'Harmonium' review at Hypnagogue

[Igneous Flame]

'Harmonium' review at Hypnagogue

http://hypnagogue.netfirms.com/

'Igneous Flame & Disturbed Earth, Harmonium

Listening to Harmonium, the new collaborative work from Igneous Flame and Disturbed Earth, is like
spending an hour wrapped in a warm bank of fog that sighs around you, spectral shapes forming out of the mist to laze and drift past. It is complete immersion in an unimpeded stream of gentle sound
that utterly calms the mind and spirit and slows the breath. Elegantly simple in feeling but
offering so much when listened to deeply, the tracks here are expertly layered, with Dean Richards’
pedal harmonium creations floating and rolling quietly through Pete Kelly’s sonic manipulations, the
alchemical blend turning them to softly pulsing dreamspaces. This is a perfect CD for meditation or
for low-volume looping during sleep. For pure, atmospheric drifts, this is one of the best releases
I’ve heard this year. A brilliant piece of work, and a Hypnagogue Highly Recommended CD.'


cheers John !

Pete

[Cindy Fallsen]

I would agree that this is very soothing music. I have often wondered if music like this could be used for patients in the hospital that are unresponsive. I know that families would have to agree with this sort of treatment, and Insurance Medical companies would probably need to buy in.
All in all, I think this would be perfect music for this sort of thing.

[Igneous Flame]

I've thought about this myself and took part in a trial a few years ago using ambient music in
hospitals.

It's a slightly tricky area from an artists's point of view. How important is the music or is it the
effect the music might have which is the greater consideration ?
Would say, recordings of naturally soothing sounds such as a stream or the sea do the job ? My
feeling is that tonal drones enhance these sounds and this is one of the 'purposes' of ambient
music.

Cindy Fallsen said:

I would agree that this is very soothing music. I have often wondered if music like this could be used for patients in the hospital that are unresponsive. I know that families would have to agree with this sort of treatment, and Insurance Medical companies would probably need to buy in.
All in all, I think this would be perfect music for this sort of thing.

[Steve Brand]

I looked at this when you posted some time back and I had to think about this. If you've read my page here on .ning, you know that I am committed to the idea that music/sound has healing properties. Interestingly, there are individuals like Byron Metcalf that have made sound part of their healing practice, with arrangements of speakers that emit frequencies, and using voice and traditional instruments. (Metcalf and Steve Roach have hosted entire shamanic weekends where participants immerse themselves in ambient/shamanic music.) At present (in the US at least), this level of thinking regarding the healing nature of sound is still regarded as "cutting edge" (and I'm being kind). I've even noticed among the energy healers that I know, the use of music as a tool is...well...not very well thought out or looked into. When I visit my acupuncturist or any of my healer friends, the music is relegated to tinkling piano, bells and harp accompanied by dolphins or whales. Deeper forms of ambient are still thought of as strange or too intense by some healers, or so it seems. Just look at the number of responses to this blog. It's a real grey area for most of us...which needs exploration.

Ambient music and sound can be used for a range of depths from mere relaxation, to meditation, to deep inner and physical healing. Indigenous cultures have known this for millennia and we now have the opportunity to merge these secrets with technology in new and exciting ways that will alter our understanding of our minds, bodies, music and more.

I would venture to say that we have forgotten the true capabilities of sound in facilitating healing and altering consciousness (really, that's what healing is, altering consciousness). My feeling is that coming years will show science and energy/sound healers working side-by-side to reveal a fuller spectrum of possibilities.

Byron's bio page.

Byron's MySpace page.

[Disturbed Earth]

My personal experience to music therapy/healing goes deep. my sister-in-law has M.S. and went into a coma back in 2000 for 2 months...she remained in hospital for almost one year before she was well enough to return home.

I recorded an hour long piece that was primarily made up of sounds out of my garden in Florida...bugs/ a water fountain /me walking down the gravel pathway thunder/ rain/birds combined with, as Pete had mentioned, drones and looped chords and drone melody. I also recorded all the sounds with binaural mics. so she would experience the movement of walking and turning around...stooping down to smell flowers/looking up to hear the birds/going under shelter when it rained feeling a part of the world and being surrounded and held.
i sent it back to australia and the doctors there put it on repeat, what else could they do, it was noninvasive.

9 years later she is still alive which is a miracle in itself (she can only move one hand these days). I mentioned to her about the music i did for her recently. And she replied..."what music?". I told her the story and she said she didn't know anything about it...noone mentioned it. I looked through their cd collection and found it, and played it to her.

She immediately burst into tears and said..."I know this music...these are the sounds that i heard once and remembered." Joan was speechless..it was like finding a lost friend again a time remembered.

Who knows if the music helped/what it did...one thing I do know...if I was left in a coma I would surely be wanting to listen to sounds than a silent aloneness.

[Disturbed Earth]

ps an edit of this is on my player. It is called "Beginnings".

[John Koch-Northrup]

Dean - that was very touching.

[zerofish9]

........The more ambiguous metaphysical reply--:

Music is sound, which is energy, which is what everything in our 'known' universe is ultimately made of.
We manipulate our own personal energy environment every day (most of us subconsciously) to match or disengage from the energy put out by those around us. The energy of sound/-music in particular, has a very strong impact on the human body and it's emotional energy. And instrumental music(no lyrics) has even more, because it allows the listener to image in their mind, underlying scenes or etheric layers of emotional energy that are cycling in their body.
I'm a firm believer of continual energy imprint--energy residue that lingers long after the person or situation has gone away--maybe eternally. Energy doesn't just evaporate or disappear, it has to go somewhere...It's still there!...even if it has to swirl around the globe a few times to come back and knock you in the head (instant karma). But positive or negative, once the charge has been put out there, you can't stop it any more than trying to catch electricity with your bare hands and send it the other way--the laws of physics and "ENergy" don't take a day off, and cause and effect are way bigger than most of us can imagine! As for the neOambient artists as I tag them, and others striving to share their creativity through new forms of change--this is their calling, they're part of a bigger force that's playing out--they're the bringers of new energy consciousness, and it's reshaping the planet!

-So, my theory is:
When an artist manifests a highly positive undertaking (creation) through their passion (emotional energy)--like a song or piece of artwork--the energy produced through that medium by the artist does not dissipate later,..it continues to touch everyone that hears, see's, or touches it...or is just near it--whether they know it or not. It leaves an indelible imprint of energy on Everything! You could also attribute it to things like ghosts/sound prints/etc..

::Anyway, I think we've all seen the effects of negative energy (and music) in this world for wayyy too long, and without a doubt, kids today would be better off NOT listening to the troubled sounds of our ignorance through the radio. So why is it so hard to believe that positive music/energy can do the exact opposite...heal the planet!
I suppose it is what it is, everything serves as an agent of change on the big horizon!

Hopefully this wasn't too over the top, kind of hard to explain sometimes, but once you remember that everything is energy, you start seeing things from a higher state of awareness.
Btw: There's a video of an excerpt from Tom Green's "Music for MRI Scanners" at:
http://www.ambiOfusion.ning.com
You can link to Tom's official website thru the video if you'd like to buy the CD--which was originally made for children going through the MRI process. I recommend it highly, it's a great piece of positive ambient flow!
Dean--bless you man, that's just an awesome story! :)
namaste~
todd