Have you ever wondered why some tones make us feeling happy or sad, tense or melancholy? In fact it goes further than this. Tones don't just influence our moods, they directly influence our nervous system and as a consequence influence the heart rate and breathing. Here's how I use tones to just this.
Crystal bowls were an accidental invention. Their original purpose were "silicon vestibules"; as a means to cultivate microchips free of impurities. Those vestibules that had impurities were discarded. These unwanted but beautiful bowls could hold a note, exactly in the same way that you would with running a wet finger around a wine glass. But moreover, they are the only acoustic instruments in the world to play a perfect sine wave. This makes them the ideal instrument to explain how tones and intervals can help people.
A sine wave is what is produced when an oscilloscope is held up to an instrument to determine which note is playing. The note produces a sine wave. Above is such an example. As you may be able to tell, my ability to generate a decent example with AI has failed me, so Paint it is. :)
One tone on its own won't tell us a lot, but if we play two, then things get more interesting.
When we have 2 notes that are similar in tone, but not the same, say C & C#, we generate an interval known as minor 2nd (m2nd). This is a competing tone operating in the same space as the first and where they come together at their peaks is where the combination jars us. This creates resistance in us. It grabs our attention, like fingernails on a chalkboard. I will do this very rarely and only to subconsciously tell your nervous system to pay attention.
When we have 2 notes that operate in the opposite space to each other then we generate something called a Perfect 5th (P5). Say a C and G together. They sound "right" somehow and that complimenting interval that is generated leaves us feeling a sense of harmony and happiness. This interval is used to relax.
Now these 2 intervals are just two of the most extreme examples. They are plenty more and they each help us both us musicians and sound therapists to play the intervals in a way that we want the listener to experience the sound. I demonstrate all of these intervals in a video below so you can hear the difference between them yourself.
From minor 3rds (m3rd) to give us a restful but melancholy pause to the magical anticipation of a Major 6th (M6th). At first, we may apply opinions to these intervals; a minor 7th may leave us feeling sad or a Tritone confused or excited. But actually, I think of these intervals as exhales and inhales and I find this to be more accurate. You need both minor and major intervals in a sound therapy composition. It's not a piece of music. It's a soundtrack to influence a nervous system.
Sample list of the different types of interval: https://images.app.goo.gl/BS7pv2TGAQPkQW8Y8
So why does the harmonious combination of a C and a G played together leave us feeling harmonious? One of the core principles of sound therapy is "Sympathetic Resonance". They say we can catch bad moods, but we can catch good ones too. We just focus on the negative ones more because our brains prioritise those ones to keep us alive. :)
Sympathetic resonance works by having two objects vibrating at the same frequency. So if I walk into a room with a gong, at some points my words will make the gong start to sing. This is because the some of the sounds I'm creating while talking match the frequency that the gong naturally vibrates at. Or if an opera singer can make a wine glass break with their voice; they are matching their vocal tone with the the frequency that the wine glass produces and then using volume, they increase the vibrating until the wine glass breaks. A similar, but far more constructive process is happening in our bodies when we hear intervals. The tones and intervals emerge, create a sine wave and that sine wave is reflected in us. The vagus nerve runs from the brain and inner ear all the way through the body connecting the major organs together. Stimulate the vagus nerve through sound and it will carry those sympathetic resonances to the major organs in your body. Dr Stephen Porges proved how the vagus nerve affects our breathing as far back as 1975. This is nothing new. It's just getting more common that we talk about as soundbaths and yoga has become more popular over the years and a lot of this (polyvagal) therory using the vagus nerve has become more widely used and accepted in practical applications.
I'm therefore not talking to your conscious with these instruments. I'm talking to your subconscious. It's one of the reasons why I say, don't worry if you fall asleep in a soundbath; you just needed the rest and you'll still get a lot of benefit from being there even if you do fall asleep.
When we fall asleep, we often think we're not listening but that's not true. Our bodies are an extension of our ears. It's how bone conduction works. The input for our middle ears are vibrations, and our whole bodies can detect these.
I have helped people who have completely fallen asleep. Someone I know very well fell asleep in a sound treatment and was properly snoring. But as I increased the tone of the crystal bowls, the snoring stopped. When I went back down to the lower tones, the snoring began again. I've observed exactly the opposite thing with rumbling tummies. The rumbling tummy would start with a higher pitched tone and stop with a lower one on the himalayan bowls. I repeated the effect and the same thing happened. And since then, whenever I've detected someone in a soundbath needs a little bit more rest, I know exactly how to help them drift a little deeper. If someone is out cold, then I will always leave them to rest; because they are in a vulnerable state; they feel peaceful and fully-relaxed. They are probably getting the best sleep they have had in weeks, so I leave them. But if this ever happens to you, I would always encourage you not to be put off, because your body needed that rest; it was crying out for it, even if you weren't aware how tired you were feeling beforehand. You are still getting a lot of the benefits from being there. You are still feeling the vibrations. You are still part of the intention in the space. And next time, you will probably have a different experience and remember a lot more.
So these are how I use tones in a soundbath to relax or to create whatever mood I want to, predictably and accurately. However, the theory behind intervals can eb applied to other instruments. I mentioned that I used himalayan bowls with a friend who had a rumbly tummy. But the most common instrument I use intervals with other the bowls, are one of the more surprising; steel tongue drums.
Each tongue of the drums play a different note and when played in a certain way, they can accentuate the interval you want to create, maximising the effect of what you want to create. It's hard to do this in a composition of music, but in the case of sound therapy, they work exceptionally well. Not only can you play them using intervals, you can also combine them with another major piece of sound therapy principles; Entrainment.
If you put a bunch of clocks in the same room and start the pendulums at different times, they will all slowly begin to synchronise over time, as the vibrations from one coalesce with the vibrations of another. This is Entrainment. We use physical rhythms to entrain the nervous system to relax (or wake up). When combining the theory behind sympathetic resonance and entrainment together, then they can become exceptionally powerful and especially helpful to people who struggle to relax. This is why usually I will play a drum at the beginning rather at the end of a soundbath. But in truth, they can also go at the end, if I want someone to come to as though they are waking from a beautiful dream.
Symphonic gongs also work using intervals. These tuned gongs are tuned to play a primary and secondary tone. Together, they produce an interval and thus create a sympathetic effect on the listener.
I hope you've found this article helpful. If anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to post something below. And if there is an effect that you've experienced in a soundbath, please let me know and I will happily explain or research what is happening for you.
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