chordal or vertical (as well as horizontal)
ie. it has several notes played at the same time,which form
chords.These chords can change with the melody(or melodies) and the
music may also change keys.
Each raga uses different scales ("thats"), some being very strange to
our Western conditioned ears. Each scale has a different affect on
our physical,mental and spiritual body. These ragas have evolved over
centuaries and there are ragas for different times of the day each
affecting the various chakras (psychic nerve centres).
The ragas I play are not strictly ragas in the classical sense,since
all I utilise is the scale upon which the raga is based.So in Western
language I actually play modes or modally.
Having played and experimented with these scales for many years I
have developed a sense of how they affect my being and emotions. I
have found them to be very powerful tools in healing,relaxing and in
energy moving.
Mostly I tune my guitar open.This is a way of tuning so that I can
strum the guitar without placing the fingers of my left hand on the
fretboard.The guitar has a droney sound with a few strings tuned to
the basic key note in which I am playing.I use different tunings for
the various ragas and create mantras (arpegios,rhythms and melodic
phrases) to keep me in the present and which form a basis upon which
I improvise and return.
Basically if I'm playing with other musicians we decide in which key
we're playing and then choose the notes in the scale.The rest is
improvised.
I do workshops which deal with
the above topics.
For more information on any of the
above,feedback,links,comments,enquiries contact
:tarshito@hotmail.com
LINKS
http://www.the-insight.com/spirituality/dreams/